Any suggestion on what time to arrive at the NY City port?

[Glamourgal]

We are leaving out of NYC on a Sat. Our documents tell us that embarkation goes from 2-3:30. We were told to arrive at the port from 11AM-2:00. I can't wait to get on that ship and don't mind getting there a little earlier if it means getting on the ship earlier? Appreciate any suggestions. According to the pier schedule it looks like the Legend is the only ship there that day.

[judyf]

I'm aiming to get to the Pier about 11:30 am. Don't know if that's a good idea or bad.

[glrounds]

Maybe it was just that particular date.

 

Maybe it was the threat of rain as the remnants of Hurrican Ivan were running through NYC.

 

Maybe it was just the way everyone when in New York City have their own agenda and to hell with anyone else, but

 

Embarking in NYC (as well as debarking) was the most disorganized, hassled, mess I'd ever experienced. Street side, cabs, vans, limos everywhere all blocking this way or that. Mayhem ! ! Inside, lines everywhere with no signs or Carnival people instructing. Get to the front of a line and discover that line is for non-citizens, etc. Get to the head of another line and discover that's for paxs that have their docs ONLY. Go back to another line to get docs. Crazy. Took about 3 hours to actually board the ship.

 

In Carnival's defense, I must say, this is not a year-around dock. I also think its "shared" with other cruise lines, so hard to make permanent changes with the proper signs and desks, and passenger flows (looks like its all put up an hour before one arrives). :rolleyes: Long Beach will spoil the hell out of yah ! !

 

But, in spite of it all.....its New York (the capitol city of the World) and you gotta love it ! ! Every hassled minute of it ! ! :)

 

A Saturday departure might save some of the hassles though. :confused:

[ILov2cruise]

If people read their docs and arrived at the pier at the time they are told it would be alot better. It makes it harder when people are trying to get off at the same time people are trying to get on. This is 1 building, this is not a cruise port with different terminals, one way in and one way out. Traffic in the city is bad and when 1000s are getting off and 1000s getting on its a lot worse.

 

65% of all NYC traffic is from people who live outside NYC.

[Bookbug53]

Check the port for the day of your departure. The day we sailed on the Legend there were four other ships there! It was chaos. We arrived early, not to board, but to go to the Intrepid Museum that morning before boarding. We thought we would avoid the crowds and throw in a little something extra for the vacation. We arrived at the street in front of the pier (forget the name) at 9:30am...we parked our car at 11:45 at the pier!! It was utter nonsense. There is absolutely no organization inside the terminal (on this day) and the traffic pattern of one way streets, divided roads, and horrendus traffic made it worse. After we boarded we did notice that late arrivals at the pier (viewed from the deck) seemed to just breeze into parking and had no issues. It is a whole week...don't rush.

[IKE]

We sailed the" Legend "last Sept. and left on a Tuesday. We drove to the Ship and parked for the 8 days. It was very hectic as when We arrived there about 11:30AM, people were still disembarking the Ship. No room to get into the terminal. It was just awful. I plan to go again this year and will not arrive before 1PM. Talked to many passengers onboard & they came later and it was no problem, We were told. Good Luck and enjoy your cruise. In NYC, you have to roll with the punches.......

[2boyzmom]

You can check the cruise terminal website to see how many ships will be in port any given day. On 5/21, the Legend is the only ship in port, so we are leaving our house at 10:30 to be there by noon. When you drive- you have to be prepared for anything 9 flat tires, NYC traffic).... By the way- we have cruised out of NYC quite a few times and have never encountered any problems. Maybe we are just use to the hustle and bustle of NYC. Gotta Love It !!

[Glamourgal]

That is the cruise we are going on 5/21. I read also that it is the only ship in port. We are being dropped off at the terminal and I think we will shoot on getting there around 11-11:30. I have spoken with a past cruiser and he said that as long as the ship is ready they will let you board early. It would be nice if we could arrange a meet and mingle party on board? :rolleyes:

[M.S JAZO]

Both times we sailed on the Legend, we were luckyand were onboard very early[got home movies to prove it]. This is early in NY time, but Florida time, people would say its late. We live in NY, so we left the house at like 10:00, Car arrived at that time, There were 3 ships in port, Long Story short, I was walking to the elevator of the atruim to go to my cabin at 12:57Pm, Now it was a Sunday so there was no traffic, so we made it in like 30 mins to the port, and we had no skippers club so it did not help. The First time, there were 2 ships in port, The Legend and a Radisson ship, The Radisson ship came in at 11am, so there were ALOT more people in port, We were on the Legend filming from the balcony at 1:29pm, now let me say this, Most of the times we have sailed from NYC, and when we sailed on Carnival from NYC, the people, meaning the passengers were disorganized, as we got of the cab, to the sides we saw MANY passengers just filling out the lugguge tags, now at first i thought i was people who had just got tags from the port cause they did not reicve docs, but inside there was a line and a counter, and space with porters for people who were just getting there docs, so i then knew those people left the filling of the tags and even a few had just began filling in the docs, had left it for last min, Then when they are on line until 2:30 and still not onboard, "Its Carnival fault, they are disorganized and bla bla bla" but they didnt have 10 mins to do it at home or atleast in the cab, plane whatever, plus, now u can cheat your way to getting onboard faster, the No FunPass line is sssssssssssoooooooooo much shorter then the Funpass line, I was not able to print mine, Went on the No Funpass line, There were 2 people ahead of me, The other had... you can imagine how many.so that also sped up my time, but that online applyed to the Second time, not first