Park and Cruise or Parking at Port?

We will be going on our first cruise on the Magic in June. We will be staying overnight at a hotel on Friday night and our cruise leaves on Saturday. Trying to decide whether to do the park and cruise that some of the area hotels offer or just pay to park directly at the port. Cost is pretty much the same. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. :):):)

the last time we did park and cruise it was terrible.. there were a couple of hundred cruisers staying at the same hotel so we had to wait for the 3rd bus to pick us up and take us to the ship...which I could handle that, but catching the bus after the cruise was over was a nightmare, people pushing and shoving to get on the bus first... and sitting in the hot sun with your luggage waiting for the 2nd and 3rd bus was terrible..... will never do that again.. will park at the port and walk to my car after the cruise is over..

We will be going on our first cruise on the Magic in June. We will be staying overnight at a hotel on Friday night and our cruise leaves on Saturday. Trying to decide whether to do the park and cruise that some of the area hotels offer or just pay to park directly at the port. Cost is pretty much the same. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. :):):)

We have done the park at the terminal option with NCL. Worked out great both times. This May we will be going out on the Sunshine so will try that parking terminal for Carnival. If no issues then I feel this is the best option as you can make the embarkment and disembarkation at your own pace.

If the price is similar we would certainly choose to park at the port. Agree with Canton Cruiser - when hotels provide 'park and cruise' there are so many people trying to get on and off the shuttle, plus the shuttle driver has all of the luggage to deal with, that is is much more relaxing to part at port and take care of yourself and your own luggage.

We always do park and cruise out of galveston and never have any issues. It is a slightly longer wait getting back to the car, but worth it for us. The price we pay for the hotel is about the same as parking would be, so we basically get the hotel the night before for free.

I have done a stay, park and cruise option on probably 50 plus cruises at multiple ports. It has usually worked out fine. Occasionally there has been a wait for the shuttle at on end or the other, but most of the time I have been quite satisfied with the service.

How about the cheaper options like Lots of Honor, Park N Cruise or Park Port Canaveral? How is the shuttle to those? We have a 11:30 - 12:00 check in so I assume it will not be a long line to get to the terminal or so I hope.

I agree with most of the posters - if the price is comparable, I would park at the port. We did a park and cruise once and didn't have any issues but it was much cheaper than the price of a hotel room and parking at the port to do the park and cruise. If it wouldn't have been, we would've parked at the port for the convenience of having our car there instead of dealing with shuttles once you're off the boat.

If you're talking about Port Canaveral, and I think that's what I read, there is a parking service named "Park N Cruise", that is truly excellent, and about 1/2 the price of parking at the port. I've used their service many, many times, and never had a problem. Their shuttle service is well run, and you usually have the choice of "self parking", or letting them park your vehicle, and have it ready for you, at the spot where the shuttle drops you, upon return. Easy to find, and close to the port.

"SKY"