Couple of question about my cruise on the NCL Jade

[pwilson26]

I am beginning to prepare for my cruise, departing January 24. So excited!

1. Is it possible to use public transportation to get to the port in Barcelona?

2. We would like to book some city/ruins tours in Izmir, Athens, and Cairo. Does anyone have suggestions outside of those offered by NCL?

[LJH1]

Originally Posted by pwilson26

I am beginning to prepare for my cruise, departing January 24. So excited!

1. Is it possible to use public transportation to get to the port in Barcelona?

2. We would like to book some city/ruins tours in Izmir, Athens, and Cairo. Does anyone have suggestions outside of those offered by NCL?

Welcome to Cruise Critic. You will get quicker answers when you post direct questions about "ports" If you go to the "ports of call" board then click on " "Spain"

Here is the link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

now just click on "Spain Ports and post your question.

[lambs2]

Originally Posted by pwilson26

I am beginning to prepare for my cruise, departing January 24. So excited!

1. Is it possible to use public transportation to get to the port in Barcelona?

2. We would like to book some city/ruins tours in Izmir, Athens, and Cairo. Does anyone have suggestions outside of those offered by NCL?

We did this same cruise last year, the same week! Had an absolutely fabulous time!! (Actually we combined it with the 9 day one before it.) Here is my review so you can see that the answer to #1 is YES! There is a public bus from near the Colum Monument right to the pier where the Jade will be docked!
We did all three of the ports you mentioned on our own. In Izmir and Cairo we booked private tours with fellow roll call members. Our Cairo trip was an overnight. I actually arranged both those tours and then recruited folks to join us. Athens we did on our own using the public transportation and walking.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberre...?EntryID=53361

[burlingtoncruiser]

There is a lot of information on the 'Roll Call' for this voyage. We are also on the 24th sailing and it has been quite helpful for us.

Helen

[pex]

The previous poster may be right about the bus, but we hung out on the balcony during this cruise last year watching the loading process and we definitely didn't see any buses. Perhaps the city bus stops at the entrance to the port? If so, it's a long (and at one point, steep) schlep from the entrance to where the ships are docked with luggage. Personally, I'd just take a taxi. It's normally crazy enough on the first day that you don't want the added aggravation of figuring out bus schedules in another language just to save $15.

Athens doesn't really require a tour--public transportation is efficient. Izmir and Cairo really require some sort of tour. If you book privately with 8-15 others, you can expect to pay 1/3 to 1/2 of what NCL charges for the large bus tours. You will also have the option (if everyone is agreeable in your group) to skip the mandatory 1 hour stop in some leather/perfume/trinket tourist trap.

Originally Posted by pwilson26

1. Is it possible to use public transportation to get to the port in Barcelona?

2. We would like to book some city/ruins tours in Izmir, Athens, and Cairo. Does anyone have suggestions outside of those offered by NCL?

[rich40245]

Originally Posted by pwilson26

1. Is it possible to use public transportation to get to the port in Barcelona?

Not easily:

If you want to travel by public transport this is what you need to know: Take the Aerobus to Placa Catalunya, then catch the metro from Catalunya to Drassanes. From there walk to the Columbus monument and then catch the Blue bus to your cruise terminal. As you can see it is not straight forward to use public transport to commute between the airport and cruise terminals.
The best option for travelling to and from the airport to the docks is to catch a taxi. Taxis are quick, available and cheap. The journey will take you about 25 mins and will cost you around 25 - 30 Euros with a bag supplement of 0.90 Euros per bag. You also have 2 additional supplements. One for taking you from the airport and the other for alighting at the cruise terminal or vice versa. For the exact taxi rates and supplements we recommend you visit the Metropolitan Institute For Barcelona Taxis web site that list all the up to date fares for Barcelona Taxis.

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...uise-port.html

Rich

[holomuku]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the link to the taxi information.

We will be leaving BCN on the early a.m. of the 24th of December. Will we be charged the "special night" rate (I think that's what they are referring to) and the Public Holiday rate-- or do we just get charged for the special night and not the addiitonal holiday rate?

It is what it is- just want to know what to expect.

Thanks,

Sally

[pwilson26]

Lambs2,

Do you have the contact information for the tour guides you used in Izmir and Alexandria? Also what hotel did you stay at in Barcelona, that sounded conveniant.

Thanks!

[lambs2]

Originally Posted by pwilson26

Lambs2,

Do you have the contact information for the tour guides you used in Izmir and Alexandria? Also what hotel did you stay at in Barcelona, that sounded conveniant.

Thanks!

The hotel we stayed in the night before our cruise was the Hotel Oasis right on the edge of the Gotic area and we walked (and rolled our suitcases) from the hotel down the wide sea wall walk to the port Blue Bus stop near the Colum Monument (probably a good mile - but we walk 4 miles EVERY DAY so it was not bad for us.) After our 21 day cruise we stayed a couple nights at the Hotel Continental on Los Ramblas. Our balcony room overlooked Las Ramblas and that was SO MUCH FUN! We walked there from the ship, so you can see the kind of crazy folks we are!
IN Izmir for our Ephesus tour we used Nejat Incedogan. I no longer have his email, but if you do a Google search for his name you will find it. There were 12 of us on that tour
In Egypt we used Temo Tours for 10 of us from our roll call. Again I no longer have the email - so Google again - our contact was a guy named Taymour, I remember.

[pwilson26]

Thanks! I will google those tours. We will also walk to save a little money, so I will look at those hotels for sure.

I just discovered the roll call thread so posted there. Roll calls are new to me, what a neat idea!

[lambs2]

Originally Posted by pwilson26

Thanks! I will google those tours. We will also walk to save a little money, so I will look at those hotels for sure.

I just discovered the roll call thread so posted there. Roll calls are new to me, what a neat idea!

You'll be SO GLAD you joined your roll call! SO MUCH great information gets shared on roll call boards! Have a FANTASTIC cruise!!

[castlegarstar]

Hi - we're also doing that cruise in March and we plan on doing our own shore excursions, which are usually WAY better and much less expensive too. The only concern I have is whether or not we need travel Visas to enter Egypt. We are Canadians, and when I called the NCL reps about this question I was told that travel visas are only given on the boat if you take an NCL excursion! This seems like a scam to me, just wondering if anyone has heard anything different about this?

[Wineshipper]

I lived in Izmir in the mid 60's. It was a real culture shock when we arrived there in 1964.

What are your current impressions of Izmir today?

DW and I will be taking the 12 day cruise in 2011 and stopping there. I can see from google earth that the house we lived in from 1964-1967 is still there and looks close to the pier. Hoping to have time to go by the old house on the way back from Ephesus.

[Turtles06]

Originally Posted by castlegarstar

Hi - we're also doing that cruise in March and we plan on doing our own shore excursions, which are usually WAY better and much less expensive too. The only concern I have is whether or not we need travel Visas to enter Egypt. We are Canadians, and when I called the NCL reps about this question I was told that travel visas are only given on the boat if you take an NCL excursion! This seems like a scam to me, just wondering if anyone has heard anything different about this?

I'm doing this cruise on Jan. 24 (hello pwilson). The visa thing is not true. There are any number of posts and threads correcting this visa scare. NCL's own web site makes it clear that unless you are a citizen of just a few countries (Canada is not one of them) you don't need a visa in advance, they will stamp your passport on the ship in Egypt:

Norwegian Jade
Egypt: All guests who wish to go ashore require a visa and will receive Quick-Trip stamp, which is issued in passports upon the ship's arrival at no cost. Guests of the following nationalities require a visa issued by the Egyptian Embassy; regardless, approval to go ashore is not guaranteed until inspection by the local officials upon arrival: Israel, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Bosnia, Maldives, and Iraq.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cm...uirements#Jade

After reading this scare in another thread, I called NCL and got a nice rep who confirmed that we don't need a visa in advance. Please do call back and satisfy yourself; tell the rep to read her/his own web site. Some of the NCL reps are just trying to sell you a shore excursion. (It's even worse on the Baltic cruises calling in St. Petersburg, Russia.) If you find out something different, please do post about it.

[lambs2]

Originally Posted by Turtles06

I'm doing this cruise on Jan. 24 (hello pwilson). The visa thing is not true. There are any number of posts and threads correcting this visa scare. NCL's own web site makes it clear that unless you are a citizen of just a few countries (Canada is not one of them) you don't need a visa in advance, they will stamp your passport on the ship in Egypt:

Norwegian Jade
Egypt: All guests who wish to go ashore require a visa and will receive Quick-Trip stamp, which is issued in passports upon the ship's arrival at no cost. Guests of the following nationalities require a visa issued by the Egyptian Embassy; regardless, approval to go ashore is not guaranteed until inspection by the local officials upon arrival: Israel, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Bosnia, Maldives, and Iraq.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cm...uirements#Jade

After reading this scare in another thread, I called NCL and got a nice rep who confirmed that we don't need a visa in advance. Please do call back and satisfy yourself; tell the rep to read her/his own web site. Some of the NCL reps are just trying to sell you a shore excursion. (It's even worse on the Baltic cruises calling in St. Petersburg, Russia.) If you find out something different, please do post about it.

ABSOLUTELY true! EVERYONE on the Jade gets a Quick Trip stamp in their passports for Egypt! (with a VERY few countries excepted). NO EXTRA CHARGE!!