Recent Closing/Sailing Times on QM2 Eastbound TAs

With all the hoopla/reconstruction at NY Penn Station, I am starting to worry about my train arrival time there for my eastbound TA in late October. I know that the work should be done by the 1st week of September but I am considering changing my train schedule. I am currently tracking the arrival time of my planned train on a daily basis to see if the issue is real or perceived. I have always taken this train to NY Penn and never had a problem getting to Cunard or Princess but.......

Can anyone give me some insight on recent Boarding closing times and the actual sailing times for their TAs out of NY? This will help me make a more informed decision as I ponder my options.

Thanks.

How close to your ship's departure were you planning on arriving? I've been through, or arrived at, Penn Station six times since the repairs began. The latest a train was delayed was 20 minutes. That was on Amtrak. It's possible that NJT and local trains may be suffering more of an impact. I know someone who commutes daily to New York on Amtrak, arriving around 8 am. I can ask her what her experience has been, if that would help.

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For an EB TA check in closes at 3:45PM. Sailing is scheduled for 5PM.

If you are coming up from Virginia on the day of sailing you are really rolling the dice - track work at Penn Station or no track work at Penn Station. Next port Southampton, and not the little village by that name on Long Island.

With all the hoopla/reconstruction at NY Penn Station, I am starting to worry about my train arrival time there for my eastbound TA in late October. I know that the work should be done by the 1st week of September but I am considering changing my train schedule. I am currently tracking the arrival time of my planned train on a daily basis to see if the issue is real or perceived. I have always taken this train to NY Penn and never had a problem getting to Cunard or Princess but.......

 

Can anyone give me some insight on recent Boarding closing times and the actual sailing times for their TAs out of NY? This will help me make a more informed decision as I ponder my options.

 

Thanks.

Where in Virginia are you boarding Amtrak? If you're coming up from DC, there are lots of train options--is there a later train you can have as Plan B? An earlier one to give you a better cushion? Farther south than DC, and I would never risk it, with our without the track work at Penn. I've sat waaaay too long behind a CSX freight outside the corridor controlled by Amtrak.

The track work at Penn seems to be progressing on time so that shouldn't be an issue for you. It is definitely the commuter trains that are being inconvenienced more than Amtrak, so your train probably is doing fairly well most days. Amtrak owns Penn Station, so they determine who gets to suffer least. (To be fair, the tracks being repaired are heavily used by NJ Transit, so the diversion of our trains makes sense.)

It's a matter of comfort level. I could have taken an early Acela to get to a cruise out of Boston, but I went up the day before "just in case."

If you must cut it that close, I'd look into the overnight train departing the day before your cruise (leaves Newport News at 5:20 pm, Richmond at 7 pm, and DC at 10:10 pm; arrives Penn Station at 1:40 am). The Silver Meteor starts in Miami and is almost certainly going to be running late, and the first departure from Richmond (6 am) arrives Penn Station at noon, which is cutting it far too close.

Assuming you take the overnight train, I have no advice on how to kill ~10 hours before check-in, especially in the middle of the night.

I should state that my experiences with trains encountering no delays through Penn Station were all restricted to the DC to Boston route. Travelling from points south would be another story (but not due to Penn Station necessarily).

> I have no advice on how to kill ~10 hours before check-in, especially in the middle of the night.

I could be snarky and say it's called a hotel. I've had connections where one train arrives at midnight or 1 am (connecting through New Orleans comes to mind), and I've booked the hotel closest to the station so I can get to sleep ASAP.

I could be snarky and say it's called a hotel. I've had connections where one train arrives at midnight or 1 am (connecting through New Orleans comes to mind), and I've booked the hotel closest to the station so I can get to sleep ASAP.

It would be ideal, but I don't know if OP is considering traveling the morning of departure because they can't leave earlier than that or because they don't want to pay for a hotel in NYC.

I thought the OP's question was quite specific and posters have talked about most everything else but that. My experience is from 2016 so I hope somebody can get more recent. On January 3 no all aboard was listed but the muster was 5PM. In November All Aboard was listed as 4:30.

As to the question of "not wanting to pay for a hotel in NYC I'll suggest the possibility of splitting the trip with a hotel in Baltimore or Wilmington.

Roy

Perhaps I have been very lucky but I have arrived at Penn Station from Fredericksburg many times at 12:05 (as scheduled) and had no difficulty arriving at Redhook by 1:30. On weekends when there is no 'early' train from F'burg, I take an afternoon train to Philly, stay overnite and continue on the train that gets into Penn around 10 am.

I have a list of alternatives that include my usual F'burg to Philly/Philly to Penn or drive up to Union Station early on the 20th and go from there.

I shall continue to monitor actual arrival times and the status of the construction and make a final decision later in September.

Thanks for all of the ideas.

> I shall continue to monitor actual arrival times

It sounds like you're familiar with Amtrak's train status page. Using it for historical punctuality is fine. From first-hand experience, I've been on a train that's been 30 minutes late, and the 'expected departure' from the next station often showed 'on time'. I'm not sure how/when the real-time status updates. it may not be until a train is actually very close to the station in question.

Amtrak also shows historical performance of each train, by the prior month and year. it's at:

https://www.amtrak.com/historical-on-time-performance

Using that would make it harder to judge recent performance, however.

Another resource is the (National Association of Railroad Passenger's (NARP) train status map. You can see, in real time, the status of each train on a route. That might give you another perspective to see how things are running:

http://dixielandsoftware.net/cgi-bin/getmap.pl?mapname=NEC

Since the Penn Station project seems to be going very well, by the time of your travel its impact may well be over.

Phil

Hello

Anyone who is traveling some distance to get to Red Hook and is planning on travel the day of sailing is taking a huge chance of missing the ship. I'm always go up the day before which is my plan for my upcoming crossing 9/7/17. I live in the Baltimore area. Frist of all no chance of missing the ship. No stress worrying about if there will an event creating delays, its a lot more relaxing. I understand there is additional expense but how about the expense of missing the ship? Case closed.

Deck Chair

I've made three EB TAs embarking out of NY and each time my documentation read that check in closes at 3:45 PM, although all aboard time may be latter for those continuing on.

I've seen late arrivals miss the ship. The port side gives a wonderful view of the terminal parking lot and industrial Brooklyn. On one occasion a passenger arrived in a taxi at 4:45 and was turned away. Once check in closes and the agents are gone you're screwed.

One thread had a discussion about driving part way, then spending the night. That still left 4 hours of driving the next day. For me, that's too long a drive for the day of departure. Two hours, maybe I could see.

Deck Chair, I'm not that much closer to NY than you... I'm in Philadelphia. I've usually arrived the morning of departure. But I'm thinking maybe the afternoon before, this time.

I wish Cruise Critic had the ability to post a poll. I would very much like to see the trend line between distance traveled between home and the cruise port charted against who arrived on the day of departure versus the day or night before. It'd be very interesting, I'm sure.

We show a 3PM check int time - and have a 70 mile or 90 minute drive. This is from Long Island [or Lawn Guyland for the phonetically challenged ;-) ] so there are no bridges or tunnels to get stuck at.

We plan on arriving between 12 and 1, prepared to wait in the terminal [books and change for the vending machines].

We show a 3PM check int time - and have a 70 mile or 90 minute drive. This is from Long Island [or Lawn Guyland for the phonetically challenged ;-) ] so there are no bridges or tunnels to get stuck at.

We plan on arriving between 12 and 1, prepared to wait in the terminal [books and change for the vending machines].

Just the LI E (Long Island Expressway), always a joy ;)

 

 

I wish Cruise Critic had the ability to post a poll. I would very much like to see the trend line between distance traveled between home and the cruise port charted against who arrived on the day of departure versus the day or night before. It'd be very interesting, I'm sure.

You should get an option to create a poll when you start a new thread. Let me know if you have a problem.

Just the LI E (Long Island Expressway), always a joy ;)

Fortunately, these days apps like Waze will provide alternatives to the world's longest parking lot.;)

You should get an option to create a poll when you start a new thread. Let me know if you have a problem.

Thanks. I don't think I do, when using the app. I'll check using my laptop. I'm laying the survey out in my mind, and may use Survey Monkey when I get it finalized.

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Not worried about paying for a hotel in NYC; also retired and don't have to worry about being anywhere else the day before :D

Major concern was getting our puppies (2 large - 100#) to a kennel that has restricted drop off hours and finding a good train schedule for the earlier day that wouldn't get us to NYC in the middle of the night. See from the schedule that it is doable and can be in Penn Station by 5:30 or so. Think that is the way we will go, much as I enjoy the stops in Philly. Going straight through will reduce the number of times that we will need to schlep luggage up and down from train tracks (Fredericksburg is a level entry to the train). With both DH and myself having new knees that means a lot more than it used to.

Thank goodness Amtrak is so good about changing train tickets.

Now I will start looking for a hotel and checking to see if I have any points for any of the ones that look good.

There was never a question in my mind that I wouldn't change our schedule if I thought there would be some risk and I just wanted to determine the risk level. We are doing this as a RT to Hamburg with 5 days in Hamburg with our oldest son and his wife (both of whom live in Germany). Now I can start relaxing until the next problem arises.

frankp01 - the status page updates rather quickly but you can also look back to the previous day and be sure you have real info. It has been interesting to track some of the stops along the way to see where it starts to bog down.

> but you can also look back to the previous day and be sure you have real info

Thanks, I'm very familiar with that. You can actually look back about 5 days. I just didn't want you to rely too strongly on the current day!

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PS As I am retired too, if you do connect in Philadelphia let me know. I'll get you into the Club Acela for your layover.

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Thanks, it's always nice to have someone looking out for me.

Hello

 

Anyone who is traveling some distance to get to Red Hook and is planning on travel the day of sailing is taking a huge chance of missing the ship. I'm always go up the day before which is my plan for my upcoming crossing 9/7/17. I live in the Baltimore area. Frist of all no chance of missing the ship. No stress worrying about if there will an event creating delays, its a lot more relaxing. I understand there is additional expense but how about the expense of missing the ship? Case closed.

 

Deck Chair

This was out thought too as we are on the 7 Sept Eastbound crossing too and we are coming by train from Oregon via KC and Windsor Locks, CT to visit family and friends first. We booked a room near the docks the night before rather than risk the train from Windsor Locks being late or the remodel of Penn Station not being finished.

This was out thought too as we are on the 7 Sept Eastbound crossing too and we are coming by train from Oregon via KC and Windsor Locks, CT to visit family and friends first. We booked a room near the docks the night before rather than risk the train from Windsor Locks being late or the remodel of Penn Station not being finished.

Definetely wise. I arranged a Cunard air package and a delayed plane, a late transfer and dreadful traffic to Red Hook resulted in 30 of us arriving at 5.25pm, with the ship sailing at 5.30pm. It was not the relaxing start I wanted to my holiday although, as other posters mentioned,the stress soon disappears once on board. Have a great trip.

We're supposed to arrive LGA at 9 am on the 7th, but I'll be watching aa.com like a hawk to see if they're offering travel waivers that day and we'll be ready to leave the night before if necessary.