Park and cruise hotel in New York area?

:confused: Any ideas and cost. I just cant seem to bring myself to pay 40 a day to park.....

Check the park and cruise packages at the Staten Island Hilton Garden Inn and the Hampton Inn and Suites. They will shuttle you from the hotel to the cruise port in Bayonne an back at no cost, but you have to have reservations for the shuttle as well as the hotel. Call the hotels for information. The hotels are across a parking lot from each other. Lorenzo's restaurant at the Hilton Garden Inn is outstanding.

The OP is sailing from Manhattan and wants to sightsee in Manhattan precruise.

I see you are cruising the Splendor so you are going out of Manhattan. There are no park and stay close by. Stay wherever you chose in NJ..Homewood Suites in Edgewater or Sheraton Weehawken are good options, then just park at the Port imperial Ferry and take the ferry across. Staten Island is not a good option if you are not leaving out of Bayonne.

Several of the hotels in NJ offer the park and cruise. They may not specifically advertise but it's worth asking. We always stay in NJ and just take the bus over to sightsee in the city. It takes you right to the Port Authority just outside Times Square.

Most of those park and stays are south of the city. Any tips for when you're coming in from New England?

Where are you coming from in New England? What is your sail date? How many people? Budget? More details are needed to offer a reasonable strategy.

The basic pool of park/ sleep hotels is around Newark Airport. Some folks have had success making a private arrangement with hotels in Secaucus to stay and leave their car for the duration of the cruise.

Quite frankly by the time you pay for the park/sleep and arrange to transport yourselves into Manhattan, you may pay a similar amount of money as just parking at the port.

There are four of us coming from the MA/NH border. Leaving on the Gem 9/6. I've done the academy bus before, with just two of us, but with the kids, I'd rather drive and have them be comfy and watch movies in the truck, etc. Although I was pretty much just planning on leaving extremely early Saturday morning, it would be nice not to feel rushed and drive down the night before. If I could find a park and stay situation for the same cost as parking at the terminal, I'd prefer that.

I'd consider another strategy. Drive to Stamford, CT the night before and get a hotel for about $100. I will look at their offerings. There is usually a 3* with breakfast that is the Hampton Inn - I have stayed there twice.

On Sat morning drive to Port Imperial in Weekhawken NJ and park your car there for $13-15/ day. Take the ferry across the river for $30 each way for two adults and 2 children. You can walk, cab, or take the bus the 10+ blocks to the pier. This ends up being about the same amount of money as parking at the pier.

Stamford is about an hour from Port Imperial and should be an easy drive on a Sat morning.

A Newark airport Park/sleep is an option, but it will take you an hour plus to get to the pier by the time you take the hotel shuttle back to the airport, take the Airtrain to the train station or the airport bus in the terminal, travel into Manhattan, and take a cab to the pier.

Post back if you decide to pursue one of these strategies.

The 3* hotel in Stamford is back showing on Hotwire for $82 plus tax with breakfast. This is likely to be the Hampton Inn. There are also a 3.5* and a 4* hotels out there that are likely to be the Stamford Sheraton or the Stamford Hilton or the Greenwich Hyatt, but those hotels charge $10 for parking and have no breakfast. IMO they are more difficult to get in and out of and I preferred the location of the Hampton Inn along a pretty stream to the location of the Sheraton right in the very center of downtown Stamford.

We often Hotwire rooms in Stamford to attend family events in the area. I have never been unhappy with the result of choosing any 3* or above hotel that had a high approval rating.

If you go this route and are arriving late, be sure to call the hotel midday, tell them you are coming, and ask them to block you out a room for 4 people for a late arrival. This way there should be no surprises.

Wow! Thanks for these suggestions! We will have to go over our options. 😊

The least expensive park/sleep at Newark Airport is through Trinityreservations.com at the Ramada - about $127 tax included.

You must live near me if you are on the Mass/NH border. I can do Stamford in 3 hours, so I'm guessing about 3.5 hours for you. I sail from Bayonne and usually take the bus because that is more cost effective for me. However, if I were to sail from NYC, I would seriously consider the Port Imperial option which can save you about an hour on the return trip home.

Do you have the cars only directions from Mass? The prime objective is to avoid I95 in New York.

Cars only directions?

Here are the basic directions. They need to be tweaked to accommodate staying in Stamford and driving to Port Imperial, staying in Newark, or driving directly to the Manhattan Cruiseport. Basically there can be no big scary trucks from Meriden CT to the GW Bridge. Did you say you have a truck? Hopefully it does not have commercial plates.

To stay in Stamford, you need to cut over to I95 at Milford and then back to the Hutchinson River Parkway in Rye, NY.

Directions from Mass

If you come out the Mass Pike, you pick up I84 west in Auburn and I91 south in Hartford. You take exit 17 marked W Cross Parkway. This becomes the Merritt Parkway at Milford.

If you come down I95 there is a cutover to the Merritt at Milford CT exit 38. At Rye NY there is another cutover to the Hutchinson River Parkway South exit 21 immediately after exit 1 in CT. This cutover is longer than the one at Milford and involves getting off onto I287 West and following the signs to the Merritt/Hutch. You get off onto a service road, go through a few lights and take the turn for the Hutch south.

The Merritt Pkwy becomes the Hutchinson River Pkwy at the NY/CT line. From the Hutch take exit 15 in New Rochelle to get on the Cross County Pkwy. Stay in the middle left lane, which will become the left lane when the road "scrunches". This leads onto the Saw Mill River Pkwy South which becomes the Henry Hudson Pkwy at the NYC line ($5 toll). The toll is worth every penny. If you do not have an EZ Pass, you will get billed in the mail for this toll,