Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Driving & Parking at the Terminal

Every route funnels through one exit. From Manhattan, take the Battery Tunnel (I-478 east) into Brooklyn, join the westbound BQE (I-278 west) and take Exit 26, Hamilton Avenue, onto the service road; stay left, make the left U-turn at Clinton Street/9th Street, follow the westbound service road to its end at Van Brunt Street, turn left, go two blocks, then right onto Bowne Street. From Long Island, the LIE to the westbound BQE and the same Exit 26. From New Jersey, the Turnpike to Exit 13, the Goethals and Verrazzano bridges, north on the Gowanus/BQE, off at Exit 26. The vehicle entrance is Bowne Street at Imlay Street and there is no other one.

Cost: $45.00 per night for up to 24 hours, taxes included, effective April 1 2023 and for cruise passengers only. No reservation needed, no upcharge for SUVs, and the operator publishes no height restriction. Payment on arrival by cash, Visa, MasterCard, or American Express — keep your ticket with you during the cruise.

NYC Ferry from Manhattan or Brooklyn

The South Brooklyn route stops at the Red Hook/Atlantic Basin landing at Ferris Street and Clinton Wharf, a short walk from the terminal — the only public transport that puts you within sight of the ship. Weekdays it runs East 34th Street, Corlears Hook, Wall Street/Pier 11, Atlantic Avenue/Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6, Red Hook and Governors Island, about 40 minutes end to end. Weekends the South Brooklyn Extension continues to Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, about 61 minutes.

Cost: $4.50 one way. A 10-trip pass is $29.00, a 2-day unlimited is $15.00 in the app, and the Ferry Discount Program fare is $1.45. Children under 44 inches ride free with an adult, and transfers within the NYC Ferry system are free for 120 minutes.

Subway and the B61 bus

There is no subway in Red Hook — MTA's own station list has nothing on the peninsula, and every rail route ends with a bus or a walk. The B61 is the bus that actually serves the terminal, running Park Slope to Downtown Brooklyn via Van Brunt Street, around the clock, and stopping at Van Brunt Street and Pioneer Street. From Downtown Brooklyn, pick it up on Atlantic Avenue at Court Street; the F and G at Smith/9th Street and Carroll Street are the nearest subway stops on the other side.

Cost: $3 for most riders on the subway and local buses, with one free transfer within two hours. Reduced fares for seniors and riders with qualifying disabilities are half the regular fare. MetroCards can no longer be bought or refilled as of January 1 2026, so plan on OMNY.

From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)

JFK is about 15 miles from Red Hook and a 30-50 min drive, most often down the Belt Parkway around the bottom of Brooklyn or up over the Gowanus. The Belt is scenic and completely unforgiving at rush hour; the Gowanus is neither. Of the three airports this is the one with a real rail option toward Brooklyn: the Long Island Rail Road runs from Jamaica into Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn, which is the closest any train gets to the terminal, and AirTrain also connects to the E, J and Z at Sutphin Boulevard and the A at Howard Beach. One trap on the subway route: Lefferts Boulevard-bound A trains do not serve the airport.

Cost: By cab, the standard metered fare: the Taxi & Limousine Commission's $70 flat fare covers trips between JFK and Manhattan only, so a Brooklyn trip is metered, plus a $2.00 airport access fee and the usual surcharges. By rail, AirTrain is $8.75 on top of your onward fare — about $11.75 all in via the subway, or $14 to $16 via the LIRR to Atlantic Terminal.

From LaGuardia Airport (LGA)

LGA is the closest of the three at about 12 miles, and the least well connected: it is the only major New York airport with no rail link of any kind. The drive is 30-50 min because it crosses either the whole of Brooklyn or the length of Queens on the BQE. The public options are the free Q70 LaGuardia Link bus to the subway at Jackson Heights or Woodside, or the M60 Select Bus Service across northern Manhattan — both of which leave you a long way from Red Hook, on the wrong side of a city with no subway to the terminal. Note also that LaGuardia is the one New York airport where the terminals are far enough apart to matter on arrival: Terminal B and Terminal C have separate roadways and separate pickup levels, so an app-hailed car and a yellow cab are met in different places. Confirm which terminal your flight lands at before you book anything door to door.

Cost: By cab, the standard metered fare plus a $5.00 LaGuardia surcharge and the $2.00 airport access fee. There is no flat fare from LaGuardia to anywhere in the city. By bus, the LaGuardia Link Q70 is free and connects to the subway, which still does not reach Red Hook.

From Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

EWR is about 16 miles away and a 35-60 min drive, and it is the awkward one for this terminal: every route crosses either the Verrazzano or a Hudson tunnel, and both are at the mercy of the hour. AirTrain Newark links the terminals to the NJ Transit station, and NJ Transit runs to Penn Station in Manhattan — which is the wrong side of the harbor from Red Hook, leaving a full crosstown-and-across-the-river journey still to do. There is a live service change worth knowing about: AirTrain Newark is currently being replaced by shuttle buses on weekdays from 5 am to 3 pm. Newark is also the only one of the three where you pay tolls in both directions on a cab fare, because the driver's return crossing is charged to you — a detail that does not apply at JFK or LaGuardia and that makes the headline meter misleading.

Cost: By cab, the standard metered fare plus a $20.00 Newark surcharge, and you also pay the driver's return tolls. By rail, AirTrain Newark is $8.75 and NJ Transit from Penn Station comes to about $16.80 all in — and you are then still in Manhattan.

Is the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal the same as the Manhattan Cruise Terminal?

No. They are two separate facilities in two different boroughs. The Manhattan Cruise Terminal is at 711 12th Avenue at West 55th Street on Manhattan's West Side; the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is at Pier 12 in Red Hook, about six miles away across the harbor and further than that by road. Both are city-owned, both are managed by Ports America, and both appear on NYCEDC's cruise site — but they have separate entrances, separate parking and separate ships. Check which one your cruise line names in your documents before you set a GPS, because arriving at the wrong one on boarding morning costs an hour you do not have.

How do I get to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal by subway?

You cannot, entirely. There is no subway station in Red Hook — MTA's own station list has none on the peninsula — so every rail route finishes with a bus or a long walk. The route that works is the B61 bus, which runs 24 hours via Van Brunt Street and stops at Van Brunt and Pioneer Streets; pick it up on Atlantic Avenue at Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn, and from the stop NYCEDC describes the walk as approximately four long blocks to the entrance at Pioneer and Conover. Of the nearby subway stations only Borough Hall is ADA-accessible; the F and G stations at Carroll Street and Smith–9 Streets are not. With heavy bags, the ferry or a car is the kinder option.

Does the B77 bus go to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

There is no B77 bus. NYCEDC's own directions page still tells F-train riders to change at Smith/9th Street for the B77, and that instruction cannot be followed: MTA's schedule page for the B77 returns a 404, the route is absent from MTA's current list of Brooklyn bus routes, and it does not appear in MTA's live schedule feed. Take the B61 instead. We are flagging this because it is the single most likely way to strand yourself on boarding morning while following official instructions.

Is there a ferry to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

Yes, and it is the nicest way in. NYC Ferry's South Brooklyn route stops at the Red Hook/Atlantic Basin landing at Ferris Street and Clinton Wharf, a short walk from the terminal, and the same route reaches Wall Street/Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. A one-way ride is $4.50, a 10-trip pass is $29.00 and a 2-day unlimited is $15.00 in the app; children under 44 inches ride free with an adult. From Red Hook toward Manhattan the first weekday boat is 6:40 am and the last is 9:06 pm, roughly every 45 to 50 minutes. Note NYC Ferry calls the stop Red Hook, never Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

How much is parking at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

$45.00 per night for up to 24 hours — a cruise-passenger rate effective April 01 2023 per NYCEDC, confirmed on the operator's own page as read 2026-08-17. Taxes are included, there is no SUV upcharge, no reservation is needed, and you pay on arrival by cash or Visa, MasterCard or American Express. The operator adds that there is no height restriction and no in-and-out access. Reconfirm before you travel: this is the number most likely to change.

How much is a taxi from JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark to Brooklyn?

There is no flat fare to Brooklyn, and this trips people up. The Taxi & Limousine Commission's well-known $70 JFK flat fare applies only to trips between JFK and Manhattan; JFK to any other New York City destination, Brooklyn included, is the standard metered fare. LaGuardia is metered plus a $5.00 surcharge. Newark is metered plus a $20.00 Newark surcharge, with the driver's return tolls added to your fare. A $2.00 airport access fee applies to taxi pickups at JFK and LaGuardia. NYCEDC does publish its own estimates — roughly $45 to $60 from JFK, $28 to $38 from LaGuardia and $80 to $100 from Newark — but they carry no effective date, so treat them as a budget guide rather than a quote.

What time does boarding start at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

Your cruise line's assigned window is the authority. For context, NYCEDC says baggage processing at its terminals begins no earlier than 9:30 am and boarding generally begins between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, with ships arriving between 7 and 8 am and porters available by 9 am. One line in NYCEDC's FAQ is often quoted out of context: the advice not to arrive before 11 am is addressed specifically to buses arriving with a group, not to individual drivers.

Can I store luggage at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

No. NYCEDC states plainly that there are no storage lockers for passenger luggage at the terminal and that it cannot store bags. Plan an early arrival or a late flight around that rather than assuming you can leave anything at the pier.

Which cruise lines sail from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

In NYCEDC's own forward berthing record, read 2026-08-17, the Brooklyn departures we publish are Cunard's Queen Mary 2, Virgin Voyages' Valiant Lady, Princess's Majestic Princess, Seabourn Ovation and Oceania Vista. Norwegian and Carnival's New York sailings board at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal instead, not here. Ship assignments move between the two terminals — 23 of the 133 ships in NYCEDC's ten-year record have used both — so confirm the terminal on your own booking rather than on a ship's reputation.

Is there anywhere to eat or buy things near the terminal?

Yes, but check the clock. Red Hook's Van Brunt Street has a genuine restaurant strip a short walk from the pier, and Food Bazaar at 480-500 Van Brunt Street is a full supermarket open from 7 am. What Red Hook does not have is an early-morning restaurant scene: most of the neighborhood's best-known rooms do not open until noon or 5 pm, and IKEA's food hall not until 11 am. For a boarding morning, Baked at 359 Van Brunt Street opens at 8 am. For a bottle of wine, you need a licensed liquor store — New York supermarkets sell beer only.

Is Cape Liberty the same as the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal?

No — Cape Liberty is in Bayonne, New Jersey, and is a third, separate cruise terminal in the New York metropolitan area. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity sail from there, while Brooklyn's departures are Cunard, Virgin Voyages, Princess, Seabourn and Oceania in NYCEDC's current forward record. The trap is that cruise lines describe all three of the region's terminals as "New York" in their marketing, so the only reliable answer is the terminal named on your own booking. Bayonne is a long drive from Red Hook, through either the Battery Tunnel and Staten Island or Lower Manhattan and the Holland Tunnel — not a mistake you can fix on boarding morning.