KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

Our disembarkation at Southampton last month off Euribia was scheduled for 7:30am for those able to "Self-Assist" in getting off (carry all your own belongings off). And by 7:30am, we were getting off. We took a taxi to the National Express bus terminal (10 minutes away) and then a bus to London-Heathrow. They also had bus service to central London for those going there. If you're interested in the bus, you can see their prices and schedule here: https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

I recommend that you Google "Cape Canaveral, Florida" and then click on the little map that pops-up and then zoom-in a couple times. Hotels in that town will then appear and you can then research hotel names and prices. I've stayed at the TownPlace Suites by Marriott and it was very nice but not particularly cheap. The Residence Inn in nearby as well and same as above. There is a hotel called Radisson Resort at the Port that is usually cheaper and clean, but the decor is dated. All these hotels are close to the cruise terminals (but not walking distance). 2025 hotel prices may not be posted yet since most reservation systems only book about 11 months into the future.

My Auto Train ride from Lorton to Sanford arrived over 17 hours late. First a freight train ahead of us derailed and blocked both tracks. Once that was fixed we proceeded further but then the train crew timed-out so we had to wait for a replacement crew. Then that crew timed-out eventually too and we had to await a 3rd crew. The train itself was fun and since we were in a sleeper, we had plenty of room and were well-fed. I'm sure this is highly unusual but if you arrive a day late, you're driving directly to the port on the day of sailing. I'd recommend you just fly down on an airline that has more than one daily flight. Save the Auto Train adventure for when you don't have to be somewhere at a particular time.

Trying to upgrade is taking a big risk because you have no control over where they put you. And yes, that means directly above a music lounge or ship's theater or directly below the pool deck or buffet.

Never Mind.

My recollection is that you have to have a MSC account and then log-in to your cruise. Once there, you have to click on each port in your itinerary to see the various excursions offered at each port. Also, as the cruise date draws closer, it's not unusual to find additional excursions added.

My recollection is you never see your assigned check-in hour until you get the docs package emailed to you after the on-line check-in is completed. When you get that package, your assigned time is printed on there. Just ignore your assigned hour and just get to the terminal when its convenient for you based on driving, airport arrival time, train station arrival time, etc.

The 70's night also includes 60's & 80's music and is called the Sunshine Party. But it is mostly 70's Disco. Enjoy!

1. There is usually a crew member in the cruise terminal trying to sell boarding passengers a dinner at JWB. So look for that crew member before you board about reservations or booking instructions. 2. The ship pretty much empties out to go to the beach, day resort or excursions. I don't recall if anything remains open on board during the port-of-call. No responses for 3. & 4.

On my last MSC arrival into Port Canaveral this past September, self-disembarkation began around 7:30am. If you have a U.S. passport they will have machines to process Immigration for you. You just stand at a gate, it uses facial recognition and then the green light goes on to say you're approved. I was in the parking garage before 8am. Orlando International Airport is a 30-45 minute ride away so you should have no problem making a 11am flight. Having TSA Pre-Check helps at the airport too.

Once you go Yacht, you won't go bock. (Or so I've heard.)

My recollection of the aft panoramic elevators on MSC Seashore is that they were not smart elevators. My recollection is you selected your desired floor destination when you boarded those elevators. Am I wrong?

We recently did this same cruise and arrived at the cruise terminal well-before our assigned hour. Didn't matter. No one looks at your assigned embarkation time. Just go in the terminal when you get there and join the queue to check-in.This has been the case with all of our MSC cruises in the past too. If you're within 21 days of departure, you should be able to get and print your cruise docs (with bar codes) even if you couldn't input your credit card number and/or upload your photos. The docs should still generate and get emailed to you.

MSC's European website likely offers the port to airport shuttle. The USA website does not. They may also offer a cheaper shuttle from the port to Kiel Hbf train station where you can take a train to Hamburg Hbf and then the S-Bahn (S1 Line) to Hamburg Airport. If you can get a direct bus, you could probably select a flight after 11AM. If you have to go the long way as described above, after 1PM.

At embarkation, only a rep from the cruise line (typically a port employee) will look at your passport. Whether that person will notice it is questionable. They will scan the passport into their computer so if it scans correctly, should be no problem. If it doesn't scan, potential problem. If it was me and I was questioned, I would just shrug and say it happened years ago and it's never been a problem. The only person that might look at it upon your return is U.S. Customs. But U.S. passengers in most ports now go through a face recognition gate and don't even show their passport.

Singing the Washee Washee song at the entrance to the Buffet onboard MSC Euribia last month. "Washee Washee, Smiley Smiley, Happy Happy"!

If it's like their original ship Paradise, you can purchase more than one wristband. My recollection is that the price was $99 for 10 drinks and that included the gratuity. You can also share it with another passenger.

When I'm headed to a new destination I usually go to booking.com (or hotels.com) and input the city and the first date of arrival. In Map View, it will bring up nearly all available hotels and if you put your cursor on each hotel, it will display the rate for that night. Just bounce around to each hotel to see what's out there. I don't usually book at that website, I just use it to scope things out. I qualify for AAA rates for many hotel chains so after narrowing my search, I then go to the hotel chains' websites and see what they are.

Probably lots of elephant ears, rhino burgers and hippo sausages! Fried termites are also likely.

If your credit card used has a time limit to dispute charges, you might want to initiate the dispute now before it's too late. Cruise line appears to be stringing you along.

Cozumel is the destination of nearly every cruise departing from Tampa. Key West is also a common destination, although perhaps not on the same cruise as Cozumel. Key West government and voters have very little authority to regulate interstate and international commerce so I doubt they will prevail in their fight. Since the voters want to limit ship passengers to 1500 per day, Spirit-class would be way too large.

No one at the cruise terminal looks at your boarding time. And don't call it to anyone's attention. Just get there when you get there and get in the queue to check-in.

Yes, you're free to have lunch, go to the pool, self-tour the ship prior to the muster drill, whatever. The muster drills on my two most-recent MSC cruises were at 16:45 on Euribia and 16:00 on Seaside.

I don't know if anyone else sails to Progresso/Merida but Cozumel and Key West are pretty common destinations out of Tampa on the traditional cruise lines. So they're facing stiff competition on this new venture of theirs and they have LOTS of cabins to fill.

We did Iceland a few years ago right after they reopened; they were still doing covid19 testing in the airport parking lot upon arrival! Yes, definitely get a rental car there. Reykjavik is great but the real beauty of course is out of town.