Bayonne Terminal-advice please

[We2Cruzers]

Hello all,

We will be sailing on the Summit to Bermuda from the Bayonne Terminal.

There seems to be quite a few posts with negative comments regarding the process of parking and embarking from this particular terminal.

 

 

We've sailed out of both Manhattan and Brooklyn and the parking/embarking has not been an issue - but I'm trying to figure out what the problem is at Bayonne and maybe how to avoid some unnecessary problems if possible. I have a few questions I hope recent cruisers from that port might respond to.

• Is embarkation easier (take less time-less congestion) if you arrive a little later -around 1:00 or 1:30 so that you miss some crush getting into the terminal?
  
• If you arrive after 1:00 would there be any problem getting a parking space?
  
• Do you have to take the shuttle buses to the ship, or can that distance be walked? Is it permitted?
  
• Finally - if you arrive by cab or car service does it make check in easier?
  

Thanks in advance for any advice.

LK

[Wine-O]

Hello all,

We will be sailing on the Summit to Bermuda from the Bayonne Terminal.

There seems to be quite a few posts with negative comments regarding the process of parking and embarking from this particular terminal.

 

 

 

 

We've sailed out of both Manhattan and Brooklyn and the parking/embarking has not been an issue - but I'm trying to figure out what the problem is at Bayonne and maybe how to avoid some unnecessary problems if possible. I have a few questions I hope recent cruisers from that port might respond to.

• Is embarkation easier (take less time-less congestion) if you arrive a little later -around 1:00 or 1:30 so that you miss some crush getting into the terminal?
  
• If you arrive after 1:00 would there be any problem getting a parking space?
  
• Do you have to take the shuttle buses to the ship, or can that distance be walked? Is it permitted?
  
• Finally - if you arrive by cab or car service does it make check in easier?
  

Thanks in advance for any advice.

LK

 

I love sailing out of Bayonne. We were on the 25 July sailing and had no problems whatsoever. I can't speak to 1pm, but we got there around 11:15, dropped our luggage and my wife off at the terminal, parked the car (plenty of parking), and a short walk to the terminal, went thru x-ray, checked in, on the bus, and on board sipping champagne, all within 20-25 minutes. If you arrive at 1pm, you will probably be hitting the crowd.

 

No, you cannot walk to the ship. It's a very, very short bus ride, and if anyone complains about it, it's probably a personal problem.

 

Once on board, head straight for the Aqua Spa Cafe, have them grill you some tuna, salmon, or chicken, and grab a table on the Port side -- you will have a direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

 

Parking is $19 a day, and they take credit cards. Enjoy your cruise, and don't listen to all the negative people.

 

P.S. Can't wait until Silhouette arrived in Bayonne November 2011. I just love the S-Class.

[yogimax]

We have sailed out of Bayonne many times and had no problem with the parking. After paying, drop off your passsengers and bags at the side of the terminal and park your car. If you're close you can walk back to meet them. Otherwise, there's a shuttle van. From there you will be bused (probably in vehicles provided by Rutgers University) to the ship. Little hassle.

 

One caveat... If you arrive when other othe passengers are departing, there will be lines of cars and slow going. Try to arrive a bit after and the congestion will clear.

[mahdnc]

We2Cruzers,

 

I certainly understand your embarkation concerns because I was also taken aback by the number of complaints.

 

We were on the Aug 8th Summit sailing. However because we flew into NYC (for a few days before the cruise), we did not have our car and so arranged for a private car to drop us off at the cruise pier.

 

Here was our experience when we boarded Summit on Aug 8. We ended up arriving at the pier at 1:48pm which happened to be about 30 minutes later than I was shooting for. When we arrived, we missed the crowds completely. The lines were very small to check in. We were directed to the Captain's Club line where it was empty--nobody in line. After checking in, we went thru security (small line), got our embarkation photos taken (no line), and checked out the AquaSpa and Kids Club desks. We went to an empty waiting area where we sat for a couple of minutes before our group number was called to board the shuttle bus. We then waited in line to get on the ship where our pictures were taken by security. By 2:30pm we were in our cabin.

 

So, based on this one experience, my answers to your questions are:

 

1. Arriving later (1-1:30pm) would help you miss the crowds.

2. I cannot answer your parking question.

3. It did not look like you were permitted to walk to the ship partly because of distance and I think partly because you would be walking on the pier where there would be alot of traffic from trucks, forklifts, etc.

4. Certainly getting dropped off by cab or car service is easier than driving since you do not have to park your car and get back to the terminal after that.

[Lois R]

Hi, I sailed for the first time from Bayonne back in May:) I hired a car

service and they picked me up at my hotel promptly at 10:30am

and it took all of 15 minutes to get me to the ship. (I stayed in

Elizabeth). I checked in and picked up one of the shuttles and was

literally on board the ship within another 10 minutes.:D

I don't believe you can walk to the ship and maybe I was one of the

lucky folks and had no problems boarding:)

 

As for leaving? I waited in Normandie (one of the nice Elite Perks)

and disemarked about 9:30...got my bag, went through customs,

got on one of the buses back to the front area and then got a cab

to Newark airport.

 

Looks like everyone has different experiences.

[We2Cruzers]

Thanks for your responses - I found the information very helpful.

LK

[hcat]

I love sailing out of Bayonne. We were on the 25 July sailing and had no problems whatsoever. I can't speak to 1pm, but we got there around 11:15, dropped our luggage and my wife off at the terminal, parked the car (plenty of parking), and a short walk to the terminal, went thru x-ray, checked in, on the bus, and on board sipping champagne, all within 20-25 minutes. If you arrive at 1pm, you will probably be hitting the crowd.

 

No, you cannot walk to the ship. It's a very, very short bus ride, and if anyone complains about it, it's probably a personal problem.

 

Once on board, head straight for the Aqua Spa Cafe, have them grill you some tuna, salmon, or chicken, and grab a table on the Port side -- you will have a direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

 

Parking is $19 a day, and they take credit cards. Enjoy your cruise, and don't listen to all the negative people.

 

P.S. Can't wait until Silhouette arrived in Bayonne November 2011. I just love the S-Class.

 

thanks for this post-- after we follow your advice & have a great lunch-- can we also see the 9-ll Memorial on the Bayonne side as we sail away??

[The Big Booper]

We have gone out of Bayonne five times, mixed between =X= and RC. The only two times we have had problems were on the last two Christmas sailings on the Explorer when there were snow storms the day before and the day of sailing. When snow is present, everybody tries to get to the pier early any you have huge backups getting in to the pier area from Bayonne proper. During the year and with the smaller =X= ships you shouldn't have a problem. Even with the larger Explorer we had no problem in May 2007 and just sailed thru.

 

There is no way you can walk from the terminal facility to the ship, dozens of fork lifts ferrying supplies and delivery trucks backing up to offload supplies.

 

We were impressed with the Solstice this June and are waiting for the Silhouette Fall 2011.

[The Big Booper]

This is the view you get of the SOL and lower Manhattan from the ship when tied up at Cape Liberty. Don't hide on your balcony, get up to the pool deck 'cuz there's lots to see in all directions.

 

 

Sailaway at night, under the VZ bridge.

 

[EGG]

Summit has half the people than Explorer so you should have half the crowd.

[mahdnc]

hcat,

 

You will be able to easily see the Bayonne 9/11 memorial as you sail away. We watched it as we pulled in to Bayonne at the end of the cruise. In fact the memorial was pretty easy to see from the ship when we were docked.

[Wine-O]

For those waiting until you get into town to purchase your 2 bottles of wine for the cruise, there's a shopping center one block down from the turn into the Port terminal. You can see it from the road (Rt 440). Once into the small shopping center, as you face the food store (I believe it was a Stop & Shop), the package store is all the way to the right, on the corner. They have a very good selection of wines. Ask your limo driver/car service to make this quick stop -- it's really not out of the way.

[pavaca]

I guess I'm one of the 'negative' people you're not supposed to listen to. It sounds like it depends on what time you arrive and there doesn't seem to be a consensus on the 'best' time. I can only say that two weeks ago it was a mess getting on and getting off. The port is just too small and poorly laid out to handle large numbers of people.

If you're interested here's how it works. You're going to drive on a narrow driveway toward the ship. Make a left between 2 buildings (you'll pass the parking on you're right, but you don't enter parking here) and the port workers will point you to a spot to drop off your luggage in front of a white tent area. They move fast, have your luggage ready to give the port workers and keep your carry-ons with you (or better yet, put tags on everything just in case). Everyone going on the cruise gets out here. Back out of the luggage drop off spot and keep going between the 2 buildings. Turn left and left again, back to the parking lot. It's $133 for the week. From there it's a short walk to the tent where you can go through security with your group and enter the terminal building. I can't speak for others but we waited 1 1/2 hours in line before we got to the check-in counter (I wanted to take a picture, but was told no photo's). Coming back we were told to be in the theater at 15 mins before our 9:00 time. Didn't leave the ship until 10:00 and left the port about 10:30 and there were still people getting off the ship (you have to wait until they call your color/number to get off the ship) so we were mixed in with people arriving early. I also noticed cars waiting, I guess to pick up people who hadn't gotten off the ship yet. This was also causing traffic problems.

[Wine-O]

I guess I'm one of the 'negative' people you're not supposed to listen to. It sounds like it depends on what time you arrive and there doesn't seem to be a consensus on the 'best' time. I can only say that two weeks ago it was a mess getting on and getting off. The port is just too small and poorly laid out to handle large numbers of people.

 

If you're interested here's how it works. You're going to drive on a narrow driveway toward the ship. Make a left between 2 buildings (you'll pass the parking on you're right, but you don't enter parking here) and the port workers will point you to a spot to drop off your luggage in front of a white tent area. They move fast, have your luggage ready to give the port workers and keep your carry-ons with you (or better yet, put tags on everything just in case). Everyone going on the cruise gets out here. Back out of the luggage drop off spot and keep going between the 2 buildings. Turn left and left again, back to the parking lot. It's $133 for the week. From there it's a short walk to the tent where you can go through security with your group and enter the terminal building. I can't speak for others but we waited 1 1/2 hours in line before we got to the check-in counter (I wanted to take a picture, but was told no photo's). Coming back we were told to be in the theater at 15 mins before our 9:00 time. Didn't leave the ship until 10:00 and left the port about 10:30 and there were still people getting off the ship (you have to wait until they call your color/number to get off the ship) so we were mixed in with people arriving early. I also noticed cars waiting, I guess to pick up people who hadn't gotten off the ship yet. This was also causing traffic problems.

 

You described the process of getting to Bayonne, dropping off luggage, and parking pretty much to a "T."

 

Sorry you had problems getting on & off the ship. We always, always, always plan to get to the ship around 11:00. Only once I've had to wait 1/2 hour to board the ship after checking in.

[mahdnc]

The port is just too small and poorly laid out to handle large numbers of people.

 

pavaca, I agree that we were pretty lucky in being able to escape the crowds on both ends of the cruise--and having a car service. And you could certainly see that the poor layout for driving in and unloading/loading baggage from your vehicle would be real headache. It didn't take much imagination on my part to visualize the problems that I have read from other posters.

[jerseygirl3]

Our experience,when we sailed out of Bayonne, was that it was the most pleasant, most efficient port we've sailed from. We didn't park a car (we live in Jersey and had a driver take us to the port).

[hcat]

hcat,

 

You will be able to easily see the Bayonne 9/11 memorial as you sail away. We watched it as we pulled in to Bayonne at the end of the cruise. In fact the memorial was pretty easy to see from the ship when we were docked.

 

Thanks--this is the first time we will be away on 9-11 & we will miss our local memorial events! Seeing the 9-ll Memorial & lady Liberty will be very meaningful!!! We may try to stop there on our way home--if we don;t get too lost!

[The Big Booper]

The WWII Heavy Carrier Intrepid has been permanently docked on the West Side for years. From 2007 thru 2009 it was tied up next to the pier in Bayonne for a complete refurbishment.

 

We took a picture in 2007; the big, big carrier looked like a toy sailboat next to the Explorer which, if stood on end, would be as tall as the Empire State Building! And the Solstice is 15 feet shorter then the Explorer.

 

Makes you appreciate the size of a modern cruise ship. This picture was taken from the pool deck.

 

[emileg]

If one boards the ship at 11:30 a.m. in Bayonne, are the cabins ready at that time or do you have to wait until 1:00 or so to enter your cabin? Thanks. - Emile

[Wine-O]

If one boards the ship at 11:30 a.m. in Bayonne, are the cabins ready at that time or do you have to wait until 1:00 or so to enter your cabin? Thanks. - Emile

 

You'll have to wait until until around 1pm. You will have plenty of time to explore the ship and have lunch. I recommend the Aqua Spa Cafe up forward and get a seat on the Port side for views of the Statue of Liberty and downtown Manhattan.

[Bridge Maven]

Are there any hotels near the Bayonne cruise terminal that have a stay the night before/parking package?

[phillychick]

Great thread. & thanks to all for all the useful information. I'm sailing the Summit on 9/5 & I'm so excited.

[Wine-O]

Are there any hotels near the Bayonne cruise terminal that have a stay the night before/parking package?

 

 

Here's a thread that might help you out.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1154611&highlight=bayonne+hotel

[emileg]

You'll have to wait until until around 1pm. You will have plenty of time to explore the ship and have lunch. I recommend the Aqua Spa Cafe up forward and get a seat on the Port side for views of the Statue of Liberty and downtown Manhattan.

Thank you for the head's up. - Emile

[Bridge Maven]

Thank you, Wine-O!