Canadian_J

On other cruise lines, they will print you an additional card if you need access to another room (of course with that person's permission), but I've never heard of multiple room access on a single key.

This close to departure, I'd expect it's likely just sold out.

I believe its midnight Eastern. Good luck!

Thanks for all the posts, pictures, and questions answered! We board Reflection in two weeks, and it was great to read about your experience!

Smooth travels back to YYZ!

4 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

It's not just Carnival, but it does seem like Carnival is getting the worst of it.

 

I think part of it is Carnival doesn't enforce any of their rules, so things eventually boil over.

Agreed, enforcement is key. Whenever folks see news (or viral events) of folks breaking rules, there are inevitably some who are emboldened or at the least not deterred from doing the same. When we see examples of enforcement and companies taking a strong response, that can be some of the best deterred to others. Look at unruly passenger events with airlines, another very similar example. Folks need to know there are rules and that they'll be enforced. It deters people from breaking them and gives confidence to other passengers that they'll be safe.

1 minute ago, joe/jack said:

I’m beginning to wonder if the crime

that is on the news every night is now moving in to the cruise industry. 
What the hell is going? Is it just Carnival? 

To a degree, I don't think this is necessarily new. But with social media and connectivity where it is today, we certainly have the ability to know about more than ever. Pair that with a media industry who is highly incentivized to sensationalize, and you can see where I'm going with this. We never have known about every occurrence, nor should we. So I take these reports with a grain of salt.

I will say that whenever I'm in Florida and we turn on the news, we are genuinely surprised (every time!) that crime/murders are reported as just such a routine occurrence. Maybe that's the naïve sheltered Canadian in me, but we have to laugh (morbidly perhaps) and turn it off, it's not the kind of TV news we're used to. We aren't a lot better up here, but man it's different.

All I'll say about Carnival's clientele (and respectfully - as I'm still one of them - albeit less then I used to be) is that with a certain market comes a certain crowd. I work in aviation and we see it here too. It's not an absolute, you can get bad/crazy people anywhere. But when you have the lowest fares, you do get a set of people who don't know the rules or the consequences of them and tend to push them more (or differently) than you do with those who are more experienced or "well off" travelers. It also can have to do with the regions/routes. A short weekend cruise from a smaller homeport will always have more "issues" than a 9+ night cruise from a larger port that tends to attract a very different clientele (older, quieter, less fun, but usually less rowdy - for example).

And that's my two (Canadian) cents. Except we don't have a penny anymore, so you'll get a nickel, which is worth about two US pennies...cheers!

A friend who disembarked the Carnival Sunshine yesterday reported that a woman allegedly fatally stabbed her husband in their cabin. Apparently the authorities and coroner attended the ship's disembarkation in Charleston SC yesterday morning. Couldn't find anything in the news to verify it yet,  but apparently it was quite a scene at disembarkation. Busy few days...

It depends on your exact itinerary. If its back to back of similar durations (e.g., two 7 night cruises) then for the most part yes it probably will be very similar. Except for perhaps the comedians, who may come/go, but even then there may be some overlap if they are also B2B. 

On my B2B's, it's been nice knowing you can miss a show and catch it the following cruise, if you're too tired or have something else you'd rather do. But definitely set expectations appropriately, as a lot of things will indeed repeat.

There’s more people than ever who are entitled to Priority Boarding, I suspect this helps to organize it a bit better, even among all those with Priority. If you’ve picked one of the earliest slots, it’s likely all Priority folks with you. 

Thanks everyone for the quick responses. While it’s not a big thing, it was a nice touch and certainly was convenient for just a quick/light bite, especially while staying in a Havana room! I’ll set my expectations accordingly and report back after, for anyone else who might be wondering. 

On Vista class ships, is there still a small breakfast buffet at Ocean Plaza and breakfast bites at the Havana Bar? It’s been several years since we were on this class of ship, and we couldn’t find a definitive answer about either. Looking forward to being aboard the Horizon later this month! Thanks in advance!

On 1/5/2023 at 10:16 AM, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

Okay!  That is great!

So, Project 5 will be the Princess (or Party) band, and of course there is the Princess Orchestra onboard as well.   NOW I think I understand.  Thanks so much.  Posters like you are one of the great things about this board!

My pleasure 🙂 hope you have a fabulous cruise!

17 hours ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

Thanks so much!  Glad you posted!  I wonder if I can print those so I can turn them right side up and read them!  Glad to hear you enjoyed!  Makes me more excited to board soon.

 

Did you order any of the beef.  Was it good at all?  It sounds like they are still in the process of moving over to the new menus.  Maybe some of the mixed comments were because of switching over, and not having the new menus down-pat! 

 

I have also been hearing good comments about Project 5.  Looking forward to them onboard.   Were they in addition to the Ship's Band?  Maybe that means we will have two bands onboard.

 

For the most part we quite enjoyed the beef dishes we had. Quality was generally right where we expected it to be. The beef wellington was one of the best dinners I had all week!

Project 5 is in addition to the orchestra (band). I may be getting my terms wrong, but these are indeed two bands. Project 5 is more of a typical band, whereas the orchestra is more brass; if that makes sense. Both were excellent and complemented each other well, in our opinion.

I think this is all but one night. They should be in sequential order. Sorry some are upside down. The original files are not, so I can’t seem to adjust that!

On 12/26/2022 at 11:16 AM, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

Boarding day for Canadian!!!  Happy Cruising!

 

I am also interested if the ships band is the same as it has been.

So, any info about the food, the head chef and the ships band onboard would be so much appreciated!

We just got back from the 26-Dec sailing and overall had a fabulous time! I’ll try to post some menus separately, I think I got a photo of them each night. Overall, we found the food in the dining rooms to be excellent. A few meals we didn’t care for, but more often than not we left very satisfied. And we can be a bit picky with our dining! One server did remark that they are in the process of changing the menus. It sounds like the new ones are the ones with dinner/dessert on a single menu, while some evenings we had two separate menus for dinner/dessert. The only difference we found was a larger dessert selection and that dessert menu also listed specialty coffees and other after dinner liqueurs, which was helpful. 
 

One thing we found very strange though was the service between Allegro and Concerto (we had my time dining). Concerto was fabulous every night. Little to no line up for those with reservations, very prompt and attentive service. Without trying to rush or feeling rushed we were often through in less than 60min! Once or twice closer to 45!

However, Allegro was a mess. Line up of more than 30min even for those with reservations. Very frantic and disorganized hosts. And unfortunately that translates to some of the servers. Our two dinners there took nearly two hours, and had some incorrect items brought out. As a result, we moved future reservations to Concerto. Note: crew did remark this was the first time the ship has been this full since it’s restart, and that was even with 300 no-shows! They said they simply aren’t staffed for this. The following sailing apparently had about 1000 fewer guests. So I’m cognizant that this may have played into it. Which might be somewhat to be expected on holiday sailings. 
 

For entertainment, we were even more impressed than dining! Project 5 was the band and they were top notch, the lead singer could easily be on broadway. She also did a Whitney Houston tribute in the theatre that was fabulous. The steel pan player and the ship’s band were both also top notch. The piano player was underwhelming, always the same cliche songs night after night - though most of the crowd seemed to be enjoying it, maybe I’m just a bit of a piano bar snob! They also had some guest entertainers who were all top notch in the theatre. Overall, live music was in abundance and exceeded expectations significantly!

Hope this helps!

We board Regal on Monday. If you haven't gotten what you're looking for by then (or have any specific questions), please just post here and I'll try to respond!

On 10/2/2022 at 11:33 AM, Zephyr173 said:

Nice, Canadian_J. Enjoy your MSC cruise.

 

I read in your signature “Ocean Cay Weekender”.  Is that what it sounds like : YYZ-MCO-Ocean Cay and back on Sunday?

It absolutely is! Hoping to fly early Wednesday to MCO, booked a night near Port Canaveral, three night cruise (Ocean Cay overnight), then fly back to YYZ on Sunday. We've wanted to give them a try and the ship/port are both very appealing. With the price MSC offered us, we couldn't resist! I work for an airline, so that helps with the flight cost and economics of this. Normally I wouldn't do all this for such a short cruise!

I see you've sailed (or maybe are still aboard?) the Meraviglia. Hope it was a great cruise! If you have any tips or feedback, I'm all ears. Cheers!

Thanks for the quick answers! We’ve gone ahead and booked this Aurea balcony/suite haha looking forward to our first MSC cruise!

First time looking to potentially book an MSC Cruise, and looking for some help/clarification from those who are more familiar.

We have a category BL cabin (10202) on the Meraviglia on hold. Looking up the category code it looks to be a "Aurea Balcony". Does this include the usual advertised Aurea package perks by default? The MSC site (https://www.msccruisesusa.com/cruise/experiences-staterooms) seems a bit misleading as under the Auera Experience section is says "Available with Suites", which leads me to believe that perhaps these perks aren't offered with a balcony? 

Thanks in advance!

On 5/22/2022 at 9:43 AM, Jaymuxman said:

I am on the Regal now (and have been for the 2 prior weeks). I think “she” looks quite good but I am not one that goes around looking for a little rust here or there, a small stain on the carpet, or a smudge on the mirror that might not have been wiped off in the last 30 minutes. I find a crew that appears to be working very hard to make the passengers happy and think they have succeeded quite well in my opinion. 

I have encountered quite a few of the workers to be from the Ukraine. When you consider most of them to still have family in the Ukraine (or family that has migrated to Poland), they still put a smile on their face and do everything in their power to make everyone’s cruise as pleasant as they humanly can. Of course, I see people being rude to the staff and complaining about things, but they are probably those that complain ALL THE TIME about something and the Good Lord himself could not make them happy.

If you get on the Regal and expect to have a great time, you will. However, if you get on and try to find things to complain about, I am sure you can find those things also. As is true of life, IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT! I can honestly say I have thoroughly enjoyed my first 23 days of being on the Regal.

 

Great info and perspective, thanks for sharing! Glad it’s been a great time for you so far!

20 hours ago, Jaymuxman said:

We board in Rome for B2B2B2 21 day cruise next Saturday, so guess we will the first cruise after a 2 week drydock.

 

Enjoy your cruises and please let us know what you think of the ship post dry dock (if anything is noticeable). Thanks! 

On 4/5/2022 at 4:39 PM, Steelers36 said:

Agree.  I see that the two weeks of Apr 23 - Apr 30 and Apr 30 - May 7 are missing from the schedule and I did find a reference to a dry dock in Marseille (Regal is sailing the Med right now) for Apr 16 - 30.  Looks like they shifted it by one week.  Glad it's getting some work done before we board in October.

 

Those are the dates that I'd seen as well. Not a lot of firm details, but I'll be curious to hear from folks who sail next month if they notice many differences. Thanks!

Does anyone have details of what kind of work is expected to be completed on Regal Princess' dry dock later this month? I've searched high and low but haven't had any success yet. We're booked later this year and just curious if there will be any notable changes to expect, or if it's mostly repairs/cosmetics?

Thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answer!

We'll be taking the Pride in the other direction from Lisbon to Tampa in October. Please let me know how you enjoy the transatlantic sailing! Bon Voyage 🙂

25 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

The FAQ says molecular or antigen. There is really no  widely available test they will not accept as long as it's not a self administered home test. 

Thanks! I'd missed that section of the FAQ's. I was focused on the Certificate of Recovery section. It only states PCR, but given that types of tests are addressed here, I think that answers it for me. Cheers!