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Time issue getting to JFK from ship- comments please


nini
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We will be on Princess which uses the Brooklyn cruiseport. If our flight leaves

at 10:55 am from JFK, is this enough time? I have a feeling that it is not. It is a domestic flight.

and it is a Saturday. Thanks for any input.

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Is "Probably" good enough?

 

 

I think you will probably make it. But any flight before noon is at risk if a ship is late getting in due to storms or something, or if Immigration needs to slow things down for some reason

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Red Hook Customs & Immigration can be very slow. Other times, lines move briskly. IF you can self-debark with luggage 8:00-8:30 you should be OK. (Assuming fast customs, quick pick-up, no traffic surprises, and priority check-in and TSA).

 

We arrive in Red Hook often on the QM2 and would never consider anything before noon. (More comfortably 1:00-1:30, but we don't like to cut it close)

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For what it's worth, the QM2 will not sell tickets to their transfers to any passengers with flights before 1:30 AM. (The Cunard Transfer debark time is immediately after the self-assist group and priority but before the first "normal" scheduled group [grills/penthouses])

 

Last year, we had a 1:15 flight, got priority debarkation and left the ship at 8:30-8:40 or so. Customs went fast, and we got a Dial7 car we booked as from the curb (wait was about 20 min). We were at JFK around 10:30 on a Sunday. The previous year, we debarked in the middle of the categories, customs took about an hour. (We rode to Manhattan that year, not JFK)

 

- Mark

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Weather and road traffic between Red Hooks and JFK (distance of 25 miles & 45 minutes drive time via the "longer" Belt Parkway (which I prefer) route - is unknown & unpredictable, whether ship is docking at 6 am & clear for self-walkoff by 7:30 or 8 am.

 

Driving to the airport on weekends can be wrecked with a simple accident or lane closure from emergency construction or tire changer, resulting in rubber-necking on the route, stretching the trip time to 1.25 to 1.5 hour instead. Belt Parkway's long term reconstruction has been ongoing for the past 10+ years and not yet finished; I always allow extra travel time, just in case.

 

Getting to the airport by 9 am is ideal, getting there at 9:30 pm would be too close for comfort, depending on the airline/terminal & TSA staffing level, and whether one has Pre-Check status (not that it always help & only if it's open & manned)

 

Whales had been sighted recently outside/near the NY harbor's waterway, resulting in marine traffic being asked to slow down further.

 

Personally, I would not "chance" it myself even though it'll likely be just in time ... check with CC's counterpart over at Flyertalk to see what's going on lately at JFK's terminals.

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Thank you all- this is very helpful. The Regal Princess is "supposed" to get in at 6:00 am

 

That's port arrival not when the first person gets off the ship, have you asked on the Princess board for recent experiences (I know they are infrequent) when the ship clears for debarkation?

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Realize also that Red Hook is, by far, the least frequently used of the three NY area ports. I suspect that if there are multiple ships arriving in Manhattan that day, Red Hook would probably be shorted. (I don't know if they're also the same staff for NJ Port Liberty)

 

If you're on the Regal Princess arriving on the 29th, customs might be OK. Especially if you have a domestic port immediately preceding it. Here's a link to the NY port schedule https://www.nycruise.com/schedule/

 

- Mark

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