Help me choose an Epic itinerary

[Reesesinmiami]

My boyfriend and I are planning our second NCL cruise this year. We just came back from a May cruise of the Getaway.

 

For October or November, we are considering the following three options:

 

• 10/18/15 cruise from London to Barcelona (Iberian Peninsula: London, Vigo, Lisbon, Magala, Cartagena, Barcelona)
  
• 11/1/15 cruise from Barcelona to Barcelona (Western Mediterranean: Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes, Palma Mallorca)
  

Following either of those a week's land tour of Spain on our own OR

 

• Same 10/18 cruise (Iberian Peninsula) from above and 10/25 cruise from Barcelona (Western Mediterranean) as a back-to-back.
  

Here are my issues:

• The 11/1 cruise is sooooo much cheaper than the 10/25 cruise
  
• I feel like I might be losing out on seeing other parts of Spain, which was really suppose to be the focus the trip
  
• The back-to-back is a lot more (though I wouldn't have to worry about rental car, food, lodging, etc.)
  
• Is it too many ports in short amount of time
  

Any thoughts? Has anyone done these itineraries?

[BamaVol]

I am getting ready to book the same itinerary you are considering for 11/1. I am planning to combine it with a week in Barcelona - probably staying at the beach. Spain is a big and varied country. You don't have enough time to see the whole thing so if you like what you see this fall, come back again for more. And cheap is good. I have yet to take even a 7 day cruise. I burn out after 4 ports. It's too much like "If this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium."

 

And oh, YMMV.

Edited June 11, 2015 by BamaVol

[FreestyleNovice]

I would not choose the repositioning cruise due to the large risk of bad weather on the first days if the focus should be on warm Spain.

 

Why not flying in on Madrid?

[Single Cruiser]

Average high temps in Barcelona Oct / Nov are between 13C-18C (55F-64F) so the earlier the trip the better.

 

The repositioning cruise is the first cruise after Epic's dry dock so there will be pros/cons to that. Nice new carpets, maybe new crew/ents first showing of new musical..

 

If it's Spain you want to see then the Iberian one will give you a good feel of South and East coasts. The 7nt west med one is more Italy.

[funpig]

We did the same Med cruise starting in Rome and liked it.

 

I would not want to do two back to back cruises. We only had the one day day in Barcelona and wish we had 3 days. Doing 7 days on land in Spain would give you a nice variety of things to do. Even though there are a lot of specialty restaurants, 14 days on the same ship will start to be boring.

[Reesesinmiami]

Average high temps in Barcelona Oct / Nov are between 13C-18C (55F-64F) so the earlier the trip the better.

 

 

 

The repositioning cruise is the first cruise after Epic's dry dock so there will be pros/cons to that. Nice new carpets, maybe new crew/ents first showing of new musical..

 

 

 

If it's Spain you want to see then the Iberian one will give you a good feel of South and East coasts. The 7nt west med one is more Italy.

 

 

What do you think are the cons to a repositioning cruise after dry dock?

[FreestyleNovice]

What do you think are the cons to a repositioning cruise after dry dock?

 

Larger/complete new venues require trained staff, service could be spotty, some things may still be in progress or being rounded up whilst sailing, think painting, etc.

 

It all depends. :)

[Single Cruiser]

What do you think are the cons to a repositioning cruise after dry dock?

 

 

Occasionally things can over-run which could mean certain areas closed. It's a new cast doing Priscilla, depending on how rehearsals have gone during dry dock this will be their first live shows so could be teething problems.

 

Of course pluses include not having to wait for your cabin to be ready (no passengers getting off on embarkation day!), maybe new mattresses, carpets etc like a new ship smell....

[Tiggertastic]

We've done the Barcelona one twice and some of the ports are miles from the main sightseeing, such as Livorno is 1.5 hours from Florence and Rome 1 hr from port but enjoyed it. We're doing the 10/18 this time as its a one off. It will be cool sailing down at sea from Southampton but we will just take our coat. I'd do the b2b 10/18 then 10/25 to get the best of both