Magic from New York

[mom1965]

Has anybody recently been on the Magic, we sailed on the first sailing from New York to Bermuda, it was a mess.  Took us over 2 1/2 hours to get onboard and we went at our scheduled time (nobody pays any attention to that though).  We are travelling again on 8/22 and wondering if it has gotten better or should we just wait and go on later in the afternoon.  We are platinum however that doesn't matter right now, there is one small part of check in at the end that they have a dedicated line for but that's it.  I think we had to go through 4 check in lines and still needed to show boarding pass to get on the ship....

[luvs2beachit]

Just got off a b2b yesterday and we didn't have too bad an experience checking in and we did not have Verify.  From start to finish took us about 20-25 minutes.  We are also platinum, and like you, we were 3/4 down the line until we were directed to the priority line.  Our boarding time was scheduled for 1st boarding at 10AM..

Edited July 7, 2022 by luvs2beachit

[biggieboy]

1 hour ago, mom1965 said:

Has anybody recently been on the Magic, we sailed on the first sailing from New York to Bermuda, it was a mess.  Took us over 2 1/2 hours to get onboard and we went at our scheduled time (nobody pays any attention to that though).  We are travelling again on 8/22 and wondering if it has gotten better or should we just wait and go on later in the afternoon.  We are platinum however that doesn't matter right now, there is one small part of check in at the end that they have a dedicated line for but that's it.  I think we had to go through 4 check in lines and still needed to show boarding pass to get on the ship....

Go early. Mid and late boarding was pretty bad on the 6/20 sailing but everyone who arrived early had no issue.

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, mom1965 said:

Has anybody recently been on the Magic, we sailed on the first sailing from New York to Bermuda, it was a mess.  Took us over 2 1/2 hours to get onboard and we went at our scheduled time (nobody pays any attention to that though).  We are travelling again on 8/22 and wondering if it has gotten better or should we just wait and go on later in the afternoon.  We are platinum however that doesn't matter right now, there is one small part of check in at the end that they have a dedicated line for but that's it.  I think we had to go through 4 check in lines and still needed to show boarding pass to get on the ship....

I did 3 post pandemic NCL sailings from Manhattan.  Two were to the Bahamas....no issues at all (even one where everyone had to get tested at the port).  The third was to Bermuda....a long and messy check-in.  I think it has more to with "destination of the cruise" than the terminal or cruiseline.

[ladychater]

1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

The third was to Bermuda....a long and messy check-in.  I think it has more to with "destination of the cruise" than the terminal or cruiseline.

What do you think caused the slowdown?  Was it because people had to show that they'd applied for a Bermudan visa?  I could see that slowing things down as a lot of people probably turn up without having done that.

 

[MsTabbyKats]

5 minutes ago, ladychater said:

What do you think caused the slowdown?  Was it because people had to show that they'd applied for a Bermudan visa?  I could see that slowing things down as a lot of people probably turn up without having done that.

 

Yes...there was that extra step where you had to show your approval (I think).  On the other cruises we went thru the "show your boarding pass" step and next to check-in where you show your passport.  On the Bermuda cruise there was that extra "show us the Bermuda papers" step.

[pe4all]

Just off Magic yesterday.  We were there at 10 am - our checkin time.  Small line then.  We used Verifly, showed our passport, and sailed right through- 5 minutes later we were seated in the terminal waiting to board.  We were in group 1A, and I think we boarded around 11, if I remember correctly.    

[biggieboy]

1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I did 3 post pandemic NCL sailings from Manhattan.  Two were to the Bahamas....no issues at all (even one where everyone had to get tested at the port).  The third was to Bermuda....a long and messy check-in.  I think it has more to with "destination of the cruise" than the terminal or cruiseline.

We went to the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, and Bahamas and had a long embarkation wait.

[skrufy]

3 hours ago, mom1965 said:

Has anybody recently been on the Magic, we sailed on the first sailing from New York to Bermuda, it was a mess.  Took us over 2 1/2 hours to get onboard and we went at our scheduled time (nobody pays any attention to that though).  We are travelling again on 8/22 and wondering if it has gotten better or should we just wait and go on later in the afternoon.  We are platinum however that doesn't matter right now, there is one small part of check in at the end that they have a dedicated line for but that's it.  I think we had to go through 4 check in lines and still needed to show boarding pass to get on the ship....

Take advantage of the extra days platinums get to secure their check in times. You should breeze right through the terminal and be on board quickly. Last December we had an 11:00 am check in time but due to the shuttle being late to pick us up we arrived about 11:20. Went to the front of the line, showed  boarding pass and we were were shown right into the terminal, on board in 25 minutes. Our experience was Miami, may not work at all ports. 

[yogibear]

10 hours ago, mom1965 said:

Has anybody recently been on the Magic, we sailed on the first sailing from New York to Bermuda, it was a mess.  Took us over 2 1/2 hours to get onboard and we went at our scheduled time (nobody pays any attention to that though).  We are travelling again on 8/22 and wondering if it has gotten better or should we just wait and go on later in the afternoon.  We are platinum however that doesn't matter right now, there is one small part of check in at the end that they have a dedicated line for but that's it.  I think we had to go through 4 check in lines and still needed to show boarding pass to get on the ship....

See you onboard the Magic on the 22nd.

 

Karen