Homosassa

All changes on any MSC cruise will go through a bank in Europe (I am probably the poster who said France). The initial cruise preauthorization request (and hold) will also be from the same foreign bank, so be sure your credit card holder knows that there will be a request from a foreign bank.

Have you checked the cancellation policy on the Celebrity website that outlines the cancellation fees? If your "NFD" means nonrefundable deposit, that term is self explanatory.

I am talking about MSC. If you are not familiar with the policies of MSC that enable them to control costs (fare churning by the passengers for example) or the cultural differences between a cruise line that embraces it's Italian (and European) attitudes in area such as toward alcohol, parental responsibility for supervision of children and dining and what people think is typified by some US cruise lines, I can see where you may think MSC will change on the drink package.

It will last. The cruise line does not want to be mistaken for Carnival as its targeted market demographic and on board atmosphere (cultural differences) not does not encourage heavy drinking.

You are scheduled for Terminal 6. Terminal 6, IMO, is the best terminal for drop off and parking. If you are driving, one drives up to the terminal, drops off the luggage, drives down roadway to the the first left into self parking. Of course, one can park first and bring all your luggage to the terminal. It depend on where you park in the lot for how a long walk it will be to the terminal. At the top of the walking ramp up to the terminal, a sheriff's deputy will check your arrival time before permitting you access the porters and arrival lines. Like all the other terminals in Tampa, driving access to the area in front of the terminal is tightly controlled by the local sheriff's deputies. If one is arriving too early, one will be sent back out of the terminal area and told to return at a more appropriate time for your arrival time. Those taking taxis, Ubers or other for rent rides will be checked for arrival times. If you know there is a fog delay, make sure the arrival instructions in any notifications are followed or one will be on line outside the terminal area. I wouldn't worry about fog in February. By the time February rolls around, the water temperature will have dropped and the air temperature is cooler (and usually drier). Add any type of breeze and there will be no fog. https://www.porttb.com/cruise-terminal-6

Take more cruises. Sooner or later, things will not go smoothly at embarcation or debarcation. There can be many reasons besides fog. My recent one was the group of drunks who decided to hide on the ship and not leave on the last day. Held up embarkation for several hours while the ship was searched and the culprits arrested. The cruiseline no longer sells drink packages for their short cruises.

(Raising paddle) Five!!!

The MSC page has been updated. Check your itinerary for all your port stops and then recheck your requirements on the website.

Have you ever cruised from Tampa? It doesn't sound like it. While the terminals in Tampa are smaller, so are the ships that sail from Tampa because of both channel and Sunshine Bridge restrictions. It is the procedure that incoming passengers (vehicles) are not allowed to enter the terminal area until the debarking passengers have left the terminal area. The entrances for the three terminals are widely separated and well marked. Somehow, I doubt that the new arrival times were followed by the incoming passengers. If they had been, there would not have been the problems as reported here.

Mall type cop? They are sheriff's deputies and they are very good at making sure that Tampa port terminals have a controlled entrance of people according to arrival times. Was 7:30 PM the time that check in was begun and original arrival times were suppose to be adhered to in the time increments originally given, i.e.; if first time available for check in was suppose to be 11 AM, it would now be 7:30 PM, followed by 11:30 AM (8 PM)? Was the opening of the terminal to traffic at 7:30 PM when check in began?

Deleted because of wrong information

Having lived around the sea coast all my life (Long Island, Maryland and Florida) and traveling extensively on the coast line of New England, Tampa gets a undeserved bad rap for fog. It is no worse, or more frequent, than any other coast area.

To get your island history straight, MSC acquired the remnants of a key that had been stripped of all it surface sand and the surrounding waters dredged for sand. The sand was used to refurbish beaches elsewhere in the world. To built the private island, and sandy bottom beaches, MSC in turn had to bring in sand that was stripped from elsewhere. And the beat goes on....

No matter how often knowledgeable people explain how port fees and taxes are projected for an itinerary in advance to determine an ESTIMATED per person cost at the time of booking and what happens if a port is missed (refunds or use of the fee to offset a shortfall of funds for all port fees ), we still get these type of threads. When combined with the expertise of rowboat experts in navigation and the effects of tides, currents, winds or other weather on the ship's maneuvering ability, we get double outrage.

Covid has made a mess of itineraries for all cruise lines as they coped with covid restrictions, covid incubation periods, and length of cruises (get them on, get them off before the infection picked up on the first day develops). I, too, am currently disappointed by the lackluster MSC itineraries currently being offered and hope to soon see the wonderful itineraries offered in the past. We were on the last MSC Armonia cruise that returned to the cruise shut down in March 2020. Among the ports on that cruise were Cartagena, Aruba and Curacao and other ports no longer being visited. Unlike many, I do not enjoy private island beach days (and am not a fan of MSC's offering), so I was happy with the previously available itineraries. Note for anyone going to Ocean Cay: bring water shoes for both walking on the beach and in the water (bits of coral that are sharp).

Yes, Discover (at least my Discover) has high security measures on their cards. Not surprise that the card was shown as invalid because of the information I posted in post #6. Make sure you call Discover as I advised in my post or your card will be rejected on board (been there, done that).

Information is available on the deck plans for the Seascape and in the thread called Live from that the Seascape that has been active for several weeks. See video in post #39.

I suspect that the trouble with adding the credit card on line may be the same problem that can occur at the on board kiosk where a credit card may be denied. All card transactions for MSC, no matter where you are in the world, goes through a foreign bank (French, I believe) so when the request comes through to your card provider, it is denied as a suspect transaction. To avoid the problem, notify your card provider that you are taking an MSC cruise and that an authorization request will be coming through from a foreign bank. Your provider will make a notation to allow the request and subsequent holds or charges. There will also be a foreign transaction fee for all charges. Use a card that does not have a foreign transaction fee or be prepared to see the fee on your credit card statement.

Save yourself the trouble. Experience travelers will just shake their heads at the angst.

Oh, dear! Wander in in the middle of the show? This would smack of the height of entitlement and a complete lack of knowledge of theater etiquette.

You should have no problems boarding with your pump. If for some odd reason there is a problem, ask for a member of the on board medical staff (doctor or nurse) to come ashore. They will be able to clear the device for boarding.

You are talking a Grand Suite for $1500 p.p. I was talking an inside cabin wit a shared bathroom for the deck for $2000 p.p. Not exactly a comparison for room type and cost. And while I still book inside cabins, they still cost less than $2000 with the added bonus of a private bathroom.

To take a very long view of cruise prices - I would say no First Chandris (Celebrity)cruise in 1976 cost $399 for a seven night Caribbean cruise, inside cabin (shared bathrooms for the deck). According to an on line calculator, that 1976 $399 is equivalent to $2,004 in 2022.

I have been tagged by posters in their reply. I have never been notified.

FYI for anyone who want to be on deck for cruising under the bridge: It takes approximately 2 1/2 hours from leaving the pier to sailing under the bridge.