How early to book a private car?

[dcac2]

We are considering booking a private car post-cruise to take us to our hotel in Manhattan.  How early do we have to book?  Our cruise is not until September...is it too early to book now?

[lenquixote66]

You could book now but I would think you could wait till July. Where is the ship docking ,Bayonne,manhattan or brooklyn,that would be a factor.

 

We use a limo service to take us from our home in a suburb of NYC to the Manhattan cruiseport and usually book 6 weeks in advance.

[dcac2]

Thanks lenquixote66!  We are docking at Bayonne.  

[Nitemare]

A couple weeks in advance is fine for any of the regularly recommended larger companies

[dcac2]

2 hours ago, Nitemare said:

A couple weeks in advance is fine for any of the regularly recommended larger companies

Good to know...thanks!   Any particular company that you would recommend?

[Nitemare]

Skim the board and you'll see 2 or 3 names mentioned over and over.  I haven't used any of them myself so I hesitate to list them.  But you should figure it out within 5-10 minutes or so!

[dcac2]

Haha, I was just doing that while I was waiting for a reply    Thanks again!

[Noxequifans]

We have had favorable experiences with both Dial 7 and Carmel limo ..... will use them again.

[dcac2]

1 hour ago, Noxequifans said:

We have had favorable experiences with both Dial 7 and Carmel limo ..... will use them again.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[mking8288]

We used Carmel for 10+ years but always kept Dial 7's number available as a backup - Lyft (equivalent for Uber) usually for shorter & quick trips ... price gaps & savings with ride-sharing are narrowing here in NY area for # of reasons, even short trips within Manhattan's core area are getting expensive with congestion pricing ($2.50 or $2.75 surcharge per ride, extra)

 

On subject, from Cape Liberty/Bayonne to midtown Manhattan is almost like booking a trip from Newark Int'l Airport (EWR) to NYC, easy and should be good availability - book it 2 to 4 weeks ahead is more than sufficient - if you are worried, call them on the morning of arrival as the ship get near the VZ Bridge, you will pick up a solid land-based cellular signal, just to reconfirm & to tell them to note/mark the confirmed reservation that you will call back when luggage are collected & ready for pickup.  Both D7 and Carmel has a free mobile App, you can track the assigned vehicle & driver (info, license plate/color & make of car, etc.) within 5 to 10 minutes of pickup with a real-time GPS tracking.  A text/SMS message is also pushed to your contact # and usually a phone call by the driver that s/he is there/around the corner, etc. 

[dcac2]

Thanks mking8288 ...Great info.  Much appreciated!  

[Abernhar]

On 2/12/2019 at 5:18 PM, mking8288 said:

We used Carmel for 10+ years but always kept Dial 7's number available as a backup - Lyft (equivalent for Uber) usually for shorter & quick trips ... price gaps & savings with ride-sharing are narrowing here in NY area for # of reasons, even short trips within Manhattan's core area are getting expensive with congestion pricing ($2.50 or $2.75 surcharge per ride, extra)

 

On subject, from Cape Liberty/Bayonne to midtown Manhattan is almost like booking a trip from Newark Int'l Airport (EWR) to NYC, easy and should be good availability - book it 2 to 4 weeks ahead is more than sufficient - if you are worried, call them on the morning of arrival as the ship get near the VZ Bridge, you will pick up a solid land-based cellular signal, just to reconfirm & to tell them to note/mark the confirmed reservation that you will call back when luggage are collected & ready for pickup.  Both D7 and Carmel has a free mobile App, you can track the assigned vehicle & driver (info, license plate/color & make of car, etc.) within 5 to 10 minutes of pickup with a real-time GPS tracking.  A text/SMS message is also pushed to your contact # and usually a phone call by the driver that s/he is there/around the corner, etc. 

We arrive with Adventure OTS may 17’th and looking info carmel.

the price dont include ‘toll&tipp’, do you know how much the toll will be on a ride to midtown Manhattan - and what is the normal tipp for a ride stipulated +/- 50$ ?

 

regards

arne

[mjkacmom]

11 hours ago, Abernhar said:

We arrive with Adventure OTS may 17’th and looking info carmel.

the price dont include ‘toll&tipp’, do you know how much the toll will be on a ride to midtown Manhattan - and what is the normal tipp for a ride stipulated +/- 50$ ?

 

regards

arne

I’d expect to pay $70 total with a base of $50.

[mking8288]

@Abernhar - as noted, cash toll rate from Cape Liberty to midtown could be as little as about $2.15 additional for the NJ Turnpike route to Lincolon Tunnel , plus a NJ to NY river crossing toll of $15 for cash rate (weekday, peak travel time) - via Holland Tunnel or Lincoln Tunnel.   Looking at under $70 USD as there is also now a mandatory (surge) congestion pricing 24/7/365 "surcharge" of $2.50 to $2.75 for all FHV (For Hired Vehicles) entering most of Manhattan (south of 96th Street) being collected.

 

As for tipping, we generally give about 20% of the base fare or that's about $10 USD, rounded up to the nearest dollar as we usually paid in cash.  Based on your fare estimate/quote - that would be about $80 in total ***

 

If you will have mobile/cellular data and/or email address during your visit, sign-up, download & pre-install Dial 7 or Carmel's free mobile app - with Carmel, we always get an itemized receipt for the charges ... and you can pay by cash (USD) or credit card, including tips with the app (in case of any over-charges or dispute, etc. - easier to file a complaint with the card's bank, never a problem with us all these years). 

 

*** There is an online (also, digital) discount available, one variant get us a typical $3 savings or discount, another one would get us $6 (digital with prepaid) - and you can take that amount off from the $80 final total.  If you have airline frequent flyer miles to collect, they will award it upon ... 

[Abernhar]

Thx for the info 👍