Voice of Travel

Back in August, I booked a cruise out of NYC, figuring it would be nice and convenient since I live in Northern NJ.

What I didn’t think about, was how I was going to get to the NYC port.

I couldn’t have a friend or family member drive us, as it would be in the middle of the week, so everyone was at work.

Because of where I live, taking any form of public transportation would be a big pain, so that was out as well.

That left me two options…

• Hire a car service.
• Drive.

I refuse to drive in NYC, so that option was out. I started looking at how much a car service would cost, and got quotes of $130+ for EACH WAY. So that was an option that I didn’t really want to have to take.

Thus started the big search online for what to do. I figured there had to be a way that I could drive somewhere that WASN’T NYC, and use a form of public transportation to get to the port.

I got as desperate as thinking of driving to Newark Airport, leaving the car there, and going to the port from there since I would have multiple options…but that would have taken a long time, and would have still been expensive.

Then an option that sounded to good to be true was found.

Port Imperial. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’ve never heard of the ferry. I’ve used the ferry in Weehawken before to go into the city, especially whenever I’m going to the Javits center. It’s perfect. You don’t have to drive into the city, and it’s only 10 minutes (or less) on the ferry into NYC.

But I never thought you could leave your car overnight. The problem was that many of the websites online that I found talking about the ferry had conflicting reviews.

Some said you could leave the car overnight and it would be $20 a night. Others said you couldn’t leave your car overnight at all or it would get towed.

So…after a little more research, I both called and went and did a live chat on the Port Imperial website. (I really wanted to make sure I got the right answer!)

I was told that I just had to leave my car…and when I get back I could pay for parking.

The cost was $12 a day, so for a 9-night cruise, I paid $120.

I couldn’t believe how cheap it was.

The best part? I had no clue what time I would be getting off the ship, so even if I did have someone to pick me up, I wouldn’t have known when to tell them to come. This way I could go home whenever I was ready!

By the way – once you get off the ferry in NYC – it is about a 10-15 minute walk each way with the luggage. If we had more luggage or other people with us, we probably would have taken a cab…but it was a beautiful day so walking was perfect.

So if you live in NJ (or plan to drive through NJ) to go to your cruise…you might want to seriously take a look at parking at Port Imperial!