Duck Down

We booked our first MSC cruise on the Meraviglia leaving this Sunday. It was a last minute booking and we are scrambling to educate ourselves on everything MSC.

It will be a working vacation for me, so I ordered 3 of Browse & Stream packages (one per device).

We have Rogers cell service and have been successful using Wi-Fi Calling (calls & texts) on Royal, Princess, and Norwegian. It has never worked on Carnival.

Any Canadians with Rogers have success with Wi-Fi calling on MSC? If not I will have to get by without it. 

We are on the Venezia right now on our way to St Thomas.

We fully agree with the casino comment. Heavy smoke with not much ventilation.

We have had 1 breakfast, 1 brunch, 1 Diamond lunch, and 3 dining room dinners so far. The dining room service is hit and miss. Some teams are super slow and unorganized while others are highly attentive and efficient. Around 50/50 so far.

We have found staff to be friendly all the time. Enjoying the shows. Food quality is good.

Overall a great cruise so far. 

For me, good Internet speeds are essential as I have to work 2-3 hours a day while on a cruise (tradeoff for being able to take 3 weeks away at a time). I even pack a 22" monitor so I have a second screen to work on.

I will take 3mbps every day if I can. 3mbps works for Teams meetings and I can download the reports needed although the download will take a little longer. I can also watch some youtube videos at that speed. We had 3mbps on Enchanted January this year.

We have had much worse with NCL Getaway in March with less than 1mbps (a couple of weeks before they got Starlink). On the Carnival Horizon last fall, there was barely any speed.

We are looking forward to being on the Emerald in a couple of weeks, and also have 12 night Carnival Venezia right after. I know the Venezia has Starlink, and I am hearing the Emerald may have it as well. 

Thanks everyone. I was on the Enchanted Princess in January and the phone setting played a factor. Speed increased when turning off the Private WiFi Address and Limit IP Tracking settings.

We have a cruise booked on the Getaway out of NYC. My wife will be on vacation and I will be tagging along.

I have to work during the week and purchased the unlimited streaming plan with includes VPN. How are the speeds? I have a few of Teams meetings (no video) and am hoping I will be able to join. Worse comes to worse I can get out of them but still want to appear that I am working....

I plan on sneaking out for a quick beach break for a couple of the ports and at least I have the evening entertainment and can enjoy the meals.

Has anyone brought a Brita water jug and kept it in the cabin fridge? We are thinking about bring one and filling it up with tap water. 

We were on the cruise as well. The actions of a few, ruined it for many.

First, A lot of people did not read or understand the communication prior to getting off the ship. It was actually noted when we first got on that we would have to clear customs in Miami.

The night before arrival in Miami, we were left a communication as well as a piece of paper (Immigration Ticket) with our Zone to get off the ship. We were given Zone 14 with a time of 9:30 - 9:45 AM.

It specifically stated that if you were not getting off the ship, to disregard the ticket, and get off when "Last Call" was announced at 10-10:30 AM.

We originally wanted to get off early to go to South Beach because i had to be back on board for 1 pm for a work meeting. Because of our Zone 14 9:30-9:45 AM time slot, we decided to stay on the ship, go through customs, then stay on the ship for the day.

They made a few announcements in the morning to WAIT until last call if you are staying on the ship. Quite a few people did not understand/listen and were stuck sitting in the terminal until everyone cleared. It ended up they were the lucky ones as they had seats.

We joined the lines around 10 for "Last Call" to disembark for customs. While walking through the terminal to go to customs, we saw a huge number of people sitting in the chairs waiting to get back on the ship. The actual process through customs was quick and efficient. In no time we were cleared and outside the terminal. Then we saw the line.....

The line was long and not moving. We were in the line for hours outside the terminal. A positive was there was a roof over our heads blocking the sun, and there were large fans blowing down. Many people had issues standing in the line. Our backs were starting to hurt, and my sciatica was yelling at me.

Terminal staff started pulling those in wheel chairs and walkers into a fast track line into the terminal.

It seemed that after a couple of hours, the line started to move. We found out it was only to get to other lines that were not moving.

Lines:

1.) Outside the terminal waiting to get in.

2.) Inside the first floor waiting to go up the escalator.

3.) Second floor waiting to go through security. This is where there was finally some communication from RCCL. One of the ship staff started to address the crowd. He only got out out "Sorry for the delay" before the crowd erupted with pent up frustration. There were boos, swearing, and chants of refund. He had to walk away. 

4.) Post security waiting to get up top the third floor.

5.) Third floor waiting to get onto the gangway.

We finally got on the ship close to 1:30 PM. I missed my meeting, and we went to lunch. Others took even longer to get on the ship.

During the dinner, the head waiter for the dining room came by asking how our day was. We had a good laugh after telling him he should not be asking that question that night. He said he was one of those searching for the missing passengers.

There was not an official announcement from RCCL as to what happened or the reason for the delay. When we got back to the cabin later that night, there was a note stating that they were issuing an onboard refundable credit due to the "boarding delay".

It was quite a day.

We were on the Horizon last week and paid for the premium internet. Speeds were terrible often .01 mbps. I would hate to see what speeds the regular internet package was. I was able to connect into the company VPN. Not enough bandwidth to stream YouTube at 144p. Wifi calling did not work (Canada-Rogers carrier).

The internet worked for e-mails (slow for any attachments), and my wife said Facebook was ok for low resolution streaming. 

As a comparison, we were on Royal Symphony OTS the week before and had the Vroom Streaming package. It was more $ than Carnival but had a consistent 6-9 mbps. I was able to host/present on a Teams meeting, and Wifi calling worked all week.

On 9/24/2022 at 9:11 PM, Mr305 said:

Any A/C issues?  We experienced rolling A/C outages in public areas during our July/August cruise.  Lido was unbearable most days due to a lack of cooling.  Internet was abysmal the entire trip.  Had a great time, no power issues.

We did notice the ship was warm in a lot of the areas including the comedy lounge and buffet. We booked late and were in an inside cabin on deck 1. Our cabin was like a freezer. We had to adjust the setting as it was too cold.

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

What was the ship doing at these times?  This is usually indicative of rapidly changing load (entering or leaving port, so massive changes in propulsion, or thrusters), or the system adding or taking off a generator to maximize efficiency.  Electrical demand is instantaneous, but the engines driving the generators are mechanical, and have a small reaction time, during which the engine/generator slows down very slightly, and this causes the frequency of the power to vary, causing the lights to dim and brighten.  Very common.

Makes sense. The lighting changes happened when at sea and while in port. 

We are currently on the Horizon heading back to Miami from the Southern ABC itinerary.

It has been an odd week with Power/Network/Internet issues. Aside from the poor internet speeds, most of the other issues were minor annoyances. When looking everything as a whole, something is going on with this ship. 

1. We noticed while sitting in the Limelight Lounge that every so often the lights would surge or flicker. Also noticed it in the dining room and Liquid Lounge.

 2. The first night at dinner the dining room was packed and the wait staff had to manually put in the dinner tickets as the system was down.

 3. Every day the cabin TV would reboot itself after being unresponsive. Not sure of the cause.

 4. There was a major network outage one afternoon/evening. Cabin IP phones were down for 3-4 hours. There were announcements to use the elevator area phones in case of emergency. The App went partially down, and the dinner reservations had to be done manually in person. Again, the ordering system was down for the wait staff and they had to manually put in the food tickets. 

 5. We both have the Premium internet package. Speeds were ok for the first day, but then dropped to an absolute crawl. 0.01 mbps download with a ping of 2971. You would think a fairly newer ship would have better internet. One to two minute delay for a simple google search. No streaming. Tried YouTube a couple of times and hard to get anything better than 144p. Even with that 144P would take forever, and would often freeze. I was able to use my Company VPN to access the company network, but it was super slow to do anything at all. I even tried at 6 AM and it was not any better.

Overall we are avid Carnival cruisers/promoters, and this cruise was still better than not cruising.

We will be getting off a RCCL ship from Terminal A, and have a Carnival ship from Terminal D or E the same day.

How easy will it be to get from one terminal to another with luggage? Is there a terminal to terminal shuttle? How bad of a walk is it? Are there sidewalks?

I was thinking a Uber but don't think the drivers would appreciate such a short drive...

Any assistance would be appreciated. 

No Carnival does not have anything close to the Haven. The NCL Haven experience includes exclusive areas including Lounge/Bar, Restaurant, and Pool area. There is a shared butler who brings snacks daily. All pay per view movies on the TV are included. There is a designated seating area in the main showroom (although it is off to the side).

We tried the Haven on an upgrade offer a couple of years ago. We especially liked the private restaurant. The food quality and service were amazing.

The only drawback for us was we felt it was not worth the additional expense and decided to not pay the extra on future cruises. I don't think we used all the perks. 

I am not sure how he Haven would work on Carnival.     

We are reading this in our Charleston hotel room. Boarding the Sunshine tomorrow Mar 7. I guess we are taking the unexpected OBC and going to enjoy the cruise!!!.

Thanks for the tips!

The plan is to drive across the George Washington Bridge and head down to park at the pier for a NCL Escape cruise. It will be a weekday around 10:00.

Is there anything we should be aware of? Traffic? getting into the parking garage? We hope it will be a smooth process and not be stuck in lines for hours.

First time driving into New York City.

When getting off the cruise ship at the dockyard, are there vendors there selling tours? This is our first time in Bermuda and are looking for a tour of the island for a few hours. Any idea what the rates are for a typical overview tour?

Any suggestions 

We are not looking to book in advance.

Thanks

We recently booked a cruise out of Miami but was having trouble finding an affordable flight out of the area on the Sunday. Our flight in is one way to FLL.

I checked Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach and all three were expensive unless it was a late night flight. I was looking at getting a rental and driving to Orlando, but even that was a little high priced.

I was playing around and found a 2:15 pm direct flight out of Fort Meyers which was very reasonable even with the cost of the rental and gas. The drive is less than Orlando and we have never driven Alligator Alley. It feels like a bit of an adventure. We have priority debarkation so should be able to be off the ship by 7:30.

Has anyone done the drive to Fort Myers to catch a flight before?

We were on the Vista in cabin 9359 right under the walkway just inside the doors from Guy's burgers. We did hear some noise while we were awake. Mostly rumbling from rolling of carts. It was not too loud. We were never woken up while sleeping. We just booked Horizon for December and have another room booked on deck 9. This time it is closer to being under one of the deck bars.

I work at Miami and was instructed by our supervisors to tell guests that all rooms (even for Priority and FTTF) would be ready at 1:30.

I asked my supervisor if they were sure and if it was going to be just for that specific day, and they said “the ship has instructed us that all rooms will be ready at 1:30 from now on”

I’m not a new employee, have been working in Port of Miami for 10 years!

This seems to be true.

We are currently on the Vista and boarded Sept 8. The check in desk agent (Miami Terminal) told us that cabins will be ready at 1:30. This is after they saw we are Diamond. When I questioned this, I was told that the Vista is a large ship and that there were too many cabins to get ready and that there was not time to get all the priority cabin ready ahead of time.

We boarded and went direct to lunch. Around 12:30, we went to take a look and there were no FTTF/Priority cabin access signs on the closed doorways to the cabins. We went in anyways and found our cabin was done and the SS cards were in the mailbox. As a bonus, our luggage was already there...

I went to guest services today to get some change, and one of the digital TV boards behind the desk had rotating messages/announcements. One of those messages started that cabins were going to be ready at 1:30 and FTTF/Priority were welcome to go to the cabin early.

Mixed messages.

I hate the open air markets but my wife loves them.

Almost all the booths have the same items made in China. The vendors are all pushy (at least the ones in Mexico). Often it is crowded.

Are there any issues using Uber or Lyft for pick up at the FLL airport and pick up at port of Miami after a cruise.

Are they allowed to pick up at the airport and cruise port?

We have never used them before.

I have not tried Uber Pool. Another option is the Tri-Rail from PBI to MIA. We have used a number of times from MIA to FLL.

Value was pretty bad on Liberty but I didn't upgrade because I heard premium was just as bad. I was simply trying to read my work emails on my phone. To give you an idea, I often could not open an email even if it only had 3 lines. I would have to come back hours later and then it would be available to view. Big emails with attachments? I had to do the open the email, have it not work, come back a few hours later trick and then it was available to open. Only then could I click the attachment, which I then had to wait until the next morning to view. In short, I don't think Carnival has a Wifi that is sufficient for working while on board. I would say the best way to describe email is plan on using it for non emergencies only. That said, texting with someone from my iphone to theirs worked pretty well with the value WiFi and was nearly instantaneous. The people here in CC saying that its really slow and generally complaining about it? Keep in mind most of them are complaining even though they were not trying to use the internet for a paying job that required their attention. You should really plan for NO computer connection with your office while on the ship.

Thanks for everyone's help. I think I will buy the Value plan and try to retrieve e-mails early morning while having a coffee. I will be in port on the day I need to upload a report on the VPN, so I will use my cell phone data. It will only cost $10 for the roaming and the data is included.

We will be on the Conquest in a few weeks and are debating purchasing the Value plan $10.25/day instead of the Premium plan $14.88/day.

Is there a major difference in internet speed between the two plans? Is it worth the extra $37 for an 8 day cruise? I need a plan to use for a few reports through my company VPN as well as checking e-mails.

We are thinking of also buying the Social plan $4/day for my wife to use on Facebook. Does that also work for e-mails or will she have to piggyback off my plan to check e-mails (couple of times a day).