LemonNeko

We came back on the Summit Sept 4th. There was a taxi stand about 150 ft from the building. We had the option of taxi at $65 or shuttle for $40. We took the shuttle and as a bonus were the last two seats so we left right away.

We were on this cruise. I must admit I was surprised the number of people who I heard complaining we left early.

I'm now 3 for 3 on cruises with a missed port day. I think I'm weather cursed but my mother said I'm cheap and cruise during hurricane season to get better rates.

You can call Archie's. Their phone number is 201-858-8800. If I can ask you a question, are you flying into Newark, or Amtrak to Newark Penn? Because if you are a cab from either at about $55 will be quicker, easier, and not a whole lot more expensive. I tell people to do it this way all the time. Into either JFK or LGA is a different story.

Thanks. We are coming the day before and staying at the Hyatt near the exchange place station. My 4 year old is also fascinated by public transportation :D

I'll make note to get off at 34th Street.

You should be able to make the 9:30 ferry to St. George if you want to do it the first day. I made it two years ago and three years ago from the Summit. This year I did flip and do it the second day, which I preferred but I would have easily been able to make it if I had wanted to. We actually docked earlier than 8:30 and the ship cleared for us to get off pretty fast. YMMV.

 

Your plans are realistic.

Thanks for confirming we can likely make it. St. George is the part I'm most looking forward to so if the weather looks good all three days I may flip and go on the Thursday.

We are planning on taking the light rail to 45th Street. Can someone recommend a taxi company to call for the last little bit to the port terminal? From what I've read it doesn't sound like we can expect one to randomly come by.

Thanks,

I think I have my plans ready. Hopefully the weather with co-operate. There will be 3 of us. My 4 year old son, my mum and myself.

Day 1 - The the ferry to St. George. How realistic is it to catch the 9:30 am ferry on the first day? Am I better going to St. George on the second day? I'd like to do a carriage tour, lunch, tobacco bay and possibly Fort Catherine if time permits and take the 5:30 pm ferry back to the dockyard.

Day 2 - Take public transportation to Shelly Bay in the morning. Return to the ship in the afternoon and try the Tiki Beach Party at Snorkel Park (It looks like it might be lame but I love bonfires on the beach).

Day 3- Use the mini bus to go to Horseshoe Bay

Does this seem realistic? There's a lot of stuff I'm not going to get to do but I want to be able to relax without too much rushing around.

Are you open to other Jersey City hotels? There's a Doubletree, Courtyard, Westin and Candlewood Suites. I have stayed at the Courtyard. The Doubletree is very reasonable for your date - you can get 2 doubles and a sofa bed - and it's close to the light rail. These hotels are all close to the waterfront boardwalk and restaurants and services. Here's the Doubletree -

 

What is your price for the Embassy Suites package? You will have to pay an extra $40 for the third person for the port transportation. The hotel has double beds.

 

There is a taxi dispatcher at Cape Liberty who will put you in a livery car at a predetermined price. About $55-65. 1:00 pm flight should be fine.

 

If you stay in Jersey City, for your public transit adventure I would recommend taking a cab from the airport to Newark Penn Station, taking PATH to Exchange Place, and the light rail to the hotel, if necessary. Under $40. To get to the port, you take the light rail to Bayonne and call a local cab to go into the port. Under $25.

 

I can provide more details once you make a decision.

We ended up booking at the Hyatt. My mum had some Orbitz dollars that we were able to use so the different between the Hyatt and Double Tree wasn't as much. Agreed with the opinions here that staying in Jersey City even if it's only for one night is better than staying near the outlet mall for a comparable price.

Thanks Carol and Post Captain for the feedback.

I'm seeing my mum this weekend so we can discuss. She's 62 so she qualifies for the seniors discount at some of the hotels.

The Double Tree may be good even with no pool if there's more to do in the area we may not need it.

I had everything planned out when I thought we were driving so it's a bit more nerve wracking when we only have 2 months before we go.

Let's start with your budget. You have to look at the big picture of the total cost. You are three people. How many beds? What time does your flight arrive? Hotel budget (Note - you are looking at some of the priciest hotels in the area). Dinner requirements?

 

Car service/cab between the airport area and port is running $55-65. Staying at the Hyatt requires a car service/cab from the airport to the hotel, but the light rail to Bayonne is right in front of the hotel, so that could reduce your costs getting to the port plus provide a "tram" experience that your 4 year old might enjoy.

$350 is likely the max I want to spend for the room and transportation. I'm not sure I could get the Hyatt in that price range unless we can use some public transit instead of cabs. My son loves public transportation. We spent 2 hours on a street car once and he was in heaven.

I'd prefer either 1 King or 2 Queens. Our flight arrives at 3 so it gives us a bit of time but not a full day. We would like a place with a decent pool or something to do close by. I'm pretty open to what we have for dinner but it would be nice if we had a bit of selection.

We are leaning towards the Embassy Suites as we can a package that includes everything but wondering if maybe using cabs is good enough. Do people get ripped off taking cabs from the port to Newark? I also want to make sure we can make our 1 pm flight.

Hi, I'm hoping to get some advice. We were originally going to drive but now are flying into Newark. There's three of us myself, my mum and my 4 year old.

We are flying in Saturday afternoon Aug 27th. Cruise leaves Sunday. Our flight leaves on the Sunday at 1:00 pm.

The hotels I'm looking at are:

Embassy Suites

Renaissance Newark

Hyatt in Jersey City

I'm open to public transportation as long as it's not more than two transfers.

Is it difficult/ overly expensive to take a cab to the airport from the port?

Thanks,

My 3 year old would spend 4-6 hours a day in the kids club. At the time he cried when he was dropped off at daycare but he asked to go to the kids club. I was so surprised I wondered what are they doing that he wants to go so badly :).

Some days we took him to the buffet for dinner and than dropped him off at the kids club while we ate dinner. This really made dinner more enjoyable as it was too long for him.

He stayed up later but I could tell he was getting tired.

I wouldn't leave him on board if I was getting off the ship but people do so it's a personal decision.

Thanks for the review. We are booked on Celebrity this Aug and had some doubts because I've read it's not for kids. My son is 4 and has only been one one cruise which was Royal. The reason I chose a cruise for vacation instead of a land based vacation is because how much he loved the kids clubs.(Plus I get to go to islands I wouldn't normally be able to afford to stay on)

I think a Disney World vacation is a lot better value than a Disney cruise.

Why does your husband not want to get a passport?

I can't figure out if laziness or stubbornness is the bigger factor. He says " There's too much paperwork. I don't want to do it."

This cruise would be fine. If it was to Alaska , Europe or Panama canal it won't work. If you have to fly the EDL won't work only works at land crossings .If you plan on traveling why not just get a passport .

My husband refuses to get a passport. My son and I both have ours. The last three vacations we went on involved airplanes so he didn't go. I'll try keeping to cruises that only involve Canada and the US so in the unfortunate case he misses the ship he's not going to have problems not having a passport.

My husband has an Ontario enhanced drivers licence but no passport. A number of cruise lines list this as acceptable but I want to see if someone has actually done this. We are looking at doing an East Coast cruise out of Bayonne.

Thanks

Thanks for the review. I'm trying to figure out where to stay for my trip in August and the Hilton is already showing fully booked for there park and cruise package.

The price is really good but I'm concerned about leaving my car unattended for a week.

Wow those are some good deals.

I need more flexible vacation time.

As for the VIP, we actually signed them up but never really kept them past 1030 and most of the time it was just them. When they did the bridge tour is was just our two boys!!!!! They loved having a private tour of the bridge and got to meet the captain. Our youngest loved that he got to sit in the captain's chair - AND wear his hat.

 

They did say that for the the nexts weeks' cruise they were expecting almost 700 kids for the Christmas and New Year's cruises.

 

We actually booked a week cruise on the Reflection for the end of March for our kids' spring break and the boys are looking forward to it.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions I can answer.

Do you remember the approximate cost of the VIP? I'm pretty sure we want to do the dinner parties but not sure that it would be worth it if we wouldn't use it after 10. My son is 4.

5 days vs. 7 days?

 

If it is 5 vs. 7, I would always take the 7, especially a cruise like this with only 1 destination.

Yes it's the 5 vs. 7. I prefer the extra time in Bermuda and the price difference isn't that much. I've never been on Celebrity before but my mom likes their wine packages better than RCL.

I'm trying to decide between the Summit or Grandeur for August. It will be three of us, me (40), my mom (62), and my son (4).

The size of ship and amenities look pretty similar. I prefer the itinerary for the Summit but wonder if the Grandeur would be better since it's more kid friendly. We went on Freedom of the Seas last year and my son son loved the kids club. We traveled during October so there weren't that many kids on board but enough there were always other kids there.

We are going to be on the Freedom next week with the same situation. My son is pretty thin so he's still in a full car seat here. I've read that lack of seat belts is a big problem so even if you bring your own car seat you may not be able to secure it.

We will be doing ship excursions only due to his age and specifically ones that uses buses. I'm not booking until we are on the ship so I can confirm that they use buses. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how it went.

Does your existing TA get credit when you book Next Cruise?

I bought a season of Mickey Mouse Club. Don't bother paying extra for the HD version regular is fine. Endless ABC and Endless 123 are both great apps.

Royal offers prices in CAN $ which for us was a big savings as we didn't have to worry about the exchange rate. I would look at the newer/ larger ships.

I contacted the special needs department as my son has celiac. They recommended he eat in the MDR. He's 3 so long dinners aren't going to be too much fun. They also suggested I speak with the Head Waiter on day one and he will be better able to give us an idea if there would be other options on board. I've read that Sorrento's has a GF pizza but I'm not sure if it's cooked in separate ovens.