Newbie here - basic TA question

[Jack E Dawson]

We have sailed in both Glass Front Unobstructed and Sheltered. We enjoyed both but overall we prefer the glass front but each have their advantages. When it rains, there really is no going out on the glass front balcony (or the Promenade Deck) for us but a Sheltered balcony might still be used. The larger size of the Sheltered Balcony was noticeable to us. There was also a rush, for us, being closer to the water (deck 4) and watching the waves break away from the ship. On the other hand, we found the Unobstructed Glass Front cabins much lighter and brighter. Also, being able to see the water, even when seated or lying in bed, was very nice. 

[david,Mississauga]

On the subject of whether an eastbound or westbound crossing is better, there is a considerable difference of border control procedure arriving in the UK as opposed to the USA.

 

On the eastbound crossings a UK official travels on the ship so the inspection is carried out on three days during the voyage. Upon arrival in Southampton you simply get off the ship and go to your transportation. If you have nothing to declare you follow the green arrows and walk away. There are customs spot checks occasionally. It has been about a dozen arrivals in Southampton since I was pulled over. We were asked three questions and we were waved on our way. Let us hope this civilised procedure continues when crossings resume.

 

Arriving in New York is as inconvenient as arriving in an airport.  The border control queue can be enormous. On one recent  trip one of our cases was placed in the wrong part of the hall - and many others had the same problem. We were not allowed to look for it until some fences were removed. There are no seats so my wife had to lean on her cane for 40 minutes as the queue  (which we could not join until we had our luggage) got longer. When we finally retrieved our case and proceeded to join the immigration queue a kind official could see my wife was uncomfortable and directed us to a desk which had a short queue.

 

We do have a New York arrival in October of next year, so I will do one of two things: take "self help" disembarkation and/or request a wheelchair for my wife.

[jimdee3636]

6 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

On the subject of whether an eastbound or westbound crossing is better, there is a considerable difference of border control procedure arriving in the UK as opposed to the USA.

 

On the eastbound crossings a UK official travels on the ship so the inspection is carried out on three days during the voyage. Upon arrival in Southampton you simply get off the ship and go to your transportation. If you have nothing to declare you follow the green arrows and walk away. There are customs spot checks occasionally. It has been about a dozen arrivals in Southampton since I was pulled over. We were asked three questions and we were waved on our way. Let us hope this civilised procedure continues when crossings resume.

 

Arriving in New York is as inconvenient as arriving in an airport.  The border control queue can be enormous. On one recent  trip one of our cases was placed in the wrong part of the hall - and many others had the same problem. We were not allowed to look for it until some fences were removed. There are no seats so my wife had to lean on her cane for 40 minutes as the queue  (which we could not join until we had our luggage) got longer. When we finally retrieved our case and proceeded to join the immigration queue a kind official could see my wife was uncomfortable and directed us to a desk which had a short queue.

 

We do have a New York arrival in October of next year, so I will do one of two things: take "self help" disembarkation and/or request a wheelchair for my wife.

David:

I agree 100% about the chaotic disembarkation process in New York (Brooklyn). We took a 21-night roundtrip QM2 cruise out of Brooklyn in the summer of 2019, and we swore afterward that we'd never again take a cruise that ended there. It's a shame because a QM2 crossing is a special trip.

Jim

[TheOldBear]

55 minutes ago, jimdee3636 said:

David:

I agree 100% about the chaotic disembarkation process in New York (Brooklyn). We took a 21-night roundtrip QM2 cruise out of Brooklyn in the summer of 2019, and we swore afterward that we'd never again take a cruise that ended there. It's a shame because a QM2 crossing is a special trip.

Jim

Brooklyn is our local port [no tunnels or bridges between out house and the pier] and we've been favoring round trips, so there seems to be no avoiding the Brooklyn disembarkation.

Traveling sheltered balcony, without airport transfers puts us in the last group [other than in-transit passengers] to leave the ship.

We have found it worthwhile to engage a porter in the terminal - this gets you into the Customs line faster than dragging your own luggage.

[TouchstoneFeste]

8 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

On the eastbound crossings a UK official travels on the ship so the inspection is carried out on three days during the voyage. Upon arrival in Southampton you simply get off the ship and go to your transportation. If you have nothing to declare you follow the green arrows and walk away. There are customs spot checks occasionally. It has been about a dozen arrivals in Southampton since I was pulled over. We were asked three questions and we were waved on our way. Let us hope this civilised procedure continues when crossings resume.

 

On the Southampton end, is there any difference if you're a US citizen (versus UK or Canadian)? Still just a disambark and walk away?

[frankp01]

4 hours ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

Still just a disembark and walk away?

Yup. Wish it were that way in Brooklyn.

[buchanan101]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:28 PM, Bigmike911 said:

I have never been to Osborne House, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight and it has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. I will take a ferry to Cowes and a bus to Osborne.

Make sure you walk down to the shore at Osborne House - it is beautiful.

 

Plenty else to do on the island if you have time - the Battery on the Needles for example

[TouchstoneFeste]

7 hours ago, frankp01 said:

Yup. Wish it were that way in Brooklyn.

 

Thanks for that info!

[Bigmike911]

15 hours ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

 

On the Southampton end, is there any difference if you're a US citizen (versus UK or Canadian)? Still just a disambark and walk away?

You will go through UK Immigration as you leave the ship. You will need your passport. You exit through a specific exit and the Immigration folk are waiting for you there. 

[Bigmike911]

16 hours ago, TheOldBear said:

Brooklyn is our local port [no tunnels or bridges between out house and the pier] and we've been favoring round trips, so there seems to be no avoiding the Brooklyn disembarkation.

Traveling sheltered balcony, without airport transfers puts us in the last group [other than in-transit passengers] to leave the ship.

We have found it worthwhile to engage a porter in the terminal - this gets you into the Customs line faster than dragging your own luggage.

Indeed. The first time I cleared customs in Brooklyn, I had bags that required a porter. The side benefit was that we zipped through a special queue, while other were waiting in long lines. I was a lesson easily learned. 

[BigMac1953]

35 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

You will go through UK Immigration as you leave the ship. You will need your passport. You exit through a specific exit and the Immigration folk are waiting for you there. 

 

Immigration is done on the ship. It's the Customs Officers that await you at Southampton.

[Bigmike911]

18 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

Immigration is done on the ship. It's the Customs Officers that await you at Southampton.

The last time I arrived from Hamburg, to go ashore in Southampton to go on a tour in Southampton, I went through immigration in Southampton. On board immigration occurs on some east bound Trans Atlantic crossings. 

[BigMac1953]

12 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

The last time I arrived from Hamburg, to go ashore in Southampton to go on a tour in Southampton, I went through immigration in Southampton. On board immigration occurs on some east bound Trans Atlantic crossings. 

Yes, but the subject was Transatlantic, not European.

[TheOldBear]

54 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

Yes, but the subject was Transatlantic, not European.

In 2019 I did not need to show any credentials other than my ship's card for either Southampton stop - before or after Hamburg. Apparently the rules are different for 'in transit' passengers already screened on a prior leg of the same trip.

I also noticed that there were no physical passport stamps [on the ship, Hamburg, LeHavre, back in Brooklyn] at any stop - and the Passport was only examined on the QM2 eastbound leg, and back in Brooklyn.

This was an improvement over the 2017 round trip - there was quite a delay then in LeHavre with one clerk responsible for stamping passports before and after shore excursions.

[navybankerteacher]

On 5/3/2021 at 4:21 PM, TheOldBear said:

Brooklyn is our local port [no tunnels or bridges between out house and the pier] and we've been favoring round trips, so there seems to be no avoiding the Brooklyn disembarkation.

...

You got me thinking - if the standard for having a “local port” is having no tunnels or bridges between home and the pier, I would have to do some very careful route planning.  There is no way I could get to Brooklyn or Manhattan (the two closest as the crow flies).  I suppose I could do an end run around the Connecticut River by going up to Canada and then down the east side of the river, avoiding the Merrimack before turning east towards Boston - hoping to find a pure land route to Black Falcon; or find a different end run around the Hudson (again via Canada) and then down to Bayonne, NJ.

 

Seems like a lot of planning and huge distances —- so I do not think I will see absence of bridges or tunnels as a “must have”.

 

(Unless I headed up to Chester then took the ferry across the Connecticut to Hadlyme, and then on to Boston —- but I suppose ferries would be as objectionable as bridges and tunnels.)

Edited May 5, 2021 by navybankerteacher

[TheOldBear]

1 minute ago, navybankerteacher said:

You got me thinking - if the standard for having a “local port” is having no tunnels or bridges between home and the pier, I would have to do some very careful route planning.  There is no way I could get to Brooklyn or Manhattan (the two closest as the crow flies).  I suppose I could do an end run around the Connecticut River by going up to Canada and then down the east side of the river, avoiding the Merrimack before turning east towards Boston - hoping to find a pure land route to Black Falcon; or find a different end run around the Hudson (again via Canada) and then down to Bayonne, NJ.

 

Seems like a lot of planning and huge distances —- so I do not think I will see absence of bridges or tunnels as a “must have”.

Its more a case of no toll bridges, tunnels or ferries [let alone any flights or pre/post hotel stays]. The Brooklyn terminal is on the same island - just 70 miles west.

We do need to deal with the either the infamous Belt Parkway, or 'the worlds longest parking lot' [LIE] depending on how Google Maps interprets traffic and phase of moon. 😉

Allowing an extra hour for delays usually puts us at baggage drop long before our scheduled time.

[flag fan]

I have traveled in both directions and for my third trip decided to that the eastbound to avoid the jet lag upon arrival.  I hate the idea of being groggy the first day or two of my post-cruise vacation time (4-5 days in Scotland).   

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, flag fan said:

I have traveled in both directions and for my third trip decided to that the eastbound to avoid the jet lag upon arrival.  I hate the idea of being groggy the first day or two of my post-cruise vacation time (4-5 days in Scotland).   

To each his own - I have found that flying overnight east to London is best handled by getting about 2 hours sleep - say noon to two GMT, then to bed about 9:00 PM -seeing full adjustment on waking the next morning.  when I fly west it seems to take me about a week before I stop waking up at some obscenely early hour.   Then, too:  the 25 hour days shipboard westbound are easier to handle than 23 hour ones eastbound.  Finally, and perhaps most important: getting the damn flight over with first beats having it muck up the end of the trip.   

 

Of  course, the truly civilized thing is to sail both ways - but a bit tougher to arrange.