Southampton parking

[alallallan]

Travelling with P&O in July, 2 weeks cruise, any tips or deals does anyone know of for parking my car, just 2 of us travelling 

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

Many people on here suggest parking at West Quay.  If you do go down that route, check which cruise terminal, especially if you are leaving from Mayflower as it is not a short walk.  I dropped my son off yesterday as he is off on Ventura and there were a few people doing this but having that "are we there yet?" look.

 

In the event of a rare hot summers day, you don't want to be getting too hot and sweaty so I would suggest going to the West Quay taxi rank and paying a few quid extra for the short drive. 

[david63]

Bear in mind that with less than a month to go your options may be somewhat limited as some parking may be fully booked.

 

The two main parking companies at the terminal are CPS and Parking 4 Cruises both have good recommendations from others using this forum.

[waddle]

We have used Penguin Parking, worked very well. Easy to drop the car off and then just a short bus ride to the pier

[Harryjacobs]

We have used West Quay twice with no issues.  Once with Ocean terminal and once with Mayflower. 

On both occasions we drove to the terminals and dropped off the baggage then parked up.  Ocean is about 20 mins walk and mayflower was about 25 minutes walk.

Taxi back on return was £6 from both terminals

[Cloudyrain]

We have booked Portside Meet and Greet via Holiday Extras and they have been great and a good price: there are several dodgy companies with similar names, so it's worth using a bigger name or going through someone like Holiday Extras.

 

CPS is good but pricey and often booked out early. 
 

You can also park at the airport or a hotel and get a taxi.

Edited June 13 by Cloudyrain

[LittleTinker]

On 6/12/2024 at 10:29 AM, alallallan said:

Travelling with P&O in July, 2 weeks cruise, any tips or deals does anyone know of for parking my car, just 2 of us travelling 

Parking 4 cruises hands down the best.

Whist everyone is queuing for CPS, we;re in our car and away

[AchileLauro]

14 minutes ago, LittleTinker said:

Parking 4 cruises hands down the best.

Whist everyone is queuing for CPS, we;re in our car and away

Assuming your talking about collecting your keys when returning I can't say we've ever had any delays. I load the cases into the car using my set of keys while my wife collects the keys left with CPS. By the time I've loaded the cases she has returned and we are away. We always take two keys for the car when travelling just in case one set is lost and we wouldn't want to be stranded and locked out of the car some distance from home.

 

Regarding parking in West Quay, we did this in May this year. Departed from QE2 terminal and returned to Mayflower. Taxis each way £8.50. It worked out quite well, perhaps not as convenient as CPS but cheaper.

[TigerB]

33 minutes ago, LittleTinker said:

Parking 4 cruises hands down the best.

Whist everyone is queuing for CPS, we;re in our car and away

 

Just like @AchileLauro, we've never experienced a queue at the CPS office.

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, TigerB said:

 

Just like @AchileLauro, we've never experienced a queue at the CPS office.

No but the queue to join the drop off queue can be very long.

[AchileLauro]

39 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

No but the queue to join the drop off queue can be very long.

Only ever had that with Iona (we will never cruise on her or any of the other very large ships again).

[david63]

8 minutes ago, AchileLauro said:

Only ever had that with Iona (we will never cruise on her or any of the other very large ships again).

I think that it can depend on the time that you arrive but I would agree with @terrierjohn that there can be some lengthy queues to drop cars off sometimes, but never with P4C.

 

I have seen cars in the CPS queue still there after I have dropped off the luggage, taken the car to the P4C car park and walked back.

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

No but the queue to join the drop off queue can be very long.

 

That's correct, but @LittleTinker was referring to the queue to collect at the end of the cruise.

 

Personally, we would use P4C, or Triangle at a push, every time and only CPS if we had a Select fare.

[JohnCoffield]

2 hours ago, AchileLauro said:

Assuming your talking about collecting your keys when returning I can't say we've ever had any delays. I load the cases into the car using my set of keys while my wife collects the keys left with CPS. By the time I've loaded the cases she has returned and we are away. We always take two keys for the car when travelling just in case one set is lost and we wouldn't want to be stranded and locked out of the car some distance from home.

 

Regarding parking in West Quay, we did this in May this year. Departed from QE2 terminal and returned to Mayflower. Taxis each way £8.50. It worked out quite well, perhaps not as convenient as CPS but cheaper.

Do you mean West Quay multi storey car park?

[LittleTinker]

12 minutes ago, JohnCoffield said:

Do you mean West Quay multi storey car park?

We were talking about Parking 4 Cruises which is much quieter with no queues on pick up.

Literally off the ship and the car is right there

[9265359]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

the queue to join the drop off queue can be very long.

 

Never seen a queue to drop off whenever I have used CPS, and never seen a queue to pick up the keys either.

 

I suppose they might happen, but they never have been at the times I have been there.

[terrierjohn]

6 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

That's correct, but @LittleTinker was referring to the queue to collect at the end of the cruise.

I knew that, but I was adding my twopennorth to give a more rounded view of the CPS experience.

[Ardennais]

14 hours ago, LittleTinker said:

Parking 4 cruises hands down the best.

Whist everyone is queuing for CPS, we;re in our car and away

I’ll be putting that to the test shortly as we’ve booked P4C for the first time. We’ve never had to wait with CPS, pre-cruise or when returning so P4C will to be super amazing to give us even better service! Price is the only reason for trying them out as it’s a Princess cruise and parking isn’t included. 

[Harryjacobs]

10 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

Never seen a queue to drop off whenever I have used CPS, and never seen a queue to pick up the keys either.

 

I suppose they might happen, but they never have been at the times I have been there.

I have been in a 40 minute queue for CPS dropoff.  You get put in a funny holding pattern that loops around the road.

[tring]

5 hours ago, Harryjacobs said:

I have been in a 40 minute queue for CPS dropoff.  You get put in a funny holding pattern that loops around the road.

 

That is a long time, can I please ask what time of day that was?  near the start of embarkation, or later?

 

we have not had any long waits for CPS, but do not always use them a lot.  We decide on a cruise by cruise basis, depending on how much OBC we get as an alternative.

 

 

[9265359]

8 hours ago, Harryjacobs said:

I have been in a 40 minute queue for CPS dropoff.  You get put in a funny holding pattern that loops around the road.

 

As before, never seen a queue at all, so a 40 minute queue must mean something exceptional had gone wrong.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Used cps before for P&O and ABP for Royal. Nice and simple for both cruises. Arrived at the designated time and never had an issue with queues. Always nice to get off ship and 5 min walk to car. 

My sister parked in west Quay yes its cheaper but it was peeing down with rain and she walked to the teminal as couldnt get an uber or taxi..they obvs were soaked. 

 

Yes they are more expensive then a multi storey carpark but IMO less hassle tbh.

 

Have just booked ABP for July 2025 for a Royal cruise and was £125 for 9 nights. So yes more then the multistorey but easier for the family and time. 

 

 

[Harryjacobs]

18 hours ago, tring said:

 

That is a long time, can I please ask what time of day that was?  near the start of embarkation, or later?

 

we have not had any long waits for CPS, but do not always use them a lot.  We decide on a cruise by cruise basis, depending on how much OBC we get as an alternative.

 

 

2.45pm for a 3pm embarkation.

[F-s Islander]

we've just got back after using Parking 4 Cruises and they were excellent in every way. We have previously used CPS but they have either been fully booked or much more expensive. They were nearly double the price and I don't see you get anything else for your money. Parking4 cruises were in constant contact, did everything they promised and were really friendly. 

CPS was just a very rushed, get them through quickly operation.

Have also used Park on my drive which worked well

[Ardennais]

5 hours ago, F-s Islander said:

we've just got back after using Parking 4 Cruises and they were excellent in every way. We have previously used CPS but they have either been fully booked or much more expensive. They were nearly double the price and I don't see you get anything else for your money. Parking4 cruises were in constant contact, did everything they promised and were really friendly. 

CPS was just a very rushed, get them through quickly operation.

Have also used Park on my drive which worked well

Good to hear that! Did they actually text you first on the day of the cruise?