NCL Viva - Lisbon Port Terminal information for embarkation day

[CookieBeen]

Hi

 

I’m on my first NCL cruise on Viva departing from Lisbon in November and I can’t find any recent info on what the terminal (Jardim da Tabaco) is like - looking for practical information like:

 

- can taxis drop you off at the terminal entrance or is there a long walk (are there particular taxi companies to use that have the right license etc.)

- are there porters available to help with luggage when arriving - or is there a paid service to meet and greet etc that can be booked

- is it a large terminal with lots of walking, are there seats etc - how quickly can you drop off bags etc.

- is there a separate fast track for Haven guests pre security/bag drop etc or does that only start post security
- what are the terminal facilities like i.e. toilets, restaurants, shops etc.

- what are current waiting times like and how accurate are they based on the boarding time given by NCL

 

And all other hints and tips appreciated to plan for a stress free embarkation day - thanks!

[ColeThornton]

Welcome to the forum.

 

While you are waiting for answers here you may want to also ask/research on the Spain/Portugal port of call forum.  Here is the link for you:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/465-spain-and-portugal-ports/

[CookieBeen]

Thank you will look at that - am new to the forum so still working out how to navigate topics!

[KeithJenner]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Lisbon isn’t a good terminal for embarking (in my experience, but reports from other back this up).

 

The big problem is that they inspect passports and check you off a list before entering the terminal proper. This results in a long queue to enter. We waited about 30 minutes to enter, but a while later the queue was between an hour and two hours.

 

Regarding your specific questions:

 

Taxis can drop You off fairly close to the terminal. From memory we walked about 50 yards but you can probably get closer.

 

I don’t know about porters to help you with your bags prior to where you drip

them off.

 

I don’t recall how much walking is required in the terminal, but I don’t think there was anything unusual.

 

Don’t know about Haven. I’d hope that you don’t need to join the main queue, but don’t know

 

Facilities are fairly standard, as I recall. One thing about the long queue to enter the terminal is that by the time you get checked in it is almost straight on to the ship.

 

As mentioned earlier, waiting times are very long. I’d hope that things improve, and it’s possible that our cruise was an outlier, but others have reported similar.

 

I’ve attached a picture that we took of the queue to enter the terminal (upside down I’m afraid). The queue disappeared behind buildings so I don’t know how long it actually was, but people were still boarding after we were supposed to have sailed away.

 

Sorry to be so negative.

[CookieBeen]

Oh dear definitely not the news I was hoping for but thanks for taking the time to reply 

 

So you had to queue with your bags outside - this could be pretty horrendous if the weather is bad too

 

[nadeki]

We went on the viva outbid Lisbon in June. 

Our experience was the opposite. We were dropped off very close to the front door. We were cheerfully greeted by a line of porters in shirts and neckties. No tips accepted. 
 

I was shocked at the professional manner. 
 

we were on the ship within minutes. 

[CookieBeen]

Oh wow there might be hope yet!

 

Did you arrive at your scheduled boarding time? 

[nadeki]

52 minutes ago, CookieBeen said:

Oh wow there might be hope yet!

 

Did you arrive at your scheduled boarding time? 

Yes we did. Around eleven. 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, nadeki said:

We went on the viva outbid Lisbon in June. 

Our experience was the opposite. We were dropped off very close to the front door. We were cheerfully greeted by a line of porters in shirts and neckties. No tips accepted. 
 

I was shocked at the professional manner. 
 

we were on the ship within minutes. 

That is good news. Our experience was in April, so hopefully they have resolved the issues.

 

Were they checking passports on entry when you went? That is what caused the problems as it was taking some time to tick people’s names off of paper lists. Changing that would make a big difference.

[CookieBeen]

1 hour ago, nadeki said:

Yes we did. Around eleven. 

Good to know - hopefully resolved issues from earlier in the year - fingers crossed!

[JandC_Cruising]

Sailed Getaway out of Lisbon last summer.

We got to the terminal right around 11:00am via taxi that "knew" the right way to enter the terminal area so we got dropped off right in front. 

A porter was there and immediately grabbed our bags.  We already had our cabin tags on them so it was clear we were going to be "checking" them.  There seemed to be a very long line of people who were either without bag tags, didn't want to use a porter, or were going to carry on their bags.  We couldn't figure it out exactly why many were in that long line at street level,  but our porter just pointed us up a ramp to the main terminal entrance.  Just a short wait to get through security upstairs and then a short line for an agent to check us in.  

They had already begun boarding, so we walked right on the ship without any further waiting.  

Had lunch at O'sheehans and went right up to the Vibe for drinks and sun by 12:30.  

At that point there was a huge line going up the ramp on the side of the terminal to security. 

 

[nimbex1970]

We exited in Lisbon.  There is a solid well marked Taxi location, porters for luggage are right there as well.  The terminal isn't large and there isn't anything in walking distance to it.

[CookieBeen]

7 minutes ago, JandC_Cruising said:

Sailed Getaway out of Lisbon last summer.

We got to the terminal right around 11:00am via taxi that "knew" the right way to enter the terminal area so we got dropped off right in front. 

A porter was there and immediately grabbed our bags.  We already had our cabin tags on them so it was clear we were going to be "checking" them.  There seemed to be a very long line of people who were either without bag tags, didn't want to use a porter, or were going to carry on their bags.  We couldn't figure it out exactly why many were in that long line at street level,  but our porter just pointed us up a ramp to the main terminal entrance.  Just a short wait to get through security upstairs and then a short line for an agent to check us in.  

They had already begun boarding, so we walked right on the ship without any further waiting.  

Had lunch at O'sheehans and went right up to the Vibe for drinks and sun by 12:30.  

At that point there was a huge line going up the ramp on the side of the terminal to security. 

 

Thanks for this and promising again

 

I wonder if it’s either to do with luggage as you say or as per previous comment something to do with passport checks - in which case I wonder if it’s EU/non EU passport or visa related maybe 

 

[CookieBeen]

8 minutes ago, nimbex1970 said:

We exited in Lisbon.  There is a solid well marked Taxi location, porters for luggage are right there as well.  The terminal isn't large and there isn't anything in walking distance to it.

Thank you helpful 

[ysolde]

Thank you!  All of this is useful!  I suspect DH and I will be on the same Viva cruise out of Lisbon in November.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@ysolde

 

I hope the boarding goes well for you and that you have an excellent cruise with some of my old friends.

 

All the best

 

Mike/casofilia/Anoynmous Phoenix.

casofilia @ xtra . co . nz

[KeithJenner]

5 hours ago, CookieBeen said:

Thanks for this and promising again

 

I wonder if it’s either to do with luggage as you say or as per previous comment something to do with passport checks - in which case I wonder if it’s EU/non EU passport or visa related maybe 

 

Our issue wasn’t to do with luggage or passport types/visas.

 

We dropped our luggage off with no problem before joining the queue. The picture I posted had people with luggage in the queue and I assume they were just people who joined the end of the line rather than go to the terminal first.

 

When we joined the line there was no instruction regarding passports etc. We are from the UK and we were behind a group from the US and in front of some people from Germany, so there certainly didn’t seem to be any distinctions that we had missed. Nobody actually checked ot

enquired about passports until we entered the terminal itself.

 

It sounds like they may have sorted their issues out. I’d base your research on that.

[OBSESSIVEWORLDTRAVELER]

I had a similar experience with what everyone said above when I departed Lisbon for a transatlantic cruise. Just a couple of call outs. The building does NOT have a lot of seating. It's not like Miami or Manhattan cruise terminals. Arrive at your scheduled time. In doing so I was able to get on the ship quickly. If you are standing on the street facing the terminal, NCL is on the extreme far right. I think when I was leaving three ships were in port and my private driver got confused. Also I saw a long line of people with bags in a queue standing outside and couldn't understand why. I later realized that the middle ship (I think MSC) and the NCL ship shared some of the terminal space in certain areas. At one point a MSC passenger almost boarded the NCL ship. But there are plenty of signs to help. You can be dropped off at the door and there were porters.

[fredflint]

I would recommend as always getting there after Noon, most people want to arrive early or as soon as boarding starts so there is always a line.  Here is the streetview.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7110589,-9.1265223,3a,75y,148.62h,95.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIZew3KAd77xTt8nbybcmMQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

 

You can go to the regular map and walk around.   We had a bit of a line a couple of years ago and yes if the weather is bad it  will suck for sure.

[nadeki]

13 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

That is good news. Our experience was in April, so hopefully they have resolved the issues.

 

Were they checking passports on entry when you went? That is what caused the problems as it was taking some time to tick people’s names off of paper lists. Changing that would make a big difference.

I don’t remember!!! I was too excited.