GreenSmoothieCruiser

On 11/25/2019 at 5:11 AM, perakcruiser said:

You are lucky, no need the photo, I found it on Googlemaps. 

 

The name is Hotel Cozumel & Resort.

 

Just walk south from the ship on the main road, cannot be missed. Opposite the road is the hotel, no use for you. On the beach side is their restaurant with buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their beach is great, if I would spend a week in Cozumel I definitely would choose this place. 

Thank you @perakcruiser for your help! I contacted the hotel on Facebook and the day pass prices were a bit high so we did not visit. I will say the person I messaged with on Facebook was very nice. 

1 hour ago, perakcruiser said:

Cozumel has a lot of options in walking distance from the ship when heading south. The first you will see (or not see) are all private, most places will let you use them if you order a coffee or so. The first public beach is about 2 km from the ship, small, but friendly. 

@perakcruiser do you know the names of any of the private beaches in Cozumel by the port? I don't mind buying a few drinks so we can avoid the taxi ride to another beach. Thank you. 

1 hour ago, runner15km said:

Sorry no beaches in walking distance.

Costa Maya has a large pool and a sandy area at the pool or for around $7 take a cab into Mahahual where there are many beach clubs. Most have a small admittance fee witch will include a lounge chair. I recommend Blue Key Beach Club.

Cozumel -  Your best bet is a cab to Paradise Beach for 17.00. A fee of 3.00 to enter the beach club, they offer a very large pool,and a beautiful beach with chairs.

 

Roatan and Belize is expensive to reach a beach maybe $50 each.  Good Luck ! 

Thank you @runner15km this is very helpful. Do you know how far away Paradise Beach club is from the port in Cozumel? We have young kids and don't like the idea of a cab with no car seats. I recall a taxi ride in a port many years ago that did not have proper seat belts for any of the passengers...

Hello, can anyone recommend a nice family-friendly beach that is walking distance from one of the ports below? We would like to visit a beach but prefer not to use a taxi. Thank you!

On 11/17/2019 at 2:40 PM, cellfree said:

Just off the ship, loved it, would definitely sail her again. Crew and Staff excellent, always smiling, always say “hello,” great service. Found ship fairly easy to navigate. Interactive screens throughout the ship easy to use. Food fine and have no complaints but would say I liked the pastas on the Divina better. Had dinner in Butchers Cut (diamond perk) and it was superb. We did try the Fish n Chips in the Brass Anchor Pub $5.00 and was great. Also tried hamburger and fries from Pub $5.00 and just okay for me. Three nightly shows very well attended. There are six different dinner times, three dining rooms. We had the “easy package” and it was more than adequate for us. We had an Interior Cabin on Deck 14, really spacious, only negative would be lack of drawers. Sorry these few quick comments are all over the place but wanted to write a few quick notes before I do laundry - yikes! Oh yes we did get $100 credit on our account due to no private island, Cozumel added, and from the letter we got upon arrival on board we will get a discount on the next cruise we book - the amount is 20% of what we paid for the Mera cruise so not a flat amount and will be different amounts depending on what you paid for your cruise, fine for us, we will sail MSC again, this was our 7th cruise with MSC. 

Thank you for your review and replies to many questions, here are two more. 🙂

Do you recall if passengers are allowed to bring bottled water on board (24 pack of bottled water)?

Also, did you use the walking track? I saw on the website that the walking track is on one of the upper decks with minimal shade. Is there another area/walking track that is shaded?

27 minutes ago, CarolnLarry said:

We have done 4 BTB on MSC and always gotten the 40 item laundry package.  We usually send 6 to 8 items at a time till we get to the 40 items.  Never have we done 40 items at one time...We send the travel clothes we wore to the ship plus the second day for the first laundry bag, then every couple of days we send a few more.  Great service and they do a great job for everything on hangars. 

Thank you for sharing. This sounds like a great plan for us as well. 

5 minutes ago, GreenSmoothieCruiser said:

I have another question, who knew laundry could be so complicated? 😉

 

When looking at the various packages online, specifically the "BACK HOME CLEAN - 40 PIECES", does this mean you have to send 40 pieces at one time or can you split it over the time of the cruise? 
 

Sorry, I think I found my own answer in the "fine print":   Item allowance must be used all together in a single delivery

I have another question, who knew laundry could be so complicated? 😉

When looking at the various packages online, specifically the "BACK HOME CLEAN - 40 PIECES", does this mean you have to send 40 pieces at one time or can you split it over the time of the cruise? 
 

3 minutes ago, Zephyr173 said:

Hi GSC,

 

There are laundry packages on MSC, that you can purchase ahead of time or on board.

 

The packages are based on number of items, and are offered as 10, 20 or 40 items of laundry.  There is no offer that resembles what you may have enjoyed on HAL.

Thank you! Can't say I'm not disappointed, but at least I won't be surprised.... 

Hello, I am researching laundry options on the Meraviglia for a 7 day cruise. We sailed on Holland America recently and they had a laundry package where you paid one fee and could send laundry for cleaning every day. Does MSC have a similar package? Thank you.

On 11/25/2018 at 5:53 PM, Cruise4food said:

Officially they commit to have the laundry returned next day, unless you check same day service on the form. But in my experience, for a pickup in the morning, clothes always returned the same day. The one point to watch is that they do not accept laundry pickup on the last full day on-board the ship.

Yes, it was a nice surprise to have the same day service. We were able to give laundry on Saturday morning (last full day on the ship) by 9:00 and it was completed and back in our room later that day. 

Hello! I wanted to update the post as we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam last week. I brought two sets of ice packs on board. Whatever packs we were not using in the cooler in our refrigerator were kept in the medical center freezer. We visited the medical center once in the morning and once in the evening to pick up one set of ice packs and drop off the other other set. We kept the medication in our room in the refrigerator in a cooler with ice packs and a gallon size Ziplock full of ice (we visited Deck 9/Lido once a day for fresh ice). As other posters have mentioned. the refrigerator itself is cool, but not cold. Thanks again for the help!

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past week and had dry erase boards The walls next to the cabin doors are magnetic. However, we found the HA Navigator messaging system to work quite well also. We could message each other as needed. However, you don't get a notification when you have a new message and you cannot send a message to more than one person.

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam last week and had a case of bottled water. It was tagged and delivered to our room with the luggage. No issues.

On 11/24/2018 at 4:22 PM, dawnprincess said:

We are sailing on Nieuw Amsterdam in a few weeks (December 16, 2018) -- can any recent cruisers tell me what kinds of shows (names, etc.) were on the Main Stage?  Thanks!

Great reviews @GoHoward and @CherryG, thank you! @dawnprincess, we were on the NA last week and here is what I remember regarding the shows:

1st night: a preview of the upcoming shows: descriptions and one song from each show

2nd night: comedian

3rd night: singing and dancing show about different aspects of nature

4th night: DNA: two men from England that have a show with mind reading, etc.

5th night: singing and dancing show about top hits from the past few decades

6th night: BBC documentary with the musical score performed live

7th night: comedian and DNA and also a show by members of the crew from the Philippines

Hope that helps!

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past week and the casino is 100% non smoking. The only smoking option is one side of the pool with a small section of tables.

Hello all! I am so glad I saw this post before boarding the Nieuw Amsterdam last Sunday. I did not realize that unlimited laundry (cost was $49) was an option. We did this and it was the best, having clean, folded laundry delivered every afternoon. It is listed on a document in the cabin, but it is not heavily promoted. I don't know that I would have known about it without seeing this post. 

@Fla Mike, thanks for the information. The medication is injectable growth hormones that needs to be refrigerated at all times. Thank you and UtterCaro as well for the recommendation for the Frio cool packs. We have a lunchbox that we use with ice packs for trip days. 

On 10/16/2018 at 10:05 PM, mammy123 said:

I take insulin twice a day and need to keep it refrigerated.  I rent (for $2.00/day) a refrigerator and it is cold enough.  Don't know how cold this medicine needs to be, so don't know if we are comparing apples to apples.  Good luck with whatever you decide.  Have a good cruise. 

Hi! Were you able to rent a refrigerator on the Nieuw Amsterdam? That option was not mentioned to me in my emails with customer service. 

If the doors are magnetic, you may want to get a few magnetic dry erase boards/dry erase markers. That way you can write each other messages, then erase and reuse as needed.

4 hours ago, 0bnxshs said:

I've always found the room coolers will keep my meds cold enough, even on NA. They may not be "certified" as being medically acceptable but they work for things like latanoprost eye drops and bydureon injections in my experience.

Thanks, good to know. I think our plan will be to keep the meds in the refrigerator with ice packs. I'll bring two sets of ice packs and keep one set in the medical center freezer overnight while the other set is in the cabin...or something like that. 😉 

5 hours ago, colbe said:

How cold does the medication have to be? There is also ice provided in your room twice a day. The cooler/fridge in the room kept my wine a very yummy temperature😀.

I'm not sure, but I'm thinking keeping it in therefrigeratorr with a few ice packs will be a good solution. This is what I was told via email: The mini bar fridge (your stateroom already has one) in guest staterooms are not intended for use with medication as they do not get cool enough for many medications. These units are intended for keeping beverages cool. For medications that require refrigeration, you may request the use of the Medical Center's refrigeration unit.

We are sailing soon on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Two members of our group take a refrigerated medication at bedtime. I have had a few emails with HAL general customer service and Access & Compliance and have been told that the refrigerators in cabins are not meant for medication. However, we are welcome to keep our medications in the medical center. The issue is that these medications need to be taken at bedtime and the medical center is not open in the later evening. I am told that if we need to access our medication at a time when the clinic is not open, there will be a  $35.00  fee to have the nurse open the medical center. 

Does anyone else have experience with this? We are trying to think of ways to possibly save the $245 total fee that this would cost over seven days. Maybe we can keep a cooler in our cabin and keep the medication cold with ice packs that we keep frozen in the medical center freezer? And have two sets of ice packs to rotate as needed? Any other ideas? Thank you! 

Great, thanks! I realized that the "7" app does not require wifi so I used it on the ship.

Any recommendations for strength/HIIT workouts on the phone that can be done with no wifi? I usually use the Jillian Michaels app and 7 app. Looking for workouts that can be downloaded to my phone. Thanks!