MANDMTRAVEL

I am trying to figure out the mdr menus to make specialty dining reservations. Do you know on what date of the week is the gala night?

I would like to know as well

@ollienbertsmum OMG, you are amazing, thank you very much for your response. Love all your ideas! Thanks!!!!!

This is my itinerary :

Sunday - Cannes

Monday-Genoa

Tuesday - La Spezia

Wed - Civitavecchia  ( this is my 20 yrs wedding anniversary)

Friday - Palma de Mallorca

Saturday - Barcelona (what time should I buy train tickets from Barcelona to Madrid for?

On 5/6/2023 at 1:29 PM, cruisemom42 said:

Good suggestions above. I'll just add that with a built-in group of four, you'll probably find that taking a private excursion (e.g., local vendor but set up in advance), you'll pay about the same as for a ship tour -- sometimes less -- yet you'll have considerably more latitude to customize your tour.

 

In Europe when you book a private car, you really do have control of the itinerary and can ask them to add or subtract stops based on your interest. (But do follow their recommendations on timing -- most are extremely conscientious and want you to get back to the ship in plenty of time before sailing.)

 

Agencies frequently recommended here are very reliable.

 

thanks, any companies you recommend?

On 5/5/2023 at 11:35 PM, fishiecrackers said:

We are doing a mix of ship excursions, private tours, and walking around on our own for our Mediterranean ports. I am also traveling with my teenagers, so after asking them if there were any "must see" things for them in the cities we were going to, I started my research by Googling "things to do in XXXcity with teens," and looking at the ship excursions to see what was popular in each area. I would also look on YouTube and watch videos by searching like "One day in XXXcity." Once we decided what we wanted to do, we did a ship excursion if the convenience made it worth the price, and otherwise we did private tours. We built in a few days with no tours because I know my kids personally are not going to want to do a tour every single day (nor does my budget), and made sure to have a good mix of churches/ruins/museums and things that are NOT churches/ruins/museums.

 

We probably don't have the same ports because we're leaving out of Rome, but I'm happy to share what we decided on if we are going to any of the same places!

hanks!  Yes, I don't want to bore them or have the budget for all the museums and churches. Please share your decisions!  We are to Cannes, Genoa, La Spezia, Civitaveccia, Palma de Mallorca  ani

On 5/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, mar214 said:

If this is a new travel area for you, a good place to start is to see what your cruise line offers in each port, then check and see what local tour companies offer the same tour and compare costs. This will give you a good jumping off point to see what the popular tours are. We always check the tour company reviews to see if they have a good reputation. Rick Steves has a book for Mediterranean cruise ports. It's worth the investment to read up on each port and see what he says are the highlights. With Mediterranean cruises, some research is necessary in order to maximize your time in each port. You also want to be sure you plan activities that will appeal to your teenagers. It's worth the research time - you will all come home with some amazing memories! Enjoy! 

Thank you very much for your answer.

Hi, I have cruised many times before with different lines. This August I will be doing my first Mediterranean MSC cruise from Barcelona. this will also be our first time in Europe and would like to see as much as possible.  

However I am not sure on how to buy tours? By your own or with the cruise line?  We are a family of 4 our kids are 14 and 16.

Thanks!

Awesome! Thanks!

Hello!  Is the Seaview back at sea yet?

Is this the same as the 7 color lagoon ?

Hi, looking for Bacalar lagoon tours from the port. Any recomendations?

On 7/7/2022 at 2:25 PM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

You cruised on the Harmony 6 times just this year?

Exactly my thought . LOL!!!

HI, I have not sailed on RCL in a while. So excited will be going on Symphony very soon doing the Western C. was wondering what days are formal nights. Is it 1 or 2 days?  And do they still serve lobster on the main dinning room on one of the nights?

Thanks in advance!!!!

10 hours ago, 3StarfishKids said:

Sorry for the delayed response- all the adults were able to communicate through the MSC for me app chat function. It did not work for our children- we went to customer service and found out that it was not available for anyone until 18. We all have iPhones though and we were able to use iMessage on the ships WiFi for no additional charge. We also found that we could send and receive iMessages to people off the ship as well for no additional charge. We kept our phones in airplane mode, connected to the ships WiFi and it worked. Not sure if androids can do anything similar or not. 
Also you could send iMessages but not images. We also got all sorts of notifications through the ships WiFi (ring cameras, Snapchat, FaceTime calls, etc) but could not view or answer any of them on the ships WiFi without paying an additional fee. My kids said all the notifications were just taunting them lol 

Thanks!!!!! We have iphones and this is great news!

Ive heard there is another website people is using more, for roll calls and so, I just don't know which one is it.

On 6/19/2022 at 10:59 AM, frank808 said:

Hi there everyone. As title says, I will be rambling on our Seashore cruise foe the next 2 weeks.

 

Some background. It is myself, DW, DS and wife's mom. We are from Hawaii and flew East last week with a 6 night stop to visit the mouse house.

 

No problems and left Anaheim for our early morning flight to get into Miami on Friday evening. Made it to LAX with much time to spare. Rather uneventful flight, until we had to sit on the tarmac at EWR for almost 90 minutes waiting for gate to open. Obviously missed our connection to Miami. Scrambled to customer service counter to get rebooted. Checked and Sai we can standby on another flight. So we took that. Of course that flight eventually got cancelled. Back to United counter and got confirmed seats for the first flight to MIA Saturday morning. Now to get lodging for 6 hours which United graciously offered. Took hotel shuttle to hotel and got our rooms and confirmed first shuttle to EWR for 5am. Woke up at 430am to a text message from United that the first morning flight was cancelled due to flight crew timing out . That can happen but how ca. The first flight of that morning to MIA have a timed out flight crew?

 

Make matters worse went to lobby and was informed that shuttle does not leave at 5am but 10am. Front desk offered those of us in lobby to call and order a taxi for us.  We said sure since it would be quicker than waiting for Uber. Wait 15 minutes and instead of 3 taxis arriving just one arrived so I called for an Uber instead. Now all this time on hold with United trying to get a flight for us to MIA.

 

Uber gets there and we hop in. During the drive phone agent informs me there is no open seat to MIA from EWR at all and we can get in on Sunday instead. Not acceptable for me. So Uber dropped us off and son and I ran to customer service counter(thank god for TSA pre check and Clear membership). While wife got her mom through the regular security. Tom at the service counter was awesome and got us 2 confirmed seats to west palm beach and the other 2 on standby. At the airside gate, since we only had 2 confirmed seats,, gave wife here passport, cruise docs, negative tests and GPS system to make the drive south to cruise port with her mom so they could at least do the cruise. Told her I made a reservation for a vehicle to drive down to Hertz MIA cruise port location and return the car there. Hertz also provides shuttle to cruise port. Son and I would meet them next week Saturday for the second half if it came down to that.

 

Well we got lucky and there were 8 no shows and we both got on same flight! Can now start to feel relieved that we will be in PBI by 10am on Saturday. After an uneventful flight we got off and went to lugguage counter to see of our lugguage made it. Of course it did not and after filling out located form was told we would get an update personally from the United rep. Surprised to get a call (as pulling into Walmart parking lot) from same United rep that our luggage will be arriving to MIA Airport at 2:48 pm. United have luggage will sent to cruise dock.

 

Whirlwind 15 minutes at Walmart to buy clothing, toiletries and a suitcase. Drove the last 20 minutes to Hertz and returned vehicle. Then was informed that the shuttle was not running. Told us to order an Uber and he will rovide credit for the ride. Surprised there was an Uber within a block. Got to cruise port by 1:20pm and having a drink by 1:35 at the poolside grill. 

 

We have made it so that is great. Only negative is we only have what we had on our backs and what we bought at Walmart to wear for this week.

 

Will be updating this post when I am able to. 

 

If you have any Seashore questions, post away and I will try to answer.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for following along.

OMG!!!!! Following this. 

Were you able to communicate with your family through the MSC app?  Do you need to buy internet packages for everybody to be able to text between us on the ship?  

2 hours ago, 1kaper said:

Maybe it's different depending on country but when I sailed from US, only breakfast was included in the Fantastica.  

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/compare-experiences.aspx

 

Thanks!!

That is an awesome cabin!!!

2 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Basically speaking; because they have contracted the ice cream management to a 3rd party vendor which rents their space from the ship. And why on earth would they to offer some soft serve elsewhere, once they have available for a reasonable fee the nice stuff? $4 for a soft serve scoop or cone? That's nuts, really!...

 

Pro tip: Usually they have a free small ice cream cup as part of the MDR lunch menu. It is a small cup of the good stuff! back in the day they used to have it also at the buffet. Not anymore on the most recent times, I believe. If that interests you...

thanks for the heads up.

2 hours ago, 3StarfishKids said:

No gelato was included with the packages- just soft serve. Anyone could get soft serve in the buffet at certain times in the afternoon, but it wasn’t a long time- maybe only from 4-5pm? The kids could get soft serve from the Jungle Pool Bar for a longer duration, but it was only kids!  I didn’t realize they were charging adults for soft serve there! The bartender said it was $4 for my cone and I was like are you kidding me?!?! The lack of soft serve was probably one of my few complaints. With so many other options, it does feel a bit ridiculous to complain about soft serve ice cream, but having cruised other lines where it’s available practically 24/7, I just don’t understand why MSC doesn’t do that!! 

sad to hear that, my kids are not soda drinkers but loved the MSC gelato on the Seaside. Well, I  will have to pay for the gelato then. thanks!!!

Thanks S.  how much is the delivery food for the room service?

Hello, can someone explain to me the advantages of the Fantastica experience over Bella on the Seashore?

Glad to read your review, I will be doing the Western Caribbean soon with 2 teens.  My kids love gelato included on they easy package a couple of years ago on the Seaside, are they inclusive on the Seashore or only the soft serve?