NCL Bliss Alaskan cruise 2019

[foulkesy]

Hi everyone,

                       We have booked an Alaskan cruise on the NCL Bliss for May 2019 and have some questions as its been 12 years since we last done a cruise. Looking at our itinerary we wont have as much time ashore as we thought. Reading there website it states you can disembark 2 hours after docking and need to be back on board 2 hours before it sails. if that's the case when we go to Ketchikan we only have 3 hours on shore . Is this correct and is there a pecking order to get off. Also what is the point of stopping at Victoria we dock at 7.30pm and leave at

midnight.( read it is some age old necessity). would we need a Canadian visa if we bothered to get off.

 

                                                                             Thanks               

[Essiesmom]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  I think you are mis-reading what is on the website.  You can debark as soon as the ship is cleared, and you would need to be back onboard 30 minutes before departure time.  When you are docked, as opposed to tendering, there is no pecking order to debark.    This is a closed loop cruise from Seattle and that requires the ship to call at a foreign port, and Victoria satisfies that requirement.  Sometimes it is called a 'technical' stop'.  For all the info you need about sailing NCL and the Bliss, go on over to the NCL board here at CC, located under Cruise Lines A-O.  EM

[Heidi13]

Since you depart from and return to a US port on a foreign flag vessel, to comply with the US Passenger Vessel Services Act, you must visit a foreign port. This requirement is met by stopping at Victoria. Depending on the weather and seas on the West Coast, the Victoria arrival may be late.

 

If you are from the US (citizen), no Visa is required to enter Canada.

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 11/28/2018 at 2:15 PM, foulkesy said:

Hi everyone,

                       We have booked an Alaskan cruise on the NCL Bliss for May 2019 and have some questions as its been 12 years since we last done a cruise. Looking at our itinerary we wont have as much time ashore as we thought. Reading there website it states you can disembark 2 hours after docking and need to be back on board 2 hours before it sails. if that's the case when we go to Ketchikan we only have 3 hours on shore . Is this correct and is there a pecking order to get off. Also what is the point of stopping at Victoria we dock at 7.30pm and leave at

midnight.( read it is some age old necessity). would we need a Canadian visa if we bothered to get off.

 

                                                                             Thanks               

You are somehow misreading the info.  Here is the NCL website info on reboarding time:

Boarding Time in Ports of Call:
In all ports of call, it is also the guest's responsibility to be back onboard the ship no later than one (1) hour prior to the ship's scheduled departure time. Please be aware that shipboard time may differ from the port of call and it is the guest's responsibility to follow the shipboard time. In the event a guest misses the ship, it will be the guest's responsibility to pay all expenses incurred to rejoin the ship.

 

And you can disembark in a port where you are docked (rather than tendored) as soon as the port authority allows it - which is generally about 30 to 45 minutes after docking - but never as much as 120 minutes.

 

[fishywood]

On 11/28/2018 at 2:15 PM, foulkesy said:

Reading there website it states you can disembark 2 hours after docking and need to be back on board 2 hours before it sails. if that's the case when we go to Ketchikan we only have 3 hours on shore .

 

[W]ould we need a Canadian visa if we bothered to get off [in Victoria?].

 

                                                                                

For your first question: this is  very common misreading of the embarkation and disembarkation info that NCL sends out. The 'two hours before sailaway' and 'two hours after docking' clauses only refer to the start and end of your cruise at the turnaround port. Intermediate port calls are usually as described above, in fact it is very rare that you are not cleared to leave the ship within a few minutes of the estimated arrival time (which has plenty of cushion built in for casting the lines and processing from the local authorities). For returning to the ship 'all aboard' time in port is usually 30 minutes before scheduled sailaway though if you are visiting any tender ports you will want to be in line at least one hour early.

 

As for the Visa question: citizens of nations that require either a Visa, or participation in the Visa Waiver program, in order to enter Canada must have those in order or they will likely be denied boarding at the start of the cruise as sorting passengers by which port(s) they are legal to visit or not is not something the cruise lines tend to do--you must be completely legal for the entire itinerary. Since you did not specify where you are a citizen of it is up to you to research this question--though I will add citizens of the USA need no such Visa.

[foulkesy]

Hi, Thanks for the feedback we are from the UK I've looked on the Canadian site and from what I can make out we only need our passports as we are entering Canada by Road (day trip from Skagway).

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, foulkesy said:

Hi, Thanks for the feedback we are from the UK I've looked on the Canadian site and from what I can make out we only need our passports as we are entering Canada by Road (day trip from Skagway).

I concur no Visa or eTA should be required

Edited February 7, 2019 by Heidi13

[foulkesy]

Thank you