FTLcruisers

This is our first time sailing on MSC and I can't seem to find the exact answers I'm looking for so...

we're sailing on the Divina on 10/18 - we like to take our own luggage onboard and get on the ship when the cabins are ready so we can drop everything off so...2 questions - does MSC allow you to carry your luggage on and what time are the cabins generally ready for passengers?

we also like to take our own luggage off at disembarkation but do not want to get off at 7 AM as I've seen on posts about self assist. Can we still take our own luggage off and get off at a time of our choosing?

thanks for any info you can provide!

Marianne

Can we carry our own luggage when we board and then take them off ourselves at disembarkation?

We have done 4 TAs with Celebrity, always sailing back to Fort Lauderdale. Due to the southern course, the seas tend to be calmer than if sailing back to a more northern port - but, as everyone as said, weather is not guaranteed. I have to admit that the first TA was a little tough for me - by about day 5 of our 7 days at sea, I was ready for land. Luckily we were sailing with friends so that helped. But the more cruises we did, the more I learned to relax and enjoy those days at sea. So a few years later we did another TA and I enjoyed it much more than the first one. Last year we were on the Silhouette which had 4 guest lecturers and plenty of things to do during the day - we barely spent any time sitting on our balcony reading since there was so much to do.

Marianne

we have gone on more than 50 cruises and have never brought our prescription bottles with us. We used to use those 7-day pill containers but since we have started doing longer cruises, we now use little plastic pill bags.

Marianne

when purchasing items we did not want to/could not bring home with us, we always purchased them in stores that provided shipping. However, often the shipping costs more than the purchased item!

Marianne

My stepdaughter got married on a Carnival ship sailing out of New York City and it was awesome. She had a wedding planner who helped with all the arrangements on board; a minister came on the ship to perform the ceremony. About 100 people attended the service which was held in one of the smaller lounges and was very tastefully decorated. The 'reception' was held in the ship's disco and included most things done on land - first dance, cutting of the cake, etc. and there was a great buffet. About 50 guests sailed with them. It was a great way for us to meet and get to know their friends and the groom's family since we live in FL and they are in NY. Because of the number of cabins booked by their guests, the couple were given a 'free' cocktail hour for all the guests on the next to the last night of the cruise.

I was really impressed with how the wedding was handled on the ship. Everything was very organized. Because they had the ship's photographer and videographer with them during the cruise, they got a lot more photos/videos than you'd normally get. My SIL made a deal with the photographer and got all the photos for one price.

Marianne

I never gave much thought to the importance of the captain until we sailed on the Independence of the Seas a few months ago. We had been on her about a year earlier and really had a great time, great service and a CD that we really liked. But on the more recent cruise, the service was horrible - from our waiter, to the cabin attendant and even guest services. The only difference (as far as we could tell) was there was a different captain!

Marianne

We've taken a lot of Caribbean cruises. The islands don't make much difference for us. Sometimes we stay on the ship and enjoy the peace and quiet while most of the other passengers are off doing excursions.

Same here! I think we've been to every Caribbean island cruise ships stop at so ports aren't important to us.

Marianne

guess I was lucky. I left my Kindle sitting on a table in the aqua theater on the Allure and someone turned it into lost & found.

Marianne

We cruise only Royal Caribbean and Celebrity - from our experience, it seems there is a wide range of dress on formal nights - from long dresses all the way to those that don't dress up at all. So wear what you feel comfortable in - you are not going to be out of place no matter what you wear. BTW a lot of men still wear tuxedos!

Enjoy the Allure - beautiful ship.

Marianne

I am only guessing but I would think it is on day 2 before you sail. Of course, I'm using logic - that being the muster drill takes place before you sail and you're not sailing until day 2. Also there may be people who arrive late that 1st day or don't even show up until day 2.

Marianne

I always monitor the price after if a payment for upgrades. Often times I am able to upgrade for no or minimal cost.

I look to reduce the cost prior to final payment and to upgrade after final payment. I never have asked nor expected a refund after final payment. The upgrades have all been granted thus far.

I do the same - check prior to final payment and ask for upgrade after. We have done more than 50 cruises and only had a few that had price drops after final payment.

Marianne

We were on the 6/18/14 11 night Ultimate Scandanavian/Russia cruise and folks on our thread discussed their concerns at length. A few people cancelled their cruises but the majority did not. Of course, most people - including my husband and I - were concerned about missing St Petersburg. We are so glad we did not cancel! We had a fabulous time and got to visit Moscow on this trip - standing in Red Square was an experience I will never forget. Safety should not be a concern since the city is no where near where conflicts are occurring.

The first time we went to St Petersburg was 9 years ago and one of the first things we noticed this time was how many more tourists there are. So it would not be in the best interests of the Russian government to stop tourists from coming. Also, cruisers are from all over the world, not just the United States.

I know some people feel that they do not want to support the Russian economy but that is a whole other reason to cancel a cruise.

Marianne

We were in St Petersburg in June and used Alla Tours - our 2nd time using them. We were fortunate enough to have a 3 day stay so did 2 days in St Petersburg and 1 day in Moscow. We were really pleased with our tour and I'd highly recommend you check out Alla's website. She offers tours in some of the other Baltic ports too - we used Alla for our excursion to Berlin.

Marianne

thanks for honest review. We'll be on the Vision at the end of Sept and hope we get a 'wow'! I do not, however, expect the food in the MDR to be a wow; in my opinion, food on RCL has gone downhill over the past few years.

Strange about Chops and the sauces - we were on the Legend in June and my husband was offered those 3 sauces.

You should like the Reflection - it's a beautiful ship and I feel that the food & service are better on Celebrity.

Marianne

We've done it twice so far this year - on Independence and Legend. We did have to book and pay for the 2nd visit on the first night since that is the only night the offer is valid. But don't see a big deal about that since it's going to go on your bill whether you pay the 1st night or the 6th night!

Marianne

My nephew had a very expensive wedding with several photographers taking pictures and somehow the pictures got lost. Yes they were very upset. They reached out and got pictures from friends and family in attendance. Not the same but also not much that could be done about it.

As mentioned, if you get to the port between 11-Noon you shouldn't encounter long lines. You will need to show photo ID and your cruise documents to security.

We always use Park N Fly - you park your own vehicle, they pull the shuttle bus next to you and load your luggage and off you go. When you disembark, there is generally a bus that shows up but, if not, just call them and they'll be there within a few minutes.

I do agree that it is much more convenient - and quicker - to park inside the port but it's double the cost of parking in one of the lots.

Marianne

When we first started cruising, we hated the sea days. Now that we have more than 50 cruises under our belt, we have learned that it is OK to relax on a cruise and we do enjoy sea days. We've even done a few TAs.

Marianne

Join the roll call for your cruise and contact people staying near you in Rome - if you share a 6 or 8 person van, you will have an easy, comfortable and reasonably priced transfer.

We used RomeCabs and the van for 6 of us was 190 euros - I made the arrangements and got 4 others from the roll call to join us. There was no extra charge for picking the 3 couples up from different hotels.

Marianne

They did eventually do what needed to be done but not the way I always heard it happened. I heard they apply the better offer automatically. With the short time until the cruise it put the pressure on.

 

But yes, I've had it take over a week in the past when having the shareholder's credit applied.

 

Gina

They do not always apply the better offer. My TA used a $75 coupon to reduce the price of the cruise (we didn't realize she did so) so we lost out on our stockholder OBC - luckily it wasn't much of a difference but we didn't find out until we got board and inquired about why it wasn't posted.

Marianne

We eat late at home, so we do late seating. Also, after a day off the ship, we like to come back and take a power nap so late seating allows us to do that. Also, We like the same tablemates every night so we always ask for a larger table in traditional dining.

Marianne

About the only thing I do is look at a deck plan to see where the suggested cabin is. We prefer to be between two passenger decks, but really, most cabins are fine.

I'm with you! When we first started cruising, everyone made a big deal about where to book the cabin (middle of ship, higher deck, etc.). However, after being in cabins in various parts of the ship, we realized it didn't make any difference!

Marianne

I got mine stamped at the post office in the port area of St. Thomas . :D

Just curious as to what kind of stamp they put in the passport since there are no Customs officials at the post office.

Marianne

Must dependon the corporation. On HAL, Princess and Carnival we can use CCL shareholder OBC in addition to any other discount or qualifying rate.

On our upcoming Carnival Miracle Hawaii cruise we are have book-onboard OBC, Milestone OBC and CCL shareholder OBC. IIRC we booked under a Past Guest rate.

You are right - as I said, Royal Caribbean used to allow combining of OBCs. We used to book a cruise onboard to get that OBC and then also use our stockholder OBC. Sadly a few years ago they stopped it. I now have to be careful to let our TA know that we are using the stockholder OBC since she recently used a coupon to reduce our cruise fare not realizing we were entitled to a higher amount of stockholder OBC. The coupon cancelled out the OBC but luckily the difference was not that great.

Marianne