Anyone know why Gem late 2 hrs to NYC port today 2/14?

[luv2gonow]

Hi,

Waiting  at port NYC to Embark the Gem and it is chaos.

Apparently ship 2 hrs late and people were arriving before debarkation.

Just wondering If anyone knows why ship was late. 
thanks

kerri

Edited February 14, 2020 by luv2gonow

[cmh]

19 hours ago, luv2gonow said:

Hi,

Waiting  at port NYC to Embark the Gem and it is chaos.

Apparently ship 2 hrs late and people were arriving before debarkation.

Just wondering If anyone knows why ship was late. 
thanks

kerri

We had rough seas on last day and I assume that is what delayed us. Captain said we were due to dock at 10 am but he was hoping to get there earlier but it did not happen. Took long time to offload luggage

[bonvoyagie]

We were on the Gem  on a three sea day run from Bonaire - on day one we were told that we would most likely be docking around 7AM - and at that time we were averaging north of 20kts all the time. Day 3 brought rough seas - and at least one big storm and lots of heavy fog - most of the time the best we could do was 15kts. Coming into the harbor we ran into strong currents and headwinds again limiting our speed to 5-7kts (the screws were at full but could barely offset the wind and current) The wind also affected our docking and seemed to take forever with lots of major application of the bow thrusters.(we were in the Stardust Theater so the sound of the thrusters was deafening). 

 

We noticed lots of people in the terminal waiting to board - down below they were trying to process us through customs our cruise had lots of foreign nationals and that slowed the customs process - and because we arrived late the officials were cycling through their breaks so only a few lines were open when the majority of the crowd arrived. They were also trying to process the arriving luggage, re-stock the ship, and get us off a quickly as possible. 

There was also a lot of luggage to process as this was a 21 day cruise.

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, cmh said:

We had rough seas on last day and I assume that is what delayed us. 

 

23 minutes ago, bonvoyagie said:

We were on the Gem  on a three sea day run from Bonaire -

 

Welcome home! We were on the cruise before yours (NY to SF); I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours!

[njhorseman]

The schedule called for 10 am arrival so the ship wasn't late. As previously explained the attempt to arrive between 7 and 8 was thwarted by weather and currents.

We are also scheduled to arrive back in NY at 10 am on Feb 24. I'm sure the captain will once again try to get in by 7 or 8 but if weather conditions are bad he again may not be able to.

There's a good reason why the cruises returning from the Caribbean are scheduled for 10 am arrival . You can't guarantee that conditions will permit doing 20 knots or more for entire length of the return voyage.

 

We were also on the Dec 2 sailing of the Gem. That day the ship didn't dock until after 12 noon. We were told that the ship had even cancelled the last port call in St. Thomas because they knew the weather was going to be bad on the return voyage. Even that wasn't enough to prevent the ship from arriving late. We didn't get on board until 4 pm after arriving at the cruise terminal at 10...so 6 hours of waiting for us that day.

 

[bonvoyagie]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

Welcome home! We were on the cruise before yours (NY to SF); I hope you enjoyed yours as much as we did ours!

Thank you Turtles06 we had a great trip - a little rough on the home stretch. But we had excellent weather in all ports and the canal crossing. Thank you for your excellent reporting on the trip over, knowing that we would be able to do laundry 3 times allowed us to pack a bit lighter. Now we are back home - no more shorts and sandals - it is cold and very wet here in PDX.

Getting ready to offload my photos from the camera to the computer and start some editing and maybe a quick CC review.

[BirdTravels]

A 10 am “arrival” means the ship physically arrives a few hits earlier, is docked, cleared customs, gangways set, and ready to disembark at 10 am. 

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

A 10 am “arrival” means the ship physically arrives a few hits earlier, is docked, cleared customs, gangways set, and ready to disembark at 10 am. 

No. It means the ship had arrived and had been tied up and secured at 10 am. For example in this cruise despite the 10 am scheduled arrival they were aiming for an 8 am arrival and the published disembarkation plans called for the first self assist walk offs to start at about 830 to 8:45 . At many ports of call on this and the previous cruise first disembarking was often 30 minutes or more after arrival time. Same arrangement for the 75 or so previous cruises we've taken. If course sometimes the ship arrives earlier and disembarkation starts earlier than expected.

[anniedolli]

On 2/15/2020 at 9:54 PM, njhorseman said:

No. It means the ship had arrived and had been tied up and secured at 10 am. For example in this cruise despite the 10 am scheduled arrival they were aiming for an 8 am arrival and the published disembarkation plans called for the first self assist walk offs to start at about 830 to 8:45 . At many ports of call on this and the previous cruise first disembarking was often 30 minutes or more after arrival time. Same arrangement for the 75 or so previous cruises we've taken. If course sometimes the ship arrives earlier and disembarkation starts earlier than expected.

 

NJhorseman I trust your knowledge so wondering your opinion......We are leaving on the Gem next Monday 2/24. When registering it asked what time do you want to check in...my friends chose the earliest time provided which was 9:30am (we have a suite so its open time for us).  If the ship is not scheduled to arrive until 10am why do you think they offer such an early time? Is it just an automatic computer thing?

Also, if the ships does arrive on schedule at 10AM what time do you think they will start the boarding process?

THANK YOU!!!

[shof515]

1 hour ago, anniedolli said:

 

NJhorseman I trust your knowledge so wondering your opinion......We are leaving on the Gem next Monday 2/24. When registering it asked what time do you want to check in...my friends chose the earliest time provided which was 9:30am (we have a suite so its open time for us).  If the ship is not scheduled to arrive until 10am why do you think they offer such an early time? Is it just an automatic computer thing?

Also, if the ships does arrive on schedule at 10AM what time do you think they will start the boarding process?

THANK YOU!!!

I had the same problem on my cruise back in November on the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda. the ship had a schedule arrival time of 10am from the previous cruise. When my online check in became available, i was able to select the standard check in times. There was no communication from Norwegian about the ship arrive later then usually. ideally, Norwegian should adjust the online check in based on the time the ship is scheduled to be at the pier.

 

on my cruise, the terminal was very crowded due to the everyone arriving at the terminal at their scheduled time. Due to various issues, check in did not begin until after 2pm and boarding did not start until after 3pm

 

for a 10am schedule arrival time, you will need at least 2 hours to get everyone off and clear the ship. boarding should start at around 12 or so

[Caribbeangirl282]

Can someone please remind me if NCL puts out snacks and drinks for passengers who are waiting to board at the Manhattan Pier (88 or 90) We are NOT Haven, if that helps.  Just regular balcony.

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, anniedolli said:

 

NJhorseman I trust your knowledge so wondering your opinion......We are leaving on the Gem next Monday 2/24. When registering it asked what time do you want to check in...my friends chose the earliest time provided which was 9:30am (we have a suite so its open time for us).  If the ship is not scheduled to arrive until 10am why do you think they offer such an early time? Is it just an automatic computer thing?

Also, if the ships does arrive on schedule at 10AM what time do you think they will start the boarding process?

THANK YOU!!!

They schedule check in that early because the ship often is in by 8 am. Check in  time isn't boarding time and boarding typically starts about 3 to 3.5 hours after the ship docks except if CBP is slower than usual in allowing the start of disembarkation. For example when we boarded the Gem on Jan 4 everything went smoothly and we were on the ship just past 11 am. On Feb 14 boarding didn't start until 1 pm.

[njhorseman]

50 minutes ago, Caribbeangirl282 said:

Can someone please remind me if NCL puts out snacks and drinks for passengers who are waiting to board at the Manhattan Pier (88 or 90) We are NOT Haven, if that helps.  Just regular balcony.

Drinks, yes. Snacks, usually not.

[Caribbeangirl282]

Thanks just couldn't recall.  We did NCL Escape out of Manhattan in Feb 2019. So it's been a year already!

[Mike C]

There is a snack bar where you can purchase food while you're waiting

[meatball_nyc]

Yes, there is a cart where you can purchase snacks such as hot dogs, chips, soda and water, etc inside the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The cart used to be just outside, but as of a few years ago has also been inside. 

Not put out by NCL.

No Haven for us, either. Boo hoo...

[Caribbeangirl282]

Thank you so much 😊 

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, Caribbeangirl282 said:

Can someone please remind me if NCL puts out snacks and drinks for passengers who are waiting to board at the Manhattan Pier (88 or 90) We are NOT Haven, if that helps.  Just regular balcony.

Water. No food. You can buy stuff if you just can't wait to board and get to the buffet.