pspehar

I just went through an e-ticket experience myself yesterday.

The summary is that I had to create an account on the msc website with my email.  I also had to complete all of the check-in material.  After that my e-ticket was available to print from the website. 

Here are the things that had me stumped during the process:

1. Initially, I had logged into the website with my booking number and name.  I completed the check-in material.  There was no sign of where to find an e-ticket on the website.

2. After some time, it occurred to me maybe I needed to log in with my email address.  When I tried to log in with email, it said an account already existed with that address.  I had to follow the password reset routine to get my password setup and then I could actually log in with my email and new password.
 
3. At this point I saw a button for the e-ticket.  However, it was greyed out and I could not click it.  I went back through the check-in steps and realized that the system seemed to want me to enter our drivers license identification information.  I had already entered our passport information and the form said only one or the other was needed.  However, once I added the drivers license info for myself and my wife, the e-ticket button became available to click. 

At this point I had to print out the e-ticket at home.  Warning, the e-ticket printout 17 pages long.  Funny enough we ran out of paper and had to get more at the shop.

Thanks!  I finally figured it out. 

First, I needed to register and log in with my email address rather than just the booking number.  I then found the Request E-Ticket button.  However, it would not allow me to click it.  Even though i had entered passport info and web check in status was complete, I had to also add drivers license detail to our profiles.  Finally the eticket button was highlighted!

Last week I booked a last-ish minute cruise on Sinfonia departing 12/19 through cruisesheets.  On Dec 6, I received the booking confirmation from MSC.  I completed our web check in yesterday, Dec 10. 

Is there anything further that I should be doing to get an e-ticket?  I can get into the MSC My booking page and see the completed check ins.  I can also see the Stateroom number is assigned.  But I don't see an e-ticket or any specific information about when and where to board in Barcelona.   

I will probably call MSC and ask, but I thought I should get the nitty gritty from the real experts here first.

A second question I have: I booked a guarantee I2 - Interior Stateroom Fantastica Experience.  It seems we got upgraded a bit to cabin 7114 category O1 - Bella Oceanview.  Having an oceanview (lifeboat obstructed) sounds like an awesome upgrade.  The cabin is listed on icruse as a Bella Oceanview Stateroom.  I am guessing the Bella part is just a name and I should consider this an upgrade, correct?  Or will this cabin conflict with the breakfast room service/12 drinks perk?

Thanks!

Thanks for the update all.  This is really helpful.  Getting so excited to see some new places.

The MSC Sinfonia sailing starting in Barcelona on Dec 19 will be our first time on a cruise with more than one start port.  How does the muster drill work?  Will there be multiple drills throughout the 10 day journey?  

Looking forward to our first bus stop cruise!

We were on Eurodam Dec 24. We were assigned at the curb. Got an upgrade from N to H (obstructed).

A surprising fact that I've not mentioned yet is the lack of Christmas music on the PA.

We are heading out this upcoming Saturday. I was thinking if we got lucky we would need only endure two days of that wonderful music. But this even better news than I could have hoped for.

HAL should be updating their master plan to make room under the spending caps. The Institute needs to be contracted for an ongoing HAL blog series.

The young kids are just napping. They need plenty of rest so they can ruin everything for everyone later in the day.

It looks like that bear in your bag chose an interesting shirt for the trip!

Getting ready for my first cruise on HA since 1990. Found this in an old photo album. i just knew you would enjoy it here.

I uploaded the pics, but also here is a link

http imgur com /a/LfVKL

Nieuw Amsterdam Built 1983 1984-2000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Thomson_Spirit

Edit: those pics uploaded extremely tiny. How to get around that?

We rented ebikes in Santa Barbara a couple of weeks ago. It was awesome! They are more like scooters than bicycle. Sure you can pedal, but you dont have to at all. We took them along the water South past the estuary, around Channel Drive. them back to town for lunch. Then "coasted" uphill to the mission and beyond that to a botanical garden. Then downhill to some wine and beer tasting rooms on Yanonali St.

we rented from here:

http://sbbikestogo.com

We walked to the bike rental place to get the bikes. We took lyft (like uber or taxi) back to the ship after the bike rental.

Walk, Uber, Lyft, or cab over to the Crafted indoor market. It is like Esty in person.

We walked to the San Pedro Brewery, and then walked from there to Crafted. There was also a brewery and food trucks at Crafted.

After all of that, we walked back to the boat.

Crafted: http://craftedportla.com/

San Pedro Brewery: http://www.sanpedrobrewing.com/

Brouwerij West Brewery at Crafted: http://www.brouwerijwest.com/

We were on the Crown during the first week of April. Due to the history of the Crown, I had concerns about norovirus the entire time. Every time I felt a little tired or queezy, I was convinced we were doomed.

Here is a review that details the experiences of a cruiser who sailed after a previous outbreak

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=253624

Here are details of the previous outbreaks. It seems like the overall percentage of passengers that get the sick are not too bad.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2012/feb4crown_princess.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2012/feb9crown_princess.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2014/april12_crown_princess.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2014/november16_crown_princess.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2016/january3_crown_princess.htm

Looking forward to reading your thoughts. My wife and I were on the same cruise and also first time to Princess.

We are not very experienced cruisers. We had been on a Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas to AK in early June 2004.

As a teen, I was on Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas in 1988 and a Holland America MS Nieuw Amsterdam? Caribbean cruise in 1990.

All of those experiences were prior to the additional upcharges for food/restaurants.

We had planned on sticking around San Pedro area post cruise. We found out the hard way while filling our disembark papers that there is no easy check in San Pedro. We ended up self disembarking with our luggage at 8:30A and taking a shuttle back to LAX.

Our flight was not until 8P so we tried to get Alaska Air to take our luggage early. AK Air will only take it 4 hours before the flight. But they did recommend a third party temporary luggage storage company. Around 10:30 AM, we paid the service 25 to take our two bags for 8 hours (the service has a 8 hour min).

We caught a Lyft out to Santa Monica for the day of sightseeing. We got back to LAX around 6:30 as scheduled to pick up our luggage. The service was about 30 mins late, so we really had to rush at 7P to get on our flight. AK air had tagged our luggage for standby so we were sweating. Luckily we got through customs quickly and it wall worked out.

BTW, we did get to check out San Pedro pre cruise. The San Pedro Brewery is within walking distance. The beers we had gave us the motivation to make the additional mile walk to and from San Pedro Crafted. It was really nice and I highly recommend it. http://craftedportla.com/

We tried a hamburger from the grill one evening on the crown. I saw a griddle of fresh burgers being grilled - mmmm.

The cook took a rubbery looking precooked patty out of surly looking pot of hot water and warmed it up on the grill for me. Those freshly cooked burgers were headed for the pot of water to be rubberized.

We preordered before our Ca Coastal on Crown last week. The 24 bottles were waiting in the room on a side table when we arrived. It looked like a ton of water at first, but we used every bottle by the end. We used them to refill our reuasable bottles which are more sturdy for shore days.

Once day I ran out of water while in the gym. I had a taste of the ship water. It wasn't awful, but i was definitely glad we preordered the bottled.

Thanks for the photos. So helpful during this week of anticipation. We are starting this cruise Sat the 2nd. Detailed information from the official Princess website is sparse.

I noticed some micro brew bottled beer in one of the photos. Were those only available during the pub event or in certain lounges?

The beers they offer in the 5 for 4 packages on the main crown website are pretty mainstream. I am hoping for some better options!