jenniferop

Hello,

DH and I are cruising with friends (3 other couples) on Symphony at the end of April...we (DH and I) have purchased the UDP...others in group have only purchased BOGO...we are all eating together the first 2 nights as a group (Jamie's and Izumi Hibachi) those seem to be covered under BOGO but Izumi's is listed as not covered under UDP...so seems me might have to pay out of pocket on top of what we paid for UDP...

Now here is the comparison question. Should DH and I cancel UDP and get the BOGO plus the 3night - ends up only being a little cheaper than UDP.

We had also planned on eating at 150 Central, Wonderland and Hooked (we like to venture out and try new stuff - others in group not so much) and our TA in the group gifted everyone with Chops for night 6 (covered in our UDP so we told them to cancel our gift night and save a few $$) then we will rejoining the group in the MDR for  the last night. We know we also get a few Spec. Restaurants during sea days but we might just join the group...so not as much as a decision maker for us...

Has anyone had UDP on Symphony and been allowed to use it in Izumi Hibachi even though it says not allowed in the T&C? Because if we go with BOGO and 3night we will have to cancel Hooked so we can eat at Chops with the others on night 6 (we don't want to go back to TA and say, ok now you have to buy our dinner since we cancelled UDP).

thoughts?

More than likely we will keep UDP and just pay OOP for Izumi, but asking for anyone with experience to answer in. TIA!!

Quick question - also not trying to hijack the thread but now I am confused - is the Ultimate Dining plan a; Dine, Drink, Discover program? Because Chops is excluded from that )as listed in the fine print)? Have never booked UDP with RC but we will be doing Symphony in 39 days and if Chops isn't included then hubby will be upset to spend even more money

10 hours ago, niksmom630 said:

There was quite a bit of conversation on the boards around the seaweed problems in Costa Maya. Our tour driver even brought it up, but our excursion beach in Mahahaul looked pretty good.

Overall, I would rate this excursion a 6 out of 10.

For around $80 per person, it was overpriced for one drink voucher and snacks.

After the whole guacamole and salsa making process, there was about 10 minutes of salsa dancing instruction, and then we were given an hour and a half of free time for the beach and shopping.

When I asked where we could find “beach” chairs, they directed us to an area with white resin “dining” type chairs in the sun wound up “renting” three lounge chairs for the price of three drinks.

Then spent the next hour and a half saying “no, thank you!” to the parade of vendors hawking their wares.

Far from relaxing. thankfully we have Nachi Cocum tomorrow, which never disappoints


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Haven't been to Costa Maya since 2011 but we did the day excursion at Maya Chan and it was awesome! loved it - anyone know if they are still in business? Back then it was only $50pp and it was all you could drink, lunch, Covered beach loungers, snorkeling and sand mini golf...great day!

I have no knowledge of RC tours - but we did do an MSC cruise last Oct. and one of the stops was La Spezia - we did this stop on our own...short walk to train station (pre buy tickets online) - 1 hr train to Pisa - short walking to the tower (again pre buy your tour tickets online) and then train back to La Spezia. we did not go to Florence during our time in port. Very easy port to do your own thing if you research pre buying all your tickets.

thank you - I'll look that up :) we Kayaked in Bonaire and loved it

I asked this question in the Port of Call location but I figured I'd ask here also in case this forum gets more foot traffic.

Has anyone done or have an opinion on the kayak, hike, snorkel trip offered on RC site but done with Third party while in St. Thomas. Thank you. Last time we were in St. Thomas we did the tour of the island so looking for something different this time.

Has anyone done or have an opinion on the kayak, hike, snorkel trip on RC? 

FYI - just called Disney #800 customer service and apparently the Castaway Cay race will be $80pp starting in 2020, even if booking while on the ship???

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 8:29 AM, GatorMomInNC said:

I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but the CC 5k is free.   We missed CC last year and they did run it on the ship instead and I saw lots of people with their medals walking around afterwards.

Wow - good to know, wonder why it is listed as $80pp on the Marathon link? I guess I'll email and find out the difference - I'll save my $160 for drinks then (found out no drink package)

9 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

4.  Be aware it's possible that Castaway Cay could be missed, due to tides/weather.

Not that it would break my heart but Hubby would be slightly disappointed because he is doing the Dopey Challenge and was looking forward to completing all of the race elements - but I would assume if the Stop was cancelled due to weather we would receive a refund of our registration fee...correct?

Hello, DH and I are not new cruisers but will be sailing our first Disney cruise Jan2020... sailing on the Dream after the Disney Marathon weekend. Here are my questions if anyone has answers I’ll be forever grateful.

1. We will be registering for the 2020 Marathon soon... the Castaway Cay 5k is also in the registration site for $80pp... is it the same price on the ship? If I register ahead of time do I need to do anything additional once on board?

2. Does Disney have a drink package? If so, how much pp/pd?

3. Do Annual passholders have included PhotoPass while in the ship? Instead of buying printed pictures?

4. Anything we should know that is particular to Disney cruising? Something we would not already know as regular cruisers? 

Many thanks! We have 11months but never to early to start planning.

I have sailed EoS twice and Jade once-  enjoyed both but liked Jade as a ship more - especially now after the dry dock upgrades.

Honestly not sure, since not everyone disembarks, as long as you leave your cabin by the time they want you out so they can clean for the next guest. I'm not sure if they would make you leave the ship early. I've only been on 1 MSC cruise and we did disembark at Civitavecchia but we had a car coming and left around 9:30 but we were told to just let our Butler know when we wanted to leave she escorted us...they never actually said be off by___this time.

I posted this during the downtime – so not sure it was seen and thought I would provide a quick review for the Fantasia – I didn’t see many reviews before I left.



DH and I were in 16016 and my DM and DS were in 16018 (Dwi was our Butler and Yatim was our Waiter in the L’Etoile Dining room) we arrived for Boarding in Civitavecchia around 12:30pm – the place was EMPTY and we walked right in with a Butler that met us at the car, he took our luggage put Yacht Club tags on and carried our hand luggage. He handled all the documents and escorted us right to the concierge desk were we got a Yacht Club briefing and met our Butler for the week. She showed us to our room(s) and gave us our cards. We loaded our CC at the Kiosk and then went to Deck 18 to the One Pool and Bar for our first drink and a snack.

The whole week was Top notch – this was our first experience with MSC, the Yacht Club and the Mediterranean Itinerary as we normally cruise the Caribbean on other lines. From being escorted down to our Tour bus while in Port, to having seats at the front of the Bus tagged for Yacht Club guests, Everything was great... ok almost everything. The food could be improved upon slightly. Although good – the portions are small and the food comes out slow and at varying temperatures – so if after you eat the first course and then the main course if you are still hungry it could be another 30 minutes before you could get another dish…many nights DH was over slowness of the dining room and was ready to hit the buffet. The most disappointing night was the second to last night, my DS Ossobuco had SUCH a BIG BONE and no meat. And our Fish was so tiny. DH was almost ready to not return. The Last night (for us, Ajaccio) was Lobster night and they did redeem themselves. We ate one night midweek in the TEX MEX specialty restaurant because DH had been status matched to black and it was complementary – DS and DM paid for their meal and got a different menu than we did (theirs looked better) I would not use the free meal again and would pre-pay for the spec restaurant.

We attempted to see one of the shows in the theater but Opera was not really our thing so we did not return to the theater. We enjoyed the Dining Under the Stars up at the One Pool, if the Lounge had better AC we would have enjoyed being in there more but in the afternoon at the front of the ship with all the windows it got HOT. The week went by fast and we loved 99.5% of our time on the MSC Fantasia. Our rooms were always clean and the mini bar was always stocked (I know we could have asked for things specifically but we just drank what was in there and didn’t go crazy although DM and DS did eat their chocolate covered peanuts every day).

Disembarkation was just as easy as arriving. We had arranged for a car to pick us up at 10am so we had some time to kill. We left our room a little after 8 – Dwi picked up my picture order from the photography studio, we ate breakfast in the lounge had a few drinks. We told Dwi we were ready to leave about 9:15am, she escorted us down to the gangway, found our luggage and led us outside to the waiting area with chairs – our car arrived about 15 minutes later and we were off to Rome spending 3 days before flying back to the states. We flew Norwegian Air Premium cabin round trip and had great flights.

Happy to answer any questions about Fantasia or Yacht Club. Looking at another MSC cruise for next year.

maybe we are in the minority = since it seems so many people say they can't drink enough to "break even". the 1 time in all our cruises we didn't get the drink package we spent WAY over what it would have cost us...not because we are huge drinkers or party people just because it's easy to do on vacation. DH gets a couple bloody Marys' with breakfast I get a couple mimosas (those glasses are tiny but still cost $8 each) plus then a couple specialty coffees after breakfast... later in the afternoon hubby gets a few beers and I get a couple mixed drinks - if we play trivia its a few more, if we go ashore its bottled waters. while getting ready for dinner another couple bottled waters to take to the cabin. then a glass of wine before dinner - a glass of wine after dinner...a couple mixed drinks for the show and maybe a night cap and a bottle water for the cabin for night time. VERY easy to do and not be "drunk" all day. Just enjoying vacation and not worrying about what we drink when we drink it or how much it will cost. to each their own but we will continue to buy the packages (love it when they go on sale or are included with NCL) Next up in 2 weeks is Yacht Club on MSC - free mini bar :)

thanks everyone - good to know we just show up and they bring things - easy peasy. Gotta go once just to see what its all about.

Hello - a Large group of us (5 cabins - 10 people) are sailing next April and we are trying to plan out our dinners - we are looking at Wonderland - but we are not sure of the process for ordering? Do you choose one items from each category (Sun, Ice, Fire, Sea, Earth, Dreams - like a tasting menu)?

What do you get for $49pp? is it worth it? several of us would consider ourselves foodies - they others will just come along for the ride...

And actually we are looking to purchase the $40 BOGO and going to Wonderland for one of the nights so it would be a steal at $20pp....thoughts from anyone that has gone yet?

sorry to hijack but quick sort of related question...on my cruise planner it shows the Deluxe package at $50pp pd - the Package plus 1 device of Voom and Stream is $61 so good deal being that the Voom 1 device is $19.99 a day if bought separately - would that mean if DH and I both bought the Combo of Deluxe and Voom then we each get the 1 device Voom - not sure if it's limited to 1 person in each cabin? or but the number of Bev Packages bought.

Hi - my BFF and I are looking at our next big vaca together 2020 Northern Europe (we take big trips every 4 years or so, just us no Hubbies).

She has sailed in a Sky Suite on Celebrity (only line I have never done) and I am about to sail my first MSC Cruise in the Yacht Club soon with family.

Because she is familiar with Celebrity she wants to sail them again - I think yacht club will be great and I'm pushing for MSC. Also, even if we book the Royal Suite its still about $5k cheaper than the Sky Suite on Celebrity.

Has anyone sailed both and have an opinion? I know my views on MSC will be more defined after I sail them in Sept just looking for any opinions now...we have plenty of time to decide since Itineraries for 2020 aren't even out yet but I'm a planner.

TIA. (I posted this question in the MSC forum also)

Hi - my BFF and I are looking at our next big vaca together 2020 Northern Europe (we take big trips every 4 years or so, just us no Hubbies).

She has sailed in a Sky Suite on Celebrity (only line I have never done) and I am about to sail my first MSC Cruise in the Yacht Club soon with family.

Because she is familiar with Celebrity she wants to sail them again - I think yacht club will be great and I'm pushing for MSC. Also, even if we book the Royal Suite its still about $5k cheaper than the Sky Suite on Celebrity.

Has anyone sailed both and have an opinion? I know my views on MSC will be more defined after I sail them in Sept just looking for any opinions now...we have plenty of time to decide since Itineraries for 2020 aren't even out yet but I'm a planner.

TIA.

thanks everyone - last time I flew long haul it was on Delta and we slept the whole way...it's only 16 hours out of our whole 13 days in Europe so we will just have to bite the bullet, if it's horrible but I'm holding out for a good experience.

I did read an article by The Points Guy and he stated that the leasing of the Privilege Style 777's that Norwegian is using at the moment for long hauls, should be done by 9/14 and the Dreamliners should be back in operation. I asked Norwegian on their FB messenger app and the person that answered said that was the current plane but that texts and updates on the app would keep us notified about airplane changes. Crossing my fingers. Being on a boat and springing for a suite with a Butler this time around - should make any bumps getting there worth it:)

Hello,

Has anyone flown on Norwegian air from the US (Newark) to Rome (or any other port)? I feel good about the pricing and reviews online - just checking if any of you have used the line? We are flying Bulkhead economy, there (night flight) and Premium cabin back (day flight). Any suggestions or thoughts? We leave end of September - too late to change but your experiences would be a good help in knowing what to expect.

Going on Oasis next month

 

 

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-4-USB-charging-3-Outlet-Swivel-Wall-Tap/557005586

We use this one from Amazon - has an adjustable plug to any direction and has 2 USB slots

https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-SurgePlus-Protector-Charger-rotating/dp/B00ATZJ5YS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530291417&sr=8-1&keywords=belkin+outlet+with+usb

we will be there Monday Oct 8th...

Hello - We (myself, DH, DS (23) and DM) will be traveling back to the US from Rome after an 8 day Med Cruise on MSC Fantasia in Oct. because of dates traveling and flights on Norwegian Air from Rome to Orlando we have to layover in Copenhagen for 7 hours - is it realistic to think we can get anywhere and see anything while there? We will land at 9:30am local time. We would hate to waste an opportunity to explore but if it's not feasible time wise then we won't risk it...