I just returned from my first cruise out of the Port of Miami and had booked a reservation at safecruiseparking.com after researching alternate parking to the Port of Miami. I was willing to take a gamble to get some cheaper parking vs. paying the $20 / day at the port.
I put the address from the website in my GPS after arriving in the Miami area. As I followed the directions I started becoming uneasy of the area where my GPS was leading me. :confused:
As with most large cities there are good areas and bad areas - this particular lot qualifies in my mind as a bad area. My reason for writing isn't to persuade people to not park here but to just simply provide information so they can make their own decision.
It is a parking lot under the expressway and it does have an iron fence surrounding it. As I drove down the street I slowed down and looked at the parking lot but my wife was too nervous to actually pull in due to the surrounding neighborhood. They may have a security guard and large fence but it wasn't enough to persuade me to park there with my wife and two children under the age of 10. Perhaps I was being too cautious but it just didn't seem worth the gamble anymore after viewing it and the surrounding area even though I had prepaid a non-refundable fee for 4 nights. In my mind it was worth it to loose the prepaid fee of $7.99 / day and pay the $20 / day fee at the port if that says anything. It was just my gut feeling at the time. There were plenty of cars parked there so I assume it would be ok but it didn't pass my own "peace of mind" threshold.
After returning home I checked my CC statement and found out not only had my account been charged for the $7.99 / day fee but there was also a 2nd "mystery" charge for the same day for the same paypal/company account for $102. I of course have called my CC company to object to the 2nd $102 fee but am willing to take the loss for the fee I agreed to for $7.99/night according to their terms. This in my mind is now puts this company in a bad light and I won't use them in the future but that is just me and my experience.
If you are really curious about the surrounding area before you book you can put their address into google maps and then to a street view of the surrounding streets to get an idea of the area. I wish I had done that initially vs. after the fact - it appears to be light industrial/warehouse type area with some housing complexes scattered around. It was the people wandering the street randomly yelling and peering at us as we went through the stop signs and stop lights that likely put us on edge more than the actual location.
Safe Cruise Parking-Miami
in Florida Departures
Posted · Edited by dpearso5
Hi Everyone,
I just returned from my first cruise out of the Port of Miami and had booked a reservation at safecruiseparking.com after researching alternate parking to the Port of Miami. I was willing to take a gamble to get some cheaper parking vs. paying the $20 / day at the port.
I put the address from the website in my GPS after arriving in the Miami area. As I followed the directions I started becoming uneasy of the area where my GPS was leading me. :confused:
As with most large cities there are good areas and bad areas - this particular lot qualifies in my mind as a bad area. My reason for writing isn't to persuade people to not park here but to just simply provide information so they can make their own decision.
It is a parking lot under the expressway and it does have an iron fence surrounding it. As I drove down the street I slowed down and looked at the parking lot but my wife was too nervous to actually pull in due to the surrounding neighborhood. They may have a security guard and large fence but it wasn't enough to persuade me to park there with my wife and two children under the age of 10. Perhaps I was being too cautious but it just didn't seem worth the gamble anymore after viewing it and the surrounding area even though I had prepaid a non-refundable fee for 4 nights. In my mind it was worth it to loose the prepaid fee of $7.99 / day and pay the $20 / day fee at the port if that says anything. It was just my gut feeling at the time. There were plenty of cars parked there so I assume it would be ok but it didn't pass my own "peace of mind" threshold.
After returning home I checked my CC statement and found out not only had my account been charged for the $7.99 / day fee but there was also a 2nd "mystery" charge for the same day for the same paypal/company account for $102. I of course have called my CC company to object to the 2nd $102 fee but am willing to take the loss for the fee I agreed to for $7.99/night according to their terms. This in my mind is now puts this company in a bad light and I won't use them in the future but that is just me and my experience.
If you are really curious about the surrounding area before you book you can put their address into google maps and then to a street view of the surrounding streets to get an idea of the area. I wish I had done that initially vs. after the fact - it appears to be light industrial/warehouse type area with some housing complexes scattered around. It was the people wandering the street randomly yelling and peering at us as we went through the stop signs and stop lights that likely put us on edge more than the actual location.
Happy cruising everyone.