Port Liberty Hotels - Elizabeth or Jersey City

[fwman]

We need a hotel for 1 night in October prior to our cruise. Jersey City seems a better area (views and restaurants) but hotels are more expensive than the ones bunched together in Elizabeth (Residence Inn and Marriott Courtyard)

 

Do you think it's worth the extra $$. We will get there in the afternoon and will need somewhere for dinner and a few cocktails.

 

Thanks! 

 

 

[Got2Cruise]

It’s really a personal preference. Some think it’s worth the extra $$ to experience the view of the Manhattan skyline and eat at stay and eat at higher quality places. 
 

Others are fine staying and eating at moderate places, they have no interest in Manhattan. 

[meadowlander]

5 hours ago, fwman said:

We need a hotel for 1 night in October prior to our cruise. Jersey City seems a better area (views and restaurants) but hotels are more expensive than the ones bunched together in Elizabeth (Residence Inn and Marriott Courtyard)

 

 

The dining options in Elizabeth will be limited to restaurants at Jersey Gardens mall & IHOP. If you are driving you could travel to the Ironbound section of Newark known for its Brazilian, Portuguese & Spanish cuisine or you could drive to Jersey City(parking is scarce) for dinner & enjoy the spectacular view of lower Manhattan.

[Turtles06]

15 minutes ago, meadowlander said:

The dining options in Elizabeth will be limited to restaurants at Jersey Gardens mall & IHOP.

Don’t forget the worst Ruby Tuesdays on the face of the earth. 

[GTJ]

It is two separate environments. More particularly, most of the hotels in Jersey City are located in an area once dominated by railroad yards and now redeveloped into an urban pedestrian-oriented environment that borders the center of New Jersey's financial center at Exchange Place. It is very easy to get around on foot and the area has a great waterfront and views of Manhattan. That said, however, it is a newly redeveloped, and it does suffer from being a bit sterile. Immediately north of this zone (and readily accessible on foot) is the city of Hoboken, much older and filled with marvelous stores and restaurants, much more historic, traditional, and less sterile for walking. There is easy access to Manhattan with very good public transportation service. In contrast, the hotel zone in Elizabeth has been, and remains, a mostly industrial cargo port, with a few islands of newly developed retail. The retail consists of bland big box stores and an outlet mall. The hotels, too, are bland. The entire area is primarily oriented to motor vehicle traffic--and substantial trucking--with not a particularly pedestrian-friendly ambiance (though it is reasonable and not inconvenient to walk between the hotel zone and the outlet mall). Access to Manhattan is not very good. There is a direct bus line connecting the area with Port Authority Bus Terminal, near Times Square, but the hours of operation are not great and may not correspond to the hours hotel guest might want to travel (the bus route is focused more on bringing New Yorkers to the outlet mall, than bringing hotel guests to Manhattan). If one intends to sleep Elizabeth can work out well, but for anything more it just does not have as much to offer locally as Jersey City.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Don’t forget the worst Ruby Tuesdays on the face of the earth. 

That's been listed as "temporarily closed" for a while now.

[njhorseman]

As others have said it's a matter of your own tastes, needs and budget.

 

What ever you do don't get into a taxi or order an Uber and tell them your destination is "Port :Liberty".  Port Liberte is the name of an area of Jersey City. The cruise terminal is named Cape Liberty and it's in Bayonne.

Edited September 1, 2023 by njhorseman

[Turtles06]

5 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

That's been listed as "temporarily closed" for a while now.

Deservedly so. 😂

[Ashland]

22 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

That's been listed as "temporarily closed" for a while now.

I believe it's actually "permanently" closed now. It was horrible last time we ate there.

[mjkacmom]

Big difference, I’m somewhat local and would choose jersey city, we live about 10 miles away and my son and girlfriend stayed there just for a nice date night into the city. My adult kids always go to Hoboken, my 22 year old took a train there with friends last night.

[meadowlander]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:04 PM, Turtles06 said:

Don’t forget the worst Ruby Tuesdays on the face of the earth. 

Ruby is closed.

[megr1125]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:04 PM, Turtles06 said:

Don’t forget the worst Ruby Tuesdays on the face of the earth. 

It's closed.  Had a bad fire.  Was up there yesterday. It's being rebuilt, or maybe not, hard to tell, as it was fenced off with lots of stuff around whereas when I was up there a few weeks prior, nothing was fenced off.  (But yes, it was NOTORIOUS for being the worst! Even at other Ruby Tuesdays!)

 

You can also order delivery to the hotels.

Edited September 5, 2023 by megr1125