Eli_6

The Havana area on the Vista class (Vista, Pan, and Horizon) is really big and has its own bar, a pool, and two huge hot tubs. The entire area is huge. The one on the Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee is on the side of the boat, small, and just has one small hot tub. Not even worth doing Havana area on that class of ships. And we stayed in an Excel suite and the Loft 19 isn't that great either.

That is AMAZING news!

Is this a "for sure"? I saw a post about this a week or two ago on the MSC page but I didn't think it was definite. I will be so ecstatic if this comes to fruition! Vista has been our "go to" because they have the Havana area, but CCL has pulled her out of Galveston as of winter 2023 and the Havana area on Jubilee just isn't the same. Would love to cruise MSC in the Yacht Club.

I would love it if MSC comes to Galveston!

I saw this so much on the Pride this summer. I was left scratching my head.

I am seriously considering transitioning to MSC Yacht Club or Celebrity for any cruise where I have to get on a plane after this summer. Unfortunately, right now it is pretty much Carnival or Royal if I am cruising from home (i.e. Galveston). My husband won't step foot on NCL after he got noro on an NCL cruise and Disney comes in only a few times a year...so I think you could charter a yacht for the price of the handful of Galveston sailings they have. In my experience, Disney prices are more than any other cruise major cruise line.

To clarify, I didn't mean this in a snarky way. I just was saying for anyone who encounters this in the future. I asked about this in the past because my Mom gets casino offers but she is also elderly and has health issues so any time we book her a cruise, it is 50/50 whether she will end up going.

You should have just "no showed" rather than canceled. She should have just checked in and said you were coming later.

This is one reason I kept my maiden name once I got married. I already had degrees, a law license, was published, good credit, etc. in my maiden name and didn't want to confuse anything. Then my brother married a woman (who also was a lawyer) with my same first name and now there are TWO of us and we get confused. Even worse, I used to live at my brother's house before he got married so we have a record of the same address. I even get emails for her from her dentist's office. Now she shows up on my credit history as an alias like I am trying to scam someone when, in reality, we are two different people!!!

They also started allowing the Grand Suites to use the Havana area, too, which was originally not a bonus in the Vista's early days. Frankly, when I have cruised in Havana it never seems very busy at all. Almost weirdly so at times. There have been times when I was the only person out there and I honestly felt a little strange.

The Havana area was not very busy on the Vista (but was popular in terms of bookings--which they could upcharge for) so when they built Horizon, they added a few more of the aft view and corner balcony cabins. Otherwise, it is the same. People can look down on you from the pool on the lido deck in the Havana area anyway so it doesn't really matter if the people in balconies on deck 8 and 9 can see you. None of those balconies have much privacy so don't go out on them naked.

I don't know about Long Beach, but I disagree on Galveston. The only ones cruising regularly are RCCL and Carnival. Disney and NCL are only there part of the year and how many of tens of millions of people live within driving distance? My prices for Galveston are always higher than everywhere else.

I just got an ad for Icon of the Seas. It looks incredible, but then I read it will carry 10,000 including crew. No, thank you! That's insane. I want to book the Jubilee, but am scared because I thought MG was too full at 65 or 70 percent capacity or whatever it was in August 2021.

I guess I am the odd man out in that I really enjoy laying in bed and watching classic movies. I do not think that Europe had the pay per view movies or the recent movies either. We were so worn out by the "go-go-go" in port every day and having to get up at 5 or 6 am to get a tender ticket that the last thing I wanted to was go out and watch a show at night. We didn't even make it to dinner a couple of nights We ended up instead watching the travel channel which was basically nothing but that show on hauntings. And certainly no one was downloading anything off the internet given its slow speed.

I can't help but think that the issue is that the heat is broken and CCL isn't fixing it rather than the boat not having heat at all... I believe that is what the guests are being told, but I have been on the Pride when it was north of Scotland when it was cold and it had heat.

That is terrible! I am so sorry you went through this. I will definitely think twice before booking Legend on a cold weather sailing.

Erm...no.

Yup, they are for guests! Even have nice carpet in the same colors as the Havana area.

There are stairs at the back of decks 6 and 7 making access to the Havana area pretty easy unless you have trouble with stairs. I still would probably go with deck 5, though, unless you are literally sharing a wall with the club.

Thanks for the info. I am guessing the lack of TCM was just a Europe issue... And I agree that the channel selections on Carnival are not the best.

Do you feel like it is super packed?

Well, if you don't sign them up online when you check in, I *think* you can still use it. I highly doubt they will tell you that you can't. However, it is part of the check in process and takes about 20 extra seconds so I don't see why you wouldn't do that rather than take time away from your cruise once you are on board...

Unless they change it when it goes into dry dock, only the aft balconies, corner "Vista" balconies and premium balconies on decks 6 and 7 are part of the Havana area. I don't think (although I could be wrong) there are any regular balconies even on the other ships...

I have had my cruises disappear before and had to re-add them using the booking number.

I was watching Turner Classic Movies on tv and thinking about how on my last cruise (on the Pride in Europe) they didn't have it. I was wondering if this was something specific to Europe (as when I was on land they didn't have TCM either) or if this was a budget cut. I so rarely get to lie in bed and enjoy watching TCM at home (kids and all) that I really enjoy it when we go on a cruise.