hal2008

Dickenson Bay is 3 USD per person one way in shared mini nus type taxi.

For deviles bridge + english bay + beach time 5 hour tour, we rented 22 seater for 250 USD.

Should have stayed on the ship and enjoyed it.

Most british west indies islands look so similar.

The usual advice on this board is that while most beaches on Antigua has sharp drop off at water-line, Turners does not have that.

That is NOT TRUE.  Turners also have sharp drop off along with misleading dangerous sandbars giving you false sense of safety.

The area all the way to the left has less of the drop off but it is rocky.

I would go to Dickenson for the safety, amenities and ease of transportation next time (10 min by 3 USD pp taxi)

especially if there are not too many ships in the port.

By the way, Barbados has much better beach experience.

AVOID boatyard.

Whenthere more ships in port, they get full quickly.

They stil ltake your money and gives no refunds when you cant find chair/umbrella even in back rows.

This time they even run out of spot on turtle tour.

No refunds.

There are better options adjoining Boatyard (any one of them would be good enough)

AVOID Boatyard (unless there are only 2 ships in port)

It is walkable but not a pretty walk. (in spite of most of it being on waterfront)

Just check out google maps. It is 2.4 km - 29 min walk.

Poster above has given wrong information.

AVOID Boatyard.

They took money upfront and then told us that there was no spot on ANY of their turtle tours.

And no refunds given

(no chairs/umbrella either)

AVOID boatyard.

Plenty of other options in the area 

STAY away from Boatyard when there are moe than 2-3 ships in port.

It gets extremely crowded.

Althjough theyt charge fees upfront, no chairs/umbrella available.

This time not even spot on turtle/snorkling trip

No refunds given.

Harbor Lights also have issue with chairs/umbrella but atleast there you dont have to pay if you dont get it.

AVOID BOATYARD - their sucess has ruined them. AVOID.

Cruise line usually have to give passenger manifesto to the authority about 30-40 hours before departure (depending on the departure time) So in practical terms, they close booking by late evening of day before the departure. That day prices drop like stone (this is usually for Guaranteed rates).  For sunday departure, I recently saw prices for summer cruise drop from 999 to 249 (base prices pp) from Thu night to Friday afternoon. (Dont know if it went down to 199 or not as I started booking process at 299 and price was down to 249 when actual payment page came up). Got lucky as they moved us to midship balcony (adjoining cabin pax had booked 9 months in advance and had paid 1799 pp)

Of course, this strategy require you to be flexible as previous week had sold out 5 days in advance.

40 usd per day of parking has NO surcharge for SUV/MiniVan.

Cheaper parking available about 5 blocks away (try spothero to get idea - one at circle line is self-park and involves no crossing of 12th ave)

If you are parking a Van or SUV, 40 per day right at the pier is NOT expensive. This is manhattan.  Even discounted parking several blocks away might cost you same or more with the SUV/MiniVan surcharge.

Nice snaps, @Aplmac.

BTw, to clarify the comment about "You can't cross over successfully onto that West Side Hiway" is applicable only for those driving to the pier.  Cab/Uber/Lyft can easily drop you at 50th street to avoid delays on the ramp.

Escape cruise couple of weeks ago, foot passengers were entering through Pier 90 (49th/50th street)

Note that the ramp from 12th ave/55th street divides for drop off and parking. If you do drop off first then you have to exit and renter for parking.

If coming by taxi/Uber/Lyft, better to get dropped off at street level (to avoid long wait in ramp traffic) abd just take elevator up (Very easy as plenty of staff to help)

OP's post and thread title is not about "parking for cruise" but about getting to Manhattan from Philadelphia.

It seems few frequent posters keep hawking a particular hilton property in Ridgefield irrespective of appropriateness in context of the thread question.

- Driving and parking at the Pier is simplest (no surcharge for SUV, $280/week, convenient, pay for tolls and gas)

- Slightly cheaper (about 80-100 USD cheaper) parking is possible at self-park Circle-line facility, 5 city blocks away

- Metropark or Hamilton (both easy to drive to) offer very cheap garage parking options. But involves taking NJT to Penn station and taxi from there. For 2 people with single bag easily doable and much cheaper than previous options but not as convenient.

- Uber/Lyft from home in Philly to Cruise terminal (have seen quote of 120-140 one way) Cheaper and more convenient than even parking at pier.

Avoid Dave's Best Limousine. It is not suitable for cruise terminal and service quality continues going down (even in late 80s, it was hit or miss and hence deteriorated significantly since then)

If you need hotel, one suggested upthread is an option and so is any 3-4 star Seacaucus hotel through priceline

Hilton Garden Inn at Ridgefield has VERY NEGATIVE reviews on tripadvisor

They charge 50 USD per person extra for transport to the cruise port.

It still might be a good deal if you are just two of you AND you need a night of hotel.

Just to point out that usually transportation to port by hotels involve extra charges for any passengers beyond two (as much as 50 usd per person)

Staty in reasonable price hotel on jersey city, hoboken, seecaucus and uber over.

The often posted suggestion of Hilton Garden Inn at Ridgewood is useful IF you need a hotel any way and there are only 2 people.  It is additional 50 USD per person for transport to the cruise terminal.

Better to park in cheaper garage in seacucus or hoboken or jersey city and just take uber over if you are coming from New Jersey side.

NO. NO. NO.

If anyone even gives you a hope, strongly recommend that you ignore the suggestion.

TSA precheck is some assurance but not much.

Are you arriving and departing from SAME terminal at JFK? If not, provision 30 minutes.

While "normal" times may be an hour or so from JFK to Lower midtown, remember it can take 30 minutes just to go from one end of Manhattan to other when usually it takes only 5.

Two hours from Manhattan to JFK is not unheard of. 

Arriving at airport for international flight 2 to 3 hours before flight is the standard recommendation.

If your luggage is checked through, you still need to arrive 1.5 hours before the flight. (Remember, door to plane close 15-20 minute before departure.

Spend time in a lounge instaed of depending on the terminal, browse and eat.

About the so-call fast-ferry from Tender port

a) It is normal boat (slower than NYC waterways)

b) They always lie that it is leaving "soon". They leave when it is full. There usually two boats. So guess which one will get full. (luck)

c) There is small steep hill when you get off the boat (no problem for most people)

d) Bus that takes you up from Amoudi bay shore to Oia will have less seats than boat so few people wil have to stand during that zig zag ride

e) Bus from Oia to Fira that is through this boat company is unmarked and chaotic.

f) They constantly lie about last time for the included bus

If cable car is backed up then boat option is still better but set expectations as per above

Jersey City Waterfront hotel makes a lot of sense for Cape liberty departures.

Plenty of AirBnb (2 bedroom condo in modern high rise with great view and 5 minute to Manhattan) options at prices comparable to single hotel room. Plemty of nice restaurants (especially ethnic ones) Traffic free easy cheap cab ride or uber to the port.

That Ramada had bed bugs issues about a year ago.

Wouldnt taking a train (NJ Transit or Amtrak depending on point of origination) and then a short taxi ride be an option?

(no parking fees, no tunnel traffic worries)

Be prepared for a totally chaotic atmosphere at buffet (for some reason Italians dont like to queue up and nor see anything wrong in barging in to go over your hand to pick up something they want).

About 25 years ago, Carnival in USA had Kmart of cruising reputation (Cheap but you get what you pay for kind of experience). Costa is slightly below that level for an American used to RCL/HAL/NCL. If you prefer Celebrity, be prepared to be shocked by Costa.

One good news: You will certainly save money in the base price.

You need to do research and set your expectations about the cruise ship.

We have lately been getting unlucky with our NCL experiences. But POA was an exception.

It is your typical below average ship. But you treat it as a budget hotel that serves food and transportation without TSA hassles, you will be happy.

Nice stable ride of Na pali coast, great views of lava, rental car convenient to each port (no need for expensive excursions) are just the additional positives.

I only wish they stayed overnight in Hilo (dock) and skip Kona (tender).

While mid to low quality ships in all lines usually disappoints even when adjusted for lower prices, in general RCL seem to beat NCL hands down in many aspects (even when adjusted for prices) when it comes to above average ships that mainly cater to North American or China markets. We try not to align ourselves with any particular cruise lines among majors (US centric ones), but NCL seem to be a disappointment consistently. We may start blocking them out as an alternative the way we have black listed Costa (with Costa it is more about type of crowd it attracts)

sukan,

now that your cruise is over, can you post some feedback?

- how was food?

- was their buffet at dinner time as an alternate to MDR?

- how unruly were the pax in buffeett line?

-

I’m not sure whether they specifically say that you can’t, but the “You’ll be leaving soon” sheet that is distributed before disembarkation doesn’t offer self walk off as an option.

 

There is nothing to actually stop you, as they need you off the ship, but you could certainly be quite a nuisance with all those bags of the ship has docked at one of the berths which use lifts. It has always been my assumption that those lifts are the reason for this rule, as people with cases would really show things down.

 

 

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a) Didnt use the lift (there was no need - diembarkation was from seventh deck and path was long zig-zag but step-free and there was escalator at the end in the terminal just like airport terminals)

b) All prior NCL, it has been always the case (since the introduction of FSC), if you have not put out your luggage prior night, you have to lug it yourself and you can do it any time after ship is called.

c) Entire process was smooth with no big crowds on the ship, during disembarkation, in the terminal or outside. Wish NCL had handled tendering so effectively.

Was not aware that journey on the open ocean (where getting balcony on the wrong side of ship means looking at open ocean v/s beauty on both sides of the ship in true inside passage) was also marketed as "inside"passage.

Apart from natural scenery, another disadvantage is open pacific ocean can get far more rough than true inside passage.

Also, voyages starting from Seattle usually does not visit hubbard glacier or college fjord.

Seriously concerned about types of responses given to OP.

Lets focus on what matters to tourists especially type who seek advice on CC here: Pickpocketting and purse snatching. (Not mugging)

Have heard numerous encounters (most of them successful by the culprits).

We are not talking about just novice Americans first time in Europe. Seasoned travellers having grown up in third world countries with nuisance of pickpocketting have faced incidents in Barcelona.

Pickpocket nuisance has increased dramatically over the last decade (not just Italy and Greece). Paris public transport has become a big problem too,

But nowhere the profession is practices with zeal and expertise as in Barcelona.

Not only you have to take usual precautions (under shirt/pant money belt, etc) but you have to be on constant alert to make sure that you are not picked as a target. Because once you are targetted, it is very difficult not to fall victim.

We travel to Europe 2-3 times a year and find this a growing nuisance.

You will find plenty of smartass folks with "It can happen anywhere in the world." or "Our city is safer than New York".comments but the reality is this:

a) If you overestimate the nuisance, the only cost is the anxiety

b) If you underestimate the nuisance, it can ruin your vacation and then some.

Leave passport in hotels and carry color photocopies

DO not use ATM unlless it is inside a branch in busy area

Take money out early before venturing out

Take only limited money with you

Take limited credit cards (and no debit cards) with you

Companions should carry their own different credit cards

Use under the clothes money belt