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1 hour ago, Ottawa_Cruiser said:

Hi! iMessage worked without issue without the wifi plan on both my April 2023 and December 2023 sailings.

 

Where are you looking to sail from? I have sailed out on NYC twice and we have just booked on the MSC Virtuosa for May 18, sailing out of Southampton. We were pretty loyal to NCL previous to this. Go in with an open mind. If sailing out of NYC, it can be challenging with a certain type of passenger group who don't understand North American etiquette. I have heard sailings are better from Florida.

 

In my opinion, you can't beat the cost of MSC in terms of what you get. Is it as good as NCL? No, not to me...but for $500-$700 less per passenger per cruise, I'm not going to complain! 😜

We are planning on a shorter Florida cruise to see if we like things before making a bigger commitment. Probably the Magnifica for 3 or 4 days. 
 

We also like NCL, but can’t ignore the price difference so giving it a shot. 

I’ve been on many cruises and now want to try MSC. 

One specific question: does iMessage work without the WiFi plan?

Also looking for advice and recommendations from past travelers. 

Would like to hear about experiences with the new Wheel of Fortune game show. Is it worth buying cards?

5 hours ago, Tennistrish said:

So this was in January of 2024 that it worked?  I just called and they were cryptic and said check in is at 3 pm and that is all they can say.   (Hopefully I am replying to this thread correctly.  Did not see reply but “quote”

Yes. It worked with no issue last month. Try booking a cancellable room and then you can cancel if it doesn’t work for some reason. 

11 hours ago, loriepta said:

Did this cost include the resort fee also or just taxes?

This was the taxes and the hotel service charge in total. 

44 minutes ago, benel204 said:

Thanks for this information. Do you know: can the 100 shares be in a mutual fund or ETF?

It states you have to own the shares of NCLH. If they’re in a fund, I don’t know how you’d prove ownership of a specific number is shares. 

If you’re new to NCL, you might consider getting 100 shares of stock. If you’re taking a long cruise like this, you’d get $250 in onboard credit just for being a shareholder. That can cover some of your meals. 
 

https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits/shareholder-benefit-faqs

On 1/18/2024 at 5:22 AM, StevenMA said:

Thank you so much for your input!

How’d it go for you?

2 hours ago, Mediterranean_Honeymooner said:

Thank you!  How was the walk?  Where do you go when you arrive?  Any advice overall? (Doing this same thing in a few days.)

Just go to the front desk. They will direct you to a hallway and when you exit, you’re basically at Atlantis. In there, walk through the casino to the front desk area and downstairs to the desk for your wristbands. Only advice is to go early, best to get off the ship quickly so you can maximize your time at the hotel. 

1 hour ago, Mediterranean_Honeymooner said:

Did you have any trouble with getting the vouchers from Comfort Suites when you arrived (instead of having to wait until 3 pm like some have been saying they were told)?

No trouble at all. There was another family doing the pre-checkin at the same time. Literally checked in and out at the same time, got the passes and walked to Atlantis. 

It was $102 in total taxes for 2 people last week. 

For anyone still doubting, this worked great for us last week. Real easy to get a taxi to the hotel, do the pre-checkin and check out at the same time. Quick walk to the Atlantis for wristbands and then enjoying the water park. 
 

One word of caution, some of the rides were malfunctioning during our visit and had to be closed for short periods. They all reopened, but there was uncertainty about how long the repair would take and customer service was minimal. 

What time will they let you “check in”? Did you book the hotel for the night you’re in port or the night before? 

On 11/9/2023 at 9:53 AM, RandomUser123 said:

I will be in Bermuda on MSC Meraviglia cruise next week. We arrive in Bermuda Wed Nov 15 9AM and depart Fri Nov 17 at 3PM. I was looking to do Horseshoe Bay on Thurs Nov 16. Will the chair/umbrella rental facilities be open and bathrooms open as well. I am seeing mixed results where some say yes and some say no. 

Can you share how it was and what was open when you went? Also, how was the water for swimming/snorkeling? 

They do list biosteel as an option on the FAS+ menu 

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/790164-BEV_Package_Flyer_UOBP_PPBP Update_V7_no_crops.pdf

I have not been on the Epic in a while though. 

We were on the Jade last month. All the shows were great, lots of variety. Times depended on the port but generally 730 and between 9-930 for the second show. No comedians since it’s an international crowd and comedy tends to be different based on nationality (per our cruise director Victor) 

NCL may not have different prices in their “sales” but travel agencies offer promotions around holidays and events (like Wave season.) You can get additional offers like gratuities and onboard credit by timing a purchase during one of those. 

The app was pretty inconsistent onboard our cruise last week too. It logged me out a number of times. That combined with the Wi-Fi made for some true connection issues, but not enough to impact my trip. 

Yes. It’s frustrating but they limit use of OBC to purchases only after you board. I’ve heard of others book an excursion beforehand and then cancel/rebook when on the ship, but that may not always work. 

How full is the ship this week?

Thanks all for the info. Anybody play 3 card poker?

6 hours ago, dgene84 said:

Blackjack tables are:

• Three $6 tables with 6 to 5 payout
• One $6 table with 2 to 3 payout
• Two $25 tables with 2 to 3 payout

Do you mean 3 to 2?

For any recent cruisers, especially on Celebration or Mardi Gras, what are the table minimums in the casino? I play blackjack and 3 card poker mostly. 

40 minutes ago, MarkusToe said:

1110AM still on ship

What’s going on? Everything okay?

We were on the Bliss that week in 2020, which sailed from NY right before COVID shutdown. It was a lot of families, which was fine. However, I want to share that the ship was 108% capacity that week due to all those families taking advantage of a winter break week off of schools in the North East. That made it harder to do activities onboard and get reservations for specialty restaurants/go karts.