Hotel cruise-park packages, Bayonne, NJ

We recently booked a Bermuda Cruise for Oct 2012. When we take cruises, we often drive, and find a hotel near the cruise terminal that has a stay-and-cruise package, or whatever they call them.

Usually this requires staying at the hotel the night prior, then you can park your car at the hotel for the week, and they will transport your car to and from the terminal.

Are their any such things near the terminal in Bayonne, NJ?

If not, is there terminal parking at the pier? And any recommended hotels nearby if I have to park at the terminal.

Thanks in advance.

There are not really any hotels that we recommend you stay in that offer this....you're MUCH better off booking a room and getting your own transportation...(as in you don't WANT to stay in most places that have this 'package')

yes you can park at the pier for $19 per day

what is your budget, how many nights will you stay in the hotel, do you have any plans for doing things, etc.

We generally suggest hotels near EWR airport or in the Secaucus/Meadowlands area......neither area is particularly scenic....

there are a couple hotels that have a park n fly that would work...you're looking at about $50 each way for a car service/ cab...that's per car not per person.

also there are a couple websites that often have decent rates for a couple hotels we like.....the Springhill Suites, Fairfield Inn and Country Inn...

trinityreservations dot com and/ or stay123 dot com

and check out the Cape Liberty 411 thread..yes it is long, but you can just skip to the last few pages..

do NOT ever, ever ever, stay at the Best Western EWR, or Comfort Inn EWR

the Wyndham should be a last resort only....

other decent options are either of the 2 Courtyards, the Residence Inn, the Holiday Inn (if necessary--it's not BAD and was recently renovated, the parking lot is a bit smallish....and it's a little hard to get to...) the Sheraton and the Renaissance (usually more expensive but you never know...)

The only other option is the Hampton Inn and Hilton Gardens on Staten Island. They offer free parking and their shuttle will take you to Cape Liberty. The Hilton offers a "cruise package" which they charge more for. As of now the parking and transportation come free with the Hampton Inn. However, they both used to be "free" - the Hilton just started offering the package this year so who knows if that will change at the Hampton before next Oct.

We often make different recommendations depending on your plans - some hotels are better for sightseeing in NY, other hotels are better for parking your car, and still other hotels are better if you are parking at the port - so let us know what you want to do and the exact dates.

The only other option is the Hampton Inn and Hilton Gardens on Staten Island. They offer free parking and their shuttle will take you to Cape Liberty. The Hilton offers a "cruise package" which they charge more for. As of now the parking and transportation come free with the Hampton Inn. However, they both used to be "free" - the Hilton just started offering the package this year so who knows if that will change at the Hampton before next Oct.

 

We often make different recommendations depending on your plans - some hotels are better for sightseeing in NY, other hotels are better for parking your car, and still other hotels are better if you are parking at the port - so let us know what you want to do and the exact dates.

oh yeah...forgot them..:o:p

We thought we would stay a couple of days and go over to Manhattan. I have heard it is easier to take transportation to Manhattan rather than stay a at a hotel there. So we would like a hotel where it is close enough to do both. Is something like a ferry the best way to get to Manhattan?

This is our first time in NYC and the wife wants to sight-see.

Our budget is the proverbial $150 per night that Hampton Inns usually charge, although I do realize that in NYC it may be more expensive. We generally stay at Hampton Inns if we can. But if not available, we could pay for parking at the pier, which would be in our budget as well. But the most concern is security for our car.

I'll check out the Hampton you mentioned.

Thanks for your input.

It's very early to make a final plan for next Oct. However, let's get very specific - what are your exact dates? What date do you sail and what dates would you need a hotel room for? Day of the week can be an important factor.

The problem with staying on Staten Island is that getting to NY is time consuming - at least an hour from the Hampton Inn to South Ferry on the lower tip of Manhattan. If you want to do midtown, it's at least another 1/2 hour. Cost is also another factor - you can likely get a room at Newark Airport for $150 or less, but you will pay $25/pp to take the train round trip to NYC from the airport. Sometimes it's better to stay in Secaucus and get the cheaper bus fare and pay the extra money to park at the port. It all depends - they get you coming and going.

Currently the cruise starts on Oct 14, but we may be changing the dates. If we do, it will be the same ship, so the departure would day of the week would be the same; on a Sunday.

We're thinking of arriving on Friday, then spending Sat in NYC, then taking the cruise on Sunday.

We won't book the hotel room until next year, but if we don't find anything that seems doable, we might change our cruise, so we want to know what we might find to meet our needs.

Let me look around and get back to you tomorrow.

It's really early to make a final plan, but here are some strategies you can consider. Hotwire is not available yet for Oct 2012, so I can't even tell you what deals might be out there. Deals for Oct won't get good until spring.

For a 7 day cruise you should seriously consider parking at the pier for $133. This is a "short" cruise - by the time you pay for port transportation at $90-120 round trip, you won't save any serious money by doing a park/sleep. The park/sleep hotels are fine but are not generally convenient for NYC sightseeing. Bus service to NY is not frequent and the train from Newark Airport station will be $25/pp round trip and take about an hour+ each way.

If you park at the pier, then you can consider a wide variety of hotels in Newark, Secaucus, and Jersey City for your dates. Currently the Newark Penn Station Hilton is showing at $101 ($127) and the Hampton Inn Secaucus at $144 ($165) with taxes on kayak.com. The Newark Penn Station Hilton is in downtown Newark right across the street from Newark Penn Station where you can get a train to NY for $5/pp or Path to NY for $2/pp - however you will have to pay for parking. The HI is in Harmon Cove Secaucus where there are other hotels, shops, and restaurants and a quick bus ride into NYC - parking would be free.

Deals for the Jersey City area are sometimes found on Hotwire, particularly for weekend nights. There are several 4* hotels along the Hudson (Hyatt, Westin, "W", and Sheraton Lincoln Harbor) that can show up for under $150. Even though you pay to park, you would have easy and cheap NYC access for $2 via Path (bus from the Sheraton) and could possibly enjoy part of Friday and all day Saturday in NY. IMO if you don't want to pay NY hotel prices, this is the next best thing in NJ. No one has ever complained about these 4* hotels and they are also close to Bayonne.

I think your plan is doable, but you have to do some homework. Take a look at Secaucus, Jersey City, and Newark on the map and read about Path and NJ Transit for train and bus schedules. Focus in on what you want to do in NY for the day. Then come back and ask more questions.

We are going on a 12 nights from Bayonne. The trinity reservation site offers great deal, over night stay plus 14 nights parking $135 tax in. Has anyone had experience about the parking lot at Springhill, is it gated and safe?

I think the trinity site is a great deal. The prices they post are tax inclusive. The Fairfield and Springhill Suites are next door to one another. I did the park/sleep at the Fairfield for 12 days and would highly recommend it. I really liked their lobby - room to sit down, internet, plus the whole breakfast area with the tables, chairs and banquettes was available to use and it had a couch area with TV. There was also a pool and hot tub. The parking is gated. In the morning I moved my car to the back area of the hotel and parked it where it was visible through the windows of the back lobby area. I used the Independent Driver number on the trinity web site to arrange port transportation. Quite a number of people on my sailing left there cars at the Fairfield and there were no issues. The only problem with this location is finding it (actually that's a good thing in Newark) - you have to print out the directions and really pay attention.

Springhill Suites is essentially the same area and price. I think either hotel would suite your needs.

Just be aware that neither hotel has a restaurant. There is also a Marriott Courtyard in the complex and you can eat there or you can order takeout. You can also get in your car and go into the Ironbound District of Newark, go to Teddy's in the nearby Ramada, or go over to Jersey Garden Mall where there is a Ruby Tuesdays and an IHOP.

Thank you all for your information, I think we are beginning to narrow it down as to how to do this. At this point, we are determining our strategy rather than costs and reservations. My adult son is going with us, and he needs to put in for vacation in Jan, etc. so time for planning is now.

As of now, looks like we plan on staying in a New Jersey hotel, possibly in Secaucus, arriving on a Thursday.

Then on Friday, we plan on taking one of those all-inclusive tours. I found one tour operator that will pick up and drop off from a NJ hotel. There are about 30 or so hotels on the list, so we plan on staying at one of those hotels.

The tour is about 6 hours, and will go into Manhattan, with about a dozen stops at most of the places my wife wants to visit, as well as a trip to Liberty and Ellis. Seems to me that would be a lot less expensive, quicker, and more efficient than trying to get a cab from location to location, and we can do all the sites she wants to see all in one day.

Her list includes:

- Statue of Liberty

- Central Park

- Empire State Bldg

- NBC Today Show

- Times Square

My list includes:

- keeping her happy

- Adorama

- B&H

As there may be other tour operators that offer the same kind of thing - especially with pickup and dropoff at your hotel, we'll be looking to pick what looks like the best one.

Then on Friday, since the tour we looked at did not stop at the Empire State Bldg - one of the places on my wife's list, we can then at our leisure go there on our own. Or if we find another tour that includes a stop at the building, we might take that one instead. But at any rate, Fri will be reserved for one or two sight-seeing locations we want to specifically visit.

I think she might be disappointed a bit in visiting the Empire State Building as we have been to the Sears Tower in Chicago - or whatever it is now called - but that is on her list. I figure you go to the top of one building, it is not much different than another.

One of the specific side trips I want to take on Fri is to visit Adorama and B&H, which are super camera stores. I have spent enough money at those two stores via the internet already, I figure that I might as well visit my money... (and hopefully not deposit more).

I figure that during the bus tour on Fri, we can talk to the driver and other locals and get a feel for how to get to the island on our own on Sat. I am sure it's not too difficult, but coming from small-town America, it helps to be able to visualize those things the day before.

Then anyway, on Sun, we'd drive from the hotel to the cruise terminal and park there for the week. Looks like the highways are conducive to making a quick exit west back towards home after our cruise.

If you have any further comments or suggestions, I'd still like to hear them, but thanks so much for your help.

Sounds like you have a plan. What is the tour company you are looking at and how much is the tour? Are you actually going out to the Statue of Liberty? Six hours isn't very much time to do all that is on your list.

The one we found (so far) was an operator called "New York Tours", Tour #2, which includes get out stops at:

Central Park

Dakota

Grand Central Station

Ground Zero

Liberty and Ellis Island

NBC Studios

Rockefeller Center

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Strawberry Fields

Times Square

And I am sure that some of the stops will be quickies, like Chevy Chase visiting the Grand Canyon in Vacation 1. But 6 hours of tour bus is probably all we can stand.

http://www.newyorktoursnyc.com/tour2.html

The cost is $65 pp.

Didn't seem too bad, at least in Cruise Ship Excursion dollars...

And the nice thing, is they pick up and drop off at these hotels (we picked Secaucus as it seems to have choices of a lot of hotels):

http://www.newyorktoursnyc.com/hotel-pickup.html

Makes it easy for us being unfamiliar with the area - at least for the first day.

This tour looks good. You do get to go out to the SOL and they take you all over NY. Going to the SOL from Liberty State Park is much easier - since you have to buy your own tickets, you might want to ask the tour operators if you should do that in advance. You also might want to ask if there is a minimum number of people that have to book for your day.

The hotel list looks extensive. However, there are some places on there that you do not want to stay, so check back again before you make a decision.

The first hotel that came to mind was the Hampton Inn in Secaucus.

Just an FYI re: Statue of Liberty. It is closed for renovation and probably won't reopen until about Nov 1, 2012. You can still visit Liberty Island, but you can't go inside the Statue or even its base and pedestal.

Another FYI re: visiting the B&H and Adorama camera stores. Both close early on Friday (B&H generally earlier than Adorama) and both are closed all day Saturday.

Just an FYI re: Statue of Liberty. It is closed for renovation and probably won't reopen until about Nov 1, 2012. You can still visit Liberty Island, but you can't go inside the Statue or even its base and pedestal.

 

Another FYI re: visiting the B&H and Adorama camera stores. Both close early on Friday (B&H generally earlier than Adorama) and both are closed all day Saturday.

The Adorama Store is open until 2:00 pm on Fridays from now and through the winter - until further notice.

Thanks for the heads up Helen, I forgot that they were closed on Sat. I guess we might have to reverse our itinerary.

The first hotel that came to mind was the Hampton Inn in Secaucus.

Hampton Inn is well located and gets good reviews -http://www.harmonmeadow.com/map/HMmap.pdf

We're going out on Explorer on Dec. 3 and planning on staying at the comfort Inn suites in New Brunswick. Anyone know what the area is like and if the hotel is decent?

Could you provide more details? I'm not seeing a Comfort Inn Suites in New Brunswick. Do you really mean Comfort Inn in Newark? What are you paying?Normally we do not recommend this hotel because it is in downtown Newark. There are other options. Post back with your budget, number of people, and pre cruise plans. Coming from the South you should look at the Hampton Inn or Hilton Garden on Staten Island to get a hotel that includes parking and port transportation. This area is not big on packages that offer everything - you usually do better making your own arrangements.

There is a Comfort Inn Suites in East Brunswick. Assuming the poster is using it for a place to sleep the night before their cruise and then driving to and parking at the port on embarkation day there should be no problem. It wouldn't be a place to do a sleep/park/cruise package.

Harbor House Bead and Breakfast ?? what can anyone tell me about this place ..... how far is it from cape liberty? I am sailing on Dec 13 and do not need parking I an getting dropped off the nite before and picked up then at the port when we return ..........

Harbor House Bead and Breakfast ?? what can anyone tell me about this place ..... how far is it from cape liberty? I am sailing on Dec 13 and do not need parking I an getting dropped off the nite before and picked up then at the port when we return ..........

It's in the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island. If someone is driving you there you're going to have to find a way to get from the B&B to Cape Liberty, which is in Bayonne, NJ. That would likely mean taking a car service...I'm guessing it would cosr at least $50 plus tolls and tip. Probably doesn't make much sense to stay there for someone cruising from Cape Liberty. Here's their web site: http://www.nyharborhouse.com/