How close is Philadelphia to Port Liberity?

[sleepless]

My DH and I are in the early planning stages of our next cruise. We are looking at Explorer of the Seas, leaving from Port Liberity.

 

How close is the city of Philadelphia to Port Liberity? We are considering adding a couple of days on to our cruise to explore that wonderful city.

 

Also, we will be flying into the region from the Detroit Metro Airport, what airport would you all recommend.

 

Thanks

[smeyer418]

My DH and I are in the early planning stages of our next cruise. We are looking at Explorer of the Seas, leaving from Port Liberity.

 

How close is the city of Philadelphia to Port Liberity? We are considering adding a couple of days on to our cruise to explore that wonderful city.

 

Also, we will be flying into the region from the Detroit Metro Airport, what airport would you all recommend.

 

Thanks

 

Its about 90 minutes by car to Phily from Port Liberty..The airport for Port Liberty is EWR(Newark airport) by far the closest unless you have a private jet for teteboro

[megr1125]

You could fly in to PHL...rent a car if you wanted.....and maybe return it at EWR (or pay to park it at the port).....or you could hop Amtrak to the Newark Penn or EWR airport stations and hop a cab to the pier......

 

part of the fun of philly, though i staying downtown and parking is a LOT so, maybe skip the rental and take the train, or just rent one the day you leave for the ship.

[ziggysun]

Newark (EWR) is the closest airport to Cape Liberty, but if you're thinking of adding pre-cruise in Philadelphia, PHL is the airport here.

 

You could arrive PHL and either rent a car @ the airport, or take a taxi to your hotel. There are also some flights from PHL to EWR to get back to the Cape Liberty area, where you could also take a taxi to the port.

 

Lots of ways to do this, it really depends what parts of the City you want to see whether you need a car.

 

The drive to Cape Liberty from Center City Philadelphia is a little under 2 hours, we just did this a couple weeks ago for our Explorer cruise.

[138east]

You should be aware of how the trains would work between Philadelphia and Newark. There is a train that stops in each terminal in Philadelphia airport that will take you to Center City Philadelphia for about $5.00. I did this going to Trenton and paid $7.00 total by buying the ticket on the airport train. At Trenton you walk across the platform and get a connecting train to Newark for about $10.00. These are SEPTA and NJTransit trains, not Amtrak. They do make lots of stops, but they run frequently and on time. It would take about 2 1/2 hours to do this. Amtrak would be much pricier and would probably involve a substantial wait at 30th St. Station in Philadelphia. The amount of luggage handling would be minimal. You would take a cab from Newark Station to Cape Liberty.

 

Newark airport has an Air Train link to the Newark Airport station. This would allow you to do the reverse to go to Philadelphia.

 

The bottom line is that I don't think it makes any difference which airport you fly into. One advantage to Philadelphia is that Southwest flies there. You can certainly rent a car, but unless you need it to go somewhere specific, I think you'll find it more of a hassle and expense to acquire and return.

 

Were you thinking of Philadelphia pre-cruise or post-cruise?

[megr1125]

be advised that if you have lots of luggage, SEPTA and NJ Transit trains stink! and they get PACKED at rush hour....

 

Amtrak has basically hourly service from Philly to Newark Penn/Newark Airport and NY Penn......

 

(i've done it....it can be a royal PITA but it is doable....just be aware!)

 

If you take NJTransit and get off at Newark Airport station, the fare is a little higher...there is an access fee for the airport.....and you keep your NJT ticket to get thru the gates........

 

www.septa.com

 

www.njtransit.com

[138east]

Meg - I agree. It's all a tradeoff. You don't want to try to travel at rush hour with luggage. But the choices are limited. Flying from Philadelphia to Newark seems absurd to me. Driving sounds good, but you incur the one way rental car costs, the gas costs, the tolls and the cab fares to or from the port to the rental car place.

 

Regardless of how you go, the luggage has to be managed. You are either managing it between train platforms, or you're managing it to and from the car rental.

 

The last time I did this trip, I got onto the train platform in Philadelphia airport long before the exit to the street to get onto the rental car shuttle. When I got to 30th St. station in Philadelphia, the Trenton train left from the same platform. At Trenton, the NY train was waiting on the opposite track. This route is definitely well patronized because of the $$, but the train originated in Philadelphia so you got a seat and the other train originated in Trenton so you got a seat. Amtrak is definitely an option, but a very expensive one. It's up to the OP to determine how they want to spend their transportation dollars. They should be aware of all the options so they can make an informed decision.

[B-52]

Consider what day of the week you will driving from Philly to the Port. The NJ Turnpike can be the world's longest parking lot on certain days, times of the day, and seasons.

[megr1125]

Meg - I agree. It's all a tradeoff. You don't want to try to travel at rush hour with luggage. But the choices are limited. Flying from Philadelphia to Newark seems absurd to me. Driving sounds good, but you incur the one way rental car costs, the gas costs, the tolls and the cab fares to or from the port to the rental car place.

 

Regardless of how you go, the luggage has to be managed. You are either managing it between train platforms, or you're managing it to and from the car rental.

 

The last time I did this trip, I got onto the train platform in Philadelphia airport long before the exit to the street to get onto the rental car shuttle. When I got to 30th St. station in Philadelphia, the Trenton train left from the same platform. At Trenton, the NY train was waiting on the opposite track. This route is definitely well patronized because of the $$, but the train originated in Philadelphia so you got a seat and the other train originated in Trenton so you got a seat. Amtrak is definitely an option, but a very expensive one. It's up to the OP to determine how they want to spend their transportation dollars. They should be aware of all the options so they can make an informed decision.

 

you are correct....some sort of train is probably the most cost effective and logical.....my next choice would be a rental car....no reason to fly.....for all that, they may as well drive the plane UP the turnpike....Hmmmm.....say one of those regional jet thinggies, or those Dash prop things driving up to exit 13...would it use the EZpass lanes or get a ticket and pay cash!!????:D ;)

[dolfinmusic]

I live in Philly and for our cruise on the Explorer last year, we took the RCI bus from a car park place near the airport. It was $109 per person round trip. You can check with RCI or your TA to see if they still offer this service.

[leaveitallbehind]

I live in Philly and for our cruise on the Explorer last year, we took the RCI bus from a car park place near the airport. It was $109 per person round trip. You can check with RCI or your TA to see if they still offer this service.

 

Being from the area as well, couldn't you have taken Amtrak out of 30th Street Station to Newark and taken a cab or shuttle from there? I get the luggage issue, but $109 per person R/T seems kinda steep. Probably could have driven and parked there for less. (We did that one time for a cruise that had flights departing out of JFK). Not criticizing - on vacation it's all good - just wondering as we've also been looking at Explorer our of Bayonne and figured we'd just drive and park.

[138east]

Well, Amtrak is $90.00 round trip ($81.00 with a AAA discount) plus cab fare to the pier from Newark, so $109 pp for the bus seems like a reasonable deal. Parking in Bayonne is $16/day, so that's $192 for a 12 day cruise plus gas and tolls and wear and tear on your car.

 

The OP is possibly flying into Philadelphia and wants to know what her options are and I think everyone has given her good advice. Perhaps she'll post and let us know how her plans.

[leaveitallbehind]

Well, Amtrak is $90.00 round trip ($81.00 with a AAA discount) plus cab fare to the pier from Newark, so $109 pp for the bus seems like a reasonable deal. Parking in Bayonne is $16/day, so that's $192 for a 12 day cruise plus gas and tolls and wear and tear on your car.

 

The OP is possibly flying into Philadelphia and wants to know what her options are and I think everyone has given her good advice. Perhaps she'll post and let us know how her plans.

 

 

Yeah you're right about the Amtrak fare - pretty much a wash compared to the shuttle. I guess my thinking is more towards the driving option. In our case - which I neglected to mention - we would have 4 of us (and in the JFK case - 6) which mitigates the parking cost compared to transit costs for all of us total. But you probably have the better plan if there are only 1 or 2 involved. Like I said it's all good - happy cruising!

[138east]

Leaveitallbehind

 

Your situation is different from the OP who is flying in and would have to pay for a rental car, which is not a cheap option when you consider the cost of a one way rental plus a cab to the pier. The RCL bus is a good option for her. Even the local trains will be $64 round trip for 2 plus about $100 round trip cab fare between Newark and Bayonne. In your case I wouldn't think twice about driving to Bayonne or even JFK and paying to park.

 

However, it's amazing how many questions come up on this board about ways to get to Bayonne without driving. We drove there for our cruise in February and it was so easy both coming and going. Our plan B in case of bad weather is to get a last minute hotel at Newark airport and stay over the night before.

[dolfinmusic]

For me it is a total luggage issue!! It was just my friend and I (2 girls) and do I pack heavy!!! lol! If I had a man to lug it, no problem! :D I almost had a heart attack just taking it from the inside of the pier to the bus after the cruise!! :eek: I always say I am going to pack lighter but it just never happens. Of course it may be my cabin steward that I pack in my suitcase to bring home that makes it so heavy ;)