racephoto

27 minutes ago, happytotravel said:

Thank you Racephoto,

That photo looks very, very tasty.   I haven't sailed on any of the Carnival lines in the past.  I've done the majority on NCL with one Viking river cruise so I'll get my Mariner star on the 2nd cruise.  I think it's always fun to be able to get a little extra if possible.  I've enjoyed those extras on NCL for years.

 

On embarkation day of my first cruise is the Lido the only place for eating or is the MDR also open?

Again, thanks for your response, happytotrave.

 

As far as I know, the MDR is supposed to only be open for the Mariner embarkation lunch. That said, I don't remember anyone checking cards at the door. But this was pre-COVID, and I have only ever been on the Rotterdam VI and the Zaandam.

On 12/9/2023 at 10:23 AM, happytotravel said:

Hi All,

I will be doing a b2b. This will be my first time on HAL.  If I understand correctly my 2nd segment will make me a 1 star Mariner.  Will I be getting the following benefits on my return segment?

• Mariner Society Welcome Onboard Lunch
• A special collectible gift presented to you on board
• "Mariner Cocktail" voucher to be used anytime during the cruise
•  

Thanks, happytotravel

If you have cruised on Princess, Carnival, Cunard, Seabourn, and a few others under the Carnival umbrella, contact the Mariner Society.They will give you one star status on HAL and you will get the gift and lunch and so on on the first leg of your B2B as well as the second. I did it before my first cruise on HAL and I got all the one star Mariner benefits when I boarded. Lots of people pooh-pooh it as not being worth anything, but I enjoyed the embarkation lunch and not having to fight crowds up on the Lido on embarkation day, and the Mariner event during the cruise and I like the tiles. I mean, it's free and easy to do, so why not. Also, when I did my B2B on HAL in 2019, I got a nice plate of chocolates  in my cabin recognizing the fact that I was doing a B2B even though it was separate bookings 

On 3/9/2023 at 9:41 AM, egurbi said:

Thanks Steerage Joe. For those of us coming into CT10 for a day, are there any public transportation options? TIA.

This is the thing I hate most about Port Canaveral. There really needs to be some sort of shuttle out of there, or make it pedestrian friendly to get to the other side. 

On 11/9/2022 at 6:23 PM, Waynetor said:

As others have noted, the refund is mandatory.  This is based on how the cruise line does the faring of the voyage.  Princess and most other cruise line make port fees a separate invoice line item and when this is done the fees must be returned - this also applies if a passenger cancels the voyage beyond all penalty periods. 

Some cruise lines, eg Oceana the fees are built into the cruise fair as a single line item and for missed ports on their voyages they get away with doing no refund. 

Can you point me to where it says this is mandatory? I just got off an NCL cruise that missed a port and they are adamant that they’re not refunding any port charges. I know it’s not a ton of money, but it’s the principle of the thing.

I kind of feel like non-crewmembers shouldn’t be trying to dictate what the crewmembers do. Last month I had to listen to my poor room steward getting a 10 minute harangue in the hallway from some woman who wanted to vent about how horrible it was that he had to wear a mask. And what can the guy even say to that. He’s got to just stand there and nod his head and make non-committal noises whether he agrees or not. He’s not going to argue with a guest, especially about something he has absolutely nothing to do with, and he’s not going to criticize company policy in the middle of a hallway when he has absolutely nothing to do with it. It was just a really cringey situation. I really don’t understand why other people wearing a mask is so troublesome to people that aren’t.

On 11/8/2022 at 3:31 PM, letmego4 said:

Where did you find this?!!!

 

i see it in the promotions on MSC’s travel agent website. It certainly is worth trying, though I suspect it would be a struggle to accomplish. I would include that screenshot in any such request. Just note that it does exclude status matched to Gold or Diamond, so if they match you to gold, you’re not going to get upgraded to diamond. If you match to silver, then you would get the upgrade to gold. 

On 11/13/2022 at 3:52 PM, YVRteacher said:

Hi!  I’m a vegetarian and specifically cruise NCL for their ability to provide amazing vegetarian food.

Your best options include Ocean Blue, Los Lobos, Teppanyaki and Moderno.  At Ocean Blue, the beet salad and the roasted cauliflower are delicious.  The roasted cauliflower takes about 25 minutes to prepare as it is marinated in Moroccan spices and comes topped with roasted nuts, grapes and herbs.  This is my all-time favourite dish on NCL.

At Teppanyaki let them know ahead of time you are a vegetarian.  Your food will be cooked in the back so it is not cooked on the same grill as the meat and seafood and it will not be cooked in lard and chicken fat.  
Most soups on NCL are made using animal products so only eat the soup if there is a plant symbol beside it on the menu.  Every menu in the main dining room will have vegetarian items marked with a 🌱.

Los Lobos is fabulous for vegetarian selections.  Again, let them know ahead of time because  a lot of the dishes that one would assume to be vegetarian contain lard and you will need them to prepare your food without it.  I highly recommend the tableside guacamole, quesadillas, vegetarian tacos, nopales and the beignets for dessert.  Best margaritas on the ship, too!

There is no point using a specialty dining credit at Cagney’s.  I do eat there because the people with whom I travel like it, but I meet with the maître d ahead of time and arrange to go into Moderno and prepare myself a plate of food from the salad bar.  Cagney’s has a tomato and onion salad and some sides that are vegetarian but it won’t be a great meal for you (this is my opinion.). They used to have a tomato soup and grilled cheese appetizer but that changed when the meals were revitalized fleet-wide.

 

For lunch, the Indian food station in the Garden Cafe is excellent.

 

Food Republic would not be worth you using a dining voucher as there are very few vegetarian options.  I tried to adapt there and couldn’t.

Really helpful info here, thank you. 

21 hours ago, freewilly said:

DH sent his request in and was told no as We booked with TA rate.. Should send it in again or is this SOP? When booked with a discounted rate?

According to the fine print here, it’s SOP. I guess it doesn’t hurt anything to try again, I don’t know how consistent they are with it, or if they note your file. I have Carnival stock and it has pretty much the same exclusions. Princess will not give me the OBC when I book an interline rate, but Carnival does.

https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/nclhltd/files/documents/623650_-_NCL_Shareholder_Benefit_Offer.pdf

2 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

Yes, trade confirmation will work. I just sent a transaction record showing the stock puchase on the day I bought it and NCL posted OBC on all my upcoming cruises (have to attach a completed form for each one) within a day.

 

Don't forget to do the same if you have any other NCLH bookings (I also have 2 upcoming Oceania cruises.)

Thanks for this. I just bought NCL stock for an upcoming cruise. Plus I do think it will gain enough in value to be worthwhile.  Do they send you an email when it’s approved or does it just show up somewhere on the website?

On 10/17/2022 at 9:46 AM, Vitamin_Sea said:

can i order more then one app or entree  on MSC?

Yes. As many as you want no charge in the complimentary restaurants. Now, if you’re in a specialty (fee-based) restaurant, you do need to pay for additional dishes. But I believe that’s true with every cruise line these days.

On 10/15/2022 at 8:43 PM, cellfree said:

We did a B2B on Divina a couple weeks ago, process as everyone outlined above. Adding, all of the B2Bers on the Divina were invited to lunch in the dining room as opposed to joining all the new cruisers embarking, it was delightful, had a great luncheon menu, very relaxing. 

We had the lunch today on Meraviglia. It was a very good meal.

I actually hoped this appetizer would be more asparagus than prosciutto but it wasn't.

Catch of the day was swordfish.

Panna cotta

I booked the Oct 13th 10 day sailing 3 days prior to departure while onboard the Meraviglia. When I mentioned that, as a Diamond member, double points didn’t do much for me, he threw in an extra $100 OBC to cover the WiFi. So that was nice. But that’s the only time I’ve gotten anything extra like that. 

20 hours ago, lcpagejr said:

Why would you think OBC is refundable?? Even if misinformed by TA??  Under your thought process...why call it OBC?? Just reduce your cruise fare at booking.  OBC is widely understood to use it or lose it.

Refundable OBC is absolutely a thing. You can get it from your travel agent as a booking incentive, or more commonly when excursions or ports are canceled and the fees are refunded to your onboard account. It generally tells you on your account if it’s refundable or not. Even if it IS refundable, it’s best to withdraw it before the end of the cruise in whatever manner you can. I had $117 from a canceled excursion on a Princess cruise and it took them MONTHS to refund it and they mailed me a check. 

On 10/6/2022 at 2:26 PM, Aeroplex said:

new cruise card 😉 so no one will know. 

 

And did you get that?

I did end up getting the second dinner. I went to the Voyager club rep/future cruise consultant and she told me no, I wouldn’t get it, although she had no documentation to back that up. Guest services had said they didn’t know and told me to ask her. I finally wised up and went to the experts…..the specialty restaurant reservation desk…..at the beginning of the three day cruise and they told me I absolutely did get it and made my reservation for Holas. I’d had Butcher’s Cut on the previous sailing, and since we were in Spain, tapas sounded appropriate. And I wasn’t charged. It’s a really nice benefit, though I *really* wish the Teppanyaki was included as that’s the one I think I’d like the best. 

8 hours ago, Afever said:

 

Is the chocolate buffet listed in the dailies? I will be on the Meraviglia next month and don't want to miss it, if they still have this. It looks yummy!

I didn’t see anything about it in the paper planner or the app. It was just dumb luck that I ended up there at the right time.

On 10/6/2022 at 10:49 AM, slk1000 said:

Thank you!

I walked around back there last night at 9 PM. The show was supposed to start at 8:45 so it should’ve been going on. I didn’t hear anything. I can’t imagine that the hallways are better soundproofed than the cabin…..  There was some noise from the engines or something else, but it’s like white noise and it wouldn’t bother me.

The Grandiosa had a hosted cocktail party with drinks and music for solos, and an unhosted meeting time in the planner every day. On the Meraviglia we never had the cocktail party, but they do have designated unhosted meeting times every day at 5pm in the Champagne bar. They do put solos together at dinner sometimes also. Since MSC often has low or no supplement, there are often a decent number aboard. 

On 10/4/2022 at 3:13 PM, NMsunset said:

 

Was trying to make clear from 5 cruises in the Caribbean this year on MSC, that shorts are allowed...

 

Other posters on this thread and other threads are misleading MSC Caribbean newbies about what the cruise line allows in reality. Some even state that they want other cruisers to conform to their taste in wardrobe.

 

Again, I do not care if tux or t-shirt...not everyone wants to play dress up on  a Caribbean cruise VACATION...and based on my experience and that of many others who have posted...MSC doesn't either! 

 

The post that got you all fired up was about a EUROPEAN cruise, in EUROPE, on Elegant Night. I’m not sure why this is so hard to understand, or why you feel your 5 cruises in the Caribbean has anything to do with the Grandiosa in the Mediterranean. I was also on that ship. This incident did happen. MSC in the US and MSC in Europe are completely different experiences. Crikey.

I boarded in Barcelona on 9/24 using the result from an eMed video supervised test without issue. However, my previous cruise in Northern Europe specifically said antigen self-tests were not allowed so I got an in-person test for that one. The requirement for the one leaving Barcelona did not have that stipulation and the eMed test was accepted. 

I can't remember the last time I saw a chocolate buffet on a cruise ship. It's literally been decades. Man, was it good. Delicious smooth high fat chocolate. Not that gritty stuff that's more gray than brown. I must have eaten a pound of it. I had one piece of cake, the lady behind the counter told me it was basically all chocolate cake with different frostings and decorations so I wanted to save room for the real chocolate. 🙂

2 hours ago, slk1000 said:

I've been assigned cabin 8235 on my upcoming Meraviglia 3 night cruise.  I'm a bit concerned about noise that may come from the Carousel Lounge but with a guaranteed cabin I realize that's the risk I took and I'm hoping it'll be ok.  If anyone has ever stayed in the rear side facing balcony cabins please let me know if noise was a real issue.  I think I've read that the elevators at the back of the ship are for crew only.  Does anyone know if there are stairs passengers can use or would we need to walk to mid-ship for stairs/elevators?  I appreciate any thoughts.  Thank you!

 

I’m on the ship currently. I’ll try to remember to walk back there the next time they have a show. I don’t believe there are any stairs back there. The elevators are def crew only. 

When I made a category change on one of my cruises they did the exact same thing and it sent me into a panic also. But my travel agent said I had the promo, which in my case was the $500 OBC, and all was fine when I got on board. When you get your eTicket those things should be on separate pages in it so you can print them and take them with you. Definitely do that if you can, I prepurchased the Wi-Fi package, and for whatever reason it didn’t make it to the ship, so I was glad I had a slip of paper showing that I had it. The only way they had to fix it was to buy it again and then they credited me back. 

Gotta say, the tuna in Ocean Cay restaurant tonight was fantastic. Definitely the best thing I’ve ever eaten on MSC. Sadly, the crab cake was a big disappointment, and the cheesecake was frozen solid. I did have them give me a thawed out one. Gritty cheesecake is no-go. Second fave was the patatas brava I got from the buffet on my first MSC cruise. Wish they had those again. 

Interestingly, here on the Mera they did it differently. They took that area and made it a weird little window area. I walked by it soon after boarding and was trying to figure out what the purpose of it was. But then I kind of forgot about it until this thread. I went back today to look at it again. But anyway, maybe this picture will help you visualize the balcony depth. I probably also would book it if it was available and take a big blanket. 🙂 I’d still be worried about noise from that stairway door tho. (This was the starboard side between 8104 and 8106. I’m in 8148 here and was in 8168 on the Grandiosa)

18 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

Hello there,

We are on the Meraviglia too right now - our first MSC, We boarded in Marseille after flying from Istanbul after B2B on Windstar Legend.

LOVING the international vibe.

Nice!! Yeah, I'm enjoying it too.  It's definitely a nice blend of MSC's European style and the styles of American Cruise lines. I'm really looking forward to Madeira. I loved the Azores and I'm hoping I will love Madeira as much. Can't wait to see how much storm dodging we'll have to do on the crossing!