Southampton is £6 or £7 per night, basically £45ish for 7 and £90ish for 14 nights. If you are looking to stay ever the night before cruise, for about £140-£150 you can get a hotel near port entrance which will include 15 nights parking and they will shuttle bus to port.

Never used Dover.

The advantage of the port parking is that you get a quick getaway on the return from your cruise often saving upto an hour over any other option in Southampton.

Also usualy better for arrivals as well but less of an issue since most cruises won't board till around 11:00 so plenty of time in the morning if staying close.

The overnight stay with parking can work well but the prices can be high, also some only provide the shuttle one way so you need a cab to get back and the queues for cabs can be long sometimes.

If travelling a distance and have no real need to be in Southampton then a hotel on the way can work better, split the drive, anything up to 3 hours from Southampton will still get you on the ship for lunch.

Plenty of Travelodges and if booked in advance on a deal can be as low as £10.
There are a few Devere venues, been as low as 10 but often under £30
Over the summer looking a bit higher.
http://www.deverevenues.co.uk/common/room.availability

Holiday inn deals may get you something as well.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1535105

For port parking prices, (many lines include parking on UK bookings).

Southampton.(seems to depend on cruise line)
http://www.abparking.co.uk/
http://www.cruiseparking.co.uk/site/booking/book_01.asp (actualy cruise passenger services)
This is a valet service so even quicker than the ABP option

There are now off site options but when I checked the savings were not enough to outway the convenience of the port parking. I have alos checked the town parking in secure multi story places again not worth the extra.

Dover port
http://sales.doverport.co.uk/acatalog/Book_Parking_Here.html
This is £6.36pd(drive up rates higher).
So if you don't get it included in the cruise it may be worth considering other options.

I have found this place but not used them yet.
http://www.relyongroup.co.uk/
Prices are a lower(£4.50pd min £13.50) so potentialy worth the extra time to get to and from the ship.

They also do an airport service which may be of interest to some

You can use the on-line places like holiday extras to see if they can offer discounts on the direct prices or try to find something better.

hi

Im getting a bit confused as we have to travel from south wales to dover for our xmas cruise on the balmoral, and need to book our car in somewhere and we are travelling up the night before we leave.
Any advice windjammer on the best way to do this please, i dont know where to start

Check with FO they normaly include parking.

If FredOlsen are not giving you parking

Then the first option is
http://sales.doverport.co.uk/acatalog/CRU080203_Fred_21-12-09.html
Canary Islands Christmas and New Year Departing 21/12/2009
Parking is for 16 days for the following cruise: -
Cruise ship: Balmoral
Departing: 21-Dec-2009
Returning: 5-Jan-2010
Itinerary
DOVER - Leixoes - Funchal - Santa Cruz - Valle Gran Rey - San Sebastain - Las Palmas - Arrecife - Santa Cruz - DOVER
Price: £99.80 (Including: VAT at 15%)

the other place will be around £72

For an overnight stop
http://www.maps.google.co.uk
To plan the trip and get estimates of time (3.47)
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=M4&daddr=Dover&geocode=FVg4EgMdFl3O_w%3B&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=51.499339,-3.157196&sspn=0.415485,0.821228&ie=UTF8&z=7

You can then zoom in and see if there are any hotels handy on the way
21st of DEc is a monday so you could consider 2 nights at a holiday in and start the holiday early.

The holiday inn express in Ashford are £30pn so £60 for the Sat and Sun

A bit further away is a holiday inn at Sevenoaks handy for the motorway and has a pool
£37.50pn.
Blue water shopping center is not far.

Once you are past the M4 you are 2hrs from Dover so anywhere will do unless you want to saty in dover.

THe other option is to look for a stay and park.

Thanks windamer some good tips there, iwas thinking of that a stay somewhere where they ferry you to the port and back, do you think that would work out dearer than doing it seperately, and no FO arent giving parking for xmas they never have when we have been with them

I have always prefered the port parking since you can get away quick, for midweek arrival it meant I could be into work so not have to take a day off or home for lunch weekends, with more time(which Iwill have soon) I would look at other options.

Thing is if you don't get the transfers with the accomodation/parking then it is time and taxi with cases, or one of you going to pick up the car add that onto the cost and a cheaper place and parking often works out mor convenient even if a few £ more.

Another option to consider is 2 one way car hires, we did this for Dover once £70 + fuel(which you use anyway), there is a drop of point walking from the port, so you could avoid the parking charge and your car doing a few 100 miles then stay anywhere, drop of the bags and passengers then one of you drops the car off and comes back to check in later.

Never tried for a stay and park package in the dover area and google did not bring up any obvious candidates.

catsmum wrote:

some good tips there, iwas thinking of that a stay somewhere where they ferry you to the port and back, do you think that would work out dearer than doing it seperately, and no FO arent giving parking for xmas they never have when we have been with them :(

If you google "hotels at Dover port" you will be directed to sites offering the Dover Ramada and the cost of a one night stay, with breakfast, and car parking for 15 nights is £152. There are 2 options for parking, one is leave car at hotel and they shuttle you to port but you have to make your own way back (5 miles taxi). The second option is they give you a voucher for the port car park, no idea how close to cruise terminal this might be.

If it were me, I would call Fred Olsen to see if they have any privileged rates for that or any other hotel, to see if you can get the price down a bit.

Travelodge have 2 or 3 places within 15-20 miles of Dover for around £30-£35 excluding breakfast and you then still have to drive to port and pay for parking.

We've just booked a cruise from Southampton. CPS is £71 for a week, I can get offsite through BCP for £46 for the week using Cruise Parking Ltd at Unit H1 Cracknore Industrial Park Harbour Close Cracknore Hard Marchwood Southampton SO40 4ZD .

Has anyone used them?

When we sailed from Dover we stayed the night at the travelodge near Ashford - cheap rates - and drove into Dover the following morning and parked at Relyon parking. It was much cheaper than parking at the port.

Marn and mike.

Thanks for all the tips....we have decided that since i take a wheelchair for port excursions it would be better to use the dover port parking, now i have googled it and got sooooo confused, its doesnt take a lot , could windjammer possibly give me a push in the direction of which company to use, as we dont now want to be far from ship due to off loading luggage, wheelchair and me of course lol.
I think i should be looking to book this fairly soon to be safe i get one.....thanks again for all your help

Mikenmarn ...could you tell me how far your Ashford travelodge was from drive into port, as we may well book that for the night also

Hi.......the travelodge we used was on the M20 Ashford, 23 miles from Dover Port. It is at the Eureka Leisure Park where there are restaurants and a cinema. If you can get one of their cheap deals it is well worth it.

Just remember that you don't have to be on board ship untill the afternoon, so you have plenty of time in the morning.

Marn.

Hi marn

We were looking at the ashford central one its not throwing up eureka leisure center one .....i wondor why

oopsss found it thanks

catsmum wrote:

Thanks for all the tips....we have decided that since i take a wheelchair for port excursions it would be better to use the dover port parking, now i have googled it and got sooooo confused, its doesnt take a lot , could windjammer possibly give me a push in the direction of which company to use, as we dont now want to be far from ship due to off loading luggage, wheelchair and me of course lol.
I think i should be looking to book this fairly soon to be safe i get one.....thanks again for all your help

Mikenmarn ...could you tell me how far your Ashford travelodge was from drive into port, as we may well book that for the night also :)

Sorry missed this request.

I would use the port parking you need the convenience, when you arrive say you are doing drop off first then park. This way you can go right upto the terminal building to drop the bags chair etc. then park the car, it may be next to the ship or might be further away, 5-10min walk back or shuttle.

On return do the same get the car and bring it to the terminal building to load up.

http://sales.doverport.co.uk/acatalog/Book_Parking_Here.html

here is a map (2ships when linked but few cars) of the cruise port, the parking is in the big building on the left and on the dock side.

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.113613,1.317308&spn=0.007153,0.021887&t=h&z=16