momof4blessings

Awesome, thanks!

I've tried searching and can't find the answer to my question, and I tried calling MSC and the rep also couldn't answer my questions... <sigh> so I'm sorry if this is a repeat.

We have $400 of OBC through MSC (booked directly through them during a promotion, not TA) between our 2 rooms. 

1. I can only use that once on board, not now to book anything in advance, right?

2. Can I use that to apply to our mandatory gratuities?

I want to buy a fun pass, but don't know if I should pre-purchase it or wait and buy it onboard with our OBC. 

So if you don't get a drink package, and order a soda at dinner, do they just add that to your tab? Is it $3 for one glass, and not "free refills" like we have in the US? 

I was wondering this too. If there is no Christmas service scheduled, I would be interested to have a passenger gathering on Christmas Eve with carols and the Christmas story. I know the ship will be decorated at least somewhat, and I heard that there will be a Santa appearance.

On 10/17/2022 at 5:43 PM, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

Also following. We sail Dec. 18th. Hoping for a few pictures, reviews a definite update on app before we leave.

Same, and same!

following 

On 10/11/2022 at 10:43 AM, cellfree said:

We cruise between MSC and Carnival. Both different experiences. Haven’t cruised Royal for many years. 
MSC - have never cruised yacht club and have had wonderful experiences on MSC. Have cruised interior as well as balcony. Room Steward still does cabins twice a day. Just back from Divina (on during Ian) and food great, dining room now offers “daily choices” every night which include salmon (delicious) and steak (equally as good). Also for first time had lobster on elegant night on MSC. Buffet also excellent. Service throughout the ship is great. Various music in the different venues. No problems and/or complaints from us. 

Yeah, it would cost more for just 2 of us to cruise yacht club than we're paying for all 6 of us at balcony level/fantastica. If I had that much extra to spend, I would hire a cleaning service for my own house year-round, before I'd splurge on a higher service level for a week, you know? I mean, I'm sure it is amazing, but regular cruising service is already a big step up from my day-to-day life lol! This is our first time even getting a balcony, and I only did that because it was basically a free upgrade. I'm not knocking those who enjoy YC...more power to you! I just haven't arrived at that level yet! 😂

On 10/8/2022 at 1:53 AM, Illbcruzn4life said:

How old do you have to be to book a cruise on MSC? If it’s the same as the other cruise lines is it possible to book my 20 year old grandson and his gf next door to my cabin, or would i need to book my grandson in my cabin and book a second cabin with my wife and grandsons girlfriend?

 

TIA

 

 

When I booked last week, I tried putting my 4 kids in one room and it let me! The oldest will have just turned 20. After booking their cabin, I booked the adjoining cabin for my husband and I, but it will be nice not to have to switch room keys around.

I made sure I knew what cabins I was going to reserve before booking the first one.

On 10/8/2022 at 12:10 PM, kwokpot said:

Congratulations. May I ask what experience level did you book? Bella, Fantastica, or Aurea? The ship will be beautiful, I just got off the sister ship the Seashore. The biggest difference  you'll notice right away is Americans will be in the minority; mostly Italians, Spaniards, Germans. there will be lots of passengers that don't speak English.  The indoor pool and water park is pretty amazing. Helpful hint: ASK for regular tap water in the MDR, otherwise they will serve you bottled water WHICH IS NOT FREE. 

I booked Fantastica, and chose connecting balcony cabins on deck 11. Thanks for the tip about the water!
 

I wonder if the passenger demographic will be different going over Christmas as opposed to during school, but either way it’s fine by me. We only cruise out of Florida now, even though it’s not the closest port, because going out of Charleston feels like being at Pigeon Forge on a cruise ship (we love visiting PF, but it’s a different clientele 😅) and similar issues with New Orleans or the NY area ports. My only cultural thing with a high European concentration is the swimsuits tend to have less fabric than I prefer, but the bodies in them tend to be less obese, so it’s a trade off! (Now that I’ve generalized and stereotyped…sorry if I offended anyone 🙈)

Is the paid show worth it? Is the show better or is the cost mainly due to the drinks and smaller audience? Let me know your thoughts! 😊

Wow that looks AMAZING! 

1. I really hope our Christmas Seascape cruise has that, and 

2. Pre-cruise diet starts right now! 😂

Well, we booked with MSC, but on the Seascape. (The husbands wanted to go to Eastern Caribbean since we've done western before.) Just couldn't compete with the price, plus it's a brand new ship.... honestly as long as I'm eating without having to cook and clean up it's a win for me! If the kids want to go back to RC after this, we'll just tell them we need to go during off-peak times and not during Christmas break. 😄

Thank you all so much for the helpful input. It sounds like there are no 'deal breakers' for MSC... we like European/Italian/seafood, and I think we would enjoy the shows just fine. I guess I will put it to the rest of the group and see what the consensus is!

Hello, we are looking to take our 4th cruise soon, and this one will be 3 couples and our 8 kids ranging from 8-22yo. I have cruised Princess (Grand Princess in '07), NCL (Norwegian Dawn in '14), and Royal Caribbean (Adventure of the Seas in Jan '20) (all were 7-8 night cruises). Of those three, RC was our favorite, then Princess, and lastly NCL. We like going to the shows (if they are family friendly), enjoying good food (primarily in the main dining room, not the buffet or specialty restaurants), and participating in activities (seems hard to compete with RC here). I haven't personally been on Carnival, because of the party boat reputation, but one of the couples we're traveling with has, and didn't care for it. I'm looking at prices and options, and I can book 2 balconies on MSC Meraviglia for 40% less than interiors on Royal for the same week... How do you think it would compare experience-wise? I am not a food snob but our food on Royal Caribbean was so good. And we had so much fun on the ship. If you were me would you book the cheaper MSC or stick with what you know you like? What other cruise line does MSC compare most closely with? Thanks for any advice you can give!

Oh, I almost forgot, does MSC have free soft serve stations and towel animals? I know those are silly things, but they are literally my girls' favorite favorite parts about cruising. haha

Wow, I am adventurous but not THAT adventurous! Have fun!! (Did you post on your roll call? More chance of people who will be there on that day seeing it.)

I wish we would have had until 8pm! I would have rented a car, gone to Grote Knip beach for a few hours, head to Playa Grandi after lunch and snorkel with turtles for an hour, then go take the 3:00 boat trip with Capt Goodlife (@ Boca Santa Cruz) to snorkel the Blue Room. Head back to town and walk around the main street/see the bridge. (I just posted a summary of our visit in another thread.) 

Family of 6 here, and we ended up renting 2 cars from Advantage. It just seemed simplest, even if it was redundant.

We rented cars in Curacao and a UTV in Aruba. I didn't see any off-roading spots in Curacao...maybe there are some but I think Aruba is definitely more what I think of when you say off-roading! 

We just got back from our ABC island cruise. Our family (husband, myself, 4 kids ages 17, 14, 11, 9) set out on our own each day and had different adventures on each island. Our day in Curacao, we were in port from 7a-4p. Since this was our 3rd day in a row in port, we 'slept in' and got off the ship after 8:30am. I had arranged to rent 2 cars from Advance Car Rentals Curacao, a recommendation I got on this forum. Celestino did not disappoint! He was perhaps the most impressive and professional person we dealt with on any of the islands. Really, he deserves all the praise he gets, his customer service is that good. Anyway, we met him as planned, I paid him $150 cash ($75/car), he gave us the cars, preprogrammed GPS's and cell phones (with his number and the other cell number programmed in) and a map, and some helpful advice, and we were off.

First we headed north to Boca Santa Cruz, about 40 min drive. We were the only ones there when we arrived around 10:00. We walked over to the restaurant and met Captain Goodlife. There is plenty to read about him online..."salty" is a pretty accurate description. (He is quite a contrast from Celestino!) Anyway, we rented 3 kayaks from him ($35x3=$105) to go out to the Blue Room cave. You need your own snorkeling equipment, which we had. I had originally wanted to go to the Blue Room on Captain Goodlife's 1:00 boat trip, but I was worried that would cut it too close to get back to town and be on board our ship by 4:00. So, we rented the kayaks instead. It wasn't too hard paddling out there (about 20 minutes) but paddling back against the current was quite difficult! I was sharing a kayak with my 14yo son, and when just I paddled, we didn't go anywhere, I was just canceling the wind/current. But together we made progress, although it still took us probably twice as long to get back. My husband, who was paddling with our 9yo said it was way harder than he was expecting. Anyway, just be aware, it's challenging!

The Blue Room itself was really cool. It was not plainly obvious to find...there is a little buoy to tie up to but nothing else to tell you "this is it!" There was a boat there when we arrived so we asked the driver and he confirmed it was the Blue Room (he was waiting on some divers in the cave). We tied up (make sure to tie up well...if your kayak floats off you're in deep trouble!) put on our snorkel gear and swam into the cave. It was fairly intimidating. When we were there, there was about a 6" opening that would open and close with the waves. You had to swim underwater for maybe 10 ft (3-4m). Inside it was very cool. We probably spent an hour there, even though there isn't really very much to see. 5 out of the 6 of us liked it (my 11yo daughter freaked out and minorly scraped her leg swimming in and took a while to calm down). But it was a neat experience that in my opinion is worth doing at least once in your life! It is also a decent snorkel spot around the cave with a good number and variety of fish. 

When we got back to the dock around 12:30, Capt Goodlife wasn't around, so we unloaded ourselves and put the kayaks back and headed out. We drove a short distance to Playa Grandi (Playa Piskado) where the big highlight is turtles. We snorkeled for about an hour and saw a dozen turtles, as well as lots of fish including a big puffer fish. It was a very cool experience that I would say is one of the neatest things I've ever done. Remember to be a good tourist though, and look without disturbing the wildlife!!

We left a little after 2:00, heading back and stopping for a few minutes at Grote Knip on the way just to see how beautiful it was. Got gas (paid $10US for each car and got a bunch of Curacao-an change...probably $8 would have been enough) and returned to meet Celestino at 3:30. I think it was our favorite port! Very unique, memorable experiences! If we had more time I would have liked to explore the town and go over the walking bridge. We could see it from the ship as we pulled out. Hope to go back again someday!

We rented a 6 passenger UTV from Justin's for I think $370 for 8 hours (although we got there a little late so it was actually just 10am-5pm). Our kids are 17, 14, 11, and 9! I just posted on another thread what we did with the UTV. By the time we were done, everyone was pretty wiped so we went back on the ship and ate (we skipped lunch) and showered, then went back off the ship to do some shopping right at the port.

I don't really know anything else to do besides the beach. Maybe the bird sanctuary? If you keep the tour, I'd probably pair it with the beach personally. I was worried about afternoon being hot, but I didn't notice it. Afternoon is probably a little more crowded at the natural pool, but I'd probably still do an afternoon tour because it's a long day in port. Personal preference though.

We just did this. Rented thru Justin's because they were the only one that had 6 seaters available. It worked pretty well. We walked to a designated gas station near the port, and had to call to tell them we were there. They sent a car to pick us up and take us to their office at one of the hotels. We picked up the UTV and were given a phone in case of emergency. We used our own phones for GPS (actually, Justin showed me how to use 'offline maps' on google). Our itinerary consisted of going up to Boca Catalina to snorkel a little, then the California lighthouse, Alto Vista chapel, Gold Mill ruins, Natural Bridge, then over to Arikok National Park to go to the Natural Pool where we snorkeled again. 

Due to taking a little too long at places like the chapel, and a wrong turn on our way to the Natural Pool (I put the pool in the GPS instead of the Park entrance) we didn't have time to go to the Caves before we had to head back. Also, we didn't actually pick up the UTV until 10am and had to have it back by 5pm, so we really only had it 7 hours. 

It was really easy driving on the roads, although you can't go as fast as traffic so I wouldn't recommend it too much except to get to where you're going. And the offroading to the natural pool was....rough! I was praying we wouldn't blow a tire. (We didn't.) Also, we passed a number of homemade signs in front of people's houses 'yelling' at UTV renters for destroying the environment on their island. ? I'm not really sure why...I don't think we disturbed anything? All the off road driving we did was just rocky roads.

It was pretty fun! A little stressful at times (I think I'm not as adventurous as I used to be?) but a good experience!

We just got back from an ABC cruise and snorkeled all 3 places. We had such a great time! I'm going to post what we did each island on the boards for that port.

We never did any tours (cost adds up with 4 kids) but brought our own snorkeling gear (I bought each of us a $15-20 full face snorkel masks on amazon, and we had fins...you can sometimes find at thrift stores or borrow from someone. Definitely recommend the full-face masks!).

We just got back from our cruise yesterday. We rented a UTV from Justin's. They were the only ones I could find who had availability for a 6-passenger. It cost a bit more than a Jeep, but the kids thought it was fun! They picked us up from a spot near the port and took us to their location at one of the hotels. From there we got the UTV and were on our way. It was an 8 hr rental, but we pulled out at 10am and had to return it at 5pm. We went up to one of the northern beaches first and snorkeled a bit, then drove down the east coast, visiting the lighthouse, church, and mill ruins on the way to the Natural bridge. After that we headed to the Natural pool, making a wrong turn along the way to add some extra excitement. When we got back on the right path and entered the national park (it was $11 for adults and kids were free, even our 17 yr old!) I was a little surprised that the "official" path was as bad and worse in places than off roading to the bridge and even the wrong path we took. 😳 I started second guessing my planning, and was praying we'd make it! Thankfully we did, but it's not for everyone. If we had managed our time a little better, I would have liked to use another hour to go to the caves.

There are quite a few steps down to the natural pool. We saw some older people there (with tours) who had to wait at the top. Then I was surprised how many people were just swimming without snorkel gear. IMO, you're missing half the experience if you're only seeing what's out of the water. The snorkeling is just average, but still pretty cool. We saw a lot of fish and crabs, as well as an eel. The water was also average wrt roughness, so we didn't get any amazing pictures of the waves crashing over the rocks. But when it is rough, it is more dangerous too, so that was fine with me. (It is still very slippery and you need to be careful getting in and out.)

Oh, one thing that was different...we passed several homemade signs deriding ATV/UTV renters for 'contributing to the destruction of Aruba's nature'. I'm not really sure why the locals feel that way? We were respectful of the countryside. The only places I saw ATVs/UTVs/Jeeps driving was on the rocky paths, and I don't see how that hurts anything. Certainly not like the idiot we saw in Bonaire walking on the coral reef. 😖🤦‍♀️ Idk!

Overall, it was fun and I don't regret it, but if we get the opportunity to go back to Aruba on another cruise, we will probably opt to do some of the beaches and experience the western half of the island as opposed to the wild side!

4 minutes ago, johnjen said:

Checked luggage - Let THEM bring it on. I'd never see us dragging that on board. Just bring a carry on with your bathing suits/flipflops for the pool just in case you want to swim or dip before cabin ready time.
I think I would rather pay the extra $$ and just buy my own beverages rather than lug drinks in cans or bottles. 

 

That's what I was thinking, not sure why they even offer that option (to bring all your bags onboard yourself) but the fact that they do made me question if I was missing something!

Good idea on the swimsuits.

On 11/29/2019 at 6:32 PM, Mud_Shark said:

1)  We did not see any turtles ourselves, but we were not really looking either, as we had seen them both in St Thomas and again in Barbados.  I am told there are common turtle sightings in many of the beaches in the area around Grot Knip. No first hand knowledge of that.  Also was told earlier in the day is better for turtles in these bays.

 

2)  There are no advanced reservations with Capt Goodlife (its a very laid back affair).  We arrived early (before noon), had some lunch, snorkeled in the bay, and then boarded for the excursion at 1pm.  A variety of Dutch tourists showed up about 15 mins before departure.   There was enough room to accommodate all of us and maybe 5-8 more.  There were probably about 25 of us on board.  We were the only North Americans on the excursion, but most could converse in English to some degree.

 

Don

Well, I had everything planned and now our port days were switched and we will only be in Curacao until 4pm! I switched our rental cars (decided to get 2 from Advance) but I'm nervous about the timeline for the snorkel tour. If we go out with Capt Goodlife from 1:00-2:30, then there is a 42 minute drive according to google maps from there back to the port...that only leaves us with a 48 minute margin for getting from the snorkel to the car, traffic, getting lost, returning the rental cars (getting gas?), and walking back to the ship! The risk-averse side of me is anxious that something goes wrong and we miss the boat. And since we're "on our own" the boat won't wait. Was Capt Goodlife pretty prompt getting back by 2:30 (or do you think if I told him we can't be late he'd make sure to get us back in time)? And is it pretty straightforward to return the rental car and get back on the ship? Does 'depart at 4' mean you're ok getting on the ship at 3:55 or is it like a flight takes off at 4 and you need to board an hour earlier?

I really want to do that snorkel excursion, as the blue room sounds amazing to view! But obviously I don't want to miss our boat!!