Homosassa

MSC is classier than what their budget passengers expect. Those passengers are confused by many of the procedures that MSC has in place to control costs and yet maintain an on board experience that is consistent across their international fleet and embarkation ports. If you want catsup, you may need to ask for it. You will not see the pump containers common on bottom tier lines. Catsup will either be brought out to you in a small serving dish or a small single use bottle.

Yeah - not really unexpected given the Gale Warning posted for both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Hopefully the Captain has figured out a course to avoid the rougher water. The storm is expected to clear the Port Carnevale area by late Sunday afternoon.

The problem is the gale warning for the Atlantic extending from Florida north. The wind and waves would also affect Bermuda. Waiting until after Bermuda would make for a rough sail north and probably would significantly delay or prevent docking in NYC. As for the wedding party and their plans for Bermuda, whoever their planner was should have been savvy enough to warn them of the pitfalls of traveling by ship and assuming a port would be made on schedule.

How can that be? We are the generation of Rachel Carson, the First Earth Day Celebration and the rise of environmental science classes (majors) in college and universities, the creation of the EPA - the list could go on.

That is not a surprise given the current and predicted weather forecasts through early next week. There is a sub tropical storm system moving east through the Gulf of Mexico, across Florida and out over the Bahamas. Marine conditions are expected to become better around next Tuesday.

It's not. It will be becoming worse over the next few days.

That will probably be a rough ride. I won't be surprise if you post that Cozumel is being skipped and the Captain is working the ship's course over those two days to get back to Port Canaveral. National Weather Service Marine Forecast FZNT24 KNHC FZNT24 KNHC 141340 OFFNT4 Offshore Waters Forecast for the Gulf of Mexico NWS National Hurricane Center Miami, FL 840 AM EST Thu Dec 14 2023 Offshore Waters Forecast for the Gulf of Mexico Seas given as significant wave height, which is the average height of the highest 1/3 of the waves. Individual waves may be more than twice the significant wave height. GMZ001-150145 Synopsis for the Gulf of Mexico 840 AM EST Thu Dec 14 2023 SYNOPSIS Strong high pressure building across the eastern United States will support fresh to strong winds over the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico today. These winds will increase to gale force over portions of the NE Gulf tonight and Friday. Low pressure will form in the SW Gulf by Fri night then move NE and into Florida Sat night into Sun. This will cause additional gales in the NE Gulf. A cold front will trail from the low, exiting the Gulf early on Sun. Expect widespread showers and thunderstorms over most of the central and eastern Gulf through early Sun. Fresh to strong north winds will spill into the western Gulf Sat and Sat night behind the front. High pressure will then settle in over the area through early next week allowing for marine conditions to improve.

Correction: That should be sub tropical, not tropical. The storm predicted for Florida and the Bahamas is a sub tropical storm.

There is a tropical low pressure system swirling in the Gulf of Mexico east of your location. Wave height is forecasted to be 15-20 feet, winds gusts up to 50 mph. The system is moving due east and will be causing a sub tropical storm across Florida and the Bahamas over the next 5-6 days. I hope your next port is to the south or, if the Captain announces an itinerary change, you will know the reason.

Information for the backstory of any decisions made by the Captain over the next few days: I wouldn't expect good weather over the next five days. The heavy winds from yesterday and continuing today are from the convergence and phasing of the three jet streams (artic, temperate and sub tropical) that were reaching speeds of two hundred mph because of the one hundred fifty degree difference between the ground temperatures in Siberia and southern Asia. Adding to the fun is a low pressure system that has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is being swept to the east by the jet stream. Sub tropical storm conditions are expected to move across Florida and out to the Bahamas.

LOL - and your immediately assumption is that Carnival is the Walmart in the analogy.

For a shopping analogy, it is like going from Walmart to Dillard's for shopping. There is a different socioeconomic customer base and better quality in goods offered.

No, you wouldn't prefer to be at sea if you could see the weather maps that we are seeing on local forecasts showing wind speed and direction that colliding over the Bahamas. It would be a rough ride out here.

One of the stops our gold cart driver made on our impromptu tour was him taking us to one of his favorite spots to look out to the water. There was a whale out in the water.

Yes, my husband becomes ill from eating mushrooms, my daughter has an ep ipen worthy allergy to bananas with cross linked sensitivity to avocado and latex.

I have what seems to be a minority view of Icy Strait Point. While looking at glaciers can be a stunning experience, Icy Strait Point can offer a very different experience if one takes the time to relax, look, and doesn't require canned thrills. We stopped at ISP on a cruise which was a family reunion cruise and members of the family all had different experiences to talk about. Some went on an excursion that involved a nature walk with a guide to enjoy the beauty of the plant and wild life of the area. The guide was knowledgeable and they were fortunate enough to see brown bears. One, however, didn't need the excursion to see wild life. Bald eagles nested and thrived in the area. Seals were playing in the water by the cannery. Some passengers were enjoying walking the beach just before the ramp over to the visitors center. My daughter, an elementary school teacher, became aware that the profit made from certain items in the gift shop (children's books are some of the items) went directly to support the local school in Hoonah. She was planning to browse the books to see if she could find any books to add to her in class library. One of the women working the shop was a local teacher on the island. The two of them ended up talking for about a half hour hour about teaching students about other cultures and beliefs (my daughter's school has a large immigrant population, the island teacher has a class comprised of the local Huna Tingit children on the island). My daughter ended up several books recommended by her fellow teacher and both, according to her, gained insight to the challenges of their respective classrooms. My husband and I were in the group that just ambled our way around enjoying the beauty of the area. We also took a bus man's holiday by enjoying the salmon cannery museum as we had both spent time inspecting canneries during our careers. We also had a unique experience that was solely due to the fact that we were in no rush. After spending several hours just enjoying the uniqueness of the setting, we decided to take a shuttle golf cart back to the ship because my bad knee was starting to bother me. We went out to the shuttle station just outside the doors leading into the space that had the entrance to the gift shop. A golf cart came up to us and the driver said he would be right back because he needed to use the rest room or we could just get in and let him stop at the rest room. My response was "when you gotta go, you gotta go" and we didn't mind the stop as we were not in a hurry. When the driver came out, he was hailed by a fellow islander and asked for a ride back over to Hoonah. The driver agreed but told him he needed to drop us at the ship first unless we wanted to take a ride. We agreed to the ride. What followed was an hour and a half ride as we toured Hoonah and various other local places as a result of our interest in what life was like on an island in Alaska as we came from about just as far a climate from his home and still be in the US (Nature Coast, Florida). Despite the vast differences in climate, we found interesting correlations in our local experiences. He had grizzly bears come through his yard, we have Ocala black bears (also a bobcat, foxes, and coyotes) in our yard. He watched whales and seals in his local waters, we have manatees, alligators and otters in ours. We both have bald eagles nesting nearby. He has narrow minded cruise ship passengers to content with, we have snowbirds. It was a very enjoyable total of two hours. We all enjoyed ICP for various reasons (especially talking to the local people) and all agreed that we would enjoy a return visit.

Do you have the food allergies noted in your reservations? If you do, besides the care that will be taken in the Main Dining Room and the option to have food brought up to the buffet when the MDR is closed for breakfast and lunch, you may be able to discuss food options on Harvest Cay and the ship sponsored excursions.

I don't know if the OP is still reading, but here comes some unsolicited advice/opinion from a old (ahem - experienced) cruiser. OP, unfortunately, you have just had the opportunity to gain wisdom about cruising. At this point, there is a good sum of money invested in this cruise. If you cancel, all that money is lost unless you purchased travel insurance that includes "cancel for any reason" coverage. Go on the cruise and be willing to adapt to the restrictions you have placed on yourself by upgrading to the Yacht Club. This means if you wish to eat with your family members in the other cabins, you probably will be eating in the buffet or a specialty restaurant (additional charge). And take what you have learned about this time and either make sure that you read and understand all the information on a cruise's lines website (especially the ticket contract, Terms and Conditions or whatever name the cruise line uses for that information). Always research and read the small print included with an offers. Each cruise line is different. Never assume what one cruise lines does is the same as another cruise line. Matter of fact, never assume anything. You may want to find and use an experienced travel agent that knows the requirements on the different cruise lines. And learn from the posts on Cruise Critic across the various cruise lines from various posters complaining that they decided to upgrade after booking and are now unhappy about what the change did to their original booking. Find an itinerary you like at a price you like and book it. Don't go chasing price drops or upgrades. That is how problems develop.

I have no idea what website you are talking about. All Constellation cruises between now and the end of February are closed loop cruises from Tampa. Panama and Cartagena are ports of call on some of them. Passports are required by those countries. Even the link provided by VintageCheap includes the caveat "in most cases" when referring to closed loop cruises.

OP, read the MSC "Terms and Conditions" and "Conditions of Carriage" on the MSC website. You can not trade rooms. And before anyone suggests that you meet up on board with someone willing to swap ("just go to "Guest Services" and ask for new room keys"), this also is no permitted on board MSC. Your only choice is to either cancel (no refund on cabin fares) or use the Yacht Club cabins as others have suggested.

Going to pass by the assumption that it was "bad shrimp" in the Oceanview Cafe (really doubt this was the cause). If you went to medical and the doctor put you in quarantine in your cabin, the doctor could have notified the excursion desk and provided you with a medical justification to cancel your ship's excursion and a refund would have been given. Did you tell the doctor that you had a ship's excursion booked?

Thanks for posting this. I was about to post the same about what my daughter (BA/MAT at the time) was told about the Royal Caribbean Corporate policy for employment in the youth programs on board their ship. She was also told fingerprints would be needed for that in depth background check.

It is almost like Celebrity wanted us to know the information about a passport being required. This is from our cruise booking confirmation for the Constellation for the same itinerary in January: "Valid passports are required for all passengers, regardless of age. Passports must be valid for six (6) months after you disembark your cruise. Passport cards or photocopies of required documentation are not acceptable." Of course, our travel agent already told us about the passport requirement before booking. It doesn't matter what you may have in writing from a Customer Service representative. Did you make clear you were porting in Colombia and Panama and have the representative check those countries stated requirement for all cruise line passengers on a ship? Please report back if they let you on the ship without the required passport.

🙄

I am glad that it is. It wasn't for local meetings and day trips in Central Maryland Council back in the 1980s and 90s.