Qc-Mtl-To

Would it be possible to know what time you usually try to go for dinner?

Both! I however find the paper ones a bit more accurate... But as bad MSC IT is shoreside, I find the app really easy to navigate and really well done!

IT Surprises and new cabin #s!

1 week to go, 1 week left dealing with MSC infamous IT surprises!  Woke up to cabins being reallocated across the Yacht Club following last night IT update… My and the girls cabin (YC duplex deck 12) stayed as is, but my sister, husbands and sons were moved across the deck 18 vs. side by side cabins on deck 14.

Called back the travel agent, and they could accommodate 2 side by side on deck 14 anymore, but managed to get 2 on deck 18 on the port side, away from the smoking section. Side by side was the most important thing so that my sister can let the boys bunk together and have her husband sneak in her cabin at night 😉, and still be able to maintain discipline. They boys are very well behaved, but buys will be boys, so opened balconies will be good to keep the family unit together.

Just a quick parenthesis to ask people to be extra nice to their agent when dealing with this… Mine told me she had a lot of those requests today, and while people are rightfully angry in some cases, getting the TA to eat crap isn’t nice… TAs have to call back MSC directly to make changes each time so that takes a long time, when they could be spending their time booking new cruises and make commissions. This is a lose lose for everyone… but not a reason to be rude or for anyone to consider their trip “ruined” and swear off MSC as some have…

I’ll take MSC’s prices with the IT issues over RCCL/Celebrity fares (and remember that Celebrity’s IT was not far from being hot garbage not so long ago…).

T-1 week…

With the 1-week countdown, and a crazy busy work schedule, packing has started as I’ll likely only have a few hours Friday night to finalize everything before an early flight Saturday into LGA. Not a fan of airports in summers (crowds, occasional travelers, delays, thunderstorms, post-COVID issues, US customs in Toronto, etc..) so earlier is better, at least the plane overnight in Toronto… I fly enough for work; I don’t want to deal with issues for my personal time…. Thank God for Nexus/Global Entry… that usually makes the stuff I don’t control a bit more controllable!

At this point I’ve turned my guest bedroom into a packing disaster, with snorkel gear, water shoes (along with the sand from the previous trip (woops… forgot to rinse them last time! – my significant other isn’t happy with the sandcastle I can now build in the other room).

Sunblock has been purchased in industrial quantity, I somewhat fit in most of my summer clothes, and I’m pretty much done figuring out which menus in the YC’s restaurant I feel “meh” about and the specialty restaurant I plan on booking instead….

In short, planning is going well. I think. Especially considering that I usually am a spur of the moment person on vacation, but with 8 of us, it’s a bit hard to be spontaneous…

Just like OP i had 2 cabins on the July 30 Mera sailing that blanked and got reallocated after their system upgrade. The duplex i'm in with my nieces stayed as is, but my sister, her husband and their sons moved from next door 14025/14027 to both end across each side of the 18th deck. Managed to get them back into 2 next door cabins, but on deck 18. Not ideal as the girls will have to run 4 decks to go see Mommy when bad uncle is mean to them, as opposed to be just one flight of stairs, and the potential rattling of deck chair, but sister is a very early bird, and the boys will need all the incentives to get out of bed.

In the end, the "real" pain is for the poor travel agents that will get all their clients calling to make them change back cabins and take the brunt of complains. For the rest, we brush it off. We're lucky enough to be on vacations, i'm not going to let that "ruin" my time by fuming and crossing off the line altogether. At the price we paid, i'll take the quick adjustments and terrible IT systems over paying Celebrity Retreat fares.  

First attempt at a live review… so please be indulgent.

Premise:

36 yo here who was lovingly invited by his sister to “join” (read: organize, plan & book) her, her husband and their 5 (yes 5!) kids aged 11-15 (yep.) on the July 30 2023 Meraviglia sailing.

I typically split my vacations between active cultural immersive EU/Asia, and what I call a “brainless” trip each year, with the cruise in the latter bucket. Travel addition is funded by a rewarding but demanding job in finance which makes me appreciative of my time off. I don’t mind paying for the better things, but always seek to extract as much value from each of my trip. I’m fairly go with the flow and easy going otherwise.

Long story short, I’ve been cruising for a little while as my “brain off” vacation. Been alternating between Celebrity (yep another rescue puppy) and MSC yacht club since 2015. Dabbled a bit with HAL for some specific itineraries, fully channeling my inner 100 years old. I’ve recently skewed towards MSC in the last 5 years, all in Yacht Club. For reference I’ve sailed the Divina (1x), Seaside (2x) and Meraviglia (1x) before and have a booking in November on Seaside with my partner and a few friends.

First time travelling with teenagers and kids since I was one myself. I typically travel with my partner, but vacations constraints prevented him from joining this trip. This is my sister’s first cruise since 1997 (Costa Romantica…), and her husband and kids’ first.  I live in Toronto and my sister is in Montreal.

Booking Story & What Wine Makes Me Do:

We originally booked in late spring when my sister called to brainstorm on idea for her annual family vacation. Mentioning in passing the Meraviglia relocation to NYC we quickly determined that this could be a solid option for her family, ensuring that everyone’s vacation is actually a vacation.

One thing leading to another, she convinced me to join the party noting that 8 people is a lot easier than 7 to plan around…. Got a fairly good deal on 3 Aurea balcony cabins inclusive of a healthy onboard credit, easy plus drink package (non-alcoholic for kids/teenagers) and wifi. 3 per cabin but I was to be only with my goddaughter in our cabin (perk of planning for everyone!)

I was looking forward to test the non-yacht club waters with a premium plus beverage package upgrade (for adults) booked (my sister and I can be difficult on our wines and liquors… blame that on the French blood) and had flirted with unlimited specialty dining package for all when I noticed a few duplex yacht club cabins opening up…

Calling up our travel agent after a few glasses of wine, she managed to reallocate 2 of the kids in my cabin so we could max out the duplex suite at 4 (but with 2 bathrooms this is a win for everyone!), and upgraded the remaining 2 cabins (2 pax each) to regular yacht club balconies.

The upgrade turned out to be relatively cheap all things considered (less than what yacht club was going for, at the time of the original booking on an all-in basis) and MSC credited the upgraded beverage package against the cost of the yacht club upgrade so I didn’t “lose” anything. None of them should be expecting Christmas presents from me this year.

Pre-Cruise Plan:

I’m flying into LGA on the morning of the 29^th and my sister and family is driving that morning from Montreal. We booked the Seaport 33 Hotel across the street from the Brooklyn Bridge, and plan on taking the ferry at Pier 11 in the morning of the 30^th. I’m fortunate enough to work for a bank that has an office downtown NYC so managed to leverage a colleague’s parking pass for the week for my sister’s car.

Trip of Firsts:

As mentioned previously, it’s a trip of firsts for most.

·         I’ve never traveled with kids/teenagers (they’re very well behaved and if I considered myself has an old soul, those kids are well past retirement age)

·         First cruise (or been a loooong time since last) for most

·         First type of any type of Caribbean vacation for the kids

Planned activities:

·         For Port Canaveral:

o   Kennedy Space Center – went when I was a kid and remember it to be fun. It’ll be a fast one, but it’s better than nothing.

·         Nassau:

o   The kids have been re-watching pirates of the Caribbean and replaying Assassin’s Creed Black Flag (game is set in the pirates' golden age era and features a fairly accurate reconstitution of Nassau based on 17^th blueprints) on a loop since they know about the vacation. We plan on touring the historical part of Nassau: Queen’s Stairs, Parliament Area, Botanical Garden etc… (see? Old Souls…) and potentially finish the day on the beach)

·         Ocean Cay:

o   Snorkel, and roasting like a bunch of well fed, crispy suckling pigs on the beach.

·         Sea Days:

o   Each kid comes equipped with a Fun Pass.

o   Water slides.

o   Premium Drink Package.

o   Food.

o   Nuff said, y’all get my drift.

At this point, I’m opened to advice, to dos, not to dos, thoughts and comments… I’m well-traveled in a lot of ways, but group/family/kids travels is a first…

7 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I *highly* recommend the crab cake!

I have perfected my OC meal over the years! extra seafood platter, crab cake, bottarga pasta (vongole seems to be available on seafood lunch in YC) & chocolate cake.  I tried to sneak out with the bib they give with the platter but they took it away :(.

Well I guess I'll have a date night with my brother in law! sister can babysit.

Hello dear community! Travelling soon on the Meraviglia and our whole party except for one loves fish and seafood. I’ve been to that restaurant a few times and know the menu well but never had to ask up to now… Do you know if they have something on the side for the non fish people? Would hate to have to ditch my sister to have dinner with her husband….

Ultimately, I'd book what I'm willing to live with regardless of potential upgrade. Anything else is a plus in my view and allowed me to make a better decision re. whether or not to bid when/if I got the upgrade email. I'd recommend to book and keep monitoring to see if something good comes up prior to sailing. I've recently had good luck upgrading from an Aurea balcony to a yacht club balcony at less than what the opening bid was for a friend on the Mera July 30 sailing. .

the problem is that travel agent said it's possible/msc says it isnt, or vice versa for my last 3 calls. hence me asking here!

Hello - I'm scheduled to travel on July 30 with my sister, her husband and her 5 kids on the Meraviglia. We booked and received an Easy Plus beverage package, but would typically .

I'm getting the traditional run around when asking my travel agent/MSC directly despite their website (i know it's not worth much...) saying that it is possible to upgrade prior and/or during our cruise. 

Just wondering if someone has done it with the recent changes to the beverage package either before or after boarding and if yes, what code it was tagged under and the cost associated to it?

I'm on the January 29 departure and my embarking time asks for 5pm. I would assume 5-6pm is the last boarding slot as they state on the cruise document that everyone has to be checked in 2 hours prior to departure.   

2pm is, while asked by MSC, only a vague suggestion for most based on my experience, across all lines... but you want (ie. HAVE TO) to be onboard no later than 6pm based on documents received.

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been covered before. Im in the process of booking the Silhouette out of Venice on July 27. At this point, I'm hesitating between securing a AQ cabin or to go with a regular verandah. I sailed twice with the Silhouette before and truly love Blu.

To get to the point, I would be tempted to secure a regular verandah if I could with certainty book a ultimate dining package. I just dont feel like the MDR every night, so AQ is like an insurance policy against it...

From what I understand, the UDP is offered driven on the pre-booking of the specialty restaurants and as a result can only be booked during the first day.

My question is: Did any recent cruiser did NOT see the UDP available, or a vast majority attest that they have seen it offered.

Im mostly asking as since I will be travelling alone, the difference between a veradah and AQ is ~$500, which could be bridged halfway by the UDP... and to be honest, the quality in BLU always prevented me from trying the other places... Although I wouldnt say no at making Murano my new dining room for the week...

Thanks!

 

One question about the gym--How was the cardio equipment? I try to do at least an hour of cardio each day--treadmill, stationary bike, etc. and not having access to this type of equipment could affect my decision to book the Veendam.

 

Thanks!

Cardio equipment was fine. elliptical, treadmills and bike with TVs. Never had trouble getting a treadmill.

A vacation is what one makes of it. You'll have a good time!

Well said - what a treat to spend time with each other.

 

Your report was excellent and really on point about all the details. So? Are you planning that Alaska trip with them for next year?

If health is good, I don't see why not!

If health is good, I don't see why not!

The Veendam is 20 years old and their is only so much that can be done in a short down period. We heard of the pipe break at the M&G and the elevator issue was the result of an electrical problem that affected the commode flushing, was corrected quickly and the Captain kept the passengers alerted and up to date. These issues are probably not unusual when cruising. We have experienced similar problems on past cruises but you deal with it. One big problem with the commodes is that people put things in them that they should not and they get plugged up, remember they are vacuum commodes, just sayin.

 

 

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Agreed. I was on the repo cruise as well. The toilet/elevator issue was a non-issue. All done while in port and everything was worked out fast enough that somebody in port all day would not have noticed.

Elevators and toilets were restored to full operations within a couple hours and brought back in stages so that bathrooms and elevators in some area of the ship were always functional. Nothing like a Carnival episode. The captain kept everyone appraised on a very regular basis and as a result even prevented me from having a nap in my lounger!

My Grandparent safe was acting out but a quick service request and everything was taken care of.

Just came back from the Veendam Repo cruise from FLL to YQB. Before I start the review, let me just provide a little background about me and the context in which this review is written.

My Party:

Myself - 27 yo professional working in capital markets. (fully ENG-FR bilingual) Crazy winter workwise, physically and mentally drained. Needed a sedated vacation.

My Grandparents - 72 and 77 yo, retired, first big trip outside Quebec. Only speak French. This cruise and trip was their Christmas gift from me to them. Grandfather is very active, although need a cane to go around but do take the stairs when he feels like it. Grandmother can walk by herself but do only short distances.

Cruise Background:

I traveled a couple time with Celebrity in AquaClass,and truly love the contemporary feel of the Solstice Class and the Blu Restaurant which is much more intimate than the regular dining rooms. This was my first time with HAL. My GPs never cruised.

Why HAL:

I only had good experiences with X but fell like this would be a little too "loud" for my grandparents. Moreover X ships would have been too large for my GPs. Veendam proved to be the right size. I have to say that despite good reviews about HAL, when one didnt try the product, I was a little apprehensive regarding food, and overall luxury level. This prove to be a non-issue.

Pre-Cruise:

In case it interest anyone, I am a person of habits. I usually try to stay at the Ritz in FLL, but they were fully booked for the 2 days prior to our cruise. I don't really like surprises so I was disappointed into having to find another hotel. I ended up booking a 2 bedrooms suite at the Atlantic Hotel, a couple blocks north. The room proved to be great!~1,350 sq ft, with 2 bedrooms each with king size bed and huge bathroom with great toiletries and amazing views. Overall a very solid contender to the Ritz, but without that little touch that make the Ritz a Ritz. The Restaurant was great as well. We were supposed to go get dinner at Via Luna at the Ritz, but after a flight, my grandmother just wanted to have something downstairs. The tapa menu was great, with the crab cakes a definite highlight.

Embarkation:

We got to the port at noon. left our suitcases and were on the ship within 10 minutes.One plus I have to give to HAL is that cabins ready at embarkation is great, compared to my recent cruises with X. Makes for a less crowded lido area.

Cabins:

I originally had booked 2 Oceanviews which I upgraded to Lanai cabins (358 & 360)This proved to be a great idea. Due to me paying for all three trips (and mine in single occupancy...) suites and balcony cabins were out of the question. Lanai cabin proved to be a good compromise and allowed my GPs to enjoy the outside much more with a direct access from their cabin. Things to be noted are that the outside doors are really heavy. And that HAL should figure something out as you end up walking around with a full wallet of cards (beverage, patio and seapass) in my own opinion, everything could easily be concentrated on 1 card and would save a lot of plastic, especially when recycled fiber/starch pen were added to the cabin to save plastic waste from the previous "regular" plastic pens.

Ship:

The ship was spotless. I was apprehensive considering it was an older ship, and just came back from dry-dock with all the problems that can come with it. Beside from a ice cream freezer that blew up and prevented from having ice cream for 2 days, nothing major. I don't eat ice cream anyways...

Great art collection, ranging from statues, objects, pieces of furniture and painting.

Flowers everywhere add a touch of life very much like that lawn on X's Solstice Class. Just nice to see some "real" life everywhere. Plus, the smell of fresh flowers is always a good scent.

Lots of comfortable chairs everywhere and the leather chairs are real leather, not plastic, which is great.

In terms of decoration, the ship shows its age, with lots of brass and pastels, but the quality of the finishing allowed it not to be tacky and outdated.

Gym:

Ouch. I work out twice a day, usually 1-1.5 hours in the morning and 1 hours at night. (weight in AM and cardio in PM) Couldn't do it on this ship due to the lack of basic equipments. Definitely shows the age of the ship. Free weight choice is definitely aligned with the average age of the passengers. Heaviest is 50 lbs. Heavier ones should be bought has there was enough place for another weight rack. Multi purpose stations could be added as well replacing some of the older equipment.

Food:

Definitely up there. Didn't have 1 bad meal. just a dessert i didn't care for, which our waiter notice and replaced promptly. yum.Buffet lacked variety compared to X but understandable considering the size of the vessel and the fact that the ship was far from full, which would only result in more waste.

Main dining room was good all the time. Our waiter was good at steering us towards what he felt was the best and flatly told us one night not to have a certain dish as it wasn't good... Ended up with with about two appetizers main and dessert at every meal... This is one thing I was worried after the delights of X, especially Blu with its smaller dinning room and no mass produced meals. I was definitely not let down.

We tried Pinnacle Grill for lunch and had a good quiet lunch while in Halifax. Great meal. Didn't try it at night as my grandmother doesn't eat a lot at night and would have just had a soup for her entire meal.

The dive in provided good burgers and hot dogs. Healthier options should be available in mid afternoon for a snack. Also, afternoon tea was good, but could be done like X with scones and pastries provided in the buffet area, instead of the formal-ness of the dinning room.

Service/Staff

The ship was far from full (about 70%) due to the repositioning nature of the cruise.

The staff I interacted with were stellar. Prast and Tika at the dinning room were stellar, even managing to make my grandmother laugh to tears. Leo the sommelier was great both personally and professionally.

Diana at the Ocean Bar was a sweetheart which won my grandfather's heart with her witty remarks and her stories. Good luck in your future endeavor.

Josephine at the Explorer's lounge was great, attentive and remembering names and drinks (even the brand of liquor to put in it).

Entertainment:

Violin/piano duo was lovely in the explorer's lounge at night. However, as celebrity has an instrumental jazzy mix at night which gave a bit of sophistication when no live band were playing, the canned Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus piped in when/where no live bands were playing or between breaks at night were out of place. Given the age of the passenger, this is not only in line with demographics but would die of a heart attached should the wrecking ball music video be shown.

Shows had an amateurish feel to them and were clearly an afterthought after what I saw on X. My grandfather and I didn't care for them and rater just hang out at the Ocean bar all night long.

Port of Calls:

I didnt care for most as I already been to most as I am originally from the East Coast/Maritimes. but nice to see all the familiar sites and have strolls. Gloucester's hop-on/off was great for $3 but halifax and Sydney at $50 was a rip off. Just take a cab or walk. much cheaper and not far at all.

Closing Remark:

I had a great time and definitely the sedated vacation I was looking for. GPs had the vacation of a lifetime and already asked for Alaska next year.

While I was clearly the younger one on board, I didn't feel out of space, altough I would have not chosen HAL should I had been with friend or younger relatives seeking a comparably premium experience. X would have been my #1 contender just by the overall feel of contemporary luxury it offers. But for a sedated super quiet vacation, this is exactly what I needed. HAL is very traditional and definitely caters to a very loyal following. With aging demographics it'll be interesting to see how they evolve and cater to a new generation of cruisers without antagonizing their customer base.

One word on some event I witnessed. The table next to ours made a formal complain on 2 dining room employees under the pretext that their table of 8 could not be cleared within 1 hour. Their attitude towards employees was disgusting, speaking loud about how much they had paid and expected to be served the way they wanted and within the time frame that they dictated.

Respect brings in respect. This type of behavior should never be allowed and should have been retaliated against. Those employees work tirelessly so that we can enjoy doing nothing. Next time this happens try to think about how petty your complain is in the greater scheme of things. Plates are too small? Order 2! Coffee is too hot? let it chill. You have an important appointment at 9pm? Book as you wish dining or the first service, not the 2nd service. You're on vacation people! Slap a smile on and go with the flow!