Need New York Advise

TheSkipper · January 20, 2006

Hi Gang,

Looks like we will be sailing on the new Crown Princess in September, so I have a question for those of you who know New York.

We will be using Southwest Award tickets and flying into LaGuardia the evening before the cruise departs (no redeye on Southwest), so, need suggestions for a hotel and transportation from LaGuardia to the new cruise docks in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. Any ideas??

Alternative would be to go over to New Jersey (Ft. Lee area) and visit wife's family for a couple of days, then go to Red Hook, but then will have the challange of getting rid of a rental car in that area.

Open to any and all suggestions. :wink:

Mebert · January 20, 2006

The Skipper,

How are you doing. I'm glad to hear that you're coming to New York.

I've never tried to get to pier in Brooklyn so I'll have to do some investigating.

Did you mean to get to the Brooklyn pier from your hotel or from LaGuardia Airport?

Joanandjoe · January 20, 2006

Brooklyn is not a prime hotel area. There's a fairly new, very pricey Marriott in downtown Brooklyn, and not much else. On the other hand, there are lots of hotels in lower Manhattan, so you may want to go there.

Hopefully someone who lives in the City can suggest a car service. Most people simply take cabs, but who knows what will be available at the pier after the cruise?

Ft. Lee, which is about three miles from us, is about 20 miles from the pier. If you want to see your family, do you really need a rental car? Maybe you want to have your relatives call a local car company, such as Babe's taxi, to take you from LaGuardia to Ft. Lee, Ft. Lee to the pier, and the pier to LaGuardia. If you are renting a car at the airport, either return it to the airporrt and take a cab, or see if you can find a rental co. which will let you rent at Laguardia and return to downtown Brooklyn (after dropping one of you at the pier, with your luggage). A search on Travelocity, Expedia, or a similar site can probably uncover rental car sites near the pier.

Mebert · January 20, 2006

The Skipper,

If you are leaving your car rental at the airport, perhaps Princess can provide transportation to the Brooklyn pier, for a fee, of course. It's not very difficult to get to a terminal at LaGuardia. Maybe the cruise line shuttle can take you to the pier.

Suzila · January 21, 2006

When did Southwest start flying into LaGuardia? We always passed on Southwest into NY because they went into Islip...so far from Manhattan.

We stayed at the Brooklyn Marriott in 2001 when we were in NY, and it was fine. They had parking right under the hotel, as opposed to the Best Western that had no parking...you had to wait for the valet to go and get the car, blocks away, and the rooms were small and awful. It cost about the same as the Marriott...maybe $10-$15 less...I'd stay at the Marriott again.

Sorry can't help you with how far away from the docks it is, but maybe if you called the hotel (Marriott) directly and asked them for info on the best way to get to the docks from there, they could help.

TheSkipper · January 22, 2006

Thanks to all for the excellent suggestions. As far as the family in the Ft. Lee area (actually Fairview) most are in the 80's or 90's, so don't think they will be much help. We would be staying in a hotel in the area and moving around to visit them all over a two or three day period. So, a car would be a must. And my wife has to make a trip to Callahan's for a hot dog everytime we are in the area. You can get the girl out of Jersey, but not Jersey out of the girl!! :grin:

Don't know exactly when Southwest started going into LaGuardia, but they are now. Still going to Islep as well.

Will check with some of the major car rental companies and see if we can drop it in Brooklyn. We did that in Manhattan with Avis a few years ago and grabbed a cab to the ship.

sailingrose · January 22, 2006

When are you sailing The Skipper? We're going on the 21st. Trying to find info is pretty hard now. I'm hoping that once the pier opens in Red Hook we'll be able to get more current info. Not even sure which airport we'll fly into yet but we will only get there the evening before due to work schedules.

Joanandjoe · January 23, 2006

Rose has an excellent point. By May or so, there should be established transportation patterns for the new piers. Mkae tentative arrangements, but be ready to change them based on recommendations of people who have used the port.

TheSkipper · January 23, 2006

Rose, Joan and Joe:

Excellent point, will wait until more info is available. Rose we are most likely going to sail on the 30th of September.

Thanks again for all the help.

sailingrose · January 24, 2006

Well I guess you can wave at us as we get off the ship then. I'm eager to get the air and the hotel settled but I figured it would be easier when more info comes out. I'll let you know if I find out anything worthwhile.