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It will be interesting to learn what the plan is, hopefully there will be an announcement soon. 

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

Docking on a Honduran island as a substitute on a 7 day western Caribbean cruise makes sense but it makes no sense as a substitute for a 7 day eastern Caribbean cruise.  I wonder what will be the substitute for those cruises. 

Looks like Freeport. Someone else just confirmed it. 
 

23 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park.  The island is perfect the way it is.

Completely agree. I love OC because it’s not like the other cruise line’s islands. 

9 minutes ago, Glitchlo said:

we are suppose to be there April 10 or 11 but have received nothing to indicate an itinerary change (coming from NY)

That’s what people are saying on this other site, that’s why I asked him to post a pic of the email. I then realized he didn’t book on the US site so maybe that’s the difference. 
Maybe the MSCUSA side of the company hasn’t caught up yet. 

This same person posted a screen shot of the email but it’s not in English 

18 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

This seems very odd to me.  I can't image what they would be doing to close the island for that long.

Only thing I thought of was maybe they’re finally going to work on the channel to accommodate the new “World” ship? 
 

On 6/20/2023 at 11:50 AM, 20165 said:

Im going to keep this ‘relatively' short because most of you read some of my rants on Morpheusofthesea’s post last week so you have a gist of how I feel about this cruisline…

Quick background, 5 family members traveling in 3 cabins. 14141, 14139, 14133  We booked this cruise last minute, about 2 months ago, due to the fact that we were worried about not having one of our passports in time and we could use a birth cert for a cruise.  We, hubby and wife, have about 30 cruises under our belt from pretty much all of the cruise lines, kids have about 10ish.  Loved RCL when the kids were smaller, but have been doing more Celebrity lately now that they are late teens/early 20s.  We live in NC, but grew up in FL hence the reason we have rack up so many cruises early on.  

The good

• Beautiful new ship with lots to do
• Service staff was very good.  Cabin steward and MDR waiters were excellent.  Bar staff was good once they knew you were tipping.  
• We did the Mexican, Sushi, and Seafood restaurants and they were all very good. 

The not so good

• Embarkation was a not good.  Partly because they seemed a bit unorganized, especially once you had your ship card and are waiting upstairs to get on. People pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line. 
• We booked 1 minor in a cabin and that did not work well at all.  We couldn’t see anything on his account, he couldn’t make show reservations, card didn’t work in the arcade etc.  This was more on us the MSC. We knew it would be a challenge doing this, but when we talked to guest services about getting some of it resolved, it all became our fault even though MSC allowed us to book that way.  
• Loud music at the pools.  People brought their own speakers and started doing karaoke.  Im not even kidding…
• I didn’t think the buffet was bad, but it was packed every day to the point where people were just getting nasty with each other.  Grabbing food with their hands, kids running everywhere, nowhere to sit.   

The ugly

• It’s hard to describe the mix of people, but it wasn’t good.  Extremely rude, witnessed people shoving others out of their way in the halls/elevators and buffet.  I used the word ‘thuggish’ on of the other posts and that wasn’t an exaggeration.  There were some pretty rough looking people on that ship that I would not feel comfortable letting smaller kids out of my sight around. 
• No end of the cruise statement so I have no idea if our charges are correct.  There are 22 separate charges on my AMEX throughout the week.  I did deny all of them so let MSC explain them to AMEX.  Amex thought my card was stolen there were so many charges…
• Disembarkation was also bad.  The room with our son it it apparently had a $106 balance on it even through they had my credit card on file for it and had been charging it all week.  They couldn’t tell me what the charge was for, but would not allow us off the ship unless we paid cash.  I finally convinced them that I didn’t have the cash and they let me put it on my credit card which I promptly disputed once we got off the ship.  

Bottom line, this is a carnival type of cruise on a nicer ship in our opinion. If you get a heck of a deal on a cabin, give it a try, but if the costs is close to RCL, NCL, Etc, I would avoid this line like the plague.  I know YC would have made this cruise better for us, but I also don’t like to be confined to one area of the ship, especially a ship that had a lot to offer.  We have done haven and retreat and didn’t stay exclusively in those areas, but if we were in YC, I’m sure we would have never left that area.  Just a bad vibe with the masses on that ship.

Happy to answer any specific questions anyone has.  

Had the same experience on Divina in January. 

On our cruise the passenger’s poor behavior and downright rudeness made the party crowd on Carnival look like rookies.
 

MSC seems to be attracting these folks in droves. I’m reading this daily on other social media sites. 

 

It’s been 6 months and my husband still won’t even entertain the thought of giving MSC out of the US another try. (It was our third MSC cruise and the first two were excellent.)

Has anyone received an email from MSC about this?

2 hours ago, Mistizoom said:

Could you provide an update on suite/Haven boarding in Boston this year? I just realized I can pick my check-in time tomorrow. I'll be staying at at hotel near the port, not driving in. Thanks!

Sure, I can’t speak to what happened later in the day but for us it was a great experience.

Our check in time was between 10:30-11:00 and we were on board before 11:30. 
It was so much better than last year, much more organized. 
 

Haven and Suite pax boarded first. 

On 6/1/2023 at 3:35 AM, sealynx said:

Because several other cruise lines don't. NCL recently put them on the prohibited items list.

I’ve cruised NCL since they put fans on the prohibited list but my USB powered fan was allowed. 

19 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I've been in the same camp.  My second to last time at Teppanyaki was over a year ago.  The "steak" was not great.  I wasn't planning to return except on on the Bliss two weeks ago we attended the Atrium Tappanyaki chef show in the morning and couldn't resist.  Since I had a bad steak experience (or two), I just ordered the shrimp and chicken.  Both were delicious!!  Now if we can just figure out how to get them to return some more flavor/garlic to the fried rice, we'll be good to go.😎

You would have loved our fried rice at Tappanyaki on Pearl last month! Our chef was awesome and everything was delicious!

Here’s a video of him starting the rice and adding a LOT of garlic!

Yesterday I read a thread on here  from someone cruising NCL and there were signs that alcohol wouldn’t be served while in Southhampton because of local laws. 
It sounds like it’s not just Southhampton after reading your review. 
We don’t buy the drink package as we’re not huge drinkers but we do enjoy getting a drink when we board with our lunch. 
Will have to scratch NCL for our 2024 European cruise as I’m not seeing this mentioned on other line’s boards. 
 

Is this exclusive to NCL and them not wanting to pay a tax?  Seems they could just pass the tax on to the consumer instead of just forgoing it altogether. 
 

Sorry to hear you were disappointed. We’ve enjoyed the food on our last two Pearl cruises. 

15 hours ago, JCMass. said:

I am not sure how people define a show, but Throwback 1969 had costumes, music, lights, and dancing to me that is a show.  The Cabaret night the four singers had on fancy clothes and sang as a group, duets and solo's and there was lights and music to me that is a show.  The theater was being used by the comedian that night.  If you get another chance see them you won't be sorry

I think when someone says “show” we’re talking about the entertainment in the Stardust Theater. 
On our sailing this year it was a little lacking. 
Spinnaker on our sailing did game shows and the Glow Party and a lot of Funky Roots band nights.

That was only the second sailing so it sounds like they’re adding more variety in the Spinnaker which is good   

17 hours ago, JCMass. said:

"NCL Pearl out of Bermuda this year, have the shows changed, who is the Cruise Director, please share. "   

 

I wrote this to start this thread, and got some great answers but now that we are back from the cruise on the Pearl ourselves,  I will add to it for others with some of the information I now have first hand.

 

I never saw the Captain, and never heard a report from the bridge and he was not mentioned in the list of officers.  We were in an aft suite on the first day were sent some treats with a card that said compliments of Johan Stofling Captain.  He kept a low profile that's for sure, we are used to seeing the Captain around the ship, but not this time. 

 

The Cruise Director was Carol Stanley who we never saw in person either.  He assistant always did the introductions at the show in the theater. 

 

We took this cruise last year too, and the shows were the same as last year.  But unlike some other's who said there were few shows there were quite a few.  The comedian was Andrew Kennedy, he did a family friendly show on day one and an adult show on day 6, we did not see his show.  The production show "Pure Variety"   was cancelled due to heavy seas on the day 2, and it was just skipped.  Often they find another night to have the production shows, not this time.  Day 3 and 5 was vocalist Alex Yost we saw both shows.  He had a wonderful voice and sang a range of songs for different era's, but his stage presence was very frenetic.  Day 4 was "Throwback" 1969", we did not see it this time but last year it was our favorite show, don't miss it and the music, clothes and fun of the 60's.  On Day 6 we saw "Broadway Cabaret" with the Pearl Vocalists, the Spinaker Lounge was packed it was excellent, songs of Broadway in the 1980's.  Day 7 was "Legends in Concert"  we saw this last year also, very energetic lots of singing and dancing with impersonators of Elvis, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson.  

 

We had a great time !

 

Any guess as to why the Captain appears to be AWOL?
 

Last year they were still keeping the officers away from the general population because of Covid but at least we heard announcements from him and his name was listed on the program. 
 

This year nothing. 

14 minutes ago, JCMass. said:

Thanks, we have been on the Gem a sister ship of the Pearl.   This Jewel class is our favorite. 

Ours too! We were considering driving to NY next year for our Bermuda cruise as we’ve been on Pearl twice but now I’m looking forward to trying Gem from Boston. 

16 minutes ago, JCMass. said:

What ship is coming next year ?  

Gem

1 minute ago, 1kaper said:

 

I just got off a cruise and can say this is the worst behaviour I’ve seen. 
The elevators were a complete disaster. You often had to wait for the 3rd or 4th elevator and so many just jumped on despite others waiting before them. 
There was a long, long line to enter the dining room that moved slowly. A whole family cut in line in front of my niece. The people in front of them pointed out twice that the line started way behind. They just laughed. My niece said something about it and the response was “you must be some hungry to care”. 
someone described the south beach pool on seaday as “jersey shore” (as in the show). 
This was just a few things. 
I’ve only ever sailed MSC and Carnival.  I hear a lot about bad behaviour on carnival but I haven’t seen much bad behaviour there. the worst I’ve seen was this cruise. Granted it was a 4 night which I know tend to be a little more rowdy. 

I don’t understand why this is becoming common ground on their ships. 
I agree…we’ve sailed Carnival many many times in the past when our kids were young and while there were some party-ers who drank too much it was nothing compared to the rude jerks on our cruise. On Carnival they were the minority on Divina they were the majority and it wasn’t fun. 

 

It’s a real shame that adults act like this. 

41 minutes ago, KKB said:

It is quite as bad on this Europe sailing…but still worse than other lines I’ve sailed from US

Ugh I’m sorry to hear this. What is happening? 
Just came back from NCL to Bermuda a few weeks ago and saw none of that…and we had a sold out ship during school vacation. I don’t get it. 

Having said that one week on NCL was more $$ than our 2 weeks on MSC and we did not have the drink package on NCL. 

24 minutes ago, 20165 said:

Would you say this is because of non US passengers or the low price that MSC has been offering has been attracting more first time cruisers?

I really think it was the super low pricing which included the all in alcohol.  What we paid for 2 weeks all in was half the price of other lines we looked at. 

2 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

it's in the Ts&Cs fine print. I don't know when these rules went into the effect.

I’m glad to know this going forward. Thank you!

20 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

no, they don't. The free at sea open bar service charge does not apply to the 3rd or 4th person if they are under 21, and they don't get a soda package either. I am currently booking a cruise for the 3 of us, and the moment I enter my kid's age, the service charge for the 3rd open bar package is taken out and the total charge becomes $305 instead of $457. I thought that he'd get a soda package instead, but then I read the Ts&Cs and turns out, he doesn't.

Our Pearl cruise last month with our 9 yr old grandson “Free at Sea” for 3 of us was $457 more when the drink package was chosen as one of the perks. 
 

When I questioned the TA he priced it out without our grandson and it went down to around $314 I can’t remember the exact amount. 
 
TA checked with NCL and was told child would get the non alcoholic or whatever they call it package if we chose drinks as one of our “free at sea” perks. 

NCL rep told TA we couldn’t choose it for just the 1st and 2nd person that all 3 of us would be charged accordingly. 

We ended up not getting the drink package at all as we had a lot of OBC from TA and knew we wouldn’t drink $457 worth of beverages. 
I’m glad we went that route as our bill at the end was only for the balance of my grandson’s service charge as ours was paid by TA. 

Have things changed since last month or did we just get an I’ll informed NCL rep?

4 minutes ago, mawvkysc said:

Just off the ship.
 

First night was a comedian that was family friendly and they introduced the officers related to hotel/food and beverage. It was good! (There will be a different Comedian this coming week) 

 

2nd night. Pure Variety production show. It was canceled due to rough seas. Would’ve been nice if the made it up as a matinee on our  second sea day or during night 4

 

3rd night. A guest singer. The show band is very good. I enjoyed this show. I’m sure the guest acts change. Something besides just singing would be nice. See below. 
 

4th night A movie. What?? It was Marry Me a somewhat newer movie

 

5th night The same guest singer. A different show, but we didn’t attend. 
 

6th night. Same comedian but a PG13 and later an R show. We didn’t attend. 
 

7th night Legends in Concert production show. Again the band was great. Like someone mentioned above it was a “good” show mainly because of the crowds energy. I have to say the choreography was better than my last MSC cruise. 
 

Around the ship was mainly singers.

 

The piano player Ricardo was an enjoyable pianist but not a great singer. Wish they just had him play music. It would’ve been relaxing and a change from the other singing. 
 

Seaside Duo has an energetic female singer. 
 

There was a guitar player who sang. Wish he did more acoustic than electric. 
 

Funky Roots was more of a Caribbean sound band. 

 

A few times they had a horns duo. They seemed nervous and uncomfortable with the music. Maybe they were filling in. They are part of the show band 
 

We found all of the singers hard to hear when they were talking between the songs. The mics kind of muffled their voices. 

Overall it was underwhelming, and it was almost all singing. More variety would’ve been nice. I expected a smaller ship would offer less, but there is room for improvement. 

 

 

 

Your entertainment was pretty much the same as ours. 
I am anxious to see what will happen next year when a different ship will be doing the Boston to Bermuda schedule. 
 

I think because Pearl is used for music charters all winter they tend to bring on some of the same entertainment every year. 
We saw Seaside Duo, Funky Roots and Legends on Pearl to Bermuda in 2022 so it was all very repetitive for us this time. 

On 5/1/2023 at 11:22 AM, KKB said:

None of those things were deal breakers.

And the lack of common courtesy by far too many passengers COULD be in the future, if it is truly a pattern. But I try not to judge based on one experience--could be situational.

3 weeks coming up on the Preziosa in Europe--guess I'll know by the end of the month!

(then again comparing Caribbean to Europe cruises...not quite the same either, is it?)

The lack of common courtesy from many passengers is the main reason I cannot get my husband to book another MSC cruise from the US. 
He is open to booking another one from Europe though as our experience was very different so I’m currently searching for something before he changes his mind. 
Unfortunately I’m reading daily negatives about passenger behavior (especially out of Miami) on other sites.😏

On 4/30/2023 at 9:31 PM, JamieLogical said:

 

I was able to pre-buy the Carousel Lounge show online in the "Specialty Dining" area of the website for my booking. I wasn't able to pick a day/time for the show until I was onboard and I had to go to the specialty dining reservation desk (inside the Ocean Cay restaurant) to do that on embarkation day.

 

Hot-spotting is not possible on all phones. I specifically have a Google Pixel 5, so I know it is possible on my phone and some other android phones. It is not possible on an iPhone.

We use our iPhones for hotspot all the time. 

9 hours ago, n2hu said:

Just wondering if you were ever able to upgrade and if so how much the cost was? Thanks. 

Hi,

Thank you for reminding me to update I completely forgot I’m sorry about that.

After researching our options we ended up using the cruise plan through our cell service provider. It was $100 for a month and Divina was included in their list of 175 cruise ships. 
It was much less expensive doing it this way for the 14 day cruise and it worked pretty well. 
We have AT&T

@Barb Nahoumi
List of officers on this program but no mention of the Captain.
 

I honestly couldn’t tell you who he is or if we even had a captain. lol (just kidding I know there had to be one) 😊