Dididi

We arrived to Port Everglades on Tuesday after a wonderful 10-day Christmas cruise on the Sky Princess. The last two ports were Curacao and Bonaire. World class snorkeling in Bonaire and saw plenty of fish in Curacao too. The ship was only 60% full, which was a surprise to us. Some passengers said that people don't want to go to Grenada (loved the river tubing tour) and Dominica. Others said that ten-day itineraries aren't too popular. Well, we had a fantastic time and hope to return to the ABC islands -- we visited Aruba on the Pacific Princess years ago.

I placed one of the August 2024 10-day Mediterranean cruises on the Island Princess on hold. Will get FCCs on Saturday when we board the Sky Princess for the deposit payment. I found a similar itinerary on Azamara (one day less) for the same price WITH premium beverages, free wifi, OBC plus we get a free bag of laundry on Azamara. Thus, in my opinion the Princess basic fare for the cruise is very high. I'll look out for price reductions during the next year and a half. After the Sky Princess Christmas cruise our next one is on MSC. Trying out new lines.

We're on the Sky Princess 10-day holiday cruise to the Caribbean. Lots of unsold/unassigned cabins and the cruise is in two weeks. We booked an interior for a fantastic price. Awhile back, I placed a bid for one of the six premium ocean views, only $5 above the minimum. Didn't bid for the next categories -- obstructed balconies and deluxe obstructed balconies -- because most are on the Emerald Deck and, depending on location, can be noisy. Yesterday I received an email with a counteroffer: a deluxe obstructed balcony for the price we bid for the ocean view. I was given the choice between two specific Emerald Deck cabins were we to accept the offer. One was alright according to the deck plans. We said yes. We're in a deluxe (sofa!) obstructed balcony for $360. The fare difference is $1400.

We booked the Sokhna to Trieste version of your itinerary, embarking on April 15th. When I received the email about the stop in Bari, I checked our booking and realized that not only did MSC change the end of the cruise, but the beginning. We were supposed to board in Sokhna on April 15th, sail to Safaga on April 16th, return to Sokhna on April 17th (to see the pyramids), and the onto a day at sea and the visit to Petra. The current schedule has us boarding in Sokhna on April 15th and spending two nights in Safaga before the day at sea. No visit to Sokhna on April 17th. We're not traveling to Egypt without seeing the pyramids. Thus, I've requested our travel agent to move us to the April 16th departure from Safaga. We'll spend a couple of days in Cairo before the cruise and take the short flight to the airport near Safaga on the 16th to board the ship. The agent with whom we usually make our bookings won't book MSC because of complaints from other clients. So we're using a new agent for this cruise. The change in the itinerary has us very concerned. This would be our first MSC cruise. There's also the issue about our preference to disembark in Athens on April 25th. Because the ship would be entering Schengen after stopping in Jordan, Egypt (and other countries before we board in Egypt), immigration has to stamp all of passengers' passports. I don't know how MSC does this. In other cruises, immigration officers would board the ship and either stamp the passports without seeing the passengers or would meet each of us at one of the public areas of the ship. I'm assuming Greek immigration officers will "process" all of us into the Schengen Zone probably when we arrive to Santorini but in case this is not done until we arrive in Athens (after the stop in Mykonos), we'll be on the ship until that port. Calling MSC didn't help. Oh, oh.

Ken, We're on the August 6th Athens-Barcelona Regal Princess cruise so thank you for posting information about the DTI and formal dining room nights. Thank you as well for this thread, great photos and insight. Looking forward to your experiences in the cruise segment that begins today for you in Athens. We're arriving to Athens the day of the cruise -- couldn't avoid it this time. After reading about checked luggage mishaps due to staff shortages at various European airports, we're considering just bringing carry-on suitcases. We have a two-hour layover in Madrid but that might not be enough for checked bags to make it to our Madrid-Athens fight.