Davet2016

Hello all. We are sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale for the first time this September and was wondering if someone can suggest a hotel near the port. Looking for a nice place that isn't overly expensive. Thanks much!

The ship is stunning, the crew phenomenal, and the amount of outdoor space is spectacular. The buffet situation on the other hand...

Royal has a special needs form you fill out and send to them 30 days before your sailing and they will supply an extension cord and distilled water.

Whenever I get a sales call I will go into a sales pitch myself. I will ask them about the condition of the roof on his or her house because my company is offering excellent pricing along with favorable financing (I don't work with roofing or any type of construction). It usually doesn't take too long to get the person to hang up on me, plus, it's a lot of fun to screw with them.

We booked the shuttle to and from the airport through Royal Caribbean. It goes straight to the port from the airport. We are staying in Houston because of the cost of using a taxi or Uber to get to a hotel in Galveston. Staying in Houston and shuttling to the port was way less expensive than trying to stay in Galveston.

We are flying in the day before the cruise and have booked the round-trip shuttle from and back to the airport in Houston. By staying at the hotel on the airport property we can take the free shuttle from the airport to the hotel, and then back again to the airport the next day to catch shuttle to Galveston. By doing this we are avoiding the extra fees of being picked up at a hotel to go to Galveston.

Thanks for all the insight, everyone! I called a couple shuttle companies and one said there is an extra fee of $50.00 for hotel pick up and the other said $60.00. So, I canceled my hotel and booked the Marriott on the airport property. The hotel is a bit more expensive than the original, but the time saved and convenience is worth it. Thanks again!

Staying right next to Bush International.

We have never sailed from Galveston before and we are having trouble finding transportation from our hotel in Houston to the cruise port in Galveston. All the services we find are from the Houston airports to the cruise terminal. Any suggestions that would be cheaper than Uber would be greatly appreciated.

It does open your door and is used for all purchases aboard the ship. Not sure about the casino since we didn't use the casino the last two sailings.

All three of our MSC cruises did the announcements in five languages. Very annoying. On that Seashore sailing that we had the rude passengers, we met couples from England, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, and they too were amazed at the rudeness of the passengers.

Yes, I would say at least 70 percent were from Europe. It may have just been this sailing because we never experienced any problems with passengers on our 2019 Seaside or 2021 Meriviglia sailings. However, on this Seashore sailing all of the staff were phenomenal, the food was good (especially Buthcher's Cut and Ocean Cay), and the ship was beautiful. We will definitely sail with MSC again.

MarkandDonna, thats really interesting about the passengers out of Port Canaveral. October of 2022 we were on the Seashore out of Miami and the bulk of the passengers were not North American. Since they were pushy, rude, and had no idea how to line up for anything (especially elevators and buffets), we were actually relieved to have the cruise come to an end.

Was on Meraviglia in October of 2021. There was 786 guests on board the ship. It was awesome! No crowds, no waiting for anything, we had the Aurea spa to ourselves most times. If only every cruise could be the same. There was 3 crew members to every guest. Our cabin steward only had 5 cabins to service, so we spent many hours over the course of the cruise talking with her. The ship was stunning, although it doesn't have as much outdoor deck space as Seashore and Seaside.

Was on the Seashore October, 2022. Loved everything about the ship except the buffet situation. It only has the one buffet (unlike Seaside that has two) and the layout of it creates congestion. It wouldn't be so bad if there were grab and go options elswhere around the ship and if people would learn how to form orderly lines. A lot of line cutting, pushing through, reaching in front of you, etc. That buffet is a nightmare of epic proportions.