Why do so many want to stay at hotels near the cruise port?

[clo]

I see people asking regularly for this.  Is it because the port city isn't interesting?  If we continue to cruise some of the reason will be because the beginning and ending ports are going to be places that we want to explore.  Or continue to explore.

[losfp]

daresay it's mostly because of wanting to minimise travel and stress on the day of the cruise.  Much more relaxing to stay at a place that's a short drive or cab ride to the port rather than have to worry about traffic or flights etc.

[mom says]

Depends on the port. Depends on how far in advance of the cruise we are  arriving. If I'm arriving in Tokyo a week before embarkation, then I want to be in the heart of the city. If I'm arriving in FLL the evening before embarkation, then I want a decent hotel close to the port for a quick transfer in the morning.

 

Not everyone has the luxury of time for extended pre and post cruise stays as desirable as they may be.

Edited October 31, 2019 by mom says

[Flatbush Flyer]

22 minutes ago, clo said:

I see people asking regularly for this.  Is it because the port city isn't interesting?  If we continue to cruise some of the reason will be because the beginning and ending ports are going to be places that we want to explore.  Or continue to explore.

Seattle, San Francisco, Lisbon, Tahiti, Sydney, 

Miami, New York, Honolulu, Dublin, Valparaiso ..........

I think you'll find some port adjacent hotels to also be right in the thick of tourist heaven for land attractions.

[Jana60]

2 hours ago, clo said:

I see people asking regularly for this.  Is it because the port city isn't interesting?  If we continue to cruise some of the reason will be because the beginning and ending ports are going to be places that we want to explore.  Or continue to explore.

often the cruise port is also where there are a lot of entertainment options for the pre-cruise stay.  When that’s not the case, you won’t see very many people planning to stay near the port. A prime example of this is the port of Civitavecchia.  There are almost no hotels there because no one wants to stay there when they could stay in Rome instead!  

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, Jana60 said:

A prime example of this is the port of Civitavecchia.  There are almost no hotels there because no one wants to stay there when they could stay in Rome instead!  

 

I think that lots of people prefer to stay in Civitavecchia because it's so far away from Rome. First a few nights in Rome but the last night before the cruise in Civitavecchia.

Edited October 31, 2019 by sverigecruiser

[sverigecruiser]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I see people asking regularly for this.  Is it because the port city isn't interesting?  If we continue to cruise some of the reason will be because the beginning and ending ports are going to be places that we want to explore.  Or continue to explore.

 

I think it's because this is a cruiseforum. The cruise is probably the most important part of the vacation for many people posting at this forum.

 

I will never stay in the city where I finish the cruise after the cruise because when the cruise is over my vacation is over so it's better to go back home. I love a few days before the cruise but even then I'm mainly waiting for the cruise to start.

 

Ink48 in New York is my best recommedation for a hotel near the port. Walking distance to the port and AMAZING view over the central parts of Manhattan. 

[Tapi]

I get wanting to stay near the port. Not everybody wants to sightsee or explore their port of embarkation, either because they’ve already been there multiple times, or because they are arriving late the day before the cruise and they just want a place to rest after a long day of traveling. 

 

I don’t always select a hotel near the port. It depends on where I’m sailing from, how much time before the cruise I have, and if I’d been there before. Here are some that I’ve done :

 

- Civitavecchia - 2 nights pre cruise, we stayed at a hotel in Rome near the Vatican. First timers. 
 

- Miami - I used to live there so I have little interest in exploring or sightseeing. For our last cruise from there we stayed at a hotel near the port. (we saw our ship come in that morning from our hotel room). On our previous cruise out of Miami, we chose a hotel on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale because we flew into FLL. 

- Port Canaveral - We’ve done several options. For our last one from here, we stayed at a hotel 2 hours from the port. Just a place to rest and brake the drive on our way to the port. For another cruise, we stayed at an oceanfront hotel in Cocoa Beach, minutes from the port. And on another one, we stayed in Orlando because we wanted to visit amusement parks for 2 nights before the cruise. 

 

- Seattle - 1 night pre cruise, we stayed at a downtown hotel, near attractions. I hadn’t been there in years and wanted to explore. We also had a hotel night post cruise with an early flight departure the next day. We stayed at a hotel near the SEA airport for that one. 
 

- New York - 1 night pre cruise, we stayed in Manhattan, which was in the heart of many attractions, but also very close to the cruise terminal. 
 

Our next cruise is out of Ft Lauderdale. Our flight  arrives at 6pm the night prior and we have booked a hotel near the airport with a free shuttle. We just want to get off the airplane and go straight to the hotel, have dinner and rest. 

 

So once again, our hotel selection varies from cruise to cruise, and based on several factors. It may feel like a waste for some to stay near the port, but we have our reasons when we do choose to stay there. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Tapi

[dogs4fun]

Agree with previous posts in that I assume that booking a hotel close to the cruise port provides easy access to your ship.  For many, it is the cruise itself that is the main attraction and minimizing stress after a long international flight is probably a consideration in choosing a hotel.

For extended stays, a hotel in the heart of the action would be our choice - in fact, we actually prefer DIY land visits as it allows us to maximize our time in areas that appeal to our interests.

[marco]

Depends where the cruise is departing from.  If it's leaving out of Fla, anywhere near the port is fine.  Were going  day early just to avoid the stress of day sailing travel. If it's in Europe, anywhere we'd like to  visit for as long as we want, but then we go to a hotel near the port the day prior.

[sparks1093]

Most of the time we are staying in a hotel because we want to be as close to the port as possible to minimize the chances of delay (which is one of the reasons we get to the port the night before if possible).

[leaveitallbehind]

Along the lines of sparks1093's comments, when we cruise on FL based US based itineraries, for example, we typically are only going in the day (or night) before as a convenience to boarding the next day and not to sight see.  After the cruise we leave same day just to get home.  Been to Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, and Miami on enough cruises that there isn't much we want to see anyway - other than perhaps a nice restaurant for dinner - that we haven't already seen.

  

San Juan would be somewhat of an exception as we usually get there early enough on the day before to spend some time in Old San Juan and occasionally touring parts of the island, as in several years of my business days I traveled there rather extensively and know - and like - Puerto Rico well.

 

International departure ports are different and in that case we would plan time in the departure cities for vacationing as well.

Edited October 31, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[navybankerteacher]

It might be because of over-focus:  thinking only about the cruise and ignoring the opportunity to experience the area around the immediate embarkation/debarkation spot.  I am continually amazed by people who will fly from the US to get on a ship sailing from Civitavecchia and not leave a couple of days to experience Rome.  

 

Sure, it will add hotel cost, and require using more vacation time (or taking days off without pay) —- but how many times will they fly that far?

[pathi]

Some of us like to watch the ship come in that morning.

[richbum]

We usually cruise out of Miami in January...but we live in Maine. So for us...waking up on embarkation morning and seeing our ship out our hotel room window is a treat! We also don't get a rental car...so cab/uber to port distance is important. We are tourists when we go down there...so touristy stuff doesn't bother us. 

[sparks1093]

19 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

It might be because of over-focus:  thinking only about the cruise and ignoring the opportunity to experience the area around the immediate embarkation/debarkation spot.  I am continually amazed by people who will fly from the US to get on a ship sailing from Civitavecchia and not leave a couple of days to experience Rome.  

 

Sure, it will add hotel cost, and require using more vacation time (or taking days off without pay) —- but how many times will they fly that far?

We're actually looking at a land trip to Rome for 2021. We thought about a Med cruise but 1 day in Rome isn't sufficient, we want at least 5 days there. But if we were to do a cruise we would definitely plan on a couple of days to see Rome before hand (because if we did do a cruise we'd try to embark in Civitavecchia).

[George C]

37 minutes ago, pathi said:

Some of us like to watch the ship come in that morning.

We have a hotel with balcony so will be able to see our ship when we wake up In Miami in a month. 

Had a really cool hotel where we spent a few days in heart of Barcelona 

love leaving from nyc where we can stay at our favorite hotel the Michealanglo 

[ilikeanswers]

While I haven't had to stay at a port hotel I have stayed at airport hotels and it usually for the reason of not wanting to miss flight and trying to remove some of the factors that might lead to you missing it. Usually I will stay in the place I fly in and out of for a few days to explore but sometimes for the last night I move to an airport hotel because I don't want to worry about traffic or something unexpected happening that might make me miss my flight. The closer I am to the airport the less chance something can happen to stop me from getting there. If I felt insecure about making it to my cruise I would do the same thing and move to a port hotel. 

[TNcruising02]

We always fly in the day before the cruise.  If our flight arrives early in the day, sometimes it's fun to explore the area near the port.  Baltimore, Galveston, and Miami all have more interesting things to do near the port.  Sometimes we want to stay at a hotel on the beach, which is always closer to the port. If our flight arrives late, then a hotel near the airport makes the most sense.  We have done it both ways.

[Tapi]

23 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

 I am continually amazed by people who will fly from the US to get on a ship sailing from Civitavecchia and not leave a couple of days to experience Rome.  

 

Sure, it will add hotel cost, and require using more vacation time (or taking days off without pay) —- but how many times will they fly that far?

Many times it’s because of the proverbial “other obligations and not having enough time”. Not everybody has the ability to take enough time for a longer cruise plus several days pre or post cruise. Does that mean that someone shouldn’t take that vacation if they don’t have enough time to add a land portion?

 

When we sailed the Mediterranean last November, we did so over Thanksgiving break. Because of the kids school schedule, we had a very specific window of days to make this vacation happen, a little over a week. We agreed that we would fly out on a Thursday night. We picked the kids up from school and went straight to the airport. That allowed us to arrive in Rome and have one full day there before cruising Sunday to Sunday. We returned home that Sunday night and the kids were back in school the following morning. Both my wife and I had to be back at work that following day as well. 

 

We made it happen, first because of our ability to take our kids out of school for one day (they are still in elementary school so for them, missing a day of school, isn’t as critical) , and also because we have the privilege of having nonstop flights to / from Rome at convenient times from where we live. This allowed us to fly when we did and not have to take more time off because of inconvenient flights, connections, and longer time spent getting there and back. But a lot of people don’t have the ability to do any of that.

 

Ideally, I would’ve loved to spend more days exploring on land throughout Italy before and after our cruise and then taken a longer 2+ week cruise, but all we had time for were 2 nights pre cruise + 7 night cruise. But  it was a wonderful and memorable vacation nonetheless! Truly memorable

[davekathy]

11 hours ago, clo said:

I see people asking regularly for this.  Is it because the port city isn't interesting?  If we continue to cruise some of the reason will be because the beginning and ending ports are going to be places that we want to explore.  Or continue to explore.

Personal reference. 

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I think that lots of people prefer to stay in Civitavecchia because it's so far away from Rome. First a few nights in Rome but the last night before the cruise in Civitavecchia.

 

Given how many cruise ships start and end at Civitavecchia (with thousands of passengers on each), and how few hotels/B&Bs/inns are available, it seems pretty clear that not very many people stay there.

 

Also, Civitavecchia is not "so far away" from Rome. It is an hour, give or take. In the large city where I live in the US, most residents are an hour or more away from the airport. And none of them (that I know) leave their homes a day early to stay near the airport when leaving on a trip out of fear of missing the plane....

Edited October 31, 2019 by cruisemom42

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Given how many cruise ships start and end at Civitavecchia (with thousands of passengers on each), and how few hotels/B&Bs/inns are available, it seems pretty clear that not very many people stay there.

 

Also, Civitavecchia is not "so far away" from Rome. It is an hour, give or take. In the large city where I live in the US, most residents are an hour or more away from the airport. And none of them (that I know) leave their homes a day early to stay near the airport when leaving on a trip out of fear of missing the plane....

Count us in the folks who live an hour (in the most ideal of conditions) from the airport and who often spend the evening preceding a daytime flight in a hotel near SFO.

 

With not uncommon bridge(s) issue(s) and San Francisco traffic/construction/et al. congestion (not to mention the results of more-than-occasional widespread forest fires and other  natural disasters), we'd rather spend up to a few hundred dollars in a good hotel for peace of mind and a wonderful meal at one of the many fine restaurants in nearby Burlingame.

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

 In the large city where I live in the US, most residents are an hour or more away from the airport. And none of them (that I know) leave their homes a day early to stay near the airport when leaving on a trip out of fear of missing the plane....

Where I live  we do go to the airport hotel the day before  more so in winter  months  as the traffic  from outside the city can be horrendous  getting to the airport  anytime of the day/night  here

 

different strokes for different  folks 😉

 

[GUT2407]

I cruise out of Sydney, love staying at the Holiday inn directly over the road from the terminal.

 

get up early, watch my ship arrive, leisurely breakfast, late check out, wander over the road to board, no take, no shuttle, no hassle.