Average time to diembark in Manhattan

[VicRock]

We're sailing on the Escape in November.  When we get back to Manhattan, we have a car waiting for us.  Wondering if our time table is good.  After the ship has docked, how soon do the regular folk get to get off?

[mking8288]

It's rather difficult to provide an "average" time to disembark mega/+ ships like the Breakaway or Escape (Bliss is coming soon ...) for regular, ordinary folks -  but use this as a general guide (disclaimer: YMMV wildly - NCL isn't in full & direct control of the process on the pier and inside the cruise terminal - that's CBP and port officials, et. al.)

 

This is assuming your bags are being delivered inside the building in the luggage hall:  15 to 30 minutes from joining the end of the line to walk-off the ship (stepping off the gangway & ramp, onto the terminal - following the line of folks in front of you, toward the escalators down onto the lower level) and another 5 to 10 minutes to walk thru luggage hall & retrieve your luggage.  Next, join the exit line for CBP inspection - which can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes (common to be joining the end of the line with 200 to 300+ fellow cruisers ahead of you ... same goal: get out of there.)  Once thru there, another 5+ minutes to walk out toward 12th Avenue for ground transportation.  

 

In short, this can vary anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes - probably at least 1 hour to be reasonable & optimistic.  For a fast track exit, once inside the building with luggage collected - find a porter (sometimes, there is a short line to queue up for the next available) ... It will easily cut your time by 20+ minutes, well worth the generous tipping that the porter are counting on for their services. 

[shadowmeboy]

I concur with MKing8288, that timeline is about what we experienced on the Dawn last June.

[CWMixer]

FWIW: When we came into the Manhattan Terminal on the Breakaway, it was just about 45 minutes from when we stepped out of our room to being in our car getting on the West Side highway (we parked at the pier-side lot).   We carried our luggage off.   No clue if this is the typical or average, but we were pleasantly surprised.

[F27TW]

We were on Escape in Sept (the delayed arrival due to Dorian).    We docked at 2:00pm .. we had the Green (first off) self-disembarkation tags .. we were off the ship by 3:30.

 

Disembarkation is a zoo, though .. as on any ship.   Everyone crowds the stairwells .. especially the fools who have later colors .. and no manners about it . . .  the crew does very little to enforce it either .. so be prepared to head down a bit early .. and for some yelling ... we saw a couple people almost start swinging over their tag color!   Lol

[hutt1]

You should allow at least an hour. It is not worth the stress of trying to get to transportation that is waiting.

[steelersfan4ever]

In March we had all our luggage with us and it took us over 2 hours to get thru.  The lines were extremely long hat day.

[salty dingo]

If you are OK with taking your luggage off the ship (not claiming it in the terminal) then you can be among the first groups off the ship. Escape last week got to the dock about 5:40 AM. The first group (GREEN) was set to disembark at 7:45 AM. You can choose which group you are in during the cruise - there is a kiosk next to guest services explaining everything.

 

8:45 was the first opportunity to disembark without carrying all your luggage, and was for Latitude Gold and above only.

 

9:00, 9:15, 9:30, 9:45 and 10:00 are the other times you can choose.

[BirdTravels]

On our Escape cruise earlier this year, there were delays in clearing the ship. Once disembarkation commences, it took us well over 2 hours to get to the curb. We actually missed our flight for the first time in a long time. 

[Newleno]

Two weeks ago on escape we intentionally got up late, ate breakfast at 8:45, relaxed a bit and got off the ship at final call to get Off, so it took ten minutes at about 10am 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Newleno

[salty dingo]

2 minutes ago, Newleno said:

Two weeks ago on escape we intentionally got up late, ate breakfast at 8:45, relaxed a bit and got off the ship at final call to get Off, so it took ten minutes at about 10am 

We opted for 9:30 group, and there was a bit of a line but nothing too terrible. Process from getting called on the ship to hitting the street was maybe 30 minutes.

 

We had three bags to claim and two were right next to each other and I had to hunt for 10 minutes to find the third one which was nowhere close. It ended well enough.

 

One word of wisdom - if you are getting a taxi there is a stand right across the street from Pier 88 and there are cops directing traffic and handling the taxis. However, there are hustlers everywhere trying to steer you to a private car. I was approached at least 5 times in the few minutes I was outside. I have read these guys can charge whatever they want unlike the taxis which are metered.

[luckyinpa]

both my cruises  were a breeze. you have to take your own luggage. then once downstairs catch a porter and he runs to you to the front of the customs line then he takes your stuff to your car. i always give him a 20. super super fast to your car and on your way to fight rush hour traffic even going the other way 🙂

 

[bones774]

getting off early/first is no bargain(big crowds). I put my bags out at night with the earliest disembarkation color, wake in AM have a long leisurely breakfast and walk off unencumbered, fast with no bags, crowds are thinned out and my bags are standing there all by themselves for easy Ident and p/u. grab them , walk to customs(which is the longest wait) never been more than 30 minutes for me.

Edited November 1, 2019 by bones774

[VicRock]

8 hours ago, hutt1 said:

You should allow at least an hour. It is not worth the stress of trying to get to transportation that is waiting.

We can have them there at any time but if they wait we pay more.  Just trying to get an idea on whether or not to change our time.

[mjkacmom]

8 minutes ago, VicRock said:

We can have them there at any time but if they wait we pay more.  Just trying to get an idea on whether or not to change our time.

We always walk off, once we were in our car by 7:45, once 10:45, lined up at exactly the same time. The other times in the middle. Sunday’s can be iffy with customs, make sure you can call if you are delayed (we did with the 10:45 when we realized we would not be off the ship in time).

[VicRock]

5 hours ago, salty dingo said:

If you are OK with taking your luggage off the ship (not claiming it in the terminal) then you can be among the first groups off the ship. Escape last week got to the dock about 5:40 AM. The first group (GREEN) was set to disembark at 7:45 AM. You can choose which group you are in during the cruise - there is a kiosk next to guest services explaining everything.

 

8:45 was the first opportunity to disembark without carrying all your luggage, and was for Latitude Gold and above only.

 

9:00, 9:15, 9:30, 9:45 and 10:00 are the other times you can choose.

Thanks

  Knowing those times is helpful.

[VicRock]

5 hours ago, Newleno said:

Two weeks ago on escape we intentionally got up late, ate breakfast at 8:45, relaxed a bit and got off the ship at final call to get Off, so it took ten minutes at about 10am 

Hmm.  An option.  Thanks.

[VicRock]

51 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

We always walk off, once we were in our car by 7:45, once 10:45, lined up at exactly the same time. The other times in the middle. Sunday’s can be iffy with customs, make sure you can call if you are delayed (we did with the 10:45 when we realized we would not be off the ship in time).

It'll be a Wednesday.

[mking8288]

One of our nephew is on that BDA 5 nights sailing, same as OP - I would caution that the ETA/scheduled arrival time back to NYC is going to be tight one, instead of 2 days at sea on the return - only 1 full day - Escape is going to be running all engines ... at/near top speed to make it back (before repo).  Normally, NCL ships returning from Bermuda & Bahamas has plenty of time and mostly back at the pier very early - not these two 5-nights specials.  

 

Ships coming into NY harbor generally will pickup a solid land-tower cellular signal when it's off the shorelines of Staten Island & Coney Island/Brooklyn, typically 90+ minutes before docking and disembarkation begin for the Express Self Walk-Off herd ... There should be plenty of time to contact your car service to re-confirm, change or amend your pickup time, based on most likely disembarkation timing into the terminal for a orderly transition to ground transport.  

 

For local car services (Carmel for us) - we don't reserve it advance, until the day of - using the mobile app - as we are getting ready to leave the ship on the morning of.  The next available car/minivan is less than 10 minutes away - if and when we are ready (exception is when it's something like NYC's 5 borough Marathon ... i.e. this Sunday).  

[bones774]

5 hours ago, salty dingo said:

If you are OK with taking your luggage off the ship (not claiming it in the terminal) then you can be among the first groups off the ship. Escape last week got to the dock about 5:40 AM. The first group (GREEN) was set to disembark at 7:45 AM. You can choose which group you are in during the cruise - there is a kiosk next to guest services explaining everything.

 

8:45 was the first opportunity to disembark without carrying all your luggage, and was for Latitude Gold and above only.

 

9:00, 9:15, 9:30, 9:45 and 10:00 are the other times you can choose.

Those times are not anywhere near guarantees.

[salty dingo]

6 hours ago, bones774 said:

getting off early/first is no bargain(big crowds). I put my bags out at night with the earliest disembarkation color, wake in AM have a long leisurely breakfast and walk off unencumbered, fast with no bags, crowds are thinned out and my bags are standing there all by themselves for easy Ident and p/u. grab them , walk to customs(which is the longest wait) never been more than 30 minutes for me.

Yep, right there with you. That last leisurely breakfast is something you paid for, may as well enjoy It! I may not be the last person off but I was within a half hour of it.

[salty dingo]

1 hour ago, bones774 said:

Those times are not anywhere near guarantees.

Not guarantees, but they are published. The times tracked pretty close... There was a 5 to 10 minute delay due to a broken escalator in the terminal. When we exited there was a person at the top of the escalator metering the people onto it so it did not break again. Kudos to the folks at the terminal for that.

[yearsofcruising]

Escape this past Sept. with walk-off. luggage. maybe 15/20 min wait line with 1st 200 people off ship. We use a pvt. driver who we call when passing V.Bridge , about 1 1/2 away. Going thru customs is easy now. They just use face recognition somehow and from phonecall to meeting across the street, he's 10 minutes away..

Been this way for past 3 cruises

[salty dingo]

4 minutes ago, yearsofcruising said:

Going thru customs is easy now. They just use face recognition

Yep, that works great. Machine verifies who you are and that is that. It is not like there is anything in Bermuda they worry about getting into the US.

[mjkacmom]

13 hours ago, VicRock said:

It'll be a Wednesday.

Since it’s a weekday, I’d try to stay on as long as possible and try to miss some of the rush hour traffic.