My husband can't make our departure, can he meet us at port 2

[LovetoTravelEurope2023]

My mom just booked us a European cruise for her and my family. My husband has a work event that I was unaware of that he absolutely can not change which will make him miss our departure port sail time. He can make the second stop which is in Istanbul. What do I tell Norwegian? Will they let him on the ship at the second port? We are traveling on Norwegian. My travel agent said that it is the Captains decision and she can not guarantee that he will get on board. I don't want to have him fly to Istanbul if he will not be allowed on the boat. This is my first cruise so any advice is appreciated. 

[KeithJenner]

It depends on a number of factors, and isn’t necessarily just up to NCL as there may be restrictions about people joining the cruise in Istanbul.

 

At least Istanbul is a port where embarkations do happen (even if not currently by NCL - I’m not sure whether they do use it for embarkation at the moment). I have seen staff joining and leaving the ship at Istanbul, so it appears that NCL May sometimes use it to embark staff.

 

I certainly wouldn’t just fly there in the hope that I got onboard as it is probably even less likely to work if you just turn up. On the other hand, from reported experience on here about similar things (usually people wanting to disembark early) it seems that a common response from NCL shoreside staff is that they can’t say for sure what will be allowed.

 

It is possible that NCL won’t discuss this directly with you and to start with I think you need to push on your TA to try to get further confirmation from NCL as to whether he will be able to board. If they don’t get anywhere then you can always try calling NCL yourself to see if they will help.

 

I suspect that it will be quite a frustrating exercise and there is no guarantee you will get a resolution unfortunately.

 

Even if you find that others have done this, it doesn’t mean that your experience will be the same, especially if that experience is in different ports. NCL visit Istanbul fairly regularly, but not as much as some other ports so there may not be much experience for people to report on.

 

Good luck.

[hawkeyetlse]

What sailing is this? If it's an itinerary where passengers are also embarking in Istanbul, that increases your chances. But like Keith said, you'll want to get confirmation in writing from NCL that your husband will be allowed to join the cruise late. The Captain will not be involved in this decision. 😝

 

If they do agree to let him do this, remember that your husband will need to get a visa to fly into Istanbul. Normally this can be done easily on-line and it currently costs $50 for US passport holders.

[hallux]

What you need to ask for is a "downline embarkation".  It may or may not get approved as others noted, but that's the term I've seen used before in these instances.  Chances are MUCH higher that it will be allowed on a European cruise than one out of the US so you do have that going in your favor.

[SimplyAlbert]

I had the opposite question earlier this year I we wanted to disembark early, at our last port.  No customs as we're both US citizens and the cruise is in the US (Hawaii).  We decided to spend 5 days in Kauai post-cruise and since it was our last port of call we thought it would just be easier to leave the ship there, rather than continue on to Honolulu and fly back.  Answer was no (and our travel agent went to bat for us - we've been using him for years and he's excellent).  NCL told him that in order to embark or disembark early/late it must be an emergency and you would need to provide some kind of proof, i.e. cancelled flight, sick family member, etc.

 

I'd still ask since you have a European cruise and the answer may be different, but be prepared that they may not be flexible.

[KeithJenner]

I’m no expert on this but I’d have thought that it being in Europe could make this harder.

 

I don’t know where the main embarkation port is, but it’s likely to be within the EU, whereas Turkey is outside the EU. That in itself may complicate things (although, as I say I am just speculating).

[European_CruiseGirl]

I expect this to be an Athens - Athens cruise or similar. I can be almost certain that the embarkation port is Athens because there is no way Istanbul can be an early cruise port from anywhere else. And this is a big problem a Keith already mentioned as the cruise is EU-EU and now it would not be that for op’s husband. That can be a very big no-no. 
 

But the best thing that op can do is call NCL or have their travel agent call NCL if they used a travel agent. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by European_CruiseGirl

[CruiseMH]

Based on all the stuff i read in the past months and years about NCL on CC, i wouldn`t even trust a written confirmation by NCL on this.

 

[DCGuy64]

Apart from MSC and maybe Costa, I don't know of any cruise that routinely allows passengers to embark at just any port. In my experience, it's usually just the starting port or nothing.

[Greener123]

If someone were to miss the all aboard time the advice is generally to go to next port and catch up - now that’s the case after embarkation… 

 

but if your husband were to be on a “delayed” fight to the embarkation port wouldn’t they let him too “catch up”.

 

 

[Charles4515]

7 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

And this is a big problem a Keith already mentioned as the cruise is EU-EU and now it would not be that for op’s husband. That can be a very big no-no. 
 

 Also a US citizen must get a visa if they embark in Istanbul. A visa is not needed EU-EU with Istanbul as a port of call.