We had everything set up- 5 day cruise, one day at Disney and the only real thing to figure out was parking. Where we going to leave our car for 5 days? Carnival has on site parking at the port, for $15 a day- not a chance. We're both still on the not so 'well off' side at the moment- so $70 to park our car for 5 days was outrageous. I would have rather parked my car in a back lot somewhere near the boat and hoped for the best....But because I am not crazy, I talked myself out of that idea.
T, being the planner he is, thought the best way to find cheap parking at the port was just to google it, so thats what I was tasked with doing. I found the cheapest parking I could (which happened to be one of those sponsored at the top of the search page). There were a few options, all within the same price range. But I figured, if we are going for cheap parking, we might as well go for the cheapest. How bad could it be? The website looked professional enough. There were pictures of the paved lot and charter shuttle to and from the port. So- we booked it and our trip was all set.
The day of our cruise finally arrived- I barely slept (I always have trouble sleeping before exciting events) and we woke up fairly early so we could get on the boat early and explore. We drove from my grandparents in Orlando to Port Canaveral, or at least a few miles outside of because that is where our parking service was located.
We finally find out 'parking service'- which might as well been called an open field with a small fence and a beat up, 1970's pimp limo as a shuttle. We pulled up, and I freaked out. No way this piece of crap could have been the great parking lot I saw on line. How was I going to leave my car here for 5 days, it would be safer in an abandoned lot- and at least the abandoned lot would be free to get my car stolen instead of pay $4.50 a day!! Long story short- we put the good faith into the crappy lot, and called it a day. All we wanted was to get on our vacation- turn our phones off and go- so thats exactly what we did.
The cruise was AMAZING- and forgot about the car the second we finally made it onto the ship. 5 day's of no cell phones, no where else to be and everything at our finger tips. Our first vacation was completely perfect- well on the boat at least.
5 days later- we returned, got off the boat early at 9am and went outside for the 'shuttle' back to our car. We called the company, the said 10 minutes, which turned into 20, which turned into 40 and so on (you get the picture) 2 HOURS LATER- we were still in the empty parking lot... waiting for the 'shuttle' and finally, our carriage (the beat up 1970's limo) arrived. T and I fought our way to get on the first ride, there was no way we were waiting in that parking lot any longer.
When we got back to the empty lot- the car was there, ready to be saved. Granted, everything turned out alright- the sum of this little car adventure is- you really do get what you pay for. If you get it for cheap, be prepared for an all around cheap experience.
Peace, love and living on a little cash,
B
The cruise was AMAZING- and forgot about the car the second we finally made it onto the ship. 5 day's of no cell phones, no where else to be and everything at our finger tips. Our first vacation was completely perfect- well on the boat at least.
5 days later- we returned, got off the boat early at 9am and went outside for the 'shuttle' back to our car. We called the company, the said 10 minutes, which turned into 20, which turned into 40 and so on (you get the picture) 2 HOURS LATER- we were still in the empty parking lot... waiting for the 'shuttle' and finally, our carriage (the beat up 1970's limo) arrived. T and I fought our way to get on the first ride, there was no way we were waiting in that parking lot any longer.
When we got back to the empty lot- the car was there, ready to be saved. Granted, everything turned out alright- the sum of this little car adventure is- you really do get what you pay for. If you get it for cheap, be prepared for an all around cheap experience.
Peace, love and living on a little cash,
B
No comments:
Post a Comment