Agrajag27

I assumed it was less the port and more the cruise line. I would love to be able to get aboard sooner and perhaps decorate our door (and that of our friends who have no idea about 90% of the benefits they're about to experience) before they get there later. Then we assume we can head out to meet them when they get there and escort them around.

One other question: We have a 12pm-1pm boarding time (Aurea experience). Can we show up earlier to get on the boat earlier or is that the earliest we will get on?

Does anyone know if you MUST wait until you board to connect a credit card to your room (via the kiosks I hear about) or can you provide one via the app and/or website to skip that step?

Can anyone elaborate on how seats are assigned to shows? Is it purely first-come/first-served? Seems crazy for up to 1,200 people.

That explains it. I grew up playing ice hockey and people couldn't understand why we'd often practice in light gear, often as little as a t-shirt and still be hot. What is DW? Thanks for this. We're looking for unique things, so this sounds like a major positive. Any comment on the types of showers or what the heck a Geyser Kneipp might be?

My thinking is to do a bunch of reservations at once; for the spa, for special dinners, for shows, etc.

Are all reservations able to be done easily, even the first day? I don't mean are they easy to get. Are they easy to try to get, or does one need to go to Guest Services or such, which would go against the many warnings of avoiding there on the first day or two.

Great idea for that period before we leave port.

Rep assures me that the Aurea Experience allows us to book the Thermal Suite without having to pay anything else, all cruise. That could be more clear on the website. If I had one major complaint as a new cruiser, their website developer needs to get a talking-to. So many things are wrong on it, missing, or not clear.

This last rep said it's what reps do when they don't know the answer to a problem. Not good.

Phew. Had a near-disaster. I was on with a rep and going over some things and I mentioned that none of my add-ons are showing in the web interface. She said, "What add-ons?" I explained we paid $140 for an upgrade to Premium drinks package and she said, "I don't see that anywhere." I KNOW it was there. So I find it on my first confirmation. I explain it. She digs deeper and we realize someone on their side just refunded it for no reason. At first she was like, "Well, what if the price is higher now?" Uh, that's not my problem. So she finally got the okay to just add it back in. Good thing I saw that, but it STILL isn't appearing in the add-ons section of the web interface.

Okay, so what about these Thermal options we have (as Aura Experience). It appears that we get ACCESS to this section due to being at least Aurea What the heck are these things (no one at MSC could tell me): -Dark/Bright Sensory Steam Bath Sounds like a steam room, but dark/bright "sensory"? Marketing? -Geyser Kneipp WHAT?! If you google it you get some Kneipp company that sells facial/body products. -Finnish Sauna Assuming this is a "sauna". -Emotional showers I assume they beat bad passengers above me and I get to shower in their tears? Seriously, I assume this is perhaps not a service you book, but one type of shower after the sauna? -Salt Relax Sounds like a float tank which, if so, I fell in love with on a recent vacation. -Snow Room This one I don't get. How does someone spend more than 12 seconds in a room filled with snow? -Heated benches FINALLY. Something that sounds like something obvious. -Blower pool Jacuzzi pool perhaps? It also seems unclear if we can use this at ALL without a pass/paying something. I think we have to pay something. They said we can get a couple pass for like $480 for the duration, but is that unlimited access (with reservations) during the cruise?

Now THAT is going to come in handy! WOW. The spreadsheet alone is a gold-mine.

I've watched about two dozen already. Seeing a ton.

Would love that. Good way to start the day. Plus we have that other couple, so a good way to reorient for the day. The only bummer we had is they recommended a specific pair of rooms to keep us away from noise (very nice rep) and the SLIGHT bummer is that we're in rooms with one room between us and that adjoins to our room. Soooo close. In the end, irrelevant. Now that would be ideal, of course.