floor13

I’ll be on Norwegian Pearl ending in Trieste, Italy in June. I need to rent a car for 5 days. It looks like both Avis and Budget as well as Hertz are “close” to where the ship docks, but I can’t tell for certain as I’m not sure where the Pearl docks there. Has anybody rented a car to pick up or return in Trieste at/near the cruise port (not the airport)? Any advice is appreciated! I’m looking for convenience of getting myself and my copious amount of luggage from the ship to a car rental as easily as possible. I’ll be returning the car to Venice Airport 5 days later.

Good advice about taking in beverages, but in other forums here people have said they have been denied entry with beverages from outside the specialty restaurant even in cases where they have a package that covers the beverage but the specialty restaurant doesn't stock it. Like many things on cruise ships it often depends on who is working that day, how much attention they are paying and how much they care about making a fuss. We all know some cruise staff are lax and others are sticklers. In my case I only want a large bottle of Pellegrino with dinner and am not concerned about cocktails or beer or wine in that particular situation. I think this is probably going to be one of those depends-on-the-day type of scenarios.

I also was able to easily change my cabin and didn't encounter any problems. The rep seemed a little unsure about certain aspects of working within their software which made me concerned, but in the end it all worked out despite the call taking longer than it would with other cruise lines I've sailed. Everything associated with my booking and the pricing were unchanged.

My 2nd cruise with MSC but 1st time booking the unlimited specialty dining package. I'm aware of the restrictions regarding the menu choices, and the doesn't impact my decision because the pricing was excellent. However, does anybody know what beverages are available complimentary in the specialty restaurants because my "Easy Package" won't cover drinks while dining at the specialty restaurants. I'm assuming its tap water or iced tea and possibly lemonade? I'm not familiar with the complimentary drinks on MSC because I've never been in a position to need or want ant of them. Alternatively does anybody know what they charge for a large bottle of Pellegrino in the specialty restaurants because that's really the only non-complimentary beverage I would be ordering there? I booked the Easy Package long long ago when it was quite a bit less expensive, and upgrading now doesn't make sense because of my low original price from early 2022 vs the increased cost now for all drink packages. Also, I don't really need to upgrade to Easy Plus because I didn't see the benefit when I did that last time. Mainly I drink Pellegrino mineral water and espresso drinks with occasional diet sodas. Regarding drinks at the bars, I read here recently that now you can now pay just the difference between the $8 allowance for the Easy Package and whatever the cost of the drink you want which in my case would be the $10 drinks. Is that still true? When I sailed Divina last January that was not the case but someone who has sailed since then mentioned the policy has since changed. If that is the case then I certainly don't need to upgrade to Easy Plus because the occasions when I want something not covered by the package at $2 per drink doesn't come close to what my cost would now be to upgrade due to the low initial cost on the old prices.

I've heard conflicting reports on whether or not you can bring a drink into a specialty restaurant. Some have been told they cannot. Others have said it was allowed to slide by without comment. I think it is technically prohibited so you CAN be asked not to bring your drink into the restaurant. As with many things I've experienced on various cruises and cruise lines, not everything happens exactly the same way for everyone at every time. I was on MSC Divina in January and they were out of Ketel One vodka at all but 1 bar the entire cruise. I also saw them making drinks at one bar for people with the Easy package using Absolut vodka which is technically a higher category in the Easy Plus package. I did see "no-name" type of liquor at other bars. I upgraded my Easy package on the last MSC cruise and felt like I would have been totally fine with whatever vodka they used since there were times I had to get whatever the particular bar had and was pouring at the time. I definitely know the difference between cheap vodka and name brands, but my brand is Ketel One which is "supposed to be available" but was not available during my cruise. With mixed drinks I can be flexible on vodka choice which is why I got the Easy package. I don't do frozen drinks and really only drink vodka. If I knew for sure that I could get Ketel One I would be much more inclined to upgrade again. My current plan is just to get on board and see what vodkas the bars on board are actually stocking to see if Ketel One is available as it "should be". If so, then I don't mind burning a little more OBC on the upgrade.

What if any specialty restaurants were open for lunch on port days? My cruise is 6 nights to Bermuda so we'll be in port 3 days there and the rest are sea days. I realized that the surprisingly reasonably priced "unlimited" dining package might be priced that way because none of the specialty restaurants will be open the 3 lunches in port. I know it can vary from sailing to sailing and can depend on the ports visited, as well, but I'm curious what the lunch options will be for specialty restaurants with the package.

I'm solo so I'll still have $163 OBC to burn after paying daily gratuities with the rest. I already have the "unlimited" dining package, and there really isn't anything else that I spend money for on board. Although I did recently learn that on MSC you can apparently use OBC in the casino so that might change my mind on upgrading the drink package ahead of time. I just don't see any option online to upgrade the package and when I called last week they said they had no idea if or when I could do that. I'm thinking maybe that option will show up closer to the sailing date which is August 21. I booked my drink package before the price increase so it was a good deal. I think I'm ok with the Easy package but the fact that I can't use it in the specialty dining restaurants is one of the reasons I prefer to upgrade.

Does anybody know the cost once on-board to upgrade from an Easy package to an Easy Plus package? This would be Meraviglia NYC to Bermuda 6 day cruise in August. I have some on-board credits to use.

We're staying in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center which has a PATH train station right across the street which, with an easy transfer, can get us to the Bayonne, NJ 34th Street Station within 2-3 miles of the ship docked at Cape Liberty in about 30 minutes or so for $6 each or less. Has anybody ever done this for a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Cape Liberty? Never cruised out of Cape Liberty. I'm hoping there will be taxis, shuttles or available Uber/Lyft transportation available at or near this Bayonne 34th St Station to get us the final 2.4 miles across to the ship. Looks like there's a Costco, TJ Maxx etc all right there near the station so I would assume taxis or transportation would be hovering in the area especially on a cruise day?