A newbie question about the excursions

[towel-animal]

Hey Cruise Critic!

 

My mom and I are going to take our first cruise (East Caribbean) in March. (She wanted to do Holland America Eurodam, but I persuaded her to agree on the Norwegian Epic). As we're both new to the whole cruising thing, I've tried my best to answer our questions through looking at the boards, but tonight she's asked me something about the excursions, which I can't seem to find:

 

What time do the excursions start?

 

Are they immediately after you get into port? My mom is definitely not a morning person, and she's concerned about how early we'll have to be ready for them, as we get into both St. Maarten and St. Thomas at 8:00 AM. Nassau is at 12:00PM.

 

I was taking a gander at the excursions on the NCL site, and I could not find anything to explain what time you have to meet for them.

 

Thanks for your help!

[bean24]

It depends they can start at anytime. Sometimes they will have multiple start times depending what the excursion is. If you go to book an excursion there is a drop down box that will show you the times it is available.

And welcome to cruise critic.

[roger001]

All the excursions listed should have a start time somewhere. Usually they are shortly after the ship docks. However, some of the shorter ones will offer maybe two or three different times you can sign up for. Somewhere on there their times are listed.

[Annieban50]

Hello!

It depends on the excursion. If you are booking through NCL, log in to MY NCL. Select 'more details' for the excursion you are interested in, scroll down and you should see a dropdown field with a selection of times available for that excursion. Some will have multiple times available, others will only have one time.

 

You might want to check out the port boards, as they have lots of suggestions, including private excursions. I book ship and private, depending on what is available. If it is a long excursion or I think I might be cutting my return time a little too close, I book thru the ship. Keep in mind that if you book in advance, you can't use Onboard Credit.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Ann

[Ciref]

CJ,

 

They only list the times on the NCL site when you go to make the reservation. The vast majority of the activities are early but there are some that start at 11 AM and a few after lunch.

[Ilovesailing]

It depends on a lot of things such as how long are you in port, how popular is the excursion, if it's extremely popular they will stagger the departure times. But the bottom line is most will leave with in a couple of hours upon docking(more likely sooner).

You can call NCL excursion desk and get an exact answer but have your excursions ready, you can also book them over the phone but have your credit card ready as well.\

 

If you have a certain excursion for a particular port post your question on that port board and make sure you say your sailing NCL and someone can advise as to what time it left for them.

[towel-animal]

CJ,

 

They only list the times on the NCL site when you go to make the reservation. The vast majority of the activities are early but there are some that start at 11 AM and a few after lunch.

 

I figured that was probably why I couldn't see the times. We haven't booked yet so I guess I will have to wait to get it planned out.

[rbrugler]

Tell your mother that for early excursions she can get carry out service. The excursion company will send people to your cabin and they will have a portable bed and will put your other in it and onto a special area on the bus. She can then sleep until the destination is reached. :o

[fergusonvt]

As others have said it depends on the excursion. In Belize we went to see the Mayan ruins at Lamanai and because it was an all day thing we had to meet before 8am. I know they used to have a tour/shopping excursion in St. Thomas that you could do either in the morning or a little later. That may still be available.