lawra09

Just returned from a 10 night on the Reflection and noted some changes to the happy hour perk for elites.  There is now no limit on drinks between 5-7 pm in most lounges but you can no longer order a glass of wine in the dining room between 5-7 pm which used to be permitted under the elite happy hour perk.  To me, this is a bit chintzy on Celebriy's part and makes no sense. 

How did they manage the drinks for elite passengers on this cruise - coupons or cocktail hour in the Sky Lounge. We're going on the Infinity next week. Thaks.

How far before your cruise do you get an assigned cabin when you book a guaranty? Other lines usually assign them right after final payment but Holland America has another policy for some reason. And how often do they upgrade you with a guaranty. We booked a guaranty balcony back in May for an Oct cruise and haven't gotten an assignment yet. Just curious.

This is ridiculous, your making such a big thing over looking over the steel balcony versus looking straight ahead. I may have been a slight obstruction but not a major disaster.

When you're used to sitting on the balcony enjoying morning coffee or a cocktail looking out over the sea and instead you're looking at a steel wall, it is a big thing. It's more than a slight obstruction - it's a total obstruction unless you're standing looking over the railing. Didn't let it ruin our cruise - just will never book MSC again.

Lots of balconies, on lots of ships, on lots of lines, have steel walled balconies from the waist down. They are not considered obstructed on any of them. I don't consider them obstructed either

On other ships such as Holland America, they are clearly marked in the deck plan and you are told that these are steel balconies and your view is certainly obstructed when you have to stand up to see the water. The best way to described it is a cabin with a very large picture window. They are certainly not considered "superior balcony cabins" as described in the fantastico pkg description. A very deceitful way of selling these undesirable cabins.

SORRY I did not intend to start a FLAME WAR.

These were just MY "OBSERVATIONS" YMMV

Every cruise line/ship has it's plusses and minuses, WE will use Oasis class and Solstace class from now on...although we are cutting down on the number of cruises per year perhaps our next cruise will be a Regent, to see what that is like.

We have been on Oasis/Allure 6 times, and on each of the Solstace class ships at least twice....we enjoyed these immensely

AND, 24 oz steak, NO, but at least give me a steak or a prime rib that is thicker than a sandwich slice.

AND a descent sized martini

Your review of the Bermuda cruise was very accurate in my view. No one is expecting Capital Grille Steaks on a cruise but come on - paper thin prime rib and steaks - unacceptable. You were spot on about the restrooms. There was no one in there cleaning constantly like on other ships and let's face it - people are sloppy and restrooms get messy very quickly. Alot of their problem in my opinion is the training of employees from reservation staff to ship staff and web site. We didn't get the normal questionnaire to fill out at the end of the cruise but one was e-mailed to us. After completing it and trying to send it was impossible. It kept going back to the top of the form and couldn't be sent. Guess they don't want to see where improvements can be made. People constantly falling in the theater were also observed every night we were there during the 2nd show. Martini glasses - you were right - smallest I've ever seen - they were really manhattan glasses.

Another important issue I remembered -my husband is an insulin dependent diabetic and when we are on cruises, he always requests a container for his used needles from the room steward. When he requested one on the Divina, he was told he would need to go to the reception desk and ask for it. The Divina is a beautiful ship and we managed to have a good time as we were with friends but will definitely not book it again.

do you mean that due to the location and shape of the ship it was recessed against a steel bulkhead? Because that's very easy to tell from the deck plans without any notations; and Fantastica has choice of their own rooms. Did you select your own room or do a guarantee??

I did not take a guaranty. Together with the MSC reservations dept chose our cabins while looking at the cabins on the deck plan on MSC Divina's site. I invite you to look at it and you will see that it is not recessed in any way nor does it state in any fine print that these cabins are steel balconies. The MSC representative should have advised me of this while picking out the cabins. They definitely are not well trained and familiar with the site plans. They are forward cabins on deck 9 in the Fantastica class.

Guess I'm not that smart. Every other cruise line deck plans show very plainly both in colored markings and in fine print which cabins have obstructed views. How silly of me to expect MSC to do the same.

Just to be clear...

1. Took all of one hour to check-in.

2. Had to "stand in line" at kiosk for sail & sign card.

3. Did not learn "how to put on a life jacket" at muster drill.

4. Booked next to lowest "experience" and received next to lowest style balcony.

5. Feeling that hard hats should be required in the MDR.

= worst cruise ever out of 60?

Just to be more clear - there were several other things not mentioned and as far as booking next to lowest "experience", the Fantistico package is described as "superior balcony cabin in choice locations" so we were not expecting a steel hull balcony where you could not see out unless standing. Don't you think the reservations dept. should inform you that you are booking a steel hull balcony when the deck plan on their site clearly does not show it? On another note, we saw several people trip and fall on a step in the main theater every single night during the 8:30 show. It was in the center of the theater, half way down. There was evidently a tripping hazard which on the 4th night, they finally posted a crew member there to warn passengers. When they walked away to talk to another crew member, another person would trip and fall. Anyone else sitting in that area had to witness this. Lastly, when I checked my credit card account, it seems that the Divina's accounting office is in Paris and therefore, if you use a credit card that has a foreign transaction fee, you will be charged one. Naturally, they don't tell you that beforehand and the card I happened to pull out to use just happened to be the only one I have that has a foreign transaction fee. That is definitely something they should tell passengers ahead of time.

Just to be clear...

1. Took all of one hour to check-in.

2. Had to "stand in line" at kiosk for sail & sign card.

3. Did not learn "how to put on a life jacket" at muster drill.

4. Booked next to lowest "experience" and received next to lowest style balcony.

5. Feeling that hard hats should be required in the MDR.

= worst cruise ever out of 60?

Evidently my review wasn't too far off base when cruise critic's former passengers give this ship a 58% rating compared to Celebrity and Princess who get 80's.

Sorry you had a bad time. At least you took your life jackets with you to the muster drill. Many lines don't require even that anymore.

 

Anytime dining is only on Aurea Package. We sail in 3 weeks and can't wait. I have done A LOT of research on MSC, as they do things differently than the other lines and we are big cruisers. Hopefully we don't have these same surprises you experienced.

 

We did sail on Divina a couple of years ago but it was only a 2night cruise. Enjoyed it then, hopefully we will enjoy it again.

Hopefully, you'll have a better experience. We were with friends and still had a good time. After awhile, we just laughed about all the glitches and Bermuda was beautiful which made the cruise worthwhile. By the way, we never heard one announcement from the Captain like other cruises every day around noon to let you know where you are and what the seas will be like. Never heard from him except at the captain's party.

Is this your second sailing on Divina?

Yes - we sailed on it in February, 2015 and it was ok. Food was not as bad on that sailing as this and our cabin was fine.

From embarkation to end, with the exception of Bermuda, this cruise was the worst of 60 cruises we've taken on Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, NCL and Royal Caribbean. The line was very long outside the terminal just to get into the building - took us an hour to check in and that was at 12:30. Instead of taking your credit card at check in, they direct you to one of the kiosks on the ship to register your credit card for use on board which we stood in line once again to do. That is one of their new procedures we were told. The lifeboat drill was a complete joke - our muster station was the casino where they did not even make sure people were trying on their life jackets and we never even saw a demonstration on how to put them on. If one was given, it was nowhere near where we were standing. Now for the cabin - we took the Fantastico pkg which was supposed to be a superior balcony cabin in category 2A. Nowhere on the website deck plan of deck 9 shows any of these forward cabins having any obstruction or any notations showing obstructions. Our balcony was a "steel" balcony where you could only see out if you were standing. When we complained at guest relations, we were shown their diagram of deck 9 which did show our cabins as having obstructed balconies. They said their Miami office was closed on Saturday and they would try to do something on Monday. Well - the following Thursday, they called us and offered us another cabin - with 2 days left of the cruise, we were not going to spend it moving. They didn't so much as offer us a bottle of wine for their mistake and never even admitted their error. Now for the dining experience. When we found out that they had anytime dining, we called and spoke to a Mario who told us just to come and see him at 6:30 that evening and he would change us to 6:30. When we appeared at 6:30 to see him, after missing our 5:30 regular dining time, he looked at our room keys and told us he didn't realize we were on the fantastico pkg and therefore could not change us to anytime dining. So - we missed our dining room dinner that night and had to go to the buffet. Now as to dining in the Black Crab - tables are extremely close together and waiters are having to serve over your head in a lot of areas. The food was mediocre at best - pencil thin prime rib and not much variety.. Food upstairs in buffet was pretty good though with much variety. The ship itself is beautiful - probably the prettiest on the sea and kept very well. The entertainment also was exceptional. We cruise several times a year and generally are not critical people. We realize things are never perfect and have never given any ship such a negative review. After hearing so many other passengers complaining about various things, we felt this review was warrented.

Just off the Getaway out of Miami for 7 days and no lobster night on that one either.

Hi - were there robes in the cabins? Thanks!

No robes in cabins. Also watered down orange and tomato juice in mornings.

Did not notice the Getaway rocking any more than other ships. In fact, it was a pretty smooth sailing.

Embarkation was easy - on the ship by noon. Had a balcony on the very back of the ship on deck 12 and really enjoyed it. Cabin was lovely, bathroom very nice. We have been on over 50 cruises mostly sailing with Princess, Royal Carib and Celebrity and wanted to try something new for a change. The ship is absolutely beautiful - the atrium will dazzle you with its swvorski crystal staircase! The dining room is on two levels and also very beautiful. I don't know if they had too many passengers for 1st sitting or if it's always like that but the tables were so close together you could barely get between them. Much of the time, the waiters had to pass plates over your shoulder to serve. The food was adequate, small portions which was fine for us as so much gets wasted. The main problem was that more often than not, it was served warm and not hot. You also had a difficult time getting coffee served with dessert. Much of the time, it came long afterwards. The entertainment was excellent which was a surprise. Pool areas also very beautiful especially when they were lit up at night. The passengers were in the 60 plus category - very few children. We were with friends and had a nice time but in the future will stick with our favorite Celebrity new Solstice class ships.

After 56 cruises and none on NCL since the Norway, we decided to join friends on the Getaway recently. Embarkation was smooth and we received our luggage by 3 pm which was a surprise. Our cabin was on deck 12 and roomy as was the bathroom and well appointed; however the balcony was the smallest we have ever had - barely enough room for 2 chairs and a very small end table. All balconies appeared to be the same size with exception of suites. Our cabin stewardess was very sweet; however, our cabin was never cleaned before 1 pm the entire 7 days. The best part of the cruise was the freestyle dining - going to different restaurants each night that were included in the price of the cruise. All had the same menu so you didn't have to check menus at each restaurant before deciding which one to go to. The one we did not enjoy was the large dining room which had a band playing every night for dancing while dining and was too loud to enjoy any conversation during dinner. The food was okay most nights, nothing fantastic and no lobster served during entire cruise which was a first for us. We did go to the French specialty restaurant one night which was excellent. The entertainment was a disappointment - two comedians during the cruise, both of which were awful. Shows were mediocre at best - the best being Howling at the Moon that featured two very talented musicians. Cruise is geared towards young adults and families - most venues very crowded and loud! This cruise is definitely not for older adults who enjoy fine dining and good entertainment. Since no cruise is totally bad, we did manage to enjoy ourselves with friends but there is no comparison between NCL and our favorite Celebrity Solstice class ships.

If you are are trying to decide on particular cabins, I have a listing of every cabin onboard with the square footage of the cabin overall (plus broken down into bathroom and living space) and the balcony. Let me know if you need that info on certain ones.

 

Overall, I think B2 is a safe bet though some forward have steel balcony siding versus plexiglass.

 

Bret

Any info on 12285 would be appreciated like size of balcony and tub or shower. Thanks so much.

She's supposed to be in Skagway today but the webcam says she's still in Juneau. Does anyone know?

When you book early, you usually pay top dollar but get your choice of one or two amenities. If you wait until 30 to 60 days before sailing and book, many times a couple will save several hundred dollars but will not get the amenity previously offered and will not get to choose their exact cabin but will at least get a guaranteed category. If you do book early and have paid for the cruise and price goes down, good luck in trying to get the lower price or at least an upgrade. In our case we booked early, got choice air for $529 per person and got an obstructed view balcony. Six weeks before sailing, price dropped $600 per person less than what we paid for a guaranty balcony and it was for an Aqua Class cabin. When I called Celebrity, they would not even upgrade us to a non-obstructed cabin for what we had previously paid and would not let us upgrade even if we paid more which I thought was totally unreasonable. Celebrity needs to change their policy on this in my opinion.

We were on the T/A of Silhouette end of November and had smooth sailing and warm weather the whole way with the exception of one day with a short shower. Beautiful cruise.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! For future reference, you really don't need to quote a thread, unless your question requires the quote for context. This is especially true for long posts and those with photos as they require loading time.

 

To address your question, the primary differences are

1) the variety of drinks is limited in the classic package, especially wine and beer and martinis would not be included.

 

2) the premium package allows you to pay the difference over the $12/drink limit, the classic does not.

 

use the search features and you will find many, many discussions of the pros and cons of the drink packages.

You can still order any martini on the classic pkg - they just bring them in a smaller glass. So you just have an extra one.