BROOKLYN / BUS or DRIVE

[MARCOPOLOSMITH]

Princess offers bus service from the I95 corridor to Brooklyn. Would like to hear comments from CC members who took the bus. I am trying to evaluate drive versus bus benefits. For instance, will the bus drop you off closer to the ship, and how difficult will it be to get a seat on the bus after the cruise?

[Alrana Eris]

Where are you starting from? I95N or I95S ?

 

Alrana

[njhorseman]

Regardless of where the OP is coming from, the cruise line's bus transfer will drop him off right at the terminal entrance, and presumably they only sell as many tickets as there are seats.

[GTJ]

Regardless of where the OP is coming from, the cruise line's bus transfer will drop him off right at the terminal entrance, and presumably they only sell as many tickets as there are seats.

 

Sometimes that can be an important factor in planning this type of travel. For many bus services tickets are sold without regard to the capacity of the bus, and even though passengers have tickets for a certain departure they can be denied boarding without compensation or other relief (other than waiting for the next bus).

[njhorseman]

Sometimes that can be an important factor in planning this type of travel. For many bus services tickets are sold without regard to the capacity of the bus, and even though passengers have tickets for a certain departure they can be denied boarding without compensation or other relief (other than waiting for the next bus).

 

The OP is talking about a special cruise line charter service, not a Greyhound, or Bolt Bus, or whatever from somewhere to Port Authority or some street corner. It's not a bus open to the non-cruising public. These types of cruise line buses used to be more common than they are today, but apparently Princess has enough demand to still offer it. There's also an independent company, Entertainment Tours, that offers this type of service from New England to a number of cruise ports.

[Cruising Jedi]

Woah, what is the "bus" of which you speak?

 

We are planning out our way to the port (driving down from Toronto) and I didn't know about this bus!

 

How do you find out more info? On the Princess site? Where does the bus pick you up, specifically? (I know you said I95 corridor but I'm not sure what that means...maybe my husband does lol) Is it expensive?

 

Thanks for your help!!

[njhorseman]

Woah, what is the "bus" of which you speak?

 

We are planning out our way to the port (driving down from Toronto) and I didn't know about this bus!

 

How do you find out more info? On the Princess site? Where does the bus pick you up, specifically? (I know you said I95 corridor but I'm not sure what that means...maybe my husband does lol) Is it expensive?

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

I 95 is the major highway that runs the length of the east coast of the US between Maine and Florida. It goes nowhere near Toronto.

 

Some cruise lines offer bus transportation to the NY area ports from cities along I 95 like Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and points in between...those cities are often described as being on the I 95 corridor.

[Fattony]

Woah, what is the "bus" of which you speak?

 

We are planning out our way to the port (driving down from Toronto) and I didn't know about this bus!

 

How do you find out more info? On the Princess site? Where does the bus pick you up, specifically? (I know you said I95 corridor but I'm not sure what that means...maybe my husband does lol) Is it expensive?

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

 

Kind of unlikely there's a bus from Toronto but never hurts to call the cruise line. Assuming you don't want to fly, you could also take the train to NYC and then taxi or bus (Princess presumably has a transfer from Manhattan). I assume that with luggage you wouldn't want to take subway and/or Long Island RR out to Brooklyn and then somehow gt to the port.

[njhorseman]

Kind of unlikely there's a bus from Toronto but never hurts to call the cruise line. Assuming you don't want to fly, you could also take the train to NYC and then taxi or bus (Princess presumably has a transfer from Manhattan). I assume that with luggage you wouldn't want to take subway and/or Long Island RR out to Brooklyn and then somehow gt to the port.

 

No, presumably they will not have transfers from the railroad stations in Manhattan to the pier.

[Cruising Jedi]

Thanks for answering my question!

 

Just to clarify, I was not thinking that Princess would have a bus from Toronto to NY, I was wondering where the bus might leave from so that maybe we could meet up with it - you know cut our drive by a bit and avoid having to drive right into Brooklyn.

 

I figured it might be an easier drive and a cheaper parking lot to leave our vehicle somehwere else and then ride in the rest of the way.

 

So I would have to call them directly to find out about where the busses run and if there would be room? Maybe I'll call my travel agent too.

[MARCOPOLOSMITH]

I will be traveling north from Delaware' Bus stops include Wilmington, Philadelphia, Camde NJ and Burlinton NJ.

[Smellytoes]

We had the same decision to make. We going on the CB 7/29. There are 8 of us in 4 cabins. Although it would be cheaper to drive and park at the pier we decided that the bus is much more relaxing. We've done it both ways before and there are pros and cons to each option. If you drive you can get there earlier if that's important but the bus is still the better option for us.

[GTJ]

The OP is talking about a special cruise line charter service, not a Greyhound, or Bolt Bus, or whatever from somewhere to Port Authority or some street corner. It's not a bus open to the non-cruising public. These types of cruise line buses used to be more common than they are today, but apparently Princess has enough demand to still offer it. There's also an independent company, Entertainment Tours, that offers this type of service from New England to a number of cruise ports.

 

Indeed, that's another way to say the very same thing. While with Greyhound Lines many tickets are sold without assurance of a seat, it may be worthwhile using a cruise-oriented carrier that does not overbook, and provides the added convenience of direct service to the departure point. Given a choice and all else being equal, I would prefer the greater peace of mind that comes with a reserved seat and convenience of being dropped at the pier itself.

 

But the comment regarding the cruise line buses struck a memory here. Looking in my library I have a 1983 issue of the OAG Worldwide Cruise and Shipline Guide that includes a full page advertisement from Greyhound Lines promoting the company's direct service between many northeastern cities and the Port of New York Passenger Ship Terminal ("Serving these fine luxury cruise ships: S/S Atlantic, Queen Elizabeth II, S/S Oceanic, S/S Veendam, S/S Rotterdam, S/S Volendam"). I also pulled a copy of Russell's Official National Motor Coach Guide from the same era and saw that in the timetable details that Greyhound Lines required reservations for this service. I'm not what the fares might have been, but this being the era of regulation I would imagine that Greyhound's fares to the Passenger Ship Terminal would have been the same as to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a far cry from today where direct service to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal can be four times as much as service from the same city to Port Authority.

[GTJ]

Just to clarify, I was not thinking that Princess would have a bus from Toronto to NY, I was wondering where the bus might leave from so that maybe we could meet up with it - you know cut our drive by a bit and avoid having to drive right into Brooklyn.

 

I figured it might be an easier drive and a cheaper parking lot to leave our vehicle somewhere else and then ride in the rest of the way.

 

So I would have to call them directly to find out about where the busses run and if there would be room? Maybe I'll call my travel agent too.

 

The information for the Princess-sponsored bus services are located here.

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp

 

There really are no convenient intercept points for a journey from Toronto. All that comes to my mind is regular transportation into New York City, then either public or private transportation for the transfer between New York City and Brooklyn. (E.g., with some luck and advance planning Megabus operates bus service between Toronto and New York City for as little as $2.00 per person, round-trip.)