This would be our 1st time on Norwegian - Epic - Med cruise

With a few cruises under our belts we're branching out. What will we love about Norwegian and the Epic verses RCI or MSC? Could you please share your favorite tips, tricks, and things to be aware of as first time sailors with Norwegian and on the Epic? Any important hints about Med cruises we should know? We're looking forward to seeing Pompeii, the tower in Pisa, and shopping Florence. We'll have a few days in Rome before and after the cruise for sight seeing there as well. We may even take the train up to Venice overnight after the cruise. Any recommendations or tips and tricks for those stops?

We may even take the train up to Venice overnight after the cruise. Any recommendations or tips and tricks for those stops?

I will just give you a Venice tip. If you can leave your large luggage in Rome for your overnight do it. Getting around Venice with a full set is not fun. Think water taxis, vaporetto (water bus), stairs, bridges etc. Add rain and you will want to cry. The alternative is storing your large luggage in a locker. The train station has storage and there is also this info page on a close alternative:

https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/keep-calm-point.htm

Luggage aside, Venice is awesome. Enjoy!

Any museums you want to see buy tickets in advance. Lines to buy tickets can be very long

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Freestyle crushing on NCL is much more casual and much, much more enjoyable. after very long days touristing, you can slip into some comfortable clothes and not worry about getting dressed up for dinner.

Thank you all for the tips! Especially as to where we can lock up our luggage while we tour Venice. I am pretty certain if we don't have to bring any formal wear we can pack in a couple of carry ons pretty easily although we'll need to run a load of laundry before our stay is over. You make NCL sound very appealing, BirdTravels.

If you go to Venice and want to tour the Dooges' palace with bridge of sighs (I loved it) you can get tickets to it via a museum around the corner that didn't take long to tour and has some nice art work. The lines for tickets at the Dooges' palace are long. I can look up the name of the museum if you want. I kept my ticket stubs for my scrap book. I also recommend if you do that to grab a snack at palace before you do the tour, it's longer and I would have passed out if we haven't done it. Venice is beautiful! Love to go back!

Freestyle crushing on NCL is much more casual and much, much more enjoyable. after very long days touristing, you can slip into some comfortable clothes and not worry about getting dressed up for dinner.

If you eat dinner on the ship! We ate in Italy for dinner a lot! We got a local recommendation for one on the best pizza places in Naples, home of pizza and it was soon wonderful!

My thought: Skip Pisa and spend your time in Florence.

Our cruise was out of Barcelona which we did all on our own

I had bought Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise guide book which was full of ideas, walking maps and suggestions. Big help.

But for Italy we did use a company called "Share a shore excursion" which worked out great for us. small groups and friendly, prompt guides and all tickets were pre purchased for us.

As mentioned before this is a very port intensive cruise so very little time to enjoy the ship and the ship is casual attire which was great, we would return to the ship to freshen up then go hit the piano bar for a drink or two then dinner then fall asleep for the next day!

Our attire for this trip was khaki pants or dress shorts and a polo for my husband and I wore cotton sun dresses so we would be dressed appropriately for churches and museums, we traveled in Sept and it was pretty warm.

We did see the Cirque show which was great! But for the rest of the ship not much. But we did just return from a western Caribbean cruise on the Epic and we had way more time to explore her and really liked that!

We did this in October-a once in a lifetime trip! I loved all of it however, It was exhausting-We went with the ship's excrsions because we didn't want to miss the ship Now I would go with Romeinlimo-Please remember too that the Epic is the only NCL ship built with that crazy bathroom design-In other words don't judge NCL because of it=Would I do it again? In a heartbeat-

As others have mentioned its a very port intensive cruise, I love the Epic and the Med Cruise and doing the same route and ship for a third time this July.

Here is some info on the various ports which i hope helps:

PORT INFO

Naples

Napoli .When you dock you come out of the port and turn left for the Ferry’s. You willsee them and their schedule with a few departing on the hour to the likes ofCapri and Sorrento. We done Sorrento and I think we got the 10:00 and the 2.30one back which was enough time to walk around and do some shopping.

Rome-

Weshared a tour for Rome from someone online we found on our roll call that wason Cruise Critic it cost us around 60/70 euro each but we got to see all thehighlights etc in a small group, we didn’t go into the Venus like the others inour party but we got to see them all. It was a long day but worth it. The portis 1.5 hrs away from the city but if you look up on cruise critic on this link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19 it will tell you how to get to Romeby train etc. The company we used for the tour is http://www.romeinlimo.com/, we done the highlights but did not go into the coliseum orVatican museum. We saw the coliseum, trevi fountain, Spanish steps, St Peterssquare and the Vatican. While the group went in we ate or shopped. Be warned itis busy and crowded but much cheaper than the ship tour.

Florence/Pisa ,

We docked inLivorno, so got the port shuttle into town done some shopping and found 2others to share a taxi with that wanted to see the leaning tower of Pisa,worked out at around 10 euro each. After exploring Pisa and some shopping wemanaged to flag down a taxi to take us back for around 40 euro so for around 20euro we got to see the leaning tower of Pisa. You can book to climb it but wejust wanted to see it. To climb it use this link http://www.opapisa.it/ Livorno is a nice shopping town aswell if you fancy some shopping

Cannes-

This a tender port where the shipdocks in the middle of the sea and you use the ship boats to get into Cannes,no need to book a tender if you’re not touring, just go to the tender area whenready. We took the tourist train beside the port that runs on a loop for 10euro , great information and you see all the sites. Cannes also has some nicebeaches too but a lot are private with an extra charge you will see them whenyou get of the tourist train.

Palma De Mallorca, Spain

The ship docks right in the town, so there is no real need to get a taxi unless you want to go to a nearby beach resort. We did not get of the ship here as we had been there before and didn’t dock until 1 but this is a handy place if you would like to spend a day at the beach/Shopping.There nearest beach would be Palma nova id say around 15 euro in a taxi,cheaper with a local bus but taxi is handier. This is also a good morning in the Casino as you don’t arrive until mid-day.

Remember though as its port intensive and the heat can make you exhausted especially in the Summer. Even after 2 sailings i still haven't seen all the Epic has to offer so on my third sailing i hope to enjoy the ship more.

My advice from doing the sailing last year:

- Do Florence, not Pisa.

- Forget trying to cram in more than two sites/stops on the Naples docking. You will get to all your stops, but you'll be stuck in traffic all day with about 30-60 minutes per stop.

- We decided to last-minute rent-a-car at Cannes from Enterprise. It was an amazing experience. Cost was 20 euro and the roads are amazing to drive in France. We went to Monte Carlo for the day (about a 40 minute drive). Next time, we would plan a little better and see Nice and Monte Carlo. Just note that, if you drive automatics, you'll want to book in advance. We were only able to get a manual transmission walking in, so I had to do a refresher around the block to make sure I could handle it. Lots of hills in the area, so be sure you're ready for a manual if you don't book an auto.