lx200gps

There is another lot, the "C1 Lot" right next to the terminal, but it seems it's only open to NCL passengers who sail on Fridays, as it's only open that day.

We parked there last week as well. No issues. Interesting how you say your license plate was scanned, I guess I missed that. When we arrived the gate was already open and an attendant was standing there directing traffic. Note also there are actually two halves to the 93 Fargo lot, and the attendants want cruise ship passengers to park in the second lot by driving through the hole in the fence into the second lot. They told us it's because the shuttle buses load and unload in the second lot and not the first, but we had parked in the first area anyway. When we arrived the shuttle had stopped right in front of our car to load a lady who needed special assistance. We did a very early self walkoff from the Emerald Princess and were outside the terminal around 8AM. There were already a few of the shuttle buses there loading passengers and we boarded immediately, no waiting at all. We had planned to walk to and from the Fargo lot but the shuttle system did work extremely well

AFAIK the construction referred to is the complete closure of the Sumner Tunnel, from July 5 to August 5, affecting travel to and from Logan. https://www.seaporttma.org/sumner

Digging around a bit, I found that Parking.com has both US and Canadian parking lots, which may explain why they seamlessly billed me in Canadian $$$ https://parking.com/ca/ As to safety, our car had zero issues parked there. I can't say whether the lot is manned 24/7, but I highly doubt it. I wouldn't say it is any more or less safe than any other semi-remote parking lot, but we will definitely use it again. You can see the lot on the Google Satellite or Street views to get a feel for the immediate area.

Yes, it's the 93 Fargo lot. I booked and paid through Parking.com by selecting our specific cruise (14 July Emerald Princess) https://parking.com/boston/destinations/flynn-cruiseport/events When I checked our credit card account on the TD website the transaction had only cost $CAD220.50 instead of $US220.50, was billed by "Parking.com" but the "location" for the transaction was given as "TORONTO ON CA". Hopefully if you book it will also charge you in Canadian $$$s

Excellent idea, thanks for the reminder. Here in Canada, I'm only aware of Equifax and TU, and I just locked/froze both. I think I'll keep them pretty much permanently frozen from now on, only releasing them if needed, which fortunately is very rarely. That being said, simply freezing credit reporting agencies won't stop someone who, thanks to Princess IT, now has all my CC data and can order massive amounts of goods online. Fingers crossed Visa Security can stop any such fraud, as they've done for us in the past, like the time they called me in a rush and asked if I had just ordered a fur coat in Houston ;o(

FYI, Dania Beach is a bit of a mis-nomer, it's not that near a beach ;o) The Plantation hotel area is perfectly fine and is very well stocked with all the major mid-range hotel options from Marriott, Hilton, HI etc as well as malls and restaurants. I can't remember which one, but one of the hotels in Plantation used to offer both airport AND cruise port shuttles. Hopefully someone can chime in a tell us which one.

I like to use Tripadvisor for initial hotel hunting, as their map view function lets me easily compare prices visually in each geographical area near Port Everglades. As you say, prices for your specific dates are very high on the closest hotel zone to PE, 17th street. A popular alternative to 17th St is Dania Beach, immediately south of the airport. Prices there seem to be lower than 17th St but still high-ish. A good alternative that we have used in the past is Plantation, west of PE down the 595, somewhat farther out but still a good option. Prices there do not fluctuate nearly as much the other areas and in high season can be much lower than the prime 17th St. strip. Plantation is well served by lots of hotels, restaurants, shopping etc. but is obviously far from the beach. I checked your dates of 6-8 Feb 2025 and indeed the prices for all the hotels in Plantation are significantly lower. Only downside is a longer Uber ride to get to the ship.

It was utterly preposterous, that's for sure. When it was all over, the Hotel Director came on the PA again and apologized profusely for the fact that the last US citizens weren't cleared until almost 2:30PM (the processing having started at 9AM). He laid the blame squarely on the CBP folks who, he said, caused the problems because they steadfastly refused to treat the US citizens differently from us foreigners. Hence they had as many officers processing the THOUSANDS of US citizens as they did for the few hundred of us non-US. Also, I can't say whether the four CBP agents who worked on us foreigners in the Wheelhouse Bar then went to Club Fusion to double the number of agents handling the US citizens. It wouldn't surprise me if they simply walked off the ship. I honestly don't know how you can avoid the delays, unless Princess, in handing out the Group#s, prioritizes them according to whether you have an excursion? I can't say whether loyalty status applies; We're Elite and our non-US Group 5 was through is less than 45 minutes. Maybe other folks who went through US processing early, with or without status, can chime in so we can get a feel for whether higher status gets us earlier times. I would expect that having a ship's excursion would though, but that's speculation on my part. The only upside to the whole mess was that with so many people getting cleared to leave the ship so late, by dinnertime the ship was still half empty. Those of us who did get on and off in a timely manner had the ship to ourselves. It was eerie to be in Crooners at 4:30 and the place was almost deserted ;o)

Definitely. At the exit from the Immigration area, immediately upon leaving, our Medallions (like cruise cards) are scanned. That way the ship's system knows we have been cleared and we were them able to walk off the ship. Had we tried to walk off without having been scanned outside the Immigration area we would have been instantly stopped.

They surely do vary by ship, but the "Premier" package chocolate cake on the Emerald was excellent. That being said every outlet on the ship was utterly unable to make a palatable Cappuccino, while on the Discovery, last time we were on her, they were fine.

Hold that thought ;o) We're on the Emerald right now and just tried one of the desserts that come with Premier. NOT the horrid plastic monstrosities in the tall glass jars that look they were designed by a team of 7 year olds, but the cakes. We tried the chocolate cake at the IC ($5 unless you have a Package) and it was actually a real, proper excellent cake, far better than any cake we have ever had on a Princess ship. So there is hope....

I wouldn't say I was seeing long lines for US citizens, though there are lines which have 20-30 people in them. Certainly no lines snaking around the ship as described in previous posts. That being said, it's currently 13:40 and they are still calling US citizens (last call was for Group 26!). The other thing that is worrying is that we have yet to hear a single announcement reminding us that EVERYONE has to go through the process, even if you aren't planning to get off the ship. I have little doubt that some folks on board never read the in-room papers explaining the process in detail and think they don't have to go through Immigration since they plan to stay aboard. We spoke earlier this AM to a lovely older lady who stopped us to ask which way she had to go to get off the ship. Turns out she was planning to simply walk off and had absolutely no clue about the mandatory CPB interview. Didn't know anything about her Group # etc.

We just went through the exercise here on the Emerald today. Seems they are somewhat improving the whole process. We were originally scheduled to arrive for 10AM, but based on the past bad experiences, the captain gunned it and we pulled in at 8AM instead. The USCBP agents were on board and starting the interviewing around 9AM. We had Group 5, non-US citizens and were to go to the Wheelhouse bar when our Group was called. By 9:30, 1/2 an hour after starting, they were already calling Group 4. We walked to where the head of the line was to be, and the officer manning the ropeline told us to go in anyway as the lines were very short. We stood in line for less than 7 minutes and were completely through and clear to leave the ship by 9:45AM. Us non-US folks had 4 agents doing the interviewing, I don't know how many were handling the US folks. Sadly, as I write this at noon, they are still calling US citizens, Group 11, so all the non-US have long since been cleared. Given the overwhelming majority of US citizens on a sailing like this, having so few agents devoted to clearing them is idiotic,.

On the Emerald this sailing, they are actually rigorously enforcing the reserved seating in the theater for the few shows that offer it. Crew members with tablets are stationed around the reserved areas and are carefully monitoring who sits there, and one pair of ladies were kicked out of the section a few days ago as they did not have Premier.

Thanks, they had clarified that in the previous post

I'll agree that many of the areas in NJ can be a bit dicey, but the area immediately around the Weehawken ferry terminal and the two hotels is very yuppy and gentrified, modern and new with lots of condos etc. There's even a decent restaurant in the ground floor of the hotel with an outdoor terrace (in season of course) offering absolutely killer views of the west-side Manhattan skyline

We're on the Emerald right now, a 7 day C/NE, though this time we didn't bother with booking the Sanctuary. We did pay a quick visit and asked about availability on the last sea day, and there actually were a few spots available, though in the worst locations. So for a sea day, you have little chance under normal circumstances. For a port day, you may be able to get something, if you head upstairs the moment you board. Another thing to keep in mind is that cancellations are always possible, so you could drop by the Sanctuary each morning when they open up to see if someone cancelled for that day. On our last trip, in February, we had the sanctuary for two days but found the location next to the hot tub so obnoxious we cancelled our second day. Worth a shot. BTW, boarding at 5PM seems awful late, what is the sail away time? Our sailaway last Sunday was 5PM with all aboard NLT 3:30PM

Technically there is no alcohol "upgrade". Every single drink on the ship is available to any adult passenger anywhere any time. Think of the difference in drink allowances as like a deductible where you pay only the difference between the drink price and what your package allows (plus the surcharge of course) If your limit is $15 and a drink costs $17 you would only pay the $2.18 difference. As to whether it's worth it for you, you'll have to do the math according to how much you plan to drink and whether the other benefits of the Premier are worth it to you personally. For us the upgrade is a no-brainer.

A few more comments about Weehawken. It's a very busy ferry stop so there are many sailings each day, 7 days a week. Some of the other ferry terminals don't have quite as good a schedule. Cost was $US9/pp each way to and from Manhattan, and the trip takes about 8 minutes. The Residence Inn and the Envue are in the same building as one of the ferry parking garages, and there is another ferry parking garage one block north that was $2/day cheaper. The garages aren't very full on weekends. The area around the hotel is pretty upscale and new. If you are considering staying in NJ, be sure to check the ferry schedules from the terminal you may want to use.

We did this a few years ago, driving from Montreal. As you say, parking and hotels in Manhattan are astoundingly expensive, especially for us Canadians. We decided to stay in Weehawken NJ, directly across the Hudson from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. There is a very decent Residence Inn and an Envue, both Marriott properties, colocated in the same building with one of the parking garages for the NY/NJ ferry terminal, which is directly across the street. Easy ferry ride crossing the Hudson and you end up in mid-town Manhattan, about a 15 minutes walk from the MCT. All in all, not as convenient as staying in Manhattan, but FAR cheaper.

I had pre-paid on the lot's website a few weeks prior to the trip, and carried all the various print-outs of the receipts with us. The web site actually lists all the various cruise ship voyages by date and all I had to do was select our July 14 Emerald Princess sailing. The total was $220, obviously in US dollars, but when I checked my Credit Card online statement a few days later, I had been charged $220 in Canadian dollars. The line item description actually showed, as a reference, a phone number which turned out to be a Canadian parking company based in Toronto, so the lot management in Boston has some kind of reciprocal international agreement to be able to bill Canadian CC holders in their own currency, a VERY nice surprise. No help to US customers, of course. As to being able to just drive up, I'm not sure how or whether it would work. We got to the lot early, and the folks running the lot seemed somewhat confused. Our receipts showing that we had pre-paid seemed to surprise them. Eventually they realized how it works, gave us the parking tags for our windshields and allowed us to park. I really don't know how they would have reacted had we just arrived with no pre-paid receipt. IOW I don't know if they have the ability to process CC charges on the spot.

FWIW, we just parked at the Fargo lot on Sunday. Price was $220, amazingly charged on our credit card in our Canadian dollars, so the equivalent of only $US163. As we pulled in and parked, the shuttle was right there loading passengers and bags, so we were at the terminal in 5 minutes. We were fully prepared to walk it, but the shuttle arrived just in time. It looked like an easy walk had we decided to walk, but the shuttle timing was excellent.

Another data point, based on our sailing out of Boston three days ago. Not only were we absolutely carpet-bombed by staff and crew selling the packages once we boarded, there were actually people in the departure area selling the packages BEFORE boarding. Never saw that before ;o)

We're on board the Emerald now as well, scheduled into Portland on Saturday. For this specific C/NE itinerary, the only practical option, if the port schedules allow it, would probably be to put Portland at the beginning rather than the end of the trip. Boston to Portland no customs/immigration issues. Portland into Canada no issues either, just fill in the Canadian CBSA form, hand it to your Steward and all is done. Then the final leg would be Canada direct Boston so clear customs/immigration at a relatively large port like Boston should be easier than doing so in an out station like Portland. I assume that Boston isn't sophisticated enough yet to have facial recognition like the big ports in Fort Lauderdale or LA but should be much better staffed than little Portland.