Magic from NYC

[PhilP]

We have sailed out of Port Canaveral several times and are familiar with the arrival and boarding times and luggage procedures. This coming November, we'll be sailing on the Magic out of Manhattan. Can anyone offer their experiences with arrival times, inconveniences, or boarding times for this terminal? Any recommendations? Is there a separate concierge lounge like at PC?

 

[bbn1122]

I don't know how much I can help. DH and I sailed out of NYC on a 2 Night in 2012 and will be cruising again this October on a 4 night.

We live in NJ, so we just drove to the port and parked there, like $25-30 per night if I remember. I remeber reading somewhere recently that parking is around $30 per day. But don't hold me to it.

We did not do concierge that trip nor will we on the next, so I don't know or remeber there being a lounge. But I bet you they have something.

Boarding was quick, easy and extremely similar to PC. I remember curb side drop off for luggage and if you were coming by cab etc. And if memory serves me arrival time was similar. We got to port around 11am and were on the ship by noonish.

Since, we will be gone for 4 nights this time, I am not sure if we will park at the port. Maybe we will have someone drive us or get an Urber. My DH is from Brookllyn so he know his way around everything. Actually, his law office is in Brooklyn, so we may park there for free and take a cab over.

I hope someone with a more recent experience will chime in. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[PhilP]

Thanks, bbn. We sailed out of nyc in 2012 also. It was a 8 night trip, non concierge. I believe parking has gone up to $40 per day at the pier. It's cheaper off site, but is it worth the extra hassle? At 40/ day to park, it will be cheaper for us to take car service (we live in northern nj). Not sure how many other ships will be sailing that day, so will have to figure our arrival time later.

 

[Sir William]

We sailed out of NYC last October. Overall, the experience was similar to that of Port Canaveral. However, the terminal doesn't belong to DCL so there were some minor differences, but not enough to be significant. I don't believe there was a concierge lounge, but I really don't know.

We stayed at a nearby hotel the night before and took a taxi over the next morning. The off-load lane leading to the terminal was slightly backed up and our driver let us out a bit further from the porters than I'd have liked, but they promptly came up to us and gathered our bags.

As you entered the main floor of the terminal there was a counter off to one side and kind of behind you as you entered where they were accepting the medical forms. Since this location was not particularly obvious, some people were having to come back from security to fill out and submit their forms. This appeared to be a source of confusion (and some frustration) to quite a few, me included, as there was no signs or anything indicating you had to go there first before proceeding to the security area. I went over to see what was going on and that is where I saw this was where we had to fill out the medical forms.

We had a slight delay in boarding due to a problem onboard (I heard a number of conflicting rumors as to what this was), but otherwise everything went pretty smoothly, and once boarding began it went very quickly.

I would say it was not quite as well organized or efficient as Port Canaveral, but it beat my experience on RCL a few years ago by a long shot.

 

[PhilP]

Sir William: thanks for the heads up regarding the counter for the medical forms. We will be on the look out for it. Hope they straighten that mess out before our trip.

 

[msmama]

I'm fairly certain there was a concierge lounge. There was a lounge for someone but I wasn't allowed in so I don't really remember what it was for.

It was my first disney cruise and I've never cruised out of PC. We stayed in the city the night before and walked to the port. There was a Royal Caribbean ship that had just come in and we had to walk through those folks to get to our ship. They were so chaotic - tons of lines, tons of people, it was crazy. Walked over to the terminal where disney was - literally no one there, we had 3 guys helping us with our 2 bags. It was so nice and easy.

We showed up well before our PAT because we had to check out of the hotel. I've read that though Disney says that boarding starts at 1, in PC it's usually earlier. I feel like ours wasn't much earlier but I could be remembering wrong. It did get pretty crowded in the terminal before they started boarding (like standing room only busy). We met both Mickey and Minnie while we waited.

It was our first cruise and the line for us was pretty short. The silver line was significantly longer. When I cruised, the people that led us to the lines handed out the medical forms.

Also incredibly easy leaving. We found our luggage right away and while we got picked up right away so didn't have to wait around at all, I saw none of the confusion like the RC cruise. We're doing the cruise over Thanksgiving out of NYC this year.

 

[Pens Fan]

Are you sailing north or south? The only significant difference I can remember from Port Canaveral was that we had to fill out a Canadian customs form before we checked in. It was kind of confusing, but DCL had a lot of representatives handing out forms while you stood in line. It just caught us off guard as we had never done that before (and on our 5 DCL cruises we have sailed out of 4 different ports). If your cruise is heading to the Bahamas it won't apply to you. Other than that it was pretty much par for the course. We did wait a while before they started boarding. I think we were on the same cruise as Sir William, but as he noted there was something out of the ordinary that caused that.

You are correct that it costs $40 per day to park at the pier. We did the stay, park and cruise package at a hotel in NJ (Hilton Garden Inn in Ridgefield Park), but as you already live in NJ, it might make sense to book a car service. Although, we met a couple from NJ on our cruise and they were laughing about the fact that our hotel package cost less than their car service. I'm not sure exactly were they lived, but it wasn't far from NYC.

 

[Mikeb1892]

You are correct that it costs $40 per day to park at the pier. We did the stay, park and cruise package at a hotel in NJ (Hilton Garden Inn in Ridgefield Park)

We live approx 3.5 hrs from NYC so we were thinking of doing something similar to what you did (park and cruise at a hotel). Were you happy with your decision to stay at this hotel as opposed to parking at the pier?

 

[MaleficentRN]

Are you sailing north or south? The only significant difference I can remember from Port Canaveral was that we had to fill out a Canadian customs form before we checked in. It was kind of confusing, but DCL had a lot of representatives handing out forms while you stood in line.

Ug! This! I don't know why they didn't have those forms online to print off and hand in rather than hundreds of people getting turned back to that counter, trying to fill those out standing up, looking for pens. As mentioned, the terminal was more chaotic than PC. I had other issues that I won't get into, but I put it off as inexperience. Hopefully this year will be better.
The terminal is MUCH bigger than PC. You will do more walking when you embark and disembark. We arrived close to 9am. There were two other ships in port that day. Traffic wasn't as bad as I thought considering people were still disembarking. I parked at the port and it was worth every penny. We pulled in and unloaded our bags right by the elevator. A porter that was dropping off bags at someones car took ours right down and I found a spot there at the front. The lot appeared half full, but again, people were still leaving so I'm sure they opened up.
We walked down to the Intrepid and came back to check in about 11. Again, not sure about the lounge as we walked right on. I can't imagine it's anything more that what is at PC given the set up of the place. There was a huge line for check in at all counters, we only waited a couple of minutes at concierge.
I'd sail out of Manhattan again in a heartbeat. It was so convenient. I hope there are more sailings from there in late 2018.

 

[Pens Fan]

We live approx 3.5 hrs from NYC so we were thinking of doing something similar to what you did (park and cruise at a hotel). Were you happy with your decision to stay at this hotel as opposed to parking at the pier?

Oh, yes. It was so easy. The hotel was nice, it was in a safe area near a bunch of office buildings and right off the interstate. We had no concerns about leaving our car there. When we checked in, they asked us what time we wanted to be picked up the next day and they arranged for a car service to take us to the pier. They gave us a voucher to pay for the ride back to the hotel. We called the number on the voucher when we disembarked and coordinated with the driver where we would be picked up. That was a little difficult as the company they use will only pick you up across the street (though they will drop you off curbside for embarkation), but it wasn't that big of a deal. We have a cruise for 2018 planned out of NYC and we will definitely stay there again.

For the two of us, it cost roughly $280 which included the room, breakfast, transportation to and from the pier and parking. Just make sure you book the package. It's under special offers on their website - on the second page of offers.

 

[Mikeb1892]

Oh, yes. It was so easy. The hotel was nice, it was in a safe area near a bunch of office buildings and right off the interstate. We had no concerns about leaving our car there. When we checked in, they asked us what time we wanted to be picked up the next day and they arranged for a car service to take us to the pier. They gave us a voucher to pay for the ride back to the hotel. We called the number on the voucher when we disembarked and coordinated with the driver where we would be picked up. That was a little difficult as the company they use will only pick you up across the street (though they will drop you off curbside for embarkation), but it wasn't that big of a deal. We have a cruise for 2018 planned out of NYC and we will definitely stay there again.

For the two of us, it cost roughly $280 which included the room, breakfast, transportation to and from the pier and parking. Just make sure you book the package. It's under special offers on their website - on the second page of offers.

Thanks so much. We will definitely look into this.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I'm fairly certain there was a concierge lounge. There was a lounge for someone but I wasn't allowed in so I don't really remember what it was for.

It was my first disney cruise and I've never cruised out of PC. We stayed in the city the night before and walked to the port. There was a Royal Caribbean ship that had just come in and we had to walk through those folks to get to our ship. They were so chaotic - tons of lines, tons of people, it was crazy. Walked over to the terminal where disney was - literally no one there, we had 3 guys helping us with our 2 bags. It was so nice and easy.

We showed up well before our PAT because we had to check out of the hotel. I've read that though Disney says that boarding starts at 1, in PC it's usually earlier. I feel like ours wasn't much earlier but I could be remembering wrong. It did get pretty crowded in the terminal before they started boarding (like standing room only busy). We met both Mickey and Minnie while we waited.

It was our first cruise and the line for us was pretty short. The silver line was significantly longer. When I cruised, the people that led us to the lines handed out the medical forms.

Also incredibly easy leaving. We found our luggage right away and while we got picked up right away so didn't have to wait around at all, I saw none of the confusion like the RC cruise. We're doing the cruise over Thanksgiving out of NYC this year.

What hotel did you stay in and how far was the walk?

 

[bbn1122]

This is not my thread, but thanks NYC past cruisers for all the great info.

I agree, more NYC cruises needed. Every year would be great.

Dreaming of a cruise to Bermuda from NYC on DCL. I don't know if that possible, so many cruise lines already go there. But a DCL would sell out!

 

[Steve Dexter]

Last October, we stayed at Ink48. It's one block to the terminal. Walking to the terminal is awesome, traffic meant nothing. We are doing the same thing this year. Loved the hotel and it's a real treat to cruise out of New York.

 

[msmama]

What hotel did you stay in and how far was the walk?

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express that was a block and a half away from the port. It was maybe a 5 minute walk with an 8 year old and our luggage. (Took the train to the city and uber from penn station to hotel the day before). It would've been walkable (long but doable) but it was raining. I found a pretty good deal which is why I picked that hotel.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express that was a block and a half away from the port. It was maybe a 5 minute walk with an 8 year old and our luggage. (Took the train to the city and uber from penn station to hotel the day before). It would've been walkable (long but doable) but it was raining. I found a pretty good deal which is why I picked that hotel.

Thank you!!!