Homosassa

Just as a FYI for anyone not familiar with MSC alcohol policy, no alcohol is allowed to be carried into or served in the theater. So anyone attending any special event or other entertainment in the theater, be prepared to go dry.

Are you and your daughter in the same cabin? If you are, she is probably good to go. If not, it ay not be allowed.

I wouldn't plan on the Academy Awards being shown or any type of activities. It is a non event for most of the passengers on the ship.

If the fare was in any way discounted or had perks attached due to D2"s VIFP status, then the rate is tied to her and she must sail for rate to be valid. Check any restrictions or conditions that were part of the fare under which D2 was booked. As a no show, this could result in the reservation being cancelled at the dock.

And as an added caveat to a pre existing condition that condition must be stable for a certain period of time as stated in the policy. That means that no treatment will be initiated or that the condition does not necessitated a change in treatment. Unless you paid for a very expensive policy that would allow for a recent cancer diagnosis and active treatment to be covered, your insurance probably will not be useful.

Don't equate distance in miles (kilometers) with time it may take to travel the distance. If it is a weekday, you will be leaving the ship during the morning rush hour and traveling the distance with locals who have learned to drive with machismo. If it is the weekend, there might be an event or accidents (remember, machismo) to mess up traffic. It will probably take approximately an hour, or longer, once you have cleared immigration to find your ride and travel the airport. You will need two hours once at the airport to check in, go through security and find your gate. If you can be leaving the port terminal door by 8 AM to find your airport ride, you will probably make the 11:40 flight.

This program is not offered in the USA due to regulations requiring all ship passengers be cleared through immigration before the next group of passengers can embark. Motto for disembarkation day: Here's your hat; here's your coat; don't let the door hit you on the way out.

About the port problems on Sunday, February 11, and the Goodyear blimp: There was a collision between a tour boat and a private boat in Fisherman's Cut. Over thirty people were injured. People were transported to local hospitals and one was airlifted out. Staging for first responders and rescue personnel was the Port of Miami docks. Unsure of the exact time of collision. The information was released to the media at 3:15 PM. The Goodyear blimp was probably capturing video the scene and rescue.

Try the Black Forest Martini if they have it (big yes to the whipped cream and cherry if offered).

Use a good travel agent. The TA will talk directly to NCL and will have more access to cabin information than you will on line.

It is a shame that there are so many lounge chair sailors, cocktail in hand, on every cruise that feel that they are qualified to second guess a Captain's decision and force the Captain to spend time justifying the decision to avoid the demands for compensation and fomenting others to be disgruntled. We had a similar situation on a cruise several years ago where a decision was made after leaving Cartagena to skip Costa Rica and head directly back to Florida because of weather conditions between Cartagena and Florida. Of course, there was a loudmouth on board who was proclaiming that there was no reason to alter course and offered myriad solutions that the Captain should do such as alternate ports and offering compensation. He was gathering a small following of fellow passengers that were becoming increasing vocal. The Captain instead announce a special presentation in the theater where questions would be taken. Big mouth was front and center with his followers proclaiming he would get answers and compensation. The Captain came on the stage and then did a twenty minute power point presentation that covered the geographical locations of the ports (Costa Rica is isolated from many other ports of call), the weather patterns in the Southern Caribbean (two low fronts whose winds and waves would make for a rough sail), possible routes back to Florida and the pros and cons of each. At the end, when he called for questions with a crew member standing at the ready with a microphone by loudmouth and followers, there wasn't a single question from the audience. \

Really? The only Celebrity ship calling Aruba is the Beyond. For your August 18 Aruba wedding, that means the August 10 departure from Ft Lauderdale, arrives Aruba on 8/13, and returns to Ft Lauderdale on 8/18. I hope the fare for the eight night cruise plus the extra fees for the the downline debarkation is worth. How do you plan to get home from Aruba?

In Miami, the ship docks at the Port of Miami cruise complex. There is nothing in the port area, other than a coffee shop in one of the port administration buildings, for entertainment. You will need some form of transportation to leave the port area.

You have your answer - it is not allowed. As for those other situations you have listed, they do not apply to you.

Check on board ship for any restrictions on taking the scooter on the tender. It may not be possible depending on conditions the day you port at Princess Key.

Guest Services will still punch holes in the card. The person doing the punching knows where the chip is located and punch a hole accordingly.

I don't book in the Yacht Club, but I have known this is the policy for Yacht Club deposits for at least a year. But then again, I do read the information that cruise lines post on their websites before booking. The MSC Terms and Conditions and Conditions of Carriage is very clear on deposits, cancellations and changes.

Please note that the above link is incomplete. Passports for all passengers are required for cruises that port in Panama or do a partial or complete transit of the Canal. It doesn't matter if you leave the ship or not.

The wind direction, wind speed, or other factors that prevents a docking are whatever the Captain decides will prevent docking.

I was trying to explain the various reasons that MSC receives a bad review from some. My statements include actual complaints that have been posted here in Cruise Critic and, as a long time member with familiarity with the cruise experiences of the posters, reflect the type of cruiser unhappy with MSC. Included was an explanation of what the MSC philosophy is on the type of cruise experience that is offered on board ship. Maybe my comments hit too close to home....

Are you sure your travel agent isn't confusing MSC with NCL? Her comments about add ons and the food sounds like NCL to me. MSC is not a good choice for everyone. It is geared to an international clientele which means that for someone from Middle of No Where, Fly over State, USA, often has a hard time dealing with a passenger composition where everyone does not look like them, dress like them, eat like them , or act like them. Instead, MSC is an Italian cruise line that embraces their Italian heritage by serving Italian food, not Italian -American Olive Garden cuisine. This can come as a shock to the person who expects spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, or pineapple and ham or pepperoni on the pizza. MSC will also offer in the buffet various food items that will appeal to the different passenger populations from some where other than the USA. MSC is also not booze centric. While drink packages are offered as a convivence for the passengers, a large number of staff is not dedicated to the pushing of alcohol. Many of the booze cruise crowd do complain that they have to stand in line at a bar or that alcohol is not served in the theater or easily obtained in the Dining Room (wine is available in the Dining Room). The service on MSC is not the obsequious "give me a ten" fawning on many US cruise lines. It is professional and discreet (i.e.; European). Some US passengers interpret the service as "cold" or impersonal. MC prides itself as a family cruise line However, this does not mean that one can dump the kids at a camp in the morning and never see them again. Instead, there will be many intergenerational groups or affinity groups enjoying each others company and socializing at dinner. The idea of enjoying dinner and socializing is a real downer for the "Gobble and Go" crowd. There are children's programs and family activities available. However, the hours of the children's program are felt to be inadequate by some. Also the requirement that an adult must be present for the children to attend family activities interrupts some parents' time on the pool deck. There will be some posters who will post on here that they will only cruise in the Yacht Club and refer to the rest of the ship as steerage or Gen Pop (General Population). As someone who has been cruising for forty eight years on many of the middle and upper tier cruise lines, I have always been very happy with my MSC cruises at the Bella experience level (will be going up to Fantastica as Bella has been changed to a guaranty cabin category).

If you are new to cruising, another bit of useful information to know about cabin capacity is that the number of people allowed in a cabin is controlled by the number of passengers assigned to a life boat station. The cabins for each station has configurations for the potential maximum number of passengers that can be accommodated in a cabin. The sum number of all those numbers will often be higher than the number of passengers for the lifeboat section. For that reason, while a cabin you have booked may have additional bedding to add a passenger sometime after you have booked, you may be told that another passenger can not be added to your booking as the lifeboat station is at capacity for passengers for your sailing.

While this post is about another ship on another cruise line, there was a poster who had me rolling my eyes each time she did a review. She cruised the ship regularly in an aft balcony and, therefore, had to walk the length of the ship at times to reach her destination. Each of her reviews made frequent references to the fact that the ship was a very "trippy" ship. She frequently tripped over the changes in flooring material, entering an elevator, that treacherous first step when going up a stair case, etc. Somehow, she never made the connection about the fact that she started with wine in her cabin first thing in the morning, consumed five - nine bottles a day, and her tripping problem.

I am vicariously enjoying what should have been our cruise. We cancelled because my husband came down with a gram negative rod gastrointestinal infection on November 30 that was completely mismanaged by his primary care doctor's practice and resulted in two hospitalizations and a bowel resection surgery. He is now in rehab until 1/31. We saw the handwriting on the wall and cancelled on January 2 (no way were we going to bring a gastrointestinal bacteria on board ship). We have trip insurance so didn't lose any money.

The soot problem can occur on any ship at any time depending on the ship's speed and wind direction. It is part of cruising and will sometimes happen.