cheramello

I don't think they have a kids menu in the main dining rooms, or at least we have never been offered one. My kids eat from the regular offerings though. They do have kid friendly areas in the buffet with typical kid foods like nuggets, fries, etc.

On 11/23/2021 at 10:30 AM, MacMarauder said:

Nice! How old are you kids, I'm planning to sail on Seashore next year with a 4 and 7 year old. Is there an indoor area for the kids to run around / play? 

Well I typed a whole reply and posted it but it disappeared!! 

Anyway,  my kids are 12 (almost 13) and 7. My 12yo hasbeen up in the tween club and arcade most of the time. We have to remind her she has a family and to come join us for dinner. 😂

There's not really an indoor place for the kids to run and play but there is tons of outdoor space. The kids clubs are indoors and keeping them active. The arcade is pretty cool but very expensive! Games are $1.50-$3.00 each play. They do sell a fun pass so the more you buy the more free money you get. For example we got the kids $50 each and that got them $10 free. They each burned that up within two days so we put spending limits on their accounts and told them to calm it down! 

They have a fenced in basketball court topside and they set up mini golf on that as well. They have Foosball and pool table as well. 

I'll postpics when I can. Our server was on the Seaside and she said the two ships are very similar, just that the Seashore is spread out a bit. 

On 11/23/2021 at 2:48 PM, renysmom said:

Can you post some kids menu examples from the main dining room?  Thanks

Yes! I'm not able to post pics right now for some reason but I definitely will. The kids menu has been the same every day but there's a lot of choices. And of course the kids are not required to eat from it. One day my son asked for pasta with meatballs and tomato sauce and they brought that out for him even though the choice was pasta in soup.

Also they have been quite lax with the dress code. My son wore shorts one day but I had him put a collared shirt on and they didn't even bat an eye. We've seen people in various states of dress in the main dining room, although most people are dressing up a little, and one guy even had a robe on at the buffet. 🤯

21 minutes ago, cheramello said:

Hmm maybe they just had different rules over there! 

But also I do think capacity is capped at 50%. 

2 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Do you have to wear a mask at all times inside? Such as if I am sitting in the lobby having a drink do I have to take a sip and put my mask back on as they have to on Princess?

What Styles said. Masks indoors just like at stores etc but you take it off when eating and nobody has to wear a mask outdoors. Everyone here has been good about wearing it. 

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Well, there were quite a few children onboard and they wouldn’t have been vaccinated.

Hmm maybe they just had different rules over there! 

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

There mustn’t be many onboard if they are seating people at every other table.  That wasn’t the case when we were onboard.  Tables were quite close together.  You’d barely squeeze through ours and the next table.  We easily conversed with the family next to us.

Was your cruise for fully vaccinated passengers only in Europe? That may have been the difference. 😊

I thought of another thing! The aqua park is amazing but there are no lifeguards and there are no seating areas for parents next to the pool portion. So you have to stand there the whole time or "stop being a helicopter parent" as my husband says and sit a little further away or a deck above that overlooks the area a little. 

There is a pool attendant but he is not dedicated to the pool, he walked around. 

The little little kids pool was closed but I have only seen a few kids under 4ish on board. 

We're here in Cozumel! Embarked on the 20th and drove around yesterday. The kids had a great time at the aquapark and we have all been stuffing our faces with yummy food. 

Today we did the Fury Catamaran excursion. It was a good time but the snorkeling was a bit choppy so the younger kids did not stay in the water but a few minutes before they hopped back on board. After snorkeling we went to the beach and trampoline water park thing. It was super nice but we wish it had been longer. They sell burgers and chips, cash only. After the excursion the MSC people shuffled us back on board so they are very strict about the staying on your excursion thing. Jic you are wondering about that as we were. No shopping for us, which probably worked out to be a good thing for our wallets! 

The ship has tons of wonderful outdoor space. The kids clubs are all open and dining is just a bit different (for us maybe not in anytime dining) because they are setting people every other table so there isn't the normal interaction and meeting new people portion of dinner. 

I recommend downloading the MSC for Me app and logging in before you get on board. I forgot to have my daughter do that so we were finally able to download it for her here in MX.

Somehow everyone's prepaid wifi and drinks packages did not transfer in the system so anyone affected had to wait at customer service and then it took a few hours after that for it to show up.

But anything that was charged they said would be reversed. So just double check all your add ons get added. 

The people at the Hub were incredibly helpful fixing all the connection issues with our phones. Also if you have a VPN you will not be able to use the intranet so if you have a burner phone for on board that would be useful. 

Everything is mostly normal aside from the masks, and physical distancing in the theaters, oh and the buffet is served by staff which makes me feel like a glutton ordering 50 desserts. 😂

I can't think of much else! If you have questions maybe I can answer some if I can get online to see them! 

A month or so ago I called to ask some questions when they changed the vaccination requirements for kids under 11 again. The lady told me excursions would be available 14 days prior to our sail date. Not much time to plan.

I don't believe so but I'm not entirely sure, I'm guessing they maybe have some availability set aside for certain Voyager's Club status. I called yesterday to upgrade our room but there were only port side rooms showing online. I asked if she had any on starboard, she said no, and told me the exact room numbers that I could see online.

2 hours ago, styles27 said:

There are so many unknowns at this point.  We’re sailing out of Port Canaveral in November and our friends decided to not make their final payment last week because they’re almost 80 and frankly they’re afraid of becoming infected (even though we are all fully vaccinated.)
 

I honestly don’t see things improving by the end of the year to the point that MSC drops all of these requirements   
If you’re already disappointed and having second thoughts about all of the new polices and requirements don’t make that final payment. Just cancel and wait until things go back to pre pandemic normal (if that’s even possible)

 

I wouldn’t want MSC or any cruise company holding onto hundreds if not thousands of dollars of my money. 
 

They’re all just trying to stay afloat at this point. If they start having large outbreaks on board we all know what’ll happen. 
 

The entire thing sucks for them and for us as consumers. 
 

I don't want to cancel, I want to go! 😢 I'm (and probably everyone) so tired of Covid and the division people are allowing over this vaccination thing. My friend works in the industry and she said they're just trying to get the dosing right for the younger kids and thinks they won't have it set until December which means probably well after the new year for younger kids to start getting it. I wish people would stop panicking and treat our kids like the humans they are and not as a vaccination statistic.

I'm so bummed about all these changes. I hate that they're treating my kid like a leper. We switched our cruise to MSC because of their previous vaccination status match. 
Final payment is due on Monday for our Nov cruise. I was just about to call and see if I could upgrade to a balcony (prices went down so I got excited). But now I see why prices went down.
We have friends that live in Jamaica and now if MSC is going to force us to purchase excursions through them (which aren't even available online btw) we won't be able to visit. 😞

2 hours ago, wemjam said:

Unvaccinated kids can cruise, as long as you receive an exception from Carnival (which are very limited and people aren't finding out until the last minute if approved from what I have been reading).  And they CAN disembark - with the caveat that you do a "bubble tour" only.  These are being offered through the shore excursion desk (and prior to boarding on line).  These bubble tours keep you together in a group and away from other people.  Anyone not vaccinated can only do these tours, they can not venture out on their own in port or partake in other Carnival excursions that are not "bubble".

 

This is the current set up right now, things are changing often, but don't expect this one to for a short while at least.

Yeah, she said exemptions weren't guaranteed and it is frustrating they don't allow you to apply right as you book. I didn't want to spend a lot of money doing bubble tours only. One of our ports was Amber Cove and from what I'm hearing from current cruisers, the kids aren't even allowed there. 😞

We ate the $50pp admin fee and just applied the $600 leftover as FCC. She said we have two years to use it so hopefully by then there will be a vaccination for kids under 11 and/or things will have calmed down quite a bit more than they are now. We are booked on MSC now (kids 11 and under traveling with vax adults are considered fully vaxed pax thankfully), which I should have just done initially. Oh well, water under the bridge!

41 minutes ago, soccersharon said:

Your rate should be listed under “Guest Notes” on the bottom of your confirmation/invoice emailed to your by your TA or Carnival.

Thank you!! I booked under a military rate I guess lol. I called Carnival earlier today and she told me that she doesn't see anywhere in her guidelines that kids unable to receive the vaccination would not be allowed to disembark in ports. But cruisers on this form are saying otherwise.
She said the $838 cancellation fee could be applied as a FCC minus the $50pp admin fee. So I think that is what we are going to do. My husband had told me to just book MSC (before I booked this Carnival one), and for once I should have listened to him! They treat kids unable to receive the vaccination as fully vaccinated, thankfully.

We booked on Carnival's website and I have no idea what rate I booked. When I clicked cancellation it says we have an $838 penalty. Our cruise is October 11th. I had to pay in full when I booked, they did not give me any other choice. After reading all the restrictions for kids people are talking about on this forum (such as not even being allowed off the ship in port like *****???)  I want to move to a line with less restrictions, so the penalty is making me quite frustrated given people on here are saying they haven't paid final payments yet but we were not given the choice. Does anyone know where I look to find the rate I booked?

Yep, they wait 15 minutes. They have plenty of delicious breads to fill you up while you wait! I think it was Cozumel the ship left late (well every port, lol) and we ran quite literally, from our tour to shower and change and we slipped into the dining room slightly after the 15 minute mark. I think they held the doors a bit longer as most of the ship excursions were late returning. We really enjoyed our table mates and servers Alex and Williams so we ate every night in the MDR.

Sounds good does it go all the way around the ship?? I find treadmill running so boring

It doesn't but was long enough that it wasn't terrible turning around and running back and forth. Carnival lines have an actual jogging track but this was better than the treadmill. I'm so bad at running on a treadmill, I teeter and totter! And I didn't keep up my fitness routine onboard like I planned so I only went a few times. Oops! :o

Yes, they do have Spinning classes in the gym. On Splendida in the Med Sea, they were 10 Euros, discounted to 5 Euros for Aurea experience guests. You need to sign up at the Spa reception. The class is cancelled if there are less than 5 participants.

 

There is a power walking track, as Skier52 pointed out. It's on deck 15 but does not go all the way around. But, if you look at deck 7 (Apollo), there is a promenade deck that goes around. I suspect that if you get there early morning, then you should be alone... with other runners.

Yes, deck 7 was good for jogging. The "jogging track" on deck 15 is a joke. I think they just say that to make you believe (as I did) they actually have a dedicated jogging area. That deck fills with chairs during the day and people at night. But deck 7 next to the life boats was perfect for jogging.

I would wait and let the TA deal with it. MSC are just slow to get back to TAs and they won't engage with you, anyway.

 

I've made 2 bookings directly with MSC today as I'm not happy with the TAs I've used for our 2 upcoming cruises - 1 reason being how slow it is to get anything sorted thru' a TA.

Ok I'll wait more patiently, haha. I've not been satisfied thus far with MSC. Mainly their website is frustrating! And now this. Oh well, we shall have fun regardless!

So my TA called me yesterday and said she called MSC and is waiting to hear back from a supervisor and she would call me when she got word from them. Should I just call MSC myself, I don't want to overstep but it seems weird not to have a response by now. There are plenty of cabins open to be moved into, very confusing. I just don't understand how we got moved to a different cabin in two seconds even though we didn't ask for that and now nothing.

Thank you everyone! Very helpful information, I really appreciate it!

Our favorite place for tacos is called El Cameron del Sazon. It is on Ave Benito Juarez between Ave 55 and Ave 60. Most of the taxi drivers seem to know exactly where it is. Apparently the fried shrimp tacos are incredible but I don't eat shrimp. All of the others that I have eaten were amazing. My favorite is the fried chicken.

 

 

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Awesome thank you!! I will be sure to check it out, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!:hearteyes:

Ok so for dining onboard the MDR and buffet are included with our cruise but are the specialty restaurants also included or is that an extra cost? Is that what OBC is used for? Should we purchase some of that ahead of time or do they charge everything to your account and you pay at the end much like a hotel?

The website, when I can get it to work, barely has any info about what to bring and expect. How do I found out what type of theme nights, formal nights, and activities that will be offered? Should I expect an email from MSC when it gets closer to sailing time (we leave end of July)?

Does anyone have any recommend tour companies to use for excursions aside from the ships? I found Jaital and they seem to have pretty good reviews. Any others?

After reading some of the threads in this community I'm scared to get off at Nassau for fear of missing the ship! :eek::') I have only cruised one time before and it was way back in the day, I went with my sister and it was all very casual so I'm not sure what to expect now. Thanks for your patience!