We are looking for a hotel near the embarkation pier of our Canadian cruise from New York City on July 4th. We will be coming from Gaithersburg MD, about a 5 hour drive away, so we thought we would drive up on Friday, the 3rd. Having never been in NYC before, we wonder if we should drive on in to stay in a hotel near the pier or stay the night outside the city and drive on in the next day.... we are a little worried about driving in the heavy traffic either way!

Where are you going to park during the cruise? Would it be cheaper to take the train?

There aren't many hotels near the cruise pier, but plenty are close. But none are going to let you park during the time you are cruising.

The address I stated is the parking lot where we will park our car, which is right where we will board the ship. We are new at this, having never cruised or been to NYC before. That's why we thought we needed a little cushion time.

I would take the train up and and stay some place away from the piers and then just can it over. Times Square, for example, is not even a ten minute cab ride.

Any hotel in Times Square area is close enough. If you have a lot of luggage, you're going to need a taxi anyway. There are no hotels right near the pier and you wouldn't want to stay there anyway.

Heed the New Yorkers. If you drove to Baltimore, 34 miles away you could take the approx 3 hr. train for $128 p.p. each way. You would arrive at Penn Sta which is on the West Side
@ 34th Street and could stay & enjoy NYC in many hotels
(Red Roof, Applecore etc.) before your cruise.
Taxi approx.20 blocks up to pier & back. easy-peasy.

Not to be alarmist, but you really need to make your mind up immediately. You are cutting things very close.

If you drive and want to stay in Manhattan, you absolutely MUST arrive on July 3. On July 4 this year, the fireworks in NYC are going to be in the Hudson River. If you take the train, then no problem, but heed my warning below about the availability of trains that day.

I would suggest that you NOT park in the cruise lot until the day you embark on your ship. It won't cost any more to park in the garage of your hotel (it's $30 a night at the cruise lot, about the same as many hotels), so then you have the car to get you and your luggage to the cruise pier. Also, this lot is a very long walk to anything, so it's not a convenient parking lot for anything but a cruise.

Unfortunately, you have waited so long to make your hotel reservations, that I don't think you'll find anything near the cruise pier, and that's a very busy weekend in NYC. So you actually may have no choice but to take the train. (IF you do that, please buy your ticket today, as in 5 minutes ago. Amtrak will probably sell out that weekend if it has not already.) The Skyline Hotel on the west side highway is the closest hotel I know of to the cruise pier, and it has reasonably priced parking at only $10 per night. But it's probably been sold out for weeks. It's on 49th Street and 10th Avenue (actually within walking distance of the pier if you don't have luggage).

Unless you really desperately want to spend time in Manhattan, I actually think you'd do better if you stayed overnight in NJ and just drove in on Saturday morning (but do it early to avoid the worst of the fireworks crowds).

Thanks so much everyone for the good advice - I will get busy and nail this all down!

Would I be crazy to just drive up the day of the cruise and head straight to the cruise parking lot? I think it's about a 5 hour drive.

This year the 4th of July fireworks are on the Hudson, instead of the East River. When the fireworks are on the East Side they close down the FDR early and people begin to congregate hours before the event.

I would assume that the trafic on the West Side from where your ship will be leaving, will be nuts on the 4th. At what time will the chaos start, I do not know, but maybe another poster knows the schedule.

I would also check to see if the cruise parking is accepting general visitors or just cruise ship passenegers since the West Side will be where the city will be watching the fire works. That is a suggestion from ignorance not knowledge of their procedures.

Once again if you can take the train, stay nearby, you will probablly be better off.

Your other option is a bus from Baltimore or Washington which is relatively inexpensive. megabus.com boltbus.com would eliminate driving and parking.

Thanks to all! Very grateful for your input!

If you want to come up on the day of your cruise, I really think you should take the train to avoid traffic problems. Unless you get started before the crack of dawn, I'm just afraid that the west side will be a total mess, and then you'll find yourself waiting in the cruise pier before you can board. It will be more expensive to take the train than to drive, but I don't think it will be any more expensive than driving and staying the night in a hotel. But as I said previously, trains could be sold out.