mousefan73

well by us we use Tempos and they come in individual packets that are usually in our bags/purses or junk drawers. But boxes of tissues throughout the house is rare, unless one is going through an allergy or cold phase.

no tissue. somewhat.. most major hotel chains in EUR have them.. no local places I honestly maybe see this as a sustainability thing.

I have often called the german line in Munich and was always a great experience. Yesterday the lady seemed indifferent and didnt really want to chat with me, but then I was also a bit out of it myself. but she took care of the issue and that was it. The website though is a painful experience. Why can't I stay logged in, why do I have to always know my booking number ( I have an account) and why does it not show what add-ons I book? instead they keep sending me 14 page emails for every purchase. just give me an account overview- listing all bookings and then I click a booking and see what additional stuff I have booked.. Ex. port parking. it's part of the email but I had to call to confirm they showed it booked and paid as online it is nowwhere to be found.

Disney cruise line has one MDR open for embarkation day lunch.

In some countries they use primarilycream in the DACH markets, germany, austria etc.. more half and half. can get it from 8%-15% which was odd seeing we sailed from Hamburg.

Just an OT bit on wash rags or face towels. Decades ago the US market was a bar of soap market. In Europe shower gels were long there. P&G and others found some issues at first it the US as they didnt do well. Turns out the US was a bit prude on washing oneself without a wash rag. In the EU you just squeeze in your hands and go at it. Then somebody had the brilliant idea to create and market the "Loofah" so it was marketed as squeeze into the loofah and then got at it. I am an American and can attest many people I know cannot shower without wash rags and they are not just washing their faces. In the EU you rarely see them in the showers nor loofahs really. This is why in the EU you almost never get washrags in hotels... on the Virtousa we didnt have any. but they had us down as german language, maybe they do the rooms up based on culture too.

We use our hands and yes our faces get clean. If heavy eye make-up I first use cotton balls with make-up remover.

When we sailed europe in November only "tap" water, crap coffee /tea and sugar juices at breakfast were available.. you need to stress in the MDR you want free water. the first night they brought us a bottle and it cost 4 euros.. not bad though for I believe 0,7 liters. Also I noticed the coffee station has real milk not coffee cream which annoyed me. I guess Brits only put milk in coffee no creamer.. the head waiter there told me on the caribbean they cater more the US and have cream.. so on our next sailing I am bringing mini creamers with.. I am wierd like that. It was a shift from DCL where we are spoiled with the free soda bar,, then again you pay 5x for those sailings.

Oh cool! Perfect can you tecommend any hikes 1 hr each way max? We are fit ince we take my mom back to the ship. Google maps shows a waterfall hike nearby??

Hello, we will be from 8am-6pm in Nordfjordeid and am not sure what to do.. We do not want to do a cruiseline excursion. I see there is a viking musuem in port.. Can anyone say if this port is walkable? things to see and the museum for a few hours? or is there nothing? is the mususm walkable? my mom is oder and is mobile but cant walk for super long periods.. We also can rent a car... but any suggestions on what nice drives are in the area? We will be in Olden and have the glacier booked there. thanks!

hello! I have no back or health issues but am fat.. like obese fat. I am interested in the RIB boat tours but am worried about:1. weight limits 2. how large do the coats go? are there pants too? I am a size 22, apple shaped female. thanks!

Hello, We are a family of 5 sailing end o May to Norway on the Fantasia. We have a balcony stateroom and the inside across. The inside is 2 adults and one child and the balcony is 2 adults. when booking I called and went back and forth that the third bed in the inside is a pullman.. She was insisting it was a highbed (I was confused on what she meant with that). I insisted per deckplan it's pullman.. This "child" is a rather large 17 year old... So will our stateroom attendent 1. be the same for both rooms if across 2. be ok with having that 3rd from the inside sleep on the couch in the balcony officially with turndown? Or can we just not say anything and do the couch ourselvesv ( are they easy to do yourselves)? not sure if it's an issue if 1. stateroom attendents are different - hotel service fee issue 2. fare might be higher if 3rd is officially in balcony... FYI this child was "free" anyways.. thanks!

yeah I think I am paranoid now after the HORRID experience I had back in November in Southampton.. we were delayed 3 hours being cleared and getting off was a mess- our excursion to Windsor was cut in half.

Beginning of June we are in the MSC Fantasia and our port time is showing for now 10am... I am looking at booking here for an execurion at 11 am.. 1. Will we make it with only 1 hour buffer? We have a sea day before, so what are chances of delays? it's our first stop from Kiel,, does the ship have to cleared as I believe Norway is not EU??but Schengen?? Also is the 1 hour hike up over or under estimating? from my understanding there is a cafe at the start of the hike.. my mom will wait for us as she is not so mobile.. please confirm if this si possible. thanks! Also any reviews tips on booking the Birksdal bus with these guys?? Olden Cruise | Olden Norway Shore Excursions thanks!

surprised they allowed the drone

We just got off the ship today in Hamburg. Southampton was a ***** storm. We weren’t disembarking like you guys but had a Windsor Castle tour booked that day. Our tour left hours later and we lost a good hour of the day- after the tour got extended to later evening. The lost hour would’ve made some of a difference but in the end our tour worked out pretty good mainly due to the weather. So am I understanding you correctly that those getting off with UK passports also had to go to a face-to-face? We had assumed the lines were so huge to get off because they didn’t clear the ship until almost 10 o’clock. They must’ve had face-to-face customs throughout the ship I was up in the sport duck because I’m American my mother was supposed to be downstairs. No way in hell we were separating so she went up with me and we ended up waiting for one hour. And then still had to wait for the ship to clear. in our excursion line there was a Msc woman behind me and the poor girl kept apologizing saying that she’s also never experienced anything like this. I have in the past two officers were arguing with each other and all I got wind off was “they could’ve at least have let the cruise lines know “ Referring to the communication between authorities and the ships. so this is work it’s interesting, I asked her tour guide if she happen to know what happened that day. She said that there was a cruise excursion that had gone out ( This is where I wasn’t sure if she meant an earlier ship, our ship) when the excursion came back for the guests refused to get back on the boat and claimed asylum. I guess authorities reacted last minute with changes.

We are getting on today in Hamburg. I’ll bring some euros as cash just in case for our servers

We are about to get on the virtuoso for our first MSC cruise. We are usually Disney cruisers. As much as I love Disney they really put the pressure on to give additional in Top of Standard service fee as cash for “excellent service” Of course I do too if I feel the service deserves it but how are they on Msc? Do they put envelopes in your state room to give to your servers and state room attendant? Do we even get the same server every night the MDR? with Disney there a team that follows you so there is kind of a relationship built over the cruise. Thanks

We are soon to set sail on the virtuoso and I’m curious how Msc handles alcohol purchased in port. I assume when going through security they take it from you but my question is how does one get it back? Do they deliver it to your state room the night before or do you have to go somewhere day of disembarkation to pick it up? I’m just concerned if the former will somehow delay us in catching our train. i’ve been on some cruises we’re getting your alcohol back has been such a PIA it really wasn’t worth it. Long lines etc. Also I read that food is not allowed to bring on board exceptions are basically packaged items. Can anyone confirm that if I am in the UK and I buy a bunch of food products that are in jars, cans packaging are allowed? I’m planning on hitting up Marks & Spencer’s just to see what cool things they have right now to take back to Germany. thanks!!

I’m curious how does entertainment differ between Americans and Europeans? The only thing I can think of is using the crowd as part of the entertainment for embarrassing things like beer belly contest at the pool etc.

Hello! In a few days we said sail on the virtuoso which will be our first Msc Cruises. So far so good I did the online checkin and have in the back of my head I need to do the health certificate day of. I have some concrete questions. 1. Does the app fully activate once on board only? I had assumed with the app or the website I can then select my dining and showtimes now. On the app I do show my purchases that include to excursions and two Carousel shows. Leading to next question…. 2. How do I book dining and showtimes? Is it a mad rush when people board to guest services to do this? Any tips on how to go about doing this or does the app activate once onboard?. 3. What deck do we board? The reason why I ask is that we are on deck eight and I’m wondering if we could walk off with luggage, do they allow walking off with luggage? 4. Is there limits to what you are allowed to carry on? My past experience on other lines is basically if it fits in the security scan machines you can schlepp it on. 5. I read that the pools are heated. I understand there’s an indoor pool but my mother needs easy entry and that’s the outdoor pool. Are people swimming this late into the season? Is it possible to swim in November on the pool deck outdoors? Is the water warm enough? 6. What time are state rooms available? I’m used to sailing cruise lines like Disney where everyone embarks say day- they block off the state rooms until they are ready. This cruise seems to be switching out people at every port 7. any other tips on what we should do when we get on board right away? We just want to book the Mexican restaurant a couple of times and make sure we get good showtimes as we pre-purchased the carousel show with the drink. BTW wasn’t necessary for us to purchase these tickets?? I have a feeling you can just be a Gosho to the shows if there’s a space available or is a ticket required to view it? At least we get a drink out of it lol thanks!

I recently had an issue with my middle name. We are selling for the first time in on my cruise documents it has my full name including middle. When I did the status match for the Boyers club it only had my first and last name and they weren’t able to match to my reservation. The guy had to change my name on my voyagers account to to include my middle name

Thanks! Good infos. How far of a walk is it from this coach park to city center? My mom is mobile but might need a break if it’s more than 1 km walk I wonder if MSC offers these shuttles to Blankenberge? Is there a way to see if they do via the cruise login pages??

I am curious were these excursion shuttles to town or the port buses to get folks into town? I ask as we are looking to book the MSC excursion ZEE11 for Bruges... it's basically Bruges on your own with the bus.. I am curious if we book this will we be assigned a bus and time, no lines. or are we simply buyin tickets via MSC and will be in the cattle crowd with everyone else on the same buses. thanks!