RCI Bus to Cape Liberty - A Few Questions

[dolfinmusic]

We are talking the RCI bus to Cape Liberty in October. Have never sailed out of Cape Liberty before so I am not sure how it works there. Does the bus drop you off at the terminal and take the luggage to the appointed place or do we have to handle the luggage ourselves when we arrive? When we come home - do we have to go find our luggage after and then find the bus?? Thanks in advance for any info!!

[spanky]

Hi dolfinmusic. We were just on the 1st sailing of Explorer out of Bayonne...and we took the bus from Phila to Bayonne. The bus drops you and the luggage off at a check-in area. You tip the baggage handlers a couple bucks (it is not mandatory but they "insist")...you take your carry-ons and go thru an x-ray machine. You won't see your luggage again until it gets delivered to your room. After x-ray, you go check in, get your sail & sign card/room key and take a short shuttle to the ship. It took us awhile as the computers went down but I'm sure it will be fine by the time you go. When you come back, the shuttle takes you to the luggage area, you get your luggage, go thru customs and take it to the bus area. Your bus will be the one for Burlington, Philly, Delaware, Balt, Wash. It was a very easy precedure. Our bus ended up being free so make sure you check on it. Also, it was supposed to have the pickup at Sun Park but it was changed (last minute) to Central Airpark which was just down the street on the other side of Essington Ave. Any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

Spanky

[dolfinmusic]

Thanks for the info, Spanky! How long did it take you to get to the pier on the way up? Did the bus make anymore stops along the way? Did they let you know beforehand that the p/u spot was moved or did you find out when you arrived? Hope you had a great cruise!

[spanky]

It took around 2 hrs by the time we got to the ship. We had only one stop after Philly, and that was in NJ near Burlington. I heard about the bus change info 2 days before the cruise on our Meet & Mingle thread. Someone had heard about it and I confirmed it with our travel agent. She works a lot from home and she got the fax late. Not a problem. Are you booking through a travel agent or thru RCCL?

 

The cruise was really nice, the ship was great, the employees were happy (from what we could see) and they always had a smile on their faces. Ask away...

 

spanky

[dolfinmusic]

Thanks for all the great info, Spanky! :) One more question - when you arrived back after the cruise - did you have to tell them that you were on the bus or did you just debark as normal? We booked through a TA. I am glad that we have the option of taking the bus - I just wish we could leave at like 9am instead! lol!

[dolfinmusic]

Just wanted to bump this up to see if anyone else has used the RCI bus service recently! Any info is appreciated!