tweakes

So I booked Fantastica balcony on Seashore because Bella was showing as obstructed view. All cabins were GTY, but now I can choose Fantastica and for the price I paid select a Bella balcony on deck 9/10. 

Maybe it's the wine talking, but I see no benefit in choosing Fantastica guarantee if they can give me a prior Bella balcony that could be obstructed view. Should I "downgrade" to save $120 since I'll still end up with a GTY balcony? 

These changes are pretty straightforward, and I think I will like them in the long run but for cruises already booked it seems silly. The timing also seems weird when they could have been done before things got busier again, but such is life. 

I think balcony is worth it. Honestly we book interior or balcony, never Oceanview because it doesn't offer much to us. If we are interior we sleep and shower and get the heck out of there (which is the point of cruising in our opinion). If we are in balcony, we feel like we have to spend time there to get our money's worth. Balcony for a Caribbean cruise is fun. Some destinations, there's not much to see. 

We were on the Meraviglia a few years ago and Eataly wasn't there. Not sure what happened. As a first time cruiser, I would wait on booking specialty restaurants honestly. There will be so many food options that are already included, you may not want to be bogged down with reservations for half your nights. For a week long cruise, we typically do one, maybe two, specialty restaurants. We check out the menus in the main dining room and when something doesn't look great, we book specialty then. We did teppenyaki on Meragivlia and often did sushi for lunch because we wanted something lighter. Anyway, long story short, my advice is to save your money and see how things are on board. I'm sure there are lots who disagree with me and never eat in the main dining room, but I think you'll be satisfied as this is your first cruise. Do Ocean Cay to celebrate your honeymoon perhaps.

I can't speak to the winter drink package, but the drinks were included for us in the specialty restaurants.

There's a town south of Costa Maya (kind of the only one) that we took a taxi to. Beautiful beach and the best shrimp ceviche I've ever had in my life. Amazing food. Not very adventurous, but food excites me more so those are typically my recommendations. I think Cozumel has more of those things such as a cave exploration option - half dry, half underwater. My sister did it a few years ago and enjoyed it. 

Congratulations on your marriage - enjoy your honeymoon!!!

NCL is my favorite line because I love so many things they do right. MSC does many things wrong (entertainment was better at my high school), but we just got off the Meraviglia two days ago and it was one of the most amazing cruises I've been on. The entertain still sucked (we walked out of one show laughing), but the ship is spectacular. It's a huge ship but I never felt crowded or like I had to walk a long ways to get somewhere. The staff was also amazing. I would recommend the ship to anyone no matter their age (we are in our 30s but I know my in-laws would also love it). 

We played on our first MSC cruise and got 30% off our next cruise plus casino cash. It's 30% off any fare and whatever promos are being run at the time you also get (we got a free drink package). Anyway, 1000€ for 2 people for a week long cruise on the Baltic is not bad compared to other prices I see.

I emailed the casino to ask if we could upgrade... they said no. But offered me a free cruise on another sailing... better than an upgrade to me!! 

The casino staff was great on board too.

Agree with other commenter who said the casino feels a little different and they definitely are missing craps. It's still a casino and it's still fun!

We booked through the German site and our cruise came with the Easy Package. I was just told to upgrade was only 9€ per night for Premium and 16€ per night for Premium Plus. That seems very low to me to upgrade but I'll take it!

I'm having a hard time finding information regarding private or public tours to San Marino from Ravenna, Italy. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I hate to book excursions through the ship if I can avoid it, and there are 3 of us. Thanks for your help! -Todd

We were just on the Divina, and most bartenders didn't know what a drink was unless it was listed the menu - and even then they often struggled. I'm sure you could find a bartender to help you (some are certainly more experienced than others), but I would not count on it in most bars. They didn't even have a lot of the things that were on the menu. 

I agree with others who posted who say the formal nights are not any different than regular nights, at least on the Caribbean sailings. We brought suits to dress up (packed them all the way from Germany), but the communication is so non-existent we didn't even know it was gala night. There was a tiny little mention in one small place on the daily planner - nothing mentioned of it anywhere else anywhere on the ship throughout the day. We wore regular attire to the MDR - we were disappointed we packed something we didn't even use just because we didn't even know. Also, the web site said we would have 3 gala nights on the 11-night cruise, but there were only 2 (unless I completely misread the web page). Also agree that the food was regular food - it didn't feel like the formal night at all. We dressed up for the second one, and it was still pretty disappointing because it didn't feel any different. The ship is beautiful and has so much potential to really play up gala night, but they failed.

I did not see a single person in a tuxedo either night. I would say about 40% of the people dressed up, 50% dressed nice, and 10% didn't do anything special (i.e. jeans and t-shirt or similar).

They do not offer unlimited on the ship. I can't see how you'd even use 7gb either. It's not fast at all. You get tired of waiting after a while and spend time... cruising!

We started with the basic, met our limit, then upgraded for $40 more on the ship. It reset our limit to 7gb then - it didn't just give us the extra gb.

Most credit cards in Europe have PINs so I think it's standard verbiage they use. We are a little behind the times with regards to that, but credit card theft is rampant in Europe (when we moved there I had about 5 numbers stolen in the first 6 months). 

We just got off divina two days ago, and no PIN was needed with our American credit card.

I would also like to point out that the casino staff is amazing. They really made our trip memorable. Excellent excellent service.

Half casino was smoking as people said but it was enforced sparingly - unless someone complained. If someone is smoking in the non smoking section just let the host know and they will stop it. Our friends were told they could smoke as long as it didn't bother anyone. Honestly I hate smoke and I felt the ventilation was very good. 

Got off the ship two days ago, and there is definitely no charge to charge your Cruise card money. Not at tables or slots. 

Both the table roulette and electronic roulette (with real wheel) are American with 0 and 00. 

I don't think you'll be able to stream much of anything. I'm using the package now and it's hard to get YouTube videos to play. We did the basic and just met our limit on day 10... We then paid $40 to upgrade to the premium and it reset our limit to 7gb (We got 3.5gb + 7gb). Definitely start with basic and then upgrade if you need to - more data for cheaper. 

Does the no shorts rule apply to both women and men? I've always found it interesting when cruise lines allow shorts to be worn by women but not men (NCL specifically). A nice pair of golf shorts is much classier than see through shorts that are entirely too short that I usually see women wear. I don't care what anyone wears - I refuse to let my vacation be ruined by someone else's clothing choice. 

Not trying to start any argument (I know see dress code posts seem to incite anger), just trying to see what to expect with MSC as this will be my first time trying them. Though it seems to be all over the place depending on who is working. 

Does anyone know if the price on board is any different than what's offered online pre-departure?

Can anyone tell me what type of energy drink MSC offers on board and if there is a sugar free option?

Can't seem to find this info anywhere, but can't have The sugary drinks so trying to see what I'll have available to me. I see energy drinks are available on the deluxe drink package option but no brand is listed.

Thanks!

I've cruised Carnival a few times, and just got off my first Princess cruise today, and sure there are many differences (most of them more subtle than people on this forum lead you to believe IMHO), but the one thing that stood out was the service on the Island Princess. Everywhere we went it seemed the staff knew our names. Everyone seemed to really ENJOY their jobs on the ship. Those things make you forget the fact that the food and entertainment is sub-par (just like Carnival). Our last Carnival cruise had the worst service imaginable, and we will definitely be looking at Princess again solely because of the superb service. When people consistently make you feel special on vacation, it really goes a long way.

Catalina is boring. Quaint I guess, but you get lots of overpriced food and drinks with bad service. Not exactly my idea of a good time. I prefer the overpriced drinks with free food and great service on the ship. The main town and the beaches (which are awful - imported sand which is basically like mud, rocky underwater, and freezing) are within walking distance. The ship (no matter what ship it is) is exponentially better. Can you tell I think the entire island of Catalina is an awful little tourist trap? :)

I agree with everyone about the wine tasting in Ensenada... $39 (on Carnival) gets you lots of bang for your buck. Plus, everything in Mexico can be bought. Give them a few bucks tip and they'll keep pouring your wine and give you some to-go to enjoy on the bus. You just gotta ask. We had some folks on our tour who didn't drink, but still enjoyed themselves (their spouses were drinking). It's still a cute little tour trying some wine from an area that is pretty unknown and pretty darn good.

Both are super close and within walking distance of the ship. Any of the downtown hotels would be less than a $10 cab ride so don't limit yourself if you plan on doing something downtown. There's a Sheraton across from the airport with great bay views and downtown. $10 cab ride. Airport, downtown, port, all of those things are very, very close to each other. Just don't limit yourself if you see a good deal somewhere downtown.

Most hotels are grouped together in Mission Valley, and that is a bit further but it still wouldn't be a very expensive cab ride. The area doesn't have a lot to offer for one night though.

Thanks for the great review!

Funnier still is the people who actually look at the list of numbers that recently hit when playing roulette thinking it has a damn thing to do with the next spin of the wheel.

Hey, odds and probability are two completely different things...

 

Looking at the map posted above, it looks like there's no big headache about going to the luggage drop off and then parking? I was thinking it could be similar to dropping someone at the curb at the airport and then needing to go park, which is a huge pain sometimes. I also remembered it being horrible to have to drop off at the terminal and then go park at Galveston. But if we preferred, we could just park first and then walk our luggage to the drop-off area? We don't have a complete packing list, but I can't imagine with 4 of us that we couldn't carry/roll whatever we have.

You would be walking with your luggage for a shorter distance than the airport. The luggage drop off is literally on the ground floor of the parking garage. I'm sure you can drop off and then park, but IMHO, getting to the parking structure is incredibly easy; leaving is a bit confusing with signs not being detailed enough. I'm sure any of the porters would be able to point you in the right direction after dropping off your luggage.

I have issues with time changes, but I've never had issues with the daily 1-hour changes. I just always try to make sure I go outside to get at least some real sunshine even on days that I don't want to go to the pool (for some reason I like to spend too much time in the casino so this is something I have a consciously try to do!). Just feeling the skin on your body seems to make a little bit of a difference.

Keep in mind that RDU does not have the capabilities for dealing with winter weather much, and you'll have the possibility of weather + early Christmas traffic which could cause some delays.

I have bought tickets before knowing there was a very short layover, and then called the airline and told them what was going on and how I was really worried I'd miss the connection (and miss the cruise or whatever else I was doing). Many agents have been understanding and changed my flight to an earlier one without a change fee or additional fare. Sometimes you might have to call back a few times and talk to someone else, but it's certainly an option to consider.

Three days from today!! Island Princess, Pacific Coastal. Last minute steal. Excited to try Princess finally.