LaGuardia Airport to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal
Getting from LaGuardia Airport to Brooklyn Cruise Terminal — 30-50 min, 12 miles
Transfer Options
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.
Park before you touch your bags. NYCEDC is explicit that drivers who need parking cannot drop luggage first and park afterwards without leaving the terminal and coming back in — park, then take the bags up to the second level for check-in. The lot is a revolving system: the arriving ship's passengers are usually off the property by 10 to 10:30 am, so NYCEDC's own advice is to aim for between 10 am and 2 pm if you want the best chance of a space. It is an outdoor lot with security on the south side of the entrance, facing the Statue of Liberty, and there is no in-and-out access once you have parked.
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.
Check the timetable against your boarding window rather than the other way round — from Red Hook toward Manhattan the first weekday boat is 6:40 am and the last is 9:06 pm, with roughly 45 to 50 minutes between them, so a missed boat is most of an hour. NYC Ferry calls the stop Red Hook, never Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, which is worth knowing before you scroll past it.
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.
Ignore any direction — including NYCEDC's own page — that routes you onto the B77 bus. That route does not exist: MTA's schedule page for it returns a 404, and it appears nowhere in MTA's current Brooklyn bus list or its live schedule feed. Take the B61. From the bus stop NYCEDC describes the walk as approximately four long blocks to the terminal entrance at Pioneer and Conover Streets; of the nearby subway stops only Borough Hall is ADA-accessible, and the F/G stations are not.
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.
This is the airport where a cab is most clearly worth it, because the public alternative is the weakest of the three and the metered distance the shortest — you are paying for the fewest miles and saving the most transfers. NYCEDC's undated estimate of roughly $28 to $38 is hard to reconcile with the current meter plus the LaGuardia surcharge, so budget above it rather than at it.
Cost Comparison
| Option | Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Driving & Parking at the Terminal | 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. | Best ForAnyone within driving distance, and anyone carrying more luggage than a subway staircase deserves |
| NYC Ferry from Manhattan or Brooklyn | 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. | Best ForTraveling light from Lower Manhattan or the Brooklyn waterfront, and for the harbor view on the way |
| Subway and the B61 bus | 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. | Best ForCruisers traveling light, or anyone already in Downtown Brooklyn |
| From LaGuardia Airport (LGA) | CostBy 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. | Best ForDomestic arrivals, and the shortest distance of the three by some way |
Once you arrive, find your terminal:
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