CAPE LIBERTY 411 (and NYC too) Version 4!!

[margeecruiser]

I have also asked on this thread about wine at Newark airport. No luck. I have found out my hotel has a bar and restaurant and that I will be able to buy wine there to take with me. I'm now a happy camper.

 

Margee

[Starry Eyes]

I have also asked on this thread about wine at Newark airport. No luck. I have found out my hotel has a bar and restaurant and that I will be able to buy wine there to take with me. I'm now a happy camper.

 

Margee

 

Do you know about your hotel's wine pricing? I imagine one could spend as much or more for a bottle from the hotel bar as you would for a bottle from the ship bar.

[margeecruiser]

I don't know yet. But you are right. If the cost is too high, I'll do without.

 

Margee

[RPclimber]

Did anyone hear back w/r/t Metro Mart convenience store in the mall by RI in Elizabeth if they carried wine?

[areacode250]

the magic of google... if wine is of an incredible importance why not give the store at the mall a call and ask? Maybe I'm missing something but it sounds like an easy solution.

http://m.simon.com/store.aspx?tid=91802&id=1374

[138east]

the magic of google... if wine is of an incredible importance why not give the store at the mall a call and ask? Maybe I'm missing something but it sounds like an easy solution.

http://m.simon.com/store.aspx?tid=91802&id=1374

 

In NJ wine is basically be sold only in liquor stores. It is not sold in convenience stores and super markets. The laws are complicated and there are exceptions, but as far as we know, none of those exceptions are readily available to folks staying Newark Airport without taking a cab.

 

If you're taking a car service to Cape Liberty, you can pay them extra to take you to the Wine Warehouse.

 

Wine Store

South Cove Commons, 1 Lefante Way, Bayonne, NJ 07002

(201) 858-2727

[ChucktownSteve]

What a beautiful morning in Newark. Enjoying the outdoors space at the Best Western Robert Treat. It was a good choice for the night. The restaurant's food was surprisingly good.

 

The hotel's van was waiting for us at EWR P-4. As soon as we loaded we were off for the short ride.

 

Yesterday I tried to arrange transfer to the port. Dial7 said they don't do Jersey, they're a NY company. I then called Carmel who quoted $79 + tolls + tip. The front desk ordered me a taxi for $60 including tolls & tip.

 

I just wanted to share my experience which was a good choice thankx to Carol's great information. It has set the tone for a wonderful cruise. We're on VACATION!!!

[138east]

What a beautiful morning in Newark. Enjoying the outdoors space at the Best Western Robert Treat. It was a good choice for the night. The restaurant's food was surprisingly good.

 

The hotel's van was waiting for us at EWR P-4. As soon as we loaded we were off for the short ride.

 

Yesterday I tried to arrange transfer to the port. Dial7 said they don't do Jersey, they're a NY company. I then called Carmel who quoted $79 + tolls + tip. The front desk ordered me a taxi for $60 including tolls & tip.

 

I just wanted to share my experience which was a good choice thankx to Carol's great information. It has set the tone for a wonderful cruise. We're on VACATION!!!

 

So glad you enjoyed the Robert Treat and that your shuttle connection was good. Thanks for the feedback about the taxi cost to the port - the hotel got you a reasonable price as well as the hotel food.

 

I didn't get to enjoy the outside area at the hotel in January, but I thought the setting was lovely for downtown Newark. I know I will stay at this hotel again if I ever need accommodations in the area.

[margeecruiser]

Wine is not incredibly important to us, but we will host parties in our cabin if we meet other wine lovers on board. We have had great cocktail parties in our and others cabins in other cruises. That being said, we have decided to KISS and buy wine from the gifts and gear section of RCCL for our cruise so we will have a couple of bottles waiting for us.

 

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

Margee

[Got2Cruise]

Those of you looking for wine, soda etc . .. Lately, the Cruiselines are offering drink packages included in the price when you book. If you haven't made final payment yet and don't have the drink package try looking into it. Just had it on Celebrity and what a pleasure. No nickel and diming. If you want a bottle of water, a latte, a piña colada, a coke you get one without worrying.

[Starry Eyes]

Those of you looking for wine, soda etc . .. Lately, the Cruiselines are offering drink packages included in the price when you book. If you haven't made final payment yet and don't have the drink package try looking into it. Just had it on Celebrity and what a pleasure. No nickel and diming. If you want a bottle of water, a latte, a piña colada, a coke you get one without worrying.

Glad you enjoyed Celebrity's drink package. Be aware that other line's packages may not include as much as your's did on X.

Last time I checked, Royal Caribbean's drink package was very weak in the wine selection arena (just house wine, IIRC, and their house wines have not been great to say the least). So, while piña colada lovers would do fine with the drink package, winos sailing Royal Caribbean may be very disappointed. I believe Celebrity's package includes a better choice of wines than her corporate sister line. Wine is our beverage of choice,and rarely do we select other adult beverages. If I were sailing X or NCL, I might buy the drink package, but not if sailing Royal Caribbean unless and until the wine selections improve. Wine allowance for our trip (multiple cabins) is six bottles, and I'd really like toe joy six nice bottles at liquor store prices. I may take most of my clothes in a carry on bag and put some wine bottles in checked luggage. Or maybe use a taxi or car service to visit a NJ liquor store.

[margeecruiser]

Hi, Starry Eyes. Glad to hear from another wine lover. We also like to purchase our carry on wine from a good wine store. We have been known to carry on Opus One (a gift -I kid you not) and Caymus Special Selection we purchased for ourselves. With the problems I encountered trying to find good wine to carry on from Newark, I finally gave up. We will drink what is available to buy as a gift to ourselves from the selection on the Gifts and Gear list. It's not great-more like supermarket quality.

 

We will love whatever we have with a wonderful ship and great friends to be discovered on board. [emoji6][emoji6]

 

Margee

[Starry Eyes]

Hi, Starry Eyes. Glad to hear from another wine lover. We also like to purchase our carry on wine from a good wine store. We have been known to carry on Opus One (a gift -I kid you not) and Caymus Special Selection we purchased for ourselves. With the problems I encountered trying to find good wine to carry on from Newark, I finally gave up. We will drink what is available to buy as a gift to ourselves from the selection on the Gifts and Gear list. It's not great-more like supermarket quality.

 

We will love whatever we have with a wonderful ship and great friends to be discovered on board. [emoji6][emoji6]

 

Margee

 

Hi Margee,

We do love wine, but I am not sure my palate is as defined as yours! Are we perhaps on the same cruise(s)? If so, maybe we can coordinate a trip to a wine reater. DH and I are doing Liberty of the Seas repo Nov 1 and staying for the 9 night thereafter.

Wendy

[margeecruiser]

Hey, Wendy! We are on those two cruises too. I looked at wine retailers in the Newark area and found one great store, but the logistics with taxis was just too much. We are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Staten Island on the 31st.

 

My palate has out-stripped my finances! We drink the best we can afford,and enjoy it all.

 

Hope you are on the Roll Call and that we can meet up on board.

 

Margee

[Edgewater601]

I am prefacing these questions by saying we have NEVER been to NY or NJ. We are from the Midwest and the unknown public transportation intimidates us. We are a party of 6 adults from 65 to 70 years of age who will be sailing from Cape Liberty on the Summit next fall. While we have a long time until we cruise, we need to figure out what we want to do and coordinate it among us. We plan on flying in two days early, we want to see NYC attractions, and are thinking we want to stay in the New York area on Friday and Saturday night prior to the cruise. We are flying in on points so we don't have that expense and are willing to spend the extra money staying perhaps in Manhattan to have easy access to the 911 Memorial, Times Square, Broadway, etc. We are thinking perhaps we should fly into LaGuardia and perhaps out of Newark. It sounds like we could get a private car service to pick us up at LaGuardia and split the cost. Someone on our cruise is arranging private transport from the Times Square area to the port so that would be covered for a reasonable amount, and we figured we would take Celebrity transport from the port to Newark following the cruise.

 

So my questions are, does this seem reasonable or am I missing something that would make this not feasible, am I thinking correctly about the airports we should fly into and out of, can you recommend a hotel that we might try in Manhattan that I realize won't be reasonably priced but might be acceptable on a Friday and Saturday night, and what private car service would you recommend from LaGuardia to Manhattan and the approximate cost PP for 6 of us? Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

[138east]

I am prefacing these questions by saying we have NEVER been to NY or NJ. We are from the Midwest and the unknown public transportation intimidates us. We are a party of 6 adults from 65 to 70 years of age who will be sailing from Cape Liberty on the Summit next fall. While we have a long time until we cruise, we need to figure out what we want to do and coordinate it among us. We plan on flying in two days early, we want to see NYC attractions, and are thinking we want to stay in the New York area on Friday and Saturday night prior to the cruise. We are flying in on points so we don't have that expense and are willing to spend the extra money staying perhaps in Manhattan to have easy access to the 911 Memorial, Times Square, Broadway, etc. We are thinking perhaps we should fly into LaGuardia and perhaps out of Newark. It sounds like we could get a private car service to pick us up at LaGuardia and split the cost. Someone on our cruise is arranging private transport from the Times Square area to the port so that would be covered for a reasonable amount, and we figured we would take Celebrity transport from the port to Newark following the cruise.

 

So my questions are, does this seem reasonable or am I missing something that would make this not feasible, am I thinking correctly about the airports we should fly into and out of, can you recommend a hotel that we might try in Manhattan that I realize won't be reasonably priced but might be acceptable on a Friday and Saturday night, and what private car service would you recommend from LaGuardia to Manhattan and the approximate cost PP for 6 of us? Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

 

Could you provide more details? Do you need 3 rooms for the six people? What is your hotel budget range? What are your exact dates? Are the 6 of you joined at the hip for transportation - do you all have to travel in the same vehicle or can you split into two groups of three? How much luggage will you have?

 

The Celebrity transfers to Newark Airport are about $29/pp. That's $174. Before I spent that kind of money I'd be calling Abdul at Independent driver - 888-816-0973 to see what he can offer you. Unfortunately they only take reservations 4-6 weeks out, but they do have vans that will accommodate 6+ people, so you can all travel together to the airport.

[Tunkhannock]

We are thinking perhaps we should fly into LaGuardia and perhaps out of Newark.

 

I'm not from the city and don't spend much time in it, but I have a lot of family who is. The assure me that, ranking the airports, JFK is the "nicest", with Newark Liberty in second place. I've been told several times (and practical experience does tend to verify it) that LaGuardia is "dirty".

[Edgewater601]

Could you provide more details? Do you need 3 rooms for the six people? What is your hotel budget range? What are your exact dates? Are the 6 of you joined at the hip for transportation - do you all have to travel in the same vehicle or can you split into two groups of three? How much luggage will you have?

 

The Celebrity transfers to Newark Airport are about $29/pp. That's $174. Before I spent that kind of money I'd be calling Abdul at Independent driver - 888-816-0973 to see what he can offer you. Unfortunately they only take reservations 4-6 weeks out, but they do have vans that will accommodate 6+ people, so you can all travel together to the airport.

 

Hi Carol,

 

To answer your questions, the dates of the hotel would be for 9/30 and 10/1/2016. Probably the three would prefer their own rooms unless we found a two bedroom with a sofa sleeper somewhere. But that would not be our first choice. We are not joined at the hip so we could do 3 and 3 for transport if necessary. The cruise is 14 days on Celebrity so each person will probably have a 28" or 29" bag, a 21" bag, and a purse or backpack type item. (We wish Celebrity had a laundromat like Princess). We are open to what we find in hotel costs since our airfare did not cost us anything, but to throw out a number we could say $275 to $375 plus tax per night per couple--we would like clean and convenient. Is this even possible to find or am I asking for the moon? Are the airport choices right for this scenario? Is there any transport from the ship to Newark that would allow us to book further out than 4 to 6 weeks? I hate to wait till that close to sailing for fear of missing out. Thank you!

[SteadyBetty]

Hello!

 

I am considering the Doubletree (Frontage Road) as a 1-nighter before my March 4 Anthem sailing from Cape Liberty.

 

If anyone has stayed there, I'd love to read your review - especially the proximity to the pier.

 

Thanks!

[138east]

Hello!

 

I am considering the Doubletree (Frontage Road) as a 1-nighter before my March 4 Anthem sailing from Cape Liberty.

 

If anyone has stayed there, I'd love to read your review - especially the proximity to the pier.

 

Thanks!

 

There are no hotels close to the pier. However the Doubletree is right at Exit 14 on the NJ Turnpike and is one of the "closest" hotels at about 8.5-9 miles away.

 

I haven't stayed there for a number of years since it was a Sheraton. It's a full service hotel with a nice pool in the lobby surrounded by plants.

 

What time does your flight arrive? This hotel is relatively isolated with no where to go other than by cab, so if you have a lot of time to kill, you might want to consider the hotels on Glimcher Realty Way in Elizabeth by the Jersey Gardens Mall.

[SteadyBetty]

There are no hotels close to the pier. However the Doubletree is right at Exit 14 on the NJ Turnpike and is one of the "closest" hotels at about 8.5-9 miles away.

 

I haven't stayed there for a number of years since it was a Sheraton. It's a full service hotel with a nice pool in the lobby surrounded by plants.

 

What time does your flight arrive? This hotel is relatively isolated with no where to go other than by cab, so if you have a lot of time to kill, you might want to consider the hotels on Glimcher Realty Way in Elizabeth by the Jersey Gardens Mall.

 

Hi Carol! And thanks!

 

My flight is scheduled to arrive EWR at 10:25p. How close are the hotels on Glimcher Realty Way to the pier?

 

Thanks again!

Edited September 7, 2015 by SteadyBetty

[138east]

Hi Carol! And thanks!

 

My flight is scheduled to arrive EWR at 10:25p. How close are the hotels on Glimcher Realty Way to the pier?

 

Thanks again!

 

Why do you care exactly how close the hotels are? None of the airport hotels are what I would consider close to the pier. You have to book a car service to get to the pier and all the hotels are a similar distance away from the pier within a mile or two.

 

You're arriving very late. You don't need the Mall, but IMO you probably do need a full service hotel.

[SteadyBetty]

Why do you care exactly how close the hotels are? None of the airport hotels are what I would consider close to the pier. You have to book a car service to get to the pier and all the hotels are a similar distance away from the pier within a mile or two.

 

You're arriving very late. You don't need the Mall, but IMO you probably do need a full service hotel.

 

Great! Thanks for all the information!

[Jimbo]

Great! Thanks for all the information!

 

Here is your answer, it's 11 miles.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Glimcher+Realty+Way,+Elizabeth,+NJ+07201/Cape+Liberty+Cruise+Port,+Port+Terminal+Boulevard,+Bayonne,+NJ/@40.6966985,-74.1700909,13z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c24d7e13082e9b:0x37c12d831999b485!2m2!1d-74.1764085!2d40.6633269!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c251e6aaaaaaab:0x7e3598347b19bfb1!2m2!1d-74.0739471!2d40.6646444

[Johnel]

We are thinking of staying here but I think the above info may be about a different hotel. Here's the one we're considering:

 

http://www.bing.com/maps/?msnurl=http%253a%252f%252fmappoint.msn.com%253a80%252fDirectionsFind.aspx&FORM=MSNRDR#Y3A9NDAuNzIxNzM1fi03NC4wODI3NjAmbHZsPTExJnN0eT1yJnJ0cD1wb3MuNDAuNzEzMjk4Xy03NC4xNjQzMDZfMTI4JTIwRnJvbnRhZ2UlMjBSZCUyQyUyME5ld2FyayUyQyUyME5KX0RvdWJsZVRyZWUlMjBieSUyMEhpbHRvbiUyMEhvdGVsJTIwTmV3YXJrJTIwQWlycG9ydF8oOTczKSUyMDY5MC01NTAwX2VfWU44NzN4MTcyNzQ4MTE0ODMwODA3ODM2MTF+cG9zLjQwLjY2NDAyOF8tNzQuMDczNzMwX0NhcGUlMjBMaWJlcnR5JTIwQ3J1aXNlJTIwUG9ydCUyQyUyME5KX19fZV8mbW9kZT1EJnJ0b3A9MH4wfjB+