Into Cruising

Is Room Service available with the Bella experience?  What would be the per use additional charge?

Are Passports required or only recommended?  Can birth certificates and valid government issued ID be used instead?

Thanks,

Joe

My cabin is 10042.  Does not look too shabby to me.

Thanks for the responses on Room Service, while not a deal breaker it would be a shock to my system to be running to the buffet each morning.  I do not mind paying.  I am on a Promo special pricing so did not have the option for Fantastica

I have a Balcony Bella Experience  booked on the Meraviglia for October.

Part of the perks of my booking is the Drinks package and  wifi.

I think I will really miss room service.  Is it available for a charge by any chance?

I spent a week in this cabin earlier this year.   I do not believe that it shares a wall with a service area, however it does share a wall with the remote corner of the lounge.   We had only one episode when a small child was allowed to beat on the wall.  However the parents put a stop to it in short order.   Otherwise there was no noise.  The service area is actually across the hall from the room, but is seldom used by the YC staff coming to the hall, but the room itself is used as a pantry 

I went ot book excursions on my upcoming cruise in January.  I saw offering for two types of Yacht Club 

cabanas, one being ocean view and one being Ocean front.    When I saw the price  I jumped to the conclusion that it was per cabana.

Each said  capacity of 6 people, but included snorkling equipment and floats for 4.    

Ocean view was $399 while Ocean Front was $449.   But then I saw the small print that said per person !!!!!

Can this be true?

I stayed in the cabin right next to the TopSail Lounge on the port side, however on the Seaside.   There was only once during the week that we herd anything, and apparently it was a young child  with parents who thought it was ok to beat on the walls like a drummer.   Thankful it was a one time occurence

Mr Mike,   I, too, feel that many on the boards here take the title of Cruise Critic, literally.   They feel this is the place to be critical.  I have found that many of the posts must be taken with a box of salt.  However there are a few enlightened travelers on here  that I value their comments and opinions.  

I was never expected to "ace" every test/exam, and I knew there was always a scale  for the level of "competence" I exhibited.  If I passed, I was elated.   Some subjects were "easier" for me, and i got better grades there.  Some were harder for me and my grades showed that.   However, my grades had no connection to which subject I liked the best.    

The same goes for how I view ships, and I have been on plenty.   Ships from a specific line many times have different scores.   Many here will disqualify an entire line on their experience with one ship on one specific sailing.   They are not travelers, they are vacationers.

This week there is a Carnival ship that had to delay embarkation of passengers until 4:00 PM.  All of those poor people who arrived early or even on time with expectations of getting on board early were inconvenienced.   Their actual cruise  may go without further mishap and actually be very enjoyable, with perfect weather  and excellent service and food.   Nevertheless, I would expect to see a myriad of "criticism"   with many vacationers writing off Carnival and perhaps cruising in general.  

Travelers take it in stride and  accept the "adventure" of travel.

Being a Traveler has nothing to do with how many cruises you have been on, it has more to do with your attitude and expectations of travel.

Just my take on it,  I accept these forums being "critical"  and simply glean whatever value I can from the actual travelers on here.

I used De Tour con Ali  ....   www.detourconali.com

I do recommend them very highly.  What i did was secure her  "You're the Boss" services for a small group of 5 ,  but then offered remaining seats up other passengers, who eventually filled 14 seats.   We toured both Old and New San Juan and stopped at a restaurant for an evening meal.  (at our expense)    Total tour was close to 4 hours  and the per person charge was split evenly across all 14 people, equally $25 per person.   If you can get Alicia as your tour guide , she is excellent, but all of her people do a great job.  Everyone remarked and thanked me for arranging it and allowing them to join in.

I had a small group on bard  on the March 16th sailing.   I had arranged a  group tour with a local company in Puerto Rico. Due to the 5:00 arrival, I told the tour driver to meet us at 5:30.   I had people throughout the ship in each of the "experiences" including Bella and Yacht Club, and no one had a problem in being at our meeting spot on the outside the pier that evening.

Initially there was a lot of hype on a separate section and beach for Yacht club.  Now there seems to be no reference to that on the web site.  Any insight?

While yes you can check in separately, pay very much attention as to your specific time of departure from Miami.

I have just spot checked April sails and see both 5 and 6 pm departures on various sailing,  and it seems later in the year it goes to 7, so as to provide adequate time for Air travel passengers and air schedule changes.

Far too many people  here give advice based on their own specific experience while sailing on a specific cruise without regard to potential  differences.

I would say give additional thought to  getting any package for either photos or for the Fun pass.  

While fun pass seems to be a great deal ,  you should ask what are the hours of operation  for the 4D theatre and the F1 simulator.   They are very limited.  The Zip line seems to always be closed due to winds, and even on port days, they seem to stay closed.   It is very hard to get your moneys worth of these  attractions, but you can use the 2 or 3  video game or bowling.  There are only 8 seats in the VR theatre, and some people seem to monopolize them, staying on for multiple sessions.  The lines for the limited hours of the F! are very long, usually of family groups, which tend to somehow rejoin the lines after their ride, by being pulled in by other group members, ahead of everyone else.  There is no oversight.

As for pictures, The packages are actually great and most of the photographers are awesome.  However scheduling time to preview and select your photos is hit and miss.  There are too few people serving and helping, and the kiosks never seem to work properly.  The workers will not even help each other out.  Expect hours in line, and expect appointment times to slip, and nothing is ready in time....This is especially true the last day and night, when many people are told to come back between 6-9 on Saturday morning  to finish the transaction and get their photos.  On Friday night they will close  even though they have many people still waiting in line to be served.  

My son ended his cruise with well over $100 of credit on his Fun Pass.   He also wasted 3 hours of prime time dealing with the photos.   And it was a great hassle since it seamed they put half of the photos shot on his card and half on his Significant other.  This caused a great deal of problems when trying to choose from each one to complete their package.

Thank,  You are a true asset for this Forum!

Thanks,

I have not seen it available for pre purchase, does it have to be purchased on board, or am I missing something.

Joe

Does anyone know if the Fun Pass is still available in the Seaside.   

Can anyone provide the detail of it if it is?

Thanks in advance!

Joe

Do not base  your experience  on the word "suite"   The equivalent experience you are looking for is Yacht Club.   For MSC a suite is just a room, albeit a very nice one.  Even better than some in the Yacht Club,  but they do not get the perks of the Yacht Club.  They will get the associated experience of Fantastica or Aurea. 

Trust us, go for the Yacht Club

I thought there were only 4 piers at the port for cruise ships, plus more for cargo ships.  I would hope that NCL gets last choice if there is not enough for ships in port

Not only book ahead of time, but if you do a private tour, make sure the guide knows you want to stay long enough to  get inside and  to the top.   Our guide talked us out of it as he said it would take too much time away fromteh rest of the tour, which was to include Florence.

I know they say we dock at 5:00 PM.  But how soon to they begin disembarkation?  

I assume clearing the ship should go quickly as we will not have visited any foreign ports yet.

I am hoping to schedule a private tour for 5:30 PM pick up

TIA,

Joe

Ah, I see you can request early or late and will be assigned a time  Here is the offerings:

                                             EArly                                  Late

MSC SEASIDE Ipanema 5:15 pm                   7:15 pm and 9:15 pm*

MSC SEASIDE Seashore 5:30 pm                  7:30 pm and 9:30 pm*

Bella and Fantastica guests request an early or late dining option at time of booking. Aurea guests have freely selectable My Choice dining times. Dining requests are on a first come, first served basis. We will make every effort to accommodate your request, however there is no guarantee that you will be assigned to your preferred time. Your dining time and table number will be confirmed upon embarkation. Changes are permissible once on board.

Sorry, I was not even aware that Bella could request any seating and were just assigned one.

MSCCustomerService@msccruisesusa.com

I may be missing something, but if your main concern is your dining time, you are taking a risk in going with Bella, which means a time will be assigned to you.   There is no guarantee a request to change an assigned 5:30 seating will be honored.  Many will say they had no problems, but there are those that did.   As some one said in the Caribbean there are more North Americans, who prefer to eat earlier, however, I have heard someone say that the majority on board is still European.   And they prefer to eat late.   I am just saying if the dining time is of utmost importance, then choose an experience that offers a choice in dining times.