T BYRD

She is a ray of sunshine 🌸

As Interior Family Suite guests, we received some of the haven perks. “Priority embarkation/disembarkation”Upon entering Pier 88 All guests must go through the same first security check point, then we were greeted to separate check-in lines and a roped off pre-board seating area. Then two hours later…. After those needing assistance, and the upper tier latitude members, we were called to board. Kinda sweet 😁 For disembarkation, we received Yellow luggage tags in our room the day before with instructions to leave our bags outside the door that night and we would be the first group called (8:45am) to get off the ship the next morning as our bags would be the first ones available in the claim area. We chose “Self disembarkation” instead and were instructed to be in line down on deck 7 by 8:00am. We got down to the Local Cafe early, had maybe 30-40 guests in front of us, and were off the ship (through to theatre) in no time. Easy peasy 👍 I’ll definitely do that again!! It was relatively quick and zero stress. Now… If I wanted to relax, have breakfast, and enjoy every minute that I could on that amazing ship… I’d arrange to be the last guest to walk off 😊 No matter what color tags and time slot you are given, you can always go to the Guest Service desk and choose a later time to disembark 😉

We were in an Interior family suite. Yellow was the first color called after the self disembarking passengers. I believe that happened at 8:45am.

I didn’t see them… Also, our Elements show got cancelled due to a cast member’s injury. They had a magician instead and he was pretty amazing 👍

The mini-buses stage with the taxis right on the main turn around in the center of the pier. Just ask if they bring you right down to the beach before getting in 😉

I will always make reservations if they are available… It’s a looong walk from pier 90 to 88! This is 88 hours before throwing lines out of NY. With bigger ships, comes more cars needing to park.

I works for me 🤷‍♂️

I just checked the nycruise parking site and reservations are available for every ship that is scheduled until the end of the year 👍

I think my reservation was for 8am… I did see a few cars parked along the side of upper deck where the entrances to the lots are located. Not sure if the were waiting for their time slot 🧐 You can call the number on your reservation and ask. The guy I talked to was wicked nice.

We had a 5:30pm reservation as well. Table service was what I consider normal… drinks in 5 minutes… apps in 20…. Entrees in 30-40. Julia came out onto the stage at 6:10. We stayed for the whole set which ended @ 7:15.

Not sure if it’s frowned upon to post external links on this forum but… NYCRUISE dot COM is the site to reserve a spot at the actual cruise terminal lot. Other sites only direct you to close-by lots.

That depends…. The pier is as long as the ship, so if you park waaaaay down on the end then it’ll be over 1000ft to the elevator!! That would be a bad way to start your cruise if it was pouring rain 🫤 I took my time and waited for a spot next to the entrance.

Pier 90 and 88 both have parking on the top that are accessed from the same “LEVEL 3” service road. Just follow the signs. Make a reservation! Free cancellation up to the scheduled time of arrival 👍 On their website, you choose your Ship and date and it will tell you what pier to park at. (The parking attendants will direct you also) We chose a 9:30 check-in time slot. Entering the Cruise terminal access road off of The Hudson River Greenway (Rt. 9A)@ 8:45am, I dropped my fellow cruisers and baggage off on LEVEL 2 then exiting the access road, made the reverse direction loop back onto the Greenway (Rt. 9A), re-entered the access road, then took the ramp up to the parking area on top of Pier 88 (LEVEL 3) The attendant up there was directing traffic onto pier 90 first, then around the lot, and back out onto the service road to get to pier 88. I believe this was done to control the flow of traffic better. There were plenty of open spots 👍 Hope this helps 😊

We went to one 18+ show. We had a blast! Joe was great! Our concierge got us reservations. I would definitely recommend that you plan ahead. The “stand-by” line was wicked long!!

Made it home safe and sound 👍 Self disembarking was a breeze! We got our luggage packed last night, Ship tied up to Pier 88 at 6am, We got inline(Deck 7 at the Local)with our bags in tow at @ 6:45, Walked off the ship at 8:10, Exit is kinda strange as you walk through the baggage pick-up/forklift loading area, Headed up the elevator to level 3, Stuffed our bags in the car and were driving out of Manhattan by 8:30. I’d honestly be fine with sailing on the JOY back and forth to Bermuda all Summer long. But it’s good to be home ❤️ If anyone has any questions…. Fire away 😉