Seatheworld07

Cancelled June 2020 cruise in early March (before shutdowns in the US) and FINALLY just received my deposit back on December 21!!!  

46 minutes ago, ken98230 said:

After more than 6 months waiting for a promised refund I still don't have it.  Of course Chase will do nothing since the cruise was more than 60 days ago.  Will never book using their credit card again!

 

Today after sending another request for my refund I was advised I need to fill out the form to choose a refund or FCC.  No idea why I couldn't have been told that months ago.  My cruise was for March 12 and the form stated cruises from March 14th but I submitted it anyway.

 

 

Thanks for the tip!  I wonder if this is a new form.  It hasn't been mentioned the six times I called customer service.  I just completed the form and will keep my fingers cross.  Please update us if you receive a refund! 

Hi - Just checking in to see if anyone here has had any luck actually receiving a refund.  My situation is similar to all of you.  I cancelled cruise in early March for June sailing (actually cancelled pre-covid due to work issues).  We had two cabins booked.  I've received a refund for one cabin but not the other.  I've been calling MSC every 2-4 weeks for the last fives months.  They keep saying "it's been escalated."  I filed a fraud report with my bank, but they won't take any action since it's outside 90 days since the card was charged.  What should my next step be?  Has anyone had any luck contacting the credit card company (Visa, AmEx, etc.) rather than the bank?  

Thank you for this. I was on http://www.msccruisesUSA.com and it only goes to deck 18 unless you click Summer 2019 deck plan. The deck plan on this website is different. I also found something on Instagram that looks like there's a pool but I wasn't sure.

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/Discover-MSC/Cruise-Ships/MSC-Seaview/Deckplan.aspx

 

 

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Just wondering if anyone knows if the Yacht Club on MSC Seaview will have a private pool. I'm a little confused by the deck plans. I don't see one on the deck plan, but when I click deck plans for summer 2019, it redirects to the Seaside page and shows one on deck 19. Has anyone asked this question or can anyone clarify? Thank you!

Is there an easy way to search for cruises with connecting staterooms or do I have to search each individual sailing/ship to see if one is available? Also interested in any other suggestions for booking rooms for a family of four (two adults, two toddlers). We recently sailed in a two bedroom family suite in The Haven on the Norwegian Epic and loved it. Just exploring all options.

What did you do in order to upgrade wifi? Make a call or go see someone?

Also, did you use in room dining for any meals? Kind of curious how that's worked out in the haven. Hoping to have breakfast in our room each morning while we are getting ready since our tours start pretty early.

Do not plan on backing up your photos to the cloud using some free public coffee shop wifi... this will take time, reliability is questionable at best, and who wants to spend time on their vacation trying to sync to the cloud. Such an effort will consume you and your time. And how do you plan on backing up the SD cards from your Nikon without a laptop?

 

Personally, I use 7 SD cards for a 7 day vacation. This is enough to ensure I can swap the SD card on the DSLR each time it leaves the ship, and I can have a few left over to swap out the SD on point and shoot -- which honestly is usually a bunch of out of focus garbage that we never look at again, so nothing of value would really be lost.

 

I've never had an issue with data loss on SD cards. Choose Class 10 SD cards. Using slower cards with gear that expects fast cards could result in data corruption.

 

It really sounds like you want a device like this:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2F83426683

 

Take a look at the user manual for it to get an idea of how it functions and whether or not it will fit your application:

 

https://www.wdc.com/content/dam/wdc/website/downloadable_assets/eng/user_manual/4779-705118.pdf

Thanks so much. This looks to be along the lines of what I'm looking for. Will take a closer look in the morning.

What ship/itinerary & ports of call ?

 

Satellite ship as is for majority of ships in NCL fleet are still "slow" to usable, backup to cloud is NOT an option with 250 minutes at all - still going to take forever with hi-resolution images even with an unlimited plan. While at sea, it will likely be slower than your Starbuck, DD or typical free hotel WiFi node. What is your expected total download/upload size on a daily basis ?

 

The Acer PC on the BA and Gem has accessible USB ports for upload/download - I am not sure, but, in theory - if it is not blocked - can be used to transfer from camera's storage memory medium to a portable, standalone (2.5" SSD drive)

 

I am really not on Amazon's eco-system but my understanding is that the latest HD 8 & alike are bootloader loaded down & not rootable, limiting what it can do. I have a Nexus 7 tablet with OTG cable, making it easy to transfer & backup to an USB thumb drive.

Thanks! I'll look into an otg cable for fire.

Posting here rather than technology board since it seems this gets more traffic.

I'm planning to purchase a Nikon 1 J5. (I'm open to suggestions on other mirrorless cameras as well.) Will someone please point me in the right direction regarding backing up my photos each day. A few factors:

- not bringing laptop

- planning to bring kindle fire hd 8 (20gb available I think and 256 expandable memory. Has microsd slot) and Samsung s8

- will have 250 min wifi package, but I don't want to rely on this for photo transfers

My goal is to backup photos each day to some sort of thumb drive or portable hard drive. Also, any suggestions on when/where I could use wifi to backup photos to Amazon or google. Seems like that would take a while at a coffee shop or public wifi. Any thoughts?

Please keep in mind that I don't consider extra sd cards to be an option. I once lost hundreds of vacation photos due to a corrupt card. (We were eventually able to recover them.)

If you can suggest specific products (cables, portable stuff, whatever) it would be greatly appreciated. I've been spoiled by good camera phones and just backing those up to computers and clouds, so I've been a bit overwhelmed by my google search of all the cords and this and that. Looking forward to using a real camera on vacation.

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone had problems using the AT&T international day pass on the Epic in the Mediterranean? I'm planning to use it each day in the ports. Just wondering if anyone has run into any issues with it or if it's as easy as the website describes. Not planning to use phone on ship at all. Thanks!

Currently booked with RIL for three excursions in Italy. Does anyone know if you are assigned one driver for the entire day or does one driver drop off and another pick up? Just wondering if we would be able to leave a bag with extra clothes and stroller in the car while we are out and about at some locations. Thanks!

Definitely avoid Positano also!

 

 

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Thanks! So leave the stroller in the van and just walk around Positano, right? About how much time do you suggest spending in Position?

We are using Rome in Limo for excursions in Naples, Rome, and Florence/Pisa. I was just wondering if anyone with toddlers has used this company. We will be traveling with two toddlers and are trying to decide between bringing our normal double stroller, a double umbrella stroller, or two single umbrella strollers. Just wondering how much walking we'll be doing at each port. I understand it's not advisable to bring a stroller to Pompeii, but I was wondering about other places. Any places that we definitely should or shouldn't bring a stroller? Does anyone know if they take you somewhere and drop you off for an hour or two or is it a shorter amount of time at more locations? Thanks in advance!

Can anyone help with any advise on how to book transport when traveling with two children who need car seats from Barcelona airport to the cruise terminal

We are in the same situation and are using Barcelona Day Tours this fall. I emailed them and they can provide transfers to and from airport and cruise with car seats. They have good reviews. I see that you're sailing a few weeks before us. Please let me know if you have any tips for traveling with toddlers! :)

From my experiences, they will fill all of the suites. They will take the lowest on minimum bids because I won a bid that way.

 

 

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Did you notice if the minimum bid ever decreased from the initial opportunity to bid? For instance, if it were initally set by ncl at $500, did you ever see the minimum decrease to a lower amount weeks or months later?

Has anyone actually had any luck having two cabins upgraded to the haven through the bidding process when traveling with family or friends? Any tips/suggestions?

Thank you everyone! This information is very helpful. I'm within 90 days of sailing now, so if I make a reservation at a specialty restaurant, will it charge my credit card now or at the end of the cruise?

Any opinions on dining package or is this just personal preference? It appears to me that booking the 3 dinner package only saves about $10 per person. Is this correct? We may just stay flexible rather than committing to 3 specialty restaurants, but I'm curious of other's thoughts.

Also, what has been everyone's experience with the time change from the US? Were you hungry at your usual dinner time after adjusting or did you make reservations for later than usual?

Is it necessary to have dinner reservations on the epic? If we don't make reservations when they are available on ncl.com will we not be able to dine at certain restaurants the day of? We are traveling from the US, so I'm not sure how long the jet lag will last. We are also traveling with children and I don't know how tired they will be after the port days, so we would like to decide the day of if they are up to sitting down for a complete meal or if we should go to buffet or room service. Also, is it rude to cancel reservations? For instance, if i make them online now and then call the evening of to cancel if we decide they aren't up for it. That way the reservation could be released rather than no show. Any suggestions are appreciated.