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Port of Long Beach - Parking

CCLcruiser91

By CCLcruiser91,
in West Coast Departures

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CCLcruiser91

CCLcruiser91

Posted
Posted

FYI - Carnival has a new parking plan in Long Beach, CA on Saturday's (probably because the parking structure is too small)

 

Just got off the Carnival Splendor yesterday (8/11/18).

 

We usually try to get to the port by 11am as parking seems to always be a challenge.

 

This time we arrived at 10:30am on 8/4/18 to find the parking structure entrance closed.

 

We were given a paper with directions to "off site" parking in downtown Long Beach (Pine and 6th) - $12 daily rate and the last shuttle bus was at 11:30am.

 

Our first thought was - could the parking structure already be full??? We were then told we could come back at 11:30 to park in the parking structure (we had a 11:30 check-in time) - I guess the parking spots magically open up at 11:30am!

 

(we did see some cars behind us enter the parking structure - we found out they allow people with handicap placards into the parking structure before 11:30am)

 

I ran into a few people who paid for FTTF and were not happy with the new parking situation...

 

We were told by a parking toll employee on the way out - they are planning to add two levels to the parking structure to accommodate the new ship next year (Carnival Panorama)

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BENHANDEL

BENHANDEL

Posted
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We were told by a parking toll employee on the way out - they are planning to add two levels to the parking structure to accommodate the new ship next year (Carnival Panorama)

 

Any chance "next year" will be before March 2019?

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Linsuesue

Linsuesue

Posted
Posted

Thanks for posting this information. Do you still have the map with the directions to the off site parking? I guess we will just avoid the headache and park off site when we go in September. I need to find out the times the shuttle runs from there and find out if reservations have to be made.

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Moviela

Moviela

Posted
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Long Beach is roasting drivers over the coals with their parking rates. Parking structures are expensive, about $30,000 per space, but the City Council wants a 40% return on investment from day one, and to retire the construction bonds in 10 years.

 

Long Beach is not a poor city. Those little islands you see in the harbor are pumping oil @ $65/barrel. The city oil and gas department earns a profit of $70 million per year when oil was $40/barrel. They need to share a little love with the port passenger facilities. A parking charge of $5/day would be reasonable. Airport parking in Long Beach is only twelve bucks!

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SadieN

SadieN

Posted
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In June the Inspiration was 2 hours late. We arrived at 11 and got stuck in with all those exiting. Usually by 11 the ship is cleared and those pax are long gone. Might have something to do with it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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skrufy

skrufy

Posted
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Glad this is one of the few ports we do not drive to. Last year it looked a little hectic to park there. In a week and a half we will be back and it will nice to just walk over from the Queen Mary. Feel for you So Cals for having such a parking mess.

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bdever

bdever

Posted
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Thanks for the info. I am getting on the Inspiration on Monday morning and although you mentioned this only is for Saturday departures I am very skeptical that the Port of Long Beach is not pulling this crap every single day of the week so I will be prepared for the worst. The upside to this of course is that the off-site parking lot is $5/day less than on-site but still...

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Ak4n3

Ak4n3

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I lost the parking flyer when we boarded for my July 7 cruise. Thank you for uploading it. We also parked offsite on that day because of a summer festival concert at the Queen Mary. Just getting to the parking terminal was a nightmare.

 

So...this will be the norm? The offsite parking was cheaper but parking over there defeats the purpose of just rolling ourselves and our luggage to the ship rather than wait for the shuttle to bring us to port and back.

 

One of the pp mentioned the parking opened up at 11:30-ish and the last shuttle leaves at the same time, maybe we'll drive to the parking lot later. I'll also check all the events schedules at Long Beach when we look for cruise dates. Don't want to be stuck in that traffic again.

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  • 4 months later...
douggw

douggw

Posted
Posted
On 8/12/2018 at 7:01 PM, Linsuesue said:

Thanks for posting this information. Do you still have the map with the directions to the off site parking? I guess we will just avoid the headache and park off site when we go in September. I need to find out the times the shuttle runs from there and find out if reservations have to be made.

 Hi Linsuesue,

Where did you end up parking in September?  We are going end of this month (Jan) and am tempted to just go straight to this offsite area and hope that it's still open and has a shuttle to the ship.

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Linsuesue

Linsuesue

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, douggw said:

 Hi Linsuesue,

Where did you end up parking in September?  We are going end of this month (Jan) and am tempted to just go straight to this offsite area and hope that it's still open and has a shuttle to the ship.

We usually leave early and get to the parking garage by 9:00. We have never had to be in a long line or had any problems. This time we were carpooling and had to leave later. We ended up parking in the parking garage around 11:15, but it was a nightmare! The signage is horrible, and many lanes eventually get squeezed into two- one for drop off and one for parking garage- which will exit left. There is another turn lane to the left that is for Queen Mary parking, and many cars got into that by mistake. There is also a taxi/ tour van operator’s lane on the left that confused people too.  Once they figured out they were headed to the wrong parking, they had to merge back into the other overpacked lanes. There werent any traffic attendants at the beginning of the line to direct anybody so it was a big free for all. At the end of the line, once you are right by the turnoff for the parking garage, there was a traffic attendant yelling at everybody in the wrong lanes. I will NEVER arrive that late again to have to go through that stress for a parking spot. We were on the Splendor so understandably there were more cars. The driver right behind us got into a yelling match with the car next to him. He got out of his car and went right up to the driver’s side window to make his point. I will just stay in a hotel with free parking and shuttle next time! Checking into the offsite parking would be a good idea. I would prefer to just go earlier and even pay for an extra day of parking if we are too early, just to avoid the hassle. 

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douggw

douggw

Posted
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34 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

We usually leave early and get to the parking garage by 9:00. We have never had to be in a long line or had any problems. This time we were carpooling and had to leave later. We ended up parking in the parking garage around 11:15, but it was a nightmare! The signage is horrible, and many lanes eventually get squeezed into two- one for drop off and one for parking garage- which will exit left. There is another turn lane to the left that is for Queen Mary parking, and many cars got into that by mistake. There is also a taxi/ tour van operator’s lane on the left that confused people too.  Once they figured out they were headed to the wrong parking, they had to merge back into the other overpacked lanes. There werent any traffic attendants at the beginning of the line to direct anybody so it was a big free for all. At the end of the line, once you are right by the turnoff for the parking garage, there was a traffic attendant yelling at everybody in the wrong lanes. I will NEVER arrive that late again to have to go through that stress for a parking spot. We were on the Splendor so understandably there were more cars. The driver right behind us got into a yelling match with the car next to him. He got out of his car and went right up to the driver’s side window to make his point. I will just stay in a hotel with free parking and shuttle next time! Checking into the offsite parking would be a good idea. I would prefer to just go earlier and even pay for an extra day of parking if we are too early, just to avoid the hassle. 

 

Wow that sounds horrible!  I'm not so much worried about getting there to park at the pier, as much as I was hoping to pay 1/2 the cost by going to their off site lot.  🙂 

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Linsuesue

Linsuesue

Posted
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Truthfully, before we left, I was checking out the boards for tips and tricks on parking. The only ones that posted about that off site parking place were ones that were turned away  from the port authority garage. I was never clear whether the free shuttle setup from the other garage was only available when the port garage was full?

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douggw

douggw

Posted
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9 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

Truthfully, before we left, I was checking out the boards for tips and tricks on parking. The only ones that posted about that off site parking place were ones that were turned away  from the port authority garage. I was never clear whether the free shuttle setup from the other garage was only available when the port garage was full?

 

That's what I was wondering about as well....and if you have to get there before 11 to get the free shuttle.  There are several garages not far that offer monthly parking for around $25 and some allow overnight parking.  I'm looking into those to see if you can buy just a 1 month pass.   Then the plan would be to drop off rest of the family at the pier, go park, take the free Long Beach bus back (it's only a few miles).

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  • 1 month later...
riffatsea

riffatsea

Posted
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The "nightmare" garage situation is the reason we drive up the day before and stay at the Doubletree Maya hotel near the port. We leave our car there and take the hotel shuttle to and from the port so no need to use the port garage at all! We find the price of the room is about the same as what we'd pay for 7-8 days of parking at the garage but with less hassle.

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