Country Boy seeking alternatives to driving/parking/$$$ at NYC Pier - on NCL Dawn

[Leggo]

Hello!

Just booked the family cruise for the NCL Dawn to Bermuda / Bahamas on 5/13/2006. 40th birthday present for my wife. :-)

 

Anyways -- being more used to moose on the road (New Hampshire, ayuh) than NYC traffic, I am looking for alternatives to driving/parking/high cost at the NYC pier.

I searched most every post but I am looking for some more advice. I came up with the following options.

 

1. Just drive two cars (6 adults and 2 children) into the heart of Manhattan, battle traffic, getting lost in Harlem, or driving in circles for two days. Then it is going to cost $336 for two cars for the week- yikes!

 

2. Park cars at Uncles in Danbury CT, and get a shuttle service. Anyone recommend a shuttle service? think it will cost more than the $336? Sounds much less stressful.

 

3. Rent a Van from NH and do a 1 day drop off, and then on return trip do the same. Is this convienient, is there a place to drop off rentals. Need taxi to pier?

 

4. NCL Bus - used to run from Hartford CT, but I heard that it was stopped. Cany anyone confirm, are there other departure locations. ?

 

5. Amtrak, Greyhound --- how convient are these?

 

6. Fight the traffic in our own cars, find a cheaper place to park and then take a taxi to the pier. This sounds like it wouldn't save to much $$. Sounds even more stressful.

 

Anyways - and insight would be MOST helpful.

 

Thanks

[Laurab23]

I understand what you are saying. We live in a small town in the Finger Lakes of New York State. If I were you I would park at my uncles and find transportion into the city from there.We parked at our friends in Clarks Summit PA and got a limo from there.For the 2 of us it cost us $500 round trip which was alot of money but it was worth it to us. No stress with having to worry about driving in the city.To us that was priceless!

 

Laura

[johnql]

Well, if you ended up parking your cars in Danbury, CT, you could always take the Metro-North commuter railroad into NYC's Grand Central. From there, it's a short, inexpensive ($10 or so) cab ride to the pier. Of course, part of the convenience is lost if you've got a lot of luggage.

[Nitemare]

There are a couple parking garages within 2 blocks of the terminal which are somewhat cheaper than the pier parking.

 

But they may not be as safe.

 

I think your best bet is the Park at Danbury and shuttle in option.

[K&RCurt]

I agree with Johnql. Park at your family's in Danbury and take Metro North into Grand Central..... Unless you can rent a large van for a day and have you very kind Uncle drive you down (or is he going too?).

 

Another option might be parking at one of the train stations on the New Haven line. They have a good sized garage at the Stamford Transportation Center, I'm not sure what they charge but I personnaly would pay a premium not to have to drive in Manhattan!

 

I grew up in Fairfield County CT and we would always take the Metro North train going to the city or even when flying out of Kennedy or LGA. They used to have a song on the TV commercials for Mass transit.."Take the train to the plane, take the train to the plane!

[DoctorTom]

I agree that parking in Danbury makes sense, but I'm not sure MetroNorth is the best way to get into Manhattan. I'm thinking about the luggage. If you have a lot of luggage, the MetroNorth trains don't have good storage, and if the train is crowded, you won't be able to use unoccupied seats. Plus, you will have to transfer all that luggage from Grand Central to cabs to get to the pier. Then on the way back, you are tied to the train schedule to get back home.

 

I'd look into a limo service that could take you directly from Danbury to the pier. The price might not be a whole lot more than 8 tickets on MetroNorth plus cabfare. I live outside New Haven, and Connecticut Limo is the company that does a lot of business around here.

[babytraveler]

MetroNorth is great and getting a taxi right outside Grand Central Station is easy. It's really only a half a mile ride to the piers, but you'll need 2 cabs.

 

Don't go from Danbury. Danbury is a branch line and usually requires a connection in South Norwalk. It runs slow, only a couple of times a day. Brewster station in Westchester is better, I believe. Best to stick to stations on the main lines: Harlem, Hudson, or New Haven. They go fast, frequently.

 

As other posters said, you can park at any of the MetroNorth stations for about $5 a day. Some have garages, some open air parking. If during week, you probably have a better chance getting daily parking at the open air stations.

 

Avoid commuting hours. The parking fills up with monthly parking pass holders. Check nonpermit parking arrangements at station you perfer. The luggage thing is fine midday, but if you try to bring luggage on during commuter hours, it could get ugly... If you can travel in on a weekend, easy to park, easy on the train.

 

There are tons of private car services in CT. CT limo could do, but it is mostly known for buses to the airport. I would think a private service could drive you in and pick you up for about $200 each way. You don't save money, but easy. Rudy's limo in Greenwich is the most expensive, high service one.

 

You can also leave your car at a hotel (Stamford Marriott is a big one for this) then take cab or hotel shuttle to Metro North Stamford station (which is a biggy) and train then cab to pier. Just call to make sure this would work for you.

 

Good luck! I'm a city girl and get lost on country roads (no street signs) so have absolute sympathy wanting to avoid driving in NYC. It is an acquired skill.

[bjboothman]

What about parking at one of the 3 NYC airports and taking a taxi to and from the pier. Not the cheapest way, but maybe a simple answer. If you stay overnight at one of the airport hotels you "may" find one that will let you park there for free (we did this at Hampton in Florida, I've heard there are some hotels in NYC who will do this - might want to do a search here on that subject). We had never driven into Manhattan either, but my husband mapped it online and we made it to the pier without any problems. Good luck.

[bjboothman]

One more suggestion that I found thru a search:

 

jturner901 said in his post at: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=156066

 

 

 

Parking - We parked at Port Imperial in Weehawken, New Jersey and ferried to midtown. Parking was $7.00 for weekend days, $9.00 for weekdays, for a total of $66.00. The ferry is $5.50 per person, per trip. The total was $88.00. This pales in comparison to $198.00 at the pier plus tunnel or bridge fares of $6.00.

 

When we got off the ferry in midtown (West 38th and 12th) we rolled our baggage up 12th from 38th to 50th (12 short blocks) when the ship was waiting for us. We don't mind walking and are very physically fit, so the 10 minute walk was a breeze. From the ferry pier to the ship and beyond in both directions is a Harbourwalk pathway. This path is paved and completely improved for walking, running, biking, blading, or rolling luggage. We walked to and from the ship.

If it were me, I'd be taking a taxi from the ferry to the port and back - as I'm not so physically fit, but this is another option as well.

[DEL67]

The simplest way might be to rent a van. Several of the major rental agencies have locations within a 10 to 15 minute walking distance of the pier. You could drop the luggage off at the pier and then return the car and do the reverse on your return. However, I do not know if it would be less expensive as there would most likely be as drop-off charge in addition to the daily rental.