Possibly a stupid question...

[trippingpara]

but I'm really confused. Pardon my ignorance, but I've never sailed with NCL before but I noticed when looking at a cruise in the Baltic on the Getaway, it states that debarkation at the ports does not start until generally 2 hours after arrival time and all passengers must be back on board 2 hours before departure time. Is that correct?? So, if the ships docks at 8:00 am and departs at 5:00 pm, you only truly have from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in port?

 

Please tell me that I'm reading that wrong. On my previous cruises, we were off the ship within minutes after they tied up and the required time back on board was 30 minutes prior to departure time.

[ColinIllinois]

Yes, you are reading it wrong. It's two hours early on embarkation day at the home port. At the ports you will be off within minutes of docking.

[esm54687]

but I'm really confused. Pardon my ignorance, but I've never sailed with NCL before but I noticed when looking at a cruise in the Baltic on the Getaway, it states that debarkation at the ports does not start until generally 2 hours after arrival time and all passengers must be back on board 2 hours before departure time. Is that correct?? So, if the ships docks at 8:00 am and departs at 5:00 pm, you only truly have from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in port?

 

Please tell me that I'm reading that wrong. On my previous cruises, we were off the ship within minutes after they tied up and the required time back on board was 30 minutes prior to departure time.

 

If that's what NCL states then that is what to expect.

 

When a ship arrives in port, it needs to be cleared by that country's customs and depending on the process could be the full 2 hours. Typically it is a lot shorter but they say 2 hours to set expectations.

 

When a ship is leaving port, the cruise line is wanting to get people on board and accounted for so that it helps minimize the "pier runners'. Staying in port is very expensive for the cruise line (pier workers, customs, pilots, etc OT). Typically NCL requires you to be back on board 1 hour before sailing but the ports may be dictating that time for other reasons.

 

Always go by what the individual ship \ itinerary states, not by past experiences...

[trivimp]

Yes, that's just on the first day. At the ports of call, they'll prominently post the back-on-board time where you can see it as you go out; it's usually about 30 to 60 minutes before sailaway.

[kerryincork]

Debarkation specifically refers to the end of cruise where everyone is getting off the ship. It is not a two hour process to clear ship at ports of call. The same with all aboard, 2 hours is for the first day of cruise. There is no reason for the ship to sit on port paying expensive fees.

I suggest you re-read your documents

[trippingpara]

Yes, that's just on the first day. At the ports of call, they'll prominently post the back-on-board time where you can see it as you go out; it's usually about 30 to 60 minutes before sailaway.

 

Thank you, that makes sense. It was just written alongside the itinerary and didn't specify what day it applied to.