CAPE LIBERTY (and NYC) 411-VERSION 5!!!

[138east]

21 minutes ago, missannb said:

 

We recommend Dial7 and Carmellimo car services. Another option is to go to the taxi dispatcher at Cape Liberty and get a private taxi for $50-60 or a shared vehicle for $20/pp. Be sure the fare is clearly agreed upon. 

[TOCruisers]

Hi 138east,

 

Our first time visit to New Jersey last October, by your recommendation, we stayed at the Resident Inn Jersey City thru the Last Minutes  and it was great. The location was so convenient to go to "downtown" New York and the Statue of Liberty.  We PATHed, lyfted (used it the first time 2) and had a great time.  Thank you for the great suggestion.  

 

Now for 138east and others,

 

Q1. We are going again on Sept 5th for one night but Resident Inn Jersey City does not show up in the Last Minutes site and  $279 at an other site.  Do you have any other suggestion?   We paid US$200 incl. taxes last year  for 2 of us and prefer to keep it under that price.  The convenience (closed to PATH) and safety are other preferences.  Is Doubletree by Hilton Newark Penn Station on PATH?

 

Q2.  We are also thinking to go on Anthem on Feb 23, 2020 with our son's family (2 adults and 2 kids, 6 and 4).  Will you have a different recommendation for family with kids?

 

Thank you in advance.

[138east]

6 hours ago, TOCruisers said:

Hi 138east,

 

Our first time visit to New Jersey last October, by your recommendation, we stayed at the Resident Inn Jersey City thru the Last Minutes  and it was great. The location was so convenient to go to "downtown" New York and the Statue of Liberty.  We PATHed, lyfted (used it the first time 2) and had a great time.  Thank you for the great suggestion.  

 

Now for 138east and others,

 

Q1. We are going again on Sept 5th for one night but Resident Inn Jersey City does not show up in the Last Minutes site and  $279 at an other site.  Do you have any other suggestion?   We paid US$200 incl. taxes last year  for 2 of us and prefer to keep it under that price.  The convenience (closed to PATH) and safety are other preferences.  Is Doubletree by Hilton Newark Penn Station on PATH?

 

Q2.  We are also thinking to go on Anthem on Feb 23, 2020 with our son's family (2 adults and 2 kids, 6 and 4).  Will you have a different recommendation for family with kids?

 

Thank you in advance.

Doubletree Hilton Penn Station is right at the beginning of the World Trade Center PATH Line.  It would be a good choice.  Hotwire is offering a 4* hotel in the Jersey City area right now for $97.  Can’t figure out what hotel it is, but it would be a good hotel and close to transportation, so check it out right now before it disappears.

[138east]

For Feb 22 Marriott is offering several hotels in Jersey City for under $200/night.  Courtyard Marriott would be good with small children - it has a pool and is right next to the Newport PATH Station, but the Westin would be fine too.  Remember, PATH to World Trade has weekend construction that requires you to take a ferry from Exchange Place to downtown Manhattan, but uptown service operates as normal, so being near the ?Newport or Grove St Station will be more convenient than Exchange Place.

 

Even if you are unsure about the cruise, I would be booking a refundable placeholder reservation now.  These are great prices.  Winter weekends are always cheaper months ahead and that is the time to book.  I usually sail in Feb and I’m always booked a year out.

[Glendakayself]

We are sailing out of Port Liberty October 6 on Celebrity Summit. I know most of this thread is about directions, transportation, hotels, and things to do in the area, My question is a bit different.

 

I read on another site that the security at Port Liberty ask you to empty unopened water bottles--like security at the airport. 

 

 

[Glendakayself]

1 hour ago, Glendakayself said:

We are sailing out of Port Liberty October 6 on Celebrity Summit. I know most of this thread is about directions, transportation, hotels, and things to do in the area, My question is a bit different.

 

I read on another site that the security at Port Liberty ask you to empty unopened water bottles--like security at the airport. 

 

 

 

I realized that I did not ask a question. Has anyone found this to be true in the recent past? Thanks.

[TOCruisers]

15 hours ago, 138east said:

 Doubletree Hilton Penn Station is right at the beginning of the World Trade Center PATH Line.  It would be a good choice.  Hotwire is offering a 4* hotel in the Jersey City area right now for $97.  Can’t figure out what hotel it is, but it would be a good hotel and close to transportation, so check it out right now before it disappears.

 

15 hours ago, 138east said:

For Feb 22 Marriott is offering several hotels in Jersey City for under $200/night.  Courtyard Marriott would be good with small children - it has a pool and is right next to the Newport PATH Station, but the Westin would be fine too.  Remember, PATH to World Trade has weekend construction that requires you to take a ferry from Exchange Place to downtown Manhattan, but uptown service operates as normal, so being near the ?Newport or Grove St Station will be more convenient than Exchange Place.

 

Even if you are unsure about the cruise, I would be booking a refundable placeholder reservation now.  These are great prices.  Winter weekends are always cheaper months ahead and that is the time to book.  I usually sail in Feb and I’m always booked a year out.

 

HI 138east

 

Thank you for the responses.  For Sept 5,  we booked yesterday a refundable res at Candlewood Suites Jersey City Harborside @US199 plus taxes before I saw your response.  This should be near Newport.  Being from Toronto, this will be approx C$300 but it seems everything is much higher than last year and wanted not to miss a reasonable one.  Hotwire choice sounds too good to be true but will definitely check.  I will also look into Doubletree Hilton Penn Station, especially if we don't book earlier morning flights, i.e. not enough time to go to New York.

 

For Feb., I will definitely follow your advice and book a refundable res now.  It seems that Feb prices are much cheaper at the moment.

 

Please kindly clarify re weekend construction.  This applies to the weekend only so not applicable to Sept trip?  Also If I book a hotel with the access to Newport, Grove or Newark Pen Station, will we have to change to Ferry at Exchange Place to Manhattan?

 

Thank you again for your responses.

 

[138east]

11 hours ago, TOCruisers said:

 

 

HI 138east

 

Thank you for the responses.  For Sept 5,  we booked yesterday a refundable res at Candlewood Suites Jersey City Harborside @US199 plus taxes before I saw your response.  This should be near Newport.  Being from Toronto, this will be approx C$300 but it seems everything is much higher than last year and wanted not to miss a reasonable one.  Hotwire choice sounds too good to be true but will definitely check.  I will also look into Doubletree Hilton Penn Station, especially if we don't book earlier morning flights, i.e. not enough time to go to New York.

 

For Feb., I will definitely follow your advice and book a refundable res now.  It seems that Feb prices are much cheaper at the moment.

 

Please kindly clarify re weekend construction.  This applies to the weekend only so not applicable to Sept trip?  Also If I book a hotel with the access to Newport, Grove or Newark Pen Station, will we have to change to Ferry at Exchange Place to Manhattan?

 

Thank you again for your responses.

 

Candlewood Suites is fine.  It’s about halfway between Newport and Exchange Place and has the Harborside light rail station right behind the hotel.

 

Post back about EWR hotels if you don’t have time to go into NYC.

 

The weekend construction is exactly that -weekend construction from midnight Friday to midnight Sunday.  Please look at the PATH system Map.  On weekends there are 2 routes operating to Manhattan - Journal Square via Hoboken to 33rd St which you would take to go to midtown and Newark to World Trade which you would take to go downtown.  The construction affects the Newark to World Trade route.  Trains will terminate at Exchange Place and you will transfer to a ferry to cross the Hudson River to the World Trade Center area.

 

The reason I recommended the Courtyard Marriott is that you would be traveling in the February cold with small children.  My guess is that midtown Manhattan would be much more of interest. You can walk up Broadway from 33rd & 6th to Times Square.  The Empire State is right there.  The Newport Station is literally next door to the Courtyard.  There would be no construction issues on the 33rd St PATH line.

 

If you like Candlewood Suites that could be another option - self catering options are always good when traveling with small children.  On a weekend you can walk to Newport for PATH or right from the hotel area take the light rail to Hoboken(great ride for small kids)  and PATH to 33rd.  

[KmomChicago]

Hi, there. Someone over on another site is asking about a recommended ride service to take them from Cape Liberty to LaGuardia for an 11am flight on a Friday after disembarking Adventure of the Seas. Can anyone help?

[138east]

4 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

Hi, there. Someone over on another site is asking about a recommended ride service to take them from Cape Liberty to LaGuardia for an 11am flight on a Friday after disembarking Adventure of the Seas. Can anyone help?

That’s a really really tight time frame on a Friday morning to go to LGA..  They would have to self disembark and be one of the first folks off the ship.  We recommend Dial7 or Carmellimo.

Edited July 8, 2019 by 138east

[KmomChicago]

2 minutes ago, 138east said:

That’s a really really tight time frame on a Friday morning to go to LGA..  They would have to self disembark and be one of the first folks off the ship.  We recommend Dial7 or Carmellimo.

 

Yes, fully agree. Never sailed Cape Liberty (coming up in August though) and never flew from LaGuardia (JFK) but I am an experienced cruiser, traveller, and occasional NYC visitor from similar traffic nightmare Chicago :).  

 

We have all told him they need to get down into the self-disembark queue at least an hour prior to announced arrival and try to have a pre-booked ride waiting for them.  They were planning for arrival at LGA at 10am for an 11am departure. We were all like NO WAY MAN - you need to aim for 9am arrival and start building more minutes into your plan right now and aim to get ahead of your current timeframe.

 

So he is looking for the rides. Someone over there is saying Uber is a good choice for the NYC area (I had a great experience with Lyft in Washington DC last fall) but others are saying it can be hard to get a ride / taxi / shuttle if not pre-booked?  Someone already recommended Dial7 but I will add Carmellimo for him, thank you.

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Hi, there. Someone over on another site is asking about a recommended ride service to take them from Cape Liberty to LaGuardia for an 11am flight on a Friday after disembarking Adventure of the Seas. Can anyone help?

Yikes, that’s right in the middle of rush hour, be the first off of the ship and have a car service waiting. My son leaves here at 6:30 to make it to work in manhattan by 8, taking the bus 10 miles.

[arielle71]

Hi, we are staying close to grand central terminal prior to our Summit cruise.

At what time would you schedule the limo to the port ( on sunday august 25th), is 10am a good call? We have no idea how long it can take on a sunday morning, 45 min? More?

 

Thanks in advance...

[h20skibum]

Back to a hotel question, and if it was in one of the earlier pages, I may have missed it.

 

We are driving in for our first cruise sailing from this port, so we are looking at hotels that offer parking, and transportation to and from the Cape Liberty port.  How is the Fairfield Inn and Suites, Staten Island?  We are also looking at the Country Inn and Suites, Newark airport.  We can get either one for around $250, which includes parking and port shuttle round trip.

 

Any one better, or safer than the other?  Thanks in advance. 

[mking8288]

3 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Yes, fully agree. Never sailed Cape Liberty (coming up in August though) and never flew from LaGuardia (JFK) but ... planning for arrival at LGA at 10am for an 11am departure. We were all like NO WAY ... 

 

Ditto on using Carmel or Dial 7, I would advise not opting for Uber/Lyft as not all drivers are familar with weekday rush hour options & alternate/shortcuts on the fastest way to get to LGA in Queens ... which I would pin as anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours + (that, plus - highly variable, anything less than 90 minutes between 7:30 and 10 am weekdays would be a miracle !!) 

 

Then, allow an extra, additional 15 to 30 minutes to crawl & work the (interior airport under expansion-construction) service roadways to the airline terminal, especially Terminal B ... as it will be jammed with departure & arrival ground traffic, Fridays being among the worst - IMHO, bad planning on those cruiser's part.  

 

If they can switch airports & change their flights out of nearby EWR instead, it will be a lot better & save on ground transfer costs ... this trip from CL to LGA will easily run close to $120-130 with expensive in-bound tolls & tips.  Advise them, if they could, use EWR to save them precious time - otherwise, they need to be in their pre-booked car service no later than 7:30 to 7:45 am to aim for getting to LGA's airline terminal curbside by 10 am.  Commuting gridlocks, accidents & last minute closure will ruin any chance of making their flight - will they be checking bags and/or have Pre-Check.  

 

https://www.laguardiaairport.com/

[KmomChicago]

19 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

Ditto on using Carmel or Dial 7, I would advise not opting for Uber/Lyft as not all drivers are familar with weekday rush hour options & alternate/shortcuts on the fastest way to get to LGA in Queens ... which I would pin as anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours + (that, plus - highly variable, anything less than 90 minutes between 7:30 and 10 am weekdays would be a miracle !!) 

 

Then, allow an extra, additional 15 to 30 minutes to crawl & work the (interior airport under expansion-construction) service roadways to the airline terminal, especially Terminal B ... as it will be jammed with departure & arrival ground traffic, Fridays being among the worst - IMHO, bad planning on those cruiser's part.  

 

If they can switch airports & change their flights out of nearby EWR instead, it will be a lot better & save on ground transfer costs ... this trip from CL to LGA will easily run close to $120-130 with expensive in-bound tolls & tips.  Advise them, if they could, use EWR to save them precious time - otherwise, they need to be in their pre-booked car service no later than 7:30 to 7:45 am to aim for getting to LGA's airline terminal curbside by 10 am.  Commuting gridlocks, accidents & last minute closure will ruin any chance of making their flight - will they be checking bags and/or have Pre-Check.  

 

https://www.laguardiaairport.com/

 

They had a later flight originally but it was moved to earlier and it’s to Knoxville which apparently has no flights from Newark.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, arielle71 said:

Hi, we are staying close to grand central terminal prior to our Summit cruise.

At what time would you schedule the limo to the port ( on sunday august 25th), is 10am a good call? We have no idea how long it can take on a sunday morning, 45 min? More?

 

Thanks in advance...

45 minutes will be enough time given normal Sunday traffic.

10 am pick up should work.

[winky12]

What a marvelous site?  Great find, thanks to all who contribute  We are flying into EWK and are looking at hotels & transport to the pier Oct 5.  In the past we have stayed at the Staten Island Hilton Garden Inn with our car and used their transfer.  We have a tentative reservation at the Elizabeth Hampton Inn with thoughts about going back to the airport for Summit transportation.  Any pros and cons on our choice?  Dial 7  sounded good for a private transfer have you heard of "Go" it looks promising?

[138east]

5 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Back to a hotel question, and if it was in one of the earlier pages, I may have missed it.

 

We are driving in for our first cruise sailing from this port, so we are looking at hotels that offer parking, and transportation to and from the Cape Liberty port.  How is the Fairfield Inn and Suites, Staten Island?  We are also looking at the Country Inn and Suites, Newark airport.  We can get either one for around $250, which includes parking and port shuttle round trip.

 

Any one better, or safer than the other?  Thanks in advance. 

Anthem April 5, 2020?

 

Country Inns would be fine.  There is no reason to drive the extra miles and pay the $15 toll to stay on Staten Island.  Where exactly did you see the Fairfield Inn SI  offering a park, stay, cruise?

 

However, the least expensive deal is not yet available for 2020.  Trinityreservations.com is offering the Ramada Plaza for 2 people for $227 in 2019, but their rates are not yet available for 2920.

[138east]

2 hours ago, winky12 said:

What a marvelous site?  Great find, thanks to all who contribute  We are flying into EWK and are looking at hotels & transport to the pier Oct 5.  In the past we have stayed at the Staten Island Hilton Garden Inn with our car and used their transfer.  We have a tentative reservation at the Elizabeth Hampton Inn with thoughts about going back to the airport for Summit transportation.  Any pros and cons on our choice?  Dial 7  sounded good for a private transfer have you heard of "Go" it looks promising?

What exact date and time does your flight arrive?  The problem with EWR hotels is that many hotels that offer free breakfast have no other food service and there is no place you can easily walk to to get food except maybe a neighboring hotel.  Hampton Inn is one of those hotels.  Give me your date, number of people, hotel budget,  bed size requirements, and any other considerations and I’ll look at options.

 

Could you provide a link for “Go”?  The feedback on this board is that most folks are using Uber/Lyft.

[h20skibum]

54 minutes ago, 138east said:

Where exactly did you see the Fairfield Inn SI  offering a park, stay, cruise?

Yes, April 5, 2020 sail date on Anthem is correct.  One of the stay, Park, cruise sites we use brought up the Fairfield when I put in the dates. 

 

 

When I bring up the Fairfield website, it doesn’t list anything for 2020 yet. 

 

Just trying to check things early, since this looks like it will be popular around Easter. 

[138east]

28 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Yes, April 5, 2020 sail date on Anthem is correct.  One of the stay, Park, cruise sites we use brought up the Fairfield when I put in the dates. 

 

 

When I bring up the Fairfield website, it doesn’t list anything for 2020 yet. 

 

Just trying to check things early, since this looks like it will be popular around Easter. 

Be patient.  The return times will be better with trinityreservations.  11 am return is late if you have to drive home.

 

When you add tax the Fairfield will be more expensive.  Trinity always quotes tax included.  They are a reputable faith based operation.  Bruce is very responsive to questions and concerns.  The Ramada is an acceptable 3* hotel.  No “free” breakfast, but a nice cafe.  You want to leave for the ship at 10 am to be among the first to board.  Anthem has food available at 11 am.  

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, 138east said:

Be patient.  The return times will be better with trinityreservations.  11 am return is late if you have to drive home.

Yes, that return time was a drawback. The one at Country Inn and suites had a better return time. 

 

I guess we will wait a while and see how trinity’s prices are when they open. 

 

Thanks for the info. 

[MisterBill99]

I know there was earlier discussion about the new Bayonne Costco and wine. It's a separate company, since arcane NJ liquor laws do not allow big companies to have multiple outlets but as a result, Costco Membership is not required to purchase there. Here is the website:

 

http://bbbliquors.com/

Edited July 9, 2019 by MisterBill99

[TOCruisers]

On 7/7/2019 at 10:38 AM, 138east said:

Candlewood Suites is fine.  It’s about halfway between Newport and Exchange Place and has the Harborside light rail station right behind the hotel.

....

The reason I recommended the Courtyard Marriott is that you would be traveling in the February cold with small children.  My guess is that midtown Manhattan would be much more of interest. You can walk up Broadway from 33rd & 6th to Times Square.  The Empire State is right there.  The Newport Station is literally next door to the Courtyard.  There would be no construction issues on the 33rd St PATH line.

 

If you like Candlewood Suites that could be another option - self catering options are always good when traveling with small children.  On a weekend you can walk to Newport for PATH or right from the hotel area take the light rail to Hoboken(great ride for small kids)  and PATH to 33rd.  

 

Hi 123east,

When I read the sticky post above re PATH with the illustration, I now understand  what you meant.  Thank you.  I must have missed $97 Hotwire , but that is an another place I should check occasionally.  Haven't look at Hotwire/Priceline for a several years now.  I will keep eye on Courtyard Marriott Newport as well.    Thank you again.