Jump to content

Mediterranean Embarkation/Disembarkation?


Mama Lo
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello smart travelers!

 

We are leaving for our first Mediterranean cruise in 9 days and we are new to MSC. Since all of the other cruise we have gone on were closed loop I was trying to understand when we are able get on and off the ship.

 

After a phone call with MSC it seems that the Divina will dock at noon on the 31st. We are scheduled to arrive in Marseille at 11 so I am assuming that we will be able to go directly to the port, check in and get on board soon after. Will we have access to our cabin to put our hand luggage down? Or better, take a nap?

 

This is where I am really hoping that anyone with experience can shed some light. We are scheduled to dock back in Marseille a week later at 1:00 pm. The representative on the phone told me that I needed to allow 5 hours to get off the ship. That just sounds crazy, they are scheduled to be leaving then! We are headed to Disneyland Paris for the weekend and I would like to be able to purchase train tickets. We will be able to move all of our luggage ourselves when leaving the ship. Do you think we will be able to make a 2:34 pm train? Bonus points for suggestions on the best way to get to the train.

 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You Can Go direct onboard. Cabins a normaly ready between 1 or 2 o clock. You Can always put your handbags in the cabin.

The time is a little short, but if you Take the luggade by your self and Take a taxi to the train station. I Think you then Will reach your train. There are a lot of taxis outside the terminal. We Will embargue Divina Friday in lisbon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Preziosa,

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I'm glad to hear that we will be able to get on board immediately.

 

 

Sounds like if we are all packed and ready to go we will hopefully make it. Will we have to be out of our cabin at a certain time? I'm just wondering if we will be dragging our luggage around until we disembark.

 

 

How exciting that you go aboard on Friday! I will be watching for any info that you share. I hope you have a fantastic trip.

 

 

Lois

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

we have also booked Divina, embark/disembark Marseille. On my invoice Divina gets into Marseille Port at 1pm and we have to be at the train station at 3pm for Eurostar back to U.K.

Hopefully somebody on these boards will have some experience of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just did a cruise in and out of Genoa, so a different port, but the info might be useful. We got to the pier at around 11:00 I think and were on pretty quick - maybe by 11:30? That was getting all 9 people through check in. We went straight to a lounge and just sat and had a drink and relaxed for a bit. At around 12:15 I went to look at our rooms to see if they were open and 2 of the 4 were ready. The other 2 were ready closer to 1:30. They did have a place you could drop your carry on luggage if you wanted to. we just hung out in the lounge. (if you have purchased a drink package - or it comes with your cabin type - bring paper proof of that as you will not have your room key yet so will have no other proof that you are entitled to the drinks without charge!) You could drop your carry on luggage and go get some lunch. Chances are good your room will be ready when you are done.

 

When we got back we docked at 7:00 I think, and we were off by 9:20. We could have gone earlier, but our travel companions were not scheduled to get off until 9:20, and since we were not in a hurry we just went with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TupeloHoney,

 

Thanks so much for this info! It sounds like everything will be fine for us on both ends of our trip. Was your arrival back at 7 earlier then scheduled?

 

Once you went aboard in Genoa, did you get back off the ship to explore? We are hoping to have enough energy in Marseille to do that.

 

Also, did you do anything exciting in Genoa? I am hesitant to plan anything because we will be suffering from the time change. I do know that we will want to have a look around and eat some salami! If anything stood out, I'd love to hear about it.

 

Lois

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think our 7:00 am arrival was as scheduled. We were scheduled to get off at 8:20 and we were not the first group scheduled, so I think they knew they would get in that early.

 

We did not get back off again to explore Genoa. We had gotten in the day before and knew we would fly out the day after our cruise was done, so we would have time to explore Genoa then. We just took the time to relax and unpack and rest after our long travel day the day before.

 

We ended up taking a taxi tour after our cruise. We had two taxis and they took us to Portofino and then they recommended a lunch place on the way back to Genoa, so we stopped there. In Genoa they took us to a pretty rocky beach area, into the historic district to see the cathedral, then to this scenic overlook area, and then finally to see Christopher Columbus's house. It was a nice tour. If I were short on time I'd probably look around the historic district. I don't know about salami. We did have salami at our hotel breakfast, but I don't know if it was authentic or not. We had pizza for dinner. Our taxi driver, who was from Naples, told us there is no good pizza in Genoa. lol But we enjoyed it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info, TupeloHoney!

 

I came across your video on another thread. Looks like you had a blast and your kids are adorable!

 

We are one week and counting. Let's just hope the NE USA doesn't have another northeaster! We have piles of snow outside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Divina is in Genoa on the 31st, not Marseille. Just want to make sure you have your dates right before you fly!

 

Hello smart travelers!

 

We are leaving for our first Mediterranean cruise in 9 days and we are new to MSC. Since all of the other cruise we have gone on were closed loop I was trying to understand when we are able get on and off the ship.

 

After a phone call with MSC it seems that the Divina will dock at noon on the 31st. We are scheduled to arrive in Marseille at 11 so I am assuming that we will be able to go directly to the port, check in and get on board soon after. Will we have access to our cabin to put our hand luggage down? Or better, take a nap?

 

This is where I am really hoping that anyone with experience can shed some light. We are scheduled to dock back in Marseille a week later at 1:00 pm. The representative on the phone told me that I needed to allow 5 hours to get off the ship. That just sounds crazy, they are scheduled to be leaving then! We are headed to Disneyland Paris for the weekend and I would like to be able to purchase train tickets. We will be able to move all of our luggage ourselves when leaving the ship. Do you think we will be able to make a 2:34 pm train? Bonus points for suggestions on the best way to get to the train.

 

Thanks so much!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just did a cruise in and out of Genoa, so a different port, but the info might be useful. We got to the pier at around 11:00 I think and were on pretty quick - maybe by 11:30? That was getting all 9 people through check in. We went straight to a lounge and just sat and had a drink and relaxed for a bit. At around 12:15 I went to look at our rooms to see if they were open and 2 of the 4 were ready. The other 2 were ready closer to 1:30. They did have a place you could drop your carry on luggage if you wanted to. we just hung out in the lounge. (if you have purchased a drink package - or it comes with your cabin type - bring paper proof of that as you will not have your room key yet so will have no other proof that you are entitled to the drinks without charge!) You could drop your carry on luggage and go get some lunch. Chances are good your room will be ready when you are done.

 

When we got back we docked at 7:00 I think, and we were off by 9:20. We could have gone earlier, but our travel companions were not scheduled to get off until 9:20, and since we were not in a hurry we just went with them.

 

You say you were onboard and in a lounge but you didn't have your room card yet? I thought you would have cleared all this and have a card in hand before you got onboard. This is something new to me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Labrugnoli, you are correct! I've mixed up the dates. We indeed embark on the 30th.

 

Sofsolnanny, that excursion does sound nice. Thanks for the feedback!

 

Cullyman15, I too found this curious but figured I'd see how it goes next week. I do remember something from when I did the status match about how you get your card in your cabin.

 

I'm about to burst with excitement for this trip, my kids are tired of hearing about it even though they are super excited too. We just had a day taken away from spring break due to the snow day from yesterday storm so it feels wrong to gloat when they are complaining that the kids have to be in school (while we are floating in the Mediterranean).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are headed out of Bari on the Poesia in May. I’ve been on MSC one other time in Europe...in and out of Venice. Our embarkation and debarkation was a bit different though. We were literally the last people on the ship due to some issues and we were practically the first people off because we wanted to make a train to Verona (so we carried off our luggage). So what I don’t remember is how they handled people getting on and off at different ports. I have zero recollection of this even happening! But, I think all of their cruises are like this in Europe sooo. Anyone have feedback on this?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You say you were onboard and in a lounge but you didn't have your room card yet? I thought you would have cleared all this and have a card in hand before you got onboard. This is something new to me

 

I believe this is true fleet wide, but I've only been on the one MSC cruise, so I'm not certain. But I did read it on here ahead of time. Your room card will be in your room. Or, at least it should be.

 

We had so many problems with our cards. Between the 9 of us none of us had the correct cards. We were in Aurea and they had the wrong drink package loaded onto ours. My MIL's room cards never showed up in her room so they had to go to guest services to get them. And then they loaded the wrong drink packages onto theirs as well so she had to go back again. My SIL and her kids were in Fantastica, but bought the drink pkg and none of their 4 keys had the drink package loaded on them. This was our first experience on the Orchestra. It didn't really improve after that! lol Pretty impressive really that they screwed up all 9 of our cards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand that if you are want to get off the ship early or have an independent tour to meet you go to guest services the night before to arrange this. I also read a post where someone got quite a late disembark time and changed it with GS the night before too. We cruise in September.

 

Sent from my SM-A320Y using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MamaLo, the only way I knew the Divina was in Genoa on the 31st was b/c that's when we get on it! :)

 

Labrugnoli, you are correct! I've mixed up the dates. We indeed embark on the 30th.

 

Sofsolnanny, that excursion does sound nice. Thanks for the feedback!

 

Cullyman15, I too found this curious but figured I'd see how it goes next week. I do remember something from when I did the status match about how you get your card in your cabin.

 

I'm about to burst with excitement for this trip, my kids are tired of hearing about it even though they are super excited too. We just had a day taken away from spring break due to the snow day from yesterday storm so it feels wrong to gloat when they are complaining that the kids have to be in school (while we are floating in the Mediterranean).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pukekolive, thanks. I had planned to go to guest services and explain that we have a train to catch. We will be ready to dash as soon as we dock. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.

 

Laburgnoli, how exciting! We will just be one day ahead of you. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm boarding the MSC Divina in Genoa this Saturday, we're getting a train from Nice. I've been to Genoa before so wont bother doing any excurstions. On the 2 previous cruises with MSC we were given our cards at check-in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
Pukekolive, thanks. I had planned to go to guest services and explain that we have a train to catch. We will be ready to dash as soon as we dock. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.

 

Laburgnoli, how exciting! We will just be one day ahead of you. :D

 

Mama Lo, This is an old thread, but I was wondering how it all ended up? Were you able to get off MSC ship in time to catch your train? I have the same concern. We are disembarking in Genoa in November and will need to walk across to catch a train to Florence. I think we are scheduled to arrive at 9am, so was wondering how early I could possibly carry myself and my luggage off if we dock on time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...