Back-to-Back QM2 and Suite Change between segments

[stan01]

We are booked on QM2 23 JUN 2024 Southampton-Brooklyn, followed by the 4th of July Brooklyn to Brooklyn cruise.  We will be in Queens Grill but this is our first and likely only cruise on Cunard so no other "status".  It's basically a bucket list item to do the TA in QG and adding on the 4th of July seemed even more special.

 

Although the full trip can be made as a single booking there wasn't availability of QG suites to do this so we did two bookings that Cunard says are linked.  Each segment is a separate booking, and we have to change suites (a few doors down the hall) at the pier in Brooklyn between the segments.

 

We were told by Cunard phone rep that the ship's crew would help move our belongings from the first suite to the second suite, especially since we are in QG.  We'd certainly try to make this as easy as possible and would pack most items in suitcases but would rather not pack and wrinkle up our formal wear to move down the hall.  Anyone done this before?

 

What else might we expect in this situation?  Since we are in Brooklyn I'm guessing we'll have to go through US Customs then reboard.  Might staying on the ship be an option?  We may not know for sure what will happen until we get on the ship (and the Cunard rep implied this) but hoping this happens often enough that others can help us know what to expect.

 

 

[intel]

Never had a problem the crew took care of everything. We packed as you are looking at some our items and they shifted the lot. We changed decks and no problems were encountered. We have done it twice all over in a short time. From memory we had to clear immigration not sure now when it took place but we were there when the transfer took place. Have a good trip

[stan01]

1 hour ago, intel said:

Never had a problem the crew took care of everything. 

 

Thank you much, I figured the crew would take care of it and good to hear it does indeed work out.

[NE John]

I’ve recently learned the difference between a closed loop trip vs non-closed loop.  From what I understand, you don’t have to debark the ship in Brooklyn if you’re on a closed loop cruise so I would ask Cunard how they classify your Crossing/New England cruise.
Everyone has to get off the QM2 after a TA in late June before the ship left Brooklyn for the Independence Day cruise. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by NE John

[david,Mississauga]

I can't comment on what a "closed loop" is but my recollection from our experience is everyone had to leave the ship in Brooklyn. Only when the "zero on board" announcement was made the authorities won't even consider letting anyone back on board.  We had to go through security again, then were led to a waiting area and were allowed to re-board before any of the joining passengers were called to board.

 

It isn't just QG passengers who are moved by the crew. A few years ago we were in Britannia and the steward moved everything for us. Unfortunately we had to pack everything. Some people are lucky and clothes on hangers are taken by the crew as is.  Our steward was told no by the head housekeeper.  Considering your new stateroom is down the hall from the first you may be able to carry your clothes on hangers if the crew are not allowed to do this. We are doing a similar change of cabins next year and hope to avoid packing all our clothes into suitcases.

[exlondoner]

I hope you get two welcome bottles of champagne, one for each sector.

[North West Newbie]

22 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I hope you get two welcome bottles of champagne, one for each sector.

 

We didn't, they only provided the chocolates.😕

[exlondoner]

13 minutes ago, North West Newbie said:

 

We didn't, they only provided the chocolates.😕

Tut, tut.

[Morgans]

Have done this but not in New York. They gave us a hanging trolley (whatever it is called) and the steward moved this for us. Other things we packed in suitcases. 

 

[Pushpit]

Yes you definitely have to disembark at Brooklyn, then reboard (or go sightseeing in New York and reboard later on). However you do it, you're going to be off the QM2 for at least a couple of hours. This is because UK to USA is considered a fully international arrival, in a country that doesn't recognise transit or (in this scenario) gives special treatment to cruise / liner vessels. Other places just let you off with minimal or zero checks, or allow you to stay onboard, USA isn't one such place.

[stan01]

4 hours ago, Morgans said:

Have done this but not in New York. They gave us a hanging trolley (whatever it is called) and the steward moved this for us. Other things we packed in suitcases. 

 

 

A hanging trolley is great news, that would be wonderful and easy to do!  Thank you!

[Bell Boy]

3 hours ago, stan01 said:

 

A hanging trolley is great news, that would be wonderful and easy to do!  Thank you!

This is the standard procedure and has been for years .  It was was only 'temporarily suspended' during the pandemic, another useless procedure even though it had no scientific evidence.

The hanging trolley and moving procedure  was in evidence on my last cruise as recent as December 2022. Observed a couple a few doors away moving to a new Stateroom on a disembarkation day.      

[ExArkie]

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

This is the standard procedure and has been for years .  It was was only 'temporarily suspended' during the pandemic, another useless procedure even though it had no scientific evidence.

The hanging trolley and moving procedure  was in evidence on my last cruise as recent as December 2022. Observed a couple a few doors away moving to a new Stateroom on a disembarkation day.      

Interesting that we did not get the hanging trolley in December 2022. Perhaps because we were moving from PG to QG, but we had to pack everything not our suitcases. 

[Underwatr]

20 hours ago, NE John said:

I’ve recently learned the difference between a closed loop trip vs non-closed loop.  From what I understand, you don’t have to debark the ship in Brooklyn if you’re on a closed loop cruise so I would ask Cunard how they classify your Crossing/New England cruise.

You can stay aboard only if your arriving voyage segment is closed loop - for example, if you do the NYC-NYC Caribbean route and then continue on to Southampton the NYC-NYC is the closed loop anmd you aren't required to leave the ship on that NYC visit. It's because you're deemed to have already been cleared into the US at the start of that closed loop - whether it was upon QM2's arrival before heading down to the Caribbean or some other US arrival that you had made. 
Since there's ordinarily no embarkation point between leaving New York and arriving back in New York (unless you're an entertainer or perhaps a crew member - both of which are few enough to be managed as an exception) all passengers arriving in New York will have left via New York just under 2 weeks ago.
Arriving via a crossing isn't closed loop even if you originally boarded in New York because a significant number of new passengers will have boarded in Southampton. The same is true for the current arrivals from Quebec City (when I visited in Quebec in 2010 is was a since 9 day itinerary out of New York).
If you do a New England closed loop followed by an eastbound transatlantic I assume you'll be allowed to remain onboard but of course the Immigration staff has final say.

[sfred]

Interesting...   I haven't heard that term "closed loop" before. Thanks @NE John and @Underwatr. To qualify as closed loop, do you know if it has to be the same port (eg, NY to NY) or can it be any two ports both in the US?

 

When we did the QE SF to Barcelona tip in Aug/Sep, the only embarkation port between SF and Ft Lauderdale was LA.  In LA we did not have to get off the ship (although we did) and the ship did not have to be zeroed out.  In Ft Lauderdale, after calls in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Aruba (none of which was an embarkation port), we had to exit the ship in Ft Lauderdale (we planned to anyway), clear US immigration, and the ship had to be zeroed out. 

[Victoria2]

A US closed loop is any cruise starting and ending in any port in the US with no foreign ports where passengers can disembark for a visit if they want to so SF to Miami with no Caribbean/Mexico/non US stops etc  is a closed loop.

 

[Host Hattie]

Here's a Cruise Critic article which might help 

What is a Closed Loop Cruise ?

[Victoria2]

9 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

Here's a Cruise Critic article which might help 

What is a Closed Loop Cruise ?

Interesting. Begin and return to same port. That conflicts with a DHS chat we had re closed loops.

[NE John]

5 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

A US closed loop is any cruise starting and ending in any port in the US with no foreign ports where passengers can disembark for a visit if they want to so SF to Miami with no Caribbean/Mexico/non US stops etc  is a closed loop.

 

One will rarely see such a cruise. The trouble with this scenario is the archaic Jones Act requiring non-US flagged or “bottomed” ships to call on a foreign port before coming back to US. That’s why you see the New England/Independence cruise stop at Halifax, for example. 
The Jones Act goal was to encourage US ship production and punish foreign made ships. It hasn’t worked in 100 years…

Edited December 11, 2023 by NE John

[Bell Boy]

17 hours ago, ExArkie said:

Interesting that we did not get the hanging trolley in December 2022. Perhaps because we were moving from PG to QG, but we had to pack everything not our suitcases. 

Well that's shocking considering you were 'in the Grills'.  The example I quoted above was deck Six   Britannia category. ( the date was December 23rd morning of disembarkation at Southampton)   

 

Edited to add;  Just to clarify, QG,PG, Britannia balcony, inside or ocean view should make no difference to the 'hanging rail trolley procedure/s', for years this has been standard.  Lost count of how many times I've transferred (B2B)  in the past.

If one experiences any hassle with their transfer you should contact the Housekeeping manager immediately. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Bell Boy

[Victoria2]

1 hour ago, NE John said:

One will rarely see such a cruise. The trouble with this scenario is the archaic Jones Act requiring non-US flagged or “bottomed” ships to call on a foreign port before coming back to US. That’s why you see the New England/Independence cruise stop at Halifax, for example. 
The Jones Act goal was to encourage US ship production and punish foreign made ships. It hasn’t worked in 100 years…

I know of the Jones Act.

A loop makes sense to start and finish at the same place and I don't recall any cruise such as the scenario I mentioned but I asked an immigration officer what a closed loop was and that was his explanation. Now he might have misheard me, but I didn't mishear him. Either way, the explanation was obviously incorrect.

 

 

[ExArkie]

2 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

Well that's shocking considering you were 'in the Grills'.  The example I quoted above was deck Six   Britannia category. ( the date was December 23rd morning of disembarkation at Southampton)   

 

Edited to add;  Just to clarify, QG,PG, Britannia balcony, inside or ocean view should make no difference to the 'hanging rail trolley procedure/s', for years this has been standard.  Lost count of how many times I've transferred (B2B)  in the past.

If one experiences any hassle with their transfer you should contact the Housekeeping manager immediately. 

No particular hassle, we just packed our bags, left them in the cabin, unpacked them in the new cabin. Would have been nice to avoid the pack/unpack, but if that’s the most inconvenience I experience with Cunard, we are well ahead of the game.

 

Come to think of it, aside from having decks closed on occasion, that may actually have been the most inconvenience I’ve experienced with Cunard. 

[Underwatr]

2 hours ago, NE John said:

One will rarely see such a cruise. The trouble with this scenario is the archaic Jones Act requiring non-US flagged or “bottomed” ships to call on a foreign port before coming back to US. That’s why you see the New England/Independence cruise stop at Halifax, for example. 
The Jones Act goal was to encourage US ship production and punish foreign made ships. It hasn’t worked in 100 years…

Perhaps you misunderstand what I meant.

You can visit foreign ports on a closed loop cruise (in fact cabotage laws require it), but you can't disembark ("check out") in a foreign port, or else by definition it's not closed loop.

The recent NYC-NYC Caribbean voyage is closed loop since all passengers boarded at or before New York and disembarked at or after its return to New York. Thus, everyone arriving in New York from the Caribbean (aside from entertainers and perhaps a few crew members) will have cleared US Immigration prior to leaving New York on the ship. Clearing them back into New York after the voyage is much simpler than, say, a westbound transatlantic or a Quebec-New York voyage, where it can't be assumed that every passenger getting off the ship was legally present in the US at embarkation of that closed loop. It's also the reason why they don't make everyone get off the ship on Dec 8 like they do after a transatlantic arrival in New York, and is why Immigration only needed to glance at passengers' passports on Dec 8.

 

Nit pick - the Jones Act covers cargo, the PSVA covers passenger vessels. https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-23?language=en_US

[Underwatr]

The majority of cruises out of US ports (which don't permanently disembark passengers at a foreign port such as Vancouver or Southampton) are closed loop, because the PVSA requires that non-US registered ships transporting passengers from one US port to another US port must call on a distant foreign port en route. A distant foreign port is defined as outside the Bahamas, Bermuda, Central America, North America and West Indies. The port of Bonaire, Curacao and the Netherland Antilles are, however, considered as distant foreign ports.
Currently, an exception is applied to Puerto Rico - passengers can be transported from a US mainland port to Puerto Rico without visiting a distant foreign port.
 

[david,Mississauga]

On 12/11/2023 at 8:36 AM, Bell Boy said:

Well that's shocking considering you were 'in the Grills'.  The example I quoted above was deck Six   Britannia category. ( the date was December 23rd morning of disembarkation at Southampton)   

 

Edited to add;  Just to clarify, QG,PG, Britannia balcony, inside or ocean view should make no difference to the 'hanging rail trolley procedure/s', for years this has been standard.  Lost count of how many times I've transferred (B2B)  in the past.

If one experiences any hassle with their transfer you should contact the Housekeeping manager immediately. 

 

It was, I believe,  in 2018 when we had to transfer accommodation in New York. Our steward contacted the Housekeeping Manager who said no to the hanging trolley and apparently said that is no longer done. The steward said it was a recent change in policy and he was surprised the manager wouldn't allow an exception.

 

I'm pleased to read that the convenience has being restored - at least on some voyages. We have to change cabins next September on a Southampton-NY-Québec voyage.