NCL Cruise Barcelona - Venice
Embarkation day - Barcelona. We got to the port at 10:30, got checked in and went straight on board. Definitely worth getting there early if you can or getting an early embarkation time slot which you get by checking in as close to 21 days as you can. Make sure you got your luggage tags on all items you want to leave . There are hand luggage drop off stations on board that you can use but have to collect by 14:30 otherwise they will be at guest services .
Arcade package add it ahead of time otherwise you have to wait until the afternoon until someone is at the casino to get it . Staterooms - try to think about when you go to bed specifically if you have little ones when you choose your room. Try and stay away from The noises and potential restaurant smells . Personally really like Deck 14 on the Escape .
For first time cruisers there is a lot to take in on your embarkation day . Try to start by going to your stateroom - even if not available and try to orient yourself from there . It will take a few days to get used to where things are .
Nice/cannes stop : For many bigger ships it will be a tender . Either book a tour with the cruise line or book a tender slot to get off the ship. You can just walk around Cannes and enjoy . Or you could take an excursion. Like I did ( Nice and little train) . Taking the scenic route to Nice takes about 1.5h . You then stop next to the famous Promenade des Anglais that you could walk along , enjoy beach time (pepple beach ) and a swim. Use one of the beach clubs . Have a walk around the old town which gives you a real flair of French and local atmosphere. The little train that departs by jardin Albert and the carrousel is amazing. It takes a nice scenic route through the city and up to the Cascade de Gairaut, which will give you an amazing view over the city . You can walk there as well but on a hot summer day it’s going to be a long hard walk.
The Cannes beaches are sand but it is actually - man made .
Citavecchia- port is not nice / no AC and no nice waiting area. Fine for getting off, but for boarding if you have to wait it’s too hot . There is a local bus to the station and then train to Rome that you could take to explore Rome on your own without booking a tour. Usually free shuttle bus to citavecchia city centre are avaialable . You can do 1 hour long hop on/hop off tour 10/15 euro pp in citavecchia or just walk around on your own, lots of pepple beach areas to relax or cafe’s to have a coffee and ice cream at .
Naples : You can easily walk out of the ship and into Naples - 10 min walk , it’s also 10 min walk to take ferry to sorrento or capri . Pompeii is another great excursion about 25 min drive from Naples . you can book a tour Naples and Pompeii or jsut take a cap to pomeii and pay entry when you get there . Hill of st martino - you can reach by cable car and gives you an amazing view of Naples . You can see the monumental part of Naples by a hop on, hop off tour or there are walking tours as well.
Messina /Mt Etna Messina - good to walk around to get to know . If you want to see Mt Etna i would suggest to book a tour to it. It is about 2 hour drive from the port but worth it Taormina /Isola Bella island and Naxos are also super pretty and worth a tour/ taxi to them to enjoy the day.
Malta /Valetta No tour needed here. the city is a car free zone: Walk out - walk to the Barrakka lift all the way to the right hand side /end of the wharf . €1/ pp for return trip at stops at midnight . You end up in the gardens above . Cannons get shot twice a day at 12 noon and 4pm and it gets super busy if you want to see it be there early. Pick up a walking map , which has 2 routes , one scenic and one cultural or you could combine the too. See picture of map. Or there is a little train that runs every 30 min for 30 min - €7 per adult and €5 per child - showing you main sights or you can walk it depending on the heat of the day . The Ferry to Gozo and Camino to blue lagoon is worth a visit if you have the time but on a short half day stop thats not going to work. Valetta is beautiful at night as well.
Corfu - Old town - you can walk out from the port to explore old town without any issues . Or take a taxi to a local beach such as glyfada beach and set a time to pick you up for your return with the same driver that way you wont miss your cruise, give yourself an extra 30 min though just in case of traffic. the island is not very big but still better safe then sorry.
Split Super super easy to walk around - 10 min walk to old town- lots of cafes! Walk around the palace is well worth it! The market has lots of souvenirs stands . You can also do a hop on / hop off tour around split to see some of the further away places . Gorgeous town.
Trieste- disembarking . Relatively easy - collecting your luggage is a bit mad after getting of the ship . If you have a transfer booked with cruise line they should be waiting for you. There is several buses for each colour if you booked to the airport . So you don’t have to rush once your colour is called as long as your flight isn’t too close to the allowed time slot . A flight booked after 2pm usually means disembarking about 9-9:30. All passengers have to be off the ship at 10 am , so dont book your flight too far out and that could mean a long wait at the airport and you cnat check in outside of 3 hours anyway.
On board tips: Choir of man show ! AMAZING!!!! You need to pre- book it , it’s super popular .
2 of the water slides only open 12 pm and 3pm ( the drop one ) The family one opens at 10 am. The kids and adults pool get busy at peak times but on port days they tend to be quiet in the morning and get busier around 3pm. Rope course opens at 3pm and defo worth doing and was a challenge for me ! on the sea day it opens earlier in the day This all depends on weather too.
Cabin - balcony - each Deck 850 cabins have a slightly bigger balcony as they are on an angle . The Food in the 3 complementary restaurants for dinner is same every day except the 4 specialties of the day that change . The Buffet is ok , nothing special except the crepe station maybe :-)
