Graham_In_Brisneyland

Coast Starlight sounds wonderful, but we only have 5 days left in America after the cruise, so I think my daughter would rather we spend it with her and her husband than on a train :-)

Thanks everyone for your advice.

As it turns out, we may need to get from San Pedro to Portland instead of East Bay, so it sounds like air is the only viable option :-)

Cheers

GraC

Hey, fellow cruisers!

We're cruising from San Pedro in October this year (Norwegian Jewel) and get back, I gather, early on a Sunday (Oct 30th.)

We then need to make our way back to Nthn California, to my daughter's home in the East Bay area.

I'm thinking that a car rental's probably the best way to go - but am also considering the Coast Starlight.

With that in mind .. a couple of questions.

Does anyone know approximately what time ships normally dock after sailing from the Mexican Riviera?

Most ships in Australia dock around 6am - but I'm not sure if the same applies up there.

If it IS around 6am, would we have time to get to Union Station by 9:30 AM (assuming we can be one of the self-disembarkation passengers?)

Or is that all too hard? (I'm not entirely sure I want to be getting into Oakland at 10PM in any case)

The other option we are considering is renting a car at San Pedro, and dropping it off in Hayward near SF the next day.

I know there's an Enterprise office near the cruise terminal - but they charge a one-way fee even inside California, whereas I don't think some others do.

Does anyone know if there are any alternatives? The Enterprise drop-off fee is $150 - or three-fourths of the cost of the car rental!

Cheers

Graham C

yes, the closet is behind the bathroom door in that video.

 

here's pics from a sideways cabin (room 96xx) on the Gem. might even be the same room #9627.

 

imgur .com/a/FGs3C

(remove the space since cruise critic doesn't like that picture hosting site for some reason.)

Thanks for that!

We are in 9627 on the Jewel in October, so this is very useful :-)

Cheers

GraC

Hi Pam. thanks for info. do you think they will ever upgrade to a better internet connection. we have been on 3 world cruises and the internet was non existent in many locations. we have found internet to be pretty bad on all sailings. thanks

There are some physical limitations that will be very hard to get around.

We just sailed around the West Indies, across the Atlantic, through the Med and then up the Dalmatian coast (with MSC).

Across the Atlantic, the net connection was worse than woeful. But that's probably because there's fairly poor satellite coverage there.

After all, there's not much point in having lots of satellites aiming to service three-men-and-a-brown-dog in boats.

Closer to land, the coverage was about as good as an old dialup connection: enough to handle emails, and upload the occasional (mid resolution) picture .

25 nights?? Color me completely jealous!!!!!!

Have fun!

We will!

It's a repositioner, taking us from the West Indies to Venice.

It's a shame that all ships don't have guest laundry facilities. I'm going on a 12 day cruise in Nov. on a ship with no guest laundry, and I'll have to pack very carefully. This is one subject that really, really agrivates me about cruise lines; they purposely make it so you'll have to use their expensive laundry services.

.

Our next cruise is a 25-nighter, without guest laundry.

The undies are gonna get washed in the shower each night - but there's simply no way to take enough clothes to last nearly 4 weeks without a laundry service :-(

Is this the same for British military personnel?

Don't know - but I got this response from the Australian MSC people, on Facebook:

"We do offer a 5% discount for military off our prima cruise price, however our current earlybird offer supersedes this. We don’t offer onboard credit for military service at this stage unfortunately but we'll pass this onto the team for their feedback."

Since my earlybird price was almost exactly half the Prima price, I can't complain, but hey ... :-)

Just checking - we got onboard credit for my past military service on P&O / Carnival cruises ... anyone know if there's any similar OBC with MSC?

Cheers

GraC

We are about to embark on our first MSC cruise out of Venice on the 31st of august

Have a great trip - and when you get back, can you let us know how you went?

We are also Aussies heading for our first MSC cruise (in April '15) ... and are looking for tips :-)

Cheers

Graham (and Shirley) in Brisneyland

G'day, folks!

We've just signed up to another cruise (addictive, aren't they) ... a 'Grand Voyage' in April '15.

It starts in Dominican Republic, spends a week or so sailing around the Caribbean, then across the Atlantic via Portugal, Spain, Malta, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, and ending up in Venice toward the end of the month.

It's a 25 night repositioning cruise - and at $1400pp for a balcony, we just can't resist.

So what I'm asking is

(A) Does anyone have experience with MSC and

(B) has anyone done a trans-Atlantic sail like this in April?

We already know that there will be lots of extras on board (no free water or coffee, $8/day per pax for tips, charges for ship transfers, etc) and that the European style of sailing is ... different to the US/Aus style ... but are there any traps for young players that we should know about?

Also, I'm assuming that the weather in the Caribbean in April will be warm, and in the Med should also be warm (ish) ... but that it will be cool in the Adriatic, and quite cold in the Southern Atlantic at that time of year?

Cheers!

GraC

G'day, folks!

We've just signed up to another cruise (addictive, aren't they) ... a 'Grand Voyage' in April '15.

It starts in Dominican Republic, spends a week or so sailing around the Caribbean, then across the Atlantic via Portugal, Spain, Malta, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, and ending up in Venice toward the end of the month.

It's a 25 night repositioning cruise - and at $1400pp for a balcony, we just can't resist.

So what I'm asking is

(A) Does anyone have experience with MSC and

(B) has anyone done a trans-Atlantic sail like this in April?

We already know that there will be lots of extras on board (no free water or coffee, $8/day per pax for tips, charges for ship transfers, etc) and that the European style of sailing is ... different to the US/Aus style ... but are there any traps for young players that we should know about?

Also, I'm assuming that the weather in the Caribbean in April will be warm, and in the Med should also be warm (ish) ... but that it will be cool in the Adriatic, and quite cold in the Southern Atlantic at that time of year?

Cheers!

GraC

(I'll also post this in the MSC boards - but I'm hoping that others may see this here ...)

One thing to remember though is that it also works when you return.:( Sailing into Sydney it picks up a signal at about 2-30 am :eek: and then all your messages start to arrive at about 1 minute intervals:mad: . I learnt that through experience.

<spurts hot chocolate all over the screen>

Hadn't thought of that - all our previous travel's been by plane ... I can just see it in my mind's eye :-)

<still chortling at the thought...>

Gra