bassmaster150

I agree with those who ask why in the world would we want to disembark one day early.  Well the reason being is that we are doing a back to back cruise out of different countries.  Cruise #1 starts and ends in Barcelona.  Cruise #2 starts and ends in SouthHampton.  Now my wife and I are well seasoned travelers and cruisers, so we did know exactly what we were signing up for when we decided to see if we could actually pull this off.  Debark in Barcelona starts at 7:00am...our cruise departs on the same day out of SouthHampton but not until 8:00pm at night plus we gain an hour traveling from Barcelona to London....so it is totally doable...but then we thought...what if we spend an extra day in Malta as opposed to spending a day at sea and so that is why I asked.  THe ship does embark and debark out of all of the ports except for Valetta, Malta.  This is why we asked....but probably should call MSC to verify.  Yes, we know it is crazy to try this...but we absolutely love crazy adventures  🙂

Just checking to see if anyone knows if this is permitted.  We have sailed the Med many times but this is our first ever cruise on MSC.  We leave out of Barcelona and cruise for 7 days.  Last day is a sea day and day prior to that is Valeta Malta.  Do you know if it is possible to debark the ship in Malta (I know I may need to call MSC but checking with the hive mind first in case anyone has done this in Europe) prior to the final destination of Barcelona?

23 hours ago, insidecabin said:

What's the latest check in time for Southampton?

I don't know as I don't know where to look for that (long time cruiser, but first time on MSC)

 

I would look at the flight options and get off a bit later 

Thank you for that advise

 

You could have picked Euribia up in Hamburg same round trip just starts 2 days later

Often cheaper than Southampton.

 

Or even shuffled the Med rip to give an overnight between

 

Any reason to use Southampton 

 

Great points, and it came down to timing on when we need to be back home...If I could have sp0ared a day or two, I would have done exactly what you described.

 

 

23 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Where are you flying to in the UK?

If a London airport add 2-3hrs for the transfer unless using car service £££

(The coach/train schedules for transfer may not line up with flight options)

 

We are flying into Heathrow.  We have cruised out of Southampton before, so we are aware of the 2hr transfer time.  If the ship was leaving before 8:00pm we probably wouldn't be trying to do this crazy thing.

 

 

Yes...we are very adventurous...part of the draw for us to do this is to see if we can pull it off...first leg in the Med...second leg in Northern Europe...just something different to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

Hello everyone....long time cruiser, but first time on MSC.  We are doing a unique back to back in December.  Our first cruise on the world Europa ends at like 7:00am and then debark.  Our second cruise starts in Southhampton on debark day but at 8:00pm....don't worry...if we miss the ship we will have plan B...but I am trying to figure out if there is an early debark for early flights.  Plan is to leave Barcelona no later than 1:00pm (we lose an hour going back to heathrow so that helps, plus the flight is short)...I am only asking as I do not know the debark process for MSC...especially since we wont have any status....also, would it help if we upgrade to a suite from a get off the ship early suite privilege?  Thanks for all of your help!!

Not sure if this helps, but we were determined to go on this cruise…and it disappeared…we are still going to med for Christmas.  MSC Poesia is there and we are on Dec26-Jan5 out of Genoa.  I know it’s not NCL, but if you have already booked flights and stuff…maybe you can just incur change fee and adjust to another line.  Just a thought.  We have never sailed MSC before so this will be a first for us.

For those with flights already booked…we just changed our cruise to the MSC Poeisa out of Genoa on Dec 26-Jan 5 in western Med.  I know it is not NCL but maybe that will work if you still want to visit Europe this Christmas 

Quick question to see if anyone may have any information.  My wife and I were looking to book a cruise on the Epic this Christmas since it was doing an extended stay in Europe this year (there were listing it as being there from December - April).  Now all of a sudden all of those dates are greyed out.  I can understand a few of the cruises selling out....but that entire time period is greyed out now only a week after it was showing all available.  I called NCL to see if I could book directly, and they told me that they are not showing the Epic at all for those dates.  They also said it may be a glitch in their system, but three days later it is still the same.  Does anyone know if they cancelled their winter European season on the Epic, or did everything really sell out?  Just curious.

We had a medical evac.  We had already passed Cancun, but had to turn around and meet the coast guard 15 miles off of Cancun.  We lost about 2.5-3 hours of time doing that.  Combine that along with the fact that due to propulsion issues, the Vista cannot sail at full speed …this we were late.  We barely made our flight out of IAH by 2 minutes, and we had a 2:30pm departure 

I am in one right now…11221….no noise at and  I think part of the gym is above me.  Gym is on 12 for reference.

Just checking in with everyone….it’s been about 4 years since we have been on a carnival ship.  We are currently on the Vista having a great time.  Just out of curiosity….normally we get a ship pin and some sort of trinket gift for being platinum.  Has that officially stopped now?  We haven’t received any as of yet so I am just asking to confirm.  Thanks

We have been in port in St Lucia all day today on the NCL Epic.  The MSC seaside has Ben pretty much stopped just off of the island all day (we saw it when we were arriving as well as when we were on our excursion).  It really hasn’t moved, and it is too far out for tendering operations.  Just wondering…for reference, our port day in St Lucia when we saw the ship stopped all day was Wednesday, Dec 28.

On 1/6/2022 at 12:21 PM, KurtMo said:

DW and I are scheduled to be on the 1/29 Escape sailing (eastern caribbean) and I know there are at least a couple of current Escape passengers that have posted in last few days.  My question is - based on current experience/conditions (considering any limitations in entertainment, facilities open/closed, etc.), would you go ahead and sail on 1/29 or do you consider the current experience sub-par and thus would choose to reschedule/cancel using POM for to get FCC?

Was on the Dec 23 - Jan 3 sailing of the Escape....would I cruise in your situation...ABSOLUTELY!!!!  It was an amazing experience...tons of fun, and lots to do.  Go have fun!!!

23 hours ago, Clodia said:

What happens if you are medically exempt from wearing a mask, as they were not required when pax booked and that may be the reason for choosing this line if you really cannot wear one.

You probably need to contact NCL on that one...I have no idea.

On 1/4/2022 at 2:24 PM, wampuscat7 said:

Thanks for the great review! This is an odd question, but you mentioned how much you enjoyed Teppenyaki. Do you recall about how long the meal took? 

If I remember correctly, about 1.5 hours approximately.  They try to fill up all the seats before starting at each of those grill thingys.

interesting that it only seems like the older ships are being cancelled (well with the exception of the Getaway through Jan 5).  Wonder why that is...

2 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Thank you for the update.  I am glad to see that they are trying to provide alternatives to entertain the guests instead of just cancel with no options.  Thank you Escape Entertainment team.

We just disembarked the previous sailing of the Escape this morning (12/23 - 1/3).  There was more entertainment options on the ship than we could ever get to.....they are bending over backwards to give you an amazing cruise....and our was absolutely amazing!!

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

It’s always PCR tests here in Bermuda for all travelers to the island - by air and by ship. 
 

SO our cruise stopped in GSC on the last day of an 11 day cruise.  We only had rapid antigen which was taken on the dock on 12/23/2021.  Out stop in GSC was on 1/2/2022....no further testing was done and we were allowed to debark the ship and tender to the island.

4 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

do you have more "freedoms" in texas?

 

or fewer laws?

I call it more "freedoms" because we don't have mask mandates, etc.  I guess you could say "fewer laws"...either way, life is more fun in Texas for us...but note that my wife and I tend to keep to ourselves and keep our distance when possible.

In case anyone is wondering....we did make our port call into Great Stirrup Cay which means we officially made all 8 of our port calls!!!  It was an amazing cruise...but sadly, it ended this morning.  We are so glad to be cruising again!!!

36 minutes ago, CiaraMissed said:

Some ports require a surgical or N95 mask (Barbados and St. Lucia required these in mid-December), but one is provided in your room to use.

We sailed on the Escape from 12/23/2021 - 1/3/2022 and visited the following ports:  Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, St Thomas, and Great Stirrup Cay.  We were required to wear masks, but no port had a specific type of mask requirement.  Only a mandatory mask requirement.  We wore cloth masks the entire time on the cruise in in the ports and they worked great.

43 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

For me it's not about safety. It's that I won't enjoy the cruise if I have to wear a mask so I rather spend my money on something else. 

We thought the same thing when the rule was changed a week before we set sail…we were wrong…we had a blast, and we hate wearing masks period….each has to make their own decision, but we were amazed at how much we enjoyed the cruise even with the annoyance of wearing a mask where required.

So I will chime in here as we get ready to debark from the Escape after an 11 day cruise.  We chose NCL because of vax policy as well as no masks required.  One week prior to sailing the mask mandate was added so we were totally bummed….but made the decision to go anyways.  Did wearing a mask inside ruin our cruise or make it less fun??  Honestly…it did not.  As a matter of fact we had an amazing time.  Sailing on a ship at like 60% capacity is really nice because there are always seats and it is easy to get into the shows and stuff.  Yes, when you leave your room you put your mask on.  When you get to the bar or restaurant, you take it off for the duration of your time there.  If you go to the outside decks, you take it off for the duration that you are out there.  On excursions, you have to wear them in port…but if your excursion has a boat ride, or you are outside the bus, you can take them off.  Is it a little different experience?  Yes.  Did we have an awesome time?  Yes.  We’re we initially bummed that we had to wear masks?  Yes.  Did it ruin our cruise?  Absolutely not.  

Each individual has to make their own decision…but would we cruise again even if we have to wear a mask?  Absolutely yes we would…

oh, and on a side note, we are from Texas where we have more freedoms on wearing or not wearing masks, and yes we absolutely hate wearing masks…but we wanted to cruise so we simply followed the policy.

9 hours ago, Smileonboard said:

I just got off the Gem today and I would say most people had their masks on everywhere. The majority of people took it off when they sat for a meal or drinks. In the theater some took it off but most kept them on the whole time. Everyone wore one at the buffet. I saw a few crew members ask the passengers to put the mask over their nose and to some that didn’t have them on they were asked if they needed a mask - it was all very civil and everyone was just happy to be in a cruise - 

So we are on Escape (11 day cruise)…just docked in port canaveral as cruise is over.  The quote above is the same as our experience.  Masks indoors unless eating or drinking (you can keep mask off for entirety of your dinner or drink…no sip and put mask back on).  Outdoors you could take mask off.  In ports of call, they were mandatory and enforced in some ports.  Also on excursions you had to wear them.  Now if your excursion included a boat ride most kept them off.  But onboard everyone complied and they would remind you to put your mask on. Hope this helps.