DirtDiver

9 hours ago, jdvmd said:

Does MSC offer Pepsi or Coke products?

I'd like to know this as well before buying a package....fingers crossed for Coke.

36 minutes ago, kevinrobedm said:

We were on the Seaview in November and quite honestly I have never seen such fast internet speeds on a cruise ship before.  We we able to facetime and use Fongo (a voip app) and did not have any issues at all.  It really was quite incredible.

Perfect. Great to know. As much as I love Royal's huge ships it's nice not to be limited to one line.

I exclusively sail on RCCL because of their Voom internet offering. However with the newer MSC ships they have captured my attention. 

What i I haven’t been able to figure out is what type of speeds I should expect on MSC’s internet offering. 

I’m looking at a Mediterranean sailing on the Seaview in October. I understand the Seaside has “fast” internet but what does that mean? Everyone’s definition is different. 

Has anyone here done speed test or tried to skype / FaceTime? It’s very important for my business that I can communicate while on holiday. 

Thanks!

I've spent the last few days frustrated at how horrible the RCCL website now is. I wonder what percentage of their revenue comes in from their website, it has to be the majority. And yet, it's a complete ship wreck. You'd think they'd care, but you'd be wrong. Delta's website and technology is just as terrible. I tell people all the time that most of the travel industry has HORRIBLE technology, but then in person they're good.

Time outs on the RCCL are so frustrating this is the first time I went to a TA, just so I don't have to deal with the horrible website.

Thanks for the replies. They went in the direction I thought they would. I've heard St. Maarten is an amazing port.

Trying to decide between these two itineraries on November 18:

Allure sailing to: St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, Haiti

Harmony sailing to: Haiti, Fallmouth, Cozumel

My dilemma is this: I've been on the Allure (and loved it) back in 2017, however I've never been to any of the ports it's going to, and have always wanted to go to St. Maarten.

On the other hand, I haven't sailed on the Harmony, and it's newer, but I've been to Cozumel (which I like) and went to Ocho Rios (which I very much disliked).

To add to the decision making, I'm taking my parents who have never been on a cruise, so I figure the Harmony would wow them the best.

What would you do? The prices are similar with the AOTS being about 10% less expensive, so not really a factor.

I'll be on the Jan 2 sailing on the Allure, and want to know which restaurants are required must sees? I can't afford to eat at every specialty restaurant, but I do want to experience some. We'll be eating at Giovanni's Table because that's my son's name, so where else should I definitely eat at?

People bring radios all the time. A simple (and very inexpensive) Baofeng can easily provide multiple purposes like HAM, family radio, marine band listening, etc., and it looks just like the family radios that people buy at Walmart.

I have a friend on the Anthem and apparently they are in extremely bad waters. 100+ mph winds.

Some crazy pictures being posted on Facebook and Twitter. I posted a picture from Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthem-of-the-Seas-Royal-Caribbean/855327494582409

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=anthem%20of%20the%20seas&src=tyah

I've been in contact with him thanks to their better internet connection on the Anthem.

Hopefully it clears up.

We went to Jamaica in May and never even saw 1 mosquito. We also did a beach day excursion so we weren't in the jungle or parts of the rain forest. They are deterred by DEET so use insect repellant. We now have the disease in the US also so of course they won't stop going to islands that have it as we now have it here along with West Nile.

 

Out of all the islands our family of 5 absolutely loved Jamaica and I feel you are making a mistake if you don't get off the ship. Just my opinion though...I know others would argue that point.:rolleyes:

I think my point was missed:

Yes, we may have had reported cases of the virus, but that doesn't mean that all things are equal. For example, by these standards, the U.S. "has ebola" but it's slightly different than the ebola outbreaks in West Africa. My guess is not a single person here would step foot in Liberia today, but would gladly travel and walk around NYC. Both "have ebola" but there is a difference in quantity. There have been reported cases of CHIKV in the U.S., but not at all near the quantity that are being reported daily in the islands.

This isn't ebola, but it's still a problem. One of the major problems with diseases in the "third world" is that the governments don't accurately report the numbers. Similar in a way to a CDC director that makes conflicting statements days apart. The more I've read about this epidemic, the more I've realized that the Jamaican authorities really are trying to contain the financial damage to Jamaica, not the actual disease. (here is one article that's worth reading, with some grains of salt added: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140928/focus/focus3.html)

I imagine the cruise lines watch this sort of activity very closely, and correspond with organizations like the CDC and the nations that they travel to.

Never said 'all' the islands were affected. I said others had been affected and Carnival cannot stop going to all of them.

I understand that, and appreciate your response.

I guess what I was trying to say was that IMO it may be a good idea to avoid the ones where even the government (this is saying a lot in this part of the world) has declared a state of emergency.

This disease, like many others, is spread by mosquitos. All I can say is "Bug repellant".

 

And it is not just Jamaica. They can't stop going to all the islands.

Yes, I read about the disease and know it's spread by mosquitos, but I also read that bug repellant wasn't successful 100% of the time...which has been my experience as well when I go camping. I suppose it may help to use both repellant and stay on the port / beach and not venture into the island for excursions.

But to your point, not "all" of the islands have been affected the same. From the information I've been able to find, it has been reported in small numbers on many of the islands, but some of them, such as Jamaica, have an all out problem.

Jamaica has declared a state of emergency, and I have a cruise coming up in a couple days that ports in Ocho Rios. I'm concerned about getting off the ship, especially for those in our group that have autoimmune deficiencies such as Lupus.

Has anyone here heard or spoken to Carnival about this problem? I would hope they would skip Jamaica after such a widespread problem there.

State of emergency:

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-21/jamaica-declares-state-emergency-try-stop-spread-painful-chikungunya-virus

Do they still have lobster in the MDR on cruise elegant night? I love my lobster and will be upset if I can only get it in the Steakhouse for a fee.

 

I booked the Victory for January knowing it is an older ship. I booked it for the itinery. Can't wait to go to HMC and Grand Turk.

I too would like to know if they removed lobster on formal night. I sailed on the Victory last year and we had lobster in the MDR. I'm also sailing on the Victory Nov 1.

If you click Add to Cart, it will show how many are available. If you're even considering it now... get it. You're a month away from sailing and it will sell out fast. You can always cancel it if you decide you're no longer interested.

Ah, I didn't know it was refundable. Thanks for that, it shows 13 remaining.

I'd be surprised if FTF was available at this late date. I know it will pop up once in awhile, but usually it would be sold out by now.

It shows as available, that's how I came across it:

It depends on how much you value your time. If you're in a stateroom with 5 guests, it can be as little as $10 per person. With FTTF, you receive priority embarkation, priority disembarkation, priority luggage delivery, stateroom being ready when you board, priority line at Guest Services and priority ship to shore tendering. If you think that is worth $50 per stateroom, go for it.

 

Easy. Go to the Guest Services desk and say you want to be on the next tender. They'll escort you down. Problem solved. Of course, you can always try flashing your FTTF sticker or Platinum card. Just take an elevator down and prevent the door from closing until the line starts moving a bit...

Thanks, you're absolutely correct about the per person cost being worth it. For us, it comes out to about $16 per person, and I think that's not bad.

Now I need to persuade the rest of the people in our party in the other rooms.

Only at tender ports of call.

Would you say it's worth it? I'm on the Nov 1 Victory to Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. I plan on getting off at Grand cayman, so first to tender....worth it?

I'd love to get the file, if you get a minute:

opticalserenity AT gmail dot com.

Thanks, it looks really great!

Thank you very much, that's perfect!

Here's one:

 

I'm doing the Ocho Rios / Grand Cayman cruise, and for some reason it doesn't show a map of the route when I go to the itinerary. It does show the list, but I was wondering if anyone has a map.

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Why is it crazy?

 

The onboard shops are not owned or operated by Carnival Cruise Lines. The area is rented out by an operating participant, Starboard Shops. Although Carnival's logo is plastered on everything with authorization, they do not own or manufacture the items sold in the gift shops. The associates are also employed by Starboard Shops. Some employees that are employed by an operating participant, such as spa employees, are required to pay Carnival for their room and board.

 

More info: http://www.starboardcruise.com/home/

Because both Carnival and Starboard could increase sales. Plenty of companies sell products on their web presence that are simply authorized merchandise.

I've asked this quesation before. The reason they can't sell them online is because they are made and purchased for duty free sales. There's some technicality that prevents them from selling the models online where they would have to charge tax.

That makes some sense, but at the same time they could have two different sets of product lines.

Actually you do have to look at the taxes and fees as they can and do go up from time to time. Ours went up for our Freedom October cruise which reduced the amount of the OBC we received for the price drop. They will look at the total fare when applying price drops. It still helped buy a couple drinks :)

That's exactly what I just dealt with. Our Victory cruise went down for the actual fare, but when customer service changed the rate, the taxes / fees went up so the total price was actually higher. I went from a paid off cruise to one that had a $3 and some change balance. It actually made no sense to me why they'd even change it and require us to go through a long process of changing it back.

Why not just give the difference in OBC and not deal with the taxes and fees?

I just looked, and the Fare Viewer says my room's category is $727 and my billing page says $777. But apparently the fees / taxes changed...has anyone had success in getting them just to issue OBC to get around the taxes and fees?

It's crazy that their website doesn't sell all their branded items. Then again, considering how bad their website is, and how bad their customer service is...I'm really not surprised.

I really hope things change soon.

Unfortunately, recently my experiences with Carnival customer service have been very bad to say the least. I've been very unimpressed with their customer service, managers, and PVP's.

There is a huge disparity between the service you get onboard vs. the pre and post service. Perhaps Carnival should focus on the customer service prior to getting on the ship. I wonder just what percentage of people they lose in the booking / pre-booking phase.