Timing - Strait of Messina after Naples

We're on the Norwegian Spirit from Barcelona to Venice in June. I would love to be awake and on deck when we sail through the Strait of Messina, to see both it and Mt. Etna. We leave Naples at 7 pm. It looks like around 200 miles to the Strait on Google maps.

If the ship sails at 20 mph, then I would assume I would need to be up and on deck by 5 am. But since we have an at-sea day after Naples, there is no need to run at full speed.

So, has anyone done the route from Naples through the Strait? What was your timing? Were you able to see Mt. Etna, and was it erupting?

We did this trip last April and you are in for a fantastic time ! The ship is beautiful,clean and the food and service great.The itinerary is amazing,each port better than the next. I wish we were going again! There is an area where you can view the captain as you leave each port. After he gets the ship safely on his way he would usually come out and chat with the passengers there. You van see Mt Etna from the port in Naples. When you go through the Straights of Messina you pass by Mt Stromboli. Mt Stromboli is an active Volcano that is often blowing puffs of smoke and has small eruptions pretty often. We passed by this at dusk on our trip two years ago and it was very cool. The reason I told you about watching the captain and him coming out to talk each day is because this was my exact question for him! He was very kind and took me to the side to look at a nautical map to help me figure this out.If the port times are the same, and I think they are, you go through the Straights in the evening and pass Mt Etna around 3am. We were disappointed because we wanted to see it again . we woke up around 3am and went to the proper sid of the ship but we didn't see anything and we were too exhausted from all the touring all say to wait it out. Try to ask the captain one day and he will give you the best timeline for both the Straights and Mt Stromboli. If you can get up to see it ,it is amazing!! In all our travels it is in the top things of what we've seen ! An actual active volcano shooting fire!! Good luck and enjoy every minute!!

When we did this route we passed by Stromboli around 7:00 and our captain alerted us to this. It was great to sip our coffee while watching the puffs of smoke from the volcano. The strait came later and it was wonderful to cruise through on a beautiful sunny day.