PhoneGap vs Xamarin
cordova, xamarin
Solution
You will need a Mac to do any sort of iPhone testing. I don't know what your definition of "cheap" is exactly, but with Xamarin you are looking at spending $600 to be able to put your app on both Android and iOS.
https://store.xamarin.com/
As for actual programming with Xamarin, there are ways to not have to learn each platform's unique API. For example, you can use a UIWebView/WebView to display HTML as your interface. Additionally, you can use Razor Templates to generate the HTML the WebViews will display. Within both iOS and Android you can communicate back and forth between the HTML and C#.
To say another way, you could create your own PhoneGap with Xamarin.
Also, Xamarin provides component libraries like Xamarin.Mobile and Xamarin.Social that generalize some of the platform functionality so you don't have to learn some things twice.
With that all said, PhoneGap may be your better solution. Adobe provides a service that checks out your code and bundles the iOS binary for you.
https://build.phonegap.com/
However, I believe you will still need to have an iOS Developer's license ($100) and will need to set up all of the provisioning profiles and what not.
As Mike mentioned, you also have to give yourself at minimum one week to get your app approved in the Apple App Store.
Problem
Id just like to get peoples opinion on which of the above 2 are best and easiest to develop on. I need to have a iPhone and Android app ready and in stores in 2 weeks but dont have a Mac to develop natively on. So as far as I can see these are my 2 best choices (and they are free mostly as well which is important). I have mostly C# and Java experience but have dabbled in CSS and HTML a few years back. So just from this point Xamarin looks the better choice for me? Can anyone please share their experiences or advice if they have any? Also, is there another service that I can use that may be better than these 2 (needs to be free or VERY cheap). Thanks in advance.