How long should be allowed to drop off car at CPS

[Bill Y]

Are there currently queues to drop off car for CPS at Mayflower?

 

Not used CPS before, used to be able to find cheaper alternatives but not this time. Last year or before heard reports on CC of long queues to drop off cars. This Saturday is likely to be busy for CPS, as a well as Ventura, Iona and Sky Princes are turning around. So can someone who has used them recently please advise how long should I allow?

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Bill Y

[tring]

We are boarding Arcadia at Mayflower on the 6th June, so thinking the same ourselves. I have not seen any really big queues out of there for a later embarkation, so thinking of allowing about 15 minutes.  Would be good to see what experiences have been in the last few months though. 

[mercury7289]

29 minutes ago, Bill Y said:

Are there currently queues to drop off car for CPS at Mayflower?

 

Not used CPS before, used to be able to find cheaper alternatives but not this time. Last year or before heard reports on CC of long queues to drop off cars. This Saturday is likely to be busy for CPS, as a well as Ventura, Iona and Sky Princes are turning around. So can someone who has used them recently please advise how long should I allow?

 

 

We were on  Aurora R307 Baltics,turn up on time, not a great problem.

[david63]

There are several variables that can affect this on the day so I doubt that there is a definitive answwer but from what I have seen (don't use CPS - too expensive) I would say from arrival in the queue to handing your car over will be around 15 minutes.

[Josy1953]

We have always used CPS and have never been in long queue, the longest waiting time has been around 10 to15 minutes.  They have a number of agents who walk along the lines of cars and take photos of the car and then give you a receipt for your keys that you will need when you disembark and to reclaim you keys and find out where on the car park your is.

[Guest ccpm]

I would agree but just to add this is from when you actually join the CPS queue at the terminal. Before that you need to traverse Southampton and that can be a very different experience. My longest time has been 2.5 hours (absolutely do not know why the jams) to last time 4 weeks ago when it took 20 minutes. That was from leaving I think the M27.

[david63]

15 minutes ago, ccpm said:

I would agree but just to add this is from when you actually join the CPS queue at the terminal. Before that you need to traverse Southampton and that can be a very different experience. My longest time has been 2.5 hours (absolutely do not know why the jams) to last time 4 weeks ago when it took 20 minutes. That was from leaving I think the M27.

A tip to avoid most of that if you are departing from Mayflower terminal is to use dock gate 20 rather than the recommended dock gate 10

[Bill Y]

Thanks to all that replied. 15 mins I consider a normal time to allow but tales of long queues was worrying, was that up to an hour or greater an hour etc. So I am glad that I don’t need to add an extra hour then spend that time queuing outside the terminal.

 

When we booked this cruise I thought that I could obtain parking for 14nts cheaper than the £120 OBC, so took the OBC. In Jan after paying the balance I was shocked to find the cost had risen so much since we last booked in 2018 and that many operators had already sold out. So rather than risk an operator that just had a mobile number or the council’s multi story asked if I could change to included parking and P&O quickly agreed. Since then I have heard things have got worse presumably due to these larger ships. CPS I believe on some dates now are not taking bookings unless via P&O/Princess.

[tring]

10 hours ago, Bill Y said:

Thanks to all that replied. 15 mins I consider a normal time to allow but tales of long queues was worrying, was that up to an hour or greater an hour etc. So I am glad that I don’t need to add an extra hour then spend that time queuing outside the terminal.

 

When we booked this cruise I thought that I could obtain parking for 14nts cheaper than the £120 OBC, so took the OBC. In Jan after paying the balance I was shocked to find the cost had risen so much since we last booked in 2018 and that many operators had already sold out. So rather than risk an operator that just had a mobile number or the council’s multi story asked if I could change to included parking and P&O quickly agreed. Since then I have heard things have got worse presumably due to these larger ships. CPS I believe on some dates now are not taking bookings unless via P&O/Princess.

 

I do not see anyone saying there was a long queue outside the terminal, but someone did say the traffic getting into Southampton can be very variable.

[Cloudyrain]

There were major issues the other week but it was nothing to do with CPS, it was just the whole of Southampton being gridlocked, people struggling to get out and therefore people struggling to get in. 
 

On a full capacity Iona cruise at peak times it was 15 minutes for us: this included the time it took to get all our items out of the car, and get our sons wheelchair set up, and then giving the keys over and doing the photos pod the car etc.

[Bill Y]

23 hours ago, tring said:

We are boarding Arcadia at Mayflower on the 6th June, so thinking the same ourselves. I have not seen any really big queues out of there for a later embarkation, so thinking of allowing about 15 minutes.  Would be good to see what experiences have been in the last few months though. 

 

51 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I do not see anyone saying there was a long queue outside the terminal, but someone did say the traffic getting into Southampton can be very variable.

Phoned CPS this afternoon they asked what time check in and suggested 3/4 hour before for a 12:15 check in. The queue outside the terminal that I was concerned about was for them that were considered to be excessively early.

 

Unfortunately we will not be back before you depart.

[Pippa04]

The problems are not with CPS. A major route into the city from the New Forest side needs repair work to the underside of the bridge across the water. Traffic is having to find alternative routes and if you add in train strikes, football,  busy ship days etc it has been a nightmare for quite a while. Just have to allow plenty of time and hope for the best.

[Ranchi]

On 5/26/2023 at 7:58 AM, david63 said:

There are several variables that can affect this on the day so I doubt that there is a definitive answwer but from what I have seen (don't use CPS - too expensive) I would say from arrival in the queue to handing your car over will be around 15 minutes.

We usually take the CPS offered as an alternative to extra OBC. Later this summer we are sailing on Princess & there wasn’t  that opportunity when booking so I Googled the well known alternatives and was surprise to find that two of them were more expensive than CPS - only by about £5 but still…

Edited May 28, 2023 by Ranchi
correction.

[david63]

4 hours ago, Ranchi said:

was surprise to find that two of them were more expensive than CPS

It depends on the length of the cruise - up to 10 days CPS have always been cheaper than the alternatives (pre CPS price rise) but the alternatives are cheaper the longer the cruise.

 

CPS operate on a daily rate basis whilst the alternatives have a "standing charge" which is the same for a three night cruise as it is for a 28 night USA cruise and then a small (couple of pounds) a day charge.

[Martha1974]

We have used CPS when sailing out of Mayflower and out of QEII and have been very happy both times (I would say 20-30 mins from joining the queue to getting the luggage out of the car). On both occasions there were 4 ships in Southampton, and I would agree with others that the biggest variable is traffic through town, although we have been pretty lucky that way too. 

 

On a side note (and I hope no-one else ever actually has to experience this), but in March 2022 when we weren't able to board at Mayflower (because my husband tested positive for Covid on the quayside) CPS had located the car in the car park and brought it back to the terminal faster than I could get out of terminal building to go and meet them.  A small thing, but at a very stressful time it made a big difference! I had visions of sitting waiting hours to get the car back. A gentleman in the same situation had parked off-site and they wouldn't/couldn't bring the car to him but nor could he get in a taxi because of his positive covid test. He ended up walking 2+ miles to the car park to retrieve his own vehicle.