NCL Excursion Start Times?

[sbnuggie]

Good Morning,

 

Quick question, we are new to NCL and will be on the 9 day Greek Cruise from Athens-Trieste in late August. Looking at the NCL excursions, the vast majority of the excursions have start times shortly after the cruise ship arrives, which in some cases is early in the morning, even for beach tours or short excursions. Does NCL ever have excursion start times later in the day?

 

We've been on port intensive cruises in the past and they can be exhausting so we'd like to sleep in on some days so was curious if what i'm seeing on the website now is pretty much the only available times or as we get closer more times to choose from will be available, especially for shorter duration excursions.

 

Thanks

[1025cruise]

I believe in a lot of cases, the excursions are a good distance from where the ship docks, so they need to get going early.

[Travelling2Some]

From what I have seen on many past cruises, you are pretty much stuck with the early start times when doing ship sponsored excursions.  You do see a lot of 4 hour beach excursions starting early in the morning when I'm sure most people would much rather do that later in the day. This is one of the reasons we try to mix in DIY days whenever possible.

[9tee2Sea]

sometimes you can click on the time available and a drop down bar will appear with different times, and sometimes not. Keep in mind, that you will have to get to the meeting spot on ship

( usually the theatre) about 30 min prior to the excursion time.  It's a pretty unorganized experience in the theater.

[zqvol]

16 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

sometimes you can click on the time available and a drop down bar will appear with different times, and sometimes not. Keep in mind, that you will have to get to the meeting spot on ship

( usually the theatre) about 30 min prior to the excursion time.  It's a pretty unorganized experience in the theater.

Very organized in the theatre 

[davencl]

Yes there are some excursions with various start times throughout the day.  Not many however.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, 9tee2Sea said:

It's a pretty unorganized experience in the theater.

This has not been our experience...

[9tee2Sea]

This is what i mean by unorganized.  People standing in the isles, making hard for others to grab a seat and wait for their group to be called.  Many asking questions, that make the calling process drag on.  Waiting for the tour operators to call into the theater to tell them which group is going next.  Once a group is called, the people in the stairway block access to the ones that have to leave.  Then, you have a single line thru the theatre , where someone at the door checks to make sure you are on that tour, and then you get a sticker with a number to place on you.  You also wind your way, in a line, thru the ship, and wait in the narrow hallway by the exit to scan your key card, then have to find your tour bus number.  In the meantime, more folks are entering the theatre to get a seat for their tours, which are scheduled for a different time.  If you are lucky, they won't call your group while you rush off to use the restroom for the last time before going on the tour.   IF YOU ARE IN HAVEN..none of this applies.  

 

I call that pretty disorganized.

 

 

[Candy Apple 12]

55 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

  IF YOU ARE IN HAVEN..none of this applies.  

 

Not necessarily. On our Bliss Panama Canal cruise, we were in the Haven and had to go to the theater for our excursion in Cabo San Lucas, which is a tender port. This was the only ship excursion we took, so I don’t know how the other ports were handled. 

[shof515]

3 hours ago, zqvol said:

Very organized in the theatre 

on my cruises, it is somewhat not organized at all. When you get there, they tell you where to sit. Then they call out the tours where you leave the theater. once you leave theater, you need to navigate the crowds (both the theater crowd and regular ship crowd)  of getting off the ship. trying to get an elevator can be impossible. When you get off the ship, you still need to find the shore excursion people holding the sign for the excursions .

 

it is soooo much easier and better if the tour tickets say meet on the pier like what some tours and other cruise lines do. And thats what you eventfully do once you leave the theater. there is no reason to go the theater first from what i noticed over the years

 

my experience is just like what 9tee2Sea posted above

Edited April 19 by shof515

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, 9tee2Sea said:

IF YOU ARE IN HAVEN.. none of this applies.  

 

4 hours ago, 9tee2Sea said:

 It's a pretty unorganized experience in the theater.

 

The theater staging is very organized. The purpose is to hold people inside, out of the elements and not crowding the dock until their tour buses are available and the local tour guides are ready for them. There are many small ports where there is not enough space for all of the buses for all of the tours to be there at the same time. 

 

If your meeting point is in the Theater, there is no, zero, none benefit being in the HAVEN. You still have to stage in the theater with the steerage class passengers. You get no preferential treatment. You will still need to follow the ShoreEx guides from the theater to the gangway and out onto the dock. 

 

You have a meeting time. Be there at your meeting time. Don't be in the  toilet at your meeting time. That is a no brainer. I used to tell my kids that if they need a toilet, use it before leaving the room. It is really sad that some adults don't do the same... and they expect the entire tour to wait for them because they are too important to use the toilet before their meeting time. 

 

[davencl]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

If your meeting point is in the Theater, there is no, zero, none benefit being in the HAVEN. You still have to stage in the theater with the steerage class passengers. You get no preferential treatment. You will still need to follow the ShoreEx guides from the theater to the gangway and out onto the dock. 

Yes the emphasis is "If your meeting point is in the Theater" there is no Haven benefit.  However on our Trieste to Rome cruise last summer on the GEM the meeting point for Haven was always in Magnum's which allowed Haven guests to board the buses first.