kelleherdl

Extracted from MSC Cruises USA website. 16 Nov 6pm EST. CRUISE WITH CONFIDENCE The relaxation of global travel requirements and our health and safety protocols now make it even easier for more guests to sail with us.Vaccination & Testing Requirements: For Guests Sailing From U.S. Ports: Vaccination and pre-cruise testing are recommended, but not required, on most cruises. For guests sailing from a U.S. port with stops in Cartagena (Colombia): Vaccination is recommended but not required. Vaccinated guests must show proof of vaccination at embarkation and are recommended but not required to test for COVID-19 prior to their vacation. Unvaccinated guests ages 5 years old or older are required to submit a negative test at embarkation.

We paid the driver at the end of the day plus tip.

MSC Divina repo cruise, Oct 2022. We did an independent tour with a taxi driver at the taxi stand outside the cruise terminal. We let the taxi stand marshall know we wanted a 4 hour tour of all the major sites. He quoted $100 for a complete tour (2 of us). He pulled one of the senior taxi drivers out of the line and we went off. Our tour included the Monastery, the fort, Old Town and the old wharf area. We wanted to see the cathedral, but it was closed for an event. He knew the city very well. He was clearly one of the senior drivers as all the other drivers knew him. Sorry, I can’t find his card. We had done Cartagena once before, but this time we wanted a more inclusive tour. We told the driver we did not want a shopping stop, so we didn’t waste any time there. We much more enjoyed this visit around town and glad we went with the ‘private’ taxi tour. side note. There had been a lot of rain overnight and several of the streets were flooded. Took a driver with excellent knowledge of the city to get around. Be patient, traffic in Cartagena is very rough, particularly getting out of the port area. Dennis

Well that’s great to know. It must have changed.

Unless things have changed in the last few months Hola is a contracted speciality restaurant and not included in the Diamond selection.

Please be patient with the terminal check-in agent. I understand there are a few extra steps for guests with birth certificates. Not a big deal, but it does take a little more time as birth certificates can’t be scanned in like passports. A little trick I learned from another guest which may work for you. It is possible to enter any Id number into the spaces for the birth certificate guests. This will allow you to get past those steps to complete online check-in. The numbers that are needed must be manually entered by the check-in agent at the port anyway. Obviously, this only applies for US closed-loop cruises which permit US citizens to travel with birth certificates. Enjoy the cruise.

Yes they can. It will likely be a private car service. Unlikely that they will book a taxi. Our van from Kiel back to Hamburg was even charged to the onboard account. Very convenient. It will cost more than standing in the port taxi line though. Dennis

MSC sailings have ‘priority’ over NCL cruises at Terminal 10. When there is a conflict the NCL ships will be at another terminal, generally Terminal 6. I use the term priority in parentheses because I have no knowledge of any legal or official designation.

It does, but it is more complicated. The US Consulate or Embassy in that country will need to get involved. When the Norwegian Getaway went aground in the Dominican Republic and all the passengers needed to be repatriated to the US it was a lot of extra work. Please, US citizens, get a passport.

Let’s let them fight over Haven and Retreat and keep Yacht Club to ourselves. 😀

That is because the uploaded one likely was acceptable. Most are not. The check in agents are trained, or supposed to be, on what is an acceptable security photo. When in doubt, they are instructed to take a new one.

You will have no problem at Port Canaveral with a printed lab report from any certified testing laboratory, whether lab conducted or home proctored. This means a lab report that has the lab name and certification, your name, test procedure used, date of sample, and result. I know personally the eMed reports have all the info, just like a Walgreens or CVS report.

Our 4-night MSC Divina cruise over Hurricane Ian became a 6-nighter, with a new port of Puerta Plata. No cruise fare charge, no new port fee, and no extra two days of hotel service charge. Truly, two free extra nights. Every cruise line can chose their own policy. There were no complaints among our large group of guests, but I am certain there were some on the ship.

Yes. Birth certificate must be the ‘official’ government-issued birth certificate. ‘Hospital’ birth certificates and baptismal certificates DO NOT count.

Ah….. that’s a horse of a different color. Most Americans do not know what an enhanced driver’s license is. Only 5 states that border Canada offer this type of driver’s license. It is NOT a driver’s license that has a star. Those starred licenses are called ‘real Id’ licenses. To get an enhanced driver’s license US citizens in those five states must present all the types of documents needed for a passport. An enhanced driver’s license has ENHANCED DRIVER LICENSE in bold type on the front of the license. US citizens can indeed travel with this type of license alone.

A state driver’s license is NOT proof of US citizenship. For US citizens, a certified US birth certificate, or a few other document types like Naturalization Certificate, along with a government-issued picture id is the minimum travel document required to sail on a closed-loop cruise from a US port.

Passport scan at check-in will catch that and that should correct it.

You should be able log onto your MSC account, navigate to manage your booking, and check on items ‘already purchased.’ Dennis

In Topsail, like the High Tea service. btw. Booked the 14-day out of Barbados in Feb 24. Dennis

Another consideration is that within the YC you are more likely to see the YC Director authorize the bartender to serve drinks that may go above the set limit. On Caribbean sailing the YC’s are now instituting rum tastings in the afternoon. There will likely be some pricey bottles tested. Don’t forget that there will always be a real champagne available in the Topsail or One Bar. No need to settle for the Prosecco if you would prefer champagne.

This is an interesting question. Now that the 5-ship mix in US will include a Pre-YC ship, first one Magnifica. What will happen with Ocean House and the Yacht Club Beach, when they visit Ocean Cay. With that whole area staffed by YC from the ship, will it just not be used? We currently only sail YC ships, we might consider a 3 or 4 day Aurea on Magnifica if the Ocean Cay experience were upgraded. On second thought, nah!!! 😀

I along with many here on the MSC forum are HAL veterans. We are 4-Star, but some here are higher. We started sailing HAL in our late 50’s, cruises in Caribbean, Alaska, and Mediterranean. We started sailing MSC about 5 years ago, now 70. We have 11 MSC cruises under our belt so far, Caribbean and Northern Europe. We almost always sailed Neptune Suites on HAL, with a couple of upgrades to the Pinnacle Suites. We always sprung for a cabana in the Retreat. So you can say we did generally sail on the higher end of HAL’s product. On MSC we always sail in the Yacht Club, for the service, amenities and dollar value. Comparing the two right now for us is a no brainer. With anything close to a comparable itinerary it’s MSC all the way. We just completed the 12-night Southern Caribbean on MSC Divina, an itinerary comparable to HAL’s partial Canal; which we have sailed. The Yacht Club experience on MSC won hands down. HAL has just not kept up with the cruise line trends in offering a truly higher end sailing experience, like the Yacht Club on MSC. That said, I am happy that my 4-Star Mariner status never expires, because there are a couple of itineraries that I still want to sail on HAL. Dennis

If you have your cruise documents/tickets you already accepted the passage contract. It was a tick box in the online check-in. Generally, the only folks that need to sign the passage contract in the terminal are those who booked too late to complete online check-in or simply did not fully complete the online check-in.

You can drop your bags at the tent with the porters/port staff and then go park your car. Return to the tent and proceed inside the terminal. Just tell the person at the tent you are going to park your car. No problem. Dennis

This totally depends on the ship. The Fantasia class ships do not have cushions on the YC loungers. They have the woven ‘rattan’ type. Perfectly fine. Sorry, I don’t know which ship was in the the referenced video. Dennis