Heartgrove

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! @StLouisCruisers Happy Birthday Sandi and your sister! @Overhead Fred and @erewhon Happy Anniversay! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

It just depends on the port and who is manning the lines and counter. My DW who is a 4-star and DSIL who is a 2-star traveling as two solos today just boarded the Rotterdam - together. They arrived at 11:00 am and were both onboard at 11:10 am. No one told my DSIL that she had to wait. Embarkation took ten minutes. Nuff said!

I am not sure if you only cruise in the USA or also travel in Europe. Speaking in generalities, the reason I mention checking MSC's site is that in the USA the vast majority of cruises are RT returning to the same port in Florida and NYC. For European cruises, a good majority use what I would call "bus stop" sailings. They are also RT but you can start at a variety of ports and then return to your embarkation port. Because of this they allocate a certain number of staterooms to each port. For example, the first time I sailed YC on MSC I wanted to embark from Civitavecchia. I didn't like the lack of suite offerings from there so I checked the same cruise for Genoa (the next port of call) which is only four hours by train further North. Much better stateroom selection so just rearranged my trip to embark there instead. Regarding cruisedeckplans, they do not differentiate between MSC Yacht Club Deluxe Suite and MSC Yacht Club Deluxe Grand Suite which is slightly larger.

Best to check the MSC website as cruisedeckplans is not 100% with classifications. One item to point out is that the four Fantasia-class ships have the YC restaurant separate in the Aft Section of the ship. World-class, Seaview-class, and Meraviglia-class YC are self-contained in the Forward Section.

Still more than $15/$25 per day for CO.

I know how it works and I feel that for $15 a day for CO it is not equivalent to sailing as a 4-5 Star and sailing in PS and NS. When cruising on MSC in Yacht Club I'm usually paying about $3K more than Aurea. For THAT, I expect extra privileges - and get it.

You should not be allowed into the Four and Five Star Priority line if you are Club Orange. Let there be a separate line below them as we have paid more than $15 a day for the privilege.

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! DW and DSIL are ready to board the Rotterdam today. Ironically this is the fourth time I have been booked for a cruise on the Rotterdam plus this time I actually paid the fare! But have never sailed yet however booked for the Transatlantic in October when it returns from the European season. The fifth time hopefully should be the charm!!! Sam and I are having quality time with just "the boys in the house." 😄 Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

We have sailed in YC aboard the MSC Splendida in October 2022 and in Fantastica aboard the MSC Preziosa in September 2023. Of course to us the Splendida was excellent because we were sailing in YC. It had better be Excellent! But I believe that the Preziosa was excellent and that we were very happy because the staff was led by a very competent Master, Captain Francesco Iacono. The ship's crew truly reflected that.

Charlene, thanks for the advice. We are staying the night before at the Holiday Inn Express Cape Canaveral. My thoughts are we can go against the traffic arriving to the port when we go to park. Yes, we really enjoy MSC and it is almost half price this sailing for Yacht Club - made even better with our Voyager discount. Seven nights with two ports we haven't been to before. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Sue and DSIL left earlier this morning for their flight today to FLL. Tomorrow they embark on the Rotterdam. I stayed home for Sam - who has surprised us all with how well he now appears to be! A different dog than four weekends ago!!! Not quite as peppy as two months ago as he is having more #2 accidents in the house. Reminds me of a toddler as he barks to go out after messing. But that is how Senior dogs are and I can't be upset with him. We finalized our Fall cruise yesterday and modified next year's cruise. Even added an additional cruise! The new cruise is actually less than a month away on MSC Seashore from Port Canaveral. Our first time sailing from there and first time to sail MSC from the USA. Unbelievable cheap so we booked YC to be pampered. Using "Park N Cruise" to leave the car? Any thoughts? For the Fall we decided to not sail to Norway but only sail on the Rotterdam Transatlantic but with a twist. We are then staying aboard for the Southern Caribbean/partial Panama Canal cruise. So 27 days aboard the Rotterdam. It has been 52 years since I sailed through the Panama Canal. While we were at it, we have changed plans for next year. Why not? We were going to NZ/OZ to visit my friend and then sailing home from Japan. Too many logistics to overcome so we have now booked the Nieuw Statendam on the "Canary Crossing" for April 2025. First time for an EB Transatlantic. Our PCC likes to book the sailing as two 14-day cruises as opposed to one 28-day. Slightly more ($145.00) but additional OBC and 4 dinners instead of two. He probably likes it he gets credit for two cruises as well. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Yes, we actually had not cancelled our HAL Transatlantic for October from Rotterdam before deciding on the Divina Grand Voyage. So our whole trip through Switzerland and Italy before the MSC Splendida and MSC Divina cruises has been tossed. Instead we have decided to fly to AMS a week before to visit the Netherlands before embarking, and then stay on the Rotterdam once we get to Florida as it continues on down to the Panama Canal. It will be 27 days aboard. But to stay loyal to MSC, today we booked the MSC Seashore for May 5 in YC. All of our other MSC cruises have been in Europe so this will be our first time to sail MSC from the US! It will be interesting to compare MSC Europe to MSC USA. Enjoy your Seaview Grand Voyage! - Jack

When we were in Sydney in 2015, we walked into the city and I bought two pairs of Reichle shoes at a local shoe store. Long wearing as I still have them.

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Happy Anniversary to NATO, celebrating 75 years of collective defense. It looks like we have solved our Fall cruise problem. I usually work up different itineraries when planning so we are going to use one of those. Instead of cruising in the Mediterranean, we are heading North to Norway on a 7-night MSC cruise from Kiel in YC and then returning home on the Rotterdam with a week on land between. Unfortunately Club Orange is fully booked but we are on a wait list. We also had a really good price on the cruise to Greece and Turkey as it has gone up by $2,500! With the change, this means we leave two weeks earlier than previously planned. We need to watch our dates as we have a new grandchild to welcome in August! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Received a disappointing email yesterday afternoon from MSC. They have cancelled our 20-night Grand Voyage Transatlantic for this November We had booked this and another MSC cruise last year when it had first became available. Our plans were just finalized two weeks ago with flights and hotels as we were to spend just under two weeks in Switzerland and Northern Italy before the first cruise. We immediately called our MSC Concierge (like a HAL PCC) to see what we could do. It will require planning both cruises over again as the alternate Grand Voyage leaves before we would return from the shorter cruise. A shuffling of our land trip will need to be shortened as well. Both of these cruises were to be in Yacht Club on our favorite class (Fantasia-class) MSC ship. I started looking at alternatives and this morning spotted a HAL 42-day cruise on the Volendam leaving from and returning to Ft. Lauderdale. Sue will probably not like it as the amenities are limited compared to the Rotterdam that her and DSIL are sailing on next week. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Just received an email this afternoon announcing the November 2 - November 22, 2024 cancellation of the Grand Voyage for the MSC Divina from Genoa to Miami. The website still shows the Mediterranean cruises up to November 2, and cruises from Miami starting November 22. Drydock? Change in itinerary? 20 nights unaccounted for.

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Happy April Fool's Day! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Happy Easter everyone! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Jacqui, thank you for sharing the pictures of Maverick! So similar to the four Malamutes that I have had with cold weather, each of them would also like to find a high spot to lay (I call it their "perch") and look over their realm.

For a few years there has been talk of building a cruise terminal so that cruise ships would not have to transit under the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The bridge has been an operational issue due to the air draft limiting the size of ships. The nearest operable cruise port would be Norfolk or possibly NYC. I am disappointed with the coverage of Fox News as the playing out of the event's video is greatly speeded up for effect. Closer examination by other coverage shows the ship going dark prior to collision. That might indicate loss of auxiliary power which would be the steering.

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! A real tragedy with the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore this morning. We sailed under it departing and returning onboard the Carnival Legend on a cruise in 01/2023. So much is taken for granted when we sail. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need.

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! We called at Ringskiddy on our MSC cruise last year. I will look for my photos of Cobh as we sailed past. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Jacqui, thank you Roy, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack