Boston hotel recommendation

We are flying into Logan airport in Boston the day before our cruise. I've only been to Boston once several years ago so I'm not familiar with the city at all. We would like to walk from our hotel to restaurants/bars the night before our cruise and stay at a hotel with both an airport and a cruise port shuttle. Is this possible?

What is your exact date? What is your hotel budget?

You are not going to get a hotel shuttle and a cruiseport shuttle with any hotel in downtown Boston. These things come only with the fringe hotels outside of the center that offer few services including restaurants.

Hotels are expensive in Boston, but Hotwire could be your friend depending on the date. The ability to manage your luggage and take public transit could significantly reduce your transportation costs from the airport to the city and from your hotel to the cruiseport. Please post your budget.

Budget is whatever it takes but I'd prefer under $150. Date is July 24, 2015. Luggage is a small rolling suitcase and a backpack each which we can easily handle ourselves and wouldn't be a problem on a train. So Boston has a train? That opens up a whole new world....we could stay in a hotel that offers the shuttles and take a train downtown for dinner and drinks??? If so the criteria changes to a hotel near a train stop with the shuttles. I will check the normal kayak, Hotwire, etc websites. Maybe someone could suggest a neighborhood or area or give me a hotel in an area that meets this criteria and I could look at all the hotels in that area.

Done..

7d Royal Caribbean

7d Celebrity

10d Princess

21d Carnival

75d Holland America

Next..

21d Carnival Triumph

"Whatever it takes" and "Under $150" are pretty much mutually exclusive in Boston, although you might get lucky with a Hotwire type situation. Or you'll find yourself in a bad neighborhood or 15 miles out of town.

Take a look at a couple of the bigger chains (Starwood and Marriott, for instance) and look at the prices they are asking for your date, then set your expectations accordingly.

Unfortunately $150 is a ridiculously low budget for Boston. The Boston hotel prices are on a par with NYC prices.

I found two options for you.

1) Best Western Adams in Quincy has the airport and Cruiseport shuttles and is $153 plus tax or $138 AAA rate. They will shuttle you to the red line subway to go into town. Check out http://www.mbta.com

2). Hotwire has a 4* Boston Common/Theater district hotel for $158 plus $39 tax and fees. This will be a very nice hotel right in downtown Boston - my best guess is that it is the Hyatt, which is right at Downtown Crossing, the major "T" stop. You can get to this hotel by taking the Silver Line SL1 from the Airport (free from the airport) to South Station and transferring to the Red Line direction Alewife to go one stop to Downtown Crossing. To get to the Cruiseport you pay the $2.65/pp T fare to reverse the process, taking the SL2 Silver Line(instead of the SL1) to go to Black Falcon terminal. This Hotwire deal will not last, but you do have to prepay the hotel.

Post back for more detailed T advice if you need it.

Thanks for the info. I'll check these out then decide if I'm willing to pay more.

Oops. Posted twice

Also look at the John Jeffries House which is a small hotel Bed and Breakfast. It is located near the Charles MGH T station (accessible) and is reasonably priced. You can pay less out of town, but IMO it will be a real PITA to pay just a bit less when you figure in the transportation costs and shuttle tips and amount of time you will waste going back and forth. You should be able to get a reservation now for your date.

Thank you!

Shuttles to/from the airport and cruiseport are not likely to be provided by Boston hotels. But since you're mobile enough to take mass transit, you might consider using that instead of a shuttle or cab, and save a significant amount of money.

There are subways, busses, trolleys, etc, and commuter rail to the suburbs. A hybrid diesel/electric bus/trolleybus/subwaybus line called "the Silver Line" connects both the airport and cruiseport to South Station, the main railway station, and from there you can take the subway or any of the commuter rail lines (or Amtrak) to the west and south.

For $150 you may have to choose lodging out in the suburbs, but if you find a hotel near a subway or commuter rail line, you can still have relatively cheap transport to the downtown area, the airport, and the cruiseport, by using the mass transit system; the MBTA (known locally simply as "The T"). Check out mbta.com for details.

I don't mind spending more than $150. I just threw that number out there when someone asked my budget. That is always a hard question since I don't set budgets that way. I explore options, find a good price for the area and spend that much.

Then you should consider the John Jeffries House for one night if you can do without a full service hotel. It's on the edge of Beacon Hill in a safe area with walking access to the Boston Common and on to Faneuil Hall plus good T access. You can make a cancellable reservation and cancel it if you find another option, which would most likely be on Hotwire given the overall price of Boston hotels.

Taking the T from the airport and to Black Falcon is easy. Next week I'm going to drive to the Alewife red line station, park my car for several days, go to one of my company's offices at the World Trade Center on the Silver Line, work all day, and take the Silver Line to Logan Airport to fly to Portland Oregon that evening. Coming back I will take the Silver Line to South Station and the red line to Alewife. I've done this itinerary a number of times because it is the most cost effective way to park and get to and from the airport without spending a small fortune.

Unfortunately $150 is a ridiculously low budget for Boston. The Boston hotel prices are on a par with NYC prices.

 

I found two options for you.

 

1) Best Western Adams in Quincy has the airport and Cruiseport shuttles and is $153 plus tax or $138 AAA rate. They will shuttle you to the red line subway to go into town. Check out http://www.mbta.com

 

2). Hotwire has a 4* Boston Common/Theater district hotel for $158 plus $39 tax and fees. This will be a very nice hotel right in downtown Boston - my best guess is that it is the Hyatt, which is right at Downtown Crossing, the major "T" stop. You can get to this hotel by taking the Silver Line SL1 from the Airport (free from the airport) to South Station and transferring to the Red Line direction Alewife to go one stop to Downtown Crossing. To get to the Cruiseport you pay the $2.65/pp T fare to reverse the process, taking the SL2 Silver Line(instead of the SL1) to go to Black Falcon terminal. This Hotwire deal will not last, but you do have to prepay the hotel.

 

Post back for more detailed T advice if you need it.

For anyone reading here, be sure you are not looking at the Hyatt across the Charles River on the Cambridge side unless that is what you want. There is a large Hyatt there.

For anyone reading here, be sure you are not looking at the Hyatt across the Charles River on the Cambridge side unless that is what you want. There is a large Hyatt there.

 

Good point. That hotel doesn't usually come up often at the top of Boston hotel searches because it is in Cambridge and is identified as the Hyatt Regency Cambridge.The Hyatt Boston Harbor is across the harbor at the airport and the Hyatt Regency Boston is right in the middle of downtown Boston near the Downtown Crossing T stop.