KeithJenner

Assuming there are no problems you should be off the ship at around the arrival time. There is a good chance that you will actually arrive a little before that time so they should be ready at around the time stated.

I would stay somewhere around Ermou, which is quite central. It is an easy walk to most places from there. We stayed at the Electra Hotel last time which was nice, but there are quite a few decent hotels in the area. Rooftop bars and restaurants are popular and many hotels have them. Breakfast was nice with a view over the city. Peraonally I would always want to find and book my own place rather than leave it to the cruise line, but I suppose there may be some benefits to letting them do it.

Yes, it looks like that is exactly what it is.

Yes, as discussed earlier in this thread, NCL have been charging the VAT on free at sea drinks in various European ports, and on the whole cruise where you don’t leave the EU, although it isn’t clear whether the embarkation port matters there. Where did you embark? If it was Barcelona then I would expect your experience. If it was Rome then it would suggest a new development.

We sailed often in April when our son was at school, during Easter holidays. Lots of kids onboard at those times.

This. What works for some people would be unacceptable for others. For example, many people will take the National Express bus from Heathrow to Southampton which I wouldn’t even consider. I would take the tube into London and then train to Southampton, which others wouldn’t want to do as it involves dragging bags about. Budget also comes into it. A taxi is a lot more expensive than the bus/train. Another consideration is whether you want to see anything on the way. It is quite popular to visit places like Stonehenge on the way when using a transfer. There is no “best”

You can’t share your dining package, so the answer to your first question is no. You can sit with people using different methods to pay though. Each person just lets the staff know how they will be paying.

I have disembarked in Southampton a number of times and self assist has always started very soon after the published arrival time. Always within an hour of that time. However, I have heard of more occasions lately where immigration have become involved for whatever reason, so maybe there is more chance of delays now.

Yeah, I meant to mention roadworks in my last post as another possible problem. That obviously slows you even at the weekend.

It really depends on the day. Early morning on a weekend it can be done in around 75 minutes (it's 60 miles, almost all motorway), but during the week it can easily be double that.

It is possible to get off very quickly in Southampton. Last time we were there we docked at about 5am and we were able to get off at 6am. We have always had very similar experiences there. However, it does seem to be rather less reliable these days and I have heard a few stories of slower disembarkation, so you can’t rely on it.

I’m fairly sure there aren’t flights from Southampton to Barcelona so the OP is most likely talking about Heathrow or Gatwick. It things go very well and it is a weekend then they could probably get to Heathrow by about 8am. On a weekday you would need to add about an hour. It’s possible to make a 9.15 flight, but I wouldn’t want to be trying this.

It’s absolutely fine to post it here. There have been quite a few similar posts in the past, mainly for US and UK offers.

I agree with the general consensus that I would go for the Viva out of those two (we are actually booked on the reverse itinerary next year). It has Lisbon and you still get to spend a day in Barcelona. You do miss Naples though. I also agree with the point made earlier that Eastern Med cruises have generally nicer ports that Western so I would also consider cruises from Athens or Greek Island from Rome (There is also Trieste, but the uncertainty and itinerary changes around Venice perhaps makes that less than ideal for a first visit. Western Med has more of the big destination ports (Rome, Naples, Florence, Barcelona) than Eastern, but the other ports are consistently nicer (in my opinion) in Eastern. Greek Island cruises from Rome include bits of both, so are certainly worth looking at. The itineraries you are looking at are both very nice though, so you won’t be disappointed whatever you go for.

I did a b2b2b on the Escape a few years ago changing cabins each time and also with different combinations of people in in room on each booking. The reservations were never linked, but my account was kept open all the way through and I got letters about the next cruises. So those things can happen regardless of the reservations being linked. It had some benefits and also caused some issues.

I have stayed in aft balconies many times and have never had a problem with ash or soot. Given the choice between aft or midship there is no question in my mind. Aft every time.

They will store it (or at least they used to). You collect it at the end of the cruise.

There is no limit to the number of restaurants you can book. A person with 2 dining credits can book a speciality restaurant every night. They just have to work out how they are paying for them when they go there. Having said that, the online system usually doesn’t allow people to book the same restaurant more than once (there are exceptions to this, so I’m sure someone will be along soon to tell us how they were able to do so). If you hit this restriction then you can get round it by calling, although we usually just wait until we board to do those final one or two reservations. As always, book fixed price places first.

When you book a restaurant it doesn’t use up any dining credits. As stated above, you tell the server at the time how each person wants to pay. Just be careful if you are booking fixed price places (Moderno and Teppanyaki). This is the only area where the number of dining credits you have is relevant to pre booking. Make sure that you book these places first in order to avoid having to prepay for everyone. If you want to book more fixed price places than you have dining credits then you could get someone else in a different room to book one. There is more detail about how this all works in the link in my signature.

Correct.

One other thing to be aware of. I assume that your cruise may be in Europe (as the Epic was). In some European countries (Spain and Greece, but there could be others) you can’t buy drinks whilst in port, so you need the beverage package in order to get a drink at times. Given the long port times in some places this could mean that you can’t get a glass of wine with your meal unless you have the beverage package.

You can’t share dining credits so you shouldn’t be able to get multiple meals at a time and charge them against just one persons credits. I suppose that it may be possible to do something using the latitudes meals. Of course you never know unless you ask.

I expect that it won’t be easy. It is complicated by the fact that you would be getting off in a different country. In Southampton you should be able to get off very soon after arrival time. Disembarkation is very quick (assuming you have just been on a fairly local trip like a round UK).

Epic has been redeployed during that period. It is now doing Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral.

We got a taxi to and from Piraeus last year and we dropped off just outside the terminal building. Piraeus is a big port with multiple terminals, so perhaps it depends on the ships location.