My View: A Merry Meraviglia Christmas in a Fantastica Balcony

perfect match · December 30, 2019

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures of Ocean Cay! Maybe I’ll manage to get there some day. It will be interesting to see how the island evolves as it continues to be developed.

aprilF · December 30, 2019

On 12/17 when just the Armonia was at OC the bridge area was shut down, they weren’t allowing anyone past the far end of the bridge. Bummed to learn it wasn’t just YC areas over there as we figured that’s why it was shut down (no YC on the Armonia).

So you only had one beach closed? We had several closed. Staff wouldn’t say why but we saw at least two sharks inside the net on Sunset beach so we guessed that was the reason. Then some of the bay was closed too.

Did you get to stay the full time? We left early so no parade or light shows for us. We felt like the parade was something they should have reorganized to do during the day. If you saw the parade, do you think it was something that could have been appreciated during the day?

tcmagnum · December 30, 2019

Thank you so much for the detailed info and map for the island. I've been looking for that type of information. Crowds/pictures. We will be looking for a less crowded beach. The adult only beach looks great to me - love kids, but not on vacation.

The island looks good to me - we are looking for a quiet island to relax on before heading back to work.

cruiser82 · December 30, 2019

As a tennis fan I loved your John McEnroe joke! 🙂

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

12 hours ago, aprilF said:

On 12/17 when just the Armonia was at OC the bridge area was shut down, they weren’t allowing anyone past the far end of the bridge. Bummed to learn it wasn’t just YC areas over there as we figured that’s why it was shut down (no YC on the Armonia).

So you only had one beach closed? We had several closed. Staff wouldn’t say why but we saw at least two sharks inside the net on Sunset beach so we guessed that was the reason. Then some of the bay was closed too.

Did you get to stay the full time? We left early so no parade or light shows for us. We felt like the parade was something they should have reorganized to do during the day. If you saw the parade, do you think it was something that could have been appreciated during the day?

@aprilF Yes, only one beach was closed. We did get to stay until just about the end. I think we left just after 11. I had seen a video of the Junkanoo parade and it is not my thing - too loud. I did not leave the ship for it, but you could hear it on the top decks of the ship. We got to see the light show from the ship. In June, I will definitely go down to watch it from a closer point of view.

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

Ocean Cay Afternoon:

Upon return to the ship, we were welcomed by this friendly sight - including an early happy new year from our room steward:

Views from our Balcony:

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

Hola! Tapas bar

We used our free meal at Hola! Tapas bar. DH got the non-alcoholic Sangria, while I got the fruity regular Sangria. Both were good, but I definitely liked mine better. The tapas sampler was excellent. I especially loved the Gaspacho. Our only complaint is that it is too much food for 2 people. Wish we could have shared with DS for free 😊

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

After the late lunch at Hola, we decided to skip supper and just took DS to the Marketplace Buffet. We finally found sweet potato fries! They also had DS and DH’s favorite dessert of the week - peanut butter cheesecake:

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

Dome Show:

Every day they have a dome show a few times during the evening. It only lasts about 3 minutes. Tonight’s was about outer space.

Hope the video works:

Edited December 30, 2019 by APDMOM
Double video post

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

Ocean Cay at Night:

We did not get off the ship at night, but watched the light show from the pool deck. Unfortunately, the movie was so loud that we could not hear if any music was playing with the lighthouse show. I plan on getting off the ship next time we are in port for the show.

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

This is why we need a back to back cruise... On the last night, we discovered this great band. They were doing an Elvis Tribute. We always missed the live music since we attended the main show. Tonight, we skipped the show as there were so many other things to do. Wish we could have stayed another week.

The recording does not do the band justice. They sound really good live!

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

Cruise Graveyard:

Too soon it was our turn to contribute our ‘headstones’ for the ‘cruise graveyard’. (Good thing we had a picture too, because one of these bags disappeared before we got off the ship...)

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

My View: End of Day 7 - Ocean Cay in our Wake

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

My View: Day 8 - Miami

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

The Case of Lost Luggage:

For the first time in 36 cruises, we lost a piece of luggage. One of our large checked bags was not in the terminal when we were ready to leave. We walked through rows and rows of suitcases to make sure it had not ended up with the wrong tags. When we still could not find it, one of the customer service reps walked with us to our designated area for our luggage. There was a similar looking red bag, and on a hunch she called the number listed on their tag. Sure enough, another lady had taken our bag, (even though she had a loofa and distinguished markers on her bag to help her find the right bag). 🤔

TIP: Read the tag on your bag before you leave the port area. I could not believe how many red suitcases there are - I thought ours was kind of unique... not anymore.

Fortunately, the lady who took our bag by mistake lives only about 15 minutes from the port in Miami, and we took a short scenic detour to recover our bag. Of course, we were not able to take her bag through customs to deliver it to her, so she would have to make a trip back to the port to recover her own bag.

FYI: We were told it would take 3 weeks for MSC to return our bag to us, had we not driven to the house to pick it up ourselves. Don’t know why this is the case...

Scenic Drive. These beautiful trees made it worth the trip!

Edited December 30, 2019 by APDMOM
Pics added

APDMOM · December 30, 2019

I will be back later tonight with a summary of our overall cruise pros and cons. After that, I will work on posting ship and cabin pictures, dailies, and a few bar menus.

Match Game 72 · December 30, 2019

I'm really enjoying all your photos and descriptions.

Sounds like you were a real sport when it came to recovering your bag. Glad it all worked out.

aprilF · December 30, 2019

That light show looks fun, I’m sorry we missed evening festivities on our cruise. Hopefully someday we get to see them!

i have a pretty unique bag. It’s not one of a kind but I’ve yet to see someone else with my same pattern of luggage. I always fear that because it’s so unique someone with the same bag may just pick it up and not bother with tags at all. I can see if you feel your bag is unique how that might happen. Strange she ignored the lack of accoutrements though glad you were in a position to rectify it yourself rather than wait three weeks.

Thank you for the trip reports. Yours are always a fun read!