RoyalVisit

We've enjoyed several of these lines except Princess and NCL - yet! I would say Celebrity and Holland America are my favorites but I am very much looking forward to our first MSC cruise in March. We normally prefer a quieter experience but port intensive. Celebrity was marvelous. For us the adventure is really in switching lines as much as the destinations. RCL was good too but I found little variance between our 3 RCL cruises. We actually had some of the exact same entertainers between the 3 sailings. I'd return to RCL without question, just felt a little generic for us.

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Happy to help and thought you would like to see the reply there posted by a maritime expert. Happy Sailings!

I did read that...very interesting!

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Here you go: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2590466

Thanks I didn't see that thread when I posted. :)

Why do people do searches just to look for negative things? Does it make you feel better or more important? I know when I went to school 80% was pretty good.

Searches for negative things?!! It came to me from my investment firm's automatic system of delivering articles about companies I own shares in. Your comment is unnecessary.

Fixed

As a past guest and s shareholder, these reports are getting frustrating and concerning.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article196700769.html

Canada and the US both have travel advisories for their citizens who are traveling to the Parish of St. James which includes Montego Bay.

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/jamaica-montego-bay-warning-1.4494841

If you say to me that you want to be alone, then I'll leave you alone. But it sounds like you are ok with meeting strangers. We can't know everyone's issues before saying hello. I guess it's unreasonable to expect everyone to be outgoing.

I understand what you mean but I don't think it's that simple. I highly doubt most cruisers would say "leave me alone", they might be brief in their response but I don't think most would outright rude. I personally don't mind saying hello and chatting while my husband prefers not too but does that mean I want to spend some or any of my vacation time with a stranger... probably not. Others may want to find friends and that's perfectly ok but it's ok not too either.

Hi Everyone - Like some of the other commentators, it really depends on how much you want to engage with others. My husband is extremely shy and I am a chatty but he wants to relax and have a quiet vacation and I'm happy to do the same. He works in a stressful environment and needs quiet time. We wouldn't go out of our way to be rude or anything but if we don't want to engage with people (straight or LGBT) that's our choice. We have met some lovely LGBT cruisers on our cruises. We have had people come up and say hello which is kind and welcome but I've also had a young guy tug at my clothes from behind to get my attention which I didn't really appreciate but I didn't make a fuss or anything...my husband was a bit perplexed by it though.

I also agree with some of the commentators that the cruise line may influence interaction. We cruised twice on Carnival and while we didn't have any major issues I'm not sure we would pick them in the future but we have enjoyed HAL, RCL and Celebrity.

I think I would be careful about interpreting little or no engagement as "snobbish" etc. I think it's just likely that the people are just minding their own business while they enjoy their holiday. I'm sure if they want to engage they will. Happy cruising!

I know everyone has their own opinion about cruise sponsored excursions. For me it’s what we feel comfortable with so not really wanting to debate it. I don’t care if I can go cheaper if we go on our own. For us it’s ship excursions so that’s what my question is regarding! In saying that we are new to MSC and the amount of available excursions for our May cruise seems very limited right now. Will there be more options as we get closer?

We booked around August for a cruise in March 2018. There were also limited choice in excursions for a while but that has changed in the weeks leading up to the cruise. We had about an average of 7 MSC excursions to select from for each port. Two excursions to Milan were added in one port and in another, Livorno, we started with 1 and later had several more to choose from.

If you want to see something specific I suggest booking now rather than onboard. I've read several posts that say booking excursions for MSC in advance is less expensive than onboard. I actually thought most of the MSC excursions were reasonable considering how long the excursion was and what was included.

Hello! I just came across your post and would love to know how you liked your cabin on Deck 4 koningsdam? I also have a cabin booked at the aft of deck 4 with a large verandah. Sailing in March. Anything stand out to you as great or not so great?

good day all -

 

for some reason i could not find any Roll Calls for any MSC Cruise ships - we have now sailed with them 4 times including a 21 night cruise to Brazil - just in case anyone is curious, they are very, very gay friendly - so i would never hesitate to sail with them - on the last cruises, they hosted LGBT gathering (Friends of Dorothy some call it) and it was well attended and made a fun experience....

 

we love MSC so much, especially the Yacht Club (100% the best value at sea today) - that we are booked a total of 4 weeks (2 x 2 back to back) in 2018 on the new Seaside as well as a Med Cruise in 2019 -

 

if anyone has any questions to ask, please go ahead - but honestly you should not miss out MSC when the rates are sooooo good - as one day the Yacht Club prices will most likely increase the the price of the Haven -

We have booked on the MSC Orchestra for March 14, 2018 to the Mediterranean. First time on MSC but we've been on several cruises and different lines. We're looking forward to the new experience with MSC.

Is difficult to get tables for two in the dining room?

Have you ever booked excursions through MSC? If so, did you have a good experience?

They make things so complicated compared to other cruise lines, I think we will just wait and book on the ship for that port or just get out and explore on our own since we have excursions in every other port. Thank you for the screenshot :)

The Milan excursions are also listed on our MSC Orchestra cruise in March but they also do not have descriptions. They appear on the MSC USA website in the excursions list.

I bought a tray from a restaurant supply store and have brought it on 2 cruises. It really doesn't take up much space at all in my suitcase. It's bright orange and no staff member has even asked me about it. As with many things that people pack that the ship does not supply I find it useful at times.

Making mental note for next cruise! If the counter staff just asked us to raise our plate so they could add the items without touching the plate it would be much simpler. I saw several people several times also trying to find breakfast syrup, peanut butter etc. It's a shame our experience wasn't better as far as the Lido is concerned because the physical space is nice but the awkward setup and service style made more than a few guests frustrated. One man actually was quite upset at a counter server when he was offered his 3rd plate to carry...one plate had a piece of toast, one plate had a few pieces of cantaloupe and the

3rd was an egg. He raised his voice at her to ask how many hands she thought he had.

I imagine that the Lido servers have had to deal with many passenger squabbles due to the new Lido buffet lines, and this fellow was just trying to avoid another problem.

 

igraf

I agree. I could see the frustration on his face but the hand in her face was plain rude. He should have just asked her politely to wait a moment. If the Lido was more "user friendly" I'm sure it would run more smoothly.

Did you try the Dutch cafe

Yes we did and we enjoyed it immensely. The peanut butter with the fries was a new experience too. Almond cookies were popular and worth trying. I also loved the decor and when they removed the "city" after a few days (which had some Christmas decorations included if you looked close) it was a bit of a surprise to see the ocean. :)

Also meant to add regarding the Lido, by the time you sat down after collecting everything you needed the food was most often cold. Lots of opportunity for improvements as far as the Lido on the Koningsdam is concerned.

PS I also loved the sweet chocolate pretzels from the New York Deli and the pistachio Gelato.:) :)

I missed the trays so much that by the end of my last cruise, I would bring up a tray from our breakfast room service order to the lido deck for lunch. :eek::D

 

Thanks for your review!

I never thought of that! good idea! but those in room service trays are very big though, something about half that size would be good. :)

Thank you for your report.

Many cruise lines stopped using trays in the Lido about 7 or 8 years ago.[/quote

 

RCL has larger plates, Carnival had trays on our last two sailings. I can't remember the other lines but irregardless, a better setup in the Lido is necessary.

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure there will be several reviews for the 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Koningsdam so I will keep mine short but feel free to ask questions if you would like my personal insight.

Good:

Beautiful ship

Service overall was fabulous other than one issue with in room service taking an excessive amount of time and the Lido in relation to setup more so than service (see Bad)

Lincoln Centre musicians were fabulous, we returned several times to enjoy their performances. Noise from Billboard can be distracting but didn't outshine their talents.

World Stage was fantastic, musical performances very enjoyable including dancers and singers. Five O'Clock Somewhere were great!

BB King musicians also fabulous. Many couples on their feet dancing the night away.

VB Cabin, Deck 4, #4022 - extended balcony was marvelous, no issues with stateroom other than agreement on the strange angle of the toilet. I'm 5'10 and average/slim build and my knees touched the shower door glass. You will also hear some noise from the World Stage until about 11pm depending on performance schedule.

Food good but nothing specific from a vegetarian perspective that stood out other than a vegetable curry dish with apricot couscous.

Vegetable Cutlets in Lido were delicious.

Bad:

Lido setup: no trays, layered down with plates when the items I selected could easily fit on half of a regular sized dinner plate. The counter servers will try to put the items on the same plate if you ask nicely or gesture your request. While waiting in line (if you can call them lines because it was a common problem trying to determine where the food station lines started and ended) a lady was being served ahead of me, when she was finished, the server started to fulfill my request and the lady re-entered the line in front of me to ask for an additional item and the server literally put his hand up in her face to make her wait, I said it was ok to serve her and instead he jnsisted on completing my request first and then rather rudely and fiercely he asked her what she wanted. I was rather shocked by the hand in the face. Overall the Lido is clean, comfortable but very busy and a bit chaotic (also difficult to find seats unless you wish to sit with other passengers.) Lido was the worst part of the experience for us simply because of setup rather than service or food.

In the Dining Room, regardless if you ordered off the main menu or Vegetarian menu (requires you to order the night before for the next evening) it took on average 2 hours to receive and eat 3 courses. We had Open Seating and regularly dined at about 515pm and had a table for 2 each night.

Ugly:

Not the fault of the cruise line but we had rough seas and high winds for the first few days and that meant Grand Turk was canceled.

Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting...tragic and sad. I will proudly proclaim that mental health awareness and treatment programs need more funding and expansion. I also do not believe personal weapons of any kind should be permitted on flights.

Overall, I would not hesitate to cruise on the Koningsdam again and our cabin stewards, Asep and Ram were the perfect caretakers for us.

We are going on the MS Koningsdam the end of the month. I know there are two dress up nights. If anyone has been on this ship did people really dress for the two dress up nights? How did people dress in general? For women is a pair of capris and a dressy top appropriate? I have been on 19 cruises but for some reason this ship looks like people will dress up more so I don't know whether to bring all sun dresses or some capris and dressy tops???? thank you.

Just off the Jan 8th sailing, lots of variety in dress on Gala nights but in the Dining Room I saw most men wearing sport jackets or suits. Some wore shirts with collars and pants and I also noticed several tuxes. For the ladies, we saw the same variety but I saw many women in slacks with sparkly tops.

Hello everyone,

 

Going on my second cruise with Carnival in a few week's and wondered how gay friendly Carnival Cruises can be nowadays. There's a lot going on in the world right now and I just wanted to see if Carnival is still a fun and safe place for LGBT people since November. Sorry if this question has already been asked...new to the board!

 

Thanks!

Carnival crew are well trained and LGBT friendly from our own experience. I wish I could say the same for the other passengers but that's a dice we all have to roll when taking a cruise on any line

The ship was excellent in all respects, the cabins were nice with loads of storage space. Cabin stewards were very good. The food in the main dining room was excellent with lots to choose from. Ate in the Pinnacal, Tamarind and Cannaletto, all were outstanding!

 

This was my forth Holland cruise and I'm definitely sailing with them again soon! Former Celebrity fan, but I think Holland does a better job.

 

The spa package with the hydrotherapy pool was so worth it and we used it every day.

 

Don't listen to the negative reviews, some people will never be satisfied and are so negative.

 

The weather was great in all the ports we stopped in. Love Half Moon Cay and the Turks and Caicos. The one excursions we took in St. Martin was great with a BBQ lunch. They had to cancel St. Kitts due to high winds. Our excursion in Tortola was also cancelled due to a clean up, whatever that means. We enjoyed the beach with crystal clear waters on all of the ports.

 

We met wonderful people on this trip, most not first time cruises. My cruise buddy had not done a cruise in 35 years and was very impressed with the ship.

 

Happy sailings!!

Wonderful to hear your feedback! 9 days until we board the King! :)

With only 68 sleeps to our first HAL cruise the excitement is mounting. We are doing are doing the 14 days Japan and Taiwan cruise on Volandem. All planning is done now just to wait, I think that is the hard part

9 days! :) Koningsdam but we go to Disney World first so 3 days really! :D

Hi, my partner and I are soon to be married in mid June 2017. Our ideal honeymoon would be on a cruise but we are not too sure of which cruise line would make it extra special, while also suiting our personalities and being lgbt friendly. We are both in our early to mid 20s and enjoy different activities but also relaxing. We are looking to go on one of the larger ships in the Caribbean with a bit of luxury and romance. Budgeting isn't too much of an issue, we just want it to be special for us.

 

Could anyone advise to which cruise lines they think are best for lgbt travelers but also honeymooners?

 

Thank you :D!!!

I would suggest you narrow your choices down first to the larger ships which are mostly "new" and that appeal to you both.

My husband and I (together for almost 20 years, met the ball and chain when I was 19) have spent most of our time on RCL, Celebrity and recently two on Carnival. We're taking a HAL cruise on their newest ship, the Koningsdam soon. We don't participate much in the activities so the generally older clientele on HAL appeals to us but may not to you if you prefer more a informal group and fun activities.

Here's my quick thoughts:

Carnival - Las Vegas at sea - loud, active and generally speaking is what I refer to as entry-level cruising. Good value for the price but not luxurious. They have some newer ships including the Vista. Carnival is not my first choice, been there done that but I've met many cruisers including my parents who love Carnival. Just not the right fit for my husband or me.

RCL (Royal Caribbean) - middle of the road, multi-generational clientele, lots of activities and newer ships have fun recreational activities from skating to rock climbing etc. I find them to be "comfortable" in that you can sail on any of them and still feel like you're at home because the service, food, staterooms etc. feel very similar from ship to ship. We had the same entertainers for two different 7 day sailings that were 2 years apart - not impressed. A contender for me overall though.

Celebrity - similar to RCL but service and food is better than Carnival and RCL in my humble opinion. Always a good contender for us when we are searching for a cruise.

HAL (Holland America) - normally older clientele (65 plus), quieter pace, less activities, good service and food. Also a contender for us but we are "peaceful seekers" so it suits us.

Other lines - other than Crystal which is pricey, I can't comment on Princess, NCL or the others yet. I'd love to try them all though.

Honestly, if I was you, I'd drop Carnival from the list because luxurious they are not, and romantic not so much either. Fun, loud and active is how I describe Carnival but if that appeals to you go for it.

All of the above lines are LGBT friendly. You're unlikely to see much hand-holding etc. between same sex couples but most cruiselines have LGBT meet-ups on most sailings.