DeckLife

True about other cruise lines letting people fill water bottles in the buffet. But other cruise lines also give you water in the MDR. At no extra cost.

I never said you can't get water in buffet at breakfast. What I said was people filling water bottles there block out those who simply want to fill a glass. Some water stations go out of service as well; some stations have out of service ice dispensers. 

Bottle filling stations should be added. So what that cruise lines haven't yet;they ought to. And tell bottle fillers to do so in their rooms; it is the same water. Or during nonpeak hours in the buffet.  

The water thing is weird. After all water is one of the basic human needs.

No wonder people were filling their own bottles in the buffet area, thus blocking those of us wanting a glass of water with breakfast. MSC ought to provide bottle filling stations.

I don't think throwing of elbows, pushing people, or flauting crew debarkation instructions should be an acceptable behavior. Regardless of cultural background. Waiting politely? Way to go--just be dismissive of these complaints. 

If MSC wants to make serious inroads into the American market, and I think it does, paying attention to at least norms rhar promote safety and congeniality would be a good idea. I don't say a word when someone slips in front of me as I wait for my chance at breakfast food. Obviously I missed seeing the hole. But when I am surrounded by people who push and shove, you better believe I see a serious problem. 

Our "experience" included bottled water but when I asked for water in a glass at breakfast or lunch, I got it-- but after repeated asks. Now I know why! 

That is a terrible policy not to provide water!

Toofar, Cowmilker objected to bad behavior, period. And now you have run off someone whose comments I at least found well-considered.

Having just come off an MSC cruise, I think the major failure was abject disregard of known crowd control techniques.  On my trip this failure led to several near-fistfights during excursion debarkation. All because MSC allowed people whose excursions and bus numbers had not been called to choke the passageways to ship exit, thus blocking those whose buses had been called.  Our excursion left a full hour late as a result. But at least there were no injuries despite the dangerous situation.

The poor and inconsiderate passenger behavior is allowed and one could say even encouraged by poor management. At another port, a significant one, a huge delay getting off the ship turned out to be largely due to the use of just one card scanner at exit.

As for water at meals, I am pretty sure you can get tap water without paying.

1 hour ago, Preziosa said:

You have paid for the first Day, so Be there early

Exactly the way I feel!!

These replies are all very much appreciated! Thanks!

Our "cruise ticket" says our "Check-in opens" at 5:15pm and closes at 6pm. We will be on Divina March 14, and we sure as heck don't want to board that late. Or is "check-in" different from actually getting on the ship. 

This will be our first time on MSC, but we got a gold status match and we did book Aurea. 

Can anyone help?

Oh, that is great! Thanks so much.

We will be on the Divina leaving Miami March 14 and arriving in Genoa in April. This will be our first time on MSC, and we are looking forward to it. I've read conflicting info about the dining room dress code and practice. Can one wear jeans to the MDR? Is it true that shorts can't be worn in public after 6 pm? (It will probably be too cold for that anyway but I thought I would ask.) I've always dressed up a bit for dinner but sometimes the nice top with jeans works well too. What can you tell me?

I enjoyed reading your review!

Did it.

I want to add to my signature to update our cruises.

We sail on Liberty in December. We purchased the Premium drink package a few weeks ago. The gratuity is added on top of the so-called 20%-discounted price. It's a 7-day cruise, and we paid $726.88. The price given per day on the web site is $44/pp/day. Our total is exactly 44*14 plus 18% gratuity. I will be checking brochures onboard to see what is said about gratuities. I wonder, too, what sales taxes might be added in some states if you buy in advance. There were no taxes charged in our case; we're in Texas.

Thanks so much. The hot water ship wash is perfect for what I need.

We'll be sailing Adonia in December, our first time on a P&O ship. On other cruises we have freely used the ship's laundry, sending out items like underwear, T-shirts and shorts, and paying by the piece. The info available at the P&O web site refers to self-service laundry only. Will we be able to send out clothes to be washed, dried and folded?

Thank you all. This is very helpful. I had read the dress code. Other lines' codes are pretty much the same, but then when you go to formal night, things end up less formal. We've seen few tuxes and few evening gowns. So I'm glad to get your input, all of you.

The info on port times is very much appreciated. The ship leaves from Barbados and there are only two flights a day from Miami, so we want to make sure there are enough backup flights should something go awry with the first one.

We are scheduled to go on the Adonia Dec. 11 for a month-long cruise. We working on scheduling our flights from the U.S. and find we don't know what time the ship will leave port or what the latest embarkation time is. We plan to arrive a couple of days early but would like to get a general idea.

Also, the material online indicates several black-tie nights. Are those formal nights really that formal? I have dressy clothes and my husband has a suit, and these have worked on other cruises such as HAL. Will hubby need to get a tux and will I need to get true formal clothes? Any advice is appreciated.

I start with my clothing chart, in Excel. Down the side are the dates and ports (or other info like an overnight pre cruise). Across the top are column groupings for daytime and for evening. In each grouping are columns for bottoms, tops, wraps, plus in the evening there's another column for shoes, handbag and jewelry, if the cruise has formal nights.

Elsewhere on the worksheet, I list possibilities. At the bottom I put things like bathing suits, coverups, or boots and gloves, depending. I like to get this chart going at least two to three weeks ahead. I prefer a month ahead, in case I need to shop (usually online).

Meanwhile, I start gathering the non-wardrobe items. Like others in this thread, I use a room separate from the bedroom. There's no bed in there, but there is a sofa.

I start pulling possible clothing items and trying on and pressing them. And I shop. :D I work on the main part of my chart. I make sure that all evening tops are worn twice. Evening bottoms are worn three times or more, given that each time might amount to three hours or so. I also will wear a somewhat casual piece at night once and then wear it again for a daytime excursion. If a daytime top starts fresh with an excursion, it doesn't get worn again unless it goes through the ship laundry. I sweat too much.

I will go through my chart over and over again looking for ways to drop an item.

Several days beforehand, I put my meds and vitamins into little bags, one each for every morning and evening, plus a bigger bag with extras all together. I also change my handbag to my travel bag.

I start actually packing the suitcase a couple of days beforehand. I finish early on the day that my husband starts.:rolleyes:

We were on the Zaandam for South America and Antarctica, and I can tell you that it is FABULOUS to have quick access to the outside. (We had a balcony in the bow, but we still used the corridor leading to the outside.) If there is narration in the outside public areas, you can get it in your cabin through the radio switch (above the bed, Channel 5) and then when something is announced that you want to see, just dash on out. Plus, with that cabin's being in the rear, you'll have ready access to either port or starboard side.

There are exterior stairways going up and down in the rear, by the way.

With Verizon, even if you had used the ship's network, the texting cost would have been the same.

The departure to Valparaiso is in mid-morning. There will be lots of buses/vans taking people, and you will be assigned a bus number. It does take a couple of hours. The bus had a guide who talked about the area. We had one brief stop on the way. When we got to the port, we were guided right into checkin lines and then boarded the ship.

If you have Verizon, the price to text is 50 cents, to receive texts is 5 cents each. See the page linked above and look at the cruise section. There's a link there to a page listing the cruise lines covered by this. Holland is listed.

Which carrier provides for free receiving of texts?

Just turn off your data to avoid charges. Also, texts should go to individuals, and be plain text (i.e., no pix). If you try to text two people at once, for example, some phones regard this as a multimedia message, and that requires data services. If you have data turned off, then the message won't go. And, by the way, you can't accidentally use the ship's data service, as that requires signing up with room number.

You should be able to block phone calls, or just don't answer them.

Texting via Verizon costs 50 cents to send, 5 cents to receive. See this web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/wcms/global/plans-and-pricing.html