Beware of Newark Ramada

We did the July 10 Rotterdam out of NYC. Stayed in the Newark Airport Ramada Inn. Compared to the very good Ramada we stayed at in Portland OR the night before, the place is really a dump. Been in vastly superior Motel 6's before.

The worst part was the action of the morning desk clerk. We had heard the taxi fare from Newark to the NY pier was about $50 plus tolls (better then the HAL $37 p/p transfer) and more convienent. We asked the desk clerk to call a cab. Well, a Lincoln Town Car showed up. Driver speak no English. When I finally got her to tell me it would be $85 + tolls, I threatened to take the hotel shuttle to the airport to get a cab. She had me speak to the dispatcher on the cell (a little better English) and we finally negotiated $55 + tolls ($6). It was obviously a kick back deal for the desk clerk.

It actually turned out well. The NYC traffic was horrendous. There were two 100,000 ton Carnivals, the Celebrity Zenith, and the Rotterdam all loading that day. Some busses or taxis were dumping passengers and luggage a block from the pier. Sitting in the Town Car for the two hours in gridlock traffic was bearable and she dropped us right at the correct pier. After that, embarkation was smooth for a great cruise.

We will be using Cunard's transfers for our QM2 cruise in September.

I always check out hotels on http://tripadvisor.com before booking. The Ramada was rated 11'th out of 20 hotels in the area. However, none of the Newark hotels has an extensive number of user reviews, so you might consider posting your experiences there.

We took a HAL cruise out of New York a year ago, and we stayed at the Grand Hyatt New York. Although not the greatest Hyatt we have been in, the rates were good for New York and the location was very convenient.

We did the July 10 Rotterdam out of NYC. Stayed in the Newark Airport Ramada Inn. Compared to the very good Ramada we stayed at in Portland OR the night before, the place is really a dump. Been in vastly superior Motel 6's before.

Driver speak no English.

When I finally got her to tell me it would be $85 + tolls, I threatened to take the hotel shuttle to the airport to get a cab. She had me speak to the dispatcher on the cell (a little better English) and we finally negotiated $55 + tolls ($6). It was obviously a kick back deal for the desk clerk.

The Ramada's here are in the class of Motel 6. The Franchise License is pretty low from what I've heard. When you see a hotel like the Fairfield Inn put up the Ramada sign.. it's time to switch hotels.

For business I stay at the Hilton at the Newark Airport.

Please post a review on www.tripadvisor.com That will alert so many more people to the condition of the property. I use that site faithfully to research hotels.

The Ramada brand has certainly gone down hill, I'll have to agree.

JDMOR -

We were also on the 7/10 Rotterdam and HAL put us at the Sheraton in Newark. It was probably better than the Ramada, but we weren't pleased. The restaurant wasn't open till six. Some people figured out how to get around the fence to the Holiday Inn next door and the rest of us stayed hungry for another 2 or 3 hours. In addition the noise from the indoor swimming pool carried up to our 8th floor room meaning we didn't get to sleep as early as planned.

NYC was horrible that day and as you probably know almost everyone had a long trip to the pier that day; those coming from all three airports and coming by other means. Our bus spent most of the time just sitting in traffic and then going in circles as police kept detouring us rather than letting us get to the pier. Think it took us two hours from the hotel to the pier. The problem appeared to be road work on tunnels, a motorcycle parade and an accident or something that happened near the pier. Also it was Saturday.

Once we got on board, this was our best cruise yet!

Hi,

We had originally booked through HAL for the Sheraton NY at $300pp for our June 6 transatlantic. I was on the cruiseportlodging.com website and happened to read some bad reviews for the above hotel. My TA called HAL to ask and they "knew nothing". So I cancelled and found the Omni Berkshire on cruiseportlodging for $160 for the both of us.

We took the airport shuttle from LaGuardia to the Omni for $13 and when we got to the hotel asked for info on transport to the pier. We had ALOT of luggage for 34 days. The concierge gave us the business card of a gentleman who has his own Transport business. He arrived promptly at 11 am in a Cadillac Escalade on Sunday morning took us and ALL of our luggage for $25. Marvelous service.

And BTW, the hotel was wonderful! Try cruiseportlodging.com for hotels, rental cars, transfers etc, it's a great and helpful website.

GN

Hi,

We had originally booked through HAL for the Sheraton NY at $300pp for our June 6 transatlantic. I was on the cruiseportlodging.com website and happened to read some bad reviews for the above hotel. My TA called HAL to ask and they "knew nothing". So I cancelled and found the Omni Berkshire on cruiseportlodging for $160 for the both of us.

 

 

 

We selected Ramada Newark based on the good Ramada Inns we stayed at in Portland and Seattle. Their prices were very good. We paid $64 + tax in Portland for one night plus car parking for 10 days.

 

Compared to the other prices I have seen for the NY area, I guess the we got what we paid for at Ramada Newark for $64.