transportation from bronx to manhattan west side

May 21, 2008 5:48 AM

How can I get 6-8 adults, 2 car-seat-aged kids, and all of the associated luggage from the Bronx to our cruise ship departure site on the west side of Manhattan on a Sunday morning?

We'll be gone for six days if that helps you envision the luggage situation (probably between seven and nine suitcases, three to four garment bags, and a few smaller carry-on type bags). We're not against driving multiple cars downtown but I don't particularly relish spending hundreds of dollars for parking. I don't think we'll need the car seats on the cruise, so I'd like to leave them at home if we're not taking our own cars downtown.

Oh yeah, and we'll need to get back to the Bronx at the end of the trip, too!

Not having to fly to our cruise departure seemed like such a good idea until now!

posted by iscatter to travel & transportation (21 comments total)

You could rent a shuttle bus. You know, the kind that takes you from the park-n-ride at the airport to the terminal. There are plenty of places in NYC that do this, it seems.
posted by nitsuj at 5:57 AM on May 21, 2008

Oh it is definitely a good idea, there's no better feeling than leaving work, grabbing your bags, and being on a cruise ship sipping a fruity beach cocktail and laughing while you watch your building fade away into the distance. It's awesome.

As for getting there, if a cab is too expensive for the whole trip, why not use the subway? There are enough adults to manage the bags and such on the train, and then when you get out of the station a cab or two should be quite cheap to get to the ship itself, and once there, porters will take care of your bags from the cab...
posted by Grither at 5:59 AM on May 21, 2008

(And I didn't mean to lump the children into the "as such", sorry about that!)
posted by Grither at 6:00 AM on May 21, 2008

You would still have to get all that stuff to the port if you flew to your destination.

Are cabs not an option?
posted by ml98tu at 6:10 AM on May 21, 2008

Screw cabs.
Call a Livery Service.
Set it up days before you need it.
Rest your mind.
posted by Dizzy at 6:17 AM on May 21, 2008

Yes, I would definitely call a car service- most of them have minibuses or minivans or whatever that could accomodate all of you and your luggage. Bon voyage!
posted by bluekrauss at 6:33 AM on May 21, 2008

Agree with Dizzy- don't know the situation in NYC, but in Chicago, hiring a car is competitive in price with a cab when going to the airport. Especially when you have a schedule to keep and a ton of luggage. Get a church-van or 9 person limo and your troubles will be gone.
posted by gjc at 6:34 AM on May 21, 2008

I agree. Go with a car service and ask for a Suburban. The car services I've used and have liked are:

United Express
212-965-0889

Bermuda Car
212-647-8400

Avoid the 777-7777 people and Big Apple Car.
posted by spec80 at 6:41 AM on May 21, 2008 [2 favorites]

Yes, car service is the way to go.

Also, if you feel like you're going to need to walk any significant distance with the kids and the car seats I can't recommend one of these gadgets highly enough. More useful in airports than in your situation, but its saved my sanity more than once when we were on vacation and needed to move both the kid and the carseat around.
posted by anastasiav at 6:55 AM on May 21, 2008

Nthing car service. And remember to confirm it the day before.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:43 AM on May 21, 2008

I've used Carey Limousine to get a group of 8 (and luggage) from LaGuardia to White Plains - they sent a 14 passenger van, and if I remember correctly it cost somewhere around $200 for the trip.

Your price would almost certainly vary, of course, depending on what part of the Bronx you're in (getting to the West Side of Manhattan is pretty easy from Riverdale - from Co-Op City or Throgs Neck, not so much)
posted by deadmessenger at 9:09 AM on May 21, 2008

Get a Limo. It will hold all your people at once and be only marginally more expensive than a cab.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:09 AM on May 21, 2008

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We're going from Throgs Neck. Does anyone know what the livery/cab/limo/Suburban/whatever companies will say about taking the two kids (ages 4 and 1) without car seats? Is that what people do?
posted by iscatter at 9:13 AM on May 21, 2008

I've taken car service Lincolns, and taxis, with a little kid and without a car seat in NYC. If you're reckless enough to do it (as I was), the driver isn't going to raise an eyebrow. (In retrospect, it was dumb of me. But I did it.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:19 AM on May 21, 2008

Call up a limo service that uses vans. Reserve it as much in advance as possible and make it clear what time you MUST arrive by. Ensure leaving early enough to deal with traffic in NYC.

Rest easy.
posted by PetiePal at 9:50 AM on May 21, 2008

I've used a car service in San Francisco where I specifically requested a car seat for my son. They installed it front-facing instead of rear-facing (he was under 1yr old at the time), but that was better than no seat at all. The car seat didn't add much to the cost of the car service, so I would suggest calling around and asking about the car seats.
posted by Joh at 10:18 AM on May 21, 2008

I'm not sure if they offer van service, but I live in the Bronx and have always had great luck with Seaman Radio Dispatchers, based out of Inwood. I've found them cheaper than yellow cabs for trips downtown or to the airport. Phone number is [phone].
posted by JaredSeth at 11:36 AM on May 21, 2008

The cab or car service is not going to endorse breaking the law, re: car seats. The driver may or may not care about car seats, but nobody's going to make a promise in advance that you can disregard the law.

Here in Ontario, Canada, car seat laws do not apply to taxis. Though (AFAIK) our car seat laws are among the strictest, no child (of any age) is required to use a car seat in a taxi. You might want to research whether there's a similar exception in NY.
posted by winston at 11:38 AM on May 21, 2008

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passenger/faq_pass.shtml#9

Drivers of yellow medallion taxicabs and for-hire vehicles and their passengers, are exempt from laws regarding car seats and seatbelts

You don't need a carseat, legally speaking. From a safety perspective, I don't know if I'd do it, though.
posted by deadmessenger at 11:45 AM on May 21, 2008

Cab and car services are legally exempt from child car-seat laws, last time I checked.
posted by Dizzy at 2:18 PM on May 21, 2008

Thanks everyone... here is our likely solution --

Two of us will travel directly from Jersey City, without a stop for breakfast with the rest of us in the Bronx.

Five of us will travel from the Bronx via taxi or limo.

One of us will travel with the two kids in our own car, accompanied by a gracious relative who can drive stick, who will drop us at the ferry terminal and take our car back to the Bronx.

Thanks for all of your suggestions -- I was looking for one perfect, not-too-expensive solution that would get us all there together, but we'll just meet up on the boat. Er, ship.
posted by iscatter at 2:37 PM on May 21, 2008