Port visits - how long to budget to get off the ship?

[CarbonRiver]

 

Newbie to both cruising (we did Alaska on RC back in 2007) and MCS in particular.  Looking at a 9 day Med cruise on Splendida based largely on the ports (Greece and Turkey) and price - almost half the cost of a comparable 7 day RC cruise through Greece for family of 4. We're focused more on the "moving hotel" aspect and getting time in the destinations than the ship experience itself, so comfortable for the price with ignoring most of the negative MCS reviews and not having the RC rock wall and mini-golf etc. That said, it sounds like getting off the ship can be slow/disorganized (or worse, depending on the reviewer). I believe that most ports on the itinerary would be docked rather than tendering (not doing Santorini).  Can anyone provide experience with how bad the lines are for exiting the ship and how long we should budget for that before we are actually able to start touring?  Is it significantly worse if you are not going through the process of getting onto an MCS sold excursion?   YC is full for the sailing we could make (at least for 4 beds and two cabins there is not an option), otherwise would have upgraded just for the priority exits.   

 

The time periods in most of the ports seem like they'd leave us plenty of time for what we'd likely want to achieve assuming we can get off the ship within an hour or so of when they say it is in port. We can live with a bit of a disorganized shuffle to get off, but worried that we should be assuming we're loosing more than an hour because of poor crowd management.  Sorry if has been asked before recently, but couldn't find anything that was much more specific than "it was disorganized".       

[Essiesmom]

It depends on what ports and what you plan to do in them.  I have not sailed MSC in the Mediterranean so I don’t know how they handle ship excursions.  They have a tendency to bypass lines…but you sound as if you are arranging your own agenda.  
  Part of the disorganization may be that they appear to board new guests at three ports on that itinerary.  In a way, that makes the initial boarding easier because of smaller crowds.  
 I am never in a hurry to get off in a port unless I have an early excursion.  If you can have a leisurely breakfast and wait an hour after the gangways are opened, it might not be so hectic.  EM

[Super Curly]

We are also on the Splendida for the Greece and Turkey itinerary so I too am interested in this issue. We like to be off the ship as early as we can to maximize our time in port and would like to schedule a couple independent tours so knowing approximate timing is important.

[adam7392]

Is this your itinary -  Trieste/Katakolon/Athens/Kusadasi/Istanbul/Corfu/Bari ?  (mayne different order).  If so I did this exact sailing on Splendida in May/June this year.

 

Didn't notice any issues getting off at ports and the ship was quite full.  Couple of occasions boarding was a bit slow due to x-ray checks - Katakolon maybe 20 mins to get past security.

 

We did our own thing in each port - most of the things to see in each port are in easy reach of the port by foot or local transport so no need for ship excursions or even the ships bus in Bari to take you to town - its a 10-15 min walk but MSC makes it sound much further when selling the shuttle.

 

Don't be so down on the MSC experience, the ship is great, there is going to be lots of Europeans on board to the extent hearing English won't be usual so its going to feel like being abroad (kinda assuming your from the USA).  It will definitely be different to RC around Alaska.  Have done MSC 3x now with another med cruise booked next year on Fantasia the sister ship to Splendida.

[CruisingFox27]

Our last cruise was in the Mediterranean, the tour groups all met in the theatre and were called by group number, as their transport was available. 

As an independent you just go to the designated exits for that day. You don't have to wait for the tour groups to exit before being able to disembark.

 

Everyone is scanned off by security at the exit so, if you arrive at the same time as an excursion group, they'll be a queue. We didn't experience anything disorganised or lengthy in this process. 

[CarbonRiver]

Thank you Adam! That is the same trip and it sounds like the process is fine. Looking at each of the ports that was my impression as well that there appear to be lot of things we could do independently or potentially with a more private tour (easier when taking young teens in tow).  Anything that was particularly good or not worth seeing?  

 

I expect the MCS shipboard experience will be great, if not over the top, but have been trying to convince my wife not to worry about the reviews. "Will we be able to actually have any time in these places" was the biggest sticking point, as we're both a bit worried about feeling "trapped" on a ship no matter how much there is to do. This itinerary seems to have a lot of interesting stops though where can scratch the itch to go explore somewhere new each day.         

 

[perakcruiser]

From my experience there is zero difference between MSC and the other lines. Tendering can look slow and disorganized sometimes, because people with the wrong tender tickets are sent back and still try to sneak through. At docked ports if you want to get off early stand first in the line and you will always be able to get off first. 

 

4 hours ago, adam7392 said:

We did our own thing in each port - most of the things to see in each port are in easy reach of the port by foot or local transport so no need for ship excursions or even the ships bus in Bari to take you to town - its a 10-15 min walk but MSC makes it sound much further when selling the shuttle.

Good point and also true for all cruise lines, they can dock in the middle of the city and make you feel it is a 30 minutes bus ride to get anywhere. Bari is indeed one of the most ridiculous examples. 

[adam7392]

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942950-poesia-splendida-or-world-europa/#comment-65519776

 

If you go to this thread I have a couple of posts giving more detail.  Istanbul is the highlight, you really should just take the walk towards Hagia/Blue Mosque area and spend the day doing them yourself alongside other nearby sites such as Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Roman Cistern.  Takes about 30min to walk but you can take a tram from the port.

 

Athens is easy to get to youself as well on bus/train from the port at Piraeus.

 

For Katakolon you'll probably want to see Olympia the original site of the Olympic games - just take the train which is about a 10min walk each end (https://www.katakolon.org/katakolon-train/).

 

The Kusadasi must see site is nearby Ephesus, we had previously seen this so spent the day walking around Kusadasi and on the beach.  This is maybe one place an excursion would help - either ship or local.  There are plenty of options at the port such as bus tours and taxis so no need to book in advance.  

 

It's a great itinary, so much to see.

[morpheusofthesea]

This was the Seashore or Seascape in the Caribbean, on a packed ship 5500, probably the worst one could experience.How many gangways ? Sometimes depends on security linking computers to more than one gangway when docked. When we anchored, only one gangway. MSC hired 5 tenders to ferry guests to Grand Cayman. (these tenders are complimentary) All the MSC purchased tours would meet in designated lounges, no tender tickets needed. Tours and Yacht Club guests have priority getting off. All guests with private tours or on their own have to get tender tickets given out on a first come first serve basis at the Casino Bar or now at Sports Bar. Tenders for tours and YC began around 8-8:30 and tender ticket numbers were not called until 11:30 for everyone else. Getting back was another long wait. We also had another port change from Belize City to Cozumel. Something to look out for. Belize City requires tendering as well, only the ships must anchor farther away and regular tenders take an hour both ways. Our cruise, the ship got word from the tender company in Belize City that their larger capacity hydrofoils were having engine problems and could not reach speeds to keep the trip down to 20 minutes both ways. They could only provide tenders taking 1 hour both ways. We got a notice "Due to operational reasons, your cruise itinerary has been amended" and went to Cozumel instead. One time with over 5500 passengers, even our butler reported he had trouble butting to the front of the tender line with so many guests trying to get off. He said something about not being able to pick up a pencil should one be dropped.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 9/13/2023 at 5:57 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

MSC hired 5 tenders to ferry guests to Grand Cayman. Tenders for tours and YC began around 8-8:30 and tender ticket numbers were not called until 11:30 for everyone else.

that would be a huge problem since we will have a very short stop in Grand Cayman and have a private tour starting at 8:30 am ending at 12:30 pm. All aboard is 2 pm.

I wonder if we need to switch to MSC tour....

[morpheusofthesea]

32 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

that would be a huge problem since we will have a very short stop in Grand Cayman and have a private tour starting at 8:30 am ending at 12:30 pm. All aboard is 2 pm.

I wonder if we need to switch to MSC tour....

That would be the smart thing to do on all tender ports of call. Then you will have priority. Also watch Cozumel, those that waited til the last minutes to arrive back to the ship (which was most of the ship) the line to get back on board was 2 hours.

[perakcruiser]

42 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

that would be a huge problem since we will have a very short stop in Grand Cayman and have a private tour starting at 8:30 am ending at 12:30 pm. All aboard is 2 pm.

I wonder if we need to switch to MSC tour....

If you are not qualified for a priority ticket, this will not work. And even with priority some tours and YC will tender before "normal" priority.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

42 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

That would be the smart thing to do on all tender ports of call. Then you will have priority.

wow, just went online to look at the MSC excursions and realized that MSC changed our port schedules quite a bit, and without a single notification.

We would have never made it to the 8:30 am Grand Cayman private excursion even if we were on the first or second tender boat.

Went ahead and booked the MSC excursion. Same price as the 3rd party tour, but shorter and only the Stingray city, without 2 other snorkeling stops. 😞 Sad, but it's a short stop and it's MSC in all its uncertain glory, so I don't want to risk it.

[Heartgrove]

The tender ports on our current cruise to Scotland and Ireland had the excursions disembarking first before other passengers. Due to the anchorages being some distance away, it was up to three hours wait for those not on excursions. Edinburgh, Stornoway, and Dublin.