Getting There & Parking at Half Moone Cruise Terminal
Everything you need to know about parking and getting to Half Moone Cruise Terminal. Compare options, rates, and get pro tips from experienced cruisers.
4 transport options · researched from public reviews and official sources
Published by CruiseDayGuide · Updated August 18, 2026 · sources checked August 18, 2026
The short answer
Park at Cedar Grove, 1000 Monticello Avenue. It is the City of Norfolk's dedicated cruise lot at $15 a day, 1.5 miles from the terminal, and the free shuttle drops you curbside. There is no passenger parking at the pier.
The part nobody tells you: your luggage is checked in at the lot and taken directly to the ship, so you board the shuttle carrying only a day bag. The cost of that is the clock — the lot opens at 9:30 AM and the last shuttle back is 2:30 p.m.
Norfolk splits the embarkation into two addresses, and which one you drive to depends entirely on whether you are leaving a car. The Half Moone Cruise Terminal at 1 Waterside Drive has no passenger parking. Everyone who drives themselves goes instead to the Cedar Grove lot at 1000 Monticello Avenue, a mile and a half inland, hands over their luggage there, and rides a free shuttle to the ship. Everyone who is dropped off goes straight to the terminal and never sees Cedar Grove. Both are correct; picking the wrong one on the morning costs you an hour you do not have. What follows is what the City of Norfolk and VisitNorfolk publish about the lot, what the downtown hotels charge instead, and the one hotel here selling an actual cruise package.
What parking for a Norfolk cruise actually costs
Every figure below is quoted from the operator's or the hotel's own page, read 2026-08-18. Where a page publishes no price, the cell says so rather than guessing one.
| Option | Published rate | To the terminal | Getting to the ship | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Grove lot (City of Norfolk) | Published rate$15 a day for a passenger vehicle, including vans up to 15 passengers. $105 for a seven-day sailing. | To the terminal1.5 miles, the City's own figure | Getting to the shipFree shuttle, curbside at the terminal. Luggage is checked in at the lot and goes directly to the ship. | NotesOpens 9:30 AM on cruise days, first shuttle about 9:45 AM, last shuttle 2:30 p.m. Cash or card at the gate, or pre-pay online for a QR code. Reserved spaces are not available. ADA parking and a lift-equipped shuttle both available. |
| Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel | Published rateValet $35.00 a day, discounted by $15 a day for the length of the cruise under its Experiences-Cruise Package. | To the terminal0.4 miles, about a 9 min walk | Getting to the shipWalk. Its own page states the hotel does not provide shuttle service. | NotesThe only Norfolk hotel publishing a cruise package: minimum one-night stay, breakfast for two adults, and the parking discount, running 22 July 2026 to 22 July 2027. Oversized vehicles cannot be valeted. |
| Courtyard Norfolk Downtown | Published rate$25.00 daily, $150.00 weekly. The only weekly rate published by a downtown hotel. | To the terminal0.4 miles, about a 10 min walk | Getting to the shipWalk. Its own page states the hotel does not provide shuttle service. | NotesLists long-term parking as an amenity. No cruise package is published on its offers list. |
| Hilton Norfolk The Main | Published rateSelf-parking $18.00 a day, valet $33.00 a day, with in/out privileges. | To the terminal0.1 miles by its own published figure, about a 5 min walk | Getting to the shipWalk — the shortest of any hotel here. | NotesA "Park, Stay & Cruise" page survives in its sitemap but the URL redirects to the offers index and no live offer mentions a cruise. Treat it as retired. |
| Residence Inn Norfolk Downtown | Published rate$18.00 daily. | To the terminal0.5 miles, about an 11 min walk | Getting to the shipWalk. Its own page states the hotel does not provide shuttle service. | NotesPublished garage height limit of 7 feet 2 inches, which rules out a lot of SUVs with a roof box. |
| Norfolk Waterside Marriott | Published rateValet $33.00 a day, with an additional 6 percent tax on top per its own page. | To the terminal0.3 miles, about a 6 min walk | Getting to the shipWalk, or the paid car service it names — Orange Peel Transportation at 30.00 USD one way. | NotesIts page notes all parking here is owned and operated by the City of Norfolk. It states twice that the hotel does not provide shuttle service. |
marks a row carrying at least one figure read on the operator’s own page during the source check. Hotel rates are nightly rack rates for guests, not cruise-length rates, and only the Sheraton publishes terms covering the days you are at sea. Cedar Grove's $15 is the same every day whether you are in town or not.
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Driving & Parking at Cedar Grove
The default, and the thing to understand before you set off: you do not drive to the ship. Cruise parking is the City of Norfolk's Cedar Grove lot at 1000 Monticello Avenue, which the City calls a dedicated parking lot just for cruise passengers and places 1.5 miles from the terminal, fully fenced and monitored 24/7 by local law enforcement. You park, your luggage is checked in at the lot and taken directly to the ship, and a free shuttle drops you curbside at the terminal. It is a better arrangement than most ports manage — you arrive at check-in carrying only a day bag — but it is on the City's clock rather than yours.
Verified Aug 18, 2026 · City of Norfolk — Cruise Parking · See something outdated? Tell us
The lot hours are the real constraint, not the price. Cedar Grove opens at 9:30 AM on cruise days, the first shuttle to the terminal is about 9:45 AM, and the last shuttle is 2:30 p.m. An early Carnival Arrival Appointment does you no good if the lot is still shut, so pick your appointment with the shuttle in mind. Also, do not go hunting for a reservation: VisitNorfolk says reserved parking is not available but that ample parking is provided, so pre-paying buys you a faster gate, not a held space.
From Norfolk International Airport (ORF)
ORF is 10.8 miles from the terminal, which is VisitNorfolk's own figure and the only distance any first party publishes for the trip. Reckon on a 15-25 min drive: nobody publishes an airport-to-terminal time, and VisitNorfolk's own "15 minutes" figure is airport to downtown rather than airport to pier, so the upper half of that range is the honest allowance for traffic. What makes this port awkward for fly-in passengers is not the distance but the absence of a product: Carnival names Norfolk in the list of embarkation ports where it states it does not offer airport transportation, alongside Baltimore, Jacksonville, Mobile and Charleston. So there is no transfer to buy with your cruise, and the airport's own site does not mention the cruise terminal on the pages we read. Rental counters are at the airport; a car collected there has to go back there, because there is no return desk at the pier.
The night before is worth more here than at most ports. Downtown Norfolk hotels put you inside a twelve-minute walk of the terminal, which turns embarkation morning into a stroll rather than a drive with a suitcase — and it takes the 9:30 AM lot opening out of your plans entirely, since you are not parking. If you must fly in on the day, remember the last Cedar Grove shuttle is 2:30 p.m., and a delayed flight has no second option behind it.
Rideshare, taxi and drop-off
Uber, Lyft and taxis all serve downtown Norfolk, and being dropped off is a genuinely different embarkation from parking. VisitNorfolk says personal vehicles and for-hire services alike drop off and collect on Waterside Drive just past the terminal, in front of Town Point Park, where there are designated drop-off signs — no personal vehicle or van goes into the bus and shuttle lane in front of the building. Your luggage is then checked with porters at the terminal rather than at Cedar Grove, which is the trade: a shorter journey, but you carry your bags to the door.
Coming home is the harder direction and downtown works in your favor: unlike the ports where the pier sits inside a cargo yard, you are in the middle of a walkable city here, so a car is close by rather than driving out to you. If the queue at the curb is deep, walking two blocks up Main Street to request from a quieter pin is a real option, which is not true anywhere else on this site.
Walking from a downtown hotel
Genuinely the best option at this port, and worth planning for. Six downtown hotels sit within about half a mile of the terminal — the Hilton Norfolk The Main, which publishes the distance itself as 0.1 miles, and the Glass Light, the Norfolk Waterside Marriott, the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside, the Courtyard and the Residence Inn behind it. Every one of those is a walk of roughly four to twelve minutes. What none of them has is a shuttle: each of the six that addresses transportation on its own site says it does not provide shuttle service, so walking is not a fallback here, it is the plan.
If you are walking with a suitcase, note that your luggage does not get the Cedar Grove treatment: bags are checked with porters at the terminal, so you are wheeling them the whole way. Four minutes from the Glass Light is nothing; twelve from the Residence Inn with two large cases and a hill is a different sentence. And if you are leaving a car at the hotel for the week, read what that hotel actually publishes about long-stay parking rather than assuming — the Sheraton is the only one of the six publishing a cruise package.
How much is cruise parking in Norfolk?
One rate, one lot, and the City of Norfolk publishes it directly because the City runs it. There is no terminal lot to compare it against — this is the parking.
- Passenger vehicle: $15 a day, which the City states covers vans up to 15 passengers.
- Neither the City nor VisitNorfolk states whether tax is included in the $15, so treat it as the gate price and no more.
- Payment is required upon entry and can be made by cash or credit card.
- Pre-paid parking is available online: you select your cruise departure day, confirm the cruise name and destination, pay by card, and are emailed a QR code that acts as your pass at the gate.
- Reserving a space is a different thing and is not offered — VisitNorfolk's FAQ says reserved parking is not available, but that ample parking is provided.
Where this comes from
Rate, payment methods and the pre-pay flow are quoted from the City of Norfolk's Cruise Parking page, read 2026-08-18. The $15 rate is re-checked automatically against that page. The reservation answer is VisitNorfolk's, read the same day.
Why is the parking a mile and a half from the ship?
Because the terminal sits in the middle of downtown Norfolk with a museum, a battleship and a public park around it, and there is no room for several hundred cars beside it. Cedar Grove is the City's answer, and it is better than the distance suggests, because the lot does a job a car park normally does not.
- Cedar Grove is at 1000 Monticello Avenue, which the City places 1.5 miles from the terminal.
- Your luggage is checked in at the parking lot and transported directly to the cruise ship, so it is off your hands before you board the shuttle.
- The shuttle is free and drops you, or collects you, directly curbside at the terminal.
- The City describes the lot as fully fenced and monitored 24/7 by local law enforcement.
- ADA parking is available along with an ADA-accessible shuttle with a lift. There is also a limited drop-off area at Nauticus for disabled passengers, requiring a placard, ID card or disabled plate shown to the officers directing traffic, and limited to five minutes of active loading.
- Questions about the lot or the shuttle go to City of Norfolk Parking through Norfolk Cares on 757-664-6510.
Where this comes from
Address, distance, luggage handling, security and the shuttle are from the City of Norfolk's Cruise Parking page, read 2026-08-18. The ADA drop-off detail and the contact number are from VisitNorfolk's Cruise Norfolk page, read the same day.
What time does Cedar Grove open, and when is the last shuttle?
This is the part of Norfolk parking that catches people out, and it is worth more attention than the price. The lot is not open all day, and the shuttle stops in the early afternoon.
- The lot opens at 9:30 AM on cruise days for embarking passengers.
- Shuttle service to the terminal begins at approximately 9:45 AM.
- The final shuttle is at 2:30 p.m., per VisitNorfolk.
- Carnival's online check-in typically opens about 14 days before sailing and is where you choose an Arrival Appointment. The earliest appointments typically go first — but an appointment before about 10:15 AM is one the shuttle cannot get you to.
- If you are being dropped off rather than parking, none of these times apply to you. VisitNorfolk simply advises passengers not to arrive before their scheduled check-in time.
- A caution if you go checking yourself: the City's own pages currently carry three different opening times. norfolk.gov/6030 says 10 a.m., the top of the parking page says 9:45 a.m., and a note further down that same page says 9:30 a.m. effective Sunday, July 12, 2026. The effective note is the current one and VisitNorfolk agrees with it.
Where this comes from
The 9:30 AM opening, the 9:45 AM first shuttle and the 2:30 p.m. final shuttle are quoted from VisitNorfolk's Cruise Norfolk page, read 2026-08-18, and the first two are re-checked automatically against it. The conflicting City times are quoted from norfolk.gov/6030/Cruises and norfolk.gov/6729/Cruise-Parking, both read the same day. Carnival's check-in window is the line's general guidance, not a Norfolk-specific published time.
Is a downtown hotel cheaper than the cruise lot?
Not on price, and only sometimes on convenience. Norfolk's unusual advantage is that six hotels sit within about half a mile of the terminal, so a park-and-stay night here ends with a walk rather than a shuttle. What it does not end with is a hotel shuttle, because none of them runs one.
- The cheapest published hotel week is the Courtyard's $150.00, against $105 for the same seven days at Cedar Grove. The lot wins on price.
- Only the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside publishes a cruise package: a minimum one-night stay before or after the cruise, breakfast for two adults, and valet parking discounted by 15 dollars a day for the length of the cruise, valid 22 July 2026 to 22 July 2027.
- On each hotel's own page, read 2026-08-18, not one of the six publishes a shuttle to the cruise terminal — five say in their own words that the hotel does not provide shuttle service, and the Hilton lists no shuttle of any kind.
- That is fine here, because the walks are four to twelve minutes. It would not be fine at a port where the pier is five miles out.
- The Norfolk Waterside Marriott names a paid alternative if you would rather not walk: Orange Peel Transportation at 30.00 USD one way.
- The Hilton is the only hotel publishing a distance to the pier — "Half Moone Cruise Center - 0.1 Miles" — and its self-parking at $18.00 a day with in/out privileges is the most flexible of the set.
Where this comes from
Every hotel rate, package term and shuttle statement is quoted from that hotel's own page, read 2026-08-18, and linked from the hotels section. Rack rates are nightly guest rates, not cruise-length rates.
What if I am being dropped off instead?
Then Norfolk is one of the simplest embarkations in the country and you can ignore everything above. There is a designated curb, porters take your bags there, and you are inside in minutes.
- Personal vehicles and for-hire services alike drop off and pick up on Waterside Drive just past the terminal, in front of Town Point Park, where there are designated drop-off signs.
- No personal vehicle or van is allowed into the bus and shuttle lane directly in front of the terminal — that lane is for coaches and the Cedar Grove shuttle.
- Luggage for drop-off passengers is checked with porters at the terminal rather than at Cedar Grove.
- Charter buses and coaches have to schedule a drop-off and pick-up time with the port in advance, per VisitNorfolk.
- Coming home, returning passengers are directed either to the Cedar Grove shuttles or to Waterside Drive for rideshare, taxi and private pick-up, after clearing customs.
Where this comes from
All quoted from VisitNorfolk's Cruise Norfolk page, read 2026-08-18, which Carnival links as its own Norfolk parking and directions information.
What does the return leg look like?
Worth thinking about before you sail, because the two ways of arriving produce two quite different mornings on the way back, and the one that was easier going out is the slower one coming home.
- VisitNorfolk says returning passengers are directed either to the Cedar Grove shuttles or to Waterside Drive for rideshare, taxi and private pick-up, after retrieving luggage and clearing customs for declaration processing.
- If you parked, that means a shuttle queue with everyone else who parked, and then a mile and a half back to the lot before you are actually driving home.
- If you stayed downtown and walked, you walk back. From the Hilton at its published 0.1 miles, that is about five minutes with a suitcase, and there is no queue involved at all.
- This is the one place where the downtown hotel earns its extra $45 a week outright rather than on preference. Nowhere else on this site can a passenger walk off a ship and be at their own car inside ten minutes.
- Rideshare is also easier here than at most ports for the same reason: you are in the middle of a walkable city rather than inside a cargo yard, so a driver is nearby rather than being dispatched out to the pier.
- One administrative catch on the return: VisitNorfolk states that passengers inquiring about lost luggage must schedule a time rather than turning up at the terminal, so a bag that does not appear on the carousel is a phone call, not a wait.
Where this comes from
The disembarkation routing, the customs step and the lost-luggage requirement are quoted from VisitNorfolk's Cruise Norfolk page, read 2026-08-18. The Hilton's 0.1 miles is its own published figure, read the same day. Walking times are our estimate from the terminal coordinates at a normal pedestrian pace, not a published figure.
Can I leave bags somewhere between checkout and check-in?
Yes, which is genuinely unusual at a cruise port and worth planning around. The museum sharing the terminal's site will hold them.
- Nauticus stores bags at $10 per bag, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
- Cruise passengers also receive buy-one-get-one-free admission to Nauticus, available online or onsite — so the wait can be spent on a battleship rather than in a lobby.
- If you drove and parked at Cedar Grove, this matters less: your checked luggage is already gone by the time you reach the terminal.
- On the return leg, VisitNorfolk warns that passengers inquiring about lost luggage must schedule a time rather than turning up at the terminal.
Where this comes from
Bag storage hours and price, the admission offer and the lost-luggage note are quoted from VisitNorfolk's Cruise Norfolk page, read 2026-08-18.
Parking questions cruisers ask about Half Moone Cruise Terminal
How much is parking for a Norfolk cruise?
$15 a day at the Cedar Grove lot, 1000 Monticello Avenue, which is the City of Norfolk's dedicated cruise parking. That covers a passenger vehicle including vans up to 15 passengers, and works out at $105 for a seven-day sailing. You pay on entry by cash or credit card, or pre-pay online and show a QR code at the gate. Neither the City nor VisitNorfolk states whether tax is included, so budget the gate figure. There is no parking at the terminal itself, so this is not one option among several — it is the option.
Can I reserve a parking space at Cedar Grove?
No, and the two things people confuse here are worth separating. You can pre-pay: the City sells parking online, you pick your departure day, and it emails a QR code that gets you in. What you cannot do is reserve a space, and VisitNorfolk says so directly — reserved parking is not available, but ample parking is provided. So pre-paying speeds up the gate and locks in nothing else. Given the lot only opens at 9:30 AM on a cruise day, everybody arrives inside the same few hours anyway.
How does the Cedar Grove shuttle work?
You drive into the lot, park, and hand your checked luggage over there — the City says it is checked in at the parking lot and transported directly to the cruise ship. Then you board the free shuttle, which drops you directly curbside at the terminal. Coming home it runs the other way. Service begins at approximately 9:45 AM on a cruise day and the final shuttle is at 2:30 p.m. An ADA-accessible shuttle with a lift is available alongside the standard one.
Is it cheaper to stay at a downtown hotel and leave the car there?
On price, no. The cheapest published hotel week downtown is the Courtyard Norfolk Downtown at $150.00, against $105 for seven days at Cedar Grove. What a hotel buys you is a different thing: the car stays where you slept, and downtown Norfolk hotels are a four to twelve minute walk from the ship. The one to look at is the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside, the only hotel here publishing a cruise package — a night before or after, breakfast for two, and valet discounted by 15 dollars a day for the length of the cruise. Do not expect a lift to the pier from any of them: on each hotel's own page, read 2026-08-18, none publishes a shuttle to the terminal.
What happens if my flight lands after the last shuttle?
Then you are not parking, and that is fine — you would be arriving by taxi or rideshare anyway, and those drop off on Waterside Drive just past the terminal, in front of Town Point Park, where porters take your bags. The 2:30 p.m. shuttle deadline only binds people leaving a car at Cedar Grove. What you should not do is plan to fly in on the morning, collect a rental car, and park it at Cedar Grove — that stacks a flight delay on top of a lot that shuts its shuttle in the early afternoon, at a port where Carnival does not sell an airport transfer to fall back on.
Plan the rest of your cruise day
Half Moone Cruise Terminal
The address, the drop-off curb, and the three different names its operators give it.
Hotels near the terminal
Six downtown hotels inside a twelve-minute walk, and which one sells a cruise package.
Terminal parking vs hotel park and stay
The $105 lot against the $150 hotel week, with the walk in the middle.
Where these facts come from
- City of Norfolk — Cruise Parking — checked 2026-08-18
- City of Norfolk — Cruises — checked 2026-08-18
- VisitNorfolk — Cruise Norfolk — checked 2026-08-18
- Carnival — Norfolk cruise ship terminal directions and parking — checked 2026-08-18
- Sheraton Norfolk Waterside — Experiences-Cruise Package — checked 2026-08-18
- Courtyard Norfolk Downtown — hotel overview — checked 2026-08-18
- Hilton Norfolk The Main — location — checked 2026-08-18
- Norfolk Waterside Marriott — hotel overview — checked 2026-08-18
- Residence Inn Norfolk Downtown — hotel overview — checked 2026-08-18
Published parking rates, shuttle hours, and hotel package terms change without notice. We date every fact we take from an operator so you can tell how fresh it is, and we leave a figure out entirely rather than repeat one we could not read at the source. Reconfirm anything time-sensitive before you travel.
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