Abaddon

Did anyone hear anything about 2 passengers getting left in Labadee, Haiti on this cruising?

On 2/9/2023 at 10:03 AM, dl6996 said:

Just received an email that our 7 day cruise on Navigator for Oct 23, 2023 has been cancelled. It seems they decided to charter out the entire ship. Funny thing is they did the same thing last October! I wish they would plan these things a bit farther in advance. oh well.

Oh man that is terrible! Do they not understand that people have already planned time off from work. I would be super upset!!! 

Thank you, it worked.. Do you know if I can prepay gratuities?

 

You have to call them and have them add it on.

hi everyone, new to MSC and trying to figure out the drink packages. I am trying to get through to MSC on the phone 3 times so far and after 30 mins I have to hang up.

 

Is there a 15% gratuity added to the drink vouchers as well?

 

There is no gratuity when using the vouchers

We did get a bottle of mineral water the 2 times we did eat in the MDR at no charge with the fantastica experience.

You're supposed to book shows on the Seaside but every show we went to no one was at the door scanning cards so everyone just walked in.

 

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Where did they hold the muster drill?

 

Was it disorganized?

 

Long?

 

They held it on deck 5 & 6 and yes it was unorganized! Didn't last long thank god.

Do you have any other pictures of the room? We wanted to know if we could fit in a travel cot for the baby?

 

 

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You probably could but it will be tight, that's basically the whole room minus the chair and the TV. Not much room to move around and the way the TV is positioned only the people on the top beds can see it.

They look exactly like the ones on the Seaside, and most of the times the bartender just tossed them in a jar. I'd give it a try if it were me.

Here's a couple of an interior 4 person cabin with 2 pullman beds on the Seaside. The pullman beds have a maximum weight capacity of 300lbs. This is a fantastica interior cabin

 

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Directly from the MSC website

 

Children 11 and under at time of sailing cruise free on select sailings. Kids must sail as 3rd/4th guests when sharing a stateroom with 2 full-fare paying adults to qualify to cruise for free. Charges that apply (where applicable) for kids cruise free are taxes and port dues, flights and transfer fees, and add-ons.

Children from 12 - 17 years of age at the time of sailing travelling in a stateroom with two full fare-paying adults do not pay the cruise fare on select sailings in low and mid-season; they may pay the cruise fare in high season. This offer is subject to limited availability and must be reconfirmed at the time of booking. They must still pay taxes and port duties, insurance, flights and transfers (where applicable).

2-11 they charge $6.25 and 12 and older it's $12.50

I was on the 5/26-6/2 cruise and it was some spots on the ship with small leaks where they had put buckets down to catch the water. Can't remember where exactly though.

Here's one from May 28

 

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So, because I booked before May 1st, am I going to have to pay for tap water in the MDR?

 

While we'd probably drink tea if it's included, we don't need it and will be happy with water.

 

We have drink coupons with the Fantastica package, but, I'd rather not use them for water.

Was on the Seaside about 2 weeks ago and I didn't have a drink package just the 12 fantastica vouchers. They gave us bottled water at no charge and when I ordered sodas I kept asking the guy who do we give the vouchers to and they really didn't seem to care about the vouchers.

 

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Just going off of the kids cruise for free on MSC promotion, I'd say MSC. That was the reason I chose MSC for my yearly cruise.

I haven't been on a big cruise ship in Alaska but I've on a glacier cruise, and watching the glaciers break off, seeing humpback whales and killer whales is something you'll never forget.

 

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Review Part 4: Ports of Call

 

Tuesday: Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8am - 5:30pm

 

I arranged a private tour of the island through Bernard's Tours via the website, weeks before we traveled. We had to pay a deposit and pay the remaining balance when we arrived. They accept cash and credit card.

 

I would highly recommend them. They have different tours to choose from. I chose the private so it was just our family. We were able to choose any time to meet and I chose 9 am. We were able to stop and take photos at our pleasure. Our driver/ guide's name was Daniel. He was wonderful in pointing out sights of interests. He also had an ice chest full of water, sodas and rum punch. When ever we would stop he offered us more to drink. He also offered his car phone charger to keep my phone charged.

 

We toured both the French and Dutch side. Like I mentioned before we observed so much destruction from Hurricane Irma.

 

Some of the places we saw:

Orient Beach, Marigot, Harold Jack Hill, Ft. Louis, Oyster Pond, Friars Bay and Salt Pond. We stopped at the French and Dutch border. We even stopped at a place where we could feed iguanas. No charge, tips only.

 

We stopped for lunch at the Sunset Bar at Maho Beach on our request. This was so much fun!! We timed it perfectly to see the bigger planes land. The biggest plane that landed was a Delta. Yes, my husband was out there and got sand blasted. It was all part of the thrill.

 

We stopped for some shopping time in Philipsburg on Front Street.

 

Our last stop was the Amsterdam Cheese and Liquor Store. The owner was very nice and the cheese samples were delicious. We bought some cheese and Dutch cookies to bring home.

 

The island is known for their Guavaberry Rum. There was a lady outside the shop giving out samples, but they were mixed with coconut. I don't care for coconut so she offered me a straight shot. That stuff is strong, but good.

 

Our driver then took us back to the ship. It was a very nice day! Again, I highly recommend Bernard's.

 

Wednesday: San Juan, Puerto Rico 7am - 3:30pm

 

I emailed the Puerto Rico Tourism Company to request a local map. They mailed me by US postal two maps and a Puerto Rico Places To Go book.

 

I also found a website that laid out a Self-Guided Walking Tour of Old San Juan.

PuertoRicoDayTrips.com

 

I used these two resources to plan our day. We were able to see a lot, but not everything we wanted. We wished this port day was longer.

 

Friday: Nassau, Bahamas

8am - 3:30pm

 

We have been to Nassau several times. This trip I was determined for us to go see the Water Tower, Queen's Staircase and Fort Fincastle.

 

Our original plan was to take a taxi to the Fort and walk back down to the ship. I just have to laugh... It was Nassau's Labor Day and all the shops were closed. Couldn't catch a taxi and there was a huge parade and celebration going on all day on Bay Street. It felt like the entire island was there. It was good fun to watch and listen to the bands and the whistles. But, this meant if we were going to stick with our plans we would have to walk up that big hill and back down to the ship.

 

We got great directions from a police officer and we were on our way. As, we were walking up we would get encouragement from locals keep going, you're almost there etc. We never felt unsafe.

 

I am so happy that we did this and it was worth it! Now we can mark it off of our list. The walk back to the ship was much easier. I just didn't think I would be able to walk up those 66 stairs and that's why we walked around the long way up the hill. It really was a nice walk.

 

If you have any questions I will try to answer. [emoji4]

The labor day parade was awesome as it was unexpected

 

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Also, I have a couple questions:

Do you recall when were the formal nights?

Did people really dress white on one night?

I think all the sea days are formal nights and people did wear white on one of those nights.

 

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Just wondering how did it go? Are the assigned times enforced?

No they aren't, my assigned time was 3:30pm but I got there at 11 and checked in. Boarded around 12:30.

 

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Missthesea - looks like the hangers in the closet are like those in cheap hotels....the kind without hooks that you could actually remove from the closet and use them to hang up items, say, on the shower laundry line. True?

No you can remove them, they have hooks on them.

 

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They are very small lol.

 

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Thanks

Oh another thing I did like was the food in the buffet. It was so much stuff that I had never tried before. And if you didn't like all of that you always had the go to food that you knew would be good like hot dogs, burgers, pizza and fries. Oh and let me tell you the fries are great, I mean seriously who knew fries on a ship could be this good lol. Now let's talk about the main dining room...the menu is very very limited, I mean maybe 5 or so entrees to choose from and the time it takes to actually get your food was ridiculous. One day we had a show to go to at 6:45 and our dining time was 5:15 so we decided to go to the main dining room that night, what a mistake that was. We sat down at our table about 5:10 and placed our orders around 5:20. It took more than a hour to get our food and we basically had to rush and eat and we almost missed our show. So what I'm saying is the buffet has much better food and is a lot faster.

 

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Thanks for your interesting review! Just wondering-

1) What rude behavior did you experience on MSC?

2) How are the shows and entertainment different?

3) You won't be cruising MSC ever again--is this because of the many rude co-passengers or boring 1st 2 days or different type of shows and entertainment ?

 

1. They were a few instances but I'll give you this 1 example. A show starts at 8pm, so people usually start lining up around 7:25 when the first show is about to end. So you have a pretty nice line once its time to go in, then you have this group of people who show up right as we are about to go in who don't speak english, or rather conveniently don't speak english at that time who just try to bypass everyone who is in line and act like they don't understand how a line works. They don't say excuse me when they bump into you, step on your foot or the like. Obviously everyone will have different experiences.

 

2. The shows are more classy, like just sit down and clap at everything lol. People would clap at every little thing, where as on other cruise lines the shows are more upbeat and fun. I for one don't want to watch shows where they are singing and performing in every language but english. If you're going to make a ship and say it's for the american market then it should be for the american market.

 

3. This was my first MSC cruise and the thing that made me try them out was the price. I will have fun on any cruise no matter the people on it or the entertainment they provide but when I'm on vacation I want to have fun. I never like sea days on any ship but the 2 sea days right at the start were so long and boring lol. The 5D theater was fun but it was only 5 minutes, if they made that a little longer then it would be worth the money. I enjoyed using up my 12 fantastica vouchers though lol.

 

Like I said there is absolutely nothing wrong with the cruise, it just won't be for everybody. The staff all over the ship were always nice and polite, and the ship is definitely beautiful. Me and my wife enjoyed ourselves but will just stick to Norwegian, RC or Carnival from now on.

Mine was $110 with a separate $25 at the local court house.

 

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