Cruising out of New York

[abby1257]

I have only cruised out of Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.  Can anyone give their experience cruising out of New York....I have only flown to my cruises out of Toronto and thought maybe do a cruise out of New York (not a far flight out of Toronto )....Which airport is closest to the cruise port....is there only 1 cruise port...thaks in advance

[shof515]

LaGuardia airport is the closest airport, JFK is also nearby. You could also fly into Newark in New Jersey but taxi/cabs/ubers can be expensive when crossing the state line 

 

There is multiple cruise ports in the NYC area, Carnival always docks at the Manhattan cruise terminal located at 711 12th ave

[abby1257]

Thank you for your reply...so would uber be my best bet to travel from Newark airport to the port?

[meadowlander]

25 minutes ago, abby1257 said:

Thank you for your reply...so would uber be my best bet to travel from Newark airport to the port?

As stated, there are 3 cruise ports. Cape Liberty in Bayonne NJ, the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in NY and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in NY.  If you are sailing Carnival, MCT is your cruise terminal.

 

There are multiple options of transit from EWR to NYC. Easiest would be car service such as Uber/Lyft or Carmel Limo or Dial 7 Limo. If you can handle your bags there are public transit options via train & bus which will get you to NYC, you will then need transit (taxi) to the terminal. 

[George C]

Definitely try to get there a night before lots of great restaurants and hotels really close by . Recommend something in midtown close to Times Square. 

[GTJ]

In New York Harbor, there are three terminals that are used by the mass market cruise lines. The traditional terminal is the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, formerly known as the Passenger Ship Terminal, located on the west side of midtown Manhattan. There is the newer Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, located in the Red Hook neighborhood, near the eastern portal of the Hugh L. Carey (Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnel and not far from downtown Brooklyn. Newest is Cape Liberty Cruise Port, located in Bayonne, New Jersey, at the former Military Ocean Terminal. Cape Liberty is used exclusively by the various cruise line brands owned by Royal Caribbean. Some smaller cruise lines, including day cruises and those going up the Hudson River, might use other terminals, including the Chelsea Piers, also on the west side of Manhattan, or Pier 11, on the East River in lower Manhattan.

 

LaGuardia Airport is closest to the cruise terminals in Manhattan, and both LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport are similarly situated with respect to the cruise terminal in Brooklyn. Newark Liberty International Airport is closest to the cruise terminal in Bayonne. None of the airports are so distant that one should categorically exclude any one, and if fares are substantially better at one particular airport that is not the closest, then it might be worthwhile considering that airport.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, GTJ said:

Newest is Cape Liberty Cruise Port, located in Bayonne, New Jersey,

Nitpicking, I know, but I believe Brooklyn is the newest of the three. AFAIK the first cruise from Cape Liberty was in 2004, while the first cruise from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was in 2006.

[mskaufman]

However, cruising out of Manhattan is awesome.  You sail down the Hudson River, past lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.  I took hundreds of pictures.

[George C]

47 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

However, cruising out of Manhattan is awesome.  You sail down the Hudson River, past lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.  I took hundreds of pictures.

Loving cruising from Manhattan, my perfect vacation is several days in midtown then a cruise out of Manhattan.

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, mskaufman said:

However, cruising out of Manhattan is awesome.  You sail down the Hudson River, past lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.  I took hundreds of pictures.

Not only is sailing down the Hudson from MCT an awesome experience, if you happen to sail in the winter to the Caribbean, the transition from wintry New York to the warm Gulf Stream waters by early afternoon of your first sea day is something special.

[GTJ]

7 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Nitpicking, I know, but I believe Brooklyn is the newest of the three. AFAIK the first cruise from Cape Liberty was in 2004, while the first cruise from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was in 2006.

I think njhorseman is correct; they both opened close in time to each other. I recall having visited the Brooklyn terminal prior to its opening, probably before Bayonne went into service, and that may be the basis of my mistake (but with in now having been over 15 years memory failure could also be the reason!).

[spirit rev]

18 hours ago, abby1257 said:

I have only cruised out of Miami or Ft. Lauderdale.  Can anyone give their experience cruising out of New York....I have only flown to my cruises out of Toronto and thought maybe do a cruise out of New York (not a far flight out of Toronto )....Which airport is closest to the cruise port....is there only 1 cruise port...thaks in advance

Another idea - you could bring the train from Toronto. I believe that Amtrak now runs a daily train to/from Toronto. You be in Manhattan when you arrive with a variety of readily available transportation. 

I second the idea to arrive at least a day ahead. 

[njhorseman]

8 hours ago, GTJ said:

I think njhorseman is correct; they both opened close in time to each other. I recall having visited the Brooklyn terminal prior to its opening, probably before Bayonne went into service, and that may be the basis of my mistake (but with in now having been over 15 years memory failure could also be the reason!).

Actually, their opening dates were nearly two years apart.

 

Per the official Cape Liberty website, cruiseliberty.com, the first cruise to depart that port was the Voyager of the Seas on May 14, 2004. Per the official website of the Manhattan and Brooklyn cruise terminals, nycruise.com, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal opened in April 2006.

Edited April 13, 2023 by njhorseman

[GTJ]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Actually, their opening dates were nearly two years apart.

One of the companies for which I was working at the time had been performing some facilities work at the then-abuilding Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and I remember going out with that company's executive director to take a look at the progress being made. (I had been working with bus operations, and so I was not directly involved with this facility.) It was marvelous seeing the change to the Brooklyn waterfront. Refreshing my memory by now reading a New York Times article, agreement had been reached in 2004, between the city and both Carnival and NCL, for the development of the terminal, so I might have first been to the terminal anytime between 2004 and 2006. It has now been so many years that the precise details have been lost on me, and being off by two years is not surprising. Meanwhile, I was not following in great detail what was going on in Bayonne, it being so distant from New York City. On the other hand, the Manhattan Cruise Terminal had first opened in 1935, then as the New York Passenger Ship Terminal and succeeding the Chelsea Piers as the preeminent passenger maritime terminal, and clearly the granddaddy among all the mass market cruise lines terminals in New York's harbor.

 

Are there other harbors in the United States with three distinct cruise cruise line terminals?

[Turtles06]

20 hours ago, mskaufman said:

However, cruising out of Manhattan is awesome.  You sail down the Hudson River, past lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. 

 

Agreed, one of the most spectacular sailaways. It never gets old.

 

Not too shabby sailing out of Bayonne or Brooklyn either (especially when a ship out of Bayonne makes a detour to go past the Statue of Liberty, but you can't count on that).

[markeb]

Back to the OP coming from Toronto. If Amtrak is a reasonable option for you, it will put you right in the heart of Manhattan and a short cab ride to MCT. Greatly simplifies ground transportation. Definitely arrive a day early!

 

For airports, there is a ground transportation cost associated with all of them. It's possible the least expensive airfare will NOT be the least expensive transportation option! If you fly into Newark, look at the transportation options and costs into Manhattan. A cab will likely be horribly expensive since you're crossing state lines. A car service or Uber/Lyft will likely be a better option, but check prices. If you save $50 on your flight and end up with $200 of ground transportation charges, you may not have saved much. As stated above, there are public transit options from Newark to Manhattan, if you can handle your luggage on a train. But don't jump on the cheapest airfare without looking at what it will cost to get to your destination once you land! This board at one time was full of people who did just that...

 

Of course there's an intangible on a direct flight. There may be more of those into Newark since it's a Star Alliance hub.

[navybankerteacher]

Living just over an hour away from MCT, I am inclined to prefer sailing from it - sadly, there are very few options other than NCL.  I do have to wonder why people would consider flying to New York from a distant home rather than to a Florida port if they are not planning to spend at least a day or more enjoying the city.

[abby1257]

On 4/13/2023 at 9:57 AM, spirit rev said:

Another idea - you could bring the train from Toronto. I believe that Amtrak now runs a daily train to/from Toronto. You be in Manhattan when you arrive with a variety of readily available transportation. 

I second the idea to arrive at least a day ahead. 

Ummm....hmmm, I think I will pass on taking a train from Toronto...THANK YOU

[Nitemare]

 

 

Porter Air flights from Billy Bishop to EWR are very convenient and easy to get to and from the airports to your destinations.