Posted a review about the Poesia

[donh1]

Here is what I had to say about our back to back Jan9 to Jan23. We truly enjoyed the cruise.

 

 

Great Value We booked this cruise approximately 6 weeks before sailing. The price was very attractive and came in at approx $1900 including all taxes for the two of us for a balcony for the two weeks. It was an additional bonus when we were assigned our guarantee cabin we got an upgrade to a category 10 (large balcony mid-ship).

We were driving so we booked a hotel near the airport that offered both free parking for the 2 weeks and a shuttle to and from the pier. It was $150 well spent at the Cambria Suites. Very nice place to stay.

 

Embarkation was somewhat difficult on this cruise. We arranged a 12 noon shuttle to the pier and our driver said there was a problem at the pier so he delayed our pickup until 1:00 pm. Glad he did because when we arrived at 1:10 pm they were lined up for about 1000 feet in the parking lot outside the terminal. Good thing it wasn't raining or excessively hot. Really felt sorry for elderly. Apparently the previous cruise was a charter for a "jam fest" and drug seizures were made on their departure so i can well imagine what kind of welcome they got from local officials when they got back from their cruise. The ship was not cleared until 12:30 pm. The next week on our back to back it cleared at 10:45 am.

 

The ports of call were all nice. Been to them before and it was just our intention to do as little as possible at each of the stops. We got off and did a little wandering around and shopping. A little bonus was that each port of call we seemed to have very good berth making it a shorter walk from the ship to shore.

 

Most of our time was spent enjoying our balcony. I know it's against the rules but we were able to get 24 budweiser and 5 liters of wine on board for the trip. We also purchased the $77 wine package (7 bottles of wine) along with the $47 / 14 beer package. Those prices are unheard of on any other cruise line. You have to make the order before you cruise and your coupons will be waiting for you in the dining room on the first night.

 

We enjoyed the meals. Very little difference than any other cruise line. Some meals were better than others and with the meals repeated on the second week we used the knowledge gained from the first week to order perfectly the second. Our waiter Christain was fantastic. He was Indonisian and his English language skills were impressive. Having good table mates was a bonus.

 

A word of advice regarding children on the ship. The cruise line offers free passage for children traveling with their parents. We had plenty on our ship. Lots of examples of parents not controlling their children. I would definitely not book this cruise during any of the school breaks. In my opinion nothing good could come out of having more children on board.

 

This is a five language ship. No problem with that at all. The staff was wonderful. Most could speak some English. A smile with a little eye contact and a clear word of thank-you was always well received.

 

We did hear complaining on board the ship. I honestly thought the cruise was great.

 

I guess I should touch on the smoking issues or non-issues . No smoking on the balconies is wonderful. You can actually enjoy the balcony while the ship is moored and not have to contend with the chain-smoking neighbors. It is smokey on the port side of the Zebra Lounge and the red lounge next to it on the port side. The casino is a blue haze. I am not a big fan of smoking but I can live with the smoking policy on MSC Poesia.

 

Our Cabin was very nice. Seemed slightly bigger than the VA cabin we had on the HAL Westerdam. Everything was functional. Like every other cruise ship space is at a premium so when the bathroom door is open you cannot get into the closet. As expected the shower is small but I wish I had the same water pressure at home.

 

What a great way to get out of the Canadian winter. Hope to do it again next year.

[NoName]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Is Grand Cayman the only tender port on the western itinerary?

 

Also, I can't find on the MSC website where you pre-order things such a wine/soda etc. Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Kim

[casino girl]

Yes thank you for the review, we are doing a back to back leaving on Feb 6, let me ask you one thing; when returning to Ft Lauderdale the first week what sort of things did you have to do with customs (if anything) any info would be great. I would like to be prepared. Thanks

[T.O.cruisers]

Here is what I had to say about our back to back Jan9 to Jan23. We truly enjoyed the cruise.

 

 

Great Value We booked this cruise approximately 6 weeks before sailing. The price was very attractive and came in at approx $1900 including all taxes for the two of us for a balcony for the two weeks. It was an additional bonus when we were assigned our guarantee cabin we got an upgrade to a category 10 (large balcony mid-ship).

We were driving so we booked a hotel near the airport that offered both free parking for the 2 weeks and a shuttle to and from the pier. It was $150 well spent at the Cambria Suites. Very nice place to stay.

 

Embarkation was somewhat difficult on this cruise. We arranged a 12 noon shuttle to the pier and our driver said there was a problem at the pier so he delayed our pickup until 1:00 pm. Glad he did because when we arrived at 1:10 pm they were lined up for about 1000 feet in the parking lot outside the terminal. Good thing it wasn't raining or excessively hot. Really felt sorry for elderly. Apparently the previous cruise was a charter for a "jam fest" and drug seizures were made on their departure so i can well imagine what kind of welcome they got from local officials when they got back from their cruise. The ship was not cleared until 12:30 pm. The next week on our back to back it cleared at 10:45 am.

 

The ports of call were all nice. Been to them before and it was just our intention to do as little as possible at each of the stops. We got off and did a little wandering around and shopping. A little bonus was that each port of call we seemed to have very good berth making it a shorter walk from the ship to shore.

 

Most of our time was spent enjoying our balcony. I know it's against the rules but we were able to get 24 budweiser and 5 liters of wine on board for the trip. We also purchased the $77 wine package (7 bottles of wine) along with the $47 / 14 beer package. Those prices are unheard of on any other cruise line. You have to make the order before you cruise and your coupons will be waiting for you in the dining room on the first night.

 

We enjoyed the meals. Very little difference than any other cruise line. Some meals were better than others and with the meals repeated on the second week we used the knowledge gained from the first week to order perfectly the second. Our waiter Christain was fantastic. He was Indonisian and his English language skills were impressive. Having good table mates was a bonus.

 

A word of advice regarding children on the ship. The cruise line offers free passage for children traveling with their parents. We had plenty on our ship. Lots of examples of parents not controlling their children. I would definitely not book this cruise during any of the school breaks. In my opinion nothing good could come out of having more children on board.

 

This is a five language ship. No problem with that at all. The staff was wonderful. Most could speak some English. A smile with a little eye contact and a clear word of thank-you was always well received.

 

We did hear complaining on board the ship. I honestly thought the cruise was great.

 

I guess I should touch on the smoking issues or non-issues . No smoking on the balconies is wonderful. You can actually enjoy the balcony while the ship is moored and not have to contend with the chain-smoking neighbors. It is smokey on the port side of the Zebra Lounge and the red lounge next to it on the port side. The casino is a blue haze. I am not a big fan of smoking but I can live with the smoking policy on MSC Poesia.

 

Our Cabin was very nice. Seemed slightly bigger than the VA cabin we had on the HAL Westerdam. Everything was functional. Like every other cruise ship space is at a premium so when the bathroom door is open you cannot get into the closet. As expected the shower is small but I wish I had the same water pressure at home.

 

What a great way to get out of the Canadian winter. Hope to do it again next year.

Great review. I was on the first week. Except for the embarkation disaster I truly enjoyed the cruise too. I was on the ship last year and did find some improvement but the value can't be beat. Our dining steward, Dodo from Indonesia was also excellent and always trying to do his best. He did tell us that the only way he gets some time off is to receive good comments from the passengers and we were sure to mention his name on the comment card.

[donh1]

No name.... The only tender port is Grand Caymen. No different than any other cruiseline. If you really want to do a tour then book one of the ships tours otherwise be prepared to wait until your tender number is called. It will likely be a couple hours. The first 8 tender numbers go fast then mixed with the ships tours the rest don't seem to move very fast until you get about 2 hours into the process. Lot's of shopping and bars within walking distance of the tender dock. Hope this helps.

 

Casino Girl...... The switch from one week to the next involves going face to face with a US immigration officer. All back to back passengers have to meet in the rear lounge on deck 7 at 9:30 am. They do a roll call and you are given a green slip of paper indicating you are back to back. Those who want to do something in Fort Lauderdale are immediately escorted off the ship and go thru immigration and cannot reboard until after 12:30 pm. Those who simply want to stay on board or may want to exit the ship sometime after 12:30 pm like we did waited a few more minutes and were escorted with our passports to the terminal where we did the immigration thing. Luggage stays in your cabin. Very quick and we had to wait about 20 minutes in the seated waiting area of the terminal until immigration gave the all clear to reboard the ship. We were back in our room by 10:50 am. You should have heard all of the complaining and suggestions about how it could have been done better. Take my word for it . The entire process took 1 hour and 20 minutes. It is very annoying how childish and impatient some people can be. Their anger and frustration was directed at the cruise line. They knew better than to complain to the immigration officers.

[gacruisergal]

NoName..............To find and book packages go to Already Booked, click on Onboard special services and spa package the area you are going to, ie. New England and Caribbean or Med. Print out the form to make your decisions then go to Special Services Request Form and purchase what you want. Just remember that this has to be done 7 days prior to your cruise in the Caribbean..........Good luck!

[joybaby]

Did you put the wine in your checked luggage? We just got off the Carnival Dream and they confiscated our vodka from checked luggage.

[donh1]

Did you put the wine in your checked luggage? We just got off the Carnival Dream and they confiscated our vodka from checked luggage.

Just threw a five liter box of wine (Peter Vella) in our checked bags. Those boxes are tough as nails. Different cruiselines have different levels of tolerance for us rule breakers. I believe NCL or Carnival are much more strict. As for as the beer goes my theory is in an xray the case of bud looks a lot like a case of pepsi. We were driving so if they held it for the two weeks it would be no big deal. Others on our back to back actually got their port confiscated booze back between cruises making them very happy campers for the second week. :)

[monicajay]

Thanks for your review.

 

There must have been lots of people upset when the ship cleared that late on both occasions. I think of all the people I keep reading about who book 10am and 11am flights :eek:.

 

Interesting you were able to bring on a case of Bud. I've ordered 3 sets of beer coupons as I hadn't thought of bringing some along for the ride.

 

You were very lucky to get such a good price on a balcony and on a two week cruise.

[monicajay]

T

 

Also, I can't find on the MSC website where you pre-order things such a wine/soda etc. Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Kim

 

I booked my wine and beer packages yesterday by phone with MSC. I did have the item numbers from their website but decided to call. They e-mailed my confirmation and recommended I print and bring copy.

[donh1]

Don't want to confuse anyone. Those times mentioned are the times that the ship was cleared to allow passengers back onto the ship for the next cruise. I am certain that plenty of people were off the ship well before 10:00 am. We used the self disembarkation on the 23rd and were the very first off at 7:00 am. I highly recommend that for anyone who is mobile with all their luggage. You don't have to worry about the baggage gorillas doing another round of abuse on your suitcases and there is no time spent in the terminal searching for the bags. The ships breakfast was up and going at 6:00 am contrary to what was posted on the daily program and we were on the road in our car northbound to Canada shortly after 8:00 am. Smoothest disembarkation ever. Got a good tip from on of the reviews that helped us a lot. You are told to wait in the Zebra lounge but if you wait in the red lounge next door it is much closer to the gangway.