Legend - Embarkation from NYC

[Mark]

This question is for those folks who have sailed Carnival out of NYC during the past year or those folks who have connections with Carnival personnel.

 

I am considering booking the Carnival Legend next May and am horrified at the reviews posted by Cruise Critic members with regards to Carnival's disorganized emabarkation procedures at the NYC pier. Evereyone raves about the ship and about the crew but advises Carnival to do something about the disorganized, understaffed and time consuming process at the NYC pier.

 

My question to you folks is Carnival going to fix this problem or is it something that will be there for me next May? I know if I ask Carnival or even my travel agent I will get a politician's response.

 

NCL uses the same piers with ship approximately the same size as Legend and I do not see the complaints about embarkation in NYC.

 

What gives?:confused:

[Laurab23]

We've been on the Legend twice out of NYC and never found any big problems.If you post your email address,I send you a couple hints that might make it easier for you(it did for us). We were first in line to board the ship after the people in wheelchairs!

 

Laura

[resq602]

Yea if your one of the people that decide to get to the pier at 2:30-3:00 when the ship leaves at 3:30-4:00 of course the lines are big, and your not able to walk right on. I got there at 1:30 and was on the boat within the hour, figure that the other 2,000 vacationers are there too, don't let a line ruin the start of another cruise.

 

 

btw what are you tips LauraB23? vin1421@hotmail.com is my email. let me know, i have a large group that i want to book with this cruise, any help will be greatly appreciated

 

 

 

Good Luck with the Legend. Looking for June 13th right now, went in July this year for my honeymoon. Great Times :D

[carnivaljunkie]

We sailed the Legend out of New York on September 26. The only problem was that the ship got in late and they did not start boarding until after noon. However, They had a much better system than last year. We got there before 10 AM and they sat us in rows in the order in which we arrived. A woman who could have been a drill sergent kept order. When the carnival employees who check you in arrived, they took us row by row to a check-in counter in the lobby. They then had us sit back down in the row we had come from. They processed about 200 passengers before the ship was even empty. When the ship was clear they sent us through to security, ID photo and the ship in the order we arrived at the port. We were in our cabin within 30 minutes of the ship being cleared. I am sure that those arriving later took longer, but we were pleased with the boarding process. Dean

[BlueHerons]

I am considering booking the Carnival Legend next May and am horrified at the reviews posted by Cruise Critic members with regards to Carnival's disorganized emabarkation procedures at the NYC pier. Evereyone raves about the ship and about the crew but advises Carnival to do something about the disorganized, understaffed and time consuming process at the NYC pier.

 

 

What gives?:confused:

 

A lot of the problem isn't the Carnival employees but those employed by the pier. Most of those jobs being Union, there isn't anything Carnival can do.

[Mark]

Please send info to MMorawski@nyc.rr.com

 

Thanks:)

[MrPete]

I've sailed out of NY about 5 or 6 times, and have never encountered the horror stories I read here. Only once I got there later than normal, about the same time everyone else did, and it took me an hour to get on. And in that hour, I made new friends with all the people around me. It never seemed like an hour.

 

Now if you're a clock watcher, or are around a clock watcher, things can get tense........ANYWHERE! :eek:

[nybumpkin]

Last year on Victory, I thought embarcation went well. Yes, there were lines, but it wasn't particularly time-consuming. (And in 2004 there weren't any chairs!) We arrived around 11:00 and were on board within an hour - may have been less. Debarcation (with three ships in port) was another story....

[Compumom]

I just got off the Legend today. ;-) Embarcation was interesting, to say the least. We arrived about 1:00 pm to the pier. It was a miserable, stormy afternoon. There were people with lugguage EVERYWHERE. As we found out later, the main problem was the ship arrived into port a few hours late due to a medical emergency on board which required a medical helicopter airlift off the ship. Many of the people wandering around with lugguage had just disembarked from the ship, so there was an abundance of people in the area. As this is an exception rather than the rule, we just went with the flow, even though we were anxious to be onboard, LOL. The staff moved us to a different pier to wait for about an hour, before moving us back in an orderly fashion to check in.

 

Never having cruised before, I would say it was a little inconvenience for a lot of fun.

[tinna2000]

you have to get there early.

[jerseygirl3]

We sailed the Legend out of NYC, and I can't fault Carnival for the horrendous embarkation process. The Port Authority were so disorganized; we spent 2 hours being sent around the block over and over again; one hand didn't know what the other was doing.

 

We finally asked out driver to pull over on the West Side Highway, and in the pouring rain, we (all 10 of us) dragged our luggage across this busy highway. It wasn't a fun way to start a cruise. Once inside the terminal, Carnival had their act together.

 

We've vowed unless it's for a very good reason, we won't cruise out of NYC again. We live two hours away by car, but in that same time period, we could fly to Florida.

[barbaragrace]

We've been on the LEGEND 3 times out of NY. GET THERE EARLY! Last summer we got there at 11:00 and were on the ship eating lunch by 12:30. The ship didn't leave until after 5:00 but we had time to eat and unpack and eat and relax and eat.

[jerseygirl3]

Well, we did get there early (around 10:30-11:00 a.m.) and it was awful. I think it's just hit or miss. Some weeks they have their act together (meaning the Port Authority police, not Carnival) and some weeks they don't.

[Maraprince]

This question is for those folks who have sailed Carnival out of NYC during the past year or those folks who have connections with Carnival personnel.

 

I am considering booking the Carnival Legend next May and am horrified at the reviews posted by Cruise Critic members with regards to Carnival's disorganized emabarkation procedures at the NYC pier. Evereyone raves about the ship and about the crew but advises Carnival to do something about the disorganized, understaffed and time consuming process at the NYC pier.

 

My question to you folks is Carnival going to fix this problem or is it something that will be there for me next May? I know if I ask Carnival or even my travel agent I will get a politician's response.

 

NCL uses the same piers with ship approximately the same size as Legend and I do not see the complaints about embarkation in NYC.

 

What gives?:confused:

mark,

 

I left out of NY 3 times this year -- twice on Carnival and once on NCL. The day of the week has a lot to do with whether or not the crowds are larger and the wait is longer. If you are lucky enough to leave on a weekday or return on a weekday, the crowds are smaller and things tend to go smoother. Saturday and Sunday have the most traffic in and out of the port with the most ships. There are only so many porters and port personnel to go around. Recently one ship had to go to the new temporary port in Brooklyn since all the piers were full due to an extra ship being diverted to NY because of one of the hurricanes.

 

Carnival does not control the port operations -- they are told when to dock and at what pier. The port personnel and US Customs has control over much of what happens there. On my first of 2 Carnival cruises this year on the Legend several of the passengers lacked the proper docs. for Immigration and no one was allowed off the ship for over 2 hours. This delayed the ship's clearance and the embarcation of the new passengers. The fault was with the passengers -- they didn't have enough visas to get back into the US having used it coming back from Tortola. This delayed everyone -- both getting off and getting on the ship by 2 hours. Our return to NY was perfect and everything went smoothly. We then had to find the Truimph since we were leaving on it the same day as our return from the Legend.

 

The Triumph was at a completely different pier than where they told everyone it was scheduled to be. Port officials changed the pier to make room for another ship that was not due to be in NY. Boarding on the Truimph started almost as soon as we arrived at the pier. We were on board by 12 noon and having lunch when they lost power in the terminal several times halting the boarding process since nothing was working. We were late having the life boat drill almost an hour because they were waiting for luggage enroute from the airport. There were a lot of groups on this sailing.

 

As you can see, sometimes things happen that no one can control. Just try to stay flexible and you will survive the boarding process. You have a beautiful ship to enjoy your vacation on. It will all be forgotten once you are on board.

 

You should plan are getting to the pier around 11 AM and then hope that the ship has arrived on time and has been cleared early.

 

The NY port is very busy and the remodeling is sorely needed. You can't compare a little inconvenience with having a problem with a flight and missing your connection and maybe missing the ship altogether. Plus, if you live in the NY area, you are saving yourself airfare and even more aggravation by not flying. You can also pack more in your suitcase and pack it the right way -- not the way the airline security wants you to.

 

Enjoy you voyage on the Legend!

 

 

Maraprince

[Centurion40]

Sailed on the Legend out of NYC Sept 18th. Embarkation was HORRIBLE... worse than an airport! :eek: Everything was delayed. We got there at 1:20 (even our flight to NYC was delayed...) and there was lots of traffic just getting to the terminal. We waited a long time in long lines and a longer time in short lines (non-US citizen line). It almost ruined the whole experience. It took over an hour and a half to get from the front door of the cruise terminal to step onto the ship. Once you're onboard, everything settles down. We heard from other passengers that Carnival's computers crashed, therefore the process was slower than usual.

 

When we disembarked (Sept. 26th) people were already waiting (in chairs with a small band playing for them... not bad, eh ;) ) to board. They were probably the smart ones....

[Maraprince]

Mark,

 

Due to the bad weather in Florida, so many of the ships have been diverted to other ports. Pity those poor passengers who have non refundable airline tickets to Florida now that the ships are leaving from other ports! Makes NYC look a lot better!

 

 

MARAPRINCE