Cape Liberty - BEWARE OF PARKING YOUR VEHICLE

I recently returned from a 9 day cruise and found my vehicle covered in small specs of paint. Originally I thought it was pollen, but it is paint. The parking area is located next to a Dry Dock, so when ships are in for repair, paint will find its way onto your vehicle. I am not looking for compensation from them as I know it is not their fault.

People need to be aware of this as no where on the RCCL site, nor when you park your vehicle - $171 for 9 days - does anyone tell you this may happen.

I recently returned from a 9 day cruise and found my vehicle covered in small specs of paint. Originally I thought it was pollen, but it is paint. The parking area is located next to a Dry Dock, so when ships are in for repair, paint will find its way onto your vehicle. I am not looking for compensation from them as I know it is not their fault.

 

People need to be aware of this as no where on the RCCL site, nor when you park your vehicle - $171 for 9 days - does anyone tell you this may happen.

Actually, it IS the fault of the port if they are working on ships - that's called 'overspray' and they should pay to have it remediated. It's covered under your auto insurance's Comprehensive/Other Than Collision provisions (if you have that coverage on your vehicle), if you want to put a claim in against your own policy & have them subrogate.

I would definitely notify the port. Chances are good you're not the only one who sustained damage, and their insurance carrier may already have a procedure in place for resolution.

Hi -- I see you are new to Cruise Critic -- if you will search this board for the word "overspray" you'll come up with many threads on this topic. Mostly they say that the company doing the spraying is paying to have your car detailed -- I would certainly pursue that. Take a look at others' experience and you may find the exact instructions of how to get that done.

If you so search around there is an exact number of the person who to contact regarding this. I think I saw it on the East Coast departures board. If you look there you will find out this info. The dry dock company is paying for all the damage according to the post I had seen just a few days ago. Good luck.

This has been a known issues for at least 5 years. Will the cruise lines tell you? No way.

Scroll down this thread to #3 and you will find the contact info for Bayonne Dry Dock who have apparently been very good about compensation. One would have to assume it is cheaper for them to compensate than to fix the problem.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1146831&highlight=bayonne+damage

BTW, were you parked in one of the 2 lots that are past the cruise check-in facility and closer to the river and the active, working dry dock? Or, were you in one of the 2 narrow parking areas before the check-in?

Now I know where to park if i ever want a new paint job :-)

LOL

j/k

Please file a claim. The only way to fight this is to cost them big $$$$ every time it happens - hit them in the pocketbook.

Yes you can litigate or you can leave your car really dirty and simply wash off everything after you return home.

...you can leave your car really dirty and simply wash off everything after you return home.

This is paint overspray, not dirt. :)

Yes you can litigate or you can leave your car really dirty and simply wash off everything after you return home.

You could also cover your car in masking tape.:rolleyes:

Edit: Langley Cruisers, I think the suggestion was something along the lines of parking your car with a coating of dirt or mud on it; then, all you have to do is run through a car wash to remove the dirt and paint. Maybe there's a market for car condoms.

Can someone explain where the cruise ships dock and where the drydock with the paint spray issue is? When I look at Google Earth, I see the Memorial, see what appears to be the check-in building with a long white section along the road, several parking lot sections, and a ship - not cruise ship - in an enclosed-on-3-sides dock. It doesn't show a cruise ship docked.

I'm not sure what difference it would make if I know where I might park relative to the drydock, but I'd just like to know if I can choose to park further away.

This latest incident just may make up my mind to use a Stay-Park package with trinity or similar. Or are the hotel parking lots just as risky for other reasons :) ?

We stayed at a Country Inn and Suites that was nice enough and our $125. included breakfast, free cruise parking for a week and free shuttle to and from the port. It was called the park and cruise package. They have several packages so be careful what you book. There are many hotels and shopping in the area 15 minutes from the port. The location is Elizabeth, NJ. I've never understood why people park at the port when you can stay at many nearby hotels and leave your car there and shuttle to the cruise. We went in May 2010.

By the way they were right there to pick us up after the cruise. The cost is about the same as parking in the lot with the overspray for a week. We loved our cruise to Bermuda and would do it again on the Summit.

You may have to look on line for prices for the hotels in the Elizabeth area. Looks like the rates have gone up. There are several hotels in the same area, check the rates on line.

I just had the same issue while parking at Cape Liberty. Small gray paint dots all over my car. I had the car detailed but it did not get the paint off. I am pursuing other options, and have already been in touch with Bayonne Drydock about the issue. I will never leave my car in that lot again should I ever decide to cruise out of Cape Liberty in the future.

Maybe it would be cheaper for them to hand out car covers... :eek:

Is there any way to determine if a ship will be in Bayonne Drydock during certain sailing dates, or even better, if they will be painting during that time?

They have a website (http://www.bayonnedrydock.com/bayonne.html), but I couldn't find a schedule. There are email addresses to contact the various department managers, but I'm not in-your-face enough to try that. Perhaps Royal Caribbean could at least obtain the schedule for the benefit of the cruisers.

I agree with this comment on another thread by EmJake's Bubbie:

Mostly, I'm aggravated that this lovely cruise experience is being tarnished by the parking situation. We had intended to park at the pier, until recent reviews reported negative experiences.

Guess we're spoiled by Baltimore, but we'll adjust.

While I don't think it is RCI's responsibility in a legal sense, it IS their responsibility to look out for their passengers as best they can. I don't think they've done enough, since most people will use "their" parking lot - the only one readily available - unaware of the potential problem.

The cruise lines take absolutely no responsibility at all for the damages done to the cars.

My car was damaged in 2009. Bayonne Dry Dock paid for all the damages but still you should not have to come home from a 2 week vacation and find your car damaged.

I would not park there again.

The cruise lines take absolutely no responsibility at all for the damages done to the cars.

 

My car was damaged in 2009. Bayonne Dry Dock paid for all the damages but still you should not have to come home from a 2 week vacation and find your car damaged.

 

I would not park there again.

I remember when you had that problem with the paint over spray. At that time I suggested that RCI should advocate for their passengers. They should insist that the parking be moved to the other side of the passenger terminal, as it once was. It's far away from the drydock and therefore, there are no over spray problems.

At that time, the RCI loyalists/cheerleaders jumped all over me.

Check out park2go.com. I am going to try parking there in about a week. Cheaper and supposedly more secure.

Check out park2go.com. I am going to try parking there in about a week. Cheaper and supposedly more secure.

When you return please post a review of your parking experience on the east coast departures board.

East Coast Departures - Cruise Critic Message Boards

Can someone explain where the cruise ships dock and where the drydock with the paint spray issue is? When I look at Google Earth, I see the Memorial, see what appears to be the check-in building with a long white section along the road, several parking lot sections, and a ship - not cruise ship - in an enclosed-on-3-sides dock. It doesn't show a cruise ship docked.

 

I'm not sure what difference it would make if I know where I might park relative to the drydock, but I'd just like to know if I can choose to park further away.

The parking is in the two lots to the right (East) of the building with the long white tent (which is the cruise terminal baggage receiving area). The drydock is the ship that you saw. Google Maps/Earth didn't capture a cruise ship in dock, but it docks just to the West (left) of the memorial on the North (top) of the pier. Shuttle buses run you from the terminal building to the ship.

Central Parking is the name of the company who runs the port parking so you can also contact them to handle any claims. I apologize if this was mentioned already!

CB

We just returned from a 7 nighter on the Summit out of Bayonne. Parking was limited to two lots between the terminal building and the end of the pier - although someone reported that they used to use the lots on the far end of the terminal building. I think it's the luck of the draw on leaving your car parked when a ship is being painted. We parked as close to the terminal building and the side of the dock where the cruise ships dock as we could. Also bought a car cover. Came back and did not see any signs of paint on the cover. Other options are to check the sites promoting stay and cruise hotels with parking - might be less expensive than the parking lot as well, albeit not as convenient.

j

Is anyone reporting another instance of paint overspray at Cape Liberty parking since the last reports on this board in late May?

Or has anyone heard of any action taken by the port or shipyard in response to that incident?

We parked at the port the week of June 12. We bought a car cover at Walmart for $25.00 to cover our car. Didn't notice any paint on cover but it did give us peace of mind while on our cruise. ;)