Northeast Motorcoach Service for Princess Cruisers

Over the past few years, cruisers in the Northeast have seen decreasing levels of bus transfers to their cruises departing from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Baltimore. Time was that each line offered convenient service for those living in surrounding areas. The lines had slowly been decreasing that service (some lines eliminating it entirely), but it appears that it is making a re-appearance, at least for Princess passengers.

For passengers sailing on the Caribbean Princess' summer and fall 2009 sailings from Brooklyn between 5/24 and 10/17/09, getting to and from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in New York this year will now be as easy as making a reservation and getting to one of the convenient Northeast pick-up locations.

Up to 35 passengers will board an air-conditioned motorcoach and travel in comfort, with their luggage,to the pier. After disembarkation, passengers will be returned to the same location. All roundtrip rates are only $79 USD per person, which is far less than parking for the pier, not to mention the fuel savings.

There are 4 distinct routes as follows:

• Route 1: Washington, D.C./Baltimore. Departing from Washington, D.C. and traveling to Baltimore, MD;Wilmington, DE;Philadelphia, PA and Burlington, NJ.
• Route 2: Eastern Pennsylvania. Departing from Harrisburg and traveling to Lancaster, Reading, Allentown and Easton.
• Route 3: Massachusetts. Departing from Boston, with subsequent stops in Worcester and Springfield, MA. and Hartford, CT.†
• Route 4: Connecticut/Rhode Island. Departing from Providence, RI and travels through Connecticut with stops in New London, New Haven and Bridgeport.†

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS. The motorcoach service is available to non-ambulatory passengers, though the request must be made in writing to request this service. There is no additional charge for this service beyond the regular transfer fee.

I'm glad to see the cruise lines returning to providing this service, making "home port" cruising from ports closer to your home even more attractive. The expanding of the various home ports makes for more options and varied itineraries, and this is yet another step to expand that theme. I hope more lines follow.