Cruise parking v overnight stay

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, john watson said:

 

I went camping once and parked in a farmer's field.  In the morning I found cows licking the car with their raspy tongues removing paint.

 

Regards John

Oh dear. They’ll lick anything if they get half a chance. Did they take a fancy to the tent as well?! 

[majortom10]

6 hours ago, NewWestwardbound said:

AB Parking Southampton, for RCCL; Celebrity; Fred Olsen; Norwegian; MSC and SAGA 

I was responding to somebody who had booked Iona with P&O and was asking about parking at the docks which you cannot do with them. You cannot book ABP parking when you cruise with P&O.

[Mim Lloyd]

On 1/7/2021 at 11:35 PM, Ardennais said:

I’m intrigued. What sort of bad experiences have people had?

The first time we used a valet parking service, we were outside of the terminal at 1.45am and despite many phone calls they didn't turn up with the car until nearly 3.30am. The car was a 1 year old Range Rover so not a cheap banger. It was filthy and the front seats soaking wet and full of wet leaves, bits of twigs etc. We had to sit on plastic carrier bags as we didn't have anything to hand to clean them. They said we must have left one of the front windows open. I pointed out that we hadn't left a window open and it was THEM who took our keys and drove it away to be parked somewhere, they obviously didn't check the car was secure. And the alarm was broken when we knew it was perfectly fine when we handed the car over. After a lot of hassle we did get our money back. A couple of years later we used a different company. The car seemed to be okay until we got home and my husband realised that there was nearly 200 miles extra on the clock, and then he got an unpaid speed camera ticket bill through the post dated from when we were in the US! Again, we eventually got a full refund and free voucher for a future booking (which we didn't use), but you can do without hassle like this. 

[Son of Anarchy]

2 hours ago, Mim Lloyd said:

The first time we used a valet parking service, we were outside of the terminal at 1.45am and despite many phone calls they didn't turn up with the car until nearly 3.30am. The car was a 1 year old Range Rover so not a cheap banger. It was filthy and the front seats soaking wet and full of wet leaves, bits of twigs etc. We had to sit on plastic carrier bags as we didn't have anything to hand to clean them. They said we must have left one of the front windows open. I pointed out that we hadn't left a window open and it was THEM who took our keys and drove it away to be parked somewhere, they obviously didn't check the car was secure. And the alarm was broken when we knew it was perfectly fine when we handed the car over. After a lot of hassle we did get our money back. A couple of years later we used a different company. The car seemed to be okay until we got home and my husband realised that there was nearly 200 miles extra on the clock, and then he got an unpaid speed camera ticket bill through the post dated from when we were in the US! Again, we eventually got a full refund and free voucher for a future booking (which we didn't use), but you can do without hassle like this. 

I can certainly see why you don't want valet parking or leaving your keys with the parking company.  Last time we used Parking4Cruises they took digital photos of the car and noted the mileage on our copy of the paperwork.

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

I can certainly see why you don't want valet parking or leaving your keys with the parking company.  Last time we used Parking4Cruises they took digital photos of the car and noted the mileage on our copy of the paperwork.

Which is our experience as well.

We have used various valet services at airports, and in all honesty, we have been slightly embarrassed when the guys have taken loads of photos of our £8k car, which we couldn't care less about, and then some guy behind us with a Beemer wants every single inch of his car photographed!

For goodness sake - its just a car.  Why do people get so wound up about letting someone else drive it?

[Son of Anarchy]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Which is our experience as well.

We have used various valet services at airports, and in all honesty, we have been slightly embarrassed when the guys have taken loads of photos of our £8k car, which we couldn't care less about, and then some guy behind us with a Beemer wants every single inch of his car photographed!

For goodness sake - its just a car.  Why do people get so wound up about letting someone else drive it?

A valet parking company we've used at LGW won't accept Bentleys, Rollers or Astons.  Funnily enough one of my mates owned a Bentley a few years back - it cost him £4,500!

[Mim Lloyd]

19 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

I can certainly see why you don't want valet parking or leaving your keys with the parking company.  Last time we used Parking4Cruises they took digital photos of the car and noted the mileage on our copy of the paperwork.

That sounds reassuring. I'll look into them. Do you know whether there is any advantage to booking the car parking early rather than wait until nearer the time?

[Son of Anarchy]

2 hours ago, Mim Lloyd said:

That sounds reassuring. I'll look into them. Do you know whether there is any advantage to booking the car parking early rather than wait until nearer the time?

In the past we've booked our parking fairly soon after booking the cruise, which has sometimes been at launch, mainly to tick something else off on the to do list.  Also I do want to make sure we get a place with them, though I don't know whether they have a maximum number of cars they can accept.

 

This time though, we'll probably wait until about six months before.

[Mim Lloyd]

Thanks!

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Mim Lloyd said:

That sounds reassuring. I'll look into them. Do you know whether there is any advantage to booking the car parking early rather than wait until nearer the time?

Their prices seem fairly stable throughout, but we tend to book at least 6 months in advance, under normal circumstances.

[john watson]

On 1/10/2021 at 11:24 PM, wowzz said:

 

For goodness sake - its just a car.  Why do people get so wound up about letting someone else drive it?

 

People are funny when it comes to their cars.  What about Lord Brocket and the £4,500,000 Bird Cage that mysteriously disappeared?

 

Regards John

[john watson]

On 1/10/2021 at 10:46 AM, Ardennais said:

Oh dear. They’ll lick anything if they get half a chance. Did they take a fancy to the tent as well?! 

 

This was a scout camp with a number of tents, a few cars from leaders and parents parked in the field which was huge and did not contain cows in the evening.  They were there in the morning.

 

Regards John