Homosassa

In the "You can't make this stuff up" category: I have a cousin from Kansas that spent two weeks touring various regions of Italy. Her main complaint was that she could find any good Italian food, especially pizza, that matched what she eats in Kansas (Lol - DeFazio's and Pizza Hut are her standards for excellence).

Try and find the British breakfast section in the buffet. There will be excellent corned beef hash that matches that available at home in New England.

Coffee plantations in Costa Rica and Guatemala are also an education. One thing that will be learned is why the coffee growers snigger when labeling coffee beans as "organic."

Unfortunately, many confuse the well thought out price structure of MSC with its attendant control of the fare games so dear to so many passengers hearts with being "cheap" or "budget." Many also do not realize that it is not their favorite low end US cruise line and instead is an Italian line that serves an international clientele that expects a consistent on board experience no matter where the embarkation port. The bad reviews come from those who can not appreciate the quality of the food being served because of lack of exposure to Italian cuisine or other international menu offerings for the passenger groups on board or are unuse to receiving professional and courteous guest service in line with travel outside the US. A good indication of whether one will be happy on MSC is to judge one's travel sophistication as to being aware that standards often higher, but different than the lower tier US mass market lines (Carnival, NCL, Royal Caribbean) are being offered and the one's ability to learn from the experience.

What were the posted dinner hours for the buffet (easily available to find on the app, printed schedule in your cabin, or outside the buffet doors)? If the buffet was not scheduled to be open until 6 PM, then I am confused why one expect it to be open at 5PM?

LOL - I recently cancelled a cruise with Celebrity ten days before embarkation and received back every penny of the cruise fare, taxes, fees and purchased excursions. However, without the specific details of the situation, my experience is of no value to anyone unless the exact same conditions of the cancellation exist.

Again, unclear as to the details on how the cruise was booked and any booking conditions for the booking. Again, we can not give any advice based on what you may "believe" for the conditions under which she booked.

Love the "asking for a friend" post that lacks information but seems to want a response based on the unknown facts. Your friend needs to check with whoever she booked the trip with and check the details on any contract she may have agreed to with the booking agent.

What is not "Genuine?" Do you think I am an AI bot? My knowledge of Italian cuisine ( preparation? regional differences?)? My experience on MSC with fellow cruisers who are not experienced in different cultures? By the way, your pasta dish looks identical to the linguine I served the other day with shrimp. Made the dish as I learned from one of the straight off boat relatives from Naples. I'm sorry (not) that my answer to your request to explain the dish you received doesn't meet your preconceived idea of what you ordered.

Your assigned dining time is "fixed" and not an "open dining period. One is expected to be at the dining room within a certain amount of time of the start time of the seating or one will be turned away.

Are you familiar with the ice cream Standards of Identity (21 CFR 135.110) as currently written as opposed to what was originally recognized as the standard for ice cream ingredients? Celebrity's ice cream is ice cream and may just contain less of the "junk" ingredients, such as gums and milk solids, which are now allowed to give artificially the mouth feed of an ice cream made with the original ingredients of cream and sugar. Breyer's ice cream was a true ice cream (no gums or other emulsifiers, milk solids, etc) but had to chance their formulation to compete with the artificially induced mouth feel of brands such as Edy's and other brands regarded as "premium." Many people wouldn't recognize a quality ice cream (no or minimal use of the emulsifiers and milk derivatives used to boost the milk fat content) because they have never had real ice cream.

"Ay, there's the rub." Most people forget there is another country involved with their own immigration and custom authorities. One needs to be able to meet that country's C&I laws for entering the country and leaving the country by air. There is also the problem where there may not be any direct flights back to the US from the country and where, especially in small island nations such as in the Caribbean, water transportation or inter-island air hop is needed to reach such a flight that most likely will be located in a different country with their own C&I requirements.

OP, you appear to be talking about a cruise a year from now, April 2025. Is that correct? It is common across the cruise line website world that general or specific excursion information for any port on any cruise line may disappear or be limited when contracts for the tour operators expired and new contracts between a cruise line and port tour operators are being negotiated and signed. Excursion information will reappear when the information is available.

To continue the information that goes with this statement: The shallow channel is to allow only some shallow draft vessels out and let those vessels helping with clearing the wreckage in.

It was also on the news here in the Tampa Bay area. The complicated clearance of tons of debris from the water has to occur before the ship can be moved. It is going to be a long process. The priority is to get a way to allow a limit amount of the economically important cargo to flow in and out of the port. Read between the lines: cruise ships are not the top of the list and, when compared to the economic impact of the cargo port not being open, doesn't make that big of a blip.

Dress up by all means. MSC has many international guests that believe in dressing for dinner. They also wear a level of "casual" dress throughout the day that looks like the country club casual that is required on a casual night. One can easily pick out the US citizens used to "freestyle" standards.

It doesn't matter what happened that prompted the call for a blood donor. It is no one else's business.

Exactly. We have had two Celebrity cruises after Covid where we booked an interior or oceanview cabin on a low passenger deck. Both times our cabin was reassigned because the cabin was taken to be available for quarantine purposes.

My most recent Celebrity cruise (cruise line mentioned in ten year old experience post) stopping in Colombia was two months ago. No one was allowed to embark in Tampa without a passport.

You need to check with Carnival for their documentation requirements for your cruise. It doesn't matter what you may be told on this cruise board; the cruise line has the final say.

Just a warning about the hop on hop off trolley: If you are in Key West when there is a heavy influx of tourists (such as cruise ship passengers), you may find it impossible to hop back on the trolley or will need to wait for a long time for a space to be available.

Your experience was ten years ago and no longer reflects Celebrity's requirement for stops in Cartagena. A passport is required.

That is true for entry to any US government facility. However for the Nay Pier in Key West, access is strictly controlled in that the shuttle is the only allowable means of transiting the base from the pier to the street gate or the gate to the pier (no walking). For the shuttle, a government issue ID must be shown to pass through the gates. For US citizens, that means the form of photo ID that is acceptable for a close loop cruise. For others, it may only be the passport. In any case, the ship would have told passengers leaving the ship (numerous times, in numerous places, orally and written) what was required. I find it hard to believe that someone would leave the ship in Key West with only the ship's card and not a wallet or purse where there would be a form of government issue photo ID. Of course, the non-US citizen may have had diffferent ID requirements.

This was your problem. You did not take the required government issued ID card (such as a driver's license) that was required to gain entry to the pier. The need for the ID is a common requirement at many ports of call. There are times they will be checked and times the ship's card is all that is needed. In Key West, I have had the ID checked for the Navy Pier and the pier at the end of Front Steet.

I don't see how one would have the opportunity to leave the excursion as an excursion that includes travel time from Red Hook to any Manhattan locations and back out to either LGA or JFK has to allow travel time of at least two hours (Red Hook - Manhattan-airport). The sightseeing is most like a drive by of having locations pointed out to one through the windows as one crawls through the stop lights and one way streets of Manhattan.