Anyone Started their Cruise with an Overnight on Board?

I am on an itinerary where we will board the ship in one port at/after 1 PM and spend the night there, leaving the next day at 4 PM. This is different from any itinerary I've been on, and I'm wondering:

1. When is the safety drill likely to be? For every O cruise I've taken so far, it has always been right before departure. However, this cruise is a little different, so I'm thinking the drill might possibly be different. I was curious if anyone had taken a cruise with an itinerary like this, and if so, when the drill was. Also, is the U.S. requirement on drills that it must be done within 24 hours after departure, or after embarkation, or something else?

2. I believe normally everyone has to be on board on the departure day at least one or two hours before departure, but I'm wondering if this will be a bit different, given that perhaps the authorities may have cleared the ship earlier, since embarkation is the day before. Oceania told me that they like everyone to be on board 2 hours prior to departure, but that for this cruise, given that the ship doesn't go anywhere that day, it may be different. I gather decisions as to when passengers must be onboard, and of the safety drill, are up to the captain and crew.

Oceania told me that this information would be given to me when I board.

Anybody like to venture a guess as to when the drill will be, and when we'll be required to be back on board on the day we leave Lisbon? (I am hoping to sightsee as long as possible!)

Also, has anyone cruised out of Lisbon before? Is it possible to see the Discoveries Monument and the Torre de Belem from the middle of the river as we cruise out? It will be daylight, so that's good, but it looks like the middle of the river is almost a half mile from land, which is not so good!

It's a long time since we sailed out of Lisbon -- that was on Renaissance (Regatta, then the R2). My recollection is that we COULD see them. Again, it depends on which side of the ship you are located. My recollection is that we looked across the river to the Christ statue. What you are talking about is on the other side.

(Port? Starboard? It's all the same to me. More the pity since I worked for admiralty attorneys for 25 years. You'd think I'd have learned by now which side they are on.)

Or are you asking about being up top as opposed to on a veranda? If so, then I'm pretty sure you CAN. On our departure, I had a drink on our veranda as we sailed out (that was a Deck 7 veranda) and it was wonderful.

As to your first question, my recent experience has been a 5pm boat drill -- whether we were leaving at 6pm or 10pm. You have a good question in your circumstance. The answer is I don't know!

My GUESS would be that with a 4pm departure on Day 2 your boat drill probably will be around 3pm. Maybe a little earlier. Since the Princess fires and the Costa Concordia, Oceania is more careful about when boat drills happen. We used to have the drill the day AFTER departure when we had a night sailaway. That doesn't happen anymore.

Have a great cruise.

Mura

We sailed out of Lisbon in September, 2012 on Marina and had a starboard PH. We had great views of the Discovery monument (got many good close-ups) and the Torre de Belem from our balcony, plus could see other features of the city, including the monastery of Jerome and, of course, sailing under the 25 de Abril bridge.

While in Lisbon, we had a great private tour with Inside Lisbon tours (just the two of us, at a very reasonable rate).

Thank you both. I'm also guessing the drill we be at 3 or so, as they always seem to do them pre-departure, and if they require everyone to be back on board at 3, that should work. It also wouldn't interfere with dinner, or with sighting of the Torre and Discoveries, which makes me happy. Based on what I've seen on marinetraffic.com, most cruise ships take about a half hour or maybe a little more to get there after leaving Santa Apolonia dock area.

It's great to hear that I should be able to see them from the ship. Yes, I was talking about how far away they are and whether it was easy or hard to see them. I don't care which side they'll be on, as I have an inside cabin (unless the upsell ferry calls in the next 10 days, which is iffy!) and so I will be up on deck for sailaway, not on my veranda! If it matters (and it seldom does!), as rubysue says, they will be visible off the starboard side (right side) when we leave. I only manage to remember that by associating "r" and "s" together, and then that makes it easy for me to remember which side is which! I got tired of my husband correcting me. His time in the Navy made him a stickler for using the correct nautical terminology!

As for touring, I'm splurging a little bit on a sidecar motorcycle bike 3 hour tour by Bike My Side. In Prague my husband loved the segway tour at night I surprised him with. This is my attempt to top that, and I figure Lisbon, with all its hills and cobblestones, is a good place to do more riding than walking for 3 hours. I will walk around a lot on my own after that.

Thank you for the information. Should be a nicer than usual sailaway....and I am really excited about Lisbon...and the Canary Islands...

It is not a US requirement that the drill be done before sailaway it is a SOLAS requirement

I am guessing your Muster drill will be at least 30 min prior to sailaway & every should be onboard by then as well unless your sailaway is later in the evening ...we have had sailaways at 11pm & 12midnight but the dril was at 5:30pm

Those that missed it were probably summoned to a drill the next day but I have no personal experience of this

As you already know all this information will be in your cabin upon boarding so unless you are spending the 1st night ashore you will get the info embarkation day

We spent the night in Cape Town and had our drill the next day prior to leaving Cape Town. I think we had to be back on board one hour prior to the ship leaving so that the drill could be completed.

The boat drill usually is held in the late afternoon just prior to sailaway. I believe we were asked to be back about one hour before our recent sailaway from Istanbul in May. The drill was held at 3:15 PM and we had sailaway at 4 PM.