joe/jack

48 minutes ago, Cayman1 said:

I just returned from 3 nights on the MSC Seaside. This was my first time sailing with MSC and overall I have to say that I was extremely impressed, especially for the price. I felt the entertainment was great, the food was good and the service was great as well. There was plenty to do and always seemed to have something going on. Cheaper than Carnival, but a way better experience in my opinion. I went into this with low expectations, but they far exceeded them. I will definitely sail MSC again.

 

Just wanted to share my opinion with everyone.

Great to hear

Doing same in 10 days

Did the ship feel crowded?

Thanks 

On 10/3/2023 at 1:09 PM, Ovsa said:

 Does MSC allow passengers to bring on a bottle or two when initally boarding?

 

Lots of cruise companies do allow two per stateroom, not sure about MSC.

 

Thanks

What does MSC allow you to bring on

board? Water,Soda ect: 

9 hours ago, dustenm said:

 

Was this for the Oct 29th Seaside cruise?  Also did you have a cabin assignment and then they changed it later or was the balcony your first assignment?

Greetings

26th 3 night and no cabin assignment until about  about 3 weeks after booking 

My thought is this ship does not sail full so they give the unsold balcony’s to new

MSC 1st timers as for a opportunity for

repeat business. (I may be wrong) 

2 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I’m travelling with a group of friends next week. We booked four junior ocean view cabins with the same travel agent - three guarantees and one chosen by cabin number. The non-guarantee cabin stayed the same. My friend who organised this and did all the hard work liaising with the travel agent, was upgraded to a junior balcony. Our other friends, (who are first time cruisers) and DH and I were upgraded to Aurea suites. We’re thrilled for the first-timers, but feel mildly guilty about our own good luck. This is the first time, in more than 60 cruises with several different lines, that we’ve had a free upgrade. The upgrade fairy was very good to us! 🤣

We have experienced the same

we booked an inside guarantee 

and was awarded a balcony 

Does anyone know if the ships are

sailing at 100% capacity? We are

sailing in 2 weeks on Seaside and

 would love to know this answer.

TY 

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

Here is the download which might be easier to read.

 

QR_K_BAR-LIST-GENERIC_OTHER_DAYX_EN_1694962984.pdf 14.75 MB · 9 downloads

Thank you for your information 

I have 1 more question. Some of the reviews I have read recently indicate the bar service on Seaside was extremely slow like a 20 min wait to be served. Have you or any one else experienced this?

This is our 1st MSC but have at least 30

from other lines and this seems very odd to wait that long for a adult beverage.

1 hour ago, Hydrotx said:

Here is some info, not sure if there is a more updated version, but should be a start.

 

Thank you

much appreciated 

Just asking which brand of sprits are available at the 10$ limit 

Vodka?

Tequila?

Rum ?

1st sailing on MSC

Thank you 

2 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

There is no difference between MSC and all the other cruise lines. But some port authorities act very inconsistent. 

If you have a 13:00 boarding time and show up a 11:00 can you get on or do you have to wait? TY 

On 9/28/2023 at 11:03 PM, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

Thanks for the report. What were "all the extras fees" that you paid for that you wouldn't have paid for on the major cruise lines? I recall they charge for pizza.

Thanks for reading 

Fuel Surcharge 20$ per day per person 

Pizza (never saw free pizza)

60$ to park for two nights 

5$ for bottled water

Returned yesterday from the 2 night to Freeport

Instead of going into detail just going to rate a few observations from 1-10

Overall ship       5 (old but clean)

Embarkation      7 (arrived at 1)

Buffet.                3 (not appetizing)

Dinner.               2 (no flavor)

Bars.                  8 (friendly good pours)

Entertainment    4 (no talent)

Pizza.                9 (tasty good service)

Disembarkation 9 ( quick and easy)

Overall went on this cruise with little expectations. 
I don’t believe we will return as the cost was way higher than expected with all the extras fees 

One good thing won enough in the casino to pay for this cruise

6 minutes ago, dns20 said:

How can you tell which cabins are Fantastica vs Bella vs Aurea?  The deck plan doesn't distinguish.

As being the original poster to this 

I booked an inside guarantee Bella!! With out any notification from MSC I checked my booking this week and was upgraded to a deluxe balcony on deck 10 midship.

This is our 1st cruise on MSC and I was quite surprised at this upgrade. 
We have been on at least 25 cruises with

Royal,Princess and Carnival with maybe 3 upgrades total. LG 🛳️

8 hours ago, dobiemom said:

Anyone on this cruise?

https://abc7.com/cruise-passenger-reported-missing-after-ship-returns-to-florida/13743275/

Very strange

there is no camera footage of any one

going overboard either 

Sad day for the Margaritaville Family and the Parrot Heads 

55 minutes ago, cruizinisthebest said:

Then you can't buy it in advance online for the rest of the cruise. People would get stuck paying the higher price. Not fair since the glitch one day price is no cheaper at all.

 

I don't see how this discount code would work anyway. Or are they doing away with that? What if you brought it for several people in one transaction? Is there one code per transaction or one pp? What if you got it for two people in one cabin separately? Are there two codes? lol. Plus there are people onboard who I know that's been using it mightily since yesterday when they boarded 🤪

They need to send out some type of communication for the glitch.

They should honor there mistake instead of whistling dixie.

Ships are running at full capacity now so

this not a going to loose any significant revenue and will only increase brand loyalty

John H needs to make it right for his customers 

Just now, Jamman54 said:

We know that this most likely won't happen, but it sure is fun! We've got 10 cruises on the books! 😁

🐓🥃🍺🥂🍷🍾🍸🍹

We can only Hope but

You never know ????

39 minutes ago, stobe1 said:

I think he was promoted to something like "Fleet Cruise Director" or something like that. Basically he has an office job at HQ in Miami now doing whatever it is that a "Fleet Cruise Director" does.

 

Edit to add: here is an article from March about his promotion.

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/another-carnival-cruise-director-promoted-to-fleet-position/96753

Thank you for sharing this

He was a great Cruise Director on Horizon when cruising resumed I guess in 2021? 

20 hours ago, stobe1 said:

A little known search engine called Google on Al Gore's amazing internet would reveal this...

 

https://airtable.com/shrxzucqLGHbpDmm8/tblZJCAW6us7UhDmZ

I do not see the Donkey on any of these

ships.

Is he still part of the Carnival Cruise Director Team? 

32 minutes ago, B_A_H said:

I booked two Bella guarantee balconies on the Seaside for October a couple of months ago.  It was two separate reservations and I was assigned two Fantastica balconies near each other within 24 hours.  

 

If you booked directly with MSC, every time there's a change to your booking, whether you do it or they do it, it'll automatically send you an e-mail.  If you booked via a travel agency they'll receive the e-mail and hopefully forward it to you. Mine didn't and I found out by seeing the cabins on the reservations on the website. 

Thank you 

First cruise on MSC

Booked a guarantee today for October 

Will they send you a notification once your

cabin has been assigned or do you just continue to check your booking number.

every few weeks?

thank you 🍸🦞🚢

25 minutes ago, CreamsicleCatMom said:

Will Big Chicken be coming to all the ships? We just went on the Radiance and my teen loved it. I enjoyed it as well. I was surprised to learn later that it’s only on a few ships. Does anyone know if it will be coming to all the ships?

 

Thanks!
 

 

Big Chicken should be on all ships 

I hope someone is listening 

Mr Carnival 🐓

51 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Been on both within the last 8 months and the Magic 3 times.  Totally different experience.  Food - Celebration.  Things to do on ship - Celebration.  Crowds - Magic.  Entertainment  - Celebration.  What are your expectations?  Cruising is cruising, but there are tons more bells and whistles on Celebration but there are also a lot more people. 

Been on Mardi Gras and Magic 

if you like bells and whistles yes

Celebration 

if you like less crowds and a little 

more laid back than Magic would

be a better choice 

For us Magic suits our taste 

On 4/2/2023 at 9:26 PM, simplelife said:

I just read on Google that Carnival will begin charging $3 for each visit to Guy's burger Toppings Bar.  I understand an upcharge for things like bacon, but for ketchup? Ridiculous. Can anyone confirm this? 

I often like mustard and pickles with my guys burger

$3.00  seems a little expensive but what can we do 

Someday all food will be an extra charge 

oh well 😮

6 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

We were recently on sister ships Vista and Panorama back-to-back (well not technically since one is in Texas and the other California, but 1 week apart).  While the trips are fresh in my mind, I thought I’d mention some comparisons I noted between the ships. 

We really like the size, layout, food, and activity choices on this class of ship.  We were on Horizon prior to the pandemic (and have a future cruise booked on her, so we are definitely fans of this class).

 

Embarkation – was great at both ports.  Extremely organized, quick, and efficient.  We are platinum but in Galveston opted to board the Vista with group A01 in order to keep family members together.  In Long Beach we boarded with the platinum group.  In both cases, we were on the ship by 11:30.

Vista – the temperature on the ship was very inconsistent.  Some areas seemed to have working AC but other areas (especially hallways and stairwells) were extremely hot and humid.  We had an interior cabin on both ships and our cabin on Vista never got cool enough.  In general, the Vista appears in rough shape.  We noticed ceilings with rust and mold (I took a couple pictures, one in Ocean Plaza and the other in the Lido, but there many areas like this throughout the ship), the windows were stained with hard water and rust.  We noticed what seemed to be stains on the carpet of our cabin due to flooding (and later found out the area around our cabin did have a flooding problem).  It smelled musty and the carpet in front of our cabin (about 20 cabins total) would sporadically get saturated with water.  We couldn’t see where the leak was coming from, but maintenance crew were frequently working in a closet containing pipes near our cabin.  Crew would use commercial carpet cleaners to extract the water and put out large industrial fans to try to dry it out.  Unfortunately, this ship just didn’t look or smell clean to me.  We still had a good time, I just won’t book it again. 

We enjoyed the Imax theater and the sky ride.  The food was good, but the pizza place seemed understaffed on both ships.  Always a long line and the crew seemed very busy.

Panorama – the Panorama does not seem to have the AC issues that Vista does.  The temperature was comfortable throughout.  The first thing I noticed was how clean and well maintained this ship looked.  Windows were clean and clear, carpets did not show wear or staining, and it smelled fresh/clean.  The evening we left Puerto Vallarta, as the ship turned, rain mixed with soot made a huge mess on the track and back decks (it looked like someone had poured chocolate syrup all over – I’ve never seen anything like it).  They immediately closed all impacted areas and started cleaning.  The next morning the areas were spotless – you would have never known what a mess it was.  I noticed that even the drains along the outside of the decks were sparkling clean.  In over 20 cruises, this is the cleanest ship I’ve seen (considering its age).

The Panorama does not have the Imax (unfortunately), but instead has the trampoline park, which the kids seemed to enjoy.  We loved “Fresh Creations” salads up on the serenity deck on both of these ships.  Strangely, the Asian Wok restaurant which is complementary for lunch (and becomes Ji Ji Asian Kitchen at dinner for a nominal fee) was open for lunch on embarkation day on Vista but not Panorama.

If the information I found is correct, these ships are only 3 1/2 years apart in age (Vista launched 6/2015 and Panorama 12/2018) - I would have guessed the Vista was a good 10 years older.  To be fair, Vista is going in to drydock in the near future and I feel like maybe they are deferring some maintenance until then. 

I thought both of these ships had more than adequate common space both inside and out.  I tend to avoid the crowds and never had trouble finding a quiet place to relax or read.

And lastly, as mentioned quite a bit recently, both of these ships have intermittent propulsion issues.  On our voyages, Vista seemed fine and was right on time, but Panorama was 2 hours late getting back into port.  The CD said that debarkation usually starts at 7:30 but would be 9:30 for our trip.

Vista going to dry dock in January before heading to Port Canaveral 

It sounds like it needs a rest and some over due maintenance 

16 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

No need to report it, just push it overboard.  😉

One last comment on this post

During the muster drill they tell you if someone falls overboard or jumps you should yell MAN overboard and throw them a ring. 
If it turns out to be a LADY do you yell lady overboard or MAN overboard.

Just looking for clarification on this topic. 
HAPPY JULY 4th 🇺🇸

18 minutes ago, FastShip24 said:

Why is this even a post?🤔

Inquiring minds are asking the same questions 

Silly post ya but it’s all good 🤓