hummer88

We are on the Seashore in March and wondering abou the specialty dining packages.  I can prepruchase a 3 dinner package for $127cdn.  It doesn't give me an option for my child under 12.

Does anyone know what the offers are on board ( I know day of embarkation they alwasy have on boards specials)?

What is the price for a child and do they have packages availalbe for them?

Thanks!!

we are in caribbean in March, still says easy as well.22 drinks is a lot for one, but woudl be reasonable to cut someone off at that point or avoids someone getting drinks for someone who doens't have a package

We are travelling on the Explorer of the Seas from Venice in July with 2 kids and 6 adults. (Our room is 2A and 2C)

We are looking at prepurcahsing some of the drink packages, specifically the refreshment package which include all non- alcoholic drinks, premium coffee, etc.

It is letting me pre purchase it for only one person.  Will they make the entire group purchase it once we are on board?  If I am able to purchase it just for one of us I think it makes sense as I would be purchasing at least 2 coffee packages which already would be equal to 2 days of the refreshment package.

With the refreshment package do they let you purchase more than one drink at a time?

Do they offer better deals on embarkation day?

Thanks

We are also interested in this tour.  

How long is the ride from port to the tubing?  Is it an entire day spent on this excursion?

I am also curious.

Last year for Valentine's my travelling partner and I purchased the spa package on the Seaside which included the salt room, ice room, massage for our wives.

We are looking to get something similar this year.  We plan on being on the ship for our stop in Costa Maya (Meraviglia) or are looking at Ocean Cay.

Any suggestions?

We will be staying in one of the super family plus rooms on deck 14 in March, I can report then.

I have been on NCL Escape, MSC Seaside X2 and MSC Preziosia. (some but limited experience)

Overall I felt that MSC was a little more formal than NCL.  I believe it was due to the higher percentage of European travelers.  We dressed nicely (long pants and collared shirts, dresses on both lines) and did not feel over dressed on NCL or under dressed on MSC.

What experience do you have on MSC?

I had old deluxe drink package on MSC and whichever one came with the free at sea with NCL.  I would give the edge here to MSC.  Drinks overall were equal but MSC package included espresso and gelato.  Gelato is no longer included with premium MSC package but espresso is.

Dining is very subjective but in my opinion, we prefer MSC.  I felt the anytime dining with NCL seemed very limited on menu selection and they tried to get you in and out to make room for the next group.  Our anytime dining with MSC last year (depending on the experience) we had the same table and waiter almost every night, every though it was at different times.  It felt more personal.

We also had this happen to us.  

We have the Super family plus and are going with another family.  We each had to pay separately but under the same account.

When I put our final payment down our TA returned an updated invoice which was more than the original (it probably was around $500 but I can't remember exactly).  This was a couple days prior to our final payment being due.  We had to get an extension to our due date and it took our TA over a week to get things sorted out with MSC.

That all makes sense!!!

thats why I love this board

thanks everyone

We booked our Meraviglia cruise for this year while on the Seaside last year.  We booked a super family plus room for our upcoming year.  We also cruised the Seaside the previous year (Seaside back to back years).

Our first time on Seaside the future cruise desk was terrible.  On our last full day at sea, the desk was only open for a few hours and line was huge, so we didn't bother waiting, but we had intentions on inquiring.

Last year, they moved the desk (7th or 8th deck atrium) and they had two new people working.  The lady we dealt with was not great.  I knew more about the two ships then she did.  I would mention something (like the super family plus room) and she would look it up.  We did book and received $300 OBC for our next cruise, nothing for the current cruise.  

We had a big issue with the price that she quoted us and the price that was coming up on our invoice once we got home.  When we transferred it to our TA at home, he had to fight for the price, then the OBC was missing.  Overall the experience was not great.  I will not even consider using the future desk unless they are offering something that is really enticing.

thank you for the responses, we will be there March 19

I have been looking to see which port the Meraviglia using in Roatan and I am not entirely sure.  The one post with pictures shows it ports in Mahogony Bay but reading some reports it looks like its at Coxen Hole.  Can anyone confirm?.  We will be in port with the Symphony of the Seas.  I would imagine if both ships are using the same dock it will be busy.

that is great news

thank you

can someone who has been to OC confirm that a drink package (we have premium on board) will give us drinks on shore.

I was under the impression that a separate package had to be purchased for OC, regardless if you have something on board or not.

We booked the Super Family Plus for our cruise in March 2020 on Meriviglia while on our 2019 cruise on the Seaside.

I did not find the cruise consultant overly informative about the details of this room (I am also capable of opening up the book and reading about it).

Our's too was a guaranteed cabin initially which was assigned in December.

We have two balconies sandwiching an inside room.

I will let you know how it turns out in a couple of months.

they always had three doubles and 3 singles going for our cruise.  I even thought that wasn't enough but they said they can't put people down the slide fast enough for more tubes than that.  with 3 and 3, the slide was never empty.

slides open at 10am on sea days.  I believe they opened at 12pm on port days.  We stayed on the boat in jamaica and did other things until they opened.  there was hardly anyone using them until around 3:30-4pm

we also had this issue, where one of my daughters passports was good for about 5 months post disembarkation.  I didn't want to take any chances and got her a new one.  I thought the same thing as you but didn't want anything to hinder the vacation.

1 hour ago, bookbabe said:

 

The prices for the chair/umbrella rentals are per day, there's no hourly rates.  I would have skipped renting them if you were only going to be there an hour.

 

The menu would have listed prices in Cayman dollars.  $1 US = $0.80 Cayman.  Your $20 US was only worth $16 Cayman, so that's where the difference lies.  $16 CI for 5 non-alcoholic drinks sounds about right at a tourist spot along the beach.

Thank you for replying.  It actually makes me feel better about it now.  I did not realize the different currencies which makes perfect sense.  We loved the island itself, it was our second time there but first at the public beach.  I was just thinking that the public beach took advantage of people in port for the day, which they do to a certain extent, and I understand that.  

We would have skipped the umbrella, but we had just finished being in the sun for 4 hours and needed a little shade for those who needed it.  

we went to the public beach which is next to Calico Jacks.  The beach was very nice but the experience was not the best.  Even though we were only there for an hour, they still charged us $20 for two chairs and an umbrella.  We bought a few sodas from the bar and I think they over charged me for that too.  $20 for 3 juices and 2 iced teas was not what was posted on the menu. 

To get back to the port we were going to take a public bus, which looks exactly like the buses except they have red/green or yellow signs on the front.  You just have to walk on the side of the road that they travel on and they will stop and pick you up.  The taxi is $3 per person.  While we were walking to the road there was a taxi that ended up taking us to the port since I think he was going there anyway and he wanted the fare.  He gave it to us for $3 per person.  The regular cab rate is $5 per per I think.

I just double checked, and ours was actually $147 for the relaxing wave, and it's being offered for the same for next year on the Meraviglia.  I actually thought it was a decent price.  A day pass at the thermal spa is $45 pp IF two people go.  If you go by yourself a pass for a single is $60 I believe.  The massage and facial are about $50 each as well.

We purchased this pass for our recent cruise on the Seaside. With it, you get a one day pass to the thermal area.  The thermal area pass does not need to be used on the same day as the massage and facial, but it is only for one day.  Perhaps the agent was meaning this, but not necessarily for every day of the cruise.

Sorry, no pictures, but one of my favorites was the chocolate martini from Venchi.  The glass is rimmed with chocolate flakes and the drink has a scoop of chocolate mixed in.  

A coffee with baileys at the Seaside bar was available as early as 6:30am.  Great way to start the day!!

We also used Rowan Watersports.  We decided to use them based on their positive reviews on tripadvisor and their departure time (we had to check in at 9, leave at 9:30 and they would drop us back off at the public beach for an hour prior to us needing to get back to port).  They were very easy to find, right inside the cruise port area.  We checked in at 9 and walked around for a bit and left shortly after 9:30am.  The trip to the boat took longer than expected due to there being a miscommunication between guests needed to be picked up at another location and where the driver was told they should be.  It did take longer than it should have, but I also thought that if it were us needing to get picked up it was nice to see they were making sure they got everyone they were suppose to.

The trip itself was good, we were also a little late getting to the sand bar but we seemed to squeeze in and the staff were able to show us the stingrays and we did purchase the pictures from them.  A little pricey but in the end they were much better than what we got with our own cameras.  We also stopped at the coral gardens for snorkeling.  The trip for us was just long enough, as we had two children.  I did end up leaving my phone behind on the boat and we called right away but did not get it back.  I do not want to blame the boat operator as another guest on the boat (42 people total) could have easily grabbed it.  

If we went back we would not hesitate to use Rowan watersports again.

last March Formal nights were Sunday (sea day) and Thursday (Costa Maya - last years itinerary)

Italian night was Tuesday

White night was also Tuesday