Shuttle Bus from Brooklyn Cruise Terminal to NYC Cruise Terminal in Manhattan

[Maraprince]

Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus available from the Brooklyn Cruise Ship terminal to the NY Cruise Ship terminal?  Getting off a Princess ship and then heading to a Carnival ship same day.  Right now it seems like the Princess ship will be leaving from Brooklyn unless things change.

 

[DCThunder]

When I disembarked at the BCT in September, the only buses I saw were going to LGA/JFK/EWR.  There's a ferry terminal a couple of hundred yards from the BCT with ferries going to Manhattan, and I guess you could get a cab/Uber from the Wall Street ferry stop to wherever the NYCS is.

 

But the BCT is an absolute madhouse on disembarkation morning, so good luck.

 

I also just read today that the City is taking over the BCT as a "migrant shelter" for those bused into NYC from the Southern Border until the cruise season starts again next year.

[PacnGoNow]

21 minutes ago, Maraprince said:

Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus available from the Brooklyn Cruise Ship terminal to the NY Cruise Ship terminal?  Getting off a Princess ship and then heading to a Carnival ship same day.  Right now it seems like the Princess ship will be leaving from Brooklyn unless things change.

 

You might check the threads on the East Coast forum.  Lots of good information.

Post your question there, also. 
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/

 

[skynight]

I would doubt it very much if there was any kind of shuttle. There is no reason to have a shuttle as you are probably the only one or one of the very few that require this service. I would plan on a taxi or Uber. Without traffic it is probably something like a 40/45 minute transfer. Yes, Princess does use the Red Hook cruise terminal in Brooklyn.

[njhorseman]

6 hours ago, Maraprince said:

Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus available from the Brooklyn Cruise Ship terminal to the NY Cruise Ship terminal?  Getting off a Princess ship and then heading to a Carnival ship same day.  Right now it seems like the Princess ship will be leaving from Brooklyn unless things change.

 

There's no shuttle bus. 

Take a taxi, Uber/Lyft or a car service .

[njhorseman]

5 hours ago, DCThunder said:

 

I also just read today that the City is taking over the BCT as a "migrant shelter" for those bused into NYC from the Southern Border until the cruise season starts again next year.

Not until next year...until the cruise season starts this spring, which means about three months from now when MSC and Cunard start cruising from Brooklyn.

[navybankerteacher]

16 hours ago, DCThunder said:

…

 

I also just read today that the City is taking over the BCT as a "migrant shelter" for those bused into NYC from the Southern Border until the cruise season starts again next year.

It seems kind of silly to establish a shelter there than can only be used for about two months (until cruising calls start).

 

Does anyone really think the situation will be resolved that quickly?

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

It seems kind of silly to establish a shelter there than can only be used for about two months (until cruising calls start).

 

Does anyone really think the situation will be resolved that quickly?

No, it won't be resolved by then, but the first people who will be housed in the shelter at the cruise terminal are currently being housed elsewhere, so if they can be moved from their current location to the cruise terminal they can be moved from the cruise terminal to yet another location. Remember that the weather will be getting much warmer at that time of the year so if needed people can be moved to something on the order of a tent city without endangering their lives. They used a tent city on Randall's Island earlier in the migrant crisis and then shut it down . 

[Princess Cruiser27]

20 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

You might check the threads on the East Coast forum.  Lots of good information.

Post your question there, also. 
 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/

 

This is the East Coast Departure board. 

[GTJ]

21 hours ago, Maraprince said:

Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus available from the Brooklyn Cruise Ship terminal to the NY Cruise Ship terminal? Getting off a Princess ship and then heading to a Carnival ship same day. Right now it seems like the Princess ship will be leaving from Brooklyn unless things change.

 

The demand for such a service would be quite low. Only a relatively small portion of passengers do back-to-back cruises on the same vessel, and even fewer would be expected to back-to-back cruises with connecting vessels. True, both Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line are controlled by the same corporate entity, and so there could be a legitimate interest for the corporation to facilitate this type of back-to-back cruises with connecting vessels by providing some type of shuttle service between the two vessels . . . but again I would think the numbers are exceptionally low. I would plan on no shuttle service, and to make the connection independently, be it by using public transportation or a for-hire vehicle.

 

The situation does implicate an issue which I do not fully understand. Carnival Corporation & plc uses the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal regularly for its Princess Cruises and Cunard brands, but its Carnival Cruise Line brand will be using the Manhattan Cruise Terminal for its vessel Venezia. Meanwhile, MSC Cruises will be basing its vessel Meraviglia at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Several years ago Royal Caribbean Cruises moved both of its brands (i.e., Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises) to Bayonne, where it effectively controls that port exclusively. Why didn't Carnival Corporation & plc do the same thing in Brooklyn, by having Carnival Cruise Line based there instead of in Manhattan, and with MSC Cruises docking in Manhattan instead of Brooklyn?

[PacnGoNow]

49 minutes ago, Princess Cruiser27 said:

This is the East Coast Departure board. 

So sorry..,. I apologize. I haven’t had enough sleep. 😳

[Brighton Line]

17 hours ago, GTJ said:

The situation does implicate an issue which I do not fully understand. Carnival Corporation & plc uses the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal regularly for its Princess Cruises and Cunard brands, but its Carnival Cruise Line brand will be using the Manhattan Cruise Terminal for its vessel Venezia. 

Before the MCT was modified for the Breakaway class, Brooklyn was used for the larger ships Cunard and Princess uses. Recall the first time the NCL Breakaway called at MCT they had to lower lifeboats as the gangways could not reach the embarkation deck and they used the boat deck. There is also the issue of the aft of the ship extending into the Hudson a Captain once told me which still exists but I guess not so much of a concern.

 

Brooklyn and Bayonne can only handle once ship at a time. Frequently see Carnival, Princess and Holland America calling on the same day pre-pandemic. I remember the nightmare with NCL thrown in at MCT and since I live in Brooklyn sure wish there were more ships calling there. Though I was on the Princess Hurricane Sandy cruise that left Brooklyn, sailed to Boston and then returned to MCT talk about rare ports of call. 

[GTJ]

9 hours ago, Brighton Line said:

Brooklyn and Bayonne can only handle once ship at a time. Frequently see Carnival, Princess and Holland America calling on the same day pre-pandemic.

I was thinking of those ideas. Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line will be calling regularly in New York, so Carnival Corporation could schedule their vessels so that one is in Brooklyn on Saturdays and the other on Sundays. Just as Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises are coordinated by parent corporation Royal Caribbean Cruises in Bayonne. Holland America Line and Cunard do not call as regularly, and they could be scheduled in Brooklyn on Fridays, or other midweek days (though Saturdays and Sundays are, indeed, most preferable). Which is more valuable to a cruise corporation: effective exclusive control over a single cruise terminal, or the flexibility in scheduling simultaneous departures from multiple cruise terminals?

 

9 hours ago, Brighton Line said:

I was on the Princess Hurricane Sandy cruise that left Brooklyn, sailed to Boston and then returned to MCT. 

I found your Princess Cruises journey to Boston interesting for another reason. It was a foreign flag vessel that transported passengers from Brooklyn to New York without having visited a distant foreign port. This would be a violation of the Passenger Vessel Services Act if Brooklyn and New York were separate ports. Are they? The definition of "port" The term “port . . . incorporate[s] the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a port director," 19 C.F.R. § 101.1, and seemingly the relevant geographical area here is port area 4601, named as "New York/Newark, New Jersey." In other words, it appears as though U.S. Customs and Border Protection deems New York, Brooklyn, and Bayonne all to constitute a single port. If so, then there would not be a PVSA violation by departing from any of these three cruise terminals and returning to a different one of these cruise terminals. Is my analysis here correct?

[navybankerteacher]

59 minutes ago, GTJ said:

... In other words, it appears as though U.S. Customs and Border Protection deems New York, Brooklyn, and Bayonne all to constitute a single port. If so, then there would not be a PVSA violation by departing from any of these three cruise terminals and returning to a different one of these cruise terminals. Is my analysis here correct?

Well, ships from those three piers all sail under the Verazanno  Narrows Bridge and enter the Atlantic from New York Harbor, and much of what happens in those three locations is governed by "The Port of New York Authority".  They may sail from and return to different piers -- but in the same port.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, GTJ said:

In other words, it appears as though U.S. Customs and Border Protection deems New York, Brooklyn, and Bayonne all to constitute a single port. If so, then there would not be a PVSA violation by departing from any of these three cruise terminals and returning to a different one of these cruise terminals. Is my analysis here correct?

AFAIK it's considered a single port as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey oversees the entire seaport operation. As @navybankerteachersaid, the three cruise terminals have separate piers but all are part of the same port.

 

Even if were not considered a single port, because of the state of emergency caused by Sandy USCBP would have granted an exemption to the PVSA .

[Brighton Line]

15 hours ago, GTJ said:

I found your Princess Cruises journey to Boston interesting for another reason. It was a foreign flag vessel that transported passengers from Brooklyn to New York without having visited a distant foreign port....Is my analysis here correct?

You are correct, we were supposed to clear the Narrows and turn south for Bermuda and the Royal ship from Bayonne did that and encountered heavy seas that caused some trouble onboard and actually ended up in Boston with us since all the ports south of Boston were closed due to the Hurricane.

 

When we arrived in Boston it was the height of the hurricane, we had 19 lines and two tugs holding us to the pier. Princess said they were trying to arrange buses back to NYC and even stated the problem was PSVA. They closed all the shops, people complained they were out of cigarettes and aspirin etc.  They eventually got exception to PSVA but had to wait for port staff (handle pax not ship handling) to get into the city. They also were allowed to sell sundries and cigarettes and setup tables but didn't open the shops. 

We we allowed into the city about Wednesday but had to be back on the ship by 5p. Then they did get buses and you were given choice of taking the bus or staying on the ship to wait for the Port of NY to reopen. We stayed on the boat and our 5 day turned into 7 day cruise. Sailed up the Hudson at 6am to the entire blacked out city to MCT the first time the ship had called at MCT. We debarked off crew deck with no baggage service. Crew carried your bags you brought down the gang way. Customs was there video taping with handheld cameras and a glance at your documents. Took the subway "bridge" back to brooklyn and had longer walk home dragging my bags from a further subway line that was running (mine wasn't).

 

Got a half fare credit for the trouble but it would expire in 6 months. Anyone who parked at the Brooklyn pier had their car totally submerged and couldn't access for a few weeks I found out from a co-worker on the cruise with us. Car was totaled, found it with the trunk and windows open. Seems late model the car does that when submerged.  

So yes PSVA played an issue but the emergency override it. We did watch various cruise ship arrive in Boston that were not scheduled to take on fuel and provisions including that Royal ship. 

[Brighton Line]

13 hours ago, njhorseman said:

AFAIK it's considered a single port as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey oversees the entire seaport operation. As @navybankerteachersaid, the three cruise terminals have separate piers but all are part of the same port.

And three ports use Pilots from Sandy Hook Pilots Association based on Staten Island.

https://www.sandyhookpilots.com/

[GTJ]

19 hours ago, njhorseman said:

[T]he three cruise terminals have separate piers but all are part of the same port.

I wonder if other groups of passenger terminals are also within the same port. Miami and Fort Lauderdale? Long Beach and San Pedro?

[njhorseman]

27 minutes ago, GTJ said:

I wonder if other groups of passenger terminals are also within the same port. Miami and Fort Lauderdale? Long Beach and San Pedro?

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are separate operational entities each under its own management and governance, but I have no idea whether USCBP would consider them a single port for purposes of the PVSA.

 

The same separation of governance and operational management is true for Miami and Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades). Since unlike the NY or LA ports they are in no way located in the same harbor and because they are more than 25 miles apart it would seem unlikely that USCBP would consider them the a single port.

 

What makes the Port of NY distinct is that the Port Authority of NY and NJ  is joint venture between the two states established by compact with the consent of congress.

 

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by njhorseman

[Maraprince]

I understand that Cunard only goes to the Manhattan cruise terminal if it is in transit -- it does not originate there.  Otherwise, it leaves from the Red Hook terminal.  However, if I am not mistaken, there is only the ability for one ship to dock in Red Hook.  Have to wonder what will really happen.

[TheOldBear]

I don't think there is any distinction based on 'in transit' status - just what pier is available that can accommodate the ship.

 

QM2 will occasionally use the west side piers if there is a scheduling conflict - Princess Cruises 'Caribbean Princess' also used the Brooklyn terminal, and now MSC will be there as well [there were also non cruise conflicts, such as setting up a 'formula E' race track].