Best way to get a cab at MCT after cruise

[BlushPell]

Hello I have cruised from  the Manhattan cruise terminal last year and found it difficult to get a cab once crossing the street.

 

I have a cruise on the Joy arriving August 6 2023 and I will be trying to get from the cruise terminal to the Moynihan Train station after debarking. When I crossed the street last year it was just a large disorganized group of people all waiting for cabs and no cabs were stopping.

 

Is there a better way to get a cab? I asked in the terminal last time and they just said to go across the street. I believe in the past there may have been a dispatcher but there wasn’t one last year. 
 

Any tips? Should I just get an Uber? Does Uber pick up at the same location? Thanks 

[navybankerteacher]

29 minutes ago, BlushPell said:

Hello I have cruised from  the Manhattan cruise terminal last year and found it difficult to get a cab once crossing the street.

 

I have a cruise on the Joy arriving August 6 2023 and I will be trying to get from the cruise terminal to the Moynihan Train station after debarking. When I crossed the street last year it was just a large disorganized group of people all waiting for cabs and no cabs were stopping.

 

Is there a better way to get a cab? I asked in the terminal last time and they just said to go across the street. I believe in the past there may have been a dispatcher but there wasn’t one last year. 
 

Any tips? Should I just get an Uber? Does Uber pick up at the same location? Thanks 

It is worth the slightly higher cost to spring for an Uber rather than try to grab a taxi from the many hundreds (perhaps more than a thousand) folks debarking with you.  Reserve in advance, check out the neighborhood and select a rendezvous point.  

[Turtles06]

In February, we got a porter in the Terminal to help us with our luggage.  We told him we needed a cab. We went thru immigration and then the porter took us across 12th Avenue and put us into a cab. 

[CookieShip]

In the past, I have walked upstairs and got a cab from someone that was being dropped off for the next cruise.

[Brighton Line]

23 hours ago, CookieShip said:

In the past, I have walked upstairs and got a cab from someone that was being dropped off for the next cruise.

I too have done that but I've also been chased away by port staff saying it was for drop off only and go across the street for pickup. 

I also then stepped back into the terminal and back out when another cab pulled up YMMV. 

[GTJ]

45 minutes ago, Brighton Line said:

I too have done that but I've also been chased away by port staff saying it was for drop off only and go across the street for pickup.

I wonder if there are any duly-adopted regulations on point, or if this is an instance of individual port staff making up things on their own.

[BlushPell]

Well I just returned and wanted to add that there were plenty of taxis waiting….and NONE of them would take us to the train station. They were all waiting for bigger fares to the airport. There was one person who approached us right away to take us but ended up being a “gypsy cab” with no meter and was going to ask a ridiculous amount to ride in his “car”. 

 

I walked about a mile to the station and finally got a cab about a mile away after trying to get cabs along the way all refusing to take us. What a racket. I’ve never used Uber so I was hesitant to try it being so unfamiliar with it in large city but I will have to revisit learning how when I cruise again from NYC next month. I wish I could cancel the cruise but it’s too late, but I know I will never cruise again from NYC after this, it is just too much of a scammy hassle.

[navybankerteacher]

11 hours ago, BlushPell said:

Well I just returned and wanted to add that there were plenty of taxis waiting….and NONE of them would take us to the train station. They were all waiting for bigger fares to the airport. There was one person who approached us right away to take us but ended up being a “gypsy cab” with no meter and was going to ask a ridiculous amount to ride in his “car”. 

 

I walked about a mile to the station and finally got a cab about a mile away after trying to get cabs along the way all refusing to take us. What a racket. I’ve never used Uber so I was hesitant to try it being so unfamiliar with it in large city but I will have to revisit learning how when I cruise again from NYC next month. I wish I could cancel the cruise but it’s too late, but I know I will never cruise again from NYC after this, it is just too much of a scammy hassle.

It is absurd that there is no effort by the management to make debarkation work.  MCT is set up to very easily accommodate embarking passengers while simply ignoring the fact that about a week or so later those same folks will have to make connection with ground transport.

[Noxequifans]

We have had a number of experiences hailing a cab after a trip at MCT.  As some have said, we hailed a cab just across the street from the pier. When the number of people there waiting seemed too many, we went over one block and hailed a cab with ease. 

[Nitemare]

15 hours ago, BlushPell said:

Well I just returned and wanted to add that there were plenty of taxis waiting….and NONE of them would take us to the train station. They were all waiting for bigger fares to the airport. There was one person who approached us right away to take us but ended up being a “gypsy cab” with no meter and was going to ask a ridiculous amount to ride in his “car”. 

 

I walked about a mile to the station and finally got a cab about a mile away after trying to get cabs along the way all refusing to take us. What a racket. I’ve never used Uber so I was hesitant to try it being so unfamiliar with it in large city but I will have to revisit learning how when I cruise again from NYC next month. I wish I could cancel the cruise but it’s too late, but I know I will never cruise again from NYC after this, it is just too much of a scammy hassle.

Talking to any driver who walks up to you at any tourist site is a mistake.  You'll never get a good deal that way and it may not be safe.

 

Go to the cab line.  Get in.  Tell them your destination.  They can't refuse. If they start to refuse, take a picture of their license on the back of the seat and they will take you to your destination.  They get lots of train station rides from the ports.

[GTJ]

21 hours ago, BlushPell said:

Well I just returned and wanted to add that there were plenty of taxis waiting…. and NONE of them would take us to the train station. They were all waiting for bigger fares to the airport.

Were there yellow taxis that were refusing? Did you approach the driver from outside, and ask? Or did you first enter the taxi and then demand?

[GTJ]

5 hours ago, Nitemare said:

Talking to any driver who walks up to you at any tourist site is a mistake. You'll never get a good deal that way and it may not be safe.

Soliciting is unlawful for legitimate taxi operators. Never a good idea to accept such a solicitation.

 

5 hours ago, Nitemare said:

Go to the cab line. Get in. Tell them your destination. They can't refuse. If they start to refuse, take a picture of their license on the back of the seat and they will take you to your destination.

One amendment: Before getting in, you can request the driver to open the trunk so that you can place your baggage inside. That does not mean disclosing your destination while doing so, which you should do only once you're inside.

[LHT28]

21 hours ago, BlushPell said:

I I wish I could cancel the cruise but it’s too late, but I know I will never cruise again from NYC after this, it is just too much of a scammy hassle.

Just  do not do r/t  out of NYC

 Getting into the port was not problem  it is getting out  & getting transportation

[BlushPell]

9 hours ago, Noxequifans said:

We have had a number of experiences hailing a cab after a trip at MCT.  As some have said, we hailed a cab just across the street from the pier. When the number of people there waiting seemed too many, we went over one block and hailed a cab with ease. 

I tried that and asked several while walking about a mile or so away from the ship to take us. Cabs that were blocks away wouldn’t take us either. Finally about a mile away someone had gotten out and we got in.

 

All the drivers wouldn’t open any doors or trunks for us we asked about 6 of them so I couldn’t get in to demand anything. They were all standing outside of their cabs and saw it was just two of us with carry on luggage. I could have taken photos and made phone calls to report them but at that point I just wanted to go home and didn’t feel like arguing.

 

Next trip I’ll try Uber or worst case walk.

Edited August 7, 2023 by BlushPell

[GTJ]

42 minutes ago, BlushPell said:

All the drivers wouldn’t open any doors or trunks for us

That is incredible. We're talking about yellow taxis, correct? TLC regulations require that, excepting some unusual circumstances, that rear doors cannot be locked. "While on duty and operating for-hire, a Driver must not lock either of the rear doors except with the consent or at the request of a Passenger or for a reason specified in these rules."

 

A strategy some people have used, when peppered with a driver request for destination, is to initially provide a false destination (e.g., Kennedy airport), and once moving state that the destination has been changed.

[BlushPell]

27 minutes ago, GTJ said:

That is incredible. We're talking about yellow taxis, correct? TLC regulations require that, excepting some unusual circumstances, that rear doors cannot be locked. "While on duty and operating for-hire, a Driver must not lock either of the rear doors except with the consent or at the request of a Passenger or for a reason specified in these rules."

 

A strategy some people have used, when peppered with a driver request for destination, is to initially provide a false destination (e.g., Kennedy airport), and once moving state that the destination has been changed.

Yes it was yellow cabs. Most were the van type larger so I think they wanted families and airport runs(at least that is what one driver told us)

 

Maybe that is why they stand outside their cabs so they can lock the doors since they aren’t in the vehicle.

 

Thanks for the tips hopefully next time will be better. 

Edited August 8, 2023 by BlushPell

[GTJ]

11 minutes ago, BlushPell said:

hopefully next time will be better. 

Yes, let us so hope. I don't regularly use taxis (I much prefer the reliability and ease of using public transportation), but when I do, the drivers have always played by the book. What is so startling with your experience is that not only are these drivers doing every wrong individually, but that there is a group, or at least several, who are acting badly. It just stuns me that such people would attempt to do these things, that I am searching for any reason why that would be (e.g., these are not yellow taxis). These drivers are bottom of the barrel and ought to be suspended for a long time.

[Brighton Line]

As a New Yorker I have experienced medallion cabs refusing a trip for a short distance. Yes I was in the car and they wouldn't budge. Not like you can call T&LC it is now all 311 for complaints, that does not solve the problem of getting a cab to go where you want at that moment in time.