First time cruiser: 'all aboard' times Italy/Greece

[MareeL]

Kia ora. I'm on a 10 day Italian/Greek cruise on Epic in September. This is my first cruise. I am looking at booking some local company shore tours, or getting independently to places such as Pompeii, rather than the cruise line excursions.

 

Can anyone advise what time the all aboard is generally on port stops? I contacted NCL's online chat and they replied two hours before departure. Given I have seen a recent video by a couple on Epic who caught train to Pompeii and then returned and wandered Naples, getting back to the ship only 45 minutes before departure, I asked the online chat if they were talking about embarkation day or every port stop, and they replied this was fairly normal at every port stop. 

 

Is this the experience of other cruisers - especially those who have done NCL's 10 day Italian/Greek cruise? For shorter stops this would mean fairly miniscule time in port - and I'm not wanting to get left behind on my first cruise 🙂

 

Any advice appreciated. Thanks. 

. 

 

 

[yakcruiser]

20 minutes ago, MareeL said:

Kia ora. I'm on a 10 day Italian/Greek cruise on Epic in September. This is my first cruise. I am looking at booking some local company shore tours, or getting independently to places such as Pompeii, rather than the cruise line excursions.

 

Can anyone advise what time the all aboard is generally on port stops? I contacted NCL's online chat and they replied two hours before departure. Given I have seen a recent video by a couple on Epic who caught train to Pompeii and then returned and wandered Naples, getting back to the ship only 45 minutes before departure, I asked the online chat if they were talking about embarkation day or every port stop, and they replied this was fairly normal at every port stop. 

 

Is this the experience of other cruisers - especially those who have done NCL's 10 day Italian/Greek cruise? For shorter stops this would mean fairly miniscule time in port - and I'm not wanting to get left behind on my first cruise 🙂

 

Any advice appreciated. Thanks. 

. 

 

 

Two hours on embarkation day. 30 minutes at other ports. Tender stops will have last boat 60-90 minutes before departure time.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@MareeL

 

A word of warning if you are going to Santorini.   The Cable Car is VERY busy so if you are intending to use it to get from Fira to the cruise ship tender landing spot make sure you leave plenty of time especially if there is more than one cruise ship in port. 

[zqvol]

15 minutes ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@MareeL

 

A word of warning if you are going to Santorini.   The Cable Car is VERY busy so if you are intending to use it to get from Fira to the cruise ship tender landing spot make sure you leave plenty of time especially if there is more than one cruise ship in port. 

Or walk down the steps. Views are incredible. 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@MareeL

 

FYI there are almost 600 steps and you will have to avoid the donkeys and their droppings.

[CruiseMH]

19 hours ago, zqvol said:

Or walk down the steps. Views are incredible. 

the steps are extremely slippery, they are uneven and you have to avoid the donkey walking up and down.the question is not if but only how often you will fall down.

 

to the question of OP: 30 Minutes before ship leaves if docked and usually approx. 1 hour if tendering.

 

 

[Travelling2Some]

On 8/7/2024 at 6:39 PM, yakcruiser said:

Two hours on embarkation day. 30 minutes at other ports. Tender stops will have last boat 60-90 minutes before departure time.

This is the truth. Simply incredible (but common) that you were given such false information.  Many first time cruisers are confused by the "2 hours in advance of embarkation" warning.  That only applies to embarkation at the start of your cruise, not port stops.

[MareeL]

@Anoynmous Phoenix, @zqvol, @CruiseMH, @Travelling2Some, @yakcruiser thank you all for taking time to respond - I didn't think two hours every port sounded right! To those who commented on the 600 stairs, I had read the cable car was very busy. When I stayed on Santorini around 30 years ago we climbed up the stairs with full travel packs on so I thought I would be able to manage walking down sans luggage this time!