What do you think?

Don't cheat on this one by checking out the roll call link .. but, if like us you were going to the US/Canada on a cruise this September on Aurora and, your number one port of call as promoted in the cruise information by P&O, is New York. Where do you think the terminal for the city of New York would be situated. Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn or Staten Island.

I ask this as many of us doing this cruise consider we have been misled as to where the port of New York is and with that, easy access to this amazing city. Really interested in your thoughts. No cheating now! gut reactions please.

Left out

Got to be Manhattan ?

Bal

The one used by Celebrity Cruises is miles from Manhattan Island. Can't remember the name but there's a good live webcam that follows the cruise ships out to sea.

People get caught with the Stockholm stop. Some don't actually sail right into Stockholm and leave you with a hour coach ride instead

When I did the P&O NorthAm cruise a few years ago it was Manhattan. We walked from the ship to Times Sq.

It was Manhattan for us a few years ago on the Aurora with P&O.

Manhattan for us last year on Celebrity Eclipse in November. Was a great location - walking distance to Times Square

Manhattan last year on Arcadia but when I was researching I do remember there was another terminal some distance away (I think there was info in Toms Port Guide). If it's not Manhattan it's disappointing because the sail in and sail away was breathtaking, but you may be able to do a boat tour to appreciate it.

As an aside can I recommend that if you are there overnight that you book a table at the RLounge on the Renaissance Hotel in Times Sq and ask for a window seat? We booked about 7pm and stayed a couple of hours - it's expensive and the food is small plates but for a wonderful view of the square from an elevated position without the crowds it was lovely.

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Did not cheat but you are going to Red Hook in Brooklyn. It's the berth Queen Mary 2 uses. This has been for some weeks.

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The New York port's website has a schedule for the whole of 2017, which implies the schedule was published early in 2017 or before, showing where the Aurora is docked, so some research or asking P&O may have avoided some disappointment - although I accept this implies knowing there are options.

Brooklyn is certainly in New York and unless P&O specifically said docking in Manhattan, I don't see anybody has been misled - just that their assumptions were wrong. It's clear from the schedule that it's bad luck to be in Brooklyn (although QM2 and big Princess ships always got here) - but no more.

Cunard lay on a coach to/from Macy's in the centre of Manhattan - a "NY on your own" tour essentially - and I guess P&O will do the same. Not so good for evenings though.

The New York port's website has a schedule for the whole of 2017, which implies the schedule was published early in 2017 or before, showing where the Aurora is docked, so some research or asking P&O may have avoided some disappointment - although I accept this implies knowing there are options.

 

Brooklyn is certainly in New York and unless P&O specifically said docking in Manhattan, I don't see anybody has been misled - just that their assumptions were wrong. It's clear from the schedule that it's bad luck to be in Brooklyn (although QM2 and big Princess ships always got here) - but no more.

 

Cunard lay on a coach to/from Macy's in the centre of Manhattan - a "NY on your own" tour essentially - and I guess P&O will do the same. Not so good for evenings though.

People will have booked this cruise in April 16.

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On Aurora Autumn 2015, America/Canada, we docked at Manhattan overnight. Nice walk up to Times Square.

We are doing this trip in Autumn 18 and are very much hoping that we berth in Manhattan, but are aware that not all ships do. Out of interest, are any other Carnival Group ships in New York on the day(s) in question this year in port? The reason I ask is that it does appear that P&O is some way down the pecking order. We were due to visit Flaam and Olden on Britannia last year but both were cancelled. P&O told passengers that it was due to there being too many ships in port. This was a lie. Carnival Group cancelled the port call in favour of one of the Cunard Queens. I received chapter and verse on this from the harbour master (booking dates, cancellation dates, reason for changes and who had requested the change). Britannia had been booked first and Carnival themselves cancelled the visit in order to accommodate a later request from Cunard. If P&O was on a level pegging it should have been Cunard passengers who were told that there were too many ships in port.

Technically, if your port is in the vicinity of New York and free shuttles are provided, then P&O are covered, but I would also be dissapointed with this. The only positive may be that if Aurora is the only ship in that particular port you might get through immigration quicker. I have read lots of reviews of immigration at the Manhattan terminal taking a very long time when there are multiple ships docked there. If that's the case you may not actually lose out too much in time ashore. That said, for those wishing to go ashore Independently, especially in the evening of an overnight stay, I guess it could cost a small fortune to get a cab back to the ship. On that point, does anyone know how late the P&O shuttle buses run during an overnight in New York?

Cunard lay on a coach to/from Macy's in the centre of Manhattan - a "NY on your own" tour essentially - and I guess P&O will do the same. Not so good for evenings though.

My son lived in Brooklyn and Red Hook is not a very nice area to be walking around in the Evenings.

If you are wanting to see Lower Manhattan at all (Brooklyn Bridge/Wall St/Freedom Tower etc) I would get a cab from Red Hook to Brooklyn Heights and walk Brooklyn Bridge to Battery Park. Once you have seen those sights it will be easy to get a cab to MIdtown Manhattan for the sights there.

This was discussed on another forum, and P&O were advising that they would NOT be providing a shuttle bus service from Brooklyn. Might be worth checking whether this position has changed. I think it was because they are not allowed to by the local authorities ( they want to keep tourists is the local area, keep business for local taxis etc).

I have read lots of reviews of immigration at the Manhattan terminal taking a very long time

When we did QM2 a few years back it took 2 and a half hours (yes I did say that) to get through immigration. An appalling amount of time.

In comparison it took 15 minutes to get through immigration when we went to St. Petersburg a couple of years later.

This is what puts me and my husband off going to the US.

People will have booked this cruise in April 16.

And some will have booked last week. Booking early has pros and cons, and one con is the risk of lack of certainty about itinerary.

But to add to the OP's gloom, the Brooklyn terminal is certainly in an industrial area, a mile or so from the subway, and while taxis might be plentiful as the ship arrives, I suspect the only sure way of getting one from the ship is to arrange one by phone, and I'm told drivers hailed in Manhattan are reluctant to go to the terminal and/or don't know where it is. Further, I suspect P&O will not provide a shuttle. Since QM2 always docks there, there is more info in the Cunard threads.

There are Carnival ships from AIDA, Holland America and Carnival berthed in Manhattan while Aurora is in Brooklyn, so theories about P&O's place in the Carnival pecking order may be correct. But whatever the reason, I don't see how anybody has been misled.

When we did QM2 a few years back it took 2 and a half hours (yes I did say that) to get through immigration. An appalling amount of time.

 

In comparison it took 15 minutes to get through immigration when we went to St. Petersburg a couple of years later.

 

This is what puts me and my husband off going to the US.

We were on QM2 and just going off for the day, but still had to go through the full immigration checks. Admittedly, we were on a tour and one of the first through, but it took no more than 5 minutes. So it obviously varies.

We were on QM2 and just going off for the day, but still had to go through the full immigration checks. Admittedly, we were on a tour and one of the first through, but it took no more than 5 minutes. So it obviously varies.

Well that is certainly the way to beat the queue. That's what we did but even then it was 45 minutes before got away. Some people on he other hand took 4 hours to get off.

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Okay, thanks for your thoughts. Personally I always regarded Manhattan as New York. Of course there are several boroughs which make up the state as I mentioned in my first note but New York is Manhattan to my mind. Its got Times Square, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, 9/11 and Wall Street, I could go on. So when P&O announced the Aurora cruise to US/Canada for September 2017 and that we would be having two days in New York, I and it would appear many other potential passengers .. errr guests, assumed that we would be tied up in Manhattan Terminal as there was no suggestion to the contrary. How wrong were we, the terminal is in Brooklyn and there are NO shuttle buses and a half mile walk from the terminal to the dock gate where hopefully taxis will be waiting. Also it is apparently a dangerous place the wander out in the evening. Like many others on this cruise we have booked a one day tour and the second day we thought we would do NY on our on as having been there before. The prospect of this happening is fraught with the implications of finding safe and reliable transport into Manhattan and being able to return safely. Apparently the Brooklyn docks authority have banned the use of shuttle buses from the port so it is very much on your own. I guess my beef is that most people think of New York as Manhattan and P&O should have made it clear that we were tying up in out of town Brooklyn. It is also interesting that the terminal is only being used by cruise ships on 27 days during the whole of 2017. I’m sure we will have a lovely cruise but it is a shame that P&O couldn’t have been a bit more upfront about where we are docking.

Left Out

129 P&O cruises, 17 in the pipeline

... a half mile walk from the terminal to the dock gate where hopefully taxis will be waiting. Also it is apparently a dangerous place the wander out in the evening. Like many others on this cruise we have booked a one day tour and the second day we thought we would do NY on our on as having been there before. The prospect of this happening is fraught with the implications of finding safe and reliable transport into Manhattan and being able to return safely. [/quote]

 

What taxis there are should be next to the ship, not at the dock gate. The Cunard tour (paid) to Macy's went first thing - hence the minimal immigration delay - and came back as late as possible before sailing, so if P&O provide similar it will be the next best thing to being able to simply walk into Manhattan.

Manhattan for us last year on Celebrity Eclipse in November. Was a great location - walking distance to Times Square

You were lucky as Bayonne (Cape Liberty cruise port) was used by Celebrity Silhouette as it's turnaround port for six months 4 years ago. I know because my daughter was a crew member and disliked the terminal because it was so far away from New York.

When we did QM2 a few years back it took 2 and a half hours (yes I did say that) to get through immigration. An appalling amount of time.

 

In comparison it took 15 minutes to get through immigration when we went to St. Petersburg a couple of years later.

 

This is what puts me and my husband off going to the US.

Indeed, same on Aurora into Manhattan 2 years ago, it took 5 hours to clear the ship. We lined up for 2 hours for process. Not enough US Border Security people on to process 2000 pax and 800 crew.:eek:

We flew Sydney to LAX last November for a Panama Canal Cruise. Were through LAX in 30 minutes, good facilities there for immigration, but depended on arrival time, can be bad.

Last year as soon as the sail in was almost done I started queuing for the tickets, it was about an hour but Sue Kersh and I were at the front. (We'll sort of because once they started queuing at least 20 people appeared from nearby and just pushed to the front). The queue was huge but being at the front meant our tickets were called first, we had docked slightly early and we sailed through immigration and were walking in Manhattan within 15 mins of disembarkation. I had got up early and had everything ready to go once they called the number. We did all our own trips and booked fast track tickets on line for things like the Empire State so no queuing to maximise time. The weather was very warm so we took a carriage ride through Green Park which was extortionate. There is a Pret and a supermarket both close to Times Sq. I've got a really good guide to NYC written by a colleague but I have no way of emailing it to you [emoji20]

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