Brooklyn boarding mess 7 September

Just arrived at terminal to check in at 14:30. Drop off area clear, security a breeze but MASSIVE lines for checking in. Were there delays in disembarking? Delays earlier in the check in phase?

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90 minutes to get through checkin!

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Hope the rest of your crossing goes more smoothly. QM2 looked great leaving NYC.

Just arrived at terminal to check in at 14:30. Drop off area clear, security a breeze but MASSIVE lines for checking in. Were there delays in disembarking? Delays earlier in the check in phase?...

Normally by 2:30 one would expect to breeze through. Here is what has been happening. US immigration and customs staffing - mostly lack thereof - has been slowing down disembarkation. And Cunard cannot start boarding until the entire ship is cleared and US authorities give them the go-ahead.

As designed the process was intended to have all disembarking passengers off and on their way well before embarking passengers were due to start arriving. Now that it's taking much longer to disembark the ship these two groups are converging on each other. And that's compounded when too many passengers with later boarding times show up early because they want to show up early.

The last time somebody asked about boarding earlier than their stated time I got flamed by multiple posters for suggesting that that don't try to come early:

* Early flight arrival. I'm expecting them to drag their bags around to kill time in Brooklyn.

* Early hotel check out. I'm expecting them to drag their bags around to kill time in Brooklyn.

* Early arrival from driving to the terminal. I'm expecting them to drive around to kill time in Brooklyn.

* Anticipation that this day has finally come and I'm faulting them for being eager to board and get out of Brooklyn.

None of this is my doing and I wish it wasn't the case, but it is the way it is.

Given that background information, do you now want to imagine exactly what the check in line would have been like if you came before Noon? Glad you posted this. I think I'll book mark this thread so I can refer to it the next time somebody asks why should they not show up before 11.

If this is consistently happening in Brooklyn, then Cunard needs to adjust and schedule arrivals of departing passengers accordingly. Specifically Cunard needs to anticipate that passengers will board later and later and the the ship may have to depart later. Otherwise Cunard is creating a horrible boarding experience for passengers and may be killing their business.

We've had way too many bad boarding experiences on Cunard in Brooklyn, Cape Town, Los Angeles and even Southampton. On the other hand we've never had excessive delays boarding on any other line, including mass market lines like Princess and HAL. These delays do not have to happen if passengers are scheduled effectively and professionally. Otherwise it gets the cruise/crossing off on with a terrible first impression. One of my pet peeves with Cunard, and just my MHO.

Normally by 2:30 one would expect to breeze through. Here is what has been happening. US immigration and customs staffing - mostly lack thereof - has been slowing down disembarkation. And Cunard cannot start boarding until the entire ship is cleared and US authorities give them the go-ahead.

 

If this is consistently happening in Brooklyn, then Cunard needs to adjust and schedule arrivals of departing passengers accordingly. Specifically Cunard needs to anticipate that passengers will board later and later and the the ship may have to depart later. Otherwise Cunard is creating a horrible boarding experience for passengers and may be killing their business.

 

We've had way too many bad boarding experiences on Cunard in Brooklyn, Cape Town, Los Angeles and even Southampton. On the other hand we've never had excessive delays boarding on any other line, including mass market lines like Princess and HAL. These delays do not have to happen if passengers are scheduled effectively and professionally. Otherwise it gets the cruise/crossing off on with a terrible first impression. One of my pet peeves with Cunard, and just my MHO.

We've experienced the exact same thing in Manhattan and Miami, all down to immigration. Cunard cannot board new passengers until all arriving passengers and crew have been processed. If there were more immigration officers to speed up the process the situation would be improved. Most Cunard arrivals will have sailed from a foreign port before arriving in the U.S.

Some years ago, customs officials travelled on the ship, and this was all processed before arrival in NY. Not sure why this was stopped; it made US entry so easy!

If this is consistently happening in Brooklyn, then Cunard needs to adjust and schedule arrivals of departing passengers accordingly. Specifically Cunard needs to anticipate that passengers will board later and later and the the ship may have to depart later. Otherwise Cunard is creating a horrible boarding experience for passengers and may be killing their business.

 

We've had way too many bad boarding experiences on Cunard in Brooklyn, Cape Town, Los Angeles and even Southampton. On the other hand we've never had excessive delays boarding on any other line, including mass market lines like Princess and HAL. These delays do not have to happen if passengers are scheduled effectively and professionally. Otherwise it gets the cruise/crossing off on with a terrible first impression. One of my pet peeves with Cunard, and just my MHO.

But we all know that passengers don't abide by the times they are allocated.

Everyone wants to be on early and turn up well ahead of their 'scheduled' time.

Interestingly there is a group of friends from the Cunard Fanzine page travelling on this voyage.

Yesterday we had a running commentary from them with many photographs sipping pre-lunch drinks and no mention of anything untoward.

Their photographs of the 'sailaway' were also good: the weather looked really fine.

Hope the rest of your crossing goes more smoothly. QM2 looked great leaving NYC.

 

 

Gorgeous photos Scrapnana, thanks for posting.

OP hope the rest of your trip is an improvement on the initial experience.

I cannot imagine what happened; I arrived yesterday on QM2, ALL of the Immigration desks were staffed and I was out of the terminal by 8:40. There were no great lines at the gangway on board-admittedly I am DIAMOND but when I disembarked last December there were very few Immigration officers and despite my “exalted status", everything took forever-I did not get out of the terminal until 10:15. As we say in New York-go figure.:confused:

Glad it moved fast for you and that was about the time I had expected to be off. I didn't get off until 10:40 last December and that was PG.

I'm surprised by how many posts above suggest all the responsibility to handle this is on Cunard. The source of the problem is the US government and its immigration operation. Cunard should be representing its customers and raising hell with the US government and especially with elected people in New York. Cunard delivers huge economic benefits to New York and the US. You'd think it would be in their interests to have visitors welcomed with courtesy and efficiency! Security and efficiency are not mutual exclusives!

Perhaps they have but US authorities won't increase staffing. If Cunard has complained they certainly can't say so publicly.

Disembarkation is faster in the UK because an on-board immigration agent clears everybody on the way over. How much more convenient it would be if a US immigration agent rode the WB. Surely the revenue lost to giving the agent a stateroom would be more than offset by substantially speeding up the process. (And I would think that this would be a plum assignment!)

One of the reasons for building the Redhook terminal was to allow for more efficient disembarkation given the size of today's ships compared to the Manhattan terminal that was designed for mid-20th century liners. It's all negated when insufficient staff make the coming and going miserable for everyone.

As for the Sept 7th sailing, there might have been a Vessel Sanitation Inspection. The last time QM2 was inspected was January 3rd (her score was 98) so it would be about time for another one.

I noticed she didn't sail until about 6 pm yesterday, but I don't know when she was supposed to. One of my concerns when I started the whole to do on the previous thread about arriving early, was Cunard doesn't tell you when sailing is or when you are required to be onboard. That also confuses things.

I'm surprised by how many posts above suggest all the responsibility to handle this is on Cunard. The source of the problem is the US government and its immigration operation. Cunard should be representing its customers and raising hell with the US government and especially with elected people in New York. Cunard delivers huge economic benefits to New York and the US. You'd think it would be in their interests to have visitors welcomed with courtesy and efficiency! Security and efficiency are not mutual exclusives!

I think this actually happened a few years with immigration at Florida. People were arriving after a long haul flight and then were facing several (5,6,7 etc) hours delay with US immigration. As a result, holiday bookings went down. So the tourist industry kicked up a massive fuss because of course they were losing a huge amount of business.

As for blaming Cunard; the reason this happens is that people blame whom they have paid (i.e. whom their contract is with). It's like when you go on holiday. Airports are a shambles and the people that operate them treat passengers like scum. But you contract is with your airline/holiday company. So who do you complain to ? Obviously you complain to your holiday company.

when we departed red hook on qm2 on july 28th, we got there unintentionally early at 12.30pm no queues whatsoever onboard before 1pm. We were totally shocked as had expected to be in queue for ages. Everyone must have gone later that day.

Will global entry get you through Customs faster? Separate line or ask?

Don't know about Brooklyn but will at some other ports....Port Everglades yes but not at San Juan. Don't think any of the NY ports. Bring your card. Can't hurt to ask.

Will global entry get you through Customs faster? Separate line or ask?

No kiosks or special handling for Global Entry passengers in Brooklyn.

Patience is a virtue my old Mum used to say. No one has patience anymore, everyone wants things to move fast, not wait for anything and expect everything at top speed. Why?

Enjoy the experience I say, chill out as the kids would say. The Ship is going nowhere without you.

Patience is a virtue my old Mum used to say. No one has patience anymore, everyone wants things to move fast, not wait for anything and expect everything at top speed. Why?

 

Enjoy the experience I say, chill out as the kids would say. The Ship is going nowhere without you.

We were on the September 7 sailing and waited 2.5 hours to get from the end of the check-in line to the front, not including document checks, going through security, or filling out the health declaration (those were a breeze). That was a LONG time for us to be on our feet, and we’re able-bodied! I don’t think the delays were due to immigration and customs, it seemed like it was taking unusually long to check people in and there were a lot of passengers in the handicapped lines who got to jump our queue.

Our departure was delayed by about an hour, though the stated reason by the captain was that a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was blocking our path on their way to sail past the Statue of Liberty.

it seemed like it was taking unusually long to check people in and there were a lot of passengers in the handicapped lines who got to jump our queue.

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I'd heard from others once on board that there were "computer issues." The issues were either:

A) The system was down and everything was done manually

B) There was a new system and people were still figuring out how to use it

C) The check in staff was all new and had no idea how to use the system

I heard all three explanations and variations of them from people in line and on board. I am not sure if we'll ever get the truth.

The delays to departure were for the ship doing the Statue of Liberty "cruise by." The captain seemed a bit miffed by that.

I'll do a separate post with my overall comments about the trip.

Flew from Manchester to New York. In priority line but still took 30 minutes.

Immigration in JFK took two hours. They have machines that read your passport but the first machine we tried broke down. The second one read my wife's passport OK but my form came out with a big X on it so we had to queue for nearly two hours in a seperate line.

Joined QM2 in Brooklyn on Sept 7th. Checkin took about two hours. Cunard staff said that the problem was because everyone arrived at once, just after 12noon. We got there at that time because we were on a Cunard holiday and that was the time the coach took us there.

Disembarking at Southampton - left our room at 8.30am. Told there was a delay as due to winds the gangplank had to be re-positioned. Got on the coach to the airport at 11am.

That makes a total of seven hours queueing. Never again!

I...The delays to departure were for the ship doing the Statue of Liberty "cruise by." The captain seemed a bit miffed by that...

It works two ways. For her 200th crossing QM2 had a special sail by in front of the Statue of Liberty. I'm not sure how many of the other ships and ferries in New York harbor appreciated that.