Essiesmom

Well, I played well today. I booked the Valiant Lady five day July 14-19. Get off Valiant Lady, travel down the pier and board Magnifica for 3 days. Below the Salt on both…tiny solo inside on Lady, Fantastica inside on Magnifica. I’m sailing for the ships, ports don’t matter. Next two cruises after these are on Carnival. EM

Where does one find a link to the status match? I bit the bullet and booked on Valiant Lady for July…. EM

I am considering a cruise on VV and would like to know generally how people dress onboard…other than theme parties? I’m a casual, coordinated person but I do like to dress up on occasion. EM

Are you trying to book solo? On many attempts it is suddenly sold out when you reduce it to one guest. EM

Not any more. There used to be 1-2 day cruises to nowhere, booze cruises…but CBP ruled that on that type of voyage the crew were actually working in/from the US and would need a different (harder to get) visa. So the CTN went away. I think at least ten years ago. That said, you can find long cruises without intermediate ports. Not on the mass market lines, and not closed loop. The Cunard crossings are such. We were booked on one on Windstar from Costa Rica to Tahiti, 15 days. But Covid cancelled it. I have seen cruises on other smaller lines from Colon, Panama to the US East coast with no stops. They are out there, but not for the budget cruiser. EM

And both would have to have passports. Carnival (and other lines) used to allow this, but they stopped routinely approving it because is make the cruise no longer a closed loop for everyone onboard, extra paperwork, longer CBP clearance for everyone on return. EM

I need a very soft bed and the first time I asked my steward for an egg crate all she did was put an extra mattress pad on the bed. Not a solution. Next cruise I explained to the steward that I needed a foam egg crate pad. He put one on, though I think he put it on upside down, with the flat side up. But it was certainly better, but not perfect. EM

This is true, but the longer cruises can go further afield, whereas the very short cruises stay close to home. You will get tired of Nassau, Freeport, Princess Cays, Bimini… EM

The peacocks have always been there…. EM

Short cruises are notable for being party cruises. The shorter one will be more frantic, people trying to cram as much ‘fun’ into three days as possible. The 5 day is still short, a party cruise, but not as frantic. If the 3 day is over a weekend, it may be a booze cruise. People have to take more time off to do a five day…EM

Unless the menu is every bar is the same, that would be hard to do. EM

So final payment has not yet been made. How are you doing it? Can you do it online, or do you have to do it through the TA? Or is the TA going to do it automatically when it is due? If so, then the TA has the credit card number and could access it to charge the cancellation fee. Do you have more than one credit card? If so, and you can make the payment online, or even on the phone with Princess, I would do so with a card different from the one you used for the deposits. Then I would temporarily lock the card that you used for the deposit so the TA can’t charge you the fee. I think the TA should have noticed when you booked that you had double booked two cabins and straightened it out then. EM

Probably not noisy at all. Being above a venue is not usually a problem unless it is a musical venue. EM

There is a modest roll call for this cruise. First one on the Pride roll call page. EM

Absolutely. But someone reported a somewhat convoluted method to beat the system. They rescheduled the cruise forward for the time required, but in a non-YC cabin. They then cancelled that cruise for a refund. EM

I thought you left the eavesdropping to your DW…. EM

You need to go to cruisedeckplans.com and use the drag deck feature to get an idea of what is above that cabin. It appears to be under the serving area of the aft section of the buffet, no scraping of chairs. Are there more than two of you in that cabin? It’s a quad cabin with bunks on the side walls. EM

As the above poster asked…did you make final payment on all 7 cabins? When did you discover your mistake? If you paid for all of the cabins, and are past final payment, you are not going to get much if anything back if you cancel on a cruise that sails in June. Might as well just check in and spread out! EM

Yes, you can apply now. Both of you should apply as you have different accounts/numbers. EM

MExico itineraries don’t vary much, not many choices. EM

Back when cabins still had real keys…. EM

One other thing when assembling your wardrobe: every MSC cruise has a White Night, where everyone is encouraged to wear something white. It does not need to be fancy, you will see everything from white shorts with a tshirt, to fancy white dresses. Some people have a lot of ‘fun’ with it. Last year on Seaside I positioned myself for good people watching, and saw a woman wearing something like a white leotard, and over it she had a transparent white netting/tulle gathered floor length skirt. Another was a group of ladies all in white, though not identical outfits. But each one was wearing a pixie cut wig in different neon colors…pink, yellow, green, blue, etc. they appeared to be having a lot of fun. I splurge and buy the basic Wi-Fi for two devices, using my iPhone and iPad mini. I think you can use the MSC for Me app without being connected to WiFi. I prefer to take the iPad to the MDR as reading the menu is easier on the larger device. EM

Welcome to Cruise Critic. When you enter the terminal there will be a sign for Diamond and Aurea. Follow the signs or ask. There is a separate checkin line upstairs. Once on the ship, go to your cabin and drop off your carryon bags. Then go and explore the ship. I suggest you go to cruisedeckplans.com and creat a pdf of the public decks, print it off in color. It’s always a good idea to have a visual of where things are. The buffet will be open for lunch and will probably be crowded until they announce cabins are open. (When you drop off your luggage, don’t stay…). The pools will probably be open. On the Gala nights, do not stress about clothing. Long pants and a collared shirt is all that is necessary, but many will dress up more, especially the ladies, in particular those from Europe. And there will be a lot of European guests onboard. They tend to dress with more care, even during the day…if you like to dress up, by all means do so. I did this itinerary on Seashore in Dec. and did a Live from thread. I will be repeating it on the June 23 sailing and again doing a Live from. Pictures of the ship, menus…sometimes activity sheets. I have been to these ports many times so I don’t do excursions. I can’t help you with the Spa, but I’m sure someone will be along to help you out. Don’t try to do everything. A vacation should be relaxing…. EM

If that’s the Coast Guard they won’t be charged. Part of their mission. EM

If you book over the phone you can prepay them. O way to do that after you book, but I suppose you could call and have it added. EM