optimusprime82

Dealing with MSC customer service is always an adventure. I just called to tonight to make a small payment over the phone since their website still won't allow you to make payments that are not for the full remaining balance. Placed my call at 7:53pm ET and received a message stating that their office was closed and that their weekday hours were 8am to 9pm ET. I guess they closed early tonight or haven't updated their message to reflect new hours of operations. Thank goodness I enjoy the onboard experience so much because I'd much rather deal with Carnival or NCL's website.

MOBILITY, MEDICAL AND DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

Children with Special Needs

Children with special needs have normal access to all on-board services and facilities. Although the entertainment staff do not offer a childcare service, they are trained to provide a wide range of entertainment aimed specifically at children.

All children, including those with special needs, are assigned to a certain entertainment area depending on their age. If necessary, children or young people with special needs can be placed with a lower age group (with the agreement of their parents), or they can take part in specific activities, together with their parents if required.

16 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I'm smart enough to know better than to trust a non-doctor to give medical advice. 

Yet so many people that barely passed basic high school level science classes don't trust medical advise from actual doctors.

15 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Fake news and stupid for believing everything from only one side. Anyhow. We are not to be talking about politics on Cruise Critic. This is to be about what the Bahamas is charging.

 

The statement above and then three minutes later the statement below lol...

12 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Some people will believe anything. Stupid is as stupid does. If you think bleach injected or taken orally will kill the vaccine and not harm you. You need to be in an institution for sure. Blaming anyone for saying it is just as bad.

Yeah, people definitely shouldn't be held accountable for the things they say... what kind of crazy world do you think we live in? Freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

9 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Your scientific evidence is bogus. Where did you ever get the notion that anew strain or mutation requires a new vaccine? Currently the new strain and the mutations are taken care of by the current vaccine. Guess you missed that one.

I was referring to Covid-19 being called a SARS variant that wasn't a new disease. Hence the new vaccines that have been developed to combat Covid-19. I didn't say that the current Covid-19 vaccines were not being effective against any Covid-19 variants.  

25 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

Why do I care if the crew wear a mask?  Masks muffle voices.  Being able to fully view the face of my bartender, my Steward supplies non-verbal information to me that I can use in my interactions with them.  Being required to wear a mask is "not normal" in my opinion.  I hope for a return to some semblance of "cruising normality".  

I can understand wanting to be able see people faces. It certainly makes non-verbal communication easier especially when you smile at someone and then remember you have a mask on. With that said, I think it's a bit odd to say that you won't cruise anymore if you can't see people's mouths. You won't see the mouth of any cruise staff member if you refuse to cruise because of a mask policy. On the list of things that are important to me on a cruise seeing the mouth of a bartender, cabin steward or waiter is really, really, like scraping the bottom of the barrel low on the list. I think most of us are tired of wearing a mask but I'm not going let a masks ruin an otherwise enjoyable vacation. 

Edit: On the topic of "cruise normalcy," right now in the  United States we're at 0% since we're not cruising. If we can get back on board in 2021 that going to increase dramatically even with vaccination or mask requirements. If me or the staff wearing a mask is the worst sacrifice we have to make I still think we'll have 90+ percent of the "cruise normalcy" that we had before.

27 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I don't wish to keep debating.

2 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

OK, so this will be my last comment to you: yes, I willingly shared an opinion on an internet forum, you are correct. And I never said others aren't allowed to challenge it (where in the world did you get THAT notion? I never said or even implied it). But you do NOT have to right to force me to debate the issue ad infinitum. I am allowed to stop debating whenever I like, just as you are. Thank you and goodbye.

 

No one is forcing you to do anything lol. I encourage you to stop debating me whenever you feel that you can resist.

6 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Not exactly. There have been other Sars diseases in the past. That's one of the reasons pharmaceutical companies were able to use existing technology to develop effective vaccines against a novel strain of an existing virus. It was NOT a new disease.

Your comment about "leadership" telling people to inject bleach is so unfortunate, it tells me you've bought into one of the many lies peddled online about what the former President did (and usually didn't) say. Anyway, you go on believing whatever you like. I choose to believe that the CDC made serious errors that they are now, belatedly (but thankfully) correcting. Have a nice evening. I don't wish to keep debating.

A new "strain" or "mutation" that still required new vaccines. Split whatever hair you like.

I haven't bought into "lies." I watched the news conference and heard what "leadership" said. Thank you for giving me permission to continue believing whatever I like. My beliefs by the way are based on scientific evidence, not vacation wishes and conspiracies.

Sorry that you don't wish to continue debating an opinion that you willing shared on an internet forum. Sadly that's not how this works; you post an opinion, others are allowed to agree or challenge it. 

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

That's a huge understatement. The proof of that is in the new guidance the CDC just issued. Many on Cruise Critic blamed the cruise lines for not "playing ball" with the CDC, but it was clear some of their recommendations were ridiculous, outdated and onerous. I hope you acknowledge that. Saying that the CDC is essentially only trying to protect public health is correct, but it does not mean anything they say is necessarily right or reasonable. They were basing much of their fear of virus outbreaks on events that took place a year ago and have now been refuted by the many outbreak-free sailings since spring of 2020. Ironically, while cruising was all but stopped last year, Covid-19 continued to spread, so it's not like cruising was to blame, but they were the only industry being stopped from resuming in the US. Now they've done away with the simulated sailings requirement, are allowing the lines to negotiate multiple port agreements instead of individual ones, and for cruise lines that OPT to do test sailings, they'll respond within 5 days instead of 60. It's clear some of the CDC's ("reasonable," according to some) regulations were absurd and unworkable. I think it's great that they sat down with industry officials and changed their stance. Long overdue, in my opinion.
 

I think a lot of people are forgetting that Covid-19 isn't just a Salmonella outbreak, it was a new disease and the response to it was built from the ground up. I don't think anyone would dare say that it has been handled effectively from day 1, day 180, day 365 or day 486... it has been a work in progress the entire time. A year ago "leadership" in the United States was suggesting people inject bleach to kill Covid, six months ago we didn't have an approved vaccine, and three months ago we barely had anyone vaccinated. Getting the guidelines "right" and being "reasonable" are a moving target that I admit the CDC probably hasn't hit the bullseye on often enough. Ultimately they're still trying to protect people from a deadly disease that a lot of cruisers seem to think is a hoax despite the headstones to the contrary. 

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Most KNOW IT ALL scientists, the CDC the HWO do not know it all. Including me. Confused at the least. So many do this, not do this, changes back and forth over the last year can drive you up a wall. Schools, everyone together all day for 5 days. No out breaks. No covid19 vaccine requirements. Even the teachers are not forced to get the vaccine, personally I think they should be. My son's female companion has been a 2rd grade teacher for many years. She got the J&J before the blood clots came up. So far she is fine. The cruise ships are now a far safer place than most all schools. The air conditioning systems alone should be in all schools. Non recirculated air. Always fresh air from outside. It takes a major A/C unit to accomplish that. Try cooling 90 degree air down to 72 degrees fast. Super HEPA filters also. The finer the filter the stronger the blower must be. Constantly cleaning and disinfecting. Personally we would feel super safe on a cruise ship.

That disdainful attitude is part of what has gotten the United States into trouble. Most scientists are fully aware that they "don't know it all" but they also know a hell of a lot more than most people about infectious diseases and how and to whom they spread. Many scientists are also more concerned with saving lives than pushing a business agenda. That does inconvenience those of us that enjoy going to restaurants, movie theaters, and... cruise ships but that doesn't mean they're wrong to prioritize human lives over the travel industry. 

11 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

In our life time, I think that is an excellent question.  

 

 

There cannot be a guarantee of no Covid just as there has not been of the Norovirus, etc.  I am willing to endure a "Brave New World" of cruising.  With reasonable and responsible requirements.  But, I am not willing to wear a mask; I don't wish to encounter crew or staff wearing a mask.  If that is part of the "Brave New World" of cruising, then, my cruising days are finished.  

 

 

I'm sorry but I think this is a super weird thought process to have. Why do you care if the crew are wearing a mask? Do you care if you see restaurant or bar staff wearing gloves too? You have a lot of control over how many guests and crew you encounter everyday. The crew doesn't have that option, many of them will interact with hundreds of guests a day and perhaps a mask will help them stay healthy from Covid or other airborne illnesses. 

3 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

I totally agree that wearing a mask while on a cruise makes no sense...unless you have a medical condition...such as auto immune issues.  That is why we will probably see some people wearing masks...so be it.  The irony: I am susceptible to lung infections ever since I had a serious case of pneumonia 10 years ago.  This was the first year that I did not catch a cold and suffer the 5 months it takes to clear my lungs.  I believe the masks helped me in this respect...LOL.   

Pretty much this... I've flown several times since Covid began and haven't gotten a cold after flying for the first time years. Maybe it's masks, maybe it's better air filtering or improved cleaning between flights but I'm going to continue to wear a mask and sanitize my own seat on a plane from now on.   

1 hour ago, Beaver1975 said:

I am just curious as to how they are going to verify a passengers vaccination status? With that little card the give you when you get your vaccination?

 

This is all the CDC's last grasp of their control over things they should not be involved in.

Huh? CDC stands for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why wouldn't the CDC be involved in the cruise industry? If there's a disease that can spread to multiple ports of call, spread to a local population, and then spread to other ships that are going on to visit multiple ports themselves why wouldn't the CDC be involved in that? Controlling and preventing the spread of diseases is their job, not making vacation dreams come true.

I can understand a certain amount of frustration with the process or lack of clarity between the CDC and the cruise lines. Bureaucracy is almost always frustrating but without oversight from organizations like the CDC consumers would be at much higher risk. Who do you think performs the kitchen inspections on cruise ships? That's right, the CDC. If oversight is needed to make sure that raw chicken is being kept at the right temperature it's a pretty safe bet that the cruise industry needs guidance when preventing the spread of a deadly disease. 

My wife and I got married in 2007 on the RC Adventure of the Seas sailing from Puerto Rico, it was lovely. That feels like a lifetime ago now and I honestly I would be wary of attempting to get married on a cruise in 2021 since we haven't seen the industry get going from US ports yet. Getting married on a cruise ship involves a  lot of moving parts and currently thing are just really unstable. I'd hate for your daughter to get her heart set on a specific wedding/cruise date and then have that postponed due to Covid.

Ugh, I wish this going into effect a little bit earlier for the Meraviglia. We're currently set to sail on 10/23/21 for 14 nights, the Easy Plus package goes into effect on 11/13/21. For an extra $11 per day that would be an easy decision to make since I don't drink Miller Lite or Heineken and I feel a little bit silly ordering a virgin daquiri and a shot of rum (to combine myself) to get around their silly alcoholic frozen drink policy.

Fingers crossed that the 10/23/21 voyage on the Meraviglia actually sails. We're booked for a 14 day itinerary that isn't listed on the MSC website anymore except for when I login to review my booking. Originally it was supposed be a Divina repositioning cruise from NYC to Miami but after Covid hit it was automatically changed to a combined back-to-back Miami to Miami voyage on the Meraviglia in one of the Aurea suites with a whirlpool on the balcony.

9 hours ago, Reismicrobe said:

Hi all,

I'm booked on the Seaview for a transatlantic cruise in March 22.

I would like to practise some yoga on my own. I think my cabin won't be spacious enough.

Can I do this at the gym? I know there are some classes to follow, but I have had a serious injury and the tempo would be to high for me.

Are there yoga props that I can use or do I have to bring my own? 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

I've seen people doing yoga in the gym on the Merviglia. That gym had a dedicated area with mats where people would do certain floor exercises.

The Meraviglia documentary from the same series is a good watch as well.

9 hours ago, DSJ28 said:

They show late night movies in the theater on Divina? I wonder if this is still the plan?  Any idea where I can get planners that might list movies?

They did in fall of 2017. No idea if they still do or how to check on that. Perhaps the most "recent" daily programs would shed some light on the topic.

12 hours ago, Havering Bob said:

I see that there are spa services on the Magnifica, but I can't tell if one can purchase a thermal spa pass for the duration of the cruise.  Any ideas?

You can or if you book an Aurea cabin the thermal spa pass is included along with one sixty minute massage for each adult (2) in the cabin. 

We really enjoyed the cafe that was located near the theater (hopefully I'm remembering that correctly). They served coffee and gelato which often went well together after dinner but before a show. The drum music was sometimes a little overpowering but that wasn't a nightly issue. We also really enjoyed the theater. The shows were nice, but as a film buff I was overjoyed their weeklong Jake Nicholson showcase every night around 10pm or 1030pm. Honestly I was bit disappointed when were on the Meraviglia because they didn't do anything like that.

On both our MSC cruises, and our upcoming third, we've booked the Aurea Experience. On other lines we pay extra for the thermal spa pass, usually book at least one massage each, my wife enjoys the private sundeck and the drink package is nice bonus. When we've done the math the additional Aurea cost seems like good value for money for us but your mileage may vary depending on what other things you usually book onboard.

20 hours ago, Cruiser Bruiser said:

MSC is quirky! As a family-owned Italian company, it does things differently. Examples: you get your key card in your cabin after you board; you register a form of payment using a kiosk after you have already boarded the ship. MSC also actively discourages use of the MDR for breakfast and lunch. They even set up a buffet in the MDR and try to funnel MDR users to it rather than ordering an entree from the kitchen. You can do so, but you have to insist.

 

We have not experienced anything like that on the Divina or the Meraviglia. The MDR was always open for breakfast and lunch. There was never a buffet set up in the MDR and menus were always offered. On Norwegian we've seen staff members alerting people entering the MDR area of what the theme at the buffet was going to be but never vice versa.

1 minute ago, KennyFla said:

On second thought, you may be partially correct.  Her answer really was, "This is not my problem.  It is somebody else's problem."

 

Even though the CDC is the agency that officially shut down cruising.  Now it is somebody else's fault.

 

Who says the US is not ready?  There are plenty of people on these boards that are ready to cruise.  I am ready to cruise.

 

What problem is there with a cruise where everyone on board is vaccinated?  If total vaccination does not let us go back to normal, what's the point of all this?

 

 

Jeez, that still not what she said. If you want to correctly paraphrase her then it would go something like this, "This is a joint problem, I can't speak for all parties involved in the decision." 

I'm ready to cruise too aside from the fact that I'm a week away from being eligible to be vaccinated. If a cruise line is ready to cruise with all guests being vaccinated I'm all for getting the ball moving on that. That's not what most people seem to be discussing though. A lot of cruise critic members don't seem to be interested in being vaccinated, nor have I heard much from the cruise companies that sail from US ports on what their preferred vaccination policy might be. Perhaps if Carnival, RC, MSC and others took a firm stand on the vaccination issue that would help grease the wheels on getting the "No Sail Order" lifted.

3 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A news report in the Dayton Daily News of either Sunday or Monday reported that the majority of those arrested in Miami Beach were not college students and were people from out of state.  I deduce these must be some young adults whose brains--which were supposed to be totally formed by their age of 25--have not reached that development of maturation.  Thus, their common sense is lacking and they care not about the rest of "We, the People".  

I stand corrected with some of that information then. From what I'm seeing now, of the over 1,000 arrests, more than half were from out-of-state. I didn't see any information about the ages of those arrested. With that information in hand, if slightly less than half were Florida residents there's still going to be some college age people down there too. Regardless of the age and state of residence of those partying is that really going to improve the amount of Covid cases in the Miami area over the next few weeks? I guess that depends on who you talk to since there's a few on here that seem to think that this is just a bunch of hysteria whipped up to kill the cruise industry. 

21 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

 

That's your take on this, huh?

 

Over 300,000 people have cruised safely in Europe since August.

 

Many other countries, many of which are not as far along as the US in vaccinations have firm plans to re-start cruising.

 

The Director of the CDC appears to have no clue what the plan is for cruising.  Meanwhile 40,000 people's livelihoods in the Miami area alone await her guidance.  Her answer?  "I'm not going to make any decisions."

Her answer?  "I'm not going to make any decisions."

What's strange is what she said and what you read don't seem to be lining up. She didn't say she's not going to make any decisions, she said it's not entirely up to the CDC to make the decisions that she's being asked about.

I'd love to see cruising plans from the US start to be announced, I'm booked on the Meraviglia in October, but that doesn't mean that the US is ready yet. It's interesting that so many US citizens don't like to be compared to other countries or follow their example but in this instance because Italy, Germany and the UK are doing it, it's the right choice for the US. 

47 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

 

Firstly, the Miami Beach issue is a Spring Break issue involving a lot of people from outside of Florida.

 

Secondly, Floridas numbers are on the lower end of the infection scales and we have not been locked down for months.  Our Governor trusts that we are adults and act accordingly and it has worked.

 

Thirdly,  You seem to be incredibly fearful of catching a virus that you have to be tested for to find out you have it and once you get it it is 99.97% survivable.  Now, if you have certain comorbidities that make you susceptible to not surviving the virus then by all means stay away from large gatherings and wear a mask in public.  But, please stop spreading your sky is falling rhetoric and demanding that the rest of the world be locked down and not get back to a normal life.

Please provide any evidence that the spring break issue is because of people coming in from outside of Florida. I'll wait as you prove that students from University of Miami, Central Florida, FIU, Boward, Valencia, UF, FSU or any of the other dozens of Florida colleges that might attract spring breakers aren't down there.

542,000 dead in the US alone, 32,741 dead in Florida alone. DeSantis' strategy hasn't worked, it continues to not work. Telling yourself that it has worked is just a lie that you want to believe like a kid that won't give up on believing in Santa Claus.

Um, most diseases you have to be tested for so please don't act like that is a disqualification from it being dangerous. You continuing to focus on the survival rate instead of the amount that have died is a callous way to try and cover up the victims of Covid. The amount of people that have died in Florda alone is enough to fill the MSC Divina more than nine times, let that sink in for a moment. Nine Divinas, filled with 3,502 passengers each, sailing around the Caribbean filled with dead bodies despite the 99.97% survival rate (cite that source please) that you keep clinging to.

Please stop claiming the this pandemic is over just because you're selfish and want to go on a cruise. 

3 hours ago, KennyFla said:

To those who keep defending the CDC, read this article:

 

 

To those that keep attacking the CDC, re-read that article.

So you're mad that the CDC is stating that they don't have the final word on lifting the "Conditional Sailing Order?"

"The CDC Director responded with the following the answer: This is an inter-agency decision, it is not a decision solely up to the CDC so I would be remiss if I would do that by myself because the decision is not solely up to us.”

Just because you're tired Covid-19 doesn't mean that it will just disappear despite all your hopes and dreams.

56 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Is it the citizens of Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, etc. that are responsible for the irresponsible behavior of the Spring Breakers that I see on the web cams and the newscasts?  

 

 

Knowing some people that live in Miami it sounds like it's a combination of out-of-towners for Spring Break mixed in with locals also wanting to party. There are a lot of schools in Florida and many of them have reputations for partying. I doubt there's a lot of senior citizens heading to South Beach this weekend to party but there are definitely a lot of 18-35 year old citizens that want to party because they think that Covid-19 can't/won't get them.