Cruise parking at Florida's five ports: rates compared
Official rates run $18–28 a day across the five ports. Off-site lots undercut them by half or more, and at only one port is the official garage genuinely worth the premium.
By Andrew Budai · Last checked 2026-09-01 · Rates and opening hours change — confirm before you travel.
Parking is the cost nobody quotes you when you book. On a seven-night sailing it adds well over a hundred dollars, and on a fourteen-night Southern Caribbean run out of Fort Lauderdale it can pass $280 — enough to matter against the fare itself.
The rates below are the official port ones, checked September 2026. Treat them as the ceiling: at every Florida port there is a cheaper way to do it.
The official rates
| Port | Official self-park | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PortMiami | ~$22–28 per day | Varies by terminal; the garages are terminal-specific |
| Port Everglades | ~$20 per day | $25 for oversized vehicles |
| Port Canaveral | ~$20 per day plus tax | Same rate for RVs |
| Port Tampa Bay | ~$18 per day plus tax | Valet available at the same daily rate plus a one-off fee |
| JAXPORT | ~$18 per day | Single lot, single terminal |
Rates change and several ports have raised them recently, so confirm on the port’s own site before you travel — every one is linked at the bottom of this page.
What a cruise actually costs to park
Multiply it out and the number gets real:
| Cruise length | At $18/day | At $20/day | At $25/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 nights | $54 | $60 | $75 |
| 4 nights | $72 | $80 | $100 |
| 7 nights | $126 | $140 | $175 |
| 10 nights | $180 | $200 | $250 |
| 14 nights | $252 | $280 | $350 |
On a cheap three-night Bahamas run out of Miami the parking can be a third of what you paid for the cabin.
Off-site lots
Every Florida cruise port has a cluster of private lots nearby running a shuttle to the terminals. Typical pricing is $6 to $13 a day, which is often less than half the official rate, and the shuttle is normally included.
What you give up:
- A shuttle ride. Usually five to fifteen minutes, plus waiting. On disembarkation morning the wait can be the annoying part.
- Certainty. Quality varies. Look for lots that are fenced, lit and staffed, and read recent reviews rather than the lot’s own marketing.
- Convenience with luggage. You are loading bags twice instead of once.
For a three- or four-night sailing the saving is $30–50 and probably not worth the faff. For a ten- or fourteen-night one it is well over $100 and clearly is.
Park-and-cruise hotels
Most Florida cruise ports have hotels selling a package: one night’s stay plus parking for the duration of the cruise plus a shuttle to the terminal. Often the parking is nominally free with the room.
The maths works when you were going to stay the night before anyway. If you are flying in the day before — which you should, especially for Port Canaveral — a park-and-cruise rate can make the hotel close to free once you net off the parking you are not paying at the port.
If you are driving from two hours away and were not going to stay over, it usually does not work out.
Port by port
PortMiami has the most complicated arrangement of the five, because the garages are attached to specific terminals on Dodge Island and the island gets genuinely congested on a six-ship Saturday. Confirm which terminal your ship uses and go to that garage. Off-site lots on the mainland with a shuttle over the bridge are common and much cheaper.
Port Everglades parks you in garages and lots close to the terminals, and the port is compact enough that walking distances are short. Given FLL is two miles away, though, the honest answer for most people flying in is not to have a car at all — a taxi each way beats a week of parking.
Port Canaveral has terminal-adjacent parking at around $20 a day plus tax. There is a healthy off-site market on the Space Coast at $12.95 and up, and a strong park-and-cruise hotel scene in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, because so many passengers drive in from Orlando.
Port Tampa Bay is the one place where the official option genuinely wins. The main garage sits directly opposite Cruise Terminal 2 — park and walk, no shuttle, no bus with your luggage on it — and at about $18 a day it is already the cheapest official rate in the state. Unless you are sailing ten nights or more, just use it.
JAXPORT is a single terminal with a single lot at around $18 a day. There is not much of an off-site market because there is not much around the terminal. For most Jacksonville passengers, who are driving in from north Florida or south Georgia, the port lot is the practical choice.
Things that catch people out
- Prepay where you can. Several ports offer online prepayment that saves a few dollars a day and gets you through the gate faster.
- Oversized vehicles cost more. Anything longer than a standard car — a big truck, a van, an RV — is charged at a higher rate or directed to a separate area at every port.
- Payment method. Most Florida ports are card-only at the exit. Do not plan on cash.
- You pay on the way out, for the whole stay. The daily rate is charged for every day the car sits there, including embarkation and disembarkation day.
When you have decided where you are sailing from, the port pages have the schedule for each one, and the port comparison guide covers the rest of the trade-offs.