CAPE LIBERTY 411 - Version 3!

[138east]

 

BTW the folks in Bayonne might consider putting up new signs directing people to the port. At least one of them (on some sort of exit ramp) was partially covered by weeds. Some of them were so faded that I think they're the original signs from when the port opened.

 

Oh, and I saw some sort of foundation for the new terminal but no building. I don't think anyone there is expecting the garage to be done in time for Quantum.

 

 

Signage coming off the turnpike at Exit 14A is awful. You have to make a quick decision about where you're going and the dinky little signs are old and buried in locations that don't catch your eye. I have a good set of written directions that I post on this forum every time someone asks. Folks report that their GPS was not accurate in the area and they were sent through local Bayonne streets to get to the port entrance.

 

Sunday morning is absolutely the best day to drive in the NY metro area.

Edited June 20, 2014 by 138east

[LuvinSunNSand]

Just asking again. Is there a shuttle post cruise from the port to LGA. I have seen here that there are shuttles to EWR but we are flying out of LGA. If no shuttles, what are my other choices besides bus since we will have luggage?

[138east]

There are no shuttles to LGA. You have to prebook a car service or go to the taxi dispatcher and have him get you a car. Unfortunately, I don't know the cost. A quick check of Dial7 from Newark Airport to LGA has a base rate of $95 plus at least $15 in tolls plus 20% tip would be $130-135.

[CruisingChick]

Just asking again. Is there a shuttle post cruise from the port to LGA. I have seen here that there are shuttles to EWR but we are flying out of LGA. If no shuttles, what are my other choices besides bus since we will have luggage?

 

I think your best bet would be to see if the cruise line is offering transfers from Cape Liberty to LGA. Probably cheaper than a car service also.

Edited June 20, 2014 by CruisingChick

[LuvinSunNSand]

Thank you for your help. We are staying in Elizabeth pre-cruise and planning on Independent Driver. I will check with Celebrity to see if they offer transfers or else try Independent Driver. Your knowledge is greatly appreciated!

:)

[megr1125]

Celebrity does *NOT* offer transfers to any airport other than EWR, according to the info that I am seeing on their site

[Mom.to.2]

Do the regulars here have a 'go-to' hotel for park & stay, traveling out of Newark Airport? We're 2 adults, 2 kids, and we'll need to park our minivan somewhere safe for 7 days while on vacation (plus shuttle service to/from the airport.) Looking for safe, clean, cheap. I know the regulars here have the hotels, parking, taxi options fully vetted so I thought I'd take advantage of that knowledge over a google search.

 

Full disclosure: we're not cruising this time. We're taking an AI land based vacation.

[138east]

My experience has been that the best park sleep deal is offered through Trinityreservations.com at the Ramada Plaza. Trinity quotes with tax included, whereas all the other park sleeps quote before tax rates. I have personally used them when their best deal was at the Fairfield Inn and have communicated with them several times by email about their offerings, in particular about the new cruise shuttle from the Ramada.

 

I have also stayed with my extended family at the Ramada when it was the Holiday Inn. I was with my husband, son, daughter, and two granddaughters, one of whom was an infant. The hotel did well by us and provided connecting rooms with two beds each, which suited our party perfectly. The Ramada has no free breakfast, but does have a restaurant, a sports bar, and a cafe for pickup itms. We were fine paying for coffee and a muffin in the morning.

 

The way these park sleeps work is that the company purchases large blocks of rooms from the hotel at a discount and resells them with parking. Once they sell their allocation of rooms for a particular date, the deal is gone. So my advice is that if the deal is available for your date, book it.

 

The Ramada has gated parking in a relatively isolated enclave at the airport next to a prison. This hotel is active 7x24 - it is one of the hotels used by flight crews who arrive at all hours of the day and night. Although I didn't leave my car there, I did do a park/sleep next door at the Doubletree. If you decide to stay there, you will need written directions to find the hotel - GPS May not be reliable in the area. Post back if you need directions.

[Mom.to.2]

Thank you!

 

I checked out trinity reservations and there are 2 options for our date. The Ramada Plaza is $145, no breakfast (as you indicated). The other option is the Embassy Suites for $205 and that includes breakfast. Surely breakfast for 4 wont cost $60 a la carte, but I'm wondering if there is any other reason the Embassy might be better? Otherwise, I'll book the Ramada.

 

Thanks again for directing me to trinity!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[138east]

Embassy Suites is the newest hotel at Newark Airport - it recently opened. It's on Glimcher Realty Way next to the Jersey Gardens mall. In addition to free breakfast, they offer an evening reception which will include appetizers and may include "alcoholic beverages". This hotel also has a pool. So if you're planning to arrive early and take advantage of all the extras, it may be a good choice for your family to spend the extra $60. If you have an early flight, check the breakfast times to be sure you can take advantage of their breakfast.

 

Don't be so sure that full sit down breakfast in the Ramada restaurant won't cost $60 for a party of four.

[bjenkins322]

I'm sure that you have answered these questions already, but 75 pages is a lot of info to sift through. We are flying into EWR at about 8:00 PM on Wed. Sept. 23rd for the Explorer of the Seas 9 day cruise. We need info on which hotel, how to get to that hotel, how to get to the port, and how to get back to the airport when we dock. Price isn't the main concern in considering a hotel but we do realize that we are only going to sleep there.

[138east]

Check out the following hotels on Kayak:

 

Ramada Plaza

Country Inns

Marriott Courtyard Elizabeth or Newark

Embassy Suites

Residence Inn

 

You take the Airtrain to the P4 station to get the free hotel shuttle.

 

To get to the port, you book a car service like Dial7 or Carmellimo. To get back to the airport you can take a shared shuttle from the port for $16/pp.

 

Country inns offers a cruise package that includes round trip transportation, but you need to check to see if they will drop you at the airport instead of just taking you back to the hotel.

 

Other hotels are also fine, but please post back before you just pick one. Typically we suggest that folks be selective about the hotels they choose to book at the airport. The very cheapest hotels tend to be just that - cheap hotels.

 

Most folks book their own transportation. Hotels offering shuttle services tend to be among the more "fringe" properties in the area.

 

The other thing to know is that many hotels do not have real restaurants, so if you're going to arrive at 8 pm, availability of food could be a consideration.

[megr1125]

So I was at Cape Liberty yesterday, and as soon as I clean up the pix I will post them..

 

There is now a bit of steel framework visible, and things are progressing....not that quickly, but moving along just the same.

 

It was a sunday, but I had NO traffic issues..though there was a sign near the toll plaza that there would be other construction along the way starting in several days, but the sign changed fast and I didn't see the whole thing.

 

I arrived around 9:45-10 for a ship tour and regular passengers were boarding Summit at 10:30!!! It's a much smaller ship than Explorer, but for anyone sailing Summit this season, an arrival around 10-10:30 will (should) get you almost right onto the ship!

[megr1125]

Sunday's image from Cape Liberty...

 

 

 

.

[beachlovergirl]

Thank you for this thread…….excellent information!!

 

Dee

[megr1125]

You're welcome!!!

[firstcruiserDB]

We will be cruising the Summit next summer from Cape Liberty. This port (and city) is completely new to us!

 

Just wondering if anyone can tell us how soon we should book a one-night pre-cruise hotel. Do they tend to fill up early? We'd like one that's not too difficult to get transportation from the airport to the hotel. We'd also like a nice restaurant/bar at the hotel or within short walking distance to begin our vacation.

 

123east offered some suggestions in a nearby thread. Can someone offer opinions on the ones that seems to be the best?

 

This is a great thread, and I really appreciate all of your information here! Thank you!

[megr1125]

We will be cruising the Summit next summer from Cape Liberty. This port (and city) is completely new to us!

 

Just wondering if anyone can tell us how soon we should book a one-night pre-cruise hotel. Do they tend to fill up early? We'd like one that's not too difficult to get transportation from the airport to the hotel. We'd also like a nice restaurant/bar at the hotel or within short walking distance to begin our vacation.

 

123east offered some suggestions in a nearby thread. Can someone offer opinions on the ones that seems to be the best?

 

This is a great thread, and I really appreciate all of your information here! Thank you!

 

You're welcome..and you can book something now ...just watch rates...book a room you can cancel so you have something...

 

If you're near the airport, most places do NOT have a restaurant within as they are limited service properties...some do, not all.

 

When are you coming...how many people...how many nights...flying in?? And what is your budget?

 

You'll need to figure about 50-60$$ to get to the port via car service or cab (it's basically the same price..) We can suggest a low cost, low budget, no frills shuttle service, but they book by phone only, 4-6 weeks ahead....

 

The hotels we often suggest, on Glimcher Realty Way in Elizabeth (basically just south of the airport....still the EWR area) have a Ruby Tuesday, an iHop and an outlet mall nearby. (the mall will NOT have much in the line of stuff in case you forget something, like toothpaste, but it IS a place to kill time, and eat...)

 

You may want to book now, or soon, depending on your sail date...usually hotels can be booked 330 days ahead...sometimes the hotels there get busy with groups - sports teams, etc....

 

try these

 

Embassy Suites, Country Inn, Residence Inn and/or Courtyard .

 

The last 2 are Marriott brands....and all 4 would be listed as Newark airport/Elizabeth. (There are 2 courtyards..>) Those 4 are the newest, and best options. The ES opened in January or so...it's very nice.

[msweebee]

I just viewed all your photos of X Summit for June 2014 from your link. How nice of you to take the time to make the link available. We are sailing Summit NE/Canada in Sept and although we have been on all S class in past several years we have not been on M class since 2008 and have not been on Summit (or Century) prior although we have loved each of the other M class ships b4 being solsticized. I may have missed photos of Celebrity Suite as I went fairly fast and enjoyed pic of basket/buckets and bowls in Oceanview. I have always disliked the buffet but now I look forward to trying as it is at least a tad different and hopefully some of the lines and confusion will be diminished at least after the first couple of days.

 

If it is ok with you, I would like to reference your photos and port information on the roll call. Many passengers appear to be driving and I have found your info to be most beneficial as we are unfamiliar with Port Liberty. We arrive in Newark at 12:30 day of departure so I will watch for landmarks I saw in your port arrival photos and just hope we get a knowledgeable driver from EWR as timing is tighter than I would like but perhaps Sunday traffic is easier.

 

Any knowledge of luggage delays being the norm at EWR? In all the years it has never been a destination for us prior just always passing through on the way elsewhere... just asking as it seems that some airport luggage is always slow like Vegas and Houston to name a couple. Thanks, Bobbi

[heziggy]

we are sailing ExoS on Oct 9th, a Thursday for a 9 nighter.

 

we will be coming from south jersey area, Cumberland county. we will be taking either 295 or 206 to the NJ turnpike. I know there will be a lot of traffic on both 295 (just shy of philly) and the turnpike. how much should we expect?

 

we are planning on leaving bout 7am, should this give us enough time barring anything major. we use to do this run several times a year to family in the Harrison/ north arlington area and it use to only take about 2 1/2 hrs

 

thanx in advance!

[138east]

We will be cruising the Summit next summer from Cape Liberty. This port (and city) is completely new to us!

 

Just wondering if anyone can tell us how soon we should book a one-night pre-cruise hotel. Do they tend to fill up early? We'd like one that's not too difficult to get transportation from the airport to the hotel. We'd also like a nice restaurant/bar at the hotel or within short walking distance to begin our vacation.

 

123east offered some suggestions in a nearby thread. Can someone offer opinions on the ones that seems to be the best?

 

This is a great thread, and I really appreciate all of your information here! Thank you!

 

I'd research the hotels we've suggested to see if they have restaurant/bars. The hotels at EWR tend to be in more isolated pockets with nothing around to walk to. The Glimcher Realty Way hotels are clustered together, but I know that Country Inns does not have a restaurant/bar and you have to go to Ruby Tuesday's or the Courtyard. The Ramada has a popular sports bar named Teddy's.

 

There are certainly other good options beyond the hotels we have listed. I've usually found that folks are looking for a nice hotel for the best price, so there are certain hotels like the regular Marriott property in the center of the airport that is not on the list because of its price.

 

Also check aa.com for EWR hotels - sometimes they have special prices. If you see something you like and it's cancellable, book it and check back here to see what we think.

[megr1125]

we are sailing ExoS on Oct 9th, a Thursday for a 9 nighter.

 

we will be coming from south jersey area, Cumberland county. we will be taking either 295 or 206 to the NJ turnpike. I know there will be a lot of traffic on both 295 (just shy of philly) and the turnpike. how much should we expect?

 

we are planning on leaving bout 7am, should this give us enough time barring anything major. we use to do this run several times a year to family in the Harrison/ north arlington area and it use to only take about 2 1/2 hrs

 

thanx in advance!

 

You should be OK...that will even allow for a stop or two..

 

There is one rest stop that's closed...only fuel, and it's been that way since Sandy a few years ago..your LAST stop before the pier is the Joyce Kilmer service area between 8A and 9...the one north of that is closed..and I doubt that one (around 11 I think) will open by the time you travel

 

You should be near the pier by 10 or so which is great....not sure what will be up with construction then, but you're allowing an ample amount of time...

 

You can certainly leave earlier and if you arrive TOO fast, there's a dunkin donuts, starbucks and stop n shop adjacent to the pier..

[heziggy]

thank you!

[IndyCapt]

"You can certainly leave earlier and if you arrive TOO fast, there's a dunkin donuts, starbucks and stop n shop adjacent to the pier.. "

 

The stop n shop adjacent to the pier...is that a place one could buy a case of water and some pop to take on board?

Edited July 1, 2014 by IndyCapt

[Guest maddycat]

"You can certainly leave earlier and if you arrive TOO fast, there's a dunkin donuts, starbucks and stop n shop adjacent to the pier.. "

 

The stop n shop adjacent to the pier...is that a place one could buy a case of water and some pop to take on board?

 

Yes. Stop n Shop is a large supermarket.