Cathy in Boston

Thank you!

Hi all, Can someone please tell me the path to get to how much we still owe towards our final cruise on the MSC website? We looked all over yesterday but could not find it? Thanks!

I reached out to them on X (or Twitter or whatever it is these days.). I’ll report back on what they say.

Fall of 2024? Gosh I hope not. Guess we will cover ourselves by getting a refundable reservation on a different line.

By mid October, it starts getting cold here. Could be in the 50s or 60s…or the 40s. Good thing is it isn’t snow season yet. I would bring a jacket just in case.

We love Celebrity but based on everything, we are trying other lines, for the same reasons as others. We are booked in the YC on MSC, and waiting for the 2025 Virgin Voyages Mediterranean cruises. We would still consider Celebrity but would never book way in advance with them again.

Although I’m sure other people will be excited by this, I’m kinda disappointed, as it appears nothing about the Mediterranean in May 2025. Meanwhile, Princess, HAL, and MSC have theirs up and running. https://www.virgin.com/about-virgin/latest/virgin-voyages-adds-19-new-destinations-and-27-new-itineraries

We were wondering the same thing. You should have no worries. Jump on YouTube. There are a bunch of videos from Vloggers who have videos titled “Am I too old for Virgin Voyages?” They really alleviated our fears. Now we are just waiting for the 2025 itineraries to come out.

…my DH can be a little OCD when it comes to things like this so… With the 2025 itineraries approaching, do we each need to set up an account with VV or is one of us enough? As always, thanks for any help!

I was told a few weeks ago by VV folks via email that new itineraries would be released by the end of the summer.

Always look forward to your reviews! We are on the Divina in April in YC. All that being said, I can’t begin to tell you how much I love your matching outfits. They are adorable!

https://www.cruisehive.com/faulty-safety-materials-may-put-dozens-of-cruise-ships-at-risk/105929

Our 11 day trip on the Divina is basically the same. Some of the times at the ports have actually gotten longer by an hour for some reason. We get 8 hours in Roatan, so while we are disappointed, we are looking forward to seeing Roatan.

So....maybe I'm blind but I didn't see my cruise out of Miami on Divina on April 7?

Hi everyone, I want to thank everyone who replied to us. So after taking everyone’s suggestions, we found a TA local to us…about a 35 minute drive from where we live. This particular person has taken 4 VV cruises, loves them and has a VV Gold level certification. She also told us she would be able to get us some “extras.” She has reminders set up for us so when 2025 opens up, she will contact us. Overall, she was extremely pleasant to work with. Thanks again!

Wow, thank you all for your advice. Okay, I’m convinced, TA it is!

Hi all, This is not a typical “pros vs cons” question. Typically, we prefer to book everything ourselves. We’ve booked all of our Celebrity cruises on our own. However, we were given very good advice by someone on Cruise Critic to use a TA when booking an MSC cruise. We followed that advice and am glad we did. So, I guess we are looking for folks experience on booking their own trips on Virgin and whether they had wished they used a TA instead. Thanks for any and all advice!

Actually, I heard from them regarding this very topic a couple of weeks ago. They said "We'll be revealing new itineraries by the end of the summer 2023." Looking to book a B2B European cruise for our 35th wedding anniversary in 2025.

Thanks for that. We are on the Divina next April.

Hi all, hoping someone can answer my question. Here’s why I ask. My DH and I have decided that for our 35th anniversary, we want to do a mediterranean cruise. (Our 35th isn’t until 2025 but we are early planners, LOL!). Anyway, we have only been on Celebrity so far, which we love but they keep getting more and more expensive…we do have an MSC cruise planned in the YC in 2024. Based on our research, we’d like to try HAL, but have been reading some pretty bad reviews of the Oosterdam, which seems to be the ship in that part of the world. I saw from another thread that the Oosterdam is slated for dry dock in October of this year. So what exactly happens in dry dock? Is it a case of refreshing the ship so it looks nice, or do they address the problems folks have been complaining about like leaks, bad plumbing, etc? Any information will definitely be appreciated and helpful in making our decision.

Hi all! Mike here using Cathy’s sign on. I just have to comment on this. Like it or not, we live in a selfish society and some people just do what they want regardless of rules. As an example, we live in a condo. There is a big sign in the garbage room that asks folks to break down boxes before they are put into the recycling bins so there is room for everyone to use them. I’d say at least half the people who live here don’t do that and throw these enormous boxes in these bins. So when I read that people are being less than hygienic on a cruise…or anywhere really am I surprised? Nope. I can’t control what anyone else does. I can only control what I do. I control what goes in my mouth, which is why I don’t eat at buffets anymore. I look at the seat I’m about to sit in before I sit down. Can it sometimes be inconvenient? Sure. Does it stop me from ultimately having a good time? No, it really doesn’t.

Hi all, not sure if this is the correct place to put this post. Mike and I were thinking about doing a cruise of Japan in a couple of years for our 35th anniversary in 2025…I know…we like to plan ahead…Anyway, the last Celebrity review of Japan in Cruise Critic was 2019. Just wondering if anyone had a more recent trip and how it was. It seems like Princess is pretty big out there but Celebrity is our preferred cruise line. Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

Hi all, Well, we are booked! We found a “local” travel agent who gets really good reviews, so we got in touch with her. She said we were easy because we basically knew everything we wanted. We booked a deluxe grand suite in the Yacht Club for April 2024. I wanted to thank everyone for their great advice. I’ll be lurking trying to learn more from you all. It will be interesting to compare the Celebrity Retreat to the MSC Yacht Club.

This is great advice, thank you!