How much time? Boston pier to Boston airport

[Freckles1983]

I’m sailing out of Quebec to Boston on sept 7th on the emerald princess and was wondering how much time I should give myself to get from the Boston cruise port to the Boston airport by taxi?  Anyone who has done this I would appreciate your info.  Thanks!

[Nanatravel]

53 minutes ago, Freckles1983 said:

I’m sailing out of Quebec to Boston on sept 7th on the emerald princess and was wondering how much time I should give myself to get from the Boston cruise port to the Boston airport by taxi?  Anyone who has done this I would appreciate your info.  Thanks!

It really depends on what day of the week you are in Boston.  NCL has  weekend scheduled sailings from Boston plus other cruise lines may just be stopping for a day visit.  Thus traffic congestion at the cruise terminal is a factor to be considered.  Normally it would take 10-15 minutes.  But, on a busy day I would allow at least an hour if you plan to schedule an Uber or private transportation. 

 

[princeton123211]

17 minutes ago, Nanatravel said:

Thus traffic congestion at the cruise terminal is a factor to be considered.  Normally it would take 10-15 minutes.  But, on a busy day I would allow at least an hour if you plan to schedule an Uber or private transportation. 

It's never going to take an hour. Its 4 miles. Half an hour on a weekday with rush hour traffic maybe. But on a weekend its going to be very quick. Boston's cruise terminal is small and can only handle I think 2 (maybe 3) ships at a time. Congestion is not going to be a big consideration at the pier. 

 

Boston taxis are few and far between these days. I would plan on using Uber or Lyft and don't schedule ahead-- there are plenty of them in the city. Booking ahead will most likely cost more and create unnecessary confusion getting picked up. 

[Nitemare]

I've done that drive a few hundred times.  10 minutes would be a goal in the middle of the night.  45 minutes is what I'd allow if I was a normal person, but I'm not and I remember one day it took a bit over an hour to get thru the tunnel and to Central Parking, so I always allow 75 minutes, just in case that happens again

[prekteacher1]

We will be coming into port on Sunday. Would taking an 11:35 am flight be cutting it too close? We plan on carrying our luggage off the ship.

[Nanatravel]

2 hours ago, prekteacher1 said:

We will be coming into port on Sunday. Would taking an 11:35 am flight be cutting it too close? We plan on carrying our luggage off the ship.

I agree with nitemare. I guess Princeton hasn’t been at the terminal when two or more ships are off/on loading. It isn’t the travel time that takes long, it’s finding & getting into a correct vehicle. I would say you would make it for 11:35 with carry own luggage. 

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, Nanatravel said:

I guess Princeton hasn’t been at the terminal when two or more ships are off/on loading.

I have but that’s why I suggested not prearranging a car. When you prebook a car service or an Uber you’re waiting for one car that you have to find. When you just use the app when you’re curbside you get a car that’s already there or nearby. 

[Freckles1983]

18 hours ago, prekteacher1 said:

We will be coming into port on Sunday. Would taking an 11:35 am flight be cutting it too close? We plan on carrying our luggage off the ship.

I had an 11am flight booked and they told me to rebook it for later.  Apparently international flights you need to book at least 6 hrs after 7am (back at pier time) and 5 hrs after 7am if it’s within the country .  I figured getting off the boat by 8am and getting to the airport would leave me enough time but according to the call centre If there’s any delays you could have an issue so they told me to rebook.  

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, Freckles1983 said:

had an 11am flight booked and they told me to rebook it for later.  Apparently international flights you need to book at least 6 hrs after 7am (back at pier time) and 5 hrs after 7am if it’s within the country .  I figured getting off the boat by 8am and getting to the airport would leave me enough time but according to the call centre If there’s any delays you could have an issue so they told me to rebook.  

They’re giving you very general advice that I would guess is not specific to Boston. Or it relates only to the cruise line run transfers which are totally unnecessary in Boston.
 

An 11am domestic flight would be quite easy to make at Boston Logan on your own. 

[Freckles1983]

10 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

They’re giving you very general advice that I would guess is not specific to Boston. Or it relates only to the cruise line run transfers which are totally unnecessary in Boston.
 

An 11am domestic flight would be quite easy to make at Boston Logan on your own. 

That’s what I thought too but they insisted that it would be a bad idea for me to keep with that flight time 🤷🏻‍♀️. Either way it’s what you’re comfortable with.  Personally I can’t risk missing my flight so I opted to reschedule 

[Nitemare]

There are some scheduled tunnel closures coming up the next few months.  On dates a tunnel is closed traffic gets much worse.  You can look up Callahan, Sumner and Ted Williams tunnel closings on Google to see the schedules

[1025cruise]

I would give yourself an hour or so. That includes getting off the ship, getting your luggage, and finding your Uber/Taxi. 

 

However, with the tunnel closures, I'm not sure how bad it will be. I was flying back to Logan the very first tunnel closure a couple of years ago. It took me over an hour to get from Central Parking to the Williams tunnel (I was heading west on the Pike). Shouldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.

[prekteacher1]

I am reading that the Sumner Tunnel will be closed from July5 to Aug5. Looking at a map, it appears that the Ted Williams tunnel goes from the cruiseport to Logan Airport. Is that correct? On Google maps it appears to be a 10 minute ride to the airport. Am thinking on a Sunday morning that would be pretty accurate.  Thoughts?

Am looking at a flight on August 4 that leaves at 11:35. We would walk our luggage off the ship as soon as it clears. Do we go through customs at the port in Boston?

[1025cruise]

Correct, it is the Sumner tunnel that is having closures. But that just means the traffic is moved to the Williams tunnel. On a normal day, once on the highway the airport is the next exit from the cruise port. At this point, it's hard to predict the traffic.

You will go through immigration at your first US port. So if that is before you get to Boston, you just walk off in Boston.

[prekteacher1]

5 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Correct, it is the Sumner tunnel that is having closures. But that just means the traffic is moved to the Williams tunnel. On a normal day, once on the highway the airport is the next exit from the cruise port. At this point, it's hard to predict the traffic.

You will go through immigration at your first US port. So if that is before you get to Boston, you just walk off in Boston.

Thank you for your reply. We will go to Portland before getting to Boston. 

Would you book an 11:30 domestic flight on a Sunday?

[1025cruise]

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have an issue with this. But, I don't fly out when I cruise from Boston. I just have to get back to my car and head home.

[Freckles1983]

8 hours ago, prekteacher1 said:

Thank you for your reply. We will go to Portland before getting to Boston. 

Would you book an 11:30 domestic flight on a Sunday?

I had a flight booked for 1130 and the customer service rep told me to reschedule for later in the day.  It also said in my cruise info not to book anything less than 5-6 hrs after the ship is scheduled to dock in the morning.  I’m sure it can be done but I couldn’t risk missing the flight so I just rebooked for later in the day 

[Traveling Library]

To avoid the chaos at the pier when you arrive in Boston and walk off the ship you'll be facing a large white building (Boston Design Center). Walk around the building to 23 or 25 Drydock Ave and request your Uber from there. DryDock Ave is 2 way at those points so the driver can make a U-turn (bang a uey in Boston-speak) and avoid the 1 way traffic nonsense at the Black Falcon Terminal.

[prekteacher1]

On 6/3/2024 at 8:12 PM, Traveling Library said:

To avoid the chaos at the pier when you arrive in Boston and walk off the ship you'll be facing a large white building (Boston Design Center). Walk around the building to 23 or 25 Drydock Ave and request your Uber from there. DryDock Ave is 2 way at those points so the driver can make a U-turn (bang a uey in Boston-speak) and avoid the 1 way traffic nonsense at the Black Falcon Terminal.

Great information. Thank you.

[cunnorl]

 We had a 3pm flight booked and now Delta has changed it to 12. I am concerned about getting to the airport. We have Global Entry and will be doing customs on arrival in Boston.

My daughter is in a wheelchair so no self assist for us. Should I try and change it to something else?

[princeton123211]

5 hours ago, cunnorl said:

We had a 3pm flight booked and now Delta has changed it to 12. I am concerned about getting to the airport. We have Global Entry and will be doing customs on arrival in Boston.

My daughter is in a wheelchair so no self assist for us. Should I try and change it to something else?

You are fine. Its 15 minutes to the airport usually. Even cruise line transportation (which I think is a rip off and completely unnecessary in Boston) will guarantee you to the airport in time for a noon departure. 

 

I would try and not be the last ones off the ship, as you have to account for a little more time for your daughter, but you are more than fine in terms of timing. 

[TiogaCruiser]

I guess part of the formula is to determine how many times you will circle the airport with drivers darting in and around with their horns blowing before you are able to break free and get to your terminal. 😁. Gotta love Boston.