Motegi

There was a recent lengthy discussion on here where some passengers, mainly from certain countries where tipping is more previlant, that they also tip staff at the beginning of the cruise to encourage better service for themselves or during their cruise to the same perceived end.

Pam and I do this. We always board with an envelope of $1 and $5 bills for this purpose. We tip the bar staff and the cabin steward. We find the bartenders we like and after tipping we find that they will recognize us and provide faster service to us when the bars are busy. We find that a few extra dollars now and then is better than waiting for extended periods for bar service. And the drinks are better too! It may mean the difference between the bartender going to the back to get a real banana for a BBC rather than just pouring some banana liqueur.

Pam and I got the same letter this week. We are not alone. We just posted on the other thread.

Pam and I got the same letters from MSC this week. We thought we were alone...

I found that the WiFi internet speeds vary by the ship and also your location within the ship.

The Bliss had some of the fastest speeds I’ve experienced at sea:

On the other hand, the Sky had some of the slowest.

Hi everyone. I am in a connecting balcony cabin for my upcoming cruise on the Bliss. I am concerned about noise coming from the neighboring cabin. Has anyone had any bad experiences?

Unlike having to listen to our neighbor’s exhuberant nighttime excursions on our most recent cruise on the MSC Seaside our Bliss balcony cabin was very quiet.

Ours was not only cold, but fish over cooked when ordered. No waiter to serve us anny drinks. If i decided to have a drink i needed to get up and go to the nearest bar and order one. Not the best of experience with the dinning on NCL. (It was my first NCL)

 

The local on point, we ended eating at least one meal in local always. Bartenders all over the ship on point!

 

 

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Sorry to hear that,

That’s really unfortunate about your food experience.

Ours was the exact opposite. We really enjoyed the Manhattan. Out waitstaff was super attentive and the food was served quickly and at the proper temperature. Never had issue with the drinks or refills. We mainly ordered wine or soft drinks. By chance were you ordering mixed drinks/liquors?

We did like the Local as well.

Did anny one noted the popolation of philipinos in the crew was like 95%. Any idea of why is that. Not that I care, just found it curious!!?!?

 

And by the way!!.....

.....

 

WASHY WASHY!! Happy Happy!!!

 

 

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Hmmm, not sure why a cremember’s nationality matters.

As long as they speak English and provide good customer service we’re happy.

Actually one of our favorite cruise ship bands on NCL are Filipino... Prism.

that's a relief. I don't need video of me picking my nose on the internet. :')

lol!

What do you DO with drone video or photos? Share it with people on a website? The reason I don't like drones is the thought of being videotaped or photographed. But to be fair, I suppose the rules are the same as if a person was doing it out in public.

Unless the drone is flying very close to people I don't think that you would be identifiable in drone footage. They do not zoom that much. Most aerial photographers use them for landscapes and time lapses.

You are much more likely to be surreptitiously photographed or videotaped from a distance with a camera using a super telephoto lens.

Consumer aerial camera drones such as those that people would take on a vacation are nothing like what you might see depicted in a Hollywood sci-fi film. They cannot "zoom, magnify, and sharpen" to read the writing on the the label on the inside of your shirt.

But you still asked to circumvent the rule. You probably know full well when one drone owner sees someone using theirs off the ship, they will ask how they could and then that drone owner will bring theirs next time, put the Captain in an embarrassing situation and pretty soon we will all have to evade the drones. Worse, what happens when you are playing with your toy and someone else is told no, now won't that put the crew and the Captain in an uncomfortable position?

 

IMHO, rules are for everyone and another good reason to not cruise with MSC, if they are gonig to pick and choose who has to abide by their rules.

You can feel free to cruise or not cruise whichever line you would like and for whatever reasons you may have. Personally, I find MSC's ships, staff, entertainment, and itineraries to be excellent.

The facts are that we cruised the MSC Divina last year and I brought my Mavic Pro with me on all ports of call. They did have a drone check in policy at the time which I fully abided by. I have taken a drone on all of my cruises in the past 2 years and have not had any issues flying them in accordance with local laws and with prior authorization from the local governments.

The MSC rules apparently only changed two weeks before our cruise according to the front desk staff. From what I was told up until two cruises prior to our sail date they were still utilizing the check in/check out policy.

Months in advance of our departure I had obtained written clearances from all governments of the ports of call and had all of the paperwork on hand in my camera bag.

Never during any of this process was I argumentative or demanding. In fact I was OK with them holding it until the end of the cruise. It was only when the Captain asked us in conversation during the party that we mentioned it to him. Thats when we got the explanation as to why the rule was changed. When he found out that I had the necessary governmental authorizations he was the one who asked the head of security to allow me to check it out in port.

And as far as other passengers seeing me piloting the drone when in port I think that would be very unlikely. I do not take off or land in proximity to the pier or nearby any crowds of people. Following local guidelines I only take off or land from remote or isolated areas and away from official "no fly" zones.. My drone usage is for aerial photography and video purposes only. Regardless of what you might think my drone is not a "toy" insofar as my DSLR camera would be, it is a photographic tool. Perhaps one should simply consider it a flying camera.

Case in point, our recent NCL Bliss Inaugural Alaska cruise would have been an amazing place to capture photos and videos with my drone. But because of the seaplane traffic at each of the ports and local laws I did not fly the drone at all even though I had it in my camera bag at each port.

Sorry to hear that. Did you get any footage? I managed some decent video of GSC last week...

 

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Thankfully I did get some footage before and after the incident.

All footage was captured in accordance with local laws and with express written permission from the area authorities.

Did you have any issues with yours on GSC? Do you know if they allow them on Harvest Caye as well?

No no no. Anyone can ask the Captain for a favor, and he'll allow it! LOL

Doesn’t hurt to try! LMAO

Or they can take it on the ship and put the Captain in an embarrassing position by pleading with him to be able to break the rule. Wonder if folks could ask the Captain to be able to bring irons onboard or smoke on their balconies, as they are also printed rules. Probably would help to tell the Captain your tier status when asking for exemptions from the rules.

You are entitled to your opinion. I’m just trying to help out fellow UAV owners here who might be considering taking theirs on MSC.

Your snarky comments aside, we only brought it to his attention at the end of our conversation when he asked us if we had experienced any issues so far. There was no begging or pleading. It was just a very friendly Captain who wanted to make sure that we were having a wonderful cruise.

We had a nice conversation where he told us why the rule had been changed as I described above. It was done for the passengers safety as they found that most did not understand the drone laws for the multiple ports of call. They didn’t want passengers to be detained or have their drones confiscated by the local governments while in port.

So having the appropriate clearances ahead of time *might* allow you to get a waiver from MSC.

I understand that some members here are opposed to drones in general. Perhaps you have been injured by a drone at some time in the past or had a family member subjected to a drone assassination attempt. If it was the latter I hope your family in Venezuela is ok. :eek:;p

Doesn't always work. For example, I asked the Captain once if I could drive for a while. He said no.

Depends on how well you know the Captain.

In my case this was the third time we had met with him and he was very familiar with us. Thankfully.

So I guess the lesson is.... ask the Captain if you want to do something?

LOL! Perhaps as a last resort.

The lesson is that MSC is enforcing a new stricter drone policy as of the end of August 2018. Drones are no longer allowed to be taken on/off the ship at ports of call unless you can get permission from the Captain.

For those on future sailings with MSC I would recommend that you reach out to customer service in advance of your cruise to get permission. Be sure to have all of your necessary support documents available such as FAA registration and authorization letters from local governments for the ports you will be visiting. Hopefully this will allow you to receive clearance in advance.

Ahoy!

Pam and I were just on the Seaside's Sept 1st sailing with the same itinerary so it's really fun to be seeing your adventures now. We had an amazing time on the Seaside and met so many great people. We brought costumes for every theme night including the final evening's Pirate Party.

Since you mentioned Luke Skywalker, Pam and I went and visited the "Yoda Guy" Museum in St Maarten during our stay there and actually had the pleasure of meeting with the man himself, Nick Maley. He even showed us the new Yoda he was putting together from the original molds that he used to create the movie character for Empire Strikes Back.

We hope you have a great time on the rest of your cruise and look forward to reading the rest of your posts!

I too hope that the passenger with the medical emergency was able to receive treatment. I'm sorry to hear that some of the members here missed the fjord due to the emergency itinerary change.

For those who missed the glacier portion of their cruise due to the medical emergency, I have photos.

Two photos I took of the Bliss in Tracy Arm on the Alaska inaugural:

View of the glacier from our balcony:

Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion view of the glacier:

Just an update from my recent cruise aboard the MSC Seaside on our Sept 1st cruise.

We were able to board with my Mavic Air in my camera bag. Security didn’t say anything when it went through X-ray.

On our first port of St Maarten as we were reboarding the security officer there asked to inspect my camera bag after it went through X Ray. She pulled out my drone and asked what it was. When I told her she said that it was not allowed and that she would have to confiscate it for the remainder of the cruise. I showed her my FAA UAV license as well as documents from the governments of the ports of call that I had obtained prior to the cruise that authorized me to fly it during my visits. She said that she would not be able to make any allowances but that I could speak to guest services about this.

I spoke with a nice young man in guest services who explained that MSC’s policy had just changed two weeks prior. Until that point drones were allowed but now they were not. He said that he didn’t agree with the policy but that is what he was told. He took my documents into the back to speak with his manager. After several minutes he came back and said that their new policy stands and that I would not be able to check the drone out at the ports and it would only be returned to me at the completion of the cruise.

Later at the MSC Voyagers Club Party i happened to mention what had transpired to the captain. He acknowledged the policy change and said it was because MSC did not want passengers to run into legal troubles in the ports of call by flying their UAV/drones. Most people do not think to get clearance from the foreign governments prior to the cruise. But in my case he called the chief security officer over and told him to allow me to check my Mavic Air out when in port and then check it back in when reboarding. The security officer asked me for my name and cabin number.

Sure enough, the very next morning when we arrived in port my Mavic was waiting for me at the security stand as we were getting off! I was able to check it out and check it back in without any issues.

My first cruise was as a teenager on the Carnival Jubilee. All we had was s small arcade.

The Bliss has GoKarts, laser tag, mini golf, bowling, movies, waterslides, and the cruise director staff who are constantly planning activities for teens.

I just added an A7 III to my Sony gear alongside my old A6000. The crop sensor E mount lenses will work as mentioned above in Super35 mode but you’ll only be using a small portion of your image sensor. Over time you’re going to be better off selling the old lenses and upgrading them to the FE mount full frame Sony lenses.

On a somewhat related note, I’ve been using full frame Sigma Art Canon EF mount lenses on my A7 III using the Sigma MC11 adapter with great results.

Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 600mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 600mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm

Seattle, Washington, Snoqualmie Falls Tour:

Canon EOS 70D w/ Tamron 18-270mm @ 18mm

Tracy Arm Fjord Excursion:

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 150mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 309mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 450mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 600mm

Canon EOS 70D w/ TAMRON SP 150-600mm @ 450mm

Terrible news. Pam and I really enjoyed our time on LFK. We've been recommending it to other cruisers as well...

BTW, the real concern I have is do I BUY a pirate costume or just RENT one? :')

Exactly! LOL!

Pam and I have pirate costumes already. I suppose we'll bring them just in case...

I had my Mavic Air in my carry on bags aboard the NCL Bliss’ inaugural Alaska sailing in the beginning of June. No issues taking it on or off in port.

However I never had a chance to use it because every port in Alaska had seaplane traffic. So I didn’t get any aerial video.