QM2 change of course .

[NE John]

I’m told that dinner will be ready tonight for Independence voyage pax. 

[oskidunker]

?

[NE John]

20 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

?

With the late embarkation, QM2 will provide later dinner hours with same menus etc

[debsea]

Have been in line at the Terminal for an hour now. People have been here for 2-3 hours and no-one has been allowed to board yet. 

[Bigmike911]

I was hoping to watch the You Tube New York Harbor cam which is at the waterfront museum at Red Hook for the arrival and departure. The camera there is out of service til mid July. I hope all who traveled from Southampton came out ok and those going to Halifax should be good to go later tonight.

[NE John]

I am very sad reading about the embarkation fiasco going on right now in Brooklyn.
We had to vacate rooms by 1 and didn’t get in line to leave until 5:30. Some had debarking times after 6pm. At least we could wait in lounges with water, coffee etc and restrooms. All the lounges however looked like bus terminals with crowds and carry-on luggage. 

[Piper77]

Go follow Gary Janetti on Instagram. He’s been doing tons of stories as he’s been waiting to board. Still not on!

Edited July 1, 2023 by Piper77

[bluemarble]

Just for the record, based on the past track shown on marinetraffic, QM2's departure from Brooklyn  appears to have been at approximately 2:40am this morning.

[exlondoner]

11 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

Just for the record, based on the past track shown on marinetraffic, QM2's departure from Brooklyn  appears to have been at approximately 2:40am this morning.

Yes, I think that’s about right. She was still there when I first looked at about 7.30 BST.

[Austcruiser84]

Was watching QM2 videos as I get more excited for my upcoming trip on her and this video came up in relation to the delayed boarding on this voyage. Did Cunard not explain to passengers boarding in NYC the reason for the delay? 

 

 

[Piper77]

From the social media stuff I’ve seen it sounds like they knew it was delayed and passengers told were told the ship was about 6 hours late. But even with their delayed arrival to the port it was still chaos. Long lines, no staff, no water, no assistance for elderly etc.  I haven’t seen anyone angry about the reason for the delay. Just how it was handled when they arrived. 

[techteach]

@Austcruiser84 I think everyone understood the reason for the delay. It was the way it was handled by the port. A lady got out of line to go to the bathroom, when she returned a lady controlling the in and out screamed at her to stop and physically touched her. There were no chairs for elderly people to sit down as they stood in line for four hours. There was no water. There were 2 security scanners and many times only one was working. The other problem was people showing up at the wrong time and nothing being done about it. We are QG and the dining was officially closed at 10:30 when we finally boarded, Osman took pity on me and I ate a very quick dinner to get out of their hair. Half of the people were still not onboard. Why weren’t all restaurants open until everyone was on board? Why were muster stations closed long before everyone was on board?

[Austcruiser84]

5 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Austcruiser84 I think everyone understood the reason for the delay. It was the way it was handled by the port. A lady got out of line to go to the bathroom, when she returned a lady controlling the in and out screamed at her to stop and physically touched her. There were no chairs for elderly people to sit down as they stood in line for four hours. There was no water. There were 2 security scanners and many times only one was working. The other problem was people showing up at the wrong time and nothing being done about it. We are QG and the dining was officially closed at 10:30 when we finally boarded, Osman took pity on me and I ate a very quick dinner to get out of their hair. Half of the people were still not onboard. Why weren’t all restaurants open until everyone was on board? Why were muster stations closed long before everyone was on board?

That does sound rather poor. It surely wouldn’t have cost Cunard much to have brought out water and some light food from the ship itself to appease people waiting in the terminal. Or perhaps even provided a couple of hotel conference room / ballroom spaces for a few hours to keep throngs of people out of the terminal, and then transport them over to Brooklyn when the time was right. On top of this, perhaps a light dinner service arranged for late embarking guests could also have been sorted. These don’t take that much organising really but I’d wager would have spared everyone a headache. People don’t always remember what you get right, but they sure remember what you get wrong in business. Sounds like Cunard - like most airlines and I’m sure many other cruise companies - could do with a better shoreside management team. 

[exlondoner]

I doubt Cunard have an awful lot of control over what happens in the terminal, and I suspect bringing food off the ship might break all sorts of regulations. However, I should have thought that their treatment of people once on board could have been vastly more comforting and welcoming. I hope everyone is getting obc. That is within their power.

[sogne]

27 minutes ago, Austcruiser84 said:

That does sound rather poor. It surely wouldn’t have cost Cunard much to have brought out water and some light food from the ship itself to appease people waiting in the terminal. Or perhaps even provided a couple of hotel conference room / ballroom spaces for a few hours to keep throngs of people out of the terminal, and then transport them over to Brooklyn when the time was right. On top of this, perhaps a light dinner service arranged for late embarking guests could also have been sorted. These don’t take that much organising really but I’d wager would have spared everyone a headache. People don’t always remember what you get right, but they sure remember what you get wrong in business. Sounds like Cunard - like most airlines and I’m sure many other cruise companies - could do with a better shoreside management team. 

Taking food ahore from ship against US law. Once when waiting in.line for immigration sniffer dog stopped by an elderly lady who  had taken a banana from the  Lido. Banana was confiscated passenger admonished. We had been told in writing and PA  announcement not to take any food ashore.Assume this is still the case.

[exlondoner]

Just now, sogne said:

Taking food ahore from ship against US law. Once when waiting in.line for immigration sniffer dog stopped by an elderly lady who  had taken a banana from the  Lido. Banana was confiscated passenger admonished. We had been told in writing and PA  announcement not to take any food ashore.Assume this is still the case.

Well, I certainly remember someone I knew get into awful trouble for eating an apple in the queue after getting off a plane. Pretty daft thing to do.

[Austcruiser84]

8 minutes ago, sogne said:

Taking food ahore from ship against US law. Once when waiting in.line for immigration sniffer dog stopped by an elderly lady who  had taken a banana from the  Lido. Banana was confiscated passenger admonished. We had been told in writing and PA  announcement not to take any food ashore.Assume this is still the case.

Fair point though I’m sure some water and food could be brought over to the terminal from a nearby location. 

[Piper77]

41 minutes ago, Austcruiser84 said:

That does sound rather poor. It surely wouldn’t have cost Cunard much to have brought out water and some light food from the ship itself to appease people waiting in the terminal. Or perhaps even provided a couple of hotel conference room / ballroom spaces for a few hours to keep throngs of people out of the terminal, and then transport them over to Brooklyn when the time was right. On top of this, perhaps a light dinner service arranged for late embarking guests could also have been sorted. These don’t take that much organising really but I’d wager would have spared everyone a headache. People don’t always remember what you get right, but they sure remember what you get wrong in business. Sounds like Cunard - like most airlines and I’m sure many other cruise companies - could do with a better shoreside management team. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/iconic-ocean-liner-delayed-after-urgent-diversion/105198
 

This article says they did stage a hotel ballroom for those using their transfers to wait.  I do think they tried…but really failed at the port with their operations. 

[D&N]

1 hour ago, Austcruiser84 said:

Was watching QM2 videos as I get more excited for my upcoming trip on her and this video came up in relation to the delayed boarding on this voyage. Did Cunard not explain to passengers boarding in NYC the reason for the delay? 

I have to admit that I just found his whole demeanor annoying. 🥱

[NE John]

The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and US Immigration need  to get their act together. I first experienced QM2 in 2008 at BCT and following disastrous stories since then. 
Hire some food trucks to provide food and drinks.
US Immigration policy of clearing the entire ship whether disembarking or not has to change too. Zero sense. 
Something has to be done!

[techteach]

I’m hoping that MSC can use their clout to get changes made.

[techteach]

I went to the hobby group, there were 9 of us and the ladies were very vocal about the lack of apparent caring by Cunard staff. I asked about grills priority as we moved from security into the actual checking and was told it didn’t exist by a port worker. Now I’m hearing it did exist and would have saved us hours. DH spent the previous 22 hours on antibiotic IV in an emergency room, he was released at 3:00pm,  and we arrived at the port shortly before our 6:00pm, our arrival time, he could barely walk. But he stood for almost five hours to get through lines. Unless this story blows up in Cunard face in the media they will make no changes. And, I’m afraid the optics of  people with money to cruise complaining won’t garner much sympathy.

Edited July 1, 2023 by techteach
Additional thoughts

[nybumpkin]

I was aboard and disembarked yesterday. Captain Hashmi kept us well informed - he first came on the PA system around 9:15, apologizing for interrupting our breakfast(!) and informing us that we'd be diverting to Halifax to disembark the ill person at approximately 1100 and be back underway around 1200. After we were back underway, he announced that we should be alongside in Red Hook at around 1500 on 30 June. We've done the Halifax-NYC run a number of times and the crew did a great job; they made really good time and we were alongside around 1430. We disembarked around 1630 and were through Customs & Immigration in about a half hour. (Four years ago, with an on-time disembarkation, it was three hours.) We were home (south of Albany) by 2030.

 

I certainly can't comment on the embarkation procedure, but my one comment on our disembarkation is that they really needed to do better at keeping people informed as to where they should wait. Cunard tries to adhere to "silent disembarkation" so as not to disturb people residing in the Red Hook area, but there were way too many people who had no idea where to go. They stated that people should wait in the lounges and the theaters; we waited in the Royal Court Theater, but some folks there with us were being told that they couldn't wait there.

 

A comment on people's general thoughts about being diverted. I doubt anyone was thrilled with having their travel plans disrupted (and Captain Hashmi was blunt about that happening during his initial announcement), but the vast majority of people understood and many told the captain (or sent notes) that their thoughts were with the sick person.

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by nybumpkin

[bluemarble]

Not a particularly auspicious return to Halifax weatherwise for QM2 today, I'm afraid. Even with the extra delay of a few more hours leaving New York yesterday, I thought QM2 would still be able to make Halifax at her scheduled time of 8:00am this morning. She was giving it the old college try with speeds in excess of 24 knots at times. She almost made it as scheduled but I suppose the fog had the final say.

 

Here is what it looked like about an hour ago as she was alongside at Halifax a few minutes before 9:00am this morning. QM2 ought to be on prominent display in this view. This is a capture from the Pier 21 webcam at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel found at "www.novascotiawebcams.com".

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by bluemarble

[BklynBoy8]

QM2 currently docked in Halifax since 9AM.

 

This is the current weather we've been

seeing since arriving outside of the harbor.

 

This is the opposite view of bluemarble's picture from our balcony on board facing the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel at this time.

 

It was to burn off the afternoon but it didn't.

 

.