Port Imperial Parking - Safe? Experiences?

I have done a lot of research on these boards and I am pretty sure I would like to park at Port Imperial - take the ferry over and then walk to the Manhattan terminal. I have contacted Port Imperial parking and have verified that it is $16 per day to park there but my question is - is it safe to leave your car at that lot?

My main concern is that I will get off a 7 day cruise and get to a car that has been vandalized/broken in to and my $16 per day will cost me a $500 deductible.

I see a lot of people who suggest this parking arrangement but no one who has actually done it. Is there anyone out there who can attest to this parking arrangement? How did it work for you? What would you do differently?

Any tips or information would be helpful. TIA

We stayed at a hotel just up the road from Port Imperial which had free parking and shuttle to Port Imperial. It seemed like a fairly safe area. The water taxi ride over the river and back was relatively short and the walk to the pier, even with our luggage, was not a bad walk. I considered parking at the Port for our cruise this fall, but I think we'll opt for parking at the pier instead. My reasons are; the weather could be crappy and walking in the rain with luggage can't be fun, I figure we'd lose about an hour after our cruise by the time we walked, waited for the water taxi, and the actual ride itself. We have about a 7 hour drive, so I'd like to get in my car and head home. Hope this helps.

Phil B (aka fillbee)

Thank you for your help! It was great to get some idea of what we are going to do. I am pretty sure we will be parking at the Port and then taking the ferry to the Pier. There will only be 1 piece of luggage so I can not imagine it will be that bad of a walk. Plus we are going to be making the walk in July so the weather should not be that bad.

Again, I appreciate your candid response and I hope that this thread helps anyone who is trying to save some money by not parking at the Port of Manhattan and paying $40 per day!

Im thinking of doing the same for my aug 12 cruise would like to hear from someone who has done it too

Here's a recent post from someone who parked there.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46595101&postcount=1

Although I have not done it...I prefer to park at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal for sake of convenience, I've never read any negative comments about parking at Port Imperial.

just back yesterday from a 8 day new York cruise and parked at port imperial. it was 16 dollars a day and could park anywhere in the garage. It was safe and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to save a few dollars on parking.

just back yesterday from a 8 day new York cruise and parked at port imperial. it was 16 dollars a day and could park anywhere in the garage. It was safe and would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to save a few dollars on parking.

Thanks for reporting back! Can you tell us your experience with luggage on the ferry and how you got to the Manhattan Cruise terminal?

luggage was fine on the ferry just sat in the front row and had it right in front of us. We walked to the cruise port it was about half a mile. They had free bus to get you closer but my wife over packs and wasn't sure if the luggage would fit on bus so we walked. It was easy maybe took us 15 minutes.