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What to do with Car for a Longer Cruise

tring

By tring,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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tring

tring

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thinking of doing a one month cruise and not sure whether to take P&O's parking as we would be travelling from the north of England.  I know there are also alternative car parks which may work out cheaper for that amount of time and we have used one in Marchwood.  We have also on occasion used the Baggage Handling Company for our biggest case and then travelled down by train with the rest of the luggage, but always feel a bit wary of whether the case will turn up at the ship and they did miss a pick up once, so lucky we were able to sort that before we left home.  We always stay in a hotel in or near Southampton on the night before the cruise.

 

Just thinking the view of regular P&O cruisers would be useful, so any comments would be appreciated.

Edited by tring
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terrierjohn

terrierjohn

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, tring said:

Thinking of doing a one month cruise and not sure whether to take P&O's parking as we would be travelling from the north of England.  I know there are also alternative car parks which may work out cheaper for that amount of time and we have used one in Marchwood.  We have also on occasion used the Baggage Handling Company for our biggest case and then travelled down by train with the rest of the luggage, but always feel a bit wary of whether the case will turn up at the ship and they did miss a pick up once, so lucky we were able to sort that before we left home.  We always stay in a hotel in or near Southampton on the night before the cruise.

 

Just thinking the view of regular P&O cruisers would be useful, so any comments would be appreciated.

We now always use parking4cruises which provides the same service for much less, especially on long cruises.

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BrianI

BrianI

Posted
Posted

One option would be to leave your car at home and use a one way car hire each way. This probably works out cheaper than paying for car parking.

Enterprise have some good rates and they have a depot at gate 8. They will give you a lift to whichever terminal you are sailing from. Best to drop off your main luggage first.

We did this on a three week cruise and it worked out very well.

Brian

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wowzz

wowzz

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, BrianI said:

One option would be to leave your car at home and use a one way car hire each way. This probably works out cheaper than paying for car parking.

Enterprise have some good rates and they have a depot at gate 8. They will give you a lift to whichever terminal you are sailing from. Best to drop off your main luggage first.

We did this on a three week cruise and it worked out very well.

Brian

I thought this sounded like a good idea, but the cost to me for two car hire rentals periods of one day each, smallest and cheapest car available, was over £220. 5 weeks parking with Parking4cruises is £60 cheaper than this, so I'll probably give this suggestion a miss.

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daiB

daiB

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, tring said:

Thanks for the replies, will look at the options suggested.

We have used the baggage handling company more than 20 times now. They are great. The way to do it is to say you only want their van and driver. Do not use a courier. It sometimes means you have to send the luggage slightly earlier but it works.

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Les_ldh

Les_ldh

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, Lizzyanne said:

Hi from Tynemouth! Do they give you the option of their own van and driver or a courier when you book or is it something that you have to specify otherwise you could end up with either? I am thinking of using them next time.

I used them last year from North Shields. They only gave me the option of one date for their own van, which was no good to me as I was working on that day, so I had no option but to use the courier. Everything went very smoothly and I intend to use them for all future cruises. I have no hesitation in recommending them.

Les.

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wowzz

wowzz

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

We are doing a 28 night cruise soon. Staying in the Mercure Dolphin the night before and 29 nights parking.... £245😀

Used them before, good start to the holiday. 

Whilst I appreciate that the hotel is not of the same quality as the MD, a combination of a Premier Inn and Parking4cruises would be considerably cheaper.

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Lizzyanne

Lizzyanne

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Les_ldh said:

I used them last year from North Shields. They only gave me the option of one date for their own van, which was no good to me as I was working on that day, so I had no option but to use the courier. Everything went very smoothly and I intend to use them for all future cruises. I have no hesitation in recommending them.

Les.

Thanks, It is good to hear from someone that has used them.

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amajaa

amajaa

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes, it's  normally free coach or free parking or obc. 


 

Thanks, Yes I know, we currently have 4 with coach travel booked. I was actually asking the OP if that was an option for them.

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tring

tring

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Posted (edited)

Thanks for those extra replies.  We are aware of the coach option, but heading off somewhere to pick up a coach at some unearthly hour (I have seen 6 am pick up mentioned somewhere) is not to our liking, though I do know people who prefer that.  We like to go down the day before and have a good rest before being able to go to the port in a leisurely fashion.

 

We have done hotel and parking at The Holiday Inn by the port previously and may look into that one again.  We had been able to get the hotel room on points and just pay for the parking and their rates were good when we did that about 3 -4 years ago.  Had forgotten about that option.

 

When we last used The Baggage Handling Company (about 3 years ago) they were using couriers for some parts of the country (including ours), but I think there was mention of doing more transfers themselves, so may depend on location, though TBH things could still go wrong with their own transfer.  Our problem on one occasion was that we had arranged pick up for the Friday before a bank holiday, but the phone number to the BHC was only operational in working hours (Mon -Fri).  We had been assured before their lines closed that the pick up was to in place for later in the day as there had been some sort of problem.  It still did not happen, so luckily we were able to find a phone number for the local depot for the named courier and sorted it with them directly - they did a late collection for us.  No thanks to the BHC though.  A complaint to them afterwards was met with the information that, although they do not pick up phone calls out of hours, they do monitor emails, which they would have picked up - no mention of that earlier though and the person I spoke to seemed pretty blase about it!!  We always arrange collection a couple of days before we go, but as it was a bank holiday we would have been totally snookered if we could not contact until the following Tuesday.  BHC can be a good option though, even with a courier collection.  Perhaps we could ask for collection much earlier.....

 

Thanks again for sharing your experiences - will have a think about it and a bit more investigation regards hotels + BHC.    

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Carey's Manor (4star hotel ) In the New Forest gives you 4 weeks parking  B&B and taxi for £245,  taxi takes 25 mins Maximum . Brokenhurst is a lovely village. To be recommended if you can arrive early afternoon and enjoy surroundings. 

It should take 25 minutes, but I have just sat on the Millbrook bypass for over an hour, so bear in mind the ridiculous amount of roadworks around Southampton at the minute. 

Brockenhurst is lovely, as are most of the villages in the Forest. 

Andy 

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wowzz

wowzz

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Posted

Call me stupid, but after driving 200 miles,  I'm going to stay in a hotel in Southampton itself, rather than one miles away! Seems counter intuitive not to be within 10 minutes of the cruise terminal after driving for 4 or 5 hours!

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Windsurfboy Great Review Rare

Windsurfboy

Posted
Posted

Carey's Manor (4star hotel ) In the New Forest gives you 4 weeks parking  B&B and taxi for £245,  taxi takes 25 mins Maximum . Brokenhurst is a lovely village. To be recommended if you can arrive early afternoon and enjoy surroundings. 

 

 

Only trying to be helpful 

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
57 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Carey's Manor (4star hotel ) In the New Forest gives you 4 weeks parking  B&B and taxi for £245,  taxi takes 25 mins Maximum . Brokenhurst is a lovely village. To be recommended if you can arrive early afternoon and enjoy surroundings. 

 

 

Only trying to be helpful 

It's very helpful and a lovely place. 

I didn't mean to wee on your chips... 😊

I am just sick of the traffic round here at the moment and would hate anyone to miss their cruise because of it. 

Andy

 

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