KeithJenner

Rome - As stated, spend a few days in Rome beforehand if you can. Lots to do and many people like a tour, but Rome is very walkable and you see lots when doing so. Getting to the port is a bit of a pain. There is a train to Civitavecchia but then you are still a way short of the port. Most popular is a transfer of some sort. We like to use public transport if we can, but use transfers these days for Rome departures. Santorini - As I mentioned earlier, the tender/cable car is a pain. Don't be tempted to use the footpath up or down the hill, as the donkeys are not well controlled as they come down. We like to visit Oia and use the cruise ship excursion to avoid the cable car on the way there. Athens - Whilst it it only a few miles to the city centre, it is a bit of a pain to do it yourself (it is a bit of a walk to the train station. It is worth getting some sort of transfer even if you are going to explore yourself. Again, loads to see and do. If you are doing it yourself then look at booking Acropolis tickets in advance. Mykonos - Assuming you dock, there is the choice of a bus or boat shuttle into town. If you tender then you will be dropped off in town. It's a nice town to wander round, but also worth considering getting the ferry to Delos. NCL offer a tour, but it is quite easy to do the ferry yourself (we haven't done it yet, but are probably going to later this year). Olympia - You are a little way from Olympia itself, which is well worth visiting. We hired a car to drive there, but otherwise you will need a transfer of some sort. There is a train station I think, but I didn't really look into that. There are some quite popular beaches around the port, I believe, if you don't fancy the journey. Valetta - Not been there yet, but have started planning for our visit there later this year. You dock close to the town centre, and there is a lift to get up the hill to the centre. There seems to be lots in the city, so we won't be travelling far. Messina - The most popular places to visit are Mt Etna or Taormina, which is a nice town along the coast from Messina. You can get to Taormina by train, but it is easier (and maybe not much more expensive) to get a transfer. A lot depends on port times (and days) as the trains are sometimes not frequent. Salerno - Not been there, but been to Naples many times. There is a lot around, like Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri, but I can't comment on how easy it is to get anywhere. If I could visit just one place in the area it would be Pompeii. Florence - You dock at Livorno, which is quite a way from Florence. Pisa is a lot closer and can be reached by train. If you want to do Florence then you really need an excursion (we have never gone to Florence from the port due to this). To be honest, I'm not a fan of this stop as everywhere is quite a distance, and you need to pay for a shuttle to even leave the port. We have stayed onboard in Livorno far more often than we've left the ship. There will, of course, be many other options that I haven't mentioned. For example, there are tours to Conque Terre from Livorno. It is also quite a way away, but is likely what we will do next time we get off the ship there. It''s supposed to be very nice even though it would be a rushed visit.

There is no requirement to fly back from where you arrive. I do it the other way (I live in Europe) and often fly into one US city and back from another.

For a group of 10 then I believe that a reservation could help. You can do the reservations online before the cruise (as long as a table that size is available). If not then you may be able to reserve by calling (I’ve never done that myself), or otherwise there will be an area for restaurant reservations onboard.

No need. I have never made a reservation at an included restaurant. If you are a larger group then reservations may be useful.

There are two or three main dining rooms, as well as other included options such as the buffet, 24 hour place (bar food) and on some ships an Asian restaurant. If these, reservations are only available in the MDRs, and you can go to any without reservations (although there may be a wait at times). Then there are the speciality restaurants, which have an extra charge, or are included in the dining plan. Most of these have reservations and these are recommended if you want to guarantee getting in. Bookings open up 120 days out (longer for some room types or latitudes levels) with some more reservations being released on embarkation day. Speciality reataurants can book up early in the cruise, although people do report being successful with walk ups. I can’t comment on that from experience as we always reserve in advance.

If you had to us the NCL flights then I would certainly be looking for a different cruise line. Do what works best for you. As recommended above, check out the ports of call section for recommended things to do. The ports in the Med vary a lot on how easy it is to explore by yourself. For example, Mykonos (if going there) is fairly easy to get around, including a ferry to Delos, whereas Florence is quite a distance from the port so I would recommend some sort of tour there (or at least a transfer). One place where I would recommend looking at the NCL tours is Santorini as you need to deal with the tender and cable car if travelling independently. NCL tours take you on separate tenders to a different port. The trip to Oia is nice and relatively cheap in our experience and then drops you off in Thira to explore by yourself if you wish. If you list the other ports then we may be able to help with some suggestions.

No

The Epic allows embarkation at both Barcelona and Rome, so people can start their cruises at either. Usually the cruises are the same length, as they are doing loops, but in this case I assume there is a change in itinerary that causes the difference in length. Barcelona always used to be the main embarkation port, so people boarding in Rome would have freestyle dailies starting at around day 4, for example, but I think it has evened out a bit more in recent years, so it may not seem as much like you are boarding mid cruise.

NCL used to sell buckets of beer at a discount, but they were never included in the Beverage package, and I believe that they have gone now anyway. The terms of the package specifically state that you can get two drinks at a time with one card. I used to offer both cards when getting drinks for both of us, but never even bother now as they always say that they just need one. It is years since a bar tender even took both cards from me, let alone asked for them.

You may not want a tipping debate, but you will get one. Any responses you do get to your question may not be reliable anyway, as the majority of people on here are from the US and I believe (although I don’t know for sure) that there may be a difference in how these things are handled depending on where people are from.

No, you can only use the upgrade offer once. If you want more meals than that then I think it is cheaper to just buy a package for the number you want. I’m not even sure whether it is possible to buy more than one additional package. I seem to remember someone reporting that they upgraded and then tried to buy another package and had trouble with this. Edit to say, I have purchased free at sea plus for our upcoming cruise and do not now have the option to purchase any further dining packages online. Maybe you can onboard, or by phoning, but certainly not at the discounted upgrade rate.

You can’t say whether it is 2 or 4 drinks. There are so many factors to take into account that it will work out differently for everyone. There are people who say that it is many more than 4 as you can book cheaper rooms that don’t have free at sea as an option, and for them that is likely true, but for others who will book the more expensive room anyway that is irrelevant.

Are these two things not just the same prepayment shown twice on the invoice? I don’t know for sure as our invoices in the UK don’t show the codes, but a code meaning prepaid service charge suggests to me that it has been paid rather than is a promo (unless it was paid as a promo by your TA). I think that you will need to speak to your TA to clarify. It is likely that they will need to apply for a refund as well if it has been double paid.

We are another who were on the Dawn last year (September) and had a great time.

I didn’t think that I recommended any restaurants in particular in my guide, which is probably an indication as to how long it is since I’ve read it. I think I’ve been saying for over a year now that I need to do an update. 🙂 Anyway, we are on the Joy next year with the same 6 meals as you and I think that we will be doing Cagneys, Ocean Blue, La Cucina, Q, Teppanyaki and Food Republic (maybe a couple of times sharing). My wife isn’t really fussed about either Le Bistro or Ocean Blue so I get to choose one of them each cruise (when there is an Ocean Blue), so that may change. There are only 7 speciality restaurants on the Joy (maybe 8 if American Diner is included, but I wouldn’t use a credit there anyway), so really it is just a case of deciding on one to miss.

Yes, they are very flexible with the wine you get with the platinum meal. I never even open ours at the meal and take it back to the room and they would certainly store it as you say. It is basically yours to do with as you wish. However they are clearly treating the free at sea wine a lot less flexibly. You can’t leave with the unfinished bottle and you can’t take an unopened one. I certainly wouldn’t assume that they will store your bottle (although I’m also not saying they won’t do so). So far I’ve not heard of anyone being allowed to store their free at sea bottle of wine since they stopped letting people take them away. As you say, there is no obvious reason why they shouldn’t but this is NCL.

Yeah, if we don’t have dinner planned then we always check the menus at lunchtime (or soon after if we are ashore) to see what is available before deciding where to go.

Unfortunately we are on a side discussion which doesn't answer the OP's initial question. I'm quite sure they can get into the UK, but the problem is then getting on the ship.

You can't get a bottle of wine with the regular beverage package, just a discount off the purchase price. If you bought one with a discount then it is yours to do what you want with. I'm not sure what happened in your instance, but if that was the case then it is different to what we are talking about here.

Do they do that with wine you get from the premium plus package? They certainly do that with wine you bring yourself or buy a bottle of, but I’ve not heard of them doing so with premium plus.

Not true at all. I am from the UK and I could fly to the US tomorrow with a passport that expires at the end of this month, as long as my return is before then. I believe that the reverse is also true for US citizens (although I don’t know that one for sure).

You used to be able to take bottles away after your meal, but they have apparently stopped allowing this lately. We have usually found that if you order champagne with your meal by the glass they do a very good job of keeping it filled. Often they have kept a bottle by our table anyway.

I’ve not been on the Prima either, but the menus are posted online. The menu doesn’t change at all except for some items from speciality restaurants which are an additional charge. What you report does seem scaled back from the older MDR menus. We had far more choice than you reported on our cruise last September.

The MDR menu has had a fixed selection and a daily changing section for as long as I can remember. There are usually more than 4 changing items though, so maybe that was limited. It doesn’t sound like what is on the Prima though.

Non Haven suites on the Jewel class ships have the same benefit. They allow people like us, who like a nicer room, to book it without wasting our money on stuff we don’t want.