Disembarking in manhattan - where to meet?

[sparkyd]

We are sailing on the Gem next week and my husband refuses to pay to park at the pier so he'll be dropping us off then going back to our hotel to park the car. Please don't suggest cabs or anything - there are five of us and there are kids car seats involved so cabbing isn't an option for the whole group. Anyway, I'm not worried about getting on the ship separately, but I am worried about getting off. He'll obviously need to do the early walk-off, but I'm worried about meeting up with him after. Where should he pick us up? Where should we wait if we get kicked off way before he makes it back to pick us up? This won't be helped by the fact that we won't have cell phones - ours don't work there (Canadian per-paid phones). We might get one cheap phone to have for emergencies on the drive down, but one doesn't help a whole lot for this post-cruise scenario.

 

Help?

 

Please and thanks!:)

[lauti]

Is your hotel in Manhattan? If so, I am going to guess their pier is cheaper.

 

When we got off the Jewel, they made people do pickups across 12th avenue.

[sparkyd]

The parking at the hotel is free. It is a stay/cruise/park package type thing.

[mizLORInj]

We get picked up in front of the intrepid which is a very short walk from the ship.

[1025cruise]

Where did you get a stay/cruise/park in Manhattan? If it's not in Manhattan, your husband is going to drop you off, drive back to where you are parking, probably will take an hour to do so, and find his way back to port, and then do the reverse? Somethings just aren't worth it.

[njhorseman]

The parking at the hotel is free. It is a stay/cruise/park package type thing.

 

Which undoubtedly means your hotel is not in Manhattan. Where exactly is it? It could be a long trip from the pier to your hotel.

[flowers44]

If you have a stay/criuse/park package, does the hotel have a shuttle to the pier? I agree that somethings are just not worth the hassle and the time involved. If there is not shuttle from the hotel, I would go for the cab ride or car service. Check with the hotel to see what options that can suggest. Being caught up in the traffic at the pier and having to do it twice seems pretty silly to me. He is still going to have to pay for two cab fares for himself to get back to the ship and back to the hotel.

[cruiserw/kids]

Interested in learning more about the stay / park / cruise hotel and how close it is to Manhatten. I live in NJ , but given the parking rate at the pier, this might be an option I should look into.

[njhorseman]

Interested in learning more about the stay / park / cruise hotel and how close it is to Manhatten. I live in NJ , but given the parking rate at the pier, this might be an option I should look into.

 

Paying for a hotel doesn't make much sense when you already live nearby in NJ. You still have to get from the hotel to the pier and return. I gave a couple of alternatives to parking at the pier in this post made a few hours ago:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=36246735&postcount=2

[sparkyd]

If you have a stay/criuse/park package, does the hotel have a shuttle to the pier? I agree that somethings are just not worth the hassle and the time involved. If there is not shuttle from the hotel, I would go for the cab ride or car service. Check with the hotel to see what options that can suggest. Being caught up in the traffic at the pier and having to do it twice seems pretty silly to me. He is still going to have to pay for two cab fares for himself to get back to the ship and back to the hotel.

 

I agree about the hassle - this is definitely not my plan. I looked into the options for getting all of us from hotel to pier without the car, but nothing works.

 

Interested in learning more about the stay / park / cruise hotel and how close it is to Manhatten. I live in NJ , but given the parking rate at the pier, this might be an option I should look into.

 

It is through http://stay123.com/

[1025cruise]

I just looked at the hotels listed on stay123. You are either staying out by LaGuardia, or in New Jersey. At a minimum, that is 45 minutes to an hour away from the port (depending on traffic). Please reconsider this plan. The result is going to be you and your kids on sitting on the ship for 2 hours minimum waiting for your husband to return. The same on the return. Add in the cost of transportation for your husband to get back and forth from the car, its really not worth it.

[gentlemancruiser]

I just looked at the hotels listed on stay123. You are either staying out by LaGuardia, or in New Jersey. At a minimum, that is 45 minutes to an hour away from the port (depending on traffic). Please reconsider this plan. The result is going to be you and your kids on sitting on the ship for 2 hours minimum waiting for your husband to return. The same on the return. Add in the cost of transportation for your husband to get back and forth from the car, its really not worth it.

 

Upon returning to NYC you may encounter some issues with clearning customs if you are not together as a family. Being Canadians you will need to have a letter of approval indicating that you are bringing children into the US with out your spouse present.

I also thought that you must be together to clear customs & immigration and that means you will have already left the ship and are inside the terminal building. I'm sure someone here can confirm if you are able to go back onto the ship once you've disembarked.

[1025cruise]

Upon returning to NYC you may encounter some issues with clearning customs if you are not together as a family. Being Canadians you will need to have a letter of approval indicating that you are bringing children into the US with out your spouse present.

I also thought that you must be together to clear customs & immigration and that means you will have already left the ship and are inside the terminal building. I'm sure someone here can confirm if you are able to go back onto the ship once you've disembarked.

 

I didn't even consider this. Yes, you might have an issue without both of you there when you disembark with the children.

[smeyer418]

I didn't even consider this. Yes, you might have an issue without both of you there when you disembark with the children.

once you disembark from the ship at the final port you will NOT be able to get back on.

I have done this with children many times. all of you go through immigration and customs together after you pick up the luggage that is has been off loaded to you. You have the car that is meeting you wait on a near by side street ut of traffic or in the case of a car service call after you have finished going thru immigration. You may NOT call on your cell phone while in the secures immigration area(you can call before you get in or after you have been passed)..you don't want to get into a discussion with the ICE people on this. That is the rule and they will enforce it.

[1025cruise]

once you disembark from the ship at the final port you will NOT be able to get back on.

I have done this with children many times. all of you go through immigration and customs together after you pick up the luggage that is has been off loaded to you. You have the car that is meeting you wait on a near by side street ut of traffic or in the case of a car service call after you have finished going thru immigration. You may NOT call on your cell phone while in the secures immigration area(you can call before you get in or after you have been passed)..you don't want to get into a discussion with the ICE people on this. That is the rule and they will enforce it.

 

I agree. However, as the OP is from Canada, and their plan was for her husband to do early disembark to start his hour trek to their car, and she and the kids disembark later, closer to when her husband should be back, there may be an issue with ICE since both parents won't be there.

 

To the OP, please report back on how this went for you when you return from your cruise.

[smeyer418]

I agree. However, as the OP is from Canada, and their plan was for her husband to do early disembark to start his hour trek to their car, and she and the kids disembark later, closer to when her husband should be back, there may be an issue with ICE since both parents won't be there.

 

To the OP, please report back on how this went for you when you return from your cruise.

yes but they can go back up one level and wait inside while he gets the car. Its heated and they have bathrooms....as long as they repair the heat and electric before he takes his trip....

[1025cruise]

I wonder if the OP is back from their cruise yet. I'd really like to hear how this worked out for them.

[SnowshoeCat]

Me, too. If their hotel wasn't in Manhattan, this could have been really messy, especially considering they're not familiar with NYC roads, traffic, bridges, tunnels...

 

I hope they worked something out and had an enjoyable trip!

[sparkyd]

This is the OP, and we are back! We had a great trip!

 

Getting on board was no biggie, we arrived at the pier around 11:15 and arranged to all meet in our room at 2. No problem.

 

Getting off was also fine. We all went through immigration together on the ship, but filled out two customs forms - one for my husband, and one for me and the kids. We explained what we were doing to the immigration officer, and there was no problem. My husband couldn't do the early walk-off because that is for US citizens only, but I had managed to get a yellow luggage tag (first group off) for his one bag he was going to take. The rest of us waited and we were one of the last groups off the ship. When my husband disembarked he handed in his customs card, and we handed in ours when it was our turn. No issue. A porter helped us get all of our stuff up to the second level (we disembarked on deck 4) where we were able to wait inside. Once I thought he was about due to arrive, we went outside and he got there two minutes later. The porter had gotten us a trolley we could keep until he got there so we had no issue moving our luggage outside.

 

There have been lots of posts recently about people needing to go across 12th ave etc., but people being picked up privately and catching a cab seemed to have no trouble going upstairs at the pier to do so. It's a busy place with lots of people coming and going at the same time, but it worked fine. I'm not going to lie and say that what we did was ideal or that I would recommend it, but really, it worked OK. Once our kids are older and can travel in a cab without car seats I wouldn't hesitate to do the hotel free parking for sure - it is way cheaper than parking at the pier. We ran into several other people that did it.

[SnowshoeCat]

Thanks for checking back in! I'm glad it all worked out, and you had a great trip. Welcome home!

[SnowshoeCat]

delete - duplicate post!

[gentlemancruiser]

This is the OP, and we are back! We had a great trip!

 

Getting on board was no biggie, we arrived at the pier around 11:15 and arranged to all meet in our room at 2. No problem.

 

Getting off was also fine. We all went through immigration together on the ship, but filled out two customs forms - one for my husband, and one for me and the kids. We explained what we were doing to the immigration officer, and there was no problem. My husband couldn't do the early walk-off because that is for US citizens only, but I had managed to get a yellow luggage tag (first group off) for his one bag he was going to take. The rest of us waited and we were one of the last groups off the ship. When my husband disembarked he handed in his customs card, and we handed in ours when it was our turn. No issue. A porter helped us get all of our stuff up to the second level (we disembarked on deck 4) where we were able to wait inside. Once I thought he was about due to arrive, we went outside and he got there two minutes later. The porter had gotten us a trolley we could keep until he got there so we had no issue moving our luggage outside.

 

There have been lots of posts recently about people needing to go across 12th ave etc., but people being picked up privately and catching a cab seemed to have no trouble going upstairs at the pier to do so. It's a busy place with lots of people coming and going at the same time, but it worked fine. I'm not going to lie and say that what we did was ideal or that I would recommend it, but really, it worked OK. Once our kids are older and can travel in a cab without car seats I wouldn't hesitate to do the hotel free parking for sure - it is way cheaper than parking at the pier. We ran into several other people that did it.

 

Where was your hotel?

[1025cruise]

Glad it worked out.

I'm curious to know the following:

1. Where was your hotel?

2. How long did it take from when you and the kids were dropped off for your husband to get onboard?

3. How long did it take from when your husband left until he was back to pick you up?

4. How did your husband get back and forth?