Epic Itinerary Change April 17 2016 - November 20 2016

[ashmac8]

Just passing along in case anyone didn't get the mass email last night.

 

It appears the itinerary has changed for these Western Med sailings out of Barcelona. We are currently booked for July.

 

The last port stop has been changed from

Palma Majorca, Spain 1-8pm TO Marseille, France 7am-4pm

[warringtonian]

We haven't been told anything and we are on the same voyage as you.

[jodieh12]

I'm on 7 April sailing and haven't had anything.

 

Just going to log on and check.

 

Jo

[jodieh12]

Oops I read it wrong, I'm on the 7 - 17 Sailing so won't be affected. I wish we were though as I've been to Palma lots of times and quite fancy Marseille.

 

Jo

[jodieh12]

Double oops we aren't even going to Palma, I'm on the epic at Xmas and NY and that's the one we have Palma on the last day.

 

Lesson to self: Read things and make sure of facts before posting!! :D

[ashmac8]

We haven't been told anything and we are on the same voyage as you.

 

Did you book through a travel agent? If so the email might have gone to them. I booked our 2 rooms directly.

 

Here is a copy paste of the email we got:

"

Dear Valued Guests & Travel Partners,

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding Norwegian Epic's 7-Day Western Mediterranean sailing from Barcelona, Spain from

April 17, 2016 to November 20, 2016. All guests booked on this sailing need to be aware of this change and travel professionals are asked to forward this

information to their clients.

We have made a change to the ship's itinerary and will now call on Marseille on Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm. Please review the updated itinerary

information below:

Original Arrive Depart

Sun Barcelona, Spain 6:00 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue Naples/pompeii, Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Wed Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 6:00 am 7:00 pm

Thu Livorno (Florence/pisa), Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Fri Cannes, France 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Sat Palma Majorca, Spain 1:00 pm 8:00 pm

Sun Barcelona, Spain 5:00 am

Revised Arrive Depart

Sun Barcelona, Spain 6:00 pm

Mon At Sea

Tue Naples/pompeii, Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Wed Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 6:00 am 7:00 pm

Thu Livorno (Florence/pisa), Italy 7:00 am 7:00 pm

Fri Cannes, France 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Sat Marseille, France 7:00 am 4:00 pm

Sun Barcelona, Spain 5:00 am

If you pre-booked shore excursions through Norwegian Cruise Line your shore excursion will be cancelled and you will be refunded accordingly. If you

have any questions regarding shore excursions, please visit our website at http://www.ncl.com/excursions or contact our shore excursion desk at

1-866-625-1167.

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions, please contact us at 800-327-7030 (Monday through Friday from 8am to midnight ET and

Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 9pm ET). We look forward to welcoming you aboard Norwegian Epic.

Sincerely,

Vivian Ewart

Vice President, Passenger Services"

[ashmac8]

Oops I read it wrong, I'm on the 7 - 17 Sailing so won't be affected. I wish we were though as I've been to Palma lots of times and quite fancy Marseille.

 

Jo

 

I agree I like the switch. :)

[Fostelo]

On the may 15th sailing and love this change[emoji1]

[ashmac8]

On the may 15th sailing and love this change[emoji1]

 

Totally agree. Marseille was on my list of places I wanted to see so this is a perfect fit for us. Plus I like the time slot better. :D

[joehick]

looking for info on Marseille (excursions). Not sure I like the change. I flew out of there a few years ago, only saw a small part to the airport, and not impressed, however should note that it was just a drive thru. . Aix and Avignon are close as well, and understand it is beautiful, I really do love Provence.

Not sure what to do, change or stay???

On the Epic, June 5th

[cymru cruiser]

Nope not impressed here. We are on harmony the week before and have a stop in Marseille, we'd already decided to stay on harmony as we've no interest in Marseille as been to that area of the south of France loads!

Whilst we've been to Majorca several times we were going to have harmony as a beach day and epic as a Palma city.

 

Thanks to the o.p for posting this, in wonder how long it will take our t.a to tell us lol.

[BamaVol]

On the may 15th sailing and love this change[emoji1]

 

We're on the same sailing. My TA has forwarded nothing yet. I don't have any preference either way as we've never been to either. However, I did buy a travel guide to Mallorca that is now $15 wasted.

[meltingmoments]

This was the Epic's itinerary the FIRST time we sailed her and we stayed on board for Marseille......nothing appealed to us!

 

This time round we started out with almost a full day in Palma and we were pleased, even though we have visited Palma before. Then, of course, NCL changed the timings and we now only have a few hours there....still, better than nothing! :)

 

Glad we decided to do Epic again THIS year and not next after hearing that news!

[timmo44]

At Palma you can walk off the ship and you are in the middle of the town.

 

At Marseille you are miles from anywhere in an industrial zone. We were there once and due to a huge road accident on the main route no taxis or coaches could get into town. So we walked out of the port and into the local residential area. Never again. Rough is the best word to describe it. Litter and graffiti everywhere.

[LEtue]

This is great news to me. I have been to Marseilles twice before but still haven't covered all the hill towns in the area and I have wanted to go to Cassis on the next trip too.

 

I have been re-thinking my Harmony trip because I really don't want to be a on a 226K ton ship for the Med ports and the extra features are wasted on me for a port intensive trip. I really think it sets up better for a TA or the caribbean IMHO.

 

Hmmm, maybe a studio cabin on the Epic is better for me after all :)

 

Thanks for posting this!

[LEtue]

Just checked the NCL site and there are no changes posted.

 

I guess it isn't too surprising that the itinerary hasn't been updated yet....

[BamaVol]

Just checked the NCL site and there are no changes posted.

 

I guess it isn't too surprising that the itinerary hasn't been updated yet....

 

 

Some days I can barely log in. I imagine the person responsible for updating the itinerary on NCL.com can't log in either.

[ashmac8]

Just checked the NCL site and there are no changes posted.

 

I guess it isn't too surprising that the itinerary hasn't been updated yet....

 

agreed. when I logged in this morning the old itinerary was still showing for me.

[cruise9876kend]

I'm on the 17th sailing I love Majorca been there loads of time but gutted about this change as its so far from anything and last time I went was on Msc and was stuck in traffic for a good hour not moving luckily we were on the ships shuttle so the boat had to wait

[tel2]

This is so disappointing. I love Palma. Marseilles not so much. If we were in port longer I would look for a wine tour to Chateauneuf du Pape -- but it takes 1.5 hours to get there, so.... Or if I was going later I would go to Luberon to see the lavender fields, but Im going in early May and they will not be blooming yet. No happy about this.

 

Terry

[LEtue]

This is so disappointing. I love Palma. Marseilles not so much. If we were in port longer I would look for a wine tour to Chateauneuf du Pape -- but it takes 1.5 hours to get there, so.... Or if I was going later I would go to Luberon to see the lavender fields, but Im going in early May and they will not be blooming yet. No happy about this.

 

Terry

 

Maybe this will help? It looks like you can do the trip in 1/2 day and maybe others on your sailing will want to join you?

 

http://www.provenceandwine.com/en/5/chateauneuf-du-pape-provence-and-wine

[Seafan22]

When I first read this change, I thought it was this year (2105). Upon moe care reading of the e-mail that was copied in one of the above postings I see that change is for 2016. Though I would have loved the change, I'm going Novemeber 1 of this year.

[warringtonian]

We still have not been told although we did book through a TA. Marseille was a dump the last time we went but that was years ago.

[GOODIES]

I received e-mail from ncl 2 days ago

I have not been to Europe so this is all new to me

Have a great day

[karoo]

Just checked the NCL site and there are no changes posted.

 

 

 

I guess it isn't too surprising that the itinerary hasn't been updated yet....

 

 

I did the Epic in July with reduced port times for three of the ports. I was informed by email about 5 weeks beforehand, that the new times were for all sailings until October, but none of the changes were displayed on the website. I think they wait until you book and are past cancellation with no penalties before they inform you of the changes.