NYC CRUISES PLANNING/INFO ThREAD!

[Fivepin]

So, need some help with locations of hotels. We have 2 Mariott certs for up to a Cat 4 room which leaves NYC out of the question. We have it down to 3 unless you can point us in a better direction. They are in Long Island City, Teaneck, or Secaucus. We are flying into Newark 1 day pre cruise and want to take my son to the Statue of Liberty. We are also staying 1 night post cruise. We have tickets for Lion King the day with disembark.

Not knowing commute time into the city or anything is tough. 2 nights free are 2 nights free. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[taximom00]

So, need some help with locations of hotels. We have 2 Mariott certs for up to a Cat 4 room which leaves NYC out of the question. We have it down to 3 unless you can point us in a better direction. They are in Long Island City, Teaneck, or Secaucus. We are flying into Newark 1 day pre cruise and want to take my son to the Statue of Liberty. We are also staying 1 night post cruise. We have tickets for Lion King the day with disembark.

Not knowing commute time into the city or anything is tough. 2 nights free are 2 nights free. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

My gut says Long Island City....I'm sure the Marriott is close to the subway/LIRR and likely offer a van to get there if not walking distance. So on your day before, you could avoid driving into the city and take the subway.

Just to be sure, you know that you cannot go up into the Statue these days. You will take the ferry over and can walk around the island (not sure if you can go into the base?)

As the ship will go past, you will see it that day. If that matters and would give you an opportunity to do something else in the city pre cruise....

Just a thought!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

So, need some help with locations of hotels. We have 2 Mariott certs for up to a Cat 4 room which leaves NYC out of the question. We have it down to 3 unless you can point us in a better direction. They are in Long Island City, Teaneck, or Secaucus. We are flying into Newark 1 day pre cruise and want to take my son to the Statue of Liberty. We are also staying 1 night post cruise. We have tickets for Lion King the day with disembark.

Not knowing commute time into the city or anything is tough. 2 nights free are 2 nights free. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ok, I will be the 1st to admit I'm not an expert regarding NYC so others may give better advice.
I would be definitely finding a way to use 2 free nights at a Marriott. Without knowing your dates, I searched with a random sail date of 7/15 (when I disembark from my 2 nt weekend cruise).
I found a Spring Hill Suites that sleeps 5 at Newark Airport that is level 4 reward points. It's not a glamourous location but consider this:

*they offer free airport shuttle,
*it's not far at all from SoL access from Liberty State Park - see link, SoL is directly east of EWR.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=s...kJEP3Ng&oq=liberty+state+park&mra=ls&t=m&z=13
*you could probably take a taxi to SoL without breaking the bank (maybe call them & ask for an estimate.)
*they offer transportation to NJTransit Train Station which would take you to Penn Station in NYC (though it doesn't state this as complimentary) Again, randomly chose 7/15 for a sail date and checked schedule which shows 25-35 mins train ride, with trains running every 7-10 mins. That's a Sunday, so probably more often on a weekday.
http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom

http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/Rail_System_Map.pdf

*Newark Airport is a pick up site for DCL transportation. Not the most economic way for a family of 5 but probably the most convenient for luggage handling.

 

[Fivepin]

Ok, I will be the 1st to admit I'm not an expert regarding NYC so others may give better advice.
I would be definitely finding a way to use 2 free nights at a Marriott. Without knowing your dates, I searched with a random sail date of 7/15 (when I disembark from my 2 nt weekend cruise).
I found a Spring Hill Suites that sleeps 5 at Newark Airport that is level 4 reward points. It's not a glamourous location but consider this:

*they offer free airport shuttle,
*it's not far at all from SoL access from Liberty State Park - see link, SoL is directly east of EWR.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=s...kJEP3Ng&oq=liberty+state+park&mra=ls&t=m&z=13
*you could probably take a taxi to SoL without breaking the bank (maybe call them & ask for an estimate.)
*they offer transportation to NJTransit Train Station which would take you to Penn Station in NYC (though it doesn't state this as complimentary) Again, randomly chose 7/15 for a sail date and checked schedule which shows 25-35 mins train ride, with trains running every 7-10 mins. That's a Sunday, so probably more often on a weekday.
http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=TrainSchedulesFrom

http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/Rail_System_Map.pdf

*Newark Airport is a pick up site for DCL transportation. Not the most economic way for a family of 5 but probably the most convenient for luggage handling.

We are on the same cruise. We're doing the 2 nite cruise to nowhere on July 13th. There will only be 3 of us on this one. My other 2 sons are in Taiwan. I posted on our meet thread asking maybe our 2 boys could hang out. Your disname looks familiar-have we cruised before?

Thanks for all the tips. So hard planning when your not familiar with the area. It may look close on the map, but may take a long time to get there.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are on the same cruise. We're doing the 2 nite cruise to nowhere on July 13th. There will only be 3 of us on this one. My other 2 sons are in Taiwan. I posted on our meet thread asking maybe our 2 boys could hang out. Your disname looks familiar-have we cruised before?
Hmm.. if your past cruise list in your siggie is accurate, I would say no. Our boys are 15.5 & 12 but this cruise is only me & our 12 yr old. I'm sorry I missed your post. He can't wait to get back to Edge on the Magic since the new ships don't have captain's chairs & simulators. How old is your son?
Thanks for all the tips. So hard planning when your not familiar with the area. It may look close on the map, but may take a long time to get there.

Yes, you never know with traffic. Unfortunately, there is no easy & inexpensive way to get around up there. We'll be driving to Liberty State Park, passing EWR on the way, on 6/30, weather permitting, to visit the SoL & watch the Magic sail down the Hudson. I'll let you know how long it takes from EWR to LSP.
Are you doing a B2B? I can't imagine flying up here just for a 2 nt cruise but I sure have done crazier things. (Dh & I once flew to MCO for 1 nt in FL w/o kids!)

 

[Fivepin]

Yes, you never know with traffic. Unfortunately, there is no easy & inexpensive way to get around up there. We'll be driving to Liberty State Park, passing EWR on the way, on 6/30, weather permitting, to visit the SoL & watch the Magic sail down the Hudson. I'll let you know how long it takes from EWR to LSP.
Are you doing a B2B? I can't imagine flying up here just for a 2 nt cruise but I sure have done crazier things. (Dh & I once flew to MCO for 1 nt in FL w/o kids!)

We will be bringing my 12 year old son. We thought we would do something special for him since his brothers are in Taiwan. He stayed behind because of Scouting commitments. This was a spur of the moment-SW frequent flier miles enough for the 3 of us, Mariott certs, so a weekend in New York. We will be going up one day before and staying one day after. Plan is to go to the Statue and we have tickets for Sunday matinee of Lion King.

Maybe i have just seen you posting around the boards.

 

[stefanospops]

So I just read through 52 pages of this thread and am as confused now as when I started. I'm hoping that someone who is recently back from some of the NYC cruises can help out. We have only ever cruised out of PC and usually in conjunction with a stay at DW. I always rented a car to get us to port, and rented again to get us back to Orlando. For this trip we have two choices for our family of 5. We can fly into JFK the day of the cruise (flights leave on the hour arriving at JFK from 7:10am) and we would want the return flight to be at 11:30am. Our other option is to drive in the day before.

I typically don't like flying in the same day since this leaves little room for error. But I prefer flying to driving because our kids are 7, 5, and 3. The drive is about 8 hours plus stopping, so I figure it would take us 9-10 hours to get to NYC from Toronto.

I figure the cost of two nights at a hotel, gas, parking at port and other miscellaneous will run us about $1000. The cost to fly including parking our car at the airport is $1228 but this does not include transfers from JFK to the port. If we used Disney the cost to our family of 5 would another $360 bringing that total to $1588. We could reduce that cost significantly if we could get a minivan taxi to take us to the port. So here are my questions:

1) If we use Disney Transportation out of NYC I presume collect our luggage at the airport and put it on the bus. Do they then take the luggage to the stateroom for us? For the return, once we leave our luggage in the hall the night before does it automatically get loaded onto the bus for the return to JFK?

2) If we don't go with Disney transportation, how often do minivan taxis show up at JFK and if we arrive at 9:30am, how long do we think it will take for us to collect our luggage, get a cab and get to the port? Is an 8:30am arrival better?

3) Are we cutting it too close booking an 11:30am flight out on the day we return from the cruise? The other option is I book a later flight and go standby if we get there sooner. Would there be enough to do at JFK to occupy my kids? I presume there must be at least wifi there.

4) If we drove, how difficult will it be for an out of towner to get to the port from New Jersey? We are on the July 15th cruise so I am hoping a Sunday morning to the Port should be an easier drive and driving to New Jersey on a Friday morning should hopefully also be easier.

Any help so I can finalize this trip is appreciated! I toyed around with the idea of booking the Disembarkation transfer as well. That sounds like fun and a lot easier to manage with 3 young kids. Any ideas, suggestions, advice is truly appreciated!

 

[slg]

We're a family of 5 and we are staying at the Radio City Apartments which is close to Times Square and very reasonabley priced. We are going to LGA but we will be taking a minivan from the airport to the hotel. I think it will be much, much cheaper than DCL. Try to find a non-DCL hotel, that will cut costs.

We have a 4:30 flight to TO on the day out and hoping to take a debarkation excursion. I know its pricey but sounds like a fun thing to do to kill some time. Personally I wouldn't want to take an 11:30 flight. Too many things can happen...

 

[stefanospops]

We decided to fly in the day before and stay at a hotel somewhere - still to be determined. We found a great fare flying out of Toronto's Island airport. Was also doing research on taxi's and saw that you cannot prearrange a taxi in New York City so I couldn't call a minivan cab to pick us up from the hotel. But I did find the following: A child under 7 is allowed to sit on a passenger's lap in the rear seat in addition to the 4 passenger limit.

Based on that our family of 5 can fit into a standard cab. Has anyone had experience with this in NYC?

We're still debating between flying in later the day before and just staying at a hotel near EWR or flying in earlier and heading to a Manhattan hotel and spending part of the day in NYC.

 

[firsttimemom]

3) Are we cutting it too close booking an 11:30am flight out on the day we return from the cruise? The other option is I book a later flight and go standby if we get there sooner. Would there be enough to do at JFK to occupy my kids? I presume there must be at least wifi there.

We just got off the 6/17 cruise. We kept our luggage with us, walked out the doors of the ship by 8:30 and was at Penn Station by 9:30. We waited 30 min in the taxi line- you might have a longer wait because there is 5 of you. If you had a car service pick you up and you did an early breakfast at topsiders, you might be able to make your flight but it would be *very* close. All it takes is one traffic problem and you've missed your flight.

The 5 in a cab thing would be very tight- how much luggage will you have? We had to bypass a couple cabs because our luggage (1 lg suitcase 1 med-lg and 2 lg kid size) wouldn't fit in the trunk.

 

[stefanospops]

We just got off the 6/17 cruise. We kept our luggage with us, walked out the doors of the ship by 8:30 and was at Penn Station by 9:30. We waited 30 min in the taxi line- you might have a longer wait because there is 5 of you. If you had a car service pick you up and you did an early breakfast at topsiders, you might be able to make your flight but it would be *very* close. All it takes is one traffic problem and you've missed your flight.

The 5 in a cab thing would be very tight- how much luggage will you have? We had to bypass a couple cabs because our luggage (1 lg suitcase 1 med-lg and 2 lg kid size) wouldn't fit in the trunk.

Thanks for the feedback. Our flight out now will be 12:55 because we are going with a different airline. I think we may just go with 1 large suitcase and a few carryons. We'll be flying out of Newark, so how will the traffic be getting to EWR on a Friday in the morning?

 

[mamasha]

when you return to ny? Now that a few people are back looking for info what time we will leave the ship to go to newark airport.
Anyone know roughly how much a taxi would cost from port to newark airport?
thanks for any info!

 

[jbdisneymom13]

Just off the June 17 NYC Canada cruise. We drove to NYC from Ohio and stayed the night before at the Sheraton Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, NJ. I wanted to highly recommend this location for folks like us who might be staying pre-cruise. Right on the river - fantastic views of the city. We could even see the pier where the ship docked from our hotel room window so we woke up to a view of the Magic on the morning of our cruise! There are ferry boats right in front of the hotel that go into the city. We got a decent AAA rate for the hotel too.

 

[Thorb73]

when you return to ny? Now that a few people are back looking for info what time we will leave the ship to go to newark airport.
Anyone know roughly how much a taxi would cost from port to newark airport?
thanks for any info!

We would also love to know at which time you would expect to be back at Newark Airport when using DCL transfers. We have an intercontinental flight leaving at 5.30 p.m. and are thinking if booking a day room at the airport hotel will make sense or not...

Thanks for any info!

 

[SUZI]

My question is similar to Mamasha and Thorb73:
Regarding DCL transfers post-cruise: around when do they leave the port or are there multiple transfers through-out the morning? Do we take our own luggage or will they check it in like in Florida?

I had planned on a car service to take us; however, based on other posts, it seems that there is a lot of congestion/confusion at the "pick-up area." I don't want to use a regular taxi because I need a carseat/booster for the children.

I would appreciate any suggestions. I don't mind paying a little extra if it makes things more convenient.

Thank you!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We just got off the 6/17 cruise. We kept our luggage with us, walked out the doors of the ship by 8:30 and was at Penn Station by 9:30. We waited 30 min in the taxi line- you might have a longer wait because there is 5 of you. If you had a car service pick you up and you did an early breakfast at topsiders, you might be able to make your flight but it would be *very* close. All it takes is one traffic problem and you've missed your flight.

The 5 in a cab thing would be very tight- how much luggage will you have? We had to bypass a couple cabs because our luggage (1 lg suitcase 1 med-lg and 2 lg kid size) wouldn't fit in the trunk.

How much did cab fare cost from/to Penn station?

 

[jilljill]

How much did cab fare cost from/to Penn station?

In the past, I've paid about $12 with tip to Penn Station from the port. I've heard that taxi fares are going to be going up in the new couple of weeks or so.

 

[dthogue]

Just off the June 17 NYC Canada cruise. We drove to NYC from Ohio and stayed the night before at the Sheraton Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, NJ. I wanted to highly recommend this location for folks like us who might be staying pre-cruise. Right on the river - fantastic views of the city. We could even see the pier where the ship docked from our hotel room window so we woke up to a view of the Magic on the morning of our cruise! There are ferry boats right in front of the hotel that go into the city. We got a decent AAA rate for the hotel too.

Did you drive to port? Do you know if you can take the ferry boat to the port?

 

[jilljill]

Did you drive to port? Do you know if you can take the ferry boat to the port?

Funny, I was going to ask the same questions. I did see on the Sheraton website they charge $25/day for parking. Didn't think it was worth the price of the room and then the parking price IF they would even let you park there while cruising. I still might give them a call to see if they offer a say and cruise package, just not sure DH would go for that.

 

[jbdisneymom13]

We drove into the city the morning of the cruise and parked at the port. We did this because we continued our trip by staying in the city once we returned and wanted the car there. So, did not inquire about leaving the car at the hotel - but it might be a possibility. They had a nice, guarded parking lot. I did see a comment (not sure which thread) about parking at the ferry in NJ and getting to the port that way. Since this was our first (and probably only) trip to NYC, we made the choices like staying at Sheraton before and in the city after based on making the most of the whole NYC trip and getting different views/experiences.