Cruzinforpeace***

That is excellent advice. I’m going to remember that for our next cruise.

Always take the muster drill seriously. Your life could depend on it!

Yes that was such a terrible event. The captain on the Concordia was my Safety Officer when I worked on the Costa Atlantica in 2002. I remember him being somewhat lackadaisical about safety procedures back then. You really need to pay attention to where ALL the lifeboats/liferafts are located because in an emergency it’s most likely an “every man/woman/child for themselves scenario”.

As much as the new way seems much easier, the old way is more realistic in an emergency. Everyone will be going all at once if there truly was an emergency. Hopefully it never happens🙏. All these ships nowadays are so huge I’m sure it would be absolute pandemonium if there was an actual emergency, “abandon ship”.

We also experienced very helpful crew from many different levels. I’ve never seen so many smiling cleaning staff on a ship before. They seemed genuinely happy to be there.

We loved our recent MSC cruise and I think it’s an excellent value for the money. Here’s my review from our February cruise:

I disagree. We found our February MSC cruise (we were in Aurea level) to be superior to our Celebrity cruise in July. We’ve also sailed suite class on Celebrity. The food was much better on MSC. Celebrity used to have good food.

You can thank JamieLogical 😀 for the magnet ideas and yes most of the walls and doors are magnetic. I ordered some fancy earplugs for our upcoming July cruise and they are soooo comfortable and cute: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CNGFS1T8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title The Miami excursion was super easy to book. They gave us the alternative options right away and we booked it on the app if I remember correctly. Very reasonable pricing too. The spa is included in the Aurea experience and extra for any levels below Aurea. We loved the Aurea level experience; totally worth the upgrade. We loved the priority embarkation; basically walk right on (other than the bowling ball debacle we had). We loved being able to go eat in the dining room anytime we wanted to between 6-9pm (or around that time; I cant remember the exact time frame). The special outside Aurea deck is only for Aurea. If you need quiet you may want to think about an upgrade. The spa is very quiet and the outside Aurea deck as well. Your daughter will not be able to access the spa until she’s 18. Something to consider. We didn’t feel any hassling in Nassau. I like the bargaining in the Straw Market but it’s not for everyone. We just use common sense in any tourist town. Be aware of your surroundings and don’t have your purse or wallet hanging out in view for all the see. They also had a Dream Catcher craft and origami. I think there was another one besides those two and the coloring. It’s all free. It was fun to get to meet other cruisers. They have a crepe cafe in the main promenade area but is for a fee. I didn’t find the “snacky” type places to be too expensive. I can’t remember the prices but I don’t recall anything looking exorbitant. I remember seeing Bingo and Quiz competitions as well.

We had no issues with parking this past February; plenty of parking at least for our cruise. It also wasn’t a long drive into the port. We arrived around 10am with minimal traffic. Here’s my review if you want other MSC Meraviglia info: It was also our first MSC cruise. We loved it.

Exactly. That’s pretty much what my son did. Some days he did the activities but usually he would see the kids he met at the club the first day up at the buffet and then they would hang out during the day. We hardly saw him on this last cruise. He didn’t care much for MSC compared to the other cruise lines he’s been on but he did seem to enjoy seeing the other teens and “chilling” as they say nowadays. I think it’s his age now. It’s an in between age where he’s not into the kids club games but not mature enough to enjoy the adult activities. I also think it was the time we cruised too. February and not during a school break; not as many teens on board. This summer will feel different I’m sure.

My son is 17 and we cruised the Meraviglia in February. He was not required to register for the teen program neither was he ever asked his age. He said there were 19 year olds up there. Probably not very safe for the younger teens in that age group but they were supervised for all the activities and in the teen area during the club hours. We’re going again in July, God willing, and he’ll probably try to hang out again in the teen area as he will be 18 and a bit too young to enjoy the adult crowd and activities.

I believe for your son’s age you register him on the first day of the cruise. Not sure if he can check himself in and out.

Reservations for the shows are made at these screens throughout the ship. They’re literally everywhere and very easy to use. We never had any issues getting our first choice.

I always look at the suggested gratuities as part of the cruise fare. We also tip extra at the end of the cruise for excellent service. It’s much different now than in the old days of passing out envelopes on the last night. I kind of prefer this way; less pressure all the way around. We still find the service to be great.

I concur! The free soft serve was delicious😋

February 4th Meraviglia cruise out of Brooklyn in the Panorama MDR. I didn’t think they looked unkept but they politely asked them to go change and return in proper attire. The passenger didn’t seem offended. The staff was very respectful and matter of fact about it.

Oh my. That sounds terrible. Thankfully we didn’t have any issues on our first sailing with them. Again, I just told myself to expect chaos and we were pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it was the category we booked? We had Aurea balcony level. We got to choose our cabin and it was indeed the same cabin we chose when we booked over the phone. Not really too many surprises for us, other than the disembarkation debacle.

We did actually see someone denied entry into the MDR on elegant night because they had shorts and a non collared shirt. I was surprised but also glad that they are attempting to keep the “cruise etiquette” dress code going.

We booked on our own without a TA. No issues other than at disembarkation over a billing issue but that would also have happened with a TA. If you’ve cruised before and have booked on your own before you should be able to handle a direct booking. Just book with an open mind and try to go with the flow. They run things differently at MSC sometimes.

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Have a great cruise!🛳️😀🌴

I LOVE SLOTHS! totally living through the 2 of you right now.❤️

Happy Anniversary!🍾🥂💐🎂

You’re making me want to take this cruise!

Yup. But we still checked it and had an issue. Just expect it to happen and you’ll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t 😀

I agree! Check your balance the night before at the GS desk in person and don’t use your card after checking your balance.