New@Cruisin

Hello,

We are booked on VV Resilient Lady in June (for Greek Island Glow). I am looking for a full list of shows with description. Do we also need to book our seats and if yes, do we have to wait until we're on the ship or can we book in advance like restaurant ? TIA.

Anyone interested in this cruise ?

June 4 to 11, 2023

Greek Island Glow

On Resilient Lady

https://virg.in/oVBP

On 9/19/2022 at 8:44 AM, jamesv2811 said:

I think the greek itineraries look great! We’re considering one as well, cruising around Greece is a great way of seeing that part of the world.

 

I think after the issues they had with the first round of Resilient Lady cancellations I’d be surprised if was delayed again to be honest. 
 

Main money saving advice is to take part in the sailor loot referrals on here as much as possible, following the link on here and linking up bookings with anyone already booked. We had $650 on our recent voyage and it was amazing help.

Hello, we just booked the Greek Island Glow on Resilient Lady yesterday for June 2023.
I am not aware of the Sailot Loot program. How does it work and is it too late now that we've booked ?
Thank you !

12 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

Thanks for the very fair and balanced review - especially the advice about the buffet and shows.  We leave tomorrow - same ports.  (We did the cave tubing with that company years ago - really fun and a well operated independent excursion company. )

Enjoy your cruise. Wish I would go back already 🙂

12 hours ago, KittyCruz said:

Thanks for your review! We're a week out and looking forward.  Also have the easy drink package and delighted to know prosecco is included, do you have drink menu photos? Or info on the white wines?

Happy cruising ! No, sorry, no picture of the drink menu...

We were there last week and only a few cabanas were used. They are further from the beach, more in the back

Long post ahead...

We got off the MSC Meraviglia this Sunday so our cruise was from Feb 2 to Feb 9. We had a grrrrrrrrrrrreat time ! This was our 11th cruise. We sailed with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian before. If I had to order them by my own personal preference, that would be 1. Royal Caribbean, 2. Norwegian, 3. MSC and 4. Carnival. But again, this is my own opinion. But overall, we loved it. I mean, come on, you’re on a cruise; I’m one to look at the positive side of things and not let the less positive elements affect me. So if you’re looking for a bad review, this will not be the one… On that note, we overheard people in an elevator one night and people were complaining that they really did not like the ship, that it was dark, felt closed out etc. I was surprised as I didn’t feel that at all. We loved the ship, it really is beautiful. We took lots of nice pictures in the famous Swarovski staircases. We never really felt crowded as there are so many different areas to hold the guests. Of course, when you get out of the Broadway theatre after the show, everybody tries to get out at the same time so it is to be expected. There really is something for everybody. We went to the TV Studio to see karaoke and it was really popular and guests who were participating were great. Takes a lot of courage that I don’t have. Kudos to them.

Stateroom: We had a Fantastica balcony cabin on the 11th floor. Size compares to other lines. Balcony seemed a bit smaller. Room was clean, bed was comfortable. Shower had great water pressure. So overall, all good !

Food: We had a 6:30 PM table in Panorama Dining Room and had a wonderful ocean view. Everything we ate was pretty good. Not amazing but good. Some nights, I had issued picking something from the menu as the choices were limited but overall, it’s positive. We ate the 5$ fish and chips at the Brass Anchor Pub on the first sea day and it was really really good. We also ate the buffet for lunches and it’s a great buffet with many different stations offering a lot of options. There are 2 Marketplace buffets offering pretty much the same dishes when you get there. So once you go through the door, pass the first buffet area which gets pretty crowdy and keep walking to the back of the ship for the 2nd buffet much less crowded and nice sitting tables outside. Having breakfast outside with these amazing ocean views is worth it ! You can get water, 4-5 kinds of juice, plus coffee, hot water and tea at all times.

Drink Package: We had the Easy Package and felt we had our money’s worth. We’re not heavy drinkers but had Prosecco, wine, beer, specialty coffees all week which was nice. The package is also valid on Ocean Cay so had a couple of nice tropical drinks there too. I simply asked for a tropical drink that would be included in my package and had no issues.

Service: We had very good service everywhere. In the dining room, we noticed that the head waiter and his assistant were arguing a lot. It didn’t affect us nor their service but it just got a little bit annoying. But like in any restaurant or bar you go, some people ‘have it’ more than others. No big deal really…

Shows: Broadway theatre gets really full for the 8:30 PM show so you really need to make your reservations, even if it’s free, and get there early to get good seats. We were wowed by the shows. Honestly, I would have paid to watch each of the shows, except for Virtual which was a lot more basic. The magician show was good but we've seen all these tricks. The shows with singers and dancers are really outstanding ! We also attended both Cirque du Soleil shows and loved them. As people from the Montreal area where the Cirque was founded, we simply could not miss it 🙂

MSC for me app: The app works great and gives you your own personal schedule based on your reservations and bookings. It is also great to communicate with your friends for free, without the internet package. Just download the app and once you’re on the ship and connects to their wifi, you need to create a profile and then scan your friends profile to add them for the chat. Once you figure it out, it works out great !

Visited ports: We did Costa Maya, Belize, Roatan and were lucky enough to stop at Ocean Cay. We already did all the other ports before, except Ocean Cay of course. In Costa Maya, we exited the port and got a cab to Mahahual and then picked a place at the beach. Water is calm and beautiful, no seaweed. We had a nice lunch on the beach. We were really looking for our stop in Belize as we had book cave tubing with Cave Tubing dot com - Butts Up again. It was our 3rd time with them and they sure delivered again this time. We had an amazing time. River is beautiful and caves are amazing. They provided tamales for lunch after. I highly recommend them and this excursion. The owner has a team of local people who are working hard to give us a great experience. Yhony the owner has been in business for about 16 years and as his business expands, he is helping families and local economy so encourage them ! In Roatan, we booked with a local operator for a beach day at Bananarama. It got really crowded but the beach is beautiful. It was a great day ! Ocean Cay is a great place but we can see that’s it’s brand new. Palm trees just got planted and other trees too so it will take some time to look its best. Day was overcast but we could still enjoy the amazing colours of the ocean. There are a lot of different beaches on the island to accommodate everybody. The lunch buffet got a very long line when everybody wanted lunch at the same obvious time and food was just ok. There are chairs everywhere so no issues there.

Embarkation/Disembarkation: I was expecting the worse because of the Super Bowl so we got to the port early, around 11:00 and traffic was not as worse as expected. We had to wait about an hour but it wasn’t too bad. I read that some people had to wait a long time but it wasn’t our case. We got on the ship around 12:30 an headed to Marketplace for lunch. Disembarkation was a total breeze, we simply walked off the ship when we were ready, so before our assigned time and never stopped walking until we got out of the terminal. No delay for luggage, no delay at customs. That was great !

So in conclusion, I got my money's worth. I am one that could never have a bad time on a cruise… I always make the best of my cruise time. Overall it was great, but not exceptional. I would definitely go back on the same ship or on another MSC ship if there is a good deal. Because ultimately, we want the best experience but also want the best deal...