Is this too complicated??

[melanie1877]

Hi everyone,

We live in PA, and are considering a cruise on the Caribbean Princess, which embarks out of San Juan, and returns to NY. Airfare would be very reasonable, because it would only be one way. However, we would have a vehicle at the airport in Baltimore, MD (or someone would have to drop us off...a three hour drive from home), and we would have no vehicle at the port in NY, so we would either have to have someone pick us up in Brooklyn, or take a bus to a location closer to home (my TA told me Princess has a bus that would take us to Allentown, PA.....about an hour from our home.) Does this seem too complicated, or will it go off without much of a hitch?

Also, the itinerary is San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua and Bermuda. Anyone ever do this itinerary? I can't seem to find anyone in the review section that has done this exact cruise, so was wondering how it is. We've only cruised one other time before on Carnival, and that was in and out of Baltimore, so it was very simple. The logistics of this trip seem a bit more daunting.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

[BobT172]

Not having done that same routine, but it does sound complicated to me and also potentially time consuming and costly... or you would be imposing on someone to do alot of driving for you...

 

I would guess you are flying out of BWI because of cost savings... have you weighed the cost of alternatives by flying out of New York versus the cost of trying to do what you stated??

[MONGO12]

Consider renting a car where you live and dropping it off at Baltimore airport. Sometimes one way rentals to an airport get a discount. And of course you save the parking fees.

[helpmesailaway]

Maybe there is a train from NYC to Baltimore???? You would have to get from the pier to Penn Station or Grand Central.

[Loonbeam]

You should be able to get a car service into NY from the Philly area for about $200-$300 depending on time of day (if you figure you would park at the port, that would set you back at least $150 for a 10 day cruise).

 

Curious as to why you would fly from Baltimore, there are decent fares available from Philly to San Juan (unless you live in Delco?) In Philly, you can get Dave's Shuttle for about $20 per door to airport, so your total ground transit cost would be $240-$340, well in line with parking, mileage, etc.

 

 

Consider renting a car where you live and dropping it off at Baltimore airport. Sometimes one way rentals to an airport get a discount. And of course you save the parking fees.

[Loonbeam]

Amtrak runs direct between the two for about $100 pp. Or you could train back from Baltimore to Philly as well.

 

Maybe there is a train from NYC to Baltimore???? You would have to get from the pier to Penn Station or Grand Central.

[crisp1]

We did that cruise as part of b2b last spring. It was great for us. Air to San Juan was inexpensive, the cruise leaves late- 10 pm so you have many flight options ( I'd still fly in a day early and enjoy San Juan). For us the pax type was so different from week one to 2, the rt San Juan was an older demographic, the repo was mostly Northeasterners and younger. Don't know anout Princess shuttle though. If Princess does have a drop off in Allentown, you should check one way flights from there. Your car would be at the airport, I'm sure you could catch a cab from the dropoff point

[FLACRUISER99]

Consider renting a car where you live and dropping it off at Baltimore airport. Sometimes one way rentals to an airport get a discount. And of course you save the parking fees.

I like this idea best, do it all the time in FL.

[wiskt]

Hi everyone,

We live in PA, and are considering a cruise on the Caribbean Princess, which embarks out of San Juan, and returns to NY. Airfare would be very reasonable, because it would only be one way. However, we would have a vehicle at the airport in Baltimore, MD (or someone would have to drop us off...a three hour drive from home), and we would have no vehicle at the port in NY, so we would either have to have someone pick us up in Brooklyn, or take a bus to a location closer to home (my TA told me Princess has a bus that would take us to Allentown, PA.....about an hour from our home.) Does this seem too complicated, or will it go off without much of a hitch?

Also, the itinerary is San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua and Bermuda. Anyone ever do this itinerary? I can't seem to find anyone in the review section that has done this exact cruise, so was wondering how it is. We've only cruised one other time before on Carnival, and that was in and out of Baltimore, so it was very simple. The logistics of this trip seem a bit more daunting.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

 

Melanie I also live in PA. and have looked into options for the Baltimore cruises. I'm not sure where you are in PA, but here are some options.

 

Amtrac offers reasonable prices from Philly and the regional stations.

Also look into flights out of Lancaster Airport (LNS) It is a small regional airport very close to Dutch Wonderland (Rte 30). As long as you don;t mind taking a cummuter smaller plane, they have non-stop flights to BWI for great prices.

[COMBOY]

Yes, flying out of BWI sounds too complicated. Even though you might get a good OW airfare BWI-SJU you still have to factor in transfers from the ship in NYC back to BWI to get your car which might mean a taxi to the train station plus handling all your luggage. Not worth it. Best to just drive to JFK and park in long term parking and fly to San Juan. Once you arrive back in NYC just catch a cab back to JFK to get your car. Quick search today $157/pp on JetBlue JFK-San Juan.

[melanie1877]

Thank you all for your responses. Now that I think about it, it does seem kind of silly to drive to BWI (about three hours away from where we live) versus flying out of JFK (about 3 1/2 hours away). Even if I had my DH drop us at JFK, and then we picked up the bus to Allentown, he wouldn't have to travel as far to pick us up on the return trip. Will have to look in to this bus that my TA told me about. I appreciate all of the help, I thought this whole thing sounded a little confusing! Thanks again!

BTW.....anyone ever do this itinerary???? Am curious to see if you enjoyed these ports paired together???

[helpmesailaway]

We just did the reverse of this cruise in Oct. Loved the itinerary - nice fun in the sun. We took the Princess all day Catamaran in St. Thomas, went to Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda, and a private tour with Lawrence of Antiqua in - Antiqua.

 

You will have a wonderful time:)

[crisp1]

I don't think there's a bus that runs from the Red Hook port to Pa- I know that there's one from the midtown Manhatten port. The bus line has no affiliation with the cruise line. This one leaves from JFK http://www.transbridgelines.com/sched_ny_west.htm#weekend_west

You can also check out gotobus.com

We did that exact itinerary last May. San Juan is great, fly in early and explore Old San Juan. The independant cab drivers and some of the vendors at the port in Antigua can be bothersome. There is a taxi booth just past security where you can share a cab to a beach and save $, arrange a pickup time and they'll come back for you. The water is a tad cool in Bermuda that time of year ( around 70 degrees) but the air is warm (80). It's so easy to get around Bermuda- rent a scooter, take the bus or ferry. There's plenty right at the port too, Snorkel Park- decent snorkeling and calm water ( hard sand), shopping center, maritime museum, dolphin encounter, restaurants ( a bit on the expensive side) etc

[Iamcruzin]

Thank you all for your responses. Now that I think about it, it does seem kind of silly to drive to BWI (about three hours away from where we live) versus flying out of JFK (about 3 1/2 hours away). Even if I had my DH drop us at JFK, and then we picked up the bus to Allentown, he wouldn't have to travel as far to pick us up on the return trip. Will have to look in to this bus that my TA told me about. I appreciate all of the help, I thought this whole thing sounded a little confusing! Thanks again!

BTW.....anyone ever do this itinerary???? Am curious to see if you enjoyed these ports paired together???

I have done this itinerary twice and enjoyed all of the ports. You should join the roll call there are a few people who have sailed this itinerary with me before and you can ask them specific questions about each port.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1250463

[Denny01]

Was going to suggest you either use one airport such as BWI, drive and park, fly to San Juan then fly from NY to that airport. Sounds like you have a plan driving to NY. Might check BWI as a compare to NY.

 

Your itinerary looks lots of fun especially with Bermuda.

 

Den

[jtmalt]

Here's the info on the Princess coach service for the Northeast Corridor. Perhaps this will help. The full info can be found at http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp under "Motor Coach Program".

 

Northeast Motorcoach Program

The cost is $79 per person roundtrip

Three routes with convenient pick-up locations along the way*:

 

• Washington, DC/Baltimore, MD/Wilmington, DE, Philadelphia, PA/Burlington, NJ/Brooklyn PIER
  
• Boston, MA/Worcester, MA/Springfield, MA, Hartford, CT/Brooklyn PIER (Caribbean cruises only)
  
• Providence, RI/New London, CT/New Haven, CT/Bridgeport, CT/Brooklyn PIER (Caribbean cruises only)
  

*Note: Route 1 is available for both Caribbean and Canada & New England sailings. Routes 2 and 3 are only available on Caribbean sailings.

You’ll board a motorcoach and travel in comfort with your luggage to your waiting ship. You’ll also be delivered back to the same location after you disembark.

 

• Air-conditioned motorcoaches
  
• Wheelchair accessible
  
• Reservations are required
  
• Departures are capacity controlled and may be cancelled due to lack of participation
  

For scheduling, dates and pick-up locations closest to you, please contact your travel agent, call

1-800-PRINCESS or visit Cruise Personalizer®.

[Clutterlady]

Our first Princess cruise was the same one you're doing. We flew out of Newark and we had a car service pick us up in NYC. Since there were 6 of us and only live about 1 1/2 hrs. from NYC is was relatively inexpensive. Just on FYI the Princess motor coach service no longer does the Allentown route (darn:(). Suggestion would be to fly out of Newark or JFK and catch a cab back to the airport.

[melanie1877]

Thanks again everyone!!! Lots of really helpful people on this board. My research on here was invaluable for my first cruise, and I'm sure it will be the same for this one. Thank You!!:D

[Essiesmom]

You could to two flights...My sister got a very reasonable flight from ABE to FLL (for our Solstice TA May 1). You could do that, and then there are very reasonable flights FLL to SJU. We also sailed out of NYC in Dec. and she used a limo/car service to get us to Red Hook and back. It was $189 each way plus tolls, but totally worth it not to have to drive into NYC and pay parking. Sister lives in Macungie, SW of Allentown. EM