Two official operators, split by cruise line
At Southampton the in-port car park follows the line on your ticket, not the terminal you sail from — per Visit Southampton, the city's tourist board.
ABP's own self-park
- Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Fred. Olsen, NCL, MSC and Disney
- You keep your keys
- About a 5-minute walk to the terminal, per ABP
- Long-stay 'must be pre-booked'
Valet, run by Cruise and Passenger Services
- Cunard, P&O Cruises and Princess
- You hand over your keys
- Valet needs 4+ days; self-park option for 2-night cruises
- Cunard: book no later than 35 days before sailing
Line split from Visit Southampton; booking rules and offers from each line's own page. 'Not published' means we looked and it isn't there.
The tourist board's split stops at those nine lines. ABP's own cruise page goes further — it lists ABParking for Oceania, Regent Seven Seas and Silversea too, so for those three start at abparking.co.uk.
Any other line, ask the line itself — or use the council or off-site options below, which take any line.
On price, the honest comparison is short.
Neither official operator prints a fixed tariff. The price depends on your sailing, and you get it as an online quote.
The council's multi-storeys do print one, £39-£41 for 7 days. That's the only fixed weekly figure in the city.
ABParking, in full
Owned and operated by ABP, the company that runs the port. You drive in, park beside or near your terminal, keep your keys and walk.
- Lines: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Fred. Olsen, NCL, MSC and Disney (Visit Southampton); ABP’s own cruise page adds Oceania, Regent Seven Seas and Silversea. Southampton Cruise Centre says 'selected' Fred. Olsen sailings.
- Booking: ABP's terminal pages say the long-stay car park 'must be pre-booked'; Royal Caribbean says the port has 'very limited unreserved spaces'
- The walk: ABP's 2025 release puts the car parks a '5-minute walk' from the terminals
- Terminals: Fred. Olsen lists ABParking for City, Mayflower, QEII and Horizon; Royal Caribbean says long-stay for City is via Dock Gate 8
- Phone: 023 8048 8870, as given on NCL's and Fred. Olsen's pages
- Discounts: MSC gives 10% off with code ABPMSC26. Celebrity's complimentary-parking code APEX26 applied to Apex 2026 sailings booked 19 Aug-6 Oct 2025, so that window has closed.
Sources: ABP's terminal pages, Visit Southampton, and the Royal Caribbean, MSC, Celebrity, NCL and Fred. Olsen parking pages — checked September 23, 2026.
Price. It depends on your sailing, so get an online quote at abparking.co.uk, ABParking’s own booking site. There’s no fixed public tariff; Fred. Olsen’s page sends you to that site or the phone for prices.
Every 7-night ABParking figure we found circulating online started on a blog. ABP itself prints no fixed price.
NCL's own parking page still quotes an 8-night price with promo code 2017NCL.
The code dates it. Ignore it.
Southampton Cruise Centre reports that parking is included up to 15 days and can be extended at extra cost — a third-party report, not ABP's own wording.
Book on abparking.co.uk well ahead, and check your line's page for a code before you pay.
CPS valet, in full
Cruise and Passenger Services runs the valet for Cunard, P&O Cruises and Princess. It says it handles 'more than 90% of the traffic in the port of Southampton'.
- Arriving: drive to your terminal and follow the signs to the CPS vehicle lane
- Check-in: staff check you in, photograph the car and hand you a barcoded receipt; a driver takes the car to a secure compound
- Coming back: show the receipt at key collection, and a marshal directs you to the car
- Minimum stay: valet needs 4+ days; there's a self-park option for 2-night cruises
- Extras: 'SureStart' checks and a fuel top-up
- Alarms: disable aftermarket or 'ghost' alarms and immobilisers before check-in, or you pay the recovery costs
- Deadline (Cunard): book 'no later than 35 days prior to your scheduled departure', and only 'at least 72 hours after' booking the voyage
- Contact: 0345 071 3939, info@cruiseparking.co.uk
Sources: CPS's Southampton, services and order pages, and Cunard's car-parking page — checked September 23, 2026; the order page and Cunard's re-read October 4, 2026.
Price. It depends on your sailing. CPS quotes online at cruiseparking.co.uk: pick your cruise, enter the car, and in CPS’s words ‘your instant quote will appear to the right’. There’s no fixed public tariff.
Cunard's page gives no price either.
The weekly CPS figures repeated online all start on blogs. None of them appears on anything CPS publishes.
On 4 October 2026, as on 23 September, those pages still carried a banner reading 'This is a test site. Bookings cannot be placed here.' Treat the figure as a quote, not a booking.
Book on 0345 071 3939, the number Cunard gives, or from your cruise line's parking page, and get the booking confirmed in writing.
Free is sometimes on the table. A Cunard Fare lets you choose complimentary parking 'subject to availability'.
P&O's Select Price includes parking as a benefit on roundtrip cruises of 7+ nights — check your fare before paying for valet you already have.
The council's multi-storeys: the only official weekly prices
Southampton City Council publishes cruise-parking rates for three city-centre car parks. It's pay on exit and a taxi to the ship, not a spot at the terminal door.
| Car park | First 24 hours | Each day after | 7 days (council's example) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford Place | £11 | £5 | £41 |
| Eastgate Street | £9 | £5 | £39 |
| Grosvenor Square | £11 | £5 | £41 |
Source: Southampton City Council's cruise-parking page, seen 23 September 2026. Review periodically
Take a ticket on entry and pay at the machines on return; the charge is 'calculated automatically'.
No pre-booking is mentioned.
Eastgate Street is two minutes' walk from the High Street taxi rank, per the council — handy for the onward leg.
Add the taxi both ways before comparing.
We don't have a sourced fare from the city centre to each terminal, so we won't guess one.
Off-site operators, for any line
These take any cruise line and get you to the terminal by shuttle or taxi. Most quote by date rather than publishing a fixed price.
| Operator | Where the car goes | Getting to the ship | Price we can confirm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton Airport Cruise Parking | Zone 1 of the airport's Long Stay Car Park | Radio Taxis transfers both ways, about 20 minutes, 'included in your initial payment' | Quote-based; the page shows no figure |
| Airlynx Parking | George Curl Way, Eastleigh SO18 2RZ (J5 M27) | Free transfers, 'just 15 minutes from the cruise terminals'; returns arranged by text | Not on its own site. Holiday Extras showed £62.00-£76.00 for 8 days. |
| Southampton Cruise Parking Services | Indoor, off-site; you leave your keys | Free shuttle, 'as little as 5 minutes'; on return they 'usually' arrive within 15 minutes, so allow 30 | No tariff on its FAQ. Holiday Extras showed £75.00 for 8 days. |
| Parking4Cruises | Units E&F, Millbank Street, Northam SO14 5QQ | Drop-off and pickup at the station or the yard; 'less than 3 miles from the Cruise Terminal' | Not published |
| Triangle, Ocean Way, Portside, Cruise Parking Ltd | Near-port car parks, valet or shuttle | Varies by product | Holiday Extras showed £62.00 to £112.00 for 8 days, depending on product |
Operator details from each operator's own site, including Southampton Airport's cruise-parking page; prices from Holiday Extras, a reseller, for unspecified sample dates, seen 23 September 2026. Volatile
Those reseller prices are a snapshot, not a quote you can book at.
Dates move them, so price your own week.
Holiday Extras labels Triangle and Ocean Way 'On-port'. They aren't ABP's port car parks, so we don't repeat the label.
Park at a hotel instead. voco Southampton sells a park-and-cruise package 'from £354 per night', as quoted by Visit Southampton — up to 15 days' parking for one car, a one-way taxi to the terminal and breakfast for up to two adults.
The tourist board calls voco 'the most convenient hotel for City cruise terminal (a six minute walk)'. The Harbour Hotel in Ocean Village, about 5 minutes by car from QEII, sells 7-, 14- and 21-day parking packages.
The rules that catch people out
Pre-book or go off-site. ABP says in-port long-stay 'must be pre-booked', and Cunard's CPS bookings close 35 days before sailing.
Blue Badge. There's no free parking for Blue Badge holders — Cunard states CPS doesn't offer it.
On facilities the sources disagree. Cunard says there are 'no such facilities offered at any of the terminals in Southampton'; Visit Southampton says 'Each cruise terminal has disabled bays'. Cunard's same page adds that passengers with access needs are directed to 'a dedicated mobility receiving lane' — a lane at the terminal, not a parking bay.
We can't settle that from here, so tell your parking provider about access needs when you book.
Alarms. CPS needs aftermarket or 'ghost' alarms and immobilisers switched off before check-in.
If staff can't move the car, the recovery cost is yours.
EV charging and height limits. Neither ABParking nor CPS publishes either on a page we could read.
Blogs mention trickle charging and no height limit at CPS; neither shows up on a CPS page.
Ask when you book if either matters.
Keys. With CPS and most meet-and-greet operators you hand them over; with ABParking you keep them.
One blog says Tesla drivers need a physical key or card for valet, not phone-only access to the car.
Who should pick what
| Traveler | Likely best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Driving, on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL, MSC, Disney or Fred. Olsen | ABParking, pre-booked | In-port, keys stay with you, about a 5-minute walk to the terminal |
| Driving, on Cunard, P&O Cruises or Princess | CPS valet, booked early | Your line's in-port option — and your fare may already include it |
| Watching the budget on a 7-night sailing | A council multi-storey plus a taxi | £39-£41 for 7 days, the only official weekly price in the city |
| On a 2-night cruise with a CPS line | CPS's self-park option | CPS valet needs 4+ days |
| Arriving the night before | A hotel park-and-cruise package | voco for City, the Harbour Hotel for the Eastern Docks, per Visit Southampton |
| On Oceania, Regent or Silversea | ABParking, pre-booked | ABP’s own cruise page lists all three |
| On a line in neither list | Ask your line, or go off-site | Neither ABP nor the tourist board says where you park |
| Past Cunard's 35-day CPS deadline | Council or off-site | In-port valet bookings for Cunard have closed |
| Blue Badge holder | Tell your provider in advance | No free parking, and sources conflict on terminal facilities |
Hotels that hold the car. Eight of the twenty hotels we ranked bundle cruise parking with a room, among them the Hilton at the Utilita Bowl (up to 21 nights, transfers listed), voco (8 or 15 nights), the Holiday Inn at Eastleigh (15 days and a taxi) and Harbour (up to 21 nights). Only the Hilton prints a package price. See all twenty, and where the car goes.
Not driving?
Direct trains from London Waterloo reach Southampton Central in around 1 hour 30 minutes on average, and the terminals are a 5-10 minute taxi ride from there.
Horizon and City are walkable from the station, at 12 and 15 minutes.
For Ocean, Mayflower and QEII, take a taxi from either station exit.
Heathrow, Gatwick and Southampton Airport routes are in the full guide's Getting Here section — start there if you're flying in.
Still deciding where to leave the car?
Tell us your line and how long you're sailing.
The line decides which in-port option you get; the length decides whether valet is even available. Tell us both and we'll say straight which option fits.
Answers verified against current pricing and itineraries before you book.
Parking FAQ
Who runs the official cruise parking at Southampton?
Two operators, split by cruise line: ABParking, owned by the port operator ABP, serves Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Fred. Olsen, NCL, MSC and Disney; CPS runs valet for Cunard, P&O Cruises and Princess.
Can I just turn up and park at the terminal?
No — ABP says long-stay parking at the terminals 'must be pre-booked'. Each terminal has only a drop-off area and a short-stay car park.
How much does cruise parking in Southampton cost for a week?
It depends on your sailing. Neither ABParking nor CPS prints a fixed tariff, so get an online quote from whichever one your line uses.
The official weekly prices we can confirm are the council's city-centre multi-storeys, £39-£41 for 7 days, plus a taxi to the terminal.
When do I need to book CPS valet parking?
Cunard says no later than 35 days before departure, and no sooner than 72 hours after you booked the cruise. Some Cunard Fare and P&O Select Price bookings include parking already.
How does CPS valet work?
Follow signs to the CPS lane at your terminal; staff check the car in, photograph it and give you a barcoded receipt.
A driver parks it in a secure compound, and you show the receipt at key collection when you're back. Valet is for stays of 4+ days.
Is parking free for Blue Badge holders?
No — Cunard states that CPS does not offer complimentary parking for Blue Badge holders. Tell your parking provider about access needs when you book.
Are there cheaper off-site options?
Park-and-ride and meet-and-greet operators take any line and run shuttles or taxis to the terminals. A reseller, Holiday Extras, showed about £62-£112 for 8 days in September 2026, depending on product and dates.
Do I need to disable an aftermarket alarm for CPS?
Yes. CPS asks you to disable aftermarket or 'ghost' alarms and immobilisers before check-in, or you pay the costs of recovering the car.