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90% of pax on our sailing were non US citizens. Supposedly that is the reason why immigration is taking so long. Not sure I’m buying that. We haven’t moved in 30 min. An older gentleman who works for the port just told us that every person is being searched. They are doing a full inspection. Every article every bag everything is being physically searched.

People are losing patience up here.

B2B and we’re still in line for immigration. Horribly disorganized. No. We’re waiting in the hallway of the terminal. 44 of us need to go to immigration. Will never do a B2B on MSC again. This is by far the most disorganized mess we’ve ever seen. The word is it’s because there were so many non US citizens

12:30 B2B pax finally lined up for immigration Lots of missing pax on board that are being paged for immigration. Yikes

Yes lots of folks still on board…we are supposed to report at 11:45 to clear immigration but it’s been delayed as well Immigration just stopped disembarkation once again. (currently 11:50 am)

You’re very welcome!

Completely agree. I will try to avoid Miami in the future. It is now 11 am and they just started debarkation again. it is obvious that Immigration was not ready for processing 3800 passengers and facial recognition isn’t working. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I feel bad for people with early flights and for those anxious to board today. We’ll definitely choose to carry our luggage off on Friday. Those people were off before 8.

Debarkation resumed at 8:55 am and halted again at 9:45 due to increased security screening and lack of space in the tunnel.

Miami…debarkation is halted due to back up at immigration. Hoping to resume soon. We’re on the next sailing and have been told to report to the theater at 11:45 so obviously the ship won’t be cleared til after noon today. Today’s program…show is a repeat of our first night 12/30

This is also happening on Divina right now. Strollers left in the hallways, lounges, theater, pool deck etc. Children sitting on bar stools at the bars and parents refusing to remove them when the bartender asks them to. Not sure where all these pax came from but it appears they have taken over every MSC ship out of FL for the holiday cruises. We are staying on tomorrow for a B2B. We are told we’ll only have 1800 for this next leg of the trip. The Divina crew that we’ve spoken to cannot wait to put this cruise behind them. We have to agree with them. I’m glad you guys made it back safely! Deb

We have the drink package so I haven’t noticed that they have any drink specials. Other cruise lines will post a “drink of the day” in their daily planner. I’ve not seen that on MSC.

Today’s MDR menus. Sea day.

Will do! We are doing a B2B and our flight from Miami is at 1:30 so I’ll post our experience when we disembark on the 13th When we embarked on 12/30th the ship was cleared by 11a.m. So it was an improvement over the earlier debarkations in Miami We didn’t stay up for the crew show last evening. I wish we had but by 10:30 we’re fast asleep…darn rocking ship rocks us to sleep lol Just had an interesting hour in one of the hottubs on deck 15 with some fellow Americans. Both families on MSC for the first time. One family completely turned off by the passengers and said they wouldn’t cruise with MSC again. (They’re regulars on Carnival). I was surprised that they felt this cruise was worse than the Carnival crowd. Their reasoning…tired of people bumping into them and cutting them in lines without so much as an excuse me or thank you. Americans are far from perfect but at least most of us will say excuse me or sorry if we bump into you. The other couple will give MSC another chance as they recognize a cruise over the holidays attracts many non US pax. I’m tired of people excusing the rudeness with “it’s a cultural thing”. There is never an excuse for what we’re experiencing on this ship. These people should be ashamed of themselves. There was a woman from Spain in the hottub with us and she told us she is embarrassed of the behavior of her fellow European pax. She went so far as to apologize to all of us. It is what it is. Unfortunately these people have ruined vacations for some. I won’t let that ruin our vacation but I will say we’ve never used our balcony more that we have on this cruise. Enough about that. I’m happy they’re getting off tomorrow and hopefully the majority of the 1800 pax going forward will be better mannered. So I just had our laundry delivered. We did the 20 piece package. Everything except the socks and underwear came back on a hanger. Very well done! I’ll post a picture for reference as I know some of you had bad luck with the laundry service on Divina. Our room steward is awesome. He has 18 rooms to take care of and he does it quickly and remembers that we like ice, wash cloths and tissue etc. I only needed to ask him for those things on the first day and they’re here each day. Here is today’s daily program, a pic of our laundry on hangers and the instructions for our B2B

Me too! Definitely looking forward to that!

The air temp at OC was great. The water was a bit chilly but we went in. We’re used to the iced cold temps of Rhode Island beaches and it was a lot warmer than that. lol

Today’s Daily program. The Comedy and Magic person is the main show again tonight.

Overall the temperature on the ship has been comfortable. I’ve never felt like I needed a sweater or wrap even in the evenings. This morning we’re sitting on our balcony and the sun is very hot. It’s really the first cruise we have been able to use our balcony and not be cold…even last night we were out here til midnight. It has been a great escape from the craziness. I’m thinking the air temp may be a little cooler for next week’s cruise since we’re staying in the Bahamas. Thank you! Yes avoiding the crowds is key. Also pushing back when people push you out of the way to get to an elevator or food in the buffet has been effective although against my nature. 😏 I have found that when you give them a taste of their own medicine they back down. I will ask the head waiter about your sailing. He did mention to us that this has been their largest crowd on this ship since Covid. He said the avg was around 2000 which is manageable. This is our first 14 day cruise. We’re thrilled that there will only be 1800 pax next week.

Just returned from the Tartuguera Canal excursion. We were fortunate to see sloths, : different kinds of monkeys, 2 crocodile and many birds. The port itself is pretty run down and uninviting so I’m glad we did an excursion So far our favorite port was Cartagena and Ocho Rios second. The next two days we’ll be at sea I will try to post when the WiFi allows. Here is today’s Daily Program. Thanks for following along! Deb

Thanks everyone for your well wishes! I really hope this cruise isn’t the model going forward. We left Carnival because of the type of passengers it was attracting. Other than the rude people we’ve had a great time. The MDR food has been very good this cruise. We have enjoyed everything we’ve eaten there. The crew is amazing. They are so appreciative when we thank them or praise them or simply just ask how they’re doing. We’re in Costa Rica today and heading out shortly for our excursion down the canal. I will add the Daily shortly…haven’t taken any pics of it yet. Today’s menu

Hi Yes we’ve seen solo diners at dinner so you should be able to request that once you board. The staff is quite relieved that there will only be 1800 pax on the next cruise. Our server is Generose you will be very well taken care of for sure! If you see us please say hello!

Interesting. Our last MSC cruise was out of Canaveral and it was great. I think you’re onto something. This cruise Americans only make up 10% of the passengers. (According to a crew member at guest services) Today we were in the aft pool on 15. I had my back to the side of the pool and some idiot pushed her boyfriend in the pool and he landed on me. I’ve had 3 spine surgeries I don’t need someone falling on my back. Neither of them apologized. In fact they found it hilarious and laughed about it. I really thought my husband was going to lose it. Thankfully the lifeguard saw the entire thing and told them to leave and not come back to that pool for the rest of the cruise. The lifeguard was great and offered me to see the doctor or whatever I needed. I’m fine thankfully. It’s like cruising with a bunch of animals. I’ve never seen anything like it. We’ve cruised in Europe without issue I don’t know where this group of people came from but I hope I never cruise with them ever again.

Agree the bubble of the YC would be a lot more relaxing this week. YC is full this sailing. We spoke to folks who were on NCL for Christmas and they said it was a completely different vibe even though that ship was at capacity too. She said at least passengers apologized after running into them. I still can’t believe that adults act this way.

Good morning from Colon We opted to stay on board and not take an excursion today. We will step off for a little bit to buy some souvenirs but will stay right at the port stores. Last night in the Pantheon they did Dancing Queen an Abba tribute show. It was pretty good and the theater was 3/4 full. One thing we noticed after being on board for the last 6 days is that the musical acts around the ship in the atrium and lounges repeat their sets pretty frequently. Last night was the first time we felt that a lot of passengers were bored. We’re on btb so the MDR manager asked if we wanted the same table for the next leg of the cruise and of course we do since our servers Generose and Cowley are excellent. We have a table for 2 #544 if you’d like to request their section. This cruise there have been 3 seatings. Next cruise will only have 2 dining times 6:30 & 8:30 because they are only expecting 1800 passengers. We’re looking forward to that as there are 3800 on now and the buffet just cannot handle it especially for breakfast. Finding utensils and a napkin is a big problem. We’ve been ordering room service despite the $7.95 service charge…for us it’s worth 10 times that amount to be able to eat out on our balcony in peace. I’ve been on these CC boards for a very long time and I think many of you know I’m not one to complain about anything. I apologize in advance for this but after being on for the last week I’m appalled at how most passengers on this sailing are behaving. It seems like the lot of them were not taught basic manners. I’ve given up keeping track of the number of times someone has run into me full force without so much as an apology or excuse me. Is that the norm for them or is it the unlimited booze? I have witnessed many passengers treating the crew with zero respect. A lot (most) of the crew does not speak the language of most of these passengers but that doesn’t make them stupid/ignorant. Yes I’ve witnessed someone calling a bartender stupid because the poor guy couldn’t understand what kind of drink the passenger wanted. One should look in the mirror and they may see the face of stupid and ignorance in their own reflection. I’ve travelled to many countries and have been on countless cruises and we’ve never experienced what we are experiencing now We will not cruise during a holiday again if this is the type of clientele it attracts. Sorry for the rant. Today’s daily

Someone on our tour just had her cellphone taken. She asked a local to take a picture of her and her friend. Then vendors surrounded her and before she knew it the guy took off with her phone. Our tour guide warned us not to make eye contact with these people. I feel so bad for her.

@mnpurple The hop on hop off buses are not air conditioned. At least the ones at the port are not May be something to consider because it is very hot and humid here.