jimmyjackson

23 minutes ago, alanchar said:

hey jimmy great report since you just got off the ship.  can you anwser  are the guys ok to wear shorts in the dinning rooms at night and thur out the ship.   nice shorts and collard shirt i mean.  i get different reports when i ask  thanks so much

I think it’s hit or miss on the shorts. We saw a guy get turned away. His kids had shorts and they were fine but the Dad had to go change. 

1 minute ago, puglady12 said:

Ooh one more question!! How did you get off the ship so early and to the airport?

we have a noon flight home so definitely don’t want to miss it! 

We were in the YC but there were several who weren’t that got off fine early as well. We got cleared a little early, just before 7am. Last week they said it was 7:30am. Just be ready around 7 and it’s quicker to walk off with your luggage if possible instead of leaving it outside on the last night. Then you don’t have to search for it before customs. If you do need to leave it outside of your room, you should still be fine to make your flight though. We left ours outside our room and we were still in an Uber at 7:40 and at FLL at 8:10. 

We just got off the Seaside this morning, I’m in the airport now. No issues onboard and honestly felt removed from the Coronavirus craziness while on the cruise last week. There are sanitizer stations everywhere and we washed our hands frequently. Have a great trip!

7 hours ago, UniPac said:

Any news regarding the italian passengers being not allowed to board in Miami?

Only thing I’ve heard is that their cruise was refunded and I believe MSC paid for their airfare as well. 

Good news, we got cleared. Just got off the ship. Changed the onboard time to 6:30 pm. 

3 minutes ago, puglady12 said:

That's crazy!!  What are the announcements saying?  There is no reason not to let you off.  I hope this isn't going to be the norm going forward.  I hope they let you off soon!!!!

Just saying we got to the port on time and they haven’t cleared us. Like Beardface said in his thread, they made about 3 announcements in the last hour asking for a few people specifically to go to the medical center. The last was 20 minutes ago or so. Hopefully they found them but not sure what that means for us being cleared. 

We got to Jamaica about 8am this morning. It’s 10:30am now and we still

haven’t been cleared to get off the ship. They’ve made 3 announcements so far, no details other than we haven’t been cleared.  

We got to the port around 11am. We are staying in an inside YC room, the process was great getting on the ship. I thought it might be delayed or take longer with everything going on but we were in the waiting area for maybe 15 minutes before boarding the ship. 
 

They are checking passports along with the thermal scan and a health form to fill out. There was an Italian couple that came to the YC tent right after us and I heard the attendant tell a coworker that they weren’t allowing people with an Italian passport to board the ship due to the Coronavirus outbreak in Italy. They sent them to a different area, I haven’t seen them onboard yet so not sure what happened to them. 
 

I can also confirm chocolate martinis and gelato at Venchi are still included with YC. Mini bar is also fully stocked. This is my first time with MSC and an experience like YC. Great initial impressions and experience. 

NEW ENHANCED EFFORTS TO HELP PROTECT GUESTS & CREW

2/26/2020

I remember a previous poster mentioning the beaches near the YC beach are pretty quiet.  You cross the same bridge to get to the YC area and I think some may think that whole area is YC.  On the map the names are Bimini Beach and North Beach. 

$59 for a port day, $99 for a sea day.

Thank you all.  I reserved a car from National at MIA and have the drop off set for FLL.  We'll just take lyft or uber to National rental car at the Miami airport when we disembark and look at some options for us to do for a half day in Miami or Fort Lauderdale before we fly home.

Our flight isn’t until 5pm out of FLL. Just trying to figure out how much extra time we’ll have and if we should rent a car for a half day. 

Is there a track or area to run on the ship besides the treadmill?

Thank you. I thought I’d seen a few posts in other threads saying umbrellas weren’t included at the Yacht Club beach so wanted to make sure. I’ll go ahead and cancel. 

On 1/18/2020 at 10:00 AM, reedprincess said:

Yes, Ocean House Restaurant is the YC only Restaurant, with it's own menu, different from elsewhere, complimentary. Limited hours, only 12-2 when we were there. 

Chairs, towels and Umbrellas all complimentary in YC area. 

Loads if photos of the YC area, menus, etc in existing OC posts. 

Are umbrellas included at the yacht club beach on OC? I reserved one for my cruise next month but will cancel if they are included. 

Thanks for sharing the pictures.  How did you like the interior Yacht Club room?

We used Courtney Taylor Tours and had a good experience. 

Here is a link that shows the differences

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/compare-experiences.aspx

Print_77-972.pdf

Thank you all for your help, it is really appreciated. I've decided to book the Seaside.  Any suggestions on the deck and/or part of the ship we should book the rooms on?  I'll be booking a Fantistica Balcony stateroom.

Thank you for the info.  Sounds like we really can't go wrong with either ship. 

Thank you for the feedback.  I'm leaning towards the Seaside.

We'll be going the first week in March 2020 on either the Seaside or Meraviglia.  Staying in a Fantastica Balcony.  I've watched videos, looked at some reviews, etc.  The Meraviglia looks to have better shows and more restaurant options.  The Seaside is smaller, seems less busy, and I like the open concept. It will be for a group of 12 people in their 40's and 50's.  What would you choose?  I'm feeling added pressure since I'm making the choice for our group and want everyone to have a great experience.  

Itinerary for Meraviglia is  Costa Maya Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Ocean Cay Bahamas

Itinerary for Seaside is Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Cozumel Mexico, and Ocean Cay Bahamas

I'm trying to get the menus uploaded. It's telling me the size is too large. I'll keep trying.

A few more details. We stayed in the Family Ocean view on deck 5. It had a two twins to make a king for my wife and I, fold out queen bed for my girls, and my son slept on the pullman bed. We don't spend much time in the cabin except for sleeping so it worked great for us. We were below the Atrium so we could hear music until around midnight but we brought a noisemaker and I had earplugs so we were fine, but I could see that being a problem for some.

Also, we tried the lobster rolls from Ocean Blue for lunch on the last sea day, they were excellent and worth the $10.

One other thing that some of you might now be aware of. We chose the $50 shore excursion credit as one of our free at sea promos. There were 4 ports and we did excursions at all of them so we had a $200 credit. I spoke to the onboard credit specialist in guest services about these on the 2nd day and she told me they couldn't be applied towards the service charges. If there was a credit left at the end of the cruise, they would send me a check. Well, we didn't use the $200 and on my final statement they were applied to my account reducing my out of pocket service charges fees. So not sure why I was told they couldn't be applied, but I was happy to see that they were.

My flight is about to take off so I'll try and get them posted this evening. As far as last year, Cozumel was the port that was the same, the others were different last year. In Cozumel we went to Mr. Sanchos last year and liked that better than Chankanaab.