Driving and hotel advice from Toronto to New Jersey

[Cruise Crazy Family]

Hello all,

taking a cruise next month from Cape Liberty, NY. Driving from Toronto. Any advice on best travel route? How long should it take approximately? If we stop overnight, where would be a good idea to do something with the teens? Advice on hotel in New Jersey where we can leave our car for free for a week during the cruise and get a ride to the terminal?

 

Thank you!

[karebare22]

Hi, we’ve done this drive 3 times, but from Ottawa (about a 7-7.5 hr drive according to Google, no stops. First time (way back in 2010!)  we stayed at the Embassy Suites Newark airport for 1 night, and at the time the price included a shuttle for 2 people to the ship, and parking. There are a lot of hotels to choose from in that area, and shopping mall/outlets close by. Very easy. In 2020 we did the same but got the best rate at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Airport, price included the parking for the week, but there is nothing in that area except a mess of highways. Not sure if there was a shuttle, but Uber was the cheapest option for 4 of us so that’s what we used to get  to/from the port. Last May, we didn’t stay in a hotel overnight. We left our house at 4am, and drove directly to the port, and would have been there around 11:30 without stops (after duty-free, breakfast and gas stops it was more like 1:15). . Parked our car at the port for the week. Quick and easy to just head straight home from there after the cruise. The last scenario is what we will do for future cruises from Cape Liberty. Very smooth and not that long a drive. So nice to be able to drive to the port and avoid flying!

[Cruise Crazy Family]

10 hours ago, karebare22 said:

Hi, we’ve done this drive 3 times, but from Ottawa (about a 7-7.5 hr drive according to Google, no stops. First time (way back in 2010!)  we stayed at the Embassy Suites Newark airport for 1 night, and at the time the price included a shuttle for 2 people to the ship, and parking. There are a lot of hotels to choose from in that area, and shopping mall/outlets close by. Very easy. In 2020 we did the same but got the best rate at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Newark Airport, price included the parking for the week, but there is nothing in that area except a mess of highways. Not sure if there was a shuttle, but Uber was the cheapest option for 4 of us so that’s what we used to get  to/from the port. Last May, we didn’t stay in a hotel overnight. We left our house at 4am, and drove directly to the port, and would have been there around 11:30 without stops (after duty-free, breakfast and gas stops it was more like 1:15). . Parked our car at the port for the week. Quick and easy to just head straight home from there after the cruise. The last scenario is what we will do for future cruises from Cape Liberty. Very smooth and not that long a drive. So nice to be able to drive to the port and avoid flying!

Thank you! Super helpful.

[Dancer Bob]

Agree with karebare42, except I would plan to arrive much earlier. Allowing for stops, traffic, and driving eastbound at sunrise, that means leaving midnite-ish. Are you comfortable with night driving? All the routes involve some trade-off, but you would avoid a lot of traffic.

[Cruise Crazy Family]

8 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

Agree with karebare42, except I would plan to arrive much earlier. Allowing for stops, traffic, and driving eastbound at sunrise, that means leaving midnite-ish. Are you comfortable with night driving? All the routes involve some trade-off, but you would avoid a lot of traffic.

Hey there,

we plan on going a few days early. Thinking of 3 nights in hotel to visit NYC for 2 days. Would rather not drive in the middle of the night. Any advice would be great! Have you driven there from Mississauga before?

[Dancer Bob]

Traffic is even worse than Toronto/Montreal, especially around the tunnels. I drive at night, so I can juggle my times. Otherwise, not really much to say.

[MaddyandMax]

We cruise out of /Newark all the time from Hamilton.  We usually stay in a hotel about 1.5 hours from the port as they are much cheaper.  We found so many hotels charge so much to keep your car there for the week and the shuttle it's not much more expensive to just park at the pier.  Plus much quicker on the way home.

 

If you are booking park and stay make sure you read the fine print.  A lot of hotels now are only providing the shuttle to the port and you have to find your own way back when you get off the boat.

[martincath]

We did this twice, over-nighting both times, although it was the Manhattan cruise terminal so we also had the issue of crossing the Hudson. The first trip we followed the main highways, 'fastest' route according to IIRC Mapquest at the time, and over-nighted most of the way there in a Hampton Inn near one of the Paramus megamalls (second trip won't be of use to you, we went a longer but scenic route much further north).

 

Like @MaddyandMax we found that pricing up hotels near the port (or airports) with shuttles and cruise parking was more expensive than staying a little bit further away and just paying for parking at the port, plus then there'd be the delay in waiting for the shuttle rather than just getting right into your own car and going... BUT if you really dislike busy city traffic you may find paying a bit of a premium to have someone else drive you to the pier is worth it to you.

 

One thing that could also make a notable difference is your choice of crossing into/out of the US - if you don't have NEXUS for everyone in the family, then make sure you check the feeds for current delays at ALL the different bridges between Niagara down to Buffalo! There's really not much of a % drive time/distance change when you consider the overall ~8 hours, so going ten minutes out of your way to save a half hour sitting in a queue is just plain sensible - but many folks seem to have a 'favourite' bridge that they swear is 'always' the best and never change no matter how many statistics you shove down their throats proving they are talking nonsense!

 

If you do have NEXUS, then take the magically delicious NEXUS-only Whirlpool bridge if you haven't already to avoid mixing with the riff-raff 😉

 

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

If you do have NEXUS, then take the magically delicious NEXUS-only Whirlpool bridge if you haven't already to avoid mixing with the riff-raff 😉

The disadvantage of the Whirlpool Bridge is having to drive into Niagara Falls (both Ontario and NY). I generally stop for a bathroom break in Beamsville and check the bridge crossing data. If not busy, I go to the Peace Bridge which gets you directly onto I-190 to the NY State Thruway. If it is busy, I use the Whirlpool Bridge with the Niagara Scenic Parkway (formerly Robert Moses Parkway) to I-290 to the Thruway, which costs an extra toll although I don’t remember in which direction it is charged. 

[Cruise Crazy Family]

11 hours ago, MaddyandMax said:

We cruise out of /Newark all the time from Hamilton.  We usually stay in a hotel about 1.5 hours from the port as they are much cheaper.  We found so many hotels charge so much to keep your car there for the week and the shuttle it's not much more expensive to just park at the pier.  Plus much quicker on the way home.

 

If you are booking park and stay make sure you read the fine print.  A lot of hotels now are only providing the shuttle to the port and you have to find your own way back when you get off the boat.

Thank you! That is super helpful. Any advice on a family friendly (teens) hotel? We prefer 3 or 4 stars.

[martincath]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

The disadvantage of the Whirlpool Bridge is having to drive into Niagara Falls (both Ontario and NY). ...

You are of course correct - it's got urban lower speed limit areas both sides so generally costs some time compared to the highway routes. And since there are NEXUS lanes on both Peace Bridge and Q-L, Whirlpool is only faster if both of those are heavily backed up already... probably nineteen times out of twenty Whirlpool is slower than at least one of the highway bridges.

 

But anyone with NEXUS, in a car, in this area needs to treat themselves to the unique experience of crossing at the only NEXUS-only crossing - at least once! 😉

[lx200gps]

To the OP, if you are going to be driving to any of the NE US cruise ports with any kind of regularity (Cape Liberty, Manhattan, Boston, Brooklyn etc) you might also want to consider the many tolls you will be paying on the way down and back. Have a look at the E-Zpass system and see  if getting a transponder for your car makes sense for your use case. We got one on our first trip last summer and it makes the travel process easier as you don't have to worry about getting toll bills sent by mail, the $$$s simply come out of your account balance.  The transponders are available at many stores, gas stations etc in upstate NY (we got ours in Plattsburg immediately after crossing the border from Montreal) and the account setup is dead easy on line.  And as Martin says, having NEXUS for all parties in the vehicle is a game changer. Driving past the hundreds of non-NEXUS folks in the massive lines and driving right up to an agent in the NEXUS-only lane, is a great time-saver.

[MaddyandMax]

11 hours ago, Cruise Crazy Family said:

Thank you! That is super helpful. Any advice on a family friendly (teens) hotel? We prefer 3 or 4 stars.

 

We used to stay the Quality Inn - East Stroudburg but never again.  I found a bed bug when we stayed there in October.

 

We are trying out Baymont by Wyndham - Bartonsville Poconos this time.  It has an indoor pool. I'll have to let you know how it was in 3 weeks when we get back 🙂

[JillK]

We have driven from the east suburbs of Toronto to New Jersey for two cruises out of Manhattan in the past, once in 2018 and again March break 2022.

 

It is a very easy drive and we actually prefer it to the horrific air experience we had last July from YYZ to LAX as it was more seamless and faster!

 

We did go the 1,000 Islands route as we are east of the city - depending on where you are, you might be better off going via Buffalo/Niagara Falls.  The 1,000 Islands route shoots you down via Fort Drum/Syracuse/East Stroudsburg. 

 

In both cases we booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield Park. Back in 2018 they were offering a stay and cruise package that included a shuttle from the hotel to port (offered both Manhattan and Royal port in Jersey). Post COVID they have eliminated the shuttle but still offer stay and park for cruising so we just took an UBER to and from Manhattan which was in the $70 USD both ways price range if I recall correctly (assume it would be cheaper to Cape Liberty).

 

The hotel is clean and well appointed - we would stay there again if cruising out of either Manhattan or Cape Liberty. Easy to get to using GPS and lots of stuff in the area if you want to pop out for food or to do a little shopping (thank goodness for the internet).

 

Hope you have a fantastic cruise no matter where you stay!