Pptarmigan

We wound up not doing the transfer as we were able to leave the cruise a day early and just spent the night in Venice. That said, I think the price was $50/person.

We had a couple of excursions that were already waitlisted (one included, one paid) when we booked our cruise to Alaska 10 months in advance. I joined the waitlists and we have cleared both (we're 4.5 months out now). Since you're so far out, it may also be that they haven't fully confirmed the tours with the operators and leave people on the waitlist until they are sure that it is going to happen.

Just a quick followup. No issues with the Italians, but NCL almost screwed us trying to get off early. I was told by corporate that I didn't need to notify them on the ship as they already knew about us departing a day early. When we went to get off, they had a separate line and a list of everyone disembarking early. Of course, we weren't on it. I had to go to guest services and they told me I couldn't leave until noon as they had to deal with the authorities since I wasn't on the list. I pushed back telling them I had received permission and had a driver waiting for us. They then managed to get my final account sorted out (not the Italian authorities after all) and let us leave. So, long story short, it's totally possible to do this on this itinerary if you wind up stuck at Trieste overnight. I wouldn't bother with trying to contact NCL corporate, just talk to guest services early in the cruise. There were a lot of people that got off early.

NCL says in the email that they've worked with the local authorities to allow it. I'm guessing I'm not the only one doing this and they'll just have immigration officials ready to go that morning. We're not tendering in, we're docking at the same port as the boat will be for disembarkation day. As long as NCL lets me off with my luggage, I don't think the Italian officials are going to care.

For sure, I'm still expecting confusion when we get there.

NC, not sure what your itinerary looks like right now this far out, but we were supposed to be tendering into Venice on the last day as well. I had asked about getting off then, but didn't push it when I got a no as it wasn't that bad to just tender back to the ship and take the airport transfer in the morning. A couple of weeks ago, we got the notification that Venice wasn't allowing them to tender in right now, so changed our itinerary to dock at Trieste. That's when I started pushing it so that we don't have to do that drive three times in a day and a half.

I guess I just had to vent on here to finally get an answer. Got an email back from NCL that they are making an exception and will allow us to disembark a day early. Not sure if we’ll still be able to take the NCL transfer into Venice that morning with our luggage, but I’ll figure that all out at the port. Can always take the train or a taxi. NCteacher, I’ll let you know here if we have any other challenges. You may not hear back until closer to your trip as they did mention that they had to work with the local authorities to allow early disembarkation and I doubt they do that very far in advance.

Not really. Worst case, no one on the boat can help me and I’ll just go along with their stupid transport three times. I’m not going to break any laws or anything. I just think it’s dumb that they don’t have this as an option for those that want to do it.

I understand that I should get it approved before the sailing, but no one from NCL will engage me on it. My PCC said it isn’t possible, I sent a message though the contact form, and an email directly to Kathy Byrd with no reply to either. Hard to get anything approved when it’s a one sided conversation. Pretty disappointing to just be totally ghosted by NCL on this. My only hope at this point is that someone on the ship can help me.

Well, no response. Not even an automated one. Guess I'll try to figure it out with someone once we get on the boat.

I sent her an email earlier today since we're leaving in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know what (if anything) that I hear back.

Thanks for this. Whose email address is that?

Yes, still on the ship, but not sure how it would be illegal. We are in the same port the day I want to get off and the disembark day the next day (Trieste outside Venice) and are in the EU the entire time. I could take a private boat on this itinerary and not be questioned anywhere. There are also a lot of cases of people missing the boat in a port and not being illegal.

Exact same. We arrive in at Trieste on Thursday morning and they’re transporting us into Venice by bus and back. Then would have to take the bus the next morning to the airport on disembarkation day (Friday). I want to take my stuff into Venice on Thursday and be done with the cruise. Seems crazy that it wouldn’t work. I’m going to ask when I’m on board and will let you know what I find out. Would just “miss” the transport back to the ship, but expect we’ll get questions taking all of our stuff off on Thursday.

I can't get any answer from NCL other than the front line telling me it's not possible. At this point, I'm just going to ask someone at guest services on the boat at the beginning of the cruise to see what they say. I can't remember from the last European cruise that we did. If you start and end in EU countries, do you even have to go through immigration when you get off the boat on the last day? Doesn't seem like you'd have to since you're already in the EU and you don't have to do it at airports when transiting between countries.

I'm trying to figure this out for a cruise coming up in a couple of weeks. Want to do the same thing in Venice that you do. So far, I can't get anything out of NCL except that it "isn't possible". Seems odd since you could just not catch the transfer back to the boat and I don't know what they'd do about it. For a cruise that starts and ends in EU countries, do you even go through immigration when you disembark on the regular day?

We are cruising from Athens to Venice in a few weeks. We were informed a couple of days ago that NCL is no longer tendering in Venice, we now have to dock in Trieste and be transferred into the city. The "port day" is on a Thursday and disembarkation day is the next day (Friday). Since Venice is the last stop, I'd prefer to just take the transfer into town on Thursday morning, spend the night in Venice Thursday night and head to the airport Friday morning rather than a two hour transfer back to the ship in the evening and another early morning two hour transfer to the airport Friday morning. When I asked about just leaving the cruise on Thursday, I was told that wasn't possible. I can't imagine how they'd police that since they have no way to ensure everyone gets back to the ship on Thursday evening. I also don't think there are any issues with immigration since we're only in EU countries the entire time. Has anyone done this before? Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I’m usually wary of ship excursions as I don’t just want to be on a bus. May just see if the bus terminal has luggage storage, do Trieste on our own, and then catch the flixbus to the airport.

Curious if anyone has done the Trieste & Muggia excursion on arrival day that includes the transfer to the airport. We currently have an early morning flight and the NCL transfer booked, but thinking about changing to a later flight to give us more time. Wondering if this excursion is worth it as something to do before heading to the airport. Thanks!