Boston. Shuttle from ship to down-town

Hello fellow cruisers;)

Do you know if Princess provides a shuttle service from the ship to downtown Boston and back?

Thanking you in anticipation,

Kathy.

:)

We were on HAL this past spring in Boston and when we asked if there was going to be any free shuttles we were told no. Lo and behold, the morning we got there, an annoucement was made that free shuttles to and from Quincey Market - near the commons.

Maybe your ship will do the same thing.

:)

Were these shuttles were offered through the cruise line (only for HAL passengers) or did the port offer them like many other ports do for any cruise passengers?

Thanks!

I doubt that the Port of Boston will offer a free shuttle. However, if one of the Trolley Tour companies operate a tour stopping at Black Falcon Pier, that is a great On-Off way to see all the poplular sites in Boston while saving your energy and at a decent price. Look into it on-line before your cruise.

Bon Voyage

The trollys are of no good to us b/c we dont get into Boston until 3:00pm and most of the tours I have looked at only run until 4:30, so a cab would be cheaper just to get into town.

Oh well...

Thanks for the idea, though!

Is it possible to walk from the pier to downtown?

I guess it depends on your definition of what is walkable. I would certainly not want to walk it, but I have heard some people chose to do this rather than a taxi. Its a good 3 miles or so from the terminal to downtown, with nothing really to see as you are walking, so I'll stick with the cab :)

subway stop--it's a tremendous system, but I don't know how close it comes to the port. Any help on this?

The "T" has a great website that can tell you exactly how to get from point A to be using the various forms of public transportation. There is not a subway stop really close to the port. Although, it would be walkable if you really wanted to save the $15 bucks on cab fare. The website is http://www.mbta.com.

According to it, the closest stops to the Terminal are these:

BLACK FALCON AVE & DESIGN CENTER 0.17 mile BOSTON

DRY DOCK AVE & BLDG 25 0.31 mile BOSTON

DRY DOCK AVE & HARBOR ST 0.34 mile BOSTON

NORTHERN AVE & TIDE ST 0.36 mile BOSTON

DRY DOCK AVE & BLDG 21 0.39 mile BOSTON

When you try to use the Terminal as your starting point if you use their trip planning feature, I always get an error, but if you use one of these points, it will tell you what to take from that point to wherever you want to go.

Keep in mind, that these are not ALL subway stops, some are busses as well. Black Falcon Ave & Design Center is a bus stop, not a a subway stop. I dont know about the others on that list, so you would have to check the site to find out for sure what kind of transportation it is.

I'm going to stick with the cab! :)

The above list is all bus stops. No subway near the pier. It's about a 2 mile walk, I'd estimate, and the first half is entirely industrial.

I don't know about Princess, but even bargain basement Regal Empress had a shuttle from the pier to the Fauneil Hall-Quincy Market area. So did HAL when we were there on the Rotterdam. (For the Rotterdam cruise, I went to and from the ship twice.) I'd be surprised if Princess fails to provide a shuttle. Once you get to downtown Boston, use the subway to get where you want to go. There's no need for a ship's tour in Boston - just do your own thing.