Homosassa

LOL at those of you that assume all information can be found in an email or on line. Depending on how long ago the cruise happened, there was no email or internet because there were no home computers. My first NCL cruise was 1978. Nope, not an email to be found on that one. While I may not remember the exact itinerary of any one cruise, I do remember the ports. In the case of the 1978 Starward cruise, ports included Port Antonio, Jamaica, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The rest is a blank.

Remember any times given as arrival times before the day of a actual arriving port are just projections of what will occur. The ship may arrive earlier; the ship may arrive latter; the ship may not make port that day for a variety of reasons. Once the ship does arrive, it must receive clearance from local officials to allow disembarkation If you decide to roll the dice and book a private excursion, make sure you know the cancellation and refund policy of the tour operator and have a way to contact them.

And for anyone wondering why MSC would divert from Bermuda, takes a look at this marine forecast: Bermuda Marine Forecast This forecast covers an area out to 25 nautical miles from the coastline Issued at 11:30 am - Friday, November 17, 2023 The next scheduled update will be issued at 4:30 pm Small Craft Warning (Valid for This morning through Tonight) Gale Warning (Valid for Late Tonight through Saturday evening) Small Craft Warning (Valid for Saturday night through Sunday night) Marine Synopsis - Moderate winds continue to veer as high pressure drifts away to the east. Later today and through the weekend, conditions deteriorate, as a deepening low passes to our west. Gusty gales accompany widespread, sometimes prolonged, heavy rain with embedded showers and possible thunderstorms. Moderate to rough seas become very rough on Saturday then gradually ease through the rest of the weekend. Today - Winds southeasterly 15 to 25 knots... Developing light rain or drizzle with fair visibility... Seas inside the reef 1 to 3 ft... Outside the reef 6 to 9 ft, increasing during the night... Sunrise: 6:50 am. Tonight - Winds southeasterly 15 to 25 knots, increasing 20 to 30 knots overnight with gusts to 35 to 40 knots, especially in showers... Patchy rain and scattered showers develop during the evening with fair to poor visibility... Seas increasing, inside the reef 2 to 4 ft... Outside the reef 8 to 12 ft... Sunset: 5:17 pm. Saturday - Winds south-southeasterly 30 to 40 knots gusts to 50 to 60 knots, especially in showers, then veering southerly 20 to 30 knots by late evening with gusts to 35 to 40 knots and sharply veering northwesterly 15 to 25 knots overnight... Widespread rain and showers with fair to very poor visibility and isolated thunderstorms... Seas inside the reef 2 to 4 ft... Outside the reef 10 to 15 ft, decreasing during the night inside the reef 2 to 4 ft... Outside the reef 8 to 12 ft... Sunrise: 6:51 am; Sunset: 5:17 pm. Sunday - Winds northwesterly 15 to 25 knots, occasionally easing 10 to 15 knots then veering northerly overnight... Scattered showers with fair to poor visibility and slight chance thunder, becoming isolated showers overnight with mainly fair visibility... Seas inside the reef 2 to 4 ft... Outside the reef 8 to 12 ft, decreasing... Sunrise: 6:51 am; Sunset: 5:16 pm. Monday - Winds northerly 15 to 25 knots, veering north-northeasterly by midday... Isolated showers with mainly fair visibility... Seas inside the reef 1 to 3 ft... Outside the reef 6 to 9 ft, decreasing... Sunrise: 6:52 am; Sunset: 5:16 pm. Tuesday - Winds north-northeasterly 15 to 25 knots, veering northeasterly towards evening then easing easterly 12 to 18 knots overnight... Light rain or drizzle with fair visibility... Seas inside the reef 1 to 2 ft... Outside the reef 4 to 7 ft... Sunrise: 6:53 am; Sunset: 5:16 pm.

Noted. However, there are those who piled on to complain about how MSC makes changes when other cruise don't with the always popular childhood wail "But everybody else..." and then go on to pull in any other MSC itinerary change that is occurring. For anyone interested, here is the marine forecast released this morning for that weather system causing problems for the NW Bahamas and east coast of Florida: AMZ101-180315- Synopsis for the SW N Atlantic including the Bahamas 1004 AM EST Fri Nov 17 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Low pressure of 1004 mb centered just N of the NW Bahamas near 28N80W is producing a wide area of easterly gales to the NE of the center, from 27N to 31N, W of 70W. This low will move NNE today and will be N of the area by tonight. Gales will continue to the north and east of the center through tonight. Potential Tropical Cyclone Twenty-Two is near 17.5N 79.1W at 10 AM EST, and is moving northeast at 12 kt. Maximum sustained winds are 30 kt with gusts to 40 kt, and the minimum central pressure is 1004 mb. Twenty-Two will move to 19.3N 76.8W this evening, 21.9N 73.3W Sat morning, 25.2N 68.9W Sat evening, become extratropical and move to 28.3N 64.8W Sun morning, 31.8N 61.0W Sun evening, and dissipate Mon morning.

MSC has solo fares that is based on the price of a double occupancy of the cabin plus an additional amount to make up for the loss of expected on board revenue of the second passenger in the cabin. People booked ghost cabinmates for "no show" to avoid the additional fare on top of the double occupancy fare. Now the written policy in the T&C is that a "No Show" is considered a cancellation with a 100% penalty fee of that passenger's fare (half the cabin cost) and the remaining passengers will be assed the additional fare for half the cabin plus the solo passenger surcharge. MSC is very good at having rules and procedures that help them maintain the ability to have reasonable cruise fares or other onboard sources of revenue.

Here is a wild theory: The other two ships either had itineraries or itinerary changes of the first port of call to a port that were south of the weather system moving up the east coast of Florida with resultant high winds and seas (first twelve hours those ships would be rocking and rolling until out of affected area). Your itinerary, on the other hand, would be right into those waves and wind. The change was for your comfort. On the other hand, Cruise Critic readers will now miss out on the potential of threads wailing about the rough seas and the poor decision to leave port.

The information is quickly and easily found on the MSC website in the Conditions of Carriage. It is there in Section 13 Alcohol and Section 14 Minors From Section 14: " For voyages that include a port in the USA, persons under the age of 21 may not order or consume alcoholic beverages or participate in gambling. For voyages that do not include a port in the USA, persons under the age of 18 may not order or consume alcoholic beverages or participate in gambling." If you have not read both the Terms and Conditions and Conditions of Carriage on the MSC website, it is a good idea to do so.

We had such a terrible time on the Constellation that we have another cruise booked on her for this January....

We have cruised from Tampa many times over the years on various cruise lines (NCL, HAL, RCCL, Celebrity, MSC). We have never had any problems with embarkation or debarkation. It is a very compact cruise port area with near by on site parking.

You probably will not have a problem as it appears that this will be a one off for you on MSC. I would be more worried if there is a record of this being a repeat action. However, if MSC does decided to followed their published Terms and Conditions, it won't be something that is a surprise.

On an easy to find deck plan for the Constellation, you are below the Spa (ladies' changing area) and above other passenger cabins. The only drawback to your location is that you will feel more rolling and pitching if there are rough seas than in a location more amidship and lower down.

No idea. There have been some posts stating it has happed here on this forum.

Yes, that part of the fare is assessed a100% cancellation penalty fee leaving the rest of the fare for the cabin being owed by the remaining passenger plus the additional money charged for a solo passenger to make up the loss of on board revenue by the second passenger. MSC has the option to collected the additional fare if it wishes.

Mark_T has the correct reasoning. MSC caught onto the fare cheaters for solo passengers that routinely booked a ghost second passenger. There was a poster on this forum whose name I do not remember. She use to boast that she got around the solo fare by routinely booking her niece with her in the cabin with no intention of the niece cruising. Because of passengers like her who thought they were being slick with repeated "No Show," the additional fee was added in the T&C and also has language in the "Conditions of Carriage" as follows: 3. OCCUPATION OF BERTHS AND CABINS 3. A Passenger shall not have the right to exclusive occupancy of a cabin with two (2) or more berths unless he has paid supplement for exclusive occupation. The Carrier reserves the right to transfer the Passenger from one cabin to another and may adjust the fare accordingly. The Master or the Carrier may, if it becomes advisable or necessary, at any time transfer a Passenger from one berth to another. For HLR who is confused about the additional charge, MSC makes clear in the T&C that the "No Show" on the day of embarkation is considered a cancellation with an 100% penalty fee for that passenger's fare. The remaining passenger than may be responsible for the payment of that part of the fare and also be assessed the additional monies for the expected loss of on board revenue for the second passenger. So for anyone who does not have a "No Show" history, MSC may let the additional fees slide, however, a passenger with a repeat history of booking games may find themselves with additional money being owned (and keep in mind, MSC does have your credit/debit card information to make the charge or has a way of obtaining the cash for those who decide to have a cash on board account.

I thought about posting about the US invention of peperoni as a cheaper, fattier substitute for salami, but I am glad 8420PR did so. I am surprised there was peperoni on the ship as MSC usually has a good quality salami on board.

Did you read the already posted information in this thread before posting?

On the other hand, the US is a nation of immigrants which means that one can find authentic ethnic cuisine from any culture in restaurants that are run by those immigrants and served to their fellow immigrants and those who appreciate food from different cultures. By the way, I have indulged in fried pickles at times, and yes, they can be sour dills, half sour, or sweet depending on the restaurant and the dipping sauce that is served with them. Just because one has been limited to heavily breaded dill slices doesn't mean lighter breading, pickle types and dipping sauces are not served in other locations. I recently enjoy lightly breaded fried new pickle slices served with a green chimichurri sauce - fabulous.

We did this for a family reunion cruise. The number of people dining together each night varied . You can do it through the app once on board as long as you know the cabin number and names or arrange a larger table the night before you want one at the check in tables at the MDR entrance.

Not odd at all. People forget they are on an Italian cruise line that has embarkation ports around the world. Passengers are an international mix and expect some consistency of the MSC on board experience on whatever itinerary they chose. In Italy, meat is not used on pizza. Occasionally some prosciutto may be used. Hot dogs are a form of sausage and was probably the only available sausage available for "sausage" pizza.

Sometimes I go out and look up to watch the rocket pass over ....

There are times when I read a post and I am not sure if it is a serious question or if the poster is being provocative, or is travel naive or entitled. This is one of them, especially in light of some of the previous posts by this member....

Maybe you started at the wrong end of the line....

This. Shortly after 911, my husband was on out of the country official US government travel (red passport). He and a woman in line, also with the US red official travel passport, were pulled from the security line for a full luggage check and pat down in full view of the other people on line. They both realized that they were pulled to be examples. On the other hand, I was pulled many times for a pat down(invasive) of my bust area. I was overly blessed in that area and I think they were looking for things like trafficked children, gold bars, bricks of drugs, etc., that could be hidden in my bra. Bilateral mastectomies ended that problem.

He would know if he ever asked for lox and actually received lox that was brined in the high salt solution used for the thick slab of salmon belly from which lox is made, not smoked, and then cooked at the higher temperatures used for the thick slab of the salmon belly.

I don't know if you are aware that Celebrity was originally a Greek cruise line before Royal Caribbean brought the line, Fabulous Greek food was always available in the MDR. The holdover from that time before Royal Caribbean bought the line is the preponderance of Greek officers on board. The food you had in Luminae was probably available in the crew mess that night and was not specially prepared for you.