Personal preference goes to NEX (with 1500 JPY deal) connect with Taxi, depends on train schedule it may be faster, and scenery wise, bus is same-same with NEX for me

NEX also has plenty of luggage space and almost never packed, I never experience > 20% Load Factor during afternoon hour, personally i found Limousine with higher load factor and less comfortable.

Forget the bus from the Shangri-La. The Shangri-La is in Tokyo Station. It's a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the NEX platforms underground.

As someone that used to live there and still has an apartment in Ginza - I can tell you that the NEX followed by Taxi is by far the fastest option to get to the hotel, and it's really not hard for a first timer as the NEX leaves every 30 minutes and isn't affected by traffic. I definitely don't recommend any first timer get anywhere near the subway's - like the Yamanote line - at 5pm on a work day either - especially with luggage. If the OP is at all hesitant then walk up to the Friendly Limousine Bus counter after claiming your bag and tell them you want two tickets on the next bus to the Peninsula -- and stop stressing about saving 30-40 minutes, because on average that's all it is..

I knew there was a reason I booked at The Shangri-La for our last night! :)

Thanks so much.

FTR, I'm not stressing at all about any of this. I was simply trying to determine which transit service would be the most convenient. Saving 30-40 minutes is incentive enough for me though.

Not to burst your bubble, but the discounted N*Ex tickets are only available from the JR travel center and you must present your passport in order to obtain them. Since you are unlikely to make the 15:44 N*Ex into Tokyo Station, you should have plenty of time to get them on the day of for the 16:19 departure but there are no guarantees as my personal record from start to finish in the travel center was 43 minutes.

If you go with the kiosk or normal sales counter, you'll get the tickets with plenty of time to spare albeit at a higher fare.

If money is not a concern, you might consider the Limo bus to TCAT as you might be able to make the 15:55 departure which should get you to TCAT around 17:05 followed by a short taxi ride to your hotel. In my opinion, this is a faster option with a small risk of encountering traffic.

Another possibility: The access Narita bus leaving from NRT at 16:00 with a scheduled arrival of 17:00 at Tokyo station with the taxi making up the rest. I have never taken this bus in any form so I have no information to give outside of what they post on their site.

After all this, I suspect that you've written off the bus option which is, of course, your prerogative. If you don't mind though, please post here how your trip went down specifically with time details so that others may have another data point for future reference.

Thanks Oreto and will do of course - I plan to report back on all aspects of the trip sometime in January when we're back and settled in. We fly home early December but then we're gone again for the holidays in Palm Springs so I probably won't have a chance to report back until Jan.

The difference in fare between the discounted 1,500 JPY and more expensive N'EX pass is not a concern at all. I'd gladly pay full price if it means surpassing a 20-40 minute wait at the ticket counter. If that's the case, I'll order tickets online next month.

N'EX from NRT Terminal 1 just seems the easiest and quickest way to go from all the options presented so far. It's direct, no traffic, comfortable, space for luggage. I'm pretty content with this decision.

Thanks for the added input though!

I'm afraid this is not correct. You can buy a 'Tokyo Direct' ticket for 1,500 yen at the ordinary ticket counter in NRT. You just need to present your passport with the entry sticker showing that you are a visitor and hand over 1,500 yen or a credit card.

They will ask you where you are going so they can give you a seat in the appropriate carriage, although in the OP's case it doesn't really matter as all carriages go to Tokyo.

Please don't try to order N'EX tickets online! You don't know which train you are going to catch and it would be more hassle to get your reservation changed at the station.

I don't know what time you plan to travel back to NRT on your way home but if it's early morning you might want to get tickets and reserve seats in advance once you arrive in Japan.

My wife and I will be stoping through on our way to Thailand in mid November. I'm leaning toward the Limo Bus option due to overall ease of getting from NRT to the Tokyo Hilton.

My question is regarding the black stars on some of the scheduled departures both ways. Can anyone explain why some times have them? I can't find any legend on the page to figure it out.

This is incorrect. No entry sticker as a visitor is required for this ticket, just a foreign passport.

Really, don't hassle with trying to buy N'Ex tickets in advance. Just get your seats/tickets from the Service Center on arrival. Much, much, much simpler.

That'd be great, although don't sweat it too much. It's always nice and helpful to hear back how things went, but I believe homework is always optional here.

The black star indicates Super Cabin service
http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/news/140312.html

That's good to know as I haven't used this option in almost 3 years. I was quoting the JR East website which lists the option of purchasing the tickets that way only outside of the travel centers hours of operation which wouldn't affect the OP given his arrival time.

Either way, the OP should be able to acquire the N*Ex tickets with time to spare for the 16:19 train barring a barrage of people going that way.

Or just walk onto the train and buy them from the conductor (cash or Suica/Pasmo only).