stoneman56

2 hours ago, pepper said:

Which area did you snorkel to see the shark?  Thanks in advance!

Just found it, Paradise Sands beach

6 hours ago, webworm said:

Be aware if you are a Canadian citizen and miss a port with MSC there is no refund of port fees and taxes. I was told only US citizens get a refund. This was my first MSC Cruise and it will be my last! I made that very clear with Guest Services this morning while getting of the ship.

I thought MSC owned the island so there wouldn't be any port fees to pay. 

If you're that cheap that you wouldn't sail with a particular line because you thought they diddled you out of a couple of dollars maybe cruising isn't for you. I'll let you into a secret, every line is out to empty your pockets of more money, however they can manage it. 

On 12/21/2019 at 6:58 PM, qwerty11 said:

We had a $60 mysterious onboard credit appear on the missed Ocean Cay day. Also, anything we prebooked ahead of time for Ocean Cay was immediately refunded to our onboard account. 

We had that as well and wondered what it was for, very nice of them

On 12/21/2019 at 6:36 PM, aravindndeepa said:

sorry to hear that.which ship? any refunds or OBC announced?

No there is no compo, why should there be?

We didn't get offered any when we missed it on Friday and no one that I could see was bothered

1 hour ago, pepper said:

Which area did you snorkel to see the shark?  Thanks in advance!

The beach by the spa chalets

The pins are desirable because that have one special ingredient, they’re free, and who doesn’t get excited about free stuff

1 hour ago, gadaboutgal said:

Even for a 14 day cruise, you will still receive all those goodies-  we have in the past.  

I had a chat with the VC rep last year. The rule is that if you are on a 2 week cruise you SHOULD receive everything once, as it’s a continuous booking. If on a B2B (ie to separate bookings joined together)  then you get double bubble. I was told by her that I was lucky to get all the extras as it was clearly a mistake.

I made a slight mistake in the post, we are on a 2 week cruise not a B2B. 
So most of the Double goodies we’ve received we aren’t really entitled to 

OH and I on the second week B2B on the Seaside, both Diamonds. We have so far accumulated 4 chocolate ships, 2 invites to Diamond get together, 2 speciality dinners, 4 gifts, 2 baskets of fruit, 2 lots of chocolate strawberries and 4 complimentary photos with the captain.

Quite a haul

16 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

No it's one of each but you will get two chocolate ships 😋😋😋

And 2 gifts

He won’t need a jacket if he doesn’t want to wear one. We’re on the Seaside now i our second week. 3 formal nights gone already and I would say only about half the passengers dress up. I like to dress in nice shirt and trousers every night and OH likes a nice dress, thats as far as we go and still look better than a lot of peeps even on formal nights

Must say those cabanas look rubbish., how much they charging?

On 12/13/2019 at 7:03 PM, AeroXWD said:

 Unfortunately, small/baby sharks still manage to swim through the net. 

They sure do, we were about to go in snorkelling and the lifeguard pointed to a 4ft shark about 20 mtrs out. He said they are not aggressive just don’t get skittish around them. He was happy for us to go out and look at it. Unlike Jaws when he said/shouted shark everyone snorkelling went INTO the water😂

And a little heads up for anyone who brings their own snorkel gear. The staff at the rental station say you can use your own gear but you have to rent a yellow vest off them. 
rubbish, the lifeguards are happy to let you do your own thing without wearing one

Although all the shows are good they are repetitive in content so you wouldn’t need to see more than 2, Starwalker and 1 other

Well it will be dark about 5:30pm so you wouldn’t need an umbrella after about 4pm. It rained like heck on us last week, everyone abandoned the island about 3 so no idea when they would have collected

3 hours ago, Homosassa said:

OMG ! - that would be anything but fresh pasta.  Precooked pasta sitting on a steam table to be overcooked (heated ) by boiling an additional minute is not fresh pasta.

 

Do they not have a selection of pasta that is on the buffet line that is a size that it is used quickly and a freshly cooked tray is then brought out? That was the standard on my previous MSC cruises.

What the heck are you talking about. Pasta is rolled out from dough, sprinkled with semolina, stored chilled, got out when needed, dunked in hot water for 1 minute, lifted and stirred with your choice of sauce or butter, how much fresher do you want it.

Damn sight fresher than what you’ve just described. The stuff on offer is done in a big pot at the beginning of service, then the bain Marie is replenished from that, sat under the serving lights to go dry.

2 hours ago, sidari said:

My understanding of the DSC being included within the cruise fare is that it cannot be removed! seems the staff on the ship are not aware of that either.

wondering if I’m one of the first to sail with this promotion, if so and CS are unaware of it or refuse to honour then I can see trouble ahead

The 3 members of staff were quite aggressive about the situation but luckily I’m no pushover and stood my ground. I just wore them down. 

2 hours ago, sidari said:

Stoneman ... Not sure if this will help but this shows the DSC is included on a Seaside cruise in January.

 I showed them my printed paperwork that said “All gratuities and service charges included” but for some reason they said it didn’t mean that. So I had to ask them to take them off anyway. 
I thought it strange that MSC also charge the full amount in one go at day 2, so instead of just stopping the fee they will have to refund it back to my card 

If you are on a 2 week cruise you will get a note saying that you can have lunch in the seashore restaurant on the start of the second week. Other than that it’s the buffet, good luck 

14 minutes ago, sidari said:

 

When did you book this cruise by the way ? Thinking back the SC was only included from June 23rd this year for UK and Southern Ireland guests.

July

55 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

A question.

 

Did you type your message wearing binoculars?

Sorry it’s the way it came out from a paste, I’ll try and fix it.

 No joy been posted too long to edit.

On the seaside at the moment, day 4 of 14. Today Cozumel as usual is raining. 

A few observations compared to last December when we did the same cruise. 

Smoking in areas that you are not allowed has reached epidemic proportions especially at the south beach pool. I have had to ask the staff on 6 occasions to get people to stop it when sat on the sunbeds. 

Don’t get me wrong, I smoke on average 2 cigs a day but observe the rules. 

The area in the casino that you are allowed to smoke has been reduced even further, it used to be the whole one side now it’s a small section about 1/3rd of that. All the seats in that area are taken up with people not playing but just smoking. 
 

My wife has just been told off for bringing a biscuit into the seaview lounge, wish they were so keen with the smokers at the pools.

The food in the buffet is not acceptable, we had the same issue last year and it hasn’t changed. 

Same stuff everyday, no imagination put into it, and the same exact food as 1 year ago. Maybe I’ve been spoiled with the buffets on NCL, even on the small ships there was a huge selection that changed or was added to daily. Sure you will find something to eat, but it’s just lacking in variation. 

They could go a long way to remedy this by simply putting on a fresh pasta station. Choose  a pasta, have it boiled for 1 minute, choose a sauce, plate, enjoy.

The food in the MDR to this point has been delicious, perfect portion sizes and hot. We are in Ipanema, 7:15 seating. Food and wine order taken  and on the table by 7:30. 

We’re on KETO diet and have had no problem finding meals that suit us, and having the carbs replaced with more suitable sides. 

CS is still an issue, had the service charge added to the room even though it’s supposed to be included in the price. 

Even though I showed them the paperwork to show this 3 people descended into the conversation and insisted that although it said INCLUDED it didn’t really mean that. So I just firmly asked them to remove it anyway. Seemed to be the only way of getting what I had paid for. 

Had to chase up Voyagers club for all of the Diamond card stuff we’re  supposed to get. Didn’t receive our bubbly till yesterday. The most annoying thing about them is that the 2 people manning the VC desk are also the future cruise consultants, but they won’t answer any VC issues outside of the hours of 5-9pm I think. So you have the ludicrous, almost farcical situation of speaking to a person that you are going to talk to about a VC issue at 3pm who tells you to come back at 5 when they put their other cap on. 

Those beach chairs look like bean bags, no thanks, you're gonna sweat your kahunas off sitting on/in one of those

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

Even with their recent offensive struggles, I would agree that there will be plenty of my Birds fans there as they do trend to travel very well......😉

 

We traveled well when we were crap, so what's the difference now

4 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

I don't know how the UK site works but on the US site, each mock booking requires you to re-enter your VC number. 

Quite, but you can get to the next page with pricing without entering a VC number.

So I did one booking entering my number, cleared the cache, then did the same booking again this time without using a number and the price came out the same, so there was no apparent discount.