GOLDENBONNY

thanks to both of you for your replies I will look into booking one of their european cruises, the itineraries look wonderful.

Thats what I look for first- itineraries and price .

Hi there,

I just started looking into some msc cruises as the rates seem quite reasonable, which is great! Ive only cruised carnival, so if any of you have cruised both, what is the diffeerence in terms of food, cabins, kids clubs etc? Do they have water slides as well as pools.

my son is 7 he really loved the carnival camps.

thanks so much, any info would be appreciated!

 

trish

Food-I don’t know what to say... for us its MSC

Cabins- we had balcony on both lines ,I love Carnival better but only because sofa bed is not by balcony and its easy to go out when your kid is sleeping.

Kids club same on both lines.

You will not see as many drunk people on MSC as you see on Carnival.

ship much cleaner on MSC

Service -I would say MSC is better .

I am searching for our next Christmas cruise & even though I haven't been on my Monsters of Rock cruise yet I decided to do some pricing with MSC and possibly do them instead of the same ole cruise I do with Carnival.

 

I hate their site so much that I refuse to book with them even if it would be cheaper. Every minute or so a pop up comes up asking you to join their mailing list. If I didn't want to join it the first time it popped up why do they think 10 times later would have me eagerly signing up for it now?

 

I'm hoping that someone from their cruise line reads this site & see how horrible it is for someone who was 80% ready to go with them but there is no way I will go back over there ever again.

God Bless America!

Mon 17.09

 

Got our bags pretty quickly and left to get transfer to the port. Waited about 10 mins for 6 others passengers who never turned up!

Trip is about 5 min, but that's more than enough for me on Italian roads with Italian drivers

The check-in building is very nice. Wide open spaces full of marble. We showed or passports, had our photos taken (for security) registered our credit car and walked through the "corridor of selling" (my DWs description) which to be fair was not pressure selling, more to show what's available. Had our boarding photo taken and then headed for the ship.

 

WOW!!

 

We've only ever done Costa Magica before and that was big, but the Poesia is huge! And beautiful! Every crew member from dock to our cabin smiled or said hello, which was nice. We had a quick walk and then checked out the cabin. We'd booked a cat 8 balcony and had a room on deck 12 for 7 months. For some reason MSC moved us to deck 15 two weeks ago. Same cat but I'm not complaining. So high up, the views from the balcony are stunning.

 

Room and shower room are clean, but the bedding had hairs and a stain on! Spoke to Gette, our steward who was very apologetic and to be fair was back in about 3 minutes to change them. I'll keep you informed of future occurrences.*

Case arrived about an hour after us but before unpacking quick bite to eat at the buffet (okay, nothing special, but will suffice.) and off to meet and greet. Anatasia is our English speaking host and English is her (second (or third) not that it matters)) language. 30 minutes of excursions and explaining the daily programm (MSCs spelling). Waste of time imo.

 

Unpack and muster drill. 1/2 hour later that "estimated start time" but it's a legal requirement so it happens when it happens. Not really taken as seriously as I'd expect. Officers seemed more worried about getting the red card off everyone, which I assume ticks the box for MSC. Poor show imo especially as we will be passing close to the Concordia later tonight.

On to deck as we set off, watching Genoa disappear into the distance.

Then to dinner. Should have been 6:15 sitting but were now 15 mins late. I asked the guy who met us who we can ask about changing to 2nd sitting. He takes is straight away to the head waiter and after explaining he'd changed us within a minute.

So instead of dinner we check out bar dei poeti. Nice live piano in a relaxed atmosphere, and 2 lovely barmen.

Off at last to diner at 8:45. A change of seating has left us at a table of our own. Well, I've read mixed reviews about MSC food. All I can say is 5 courses didn't let me down. Mussels to start, followed by soup, risotto and cod for main. Lemonchello (sp) cheesecake for dessert is a triumph.*

 

A nightcap now and then off to bed!

Good review .Thank you. I cruised Costa Magica as well but I think she is bigger that Poesia:confused: Am I wrong?

What would be taxi cost from airport to Riverside hotel and from Riverside to Cruise port?

Thank you

Been on the MSC Poesia last week Feb 11-18 2012, and what an experience that was. Yes I read all the posts and do agree to disagree. Case in point when you enter a buffet line, you do not shove your way through and not say excuse me in your language or enter the theater late and come into a seat and barge through, without saying something. I offered to get up and let someone into a seat and I could not move fast enough for the impatient and rude Europeans.

The staff are dimwits( No English whatsoever. Do they not leave from Ft Lauderdale, Florida USA. You ask them a simple question and they look at you like you have 3 heads. Or they just say NO or refer you to the reception desk. Do they wear blinders and just do not think? No manners either. ie..will not hold a door open for you or help you. Learn ENGLISH FOR STAFF. Manners are Manners and if you want American people to come on their cruise-ship, bend a little or leave from the Caribbean and not the USA.

LOL thats new ,now unhappy american cruiser wants staff to bent for him.:rolleyes:;)

Wow sorry this happened to you and others. I'm amazed the site contacted you thats some customer service they have.

 

Although I will say it sounds like a scam I once heard afew months ago. They try your CC# and if it doesn't work they search for you online convince you everything is ok then weeks later your out alot of $$$.

 

My card # was used 3 weeks after our cruise had ended last year buying clothes but the credit card company traced it back to the persons IP address on Grand cayman they had an Rfid scanner all we had to do was walk by close enough and they got our information.

I would elive more for scam than for customer service would call. they just have no function to trace trunsaction like this.I got my CC charged form PayPal last month ,it was big fraud on Pay Pal .

The lady that contacted me had a lot of cards that were denied. She did a google search on me and found my phone number. She was contacting everyone that she could and the only thing we all had in common was MSC. The card I used to pay for the cruise and the card I used at check in were different. The card I used at check in was not compromised.

 

I'm sorry I tried to help. I don't really care if your card numbers are stolen. I was just trying to be nice and help a fellow human being. I won't be doing that again on here.

 

Carry on with your lives.

She googled you by your CC #? If its web company how would she even know CC denied? She asked people were they used CC ???? What a servise !!! wow!

Really a store/website doing the backtracking of a fraudulent purchase - I doubt it -thats the credit card companies job.

 

Store customer service gives information that it happened with alot of people and is specific enough to name the cruiseline - I doubt it

 

something smells fishy.

Very fish ,I am telling it as a prson whos job is collect money :D no store has acces to see if person was on cruise or not .its a bull:rolleyes:

plus web company calling to card holder??? thats a service)

Thought I would let you know what just happened to me. I sailed on the MSC Poesia from November 14th to November 19th. I got a call yesterday from a website that sells handbags on the internet (www.henribendel.com). Someone tried to charge over $1,000 to my credit card on their website. They had the zip code wrong so the charge was denied. I called my credit card company and had the card canceled. I found out from them that someone also tried to charge $750 to a doctor last month that they denied. I just found out from someone at the handbag website that there have been at least 7 people that had their cards fraudulently used on their website and they've been able to trace it back to the cruise line. If you have cruised on an MSC ship you may want to double check the card you used in-conjunction with any charges to MSC.

I really wonder how website would trace people to cruise line??? And how would customer service tell you about it ???By the way you give your credit card ashore to US workers ,and iven if its truth what you say ,it may has nothing to do with MSC

My 26 month old DD is newly potty trained (daytime), so I am confident that she can go in the H2O water zone (would never allow her if I wasn't sure). My question is this - when she says she has to go, she has to go...we can't spend 10 minutes trying to find the nearest bathroom. Are the bathrooms close to the pool area on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas?

I don't want her to have an accident, she will be soooo upset. I guess I am wondering if I have to revert to "bring her" to the bathroom every hour.

In this age I prefered to bring my DD to washroom avery 1-1.5 hour never had problem. I am shure they have bathrooms close to pool.

http://www.ppt.gc.ca/support/faq.aspx?lang=eng&id=1102

2.I just called HAl and got the answer that its RECOMENDED not must be for 6 month .

I guess some people just dont understand other cultures. lol

I live in chattanooga tennesee and I can assure you there are way worse places here adn I can assure you there are where you live too. Remember fear comes from not understanding. There is nothing to fear there really other than your normal caution you should have anywhere you travel! I felt more unsafe on the cruise ship at times than at any of the ports even mexico and yes EVEN BELIZE!

 

P.S. when you live so near the coast the weather can reack havoc to buildings especially a poor country. also poor does not equel unsafe. If the buildings look bad does that mean youll get mugged? lol NOPE! usually the rough looking places in other countires are the places you need to go to learn about the real place! in Barcelona you go down dark scary alleys to get to great restaraunts and never did I feel unsafe! Seriously I felt more unsafe on board in the casino!

I could spend more time telling you,that I saw many countries and many carribean islands ,but I dont see a point.poor dose not mean unsafe, metal net around houses and on windows mean unsafe,kids gungs mean unsafe .There is nothing nice to see in Belize city unless yo ugo to cave tubing or river trip.Belive me I am form eastern europe I know whats unsafe and even on Jamaica I did not fell unsafe ,but yes!!! BElize is not the place I would go second time to see

^ WHAT? I would like to show you places in your own hometown that are not safe! Belize was very safe! Very Pretty adn the people so nice. As far as local tours we did cavetubing.com adn glad we didnt listen to the ship crew, they want to keep you in the tourist village cause they make money from it. When they tell you belize is unsafe they really mean to say, stay in the village so we can make money! The locals need your money so get out and have funa dn stop being scared of everything. You cannot get a feel of belize in the cruise port! Youll have to venture out!

Well we did go out ,and we did see Beliz City ,take my word there is no places like this in my city .If its soo safe why even in good areas houses look like jail???and why local beer store look like its in war area with small window to give you beer??? I will post some pic. from Belize city .

We don't have a planned excursion for our day in Belize. I came across this website that has a walking tour. http://www.belize-vacation.com/belize/belize_city.htm

Has anyone done anything like this, or something similar? Anything that is for sure a must-see, or a don't-waste-your-time?

Thanks!

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME! Stay in tourist village(cheap beer and nice shops) or even on ship ,or go to tubing (I would not go with lokals on this island only Cruise tour),Bliz City is very poor and not safe.we took horse carrage ride and it was most ugly excursion we ever had on carribean.Do not take more than 100$ with you and dont have any jewels or watch.

I was there last week, very dissapointing. most the pieces were not set into jewlery, just loose pieces and they ranged in price, CASH $250 and up (size of a nickle) or VISA ONLY for an additional 20 percent or so.

 

They had 4 showcases and very limited amount of pieces. The ones that were set into a pin or ring ran from $350- (size of a nickle) and up.

 

I waited a year to go there, left Tabyana early to do so, paid the cab $20- from the ship and was very dissapointed. :mad:

I agree,he need t odo much better job with finishing of cameos to sell it for this price.price is way to high.I would not wear any of his Cameos the way he finish it ,look very cheap.

Hi, we are cruising from Ft. Lauderdale in a couple of weeks. We are currently booked at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina. Is this a nice hotel for two adults and an 11 year old child? Would you have a better suggestion?

 

Thanks!

hotel is nice,could be cleaner,but ok,nice pool,nice lobby and veeery expencive restaurant:eek:

And are your other sources in a position to know? Or is that just the answer you prefer to hear?

 

The question asked on the form---the form which generates the invitation---is how many sailing days do you have on HAL.

Now, it's no skin off my nose if you want to include your Costa days in that total. :rolleyes:

 

btw---since this is a very old thread, and I'm not going back to see how long ago I posted the reply you quoted---some of the information you quoted, the part about Internet access---is obsolete. The areas of wireless access have been greatly expanded on all the ships.

And, the format of the Mariners Party has changed as well.

THEY ASKED ME IF I EVER SAILED WITH COSTA,PRINCESS,HAL OR CUNARD.I SAD YES AND I HAD ADDITIONAL. 5% DISCOUNT TO MY HAL CRUISE AND AS I SAD BEFORE I SPECIFICLY ASKED ABOUT MARINERS PARTY AND 2 PEOPLE FROM HAL ANSWERD :YES,I WILL GET INVITATION!

:pBTW WHAT INTERNET ACCESS YOU TALKING ABOUT??????:cool:

All the Vista ships have wired access in the cabins. All the ships have wireless hot-spots around the ship. Sometimes you get lucky and can access from your cabin.

 

As a past passenger on Carnival you get Nothing! extra from HAL while onboard. You do have rights to Mariner rates for booking (if there's anything for your cruise), but you have to sail on HAL once before you get the tile, invitiation to the Mariner's Party, free drink there, and the good nuts.

youa are wrong,we cruised costa before,and I been told twice,that we will get invitation to Mariner's Party:)

Bill W was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

The meetings are AA meetings,and very common on cruise ships.

 

Friends of Dorothy meetings are also very common - gay and lesbian groups.

why would people have AA meetings on cruise?:confused: