Airport / Hotels for Emerald Princess Sailing from NYC

[GTJ]

8 hours ago, gbolton said:

One of you will be happy (?) to know that we are not taking the train across the border * * * [W]e have a son who will drop us off at the Niagara Falls station in NY, and take our vehicle home with him.

That's what I was thinking was the plan. Both the Adirondack, from Montréal, and the Maple Leaf, from Toronto, get into New York too late in the evening for any same-day vessel departure. The first train of the day from Niagara Falls, N.Y.--the station being immediately on the other side of the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge--departs before 4:00 a.m., and gets into New York before 1:00 p.m. It might be a bit tight, depending exactly when the drop-dead time is set for arriving in Brooklyn, but absent delays upstate New York, it will probably work. The MSC Meraviglia generally departs Brooklyn at 3:00 p.m., and so meeting its deadline for checking-in would probably not be possible, but other vessels that depart Brooklyn at 5:00 p.m. could work with a 1:00 p.m. train arrival at Pennsylvania Station.

 

8 hours ago, gbolton said:

When I was more mobile just a few years ago we left our van in Montreal and our final port was Boston, we took a Greyhound bus to Montreal and that was an event in itself!

Sadly, during Covid, the Greyhound bus company pulled out of Canada and is no longer operating there.  

That's only partially true. Greyhound Canada discontinued all operations completely and is no longer operating at all. Greyhound Lines (the American company) continues operating, including its routes connecting Montréal with both Boston and New York, and Vancouver with Seattle. The route between Toronto and Buffalo used to be operated by Greyhound Canada. Upon the discontinuance of operations by Greyhound Canada, the route was taken over by Greyhound Lines.

 

Thus, there remains bus service from Toronto to Buffalo, and onward to New York, operated by Greyhound Lines. In addition, there is bus service from Toronto to Buffalo, and onward to New York, operated by Trailways of New York (the same company that just recently began a new route connecting Toronto with Detroit). Indeed, there is a Greyhound Lines departure from Toronto at 9:40 p.m. that arrives in midtown Manhattan at 9:20 a.m., and a Trailways of New York departure from Toronto at 9:35 p.m. that arrives in midtown Manhattan at 7:25 a.m., both of which would provide a greater margin of comfort for getting to Brooklyn on time. There is also an independent bus company, brokered by FlixBus, that departs Toronto at 10:00 p.m., and arrives across from Pennsylvania Station at 8:15 a.m. (Of the several bus companies, I generally prefer Trailways of New York.)

[gbolton]

7 hours ago, Nitemare said:

There is a good chance your Canada cellphone company can enable US calling for you for a small fee.  I'd check there because even if you don't use it for a car service, it's a comfort to have it available "just in case" you need it in NYC or elsewhere in your travels

We need to look into that - thank you for the suggestion.

[gbolton]

We've decided to "bite the bullet" (I wonder where that saying came from!) and come into NYC on Amtrak a day before sailing, and get a very expensive hotel room, Grrrr, because I just heard this week that they do close down access to the ship about two hours before sailing; i.e. Customs and support staff in the terminal have gone home by then.  I would be a nervous wreck the whole time if there were delays on the train, and we are expecting traffic to be horrendous for the taxis due to the marathon happening that weekend. 

Better to be safe than sorry, but it still grates on me, the room is almost as much I paid for one person for the whole 11 day cruise! I need to "Let it go, let it go!"

(Our transportation issues are also complicated by the fact I travel with a mobility device, and we can't just hop on and hop off buses, subways etc. Thank you though for any recommendations that were made here.)

[coloradocruizn]

We are just back from NYC and the Emerald Princess.  We flew in to JFK and stayed a night at the TWA Hotel there. Very interesting and a nice hotel. The next morning we had a Carmel Car Service ride arranged to the port. 
After the cruise, we stayed a few days in NYC and then flew home through LGA. Again, we had a Carmel Car Service ride. 
between the taxi ride from the cruise port to our hotel in the theater district and our Carmel rides, I highly recommend Carmel. I think the price was reasonable and the service was great. 
as for the airport, they were both rather easy to navigate. It did seem like we had longer walks at LGA though. 
and yes, the hotels in NYC are so very expensive!  

Edited September 26, 2023 by coloradocruizn

[Langoustine]

On 9/2/2023 at 8:25 PM, navybankerteacher said:

Starting to sound like a suicide pact.  Unless BOTH sides are willing to accept SOME compromise, this sort of negotiation is pointless and hopeless.

There is always room to compromise over money. When it comes to AI, we see no way to compromise.

[gbolton]

Does anyone know if NYC has recovered from the floods a couple of days ago?

[njhorseman]

5 hours ago, gbolton said:

Does anyone know if NYC has recovered from the floods a couple of days ago?

Anything in particular you want to know about? Obviously NY City is very big and while most places and transportation are more or less back to normal I'm sure there are some lingering problems in certain areas.