sugarnyc

Currently on deck 18. Has been very quiet!

 

 

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Thanks! Are you on the port or starboard side? Enjoy the rest of your vacay!

Just about to book the YC on the Seaside. My stateroom will be on Deck 18. Any issues with noise, etc.... since the pool is on Deck 19? I usually book a stateroom with staterooms above mine.

On a cruise to St Martin, PR and Bahamas. Would you say Port or Starboard is better?

Thanks!

I hope you have had a great trip. Thanks for the information about the shuttle as well as your lovely photos and the peak the dailies give into what we can expect onboard and in the various ports. I am surprised by all the opportunities for daily fitness activities on the boat itself, a nice way to balance vacation food indulgence. I am looking forward to hearing more about your experience and impressions when you get a chance to share them. Have safe and uneventful travels home.

I saw on FB that the fitness activities just started on AmaLyra.

The illumination is definitely worth seeing. Take advantage!

 

 

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Good to know! Sounds very nice!

Rouen

 

 

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Thank you for posting the daily activities and Picture! Hope u are having a wonderful time! Getting excited for my upcoming Amalyra Paris-Normandy river cruise!

I'm finally catching up after being on our European adventure of almost 3 weeks. I'm uploading the cruise overview and will follow with the daily programs. I've not seen these posted for a river cruise before, and it'll let you see the activity options each day, which on Ama were all included.

Thank you for posting! I am doing a different itinerary on the AmaLyra but seeing an overview of a typical day on AMA is very helpful!

E316

Enjoy!! What hotel are you staying at? I am doing this cruise in August! Looking forward to hearing more about the cruise, etc....

I am going to attempt to post 2 photos. I hope it works!

One photo shows the wheelhouse tour. The other photo of Karaoke shows the attire people wore, the photo was taken in the lounge, after dinner.

Thank you!!

I am always the youngest person on the boat, and expect that to continue for another decade or two (unless I try U by Uniworld). But river cruising suits my preferences and I enjoy conversation with people that have more life experience. I'm going on my third river cruise next month :)

What hotel in Paris did you book? I am trying to get suggestions since it will be my 1st time there. I am going on a river cruise in August. Thanks!

We did this cruise on the AmaLegro in 2014. We sailed the Danube on the AmaLyra in 2013.

 

The ships are very similar, and I think all AMA ship gets refurbished every year. We enjoyed both ships and both river cruises. The crew were warm and friendly. The Danube is a bit more scenic, but the Seine is very charming, too.

 

We loved the itinerary. Monet's gardens are simply beautiful! The beaches in Normandy and the cemetery is a very moving experience.

 

We stayed in Paris for a couple of days before the cruise and toured on our own. Our hotel, Hotel Britannique, was perfectly located and just lovely. I believe it's located in the 1 arrondissement, so it's near Notre Dame and many other sites. A metro stop and wonderful restaurants are just around the corner. Breakfast was plentiful and the staff polite and helpful.

 

I would suggest not staying at a hotel near the port. The port is nothing special and away from the interesting sights. Whatever hotel you choose, they can call a taxi and give specific instructions to the cab driver for the location of the port where your ship will be docked.

 

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you for the helpful information! Much appreciated!

How are people usually dressed for dinner?

We are just back from Paris and Normandy and really enjoyed the time in Normandy and the day at the landing beaches.

 

It was our 6th or so visit to Paris and we chose to stay in the 9th at the Hotel L'Echiquier Opera Paris MGallery by Sofitel. It was one of our best Paris hotel experiences in all of our stays, though the location might not be ideal for first timers. Wonderful staff and comfy and quiet room.

 

Previously we rented an apartment on Rue Cler and have also stayed at the Hilton, Novotel and Marriott hotels in the 7th as well the Odeon near the Luxembourg gardens.

 

I love the MGallery Scribe but it was not available for our dates.

Glad you had a great time! My 1st time in France. Deciding on the cruise was easy. Figuring out the hotel and area of Paris is more difficult....

Thank you!

We are staying at the Hotel Moderne .Have been to Paris twice before and didn't need a hotel close to the attractions. We wanted to be close to the port and can't remember how we heard about this hotel but from what I've seen it is fairly close to it. Gets 4.5 stars on Trip Advisor. We booked mid April and got an excellent price, includes breakfast, so staying 3 nights before the river cruise.

Thanks!

We are doing that cruise in August also. Are you on the wine cruise? We took our 1st river cruise last year and did a Bordeaux wine cruise with AMA. You'll have a wonderful time!

Thank you! No, not the wine cruise.

Glad to hear that your experience was great!

Where are you staying in Paris?

We stayed at Hotel Verneuil St. Germain. If you prefer small boutique hotels with wonderful service, check out on Trip Advisor. It's walking distance to Louvre and D'Orsay. We even walked to Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, and Eiffel Tower from there. Lovely neighborhood with non touristy cafes.

 

 

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Thank you for the information! I will look up the hotel!

Loved the itinerary. We went in late March, so missed Giverny, but enjoyed everything else. Since we had spent 2.5 days in Paris on our own, pre-cruise, when we returned at the end of the cruise, we skipped the organized tours and ventured out on our own, again.

 

We will definitely repeat this itinerary, as Uniworld now has a new ship, and offers golf, twice, and hopefully a "top of Paris" excursion, by the time we go again.

 

Definitely try to book the Eiffel Tower at 60days, so you can make it all the way to the top-so worth it!

 

Robin

 

 

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Thank you again Robin! And the hotel you stayed at looks nice. I will look into it some more! Giverny looks beautiful. I am glad I get to see it!

:D....I am still trying to figure out what to do for my 2nd River Cruise. My 60th birthday in in March and there are so many

choices! Actually, the Paris to Normandy looks very enticing to me as well.

Lois- Sounds like a nice bday cruise!! 😊 You have many good itineraries to pick from!

I have a lot more time until that milestone bday approaches. I keep trying to top each of my vacations. Since life is too short. So many great destinations in our world!

Hi:)....it looks like they are sailing in SEPT (after you;p)........just thought you might have missed that part.

 

I took my first river cruise last year on AMA.....it was FANTASTIC:)

Thank you Lois! I focused on September.... A lot of these posts are older so I didn't catch that. But glad to hear that AMA is great!

While we didn't sail with Ama, we did do this route (on Uniworld). We stayed at the Hotel Da Vinci, only a few blocks from the Louvre. Very convenient, and very nice. One of our favorite features was the pool, which could be booked for private use. We booked the last slot available for the night, and the jets on our tired feet after two days of walking everywhere, felt awesome.

 

The staff was also top notch, I left my electric adaptor at home, and they went out and bought me one....

 

Will definitely stay there again, when we return.

 

Robin

 

 

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Thank you Robin! I will look up the hotel!

Did you like the itinerary?

We did Tulip Time in April of 2013 on the AmaCerto - fantastic! We sailed the AmaSonata last September on the Romantic Danube - even better! We are booked for AmaLyra's Paris to Normandy in September 2017. We are big, big fans of AmaWaterways!

 

Allyson

Hi Allyson-

How was your AmaLyra Cruise? I am doing the same ship and itinerary in August. Did you stay in Paris pre or post cruise? If so where?

Any insight would be helpful since this is my 1st river cruise! 😊

Thanks so much!

This will be my 1st river cruise. I am sailing on the AmaLyra this August. Very excited!

I would love to hear any suggestions or recommendations re: this particular ship and itinerary.

What hotel did you stay at pre or post cruise? I am still trying to figure out a hotel in a nice & convenient area in Paris.

Thank you!!

I didn't keep in touch with my friends on the ship with my smartphone.

The reason why I didn't was b/c they didn't have the internet packages.

And you need to sign off to avoid the data from continuing to be used.

Has anyone used their phones for wifi texting and/or calling to communicate with others on board?

 

My husband and I will be on the Divina in a week. If we can do this it would be very convenient.

I got the streamer package in Dec.

Among other things I was able to txt, call, and FaceTime over wifi while sailing. This was needed to stay in touch with family & friends back home. Worked very well for my needs!

Thanks to Status Match, we decided to look at MSC for an upcoming cruise. Next thing I know, we're booked on a cruise June 2018 on Seaside in the Yacht Club. We are very excited! While we have occasionally sailed in a suite, we have never had special 'private areas' and 'private restaurants' (save for suite breakfast on Princess in Sabatini's). I had a couple of questions though.

 

Does the Yacht Club include dining in specialty restaurants? It looks like Seaside will have a number of nice ones! I gather I get one specialty dinner for being 'black'. Does that include everyone in my cabin (there are 4 of us) or just me?

 

I gather that come this summer, the Yacht Club will have all inclusive drinks all over the ship. Are there any restrictions on this? I presume my husband can't just order the most expensive wines. What's the limit, and how limiting is it? Can we get mocktails and such as well as soda and water?

 

We have gratuities included in our cruise fare. Given that we are Yacht Club (and therefore won't be spending money on drinks) what would we need to buy onboard? Laundry? Internet? We'll probably arrange our own excursions. We also have some OBC from the TA, so I'm wondering if we'll actually have to pay anything on the onboard account when we disembark.

 

Minor thing, but what is the Black level onboard gift? Is that the chocolate ship I keep hearing about? Is the chocolate ship that good? Is it white, milk or dark chocolate?

 

Can someone link me to a good review of the Yacht Club experience (I'm sure there are some around) and/or menus from the Yacht Club private restaurants?

 

Any other tips for a first time MSC cruiser? We are experienced cruisers, usually sailing on Princess and Celebrity, but we have also sailed on Disney, RCCL and HAL.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give!

None of us will know exactly how things will work on the seaside until she starts sailing.

I just sailed in the Divina YC this past December. Great experience. YC included dining in Le Muse, not the specialty restaurants. The black card gave us a voucher for a complimentary dinner for two in Eataly Steakhouse or Galaxy. The black card holder can bring one guest. Example: If two in your stateroom have a black card you receive 2 vouchers.

Yes, there will be restrictions on what you can drink throughout the ship based on what I read. Even currently, premium spirits and wines are not included in the unlimited drinks you receive in the YC. You can pay extra if you want those that are not included. In the YC areas, our stateroom and Le Muse we were given complimentary bottles of water. I drank only bottled water throughout my cruise.

Yes, there are charges for laundry and for the various internet packages you can purchase. I purchased the streamer- worked well and not that expensive. I needed to make calls back home while traveling and I used wifi calling while we were sailing and the calls were very clear.

The gift might vary. Mine was the MSC baseball hat.

The ship was milk chocolate. I have it, didn't eat it though.

There was only one YC restaurant Le Muse. Then there was the top sail lounge with the bar and finger foods and desserts, etc... I enjoyed afternoon tea there very much! There is also the bar and small buffet by the one pool.

The made to order pizza! Reasonably priced. The frozen drink BBC! The lemon meringue squares in the buffet. The Gianduja gelato. At dinner one evening I had great Burrata.

Two of my female friends got haircuts on the Divina very reasonable pricing. They were both pleased with cuts and blowouts.