Beginning or ending on partial turnover days

[Sunandgames]

We have an upcoming trip on the Epic, boarding in Civitaveccia, and the ship has overlapping itineraries around that time, with some passengers beginning or ending cruises while others began their cruise several days before in Barcelona and will be leaving for excursions or remaining on the ship.
 

For those who have cruised in similar situations, how does embarking differ from a typical cruise where the ship must be cleared of all prior passengers first? What about when we’re disembarking in Barcelona but other passengers are continuing on?

 

We’re Haven passengers and are aiming to be among the first passengers to board and among the last to leave, so I’m wondering how this type of itinerary may change those timelines from a typical NCL cruise. 

[schmoopie17]

We have the same situation in September where we board in Civiwhatchamacallit, with others boarding four days earlier in Barcelona. 

 

We're anticipating chaos, but what do we know. It's our first time on a cruise with this type of situation.

 

Our question is, being Platinum, will the Barcelona boarders have the Latitudes events...Wines Around the World, Behind the Scenes tour, etc., before we even get on? Or will they schedule those events on the overlapping days, once everyone is boarded. Even so, those spots may be snatched up by people boarding in Barcelona before we get a chance to sign up.

[Girr]

Just sailed on Epic in July embarking in Civitavecchia, and the process is almost invisible, and probably the easiest I've experienced.  When we boarded in Civitavecchia at 11.30 there weren't any long lines dropping off the bags and going through security.  From dropping off the bags to sitting down in the Heaven restaurant was less than twenty minutes, and our room was ready.  When you're only loading 50% (or less) of the passengers it goes really smooth!  Now, if you arrive later in the day when day trippers to Rome are returning, I'd bet it's a lot busier.  

 

Two nights before arriving in Barcelona there were priority bag tags displayed at the concierge desk.  Then the night before occasionally you'd see luggage in the hallway, but it quickly disappeared.  The morning in Barcelona the hallways was staged with sheets/towels to quickly get the rooms ready (if I recall they ask you to be out of the room by 8:30; however, you still have time for breakfast).  On the way to the Heaven restaurant the concierge was staged at one of the elevators to assist passengers off the ship for disembarking or for sightseeing - it was very much like any other port day.  The Haven lounge was "busy" with passengers hanging out waiting for car service/excursions since they had vacated their rooms.

 

Leaving the ship, we just walked by the passengers picking up their luggage and headed to find our driver.  Coming back that evening the check in process was still ongoing in Barcelona (I was really surprised at how many people were still checking in!).  However, there's a separate line for those who'd only been off for the day.  We did share the same security scanners as those getting on, but this line did move faster.  Once thru security you'll just proceed thru the cruise port, while new passengers head to the right to finish checking in.

 

While I'm Sapphire I didn't elect to participate in the Wines Around the World, Behind the Scenes, etc., so I'm not sure how this worked.  Considering this is usually done on a sea day and there's only one sea day for the entire cruise this may have high participation whether you get on in Barcelona or Civitavecchia.  If you want to participate, I'd do this first - yes, even before having lunch.  (Ask the concierge if they can sign you up.)   I also attempted to make some dinner reservations (later than I should have) prior to Barcelona, and everything showed as booked, but the concierge told me to come back on the Barcelona day as everything opened up.  This was also the case for excursion (however, if you're planning on using NCL excursions be aware you need to book early as almost everything sold out),  

[BirdTravels]

4 hours ago, Sunandgames said:

We have an upcoming trip on the Epic, boarding in Civitaveccia, and the ship has overlapping itineraries around that time, with some passengers beginning or ending cruises while others began their cruise several days before in Barcelona and will be leaving for excursions or remaining on the ship.
 

For those who have cruised in similar situations, how does embarking differ from a typical cruise where the ship must be cleared of all prior passengers first? What about when we’re disembarking in Barcelona but other passengers are continuing on?

 

We’re Haven passengers and are aiming to be among the first passengers to board and among the last to leave, so I’m wondering how this type of itinerary may change those timelines from a typical NCL cruise. 

Embarkation and disembarkation is the same as any cruise. Just there will be people on the ship before/after you. You will board after Civitavecchia passengers are off. You still need to be off by all ashore. 

 

Civitavecchia is the secondary boarding port. The primary boarding port is Barcelona (larger portion of the rooms are reserved Barcelona R/T). Some of the onboard activities are closer geared toward Barcelona passengers, but you won't notice it. 

[chiefy_mom]

Super-mundane question - what do they print on the freestyle dailies with an itinerary like this?  Do they skip printing “Day 1”?  Or does it say “Day 1/4”? Or something like that?

[Girr]

The dailies just have the date and the port.  No mention of the day of the cruise.

 

[sailingships]

13 hours ago, Sunandgames said:

We have an upcoming trip on the Epic, boarding in Civitaveccia, and the ship has overlapping itineraries around that time, with some passengers beginning or ending cruises while others began their cruise several days before in Barcelona and will be leaving for excursions or remaining on the ship.
 

For those who have cruised in similar situations, how does embarking differ from a typical cruise where the ship must be cleared of all prior passengers first? What about when we’re disembarking in Barcelona but other passengers are continuing on?

We did a 4 day Barcelona to Civitavecchia on the Epic in May The whole cruise was 9 days back to Barcelona. We were already on the ship after the TA.

 

Disembarking in Civitavecchia was no different than a normal one except we were some of the few who had luggage with us. We just got off with everyone else. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by sailingships

[sailingships]

11 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Our question is, being Platinum, will the Barcelona boarders have the Latitudes events...Wines Around the World, Behind the Scenes tour, etc., before we even get on? Or will they schedule those events on the overlapping days, once everyone is boarded. Even so, those spots may be snatched up by people boarding in Barcelona before we get a chance to sign up.

When we did the 4 days they already had those events planned for the next 5 days. We did get our Latitude dinners though.