NYC mid week departure

[planefring1]

We are booked on the Joys AUG 23rd sailing out of NYC.  The cruise begins mid week on a Tuesday.  Don't know how bad traffic will be driving into lower Manhattan mid morning on a weekday.  We are driving up from Maryland that morning, so any strategic input is greatly appreciated. 

 

[Homosassa]

1 minute ago, planefring1 said:

We are booked on the Joys AUG 23rd sailing out of NYC.  The cruise begins mid week on a Tuesday.  Don't know how bad traffic will be driving into lower Manhattan mid morning on a weekday.  We are driving up from Maryland that morning, so any strategic input is greatly appreciated. 

 

Best strategy - drive up the night before and overnight across the Hudson in NJ. That would cut your travel time down to about two hours the day of the cruise.

[mar214]

We drove to NYC from south NJ near Philadelphia on Monday, 7/18. Left home around 7:10 am, arrived at the pier around 9:30. We had a few slow areas, especially just north of Newark Airport. We figured we would have to deal with drivers returning from weekend trips to the shore areas. We also relied on real-time traffic reports to help us out. We checked the traffic reports before heading home on Tuesday, 7/26. We heard there was an accident on the Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel, so we took the Holland Tunnel instead to avoid 1/2 hour of traffic backups. Hope this helps! 

[GTJ]

Vehicular traffic in lower Manhattan is routinely congested, though somewhat less so mid-morning than in the heart of the rush hour. Is there a particular reason for choosing to go through lower Manhattan, rather than using the Lincoln Tunnel to travel directly into midtown?

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, GTJ said:

Vehicular traffic in lower Manhattan is routinely congested, though somewhat less so mid-morning than in the heart of the rush hour. Is there a particular reason for choosing to go through lower Manhattan, rather than using the Lincoln Tunnel to travel directly into midtown?

Perhaps the OP is using the Lincoln Tunnel. It's possible that someone from out of town might refer to the Lincoln Tunnel and Manhattan Cruise Terminal as being in "lower Manhattan" because  geographically they actually are if you divide Manhattan in half, regardless of what the neighborhoods are  called by native New Yorkers. 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by njhorseman

[mar214]

We did use the Lincoln Tunnel on the day of embarkation, coming from south NJ.  As I mentioned, the day we were returning home was the day there was an accident heading to NJ if using the Lincoln Tunnel. Checking traffic in real time allowed us to bypass the backup and so we used the Holland Tunnel instead. We made it home in less time than the day we were heading up to NYC. Heading into midtown Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel on a Monday morning in the summer is going to be slow. This is why we allowed almost 2 1/2 hours travel time. We parked at the pier at 9:30 am, checked our bags there, and got in line with time to spare for our 10 am check-in time. 

[navybankerteacher]

If I were coming from Maryland for a cruise from Manhattan, I would consider Amtrak to Penn Station.

[GTJ]

On 7/31/2022 at 4:36 PM, njhorseman said:

It's possible that someone from out of town might refer to the Lincoln Tunnel and Manhattan Cruise Terminal as being in "lower Manhattan" because  geographically they actually are if you divide Manhattan in half, regardless of what the neighborhoods are  called by native New Yorkers.

I remember several years ago when a Washington-based bus company called American Coach Lines began operating passenger service to and from New York City. It advertised its service as being direct between "downtown Washington, D.C., and downtown New York City." The bus company operated exclusively to and from Port Authority Bus Terminal. (A few years later the company was acquired by Peter Pan Bus Lines, and became the foundation upon which Peter Pan built its routes between Washington, D.C., and New York City.)

[ChrisTop]

On 7/31/2022 at 9:49 AM, Homosassa said:

Best strategy - drive up the night before and overnight across the Hudson in NJ. That would cut your travel time down to about two hours the day of the cruise.

 

On 7/31/2022 at 6:01 PM, navybankerteacher said:

If I were coming from Maryland for a cruise from Manhattan, I would consider Amtrak to Penn Station.

These are both solid recommendations.

We'll be coming in from Long Island for the same cruise. If driving, use Waze or a similar real time app. NY traffic can be very unpredictable. 

[mking8288]

For weekday mornings, do keep in mind that commuter buses have priorities and dedicated lane(s) inbound for the tubes until 10 am, if I'm not mistaken - the rest are funneled into the other lanes.  

 

OP is driving up the MD ... the NJ Turnpike has HOV-2 in place, weekdays until 9:30 or 10 am (haven't driven at those peak hours in a while) so take advantage of it, plan ahead for the Holland Tunnel (Exit 14) to merge back into other commuter's traffic.

 

Most definitely, use Waze or Google Maps for Navigation, or flip on Apple CarPlay to use real-time traffic guidance to help choose the faster & better route ... for safety, have a fellow rider look ahead for options to minimize driving distractions.   Most if not all regional crossings are now cashless, using EZ-Pass or toll-by-mail ... but, bottlenecks at some of the toll plazas still, a pain.  

[markeb]

The OP is cruising on Tuesday, so I'm assuming they've already made plans, and I don't know how many are traveling, but for future travelers on that route.

 

One online toll calculator says $33/car.

Google Maps is 200 miles, currently 3:45 from BWI to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. At 25 mpg and $5/gallon, that's $40 each way (yes, that's hopefully high for gas and low for mileage, but it still costs money).

There's a cool online calculator that says with those assumptions, you're looking at $95 each way (they're higher on fuel, so using different mileage I assume).

Then you're parking in Manhattan. I don't remember the weekly rate, but it isn't cheap.

 

Three days out, a one way ticket on Amtrak (NE Regional) from BWI to New York Penn is $208 for two people. Three weeks ago you probably could have done it as low as $62, or $124 round trip. You'd be paying to park at BWI (or Uber/Cab), and a $15-20 for a cab or Uber from Moynihan to the cruise terminal, but in the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is almost always a better option. And the NE Regional is scheduled for just over 3 hours on that route.

 

The calculus changes with more people traveling, obviously. And it depends on where they are in Maryland for proximity to a station on the NE Corridor.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, markeb said:

The OP is cruising on Tuesday, so I'm assuming they've already made plans, and I don't know how many are traveling, but for future travelers on that route.

 

One online toll calculator says $33/car.

Google Maps is 200 miles, currently 3:45 from BWI to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. At 25 mpg and $5/gallon, that's $40 each way (yes, that's hopefully high for gas and low for mileage, but it still costs money).

There's a cool online calculator that says with those assumptions, you're looking at $95 each way (they're higher on fuel, so using different mileage I assume).

Then you're parking in Manhattan. I don't remember the weekly rate, but it isn't cheap.

 

Three days out, a one way ticket on Amtrak (NE Regional) from BWI to New York Penn is $208 for two people. Three weeks ago you probably could have done it as low as $62, or $124 round trip. You'd be paying to park at BWI (or Uber/Cab), and a $15-20 for a cab or Uber from Moynihan to the cruise terminal, but in the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is almost always a better option. And the NE Regional is scheduled for just over 3 hours on that route.

 

The calculus changes with more people traveling, obviously. And it depends on where they are in Maryland for proximity to a station on the NE Corridor.

Certainly for two people the train makes sense.  Too many people do not do the arithmetic: tolls, gas, parking, even depreciation - tire use, share of next oil change.  

[PelicanBill]

When we cruise from Manhattan, We stay in NJ closer to Hackensack and The Washington Bridge. It's an easy drive to cross the bridge and exit right on the other side to the Westside highway. Just after it gets to ground level and turns in to 12th avenue you are at the cruise port and you minimize your Manhattan traffic issues.

 

Do track traffic through, as once in a while the bridge traffic comes to a halt and then you need to take an alternate route by Tunnel.

[navybankerteacher]

8 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

 

Do track traffic through, as once in a while the bridge traffic comes to a halt and then you need to take an alternate route by Tunnel.

Problem is, if you are positioned to take the G W Bridge, getting to the Holland or Lincoln tunnel - and then from the Manhattan end of the tunnel to the cruise terminal - can easily eat up far more time than that delay on the bridge.

Edited August 22, 2022 by navybankerteacher

[mskaufman]

I live in MD and have driven to Manhattan for a cruise.  My recommendation is to leave very early (like 6 am if you want to be on the boat at 1 pm).  Hopefully, the worst case is that you are there early and either on the boat early or hanging around.  On a nominal case, leaving at 6 gets you to the tunnel towards the end of rush hour.  Even if it took two hours to get through, you are still good.  Listen to the traffic reports in case one Hudson River crossing is better than another.

[Treasure Hunter]

When my kids came up from Virginia to meet us on an NCL cruise, they stayed in a hotel in New Jersey . It was a package deal. Parking included and a shuttle took them to the ship and after the cruise picked them up and took them back to the hotel. It worked great! And was stress free. I’ll try to get the name.