karinehm

Hello,

My parents are flying into Newark at 6:30am and they need to start boarding at 2:30pm. Is there a tour bus service that could pick them up at the airport (with all of their luggage) and give them a tour of the city before taking them to the cruise terminal (Cape Liberty)?

jacketwatch

I doubt that. Tour buses pick people up,at set spots and drop them off back at them. I'll bet you could find a private limo but I imagine that cost will be much more.

HappyTrvlr

Check with Carmel Cars to see if they could provide this. They are landing in NJ and their ship leaves from NJ so it isn't very practical to do this. Can they fly in a day ahead and stay in Manhattan?

RoamsAround

Like jacket watch, I doubt you'll find an organized tour that will do what you want but you certainly can arrange for a "private tour" but it will be costly (I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 for a driver/guide) and the reality is your parents won't have very much time to actually see NYC (unless they are willing to arrive at the cruise port much later in the day.

Assuming they are flying mid-week (not on a weekend) and their flight arrives on or near schedule they be driving into the city during normal rush hour arriving mid-town somewhere around 8:30/9:00AM. If they want to be back at the Cruise Terminal at 2:30PM that gives them a total of 4 hours "in the city". Quite frankly driving around and looking at the sites from inside a car isn't very exciting and with the limited time they'd probably only be able to actually "stop and visit" 1 or 2 attractions it seems like the whole experience will tend to disappoint rather please.

If they want to see Manhattan do what HappyTrvlr suggests - have your parents fly in a day early, spend the night in mid-town, have a great dinner, see the sights the afternoon they arrive,and more the following morning, have a nice lunch and then leave for the cruise terminal.

doug_stallings

They can book a car service by the hour for $40 to $60 with a 2-hour minimum (Carmel is a good choice). I suspect a car service might charge the regular EWR pick-up fee on top of that, and the driver would expect a 20% tip, but that's (to me) a cost-effective way of seeing a bit of the city. I'd have a plan in mind, but they could easily do a 3-hour tour and see a fair bit of Manhattan on a weekend morning for under $250, which seems a good deal to me (better than the cost of a hotel). They would have time for a little walk in the park, too, perhaps from the parking lot of Tavern on the Green.

Flying into town the night before would be better, but it would also be more expensive given the cost of hotels.

kelly50ca

This depends on who they are cruising with. Some ship offer Excursions to pick up after the cruise and give a tour around NYC before dropping off at the airport so maybe they might before cruising have them look up their ships excursions. Hope you find something. Hope they enjoy their cruise. After thought Maybe they can see if Uber or Lyft offer something like that.

aliced

What day of the week are they arriving at EWR? Weekend v. weekday at that hour is a whole different story. What carrier are they sailing from Port Liberty? Yes, perhaps they can arrange for a pre-cruise excursion (or check Shore Excursions, a company that many cruiselines offer as "their" excursions). If they arrive on a weekday, it would probably take at least an hour to get to Manhattan, as that's rush hour. From EWR I'd suggest their driver stop at Liberty Science Museum or the ferry depot near there for a stunning view of the tip of Manhattan as well as of the Statue of Liberty. Then continue through Holland Tunnel, do Battery Park, World Trade area, then cross town through Soho, going up the east side (Madison Avenue but expect lots of traffic), up to 90th, then back down Fifth past Museum Mile, cross at 59th to Central Park West, turn up past Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center, then come back down along Broadway. There is no way to predict how long this might take, and they should prepare themselves with the itinerary and its sights, as their driver may not be chatty! They'll probably want to exit via the Lincoln Tunnel for the Port.