Community Forums

G-JLD9 · 01-22-2015, 10:01 AM

My husband and I love going on cruises once a year and would love to go more often, but taking that much time off of work is hard. So when we go full time RVing in 4 years we think it would be great to travel to different cruise ports and go on a cruise once a month.

Is anyone doing this now? If so can you give some tips and advice on things like:
-parking by the cruise ports
-good RV parks in the cruise port areas
-should I think of putting RV in storage for a week or have it sit at what RV park we are staying at that month

I'm not to concerned with the cost of getting on the ship, I'm more concerned with where to park and leaving the RV somewhere for a week.

We cruise on Carnival and would be looking into sailing out of the ports in SC, FL, LA and TX.

saydiver · 01-22-2015, 11:09 AM

When we travel we just leave our RV at whatever RV park we are staying for an extended time or we leave it at the RV factory while we have scheduled maintenance/upgrades done.

campgroundreviews.com is a good site to check for reviews and get an idea of prices.

Barbaraok · 01-22-2015, 11:31 AM

Once a month? Obviously your retirement is better than ours. 😉

Barb

G-JLD9 · 01-22-2015, 01:14 PM

Well once a month is the dream, but it will most likely be once a month Oct-Mar. That's when cruising is way cheaper, May-Aug can get pretty pricey.

The idea sounds really fun now since we only cruise once a year and when we cruise now we don't have to be too worried about the budget. If we cruise every month its going to have to be interior rooms, cheep excursions, and way limit the drinks in board.

It would be really cool to find a group of full time RVer that do this. Four years are going to go by so slow.

We cruise out if Galveston this Sept. So we hope to spend the day before we get on the ship and check out RV parks by the cruise port. Maybe we could talk to some full times that are there and get some great advice.

Barbaraok · 01-22-2015, 03:47 PM

September is still pretty warm in Galveston, probably won't be a lot of fulltimers there by then. Most come end of October through March.

Barb

kimbo · 01-22-2015, 07:07 PM

we have parked our NH at ports in fl. (4) va. (1) la. (1) for Carnival there rate has been 24 > 28 dollars day. sometimes we have left NH in campgrounds if we were going to stay after we got back, its cost more.

sdlowe11 · 01-23-2015, 05:39 AM

We normally leave our coach in a good RV park during short trips. We let management know the dates we'll be gone and ask them to key an eye out, then put the slides in and leave only the electric running. We prefer to have it parked with other people around to watch it.

We did store it at a covered storage facility once when we went overseas. You usually have to pay for a minimum of a month, and good secure storage places aren't always easy to find.

Good luck!

Statgeek · 01-23-2015, 06:22 AM

I've stored mine for a week at a RV campground (state park) but was staying nearby in a Condo (with other family) and I visited it daily. It drove me nuts to think it was so vulnerable. I am now considering another similar trip where we'd use the RV for a week, then condo family get-together for a second week, and I can't find a solution that I'm happy with so may end up leaving the RV in storage an just flying to the condo.

This is a difficult, but I think somewhat common situation. I would only consider leaving it at a campground that has some security measures in place (at least a gate). And even still, I would invest in some wifi-enabled web cams so I can at least check on my RV over the internet as often as needed. I have 90% of the technology already and just need to get a few cameras to complete it. But even that will likely give me the heebie-jeebies.

Full disclosure--I have had a car stolen from me before in what I thought was a reasonable neighborhood, and ever since then I have become very leery and distrustful.

Barbaraok · 01-23-2015, 10:34 AM

Make sure the insurance will cover if it is broken into - then go. The RV is just 'stuff', we can't let 'stuff' run our lives.

Barb

Statgeek · 01-23-2015, 11:47 AM

I hear that said a lot Barb, and in theory, it sounds great. I don't know about you, but the best insurance I could purchase wouldn't replace my RV, or the stuff inside. Not to mention the time and hassle it would take me to replace it all.

I'm all about the fun, don't get me wrong, but I don't make enough $$ to take too many chances with something this big and expensive.

G-JLD9 · 01-23-2015, 11:50 AM

Yes, will defiantly have to look into the insurance we will need to have if a break in happened. Since we can us military FamCamps I stared looking into ones by the cruise ports. I would think they would be more secure and many offer RV storage. And most are cheaper to stay at also.

Finally · 01-23-2015, 07:17 PM

We have cruised out many ports and most have large lots for RV and bus parking. The cruise lots are private, secure and patrolled. We are going on a family cruise next month out of Charleston and will park the rig at the port. Baltimore and Port Canaveral also have good RV parking. New Orleans and Tampa are not RV friendly as I remember.

G-JLD9 · 01-24-2015, 06:56 AM

I found a picture form our first cruise we took in 2010 when we drove the RV we had at the time to the port in Galveston from Kansas. This lot was right next to the cruise terminal. Thinking back it was about 70 bucks to park it for the week and the lot was fenced. But since the RV was used for tailgating and not full time living I was not too concerned about what if some thing happened to it.

Not that I wouldn't be upset just that RV only cost me 15k and I could just fly home if some thing really bad happened to it. But the rig we decided on getting for full time living is going to cost way more and be our home. We are very optimistic people so this concern will not stop us form doing this plan, just need to have a plan if some thing does happen.

I bet it would be better to travel with others that are doing the same thing. So if we did get off the ship and some thing happened to our rig at least we would be with friends. So much to think about, but really enjoying the planning and researching we are doing.

MSHappyCampers · 01-24-2015, 08:06 AM

What's the old saying "Different strokes for different folks!". Well, there's not enough money in the world to get me on a cruise ship! Call me paranoid, but there's not a better terrorist target available on the planet! All the way from poisoning the water to sinking the ship!

Anyway, I'll let you have all the fun there!

Yeah, I know I'm gonna catch some flak on this one!