Long Term Parking for Boston Cruise Departure

We will be driving to Boston for our Serenade of the Seas departure in October. We are looking for recommendations for parking for the week and also a hotel near the port. TIA.

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We will be driving to Boston for our Serenade of the Seas departure in October. We are looking for recommendations for parking for the week and also a hotel near the port. TIA.

 

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What is the exact date of your cruise? Are you planning to come to Boston early to sightsee or do you just need a one night precruise hotel? Are you coming in the Mass Pike (I90)?

Boston hotels are very expensive in October, particularly on business travel nights (Sun-Thur), and parking your car can cost $50+. If you're not sightseeing, the recommendation is to stay in a less expensive accommodation in the Newton/Waltham area, drive into the port after 9:00 am the morning of the cruise, and park at the port for about $20/day for 7 days (special cruise rate).

What is the exact date of your cruise? Are you planning to come to Boston early to sightsee or do you just need a one night precruise hotel? Are you coming in the Mass Pike (I90)?

 

 

 

Boston hotels are very expensive in October, particularly on business travel nights (Sun-Thur), and parking your car can cost $50+. If you're not sightseeing, the recommendation is to stay in a less expensive accommodation in the Newton/Waltham area, drive into the port after 9:00 am the morning of the cruise, and park at the port for about $20/day for 7 days (special cruise rate).

We are scheduled to sail on 10/14. Right now our plan is to arrive in the Boston area on 10/13. How far away is the Newton/Waltham area from the port? You mentioned a special cruise rate for parking at the port of $20 per day. Is that with a coupon or the standard rate? 138east, thank you for your response. We have typically sailed from Florida. This will be our first cruise from Boston so it's a little unnerving not knowing anything about the area.

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We are scheduled to sail on 10/14. Right now our plan is to arrive in the Boston area on 10/13. How far away is the Newton/Waltham area from the port? You mentioned a special cruise rate for parking at the port of $20 per day. Is that with a coupon or the standard rate? 138east, thank you for your response. We have typically sailed from Florida. This will be our first cruise from Boston so it's a little unnerving not knowing anything about the area.

 

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What is your hotel budget? Would you buy a blind hotel on Hotwire?

Newton/Waltham or Lexington/Burlington would put you about a half hour from the port on a Sunday morning (best traffic day of the week). These areas along I95/route 128 have a lot of hotels/motels in nice suburban areas that cater to business travelers, so rates are better on a weekend night. Many of these hotels have easy access to reasonable dining options, particularly the Burlington Mall area.

Parking rates in Boston can run $50+. The Flynn Cruiseport (aka Black Falcon Cruise Terminal) offers reasonable port parking at about $20 to attract cruisers. More updates on the port parking options will be available around April when the cruising season begins.

http://www.massport.com/cruiseport/to-from-cruiseport/parking-directions/

What is your hotel budget? Would you buy a blind hotel on Hotwire?

 

 

 

Newton/Waltham or Lexington/Burlington would put you about a half hour from the port on a Sunday morning (best traffic day of the week). These areas along I95/route 128 have a lot of hotels/motels in nice suburban areas that cater to business travelers, so rates are better on a weekend night. Many of these hotels have easy access to reasonable dining options, particularly the Burlington Mall area.

 

 

 

Parking rates in Boston can run $50+. The Flynn Cruiseport (aka Black Falcon Cruise Terminal) offers reasonable port parking at about $20 to attract cruisers. More updates on the port parking options will be available around April when the cruising season begins.

 

http://www.massport.com/cruiseport/to-from-cruiseport/parking-directions/

Most likely won't do Hotwire. I'm traveling with my 81 year old mother who needs handicapped accessible hotel room. I need to be able to secure that type of room. We usually stay with the Hilton chain. We definitely don't have a problem staying outside the city and traveling 30 minutes to the port. I figured to spend (hopefully) no more than $200 for the night. That is not set in stone. Don't want a "flea trap" hotel.

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Most likely won't do Hotwire. I'm traveling with my 81 year old mother who needs handicapped accessible hotel room. I need to be able to secure that type of room. We usually stay with the Hilton chain. We definitely don't have a problem staying outside the city and traveling 30 minutes to the port. I figured to spend (hopefully) no more than $200 for the night. That is not set in stone. Don't want a "flea trap" hotel.

 

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You have some very specialized requirements to accommodate your mother. The only close in Hilton property I can find within your budget for Oct 13 is the Hilton Gardens in Burlington MA. This hotel is right off I95/route 128 and is very close to Burlington Mall. From this hotel you would continue north on I95 to I93 and go into Boston from the north - no more than 30 minutes to the port.

Another option would be the Hampton Inn in Westborough, which is close to I90 and about 45 minutes from the port directly on I90.

Where are you driving in from? Fortunately you are a week before Head of the Charles. If you are coming in from I90, I would look in the Westborough area over Burlington.

You have some very specialized requirements to accommodate your mother. The only close in Hilton property I can find within your budget for Oct 13 is the Hilton Gardens in Burlington MA. This hotel is right off I95/route 128 and is very close to Burlington Mall. From this hotel you would continue north on I95 to I93 and go into Boston from the north - no more than 30 minutes to the port.

 

 

 

Another option would be the Hampton Inn in Westborough, which is close to I90 and about 45 minutes from the port directly on I90.

Both of those would work. Thank you again for taking time to answer.

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Where are you driving in from? Fortunately you are a week before Head of the Charles. If you are coming in from I90, I would look in the Westborough area over Burlington.

We are coming in from Cincinnati.

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We are coming in from Cincinnati.

 

 

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That's a long drive - about 880 miles. Are you doing it in one day? If so, I would be getting off the road in Westborough as suggested before you hit the traffic congestion in the closer Boston metro area at the end of a long day. I90 is a straight shot to the Seaport area in Boston the following morning. IMO a much less confusing approach to the cruise terminal than the I93 approach.

If you are coming from Cincinnati, that will take you I90. In all honesty, if you are doing this in one day, I'd probably look for a place in Springfield/Chicopee verses Westborough. Will be a bit further to the cruise terminal, but its still a straight shot.

That's a long drive - about 880 miles. Are you doing it in one day? If so, I would be getting off the road in Westborough as suggested before you hit the traffic congestion in the closer Boston metro area at the end of a long day. I90 is a straight shot to the Seaport area in Boston the following morning. IMO a much less confusing approach to the cruise terminal than the I93 approach.

Most likely will do it in 2 days. Start out on Friday and arrive into the Boston area on Saturday.

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If you are coming from Cincinnati, that will take you I90. In all honesty, if you are doing this in one day, I'd probably look for a place in Springfield/Chicopee verses Westborough. Will be a bit further to the cruise terminal, but its still a straight shot.

For planning purposes on Sunday when we go to the cruise port, how much time should we plan to travel from Springfield/Chicopee? BTW, thank you for taking the time to answer.

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Roughly an hour and a half. If you are going to split the driving, don't rule out Westborough then. It will cut about 45 minutes off the trip Sunday morning. The issue with hotels is that you are getting into foliage season. Westborough has a Courtyard, Doubletree, and Hampton Inn right by the highway. There's a Red Roof Inn also not far. You might find a better variety in the Springfield area due to Six Flags and the Big E (I haven't looked, whereas I live close to the Westborough area).

Ok thanks

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We are doing a cruise out of Boston on the Serenade of the Seas on October 7th. I was looking for a room and was able to book a Homewood Suites in Needham, MA for under $200 including taxes. From what I can tell this is a brand new hotel just finished being built as there are no reviews anywhere on the internet about it, and any "news" articles online talk about construction in that area. Google Maps tells me it's about a 45 minute drive to the cruise port from this hotel.

If you haven't booked a room yet you may want to look at this one. Homewood is part of the Hilton chain if you didn't know.

Sounds like a nice addition to the suburban hotel properties. They offer Hilton Honors, military, AAA, and senior discounts plus substantial prepaid option discounts.

I've always liked Homewood Suites as a brand. They seem to be fairly consistent.

Being from Canada and our exchange rate now pricing means a lot. If I can find something in the $150 range plus tax I'm happy. The Hilton brand of hotels has really been my best place to find these prices all over the east coast. I haven't stayed in a Homewood in a long time, and most of my recent stays have been in Hampton Inns. The fact I got something for under $200 within an hour of Boston surprised me. Being originally from NH I know how expensive Boston is.

We are doing a cruise out of Boston on the Serenade of the Seas on October 7th. I was looking for a room and was able to book a Homewood Suites in Needham, MA for under $200 including taxes. From what I can tell this is a brand new hotel just finished being built as there are no reviews anywhere on the internet about it, and any "news" articles online talk about construction in that area. Google Maps tells me it's about a 45 minute drive to the cruise port from this hotel.

If you haven't booked a room yet you may want to look at this one. Homewood is part of the Hilton chain if you didn't know.

Thanks. We typically stay in Homewood Suites. A 45 minute drive to the port is not bad.

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We're on Serenade 10/28 and could not believe how expensive the travel seems to be for this repo. The other couple we are traveling with booked their flight from EWR to Boston, then FLL back to EWR using miles, and called us yesterday with their flight info so we could book the same flights. They are flying in the morning of the cruise (which makes me nervous but we are in reasonable driving distance) as the hotels are so expensive to fly in the day before. The price in dollars for their flights is $982 for the two of us! I can't even. So we found cheaper flights, but we'd have to fly in the day before. So once we pay for hotel, and pay to park our car at the airport, and transportation to the airport...it'll cost us that much, I think.

We're looking at renting a car and dropping it off at the airport, then just taking a car service back home from EWR when the cruise is over, to see how works. I was not expecting this!

Any suggestions are welcome!

If you're coming from New Jersey to Boston and flights are nearly $500 each, you should consider Amtrak or LimoLiner (fancy bus) or look harder for cheap flights. Coming in the day before is always a good idea in case there are delays.

If you can provide your exact travel dates we might be able to help.

If you're coming from New Jersey to Boston and flights are nearly $500 each, you should consider Amtrak or LimoLiner (fancy bus) or look harder for cheap flights. Coming in the day before is always a good idea in case there are delays.

 

If you can provide your exact travel dates we might be able to help.

Thanks; we're open to suggestions. Our sailing leaves Boston Oct 28th and we end up in Ft Lauderdale Nov 9th. Many airlines don't have their flight bookings open that far out, so I'm hoping for something better as it gets closer. Will keep checking!

United on 10/28 has $92 and $129 one way non stops from EWR to BOS. Similar prices the day before (cheaper, actually).

They also have a $214 and $279 one way flights on 11/9 from FLL to EWR

United on 10/28 has $92 and $129 one way non stops from EWR to BOS. Similar prices the day before (cheaper, actually).

 

They also have a $214 and $279 one way flights on 11/9 from FLL to EWR

What site are you searching on? I see a $92 flight but we'd miss the ship as it arrives at 2:46pm. The morning flights are all over $200.

I'd love the $75 flight coming in the day before, but hotels are just ridiculous in October. Any recommendations for inexpensive hotels?

We did look at Amtrak, and it's doable at $108 for the one way, but we're about an hour from the station and the cost to get there, well we might've as well flown. LOL