Stay-and-cruise hotel options for Bayonne (to leave the car for the week)?

[jd10367]

Cruising out of Port Liberty in October.  Usually we just park at the port but, this time, we have the time to go down a day early and stay at a nearby hotel.  (We figure, for the price of the pre-cruise hotel night, it's the same or cheaper than paying to park at the port for the week.)  Does anyone know of a good one that allows you to leave your car there for the cruise week?  I know there are a bunch near the Newark airport but we were looking for something closer and with things to do around it in case we want to grab a bite or poke into a store.  Has anyone tried the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island?  The cruise leaves Sunday morning, so our plan is to drive down Saturday morning from New England, stop at the Bronx Zoo, check in to the hotel, get ourselves into town to go to the Museum of Natural History near Central Park, maybe even catch a Broadway show that night (ambitious plan, I know).

[GTJ]

I cannot opine well on hotels offering parking, but I can comment on the plan proposed. It is ambitious, perhaps overly so.

 

Visiting the Bronx, late morning or early afternoon on Saturday means that you won't get to a hotel until mid afternoon or late afternoon. (Indeed, if you visit "Little Italy" in the Belmont neighborhood adjacent to the zoo, perhaps taking in a good meal if the timing works, it might be quite late in the afternoon before arriving at a hotel.) It seems unlikely that you would then be able to check in and then make your way back into Manhattan to visit the Museum of Natural History, for it closes at 5:30 p.m. If you were to make a whirlwind tour of the zoo, then you might be able to visit the natural history museum if you go directly from the Bronx to Manhattan, and not check into the hotel until after completing the museum visit, but your experience will probably end up being more rushing than fulfilling.

 

The Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island is, itself, nothing particularly interesting and isolated. Nothing readily within reasonable walking distance; good for an overnight stay but inconvenient for anything more. There is no express bus from the hotel into Manhattan, so if you're looking to venture out after checking-in, you would need to park-and-ride either at the Staten Island Mall for the express bus (caution: last SIM4c bus back departs from midtown at 8:50 p.m. on Saturday evenings) or maybe more conveniently at St. George for the ferry. Again, it would probably be tight on timing. The next day it likely will not be inexpensive getting a ride from this hotel to Bayonne.

 

I would be inclined to look at hotels in New Jersey, particularly in Hoboken and Jersey City, and especially convenient would be hotels in those cities within reasonable walking distance of a PATH subway station. Doing so would provide quick and convenient round-the-clock transportation to Manhattan, while also providing a reasonably proximate location to Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne. Look for some hotels along the waterfront in either city (in Jersey City this neighborhood is frequently referred to as "Exchange Place"); or near Grove Street & Christopher Columbus Drive or near Journal Square, both in Jersey City.

[meadowlander]

Trinity Reservations has been recommended in the past. Country Inn & Suites on International Boulevard in Elizabeth is within walking distance of Jersey Gardens mall which has dining options unlike many EWR airport area hotels.

[Got2Cruise]

Finding a park/cruise hotel should be your first step. Who even knows if the places mentioned here YEARS ago even offer them?

 

You do not want to drive from New England to Staten Island if you plan on sight seeing. It’s just too time consuming.

 

 

[meadowlander]

Trinity Reservations which has been highly recommend previously is still in business. A simple Google search would show that. The hotel I mentioned had the lowest rate for the mock booking date in October 2021, may not be the same for your actual date. Airport hotels in Elizabeth NJ are preferred vs other area airport hotels.

[Georgeny]

Have stayed at Hilton Garden Inn (  Hampton Inn shares parking lots ) numerous times sailing from Bayonne. Minutes from Cruise terminal and yes they PREVIOUSLY offered shuttle to terminal and return to hotel while your car is parked.(  Stay & Cruise rate  also included shuttle to and from Cruise )

 

If you cannot find park and cruise deal/rate online call the hotel direct and ask. I say previously meaning pre-covid. Pays to check now what is offered anyway directly.

 

Will be, deciding as we speak, sailing Oct 3rd on Oasis. If we do we will drive to Staten Island day before and stay at Garden Inn. Relatives nearby will join us for dinner if the restaurant for Garden Inn still operating. I haven't checked out site yet. Was a great restaurant for dinner.

 

We will drive to port next day rather than take shuttle. We have done shuttle and was great with one exception, coming home debark ship early like 8:30 am and shuttle doesn't arrive until like 9:30. Easier for us to just get in car there and go rather than wait then go back to hotel and then reload car and go. But no problem if shuttle both ways is preference. We had no concern security wise about leaving car at hotel for 7 days.

 

The Hilton Garden or Hampton the only hotels I personally would stay at in area. And I agree your itinerary pre-cruise is very ambitious! Good luck with that.

 

George in NY

[amberjohn]

On 7/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, jd10367 said:

Cruising out of Port Liberty in October.  Usually we just park at the port but, this time, we have the time to go down a day early and stay at a nearby hotel.  (We figure, for the price of the pre-cruise hotel night, it's the same or cheaper than paying to park at the port for the week.)  Does anyone know of a good one that allows you to leave your car there for the cruise week?  I know there are a bunch near the Newark airport but we were looking for something closer and with things to do around it in case we want to grab a bite or poke into a store.  Has anyone tried the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island?  The cruise leaves Sunday morning, so our plan is to drive down Saturday morning from New England, stop at the Bronx Zoo, check in to the hotel, get ourselves into town to go to the Museum of Natural History near Central Park, maybe even catch a Broadway show that night (ambitious plan, I know).

Maybe this will help? We did the Hilton Garden Inn for our NCL departure.

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

A Hilton Garden Inn might make sense -- but certainly not on Staten Island.  There is nothing there - other than a long and cumbersome trek to Manhattan or Cape Liberty cruise port.  Getting to/from Staten Island to/from anything you might want to see would use up virtually all the time available to  see it.

[njhorseman]

36 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

A Hilton Garden Inn might make sense -- but certainly not on Staten Island.  There is nothing there - other than a long and cumbersome trek to Manhattan or Cape Liberty cruise port.  Getting to/from Staten Island to/from anything you might want to see would use up virtually all the time available to  see it.

Completely disagree if you're not doing any sightseeing and  just want a hotel close to Cape Liberty for a night that provides free parking for the length of your cruise and transportation to and from the port at a reasonable package cost. (Or at least that was the case prior to the pandemic. I don't know if they will be offering that package in the future.)

The hotel is actually very close to Cape Liberty...about 10 miles and a 20 minute drive, virtually identical to the distance from the cluster of hotels on International Blvd. in Elizabeth where many cruisers stay to Cape Liberty .

[amberjohn]

53 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Completely disagree if you're not doing any sightseeing and  just want a hotel close to Cape Liberty for a night that provides free parking for the length of your cruise and transportation to and from the port at a reasonable package cost. (Or at least that was the case prior to the pandemic. I don't know if they will be offering that package in the future.)

The hotel is actually very close to Cape Liberty...about 10 miles and a 20 minute drive, virtually identical to the distance from the cluster of hotels on International Blvd. in Elizabeth where many cruisers stay to Cape Liberty .

That's exactly what I'm looking for.  For our past 4 cruises we did the cruise package which was R/T shuttle, breakfast, hotel and parking for a very reasonable rate (compared to doing all this separate).  I would assume the hotels want to recoup some money so I feel they will be doing this soon.  All my previous cruises were for the NY port for NCL.  This would be our first for RCL so I don't know where these packages were even before the pandemic?

[njhorseman]

7 hours ago, amberjohn said:

That's exactly what I'm looking for.  For our past 4 cruises we did the cruise package which was R/T shuttle, breakfast, hotel and parking for a very reasonable rate (compared to doing all this separate).  I would assume the hotels want to recoup some money so I feel they will be doing this soon.  All my previous cruises were for the NY port for NCL.  This would be our first for RCL so I don't know where these packages were even before the pandemic?

As I mentioned on the other thread where you asked about packages, look at trinityreservations.com for Cape Liberty. 

[navybankerteacher]

8 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Completely disagree if you're not doing any sightseeing and  just want a hotel close to Cape Liberty for a night that provides free parking for the length of your cruise and transportation to and from the port at a reasonable package cost. (Or at least that was the case prior to the pandemic. I don't know if they will be offering that package in the future.)

The hotel is actually very close to Cape Liberty...about 10 miles and a 20 minute drive, virtually identical to the distance from the cluster of hotels on International Blvd. in Elizabeth where many cruisers stay to Cape Liberty .

Poster was talking about checking out the Museum of Natural History and possibly a Broadway show after checking in on Staten Island --- and this would have been after stopping at the Bronx Zoo on the drive from New England ---

not just convenience to the port.

Edited September 13, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[njhorseman]

13 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Poster was talking about checking out the Museum of Natural History and possibly a Broadway show after checking in on Staten Island --- and this would have been after stopping at the Bronx Zoo on the drive from New England ---

not just convenience to the port.

I don't disagree with that. I was commenting on your incorrect statement about how far the hotel is from Cape Liberty, which is why I said "if you're not doing any sightseeing and  just want a hotel close to Cape Liberty "