NCL Dawn out of New York

[chrisbd1]

I'm thinking of taking the Dawn out of New York in April. We were planning on taking the plane to Philly, then taking Amtrak to Penn Station the day before. I see that there are hotels near Penn Station. My questions:

 

How far is it from Penn Station to the port that NCL cruises from?

 

Is coming in the day before a must in April?

 

Is disembarkation easy or hard?

 

Should I try and leave late Sunday or just wait until Monday?

 

 

Or we might fly into Long Island. How far is that to the pier?

 

Neither I not the other half have ever been to New York, so I'm kinda tempted to look around a bit either at the beginning or end of the cruise. New York is a foreign county to some of us Texans and I wanna gawk at the natives:p .

 

Any advise would be helpful TIA!

[smeyer418]

Penn Station is at 32-33rd street between 7th and 8th Avenue. The Manhattan Cruise terminal motor entrance is between 54-55th street and 12th avenue. Each uptown street is 1/20 of a mile and each crosstown Avenue is 1/10 of a mile. so its about a mile and half less than $10.00 by taxi unless traffic is really bad.

 

Is coming in the day before in April an absolute necessity? no but with the weather and ATC you never really know do you.

 

Is getting off easy or hard? I have never found it difficult. NY is better than some and worse than others. The hardest part is catching a cab along with the others waiting. NCL does give out numbers but people sometimes cut in. NCL does have a good system and you can stay in your cabin until your color comes up.

 

There is no reason you can't leave on Sunday but if you are using McArthur Airport on long Island because you are flying Southwest, I suggest you reconsider. Its over 60 miles to McArthur. You need to take a taxi or a bus from the airport to the LIRR train station. and then its about an hour and a half ride on trains that don't run that often. A car service will cost in excess of $100.00 If you are traveling light it is doable but many times you can find flights into LGA or JFK that will cost not that much more and be a lot more pleasant.

 

American Airlines pretty much runs a shuttle from DFW to LGA...

 

My relatives live in Texas and my wife was born in Galveston...

 

but bring money NY is much more expensive.

[Keith1010]

You should defiintely fly in the day before. There is too much risk flying in the day of the cruise from bad weather, to airport closures, to aircraft mechanical issues to computer malfunctions and so forth.

It was only a few weeks ago that there was a shutdown of flights at Dallas Fort Worth. It happens. You get the idea. And, there is so much to do in NCY you may consider arriving a few days early to see the city. You can fly to either airport Laquardia or Kennedy.

 

If you stay in the city on the day of embarkation take a cab to the cruise ship terminal. You don't want to walk from any of the train stations.

 

Stay in the city rather than Long Island to enjoy the city.

 

On the day you disembark select an afternoon flight to give you plenty of time to get to the airport.

 

Sometimes you have to wait for a cab but even at that you may wait 30 minutes or less.

 

Keith

[brandystar]

You should definitely check with Amtrak re luggage restrictions. If you have more than 1 or 2 small carry-on bags you may not be allowed to bring them. If you want to take the train with luggage, they sometimes require you send the luggage a day ahead of time.

[willysgrandma]

Fly in the day before - the air traffic in NY is very unpredictable. I will never ever fly in or out of NY ont he day of a cruise.

 

It is very easy to use Amtrak, but check for any luggage restrictions.

 

And don't fly into L.I. - It is at the least an hour and a half drive to the City. How would you plan on getting back and forth to the airport? It won't be cheap.

 

If you have some time, you may want to take the time to read this post - it has just about anything you might want to ask about where to stay and what to do in NY:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=579200