jrapps

I don't understand why they have already notified a cruise that is sailing on April 8th when there are cruises leaving THIS WEEK that still have not been notified.

We did Alaska last summer on Ovation, similar situation to you, 2 adults, 15yr old, & a 10 yr old. We did 1 room, balcony. Was it crammed....yep. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

We have never spent as much time on a Balcony as that cruise. The scenery is breathtaking, all day long, especially since the sun is out like 18-20hrs of the day. We did go up to the top deck when we got closer to the Dawes Glacier, but to this day, sitting on the balcony just looking at the mountains, ice, waterfalls, etc was the highlight of the cruise for us. We also bought those blankets and we all just sat bundled up with them on the balcony for hours. Highly recommend you pre-buy those ASAP!

That said, I completely understand you wanting a bigger room. It was very tight in there with all of us. We have gotten to the point where we do 2 rooms for all of our other cruises (out of FL) but we couldn't justify the cost for that with Alaska. I guess it really depends if you plan to do more "cruise activities" or Alaska sightseeing. If you are OK going up to a spot on the top deck for the really big things, then you will be fine with the window. But if there is any way to swing a balcony, I would. Maybe get 2 rooms, one standard balcony, and 1 interior across the hall? That way you have 2 bathrooms, more space, but access to a balcony when you want it?

16 minutes ago, Ulsteinvik said:

Maybe the delivery could be delayed, Cadiz (Spain) updated their official cruise schedule for 2024 and it shows now Icon of the Seas on 23 June 2024 8.00-18.00 from La Rochelle to Port Canaveral.

That would be a 6 month delay! Imagine all those cruises being cancelled.

5 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The drink prices went up a couple of weeks ago. There have been reports of this issue on multiple ships.

Well that sucks, especially since I got my cruise documents just this week and says right in there "All beverages priced up to $9!"

I thought I had read that you can NOT just pay the difference for more expensive drinks. This will be interesting.....

When did the drink prices go up? We leave TOMORROW on Divina and have the Easy plus bundle. I really hope they aren't going to charge me $1 for every drink I get all weekend.

Leaving Friday on our first MSC cruise. I have my e-ticket printed, and I read that I also need to bring the health form filled out...but it seems to be missing something. I see the questions...do you have a cough, runny nose, etc...and circular "boxes" to check, but no indication which column is Yes and which is No. There's a blue box above them, feels like there should be some words in there?

2 hours ago, SG65CB said:

 

If you want two entrees you order them both at the same time, but they only put one on the table at a time. The other stays on the server's cart until you finish the first. One trip to the kitchen. 

 

I thought the whole reason for doing this was to reduce waste, so if you were full then you don't need the 2nd entrée. If the waiter already has it on their cart, they aren't going to return it to kitchen and serve it to someone else...so it's the same amount of waste. At that point, just give them both to you at the same time.

For me, my issue with this is I frequently order multiple entrees because I like to try multiple things. I may only eat half of a chicken dish and then start on my steak entrée. We like to share things at the table too so my wife may share my chicken. But she easts slower than I do...so do I need to wait for my wife to finish her entrée, and THEN taste my chicken before they bring my steak? I may be done with the chicken, that doesn't mean the table is done with it.

Sometimes I taste both meals and whichever I like more is the one I eat first. Can't do that anymore I guess.

On 3/7/2023 at 3:43 PM, Jussabitconfused said:

We are on the Ovation in late September-early October. Our Juneau excursion will run late and the ship is in port till 10 pm. We reserved the Solarium Bistro at 9:30pm just to make sure there was something available to us. There was no charge as it is ala carte. If we end up not being hungry we can just pick up snacks, dessert or split something.

For some reason the Solarium Bistro does not show up as a reservable option for our July sailing on Ovation.

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Yes - the Windjammer is open every evening. 

 

If you are in port till 8, you will likely be on board well before and may be able to make the  7:45 dinner.

Have a great trip

M

Perhaps, but it may be a rush.

Skagway we will be in port from 11-8. We have an excursion from 1 to 4, so we'd probably be OK if we want back to the ship and clean up in time for 7:45 dinner.

Juneau, we are in port from 1-9, and our excursion is from 1 to 7-ish. This one I am worried about, making it back in time, washing up, and making a 7:45 dinner. This night we'd likely either stay in Juneau, perhaps eat at Tracys King Crab if not too crowded, or just do the Windjammer.

Victoria we will be in port from 5-10! 7:45 dinner is not an option here unless we stay on the ship. We have an excursion already booked from 5:30 - 8, so Windjammer is really my ONLY option here (other than eating in Victoria of course). But what time is Windjammer open until? I may be eating Sorrento's for dinner.

We are on the Ovation in July (can't wait!) but I have been trying to figure out dinner plans. We have the late dining (7:45pm) but there are several days where we are at ports until very late (even 8 or 10pm on some nights). We also did a 3-night dining package, but I think I'm going to do the upscale dining on our 3 sea days)

Is the Windjammer open for dinner for those nights that we get back too late to make our 7:45 dining time?

Any recommendations on eating dinner in port anywhere? (Skagaway, Juneau, Victoria) We might try to do Tracy's King Crab in Junea but might not have time between the end of our Glacier tour and making it back to the ship)

Being our first Alaskan cruise, are the menus the same as other cruises? I looked at the menus in the app (I know, way too early) but they appear to be old menus, not the new ones, and there is no Lobster night?

Any other nuggets of wisdom anyone can share?

The MSC Seaside leaves on July 6th for a 4-night sailing, returns to Canaveral on July 10th, but there is no sailing for that date. The next sailing isnt until the 16th?

Anyone know why the ship is missing from the schedule for 6 days? I assumed it was chartered but couldn't find any record of that anywhere.

For our July sailing, I went to Onboard activities, all I see is Sip Tour Brunch, an All Access Tour, Cupcake class, and Sushi class. That's it.

For those that see it, how much are they charging?

Just now, crzndeb said:

I don’t know if it’s like entertainment, and it comes out 1st of the month, before cruise month. Let me check my Ovation bookings and see which are open for reservations. I did reserve the extended on my March cruise.

Ah, ok. So if our sailing isn't until July, perhaps it wont appear until June? This is one of my biggest fears on this sailing is getting onboard and finding out that it is sold out and fully booked for the whole cruise.

1 minute ago, crzndeb said:

Extended (pay) version can be booked ahead. Free version is booked onboard.

I would gladly purchase an extended version if it was offered in my cruise planner. I don't see it as an option.

Where do you see this available to book? We are booked on the Ovation this coming July and I thought you couldn't reserve North Star until you were onboard. I looked but can't find it in the cruise planner either.

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

4. I believe you can wait a day or so before going to the kiosk; however, it was quick and easy, just took a few minutes, and that included booking entry into all the shows.

Nugget of wisdom: Don't compare it to other cruise lines. Go into it as a new experience, perhaps similar to being overseas.

Service, in all departments, is likely to be more formal and less gushy-friendly.  Don't take it personally, or assume it is poor service.  It is just a different, European style (one which we prefer).

Thanks! Yep, that is exactly how we are going into this. We lived in Europe for a while so I have a feeling what to expect, but I am not going into this expecting a Royal or Disney experience. Not saying I am expecting worse (or better) just different.

Just booked our first MSC cruise (3 night Divina out of Miami). I've read a lot (god and bad) but we decided to take the plunge and go into it open to new experiences. A few questions hoping people can help

1. We are Diamond from Status Match. I've read this doesn't get you much in Miami, but anyone with experience to share on this? So far my "Boarding Time" is listed as 4pm! (ouch!) but I know they don't enforce and it could change once I get to 20-days out. If you are Diamond, do you follow that anyway, and is there really any "priority" to Priority Boarding.

2. Anyone have a link to the menus for the 3-night? We have one free upscale with Diamond and trying to decide what night to do that. Also do you make the dining reservation in advance, or once you get on the ship? Can it be done via app, or is there somewhere I have to go onboard to book it?

3. I've read less than flattering things about the service, especially the speed at which you cna get drinks at the bar. Any tips from those who have been? Any bars that seem to be less crowded than others?

4. Any other tips for a newbie? I read already that as soon as you get onboard, i need to go to a kiosk and link my credit card. Any other nuggets of wisdom?

I was on the Wonder of the seas for Thanksgiving week and we got all the restaurants we wanted (UDP, never set foot in the MDR once the entire cruise). We had the very first boarding time and my plan was to get on and run straight to Izumi, as others have said they are usually empty and very easy to make all your reservations. Turned out we didn't even need to do that. Once we got inside the terminal, I was able to connect to the Wonder-Guest wifi, restarted the Royal app and said I was onboard, and it let me book everything right away. I had all 7 nights of dinners booked before we ever stepped foot on the ship!

Once onboard we went straight to Mason Jar for Brunch. We decided to move a few dinners around once we saw what the show times were, still had no issues doing that even an hour after we got onboard

Good luck!

7 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

It really isn’t hard to put away. It takes very little effort.

Depends on the ship. Some the 4th bed just slides out and back in easily. We just came off the Wonder last week and the pullout popped up to bed height. We could not figure out how to get it to retract, had to let the cabin steward do it.

I agree with some of the posters here, it's not a "huge" thing, but it is the slow dilution of the experience. Death by paper cuts. On it's own, this as many things are minor. But you do enough minor annoyances, it adds up to a big annoyance.

My biggest concern here is the pull out bed. As a family of 4 that usually sails in a single cabin, the room is not usable during the daytime unless that pullout bed is put back away. How do they intend to handle that, regardless of if I select morning or evening service, they will have to leave the pull-out set up all the time.

The "Escape Room" is just an empty room. The wall plaque says Escape Room but they still haven't built the room itself. I grabbed a photo this week:

They provide you the same puzzle that you would get once the room is built, you need to search under tables, chairs, etc for clues. Solve puzzles to unlock more clues, etc. It very much had a escape room feel to it. Best part is they aren't charging for it since it isn't a true escape room yet.

We completed the room with about 90 seconds to spare!

1 hour ago, jenushkask8s said:

Wifi, no charge for us. We had canceled the drink package for day 8 because we wouldn't drink $57 worth in 1 day and the print out left at our door yesterday morning did not have a charge for the drink package on it. However, the emailed statement that we received yesterday afternoon DID have a charge for the drink package. 😡

 

We're flying home today so I'm going to have to call them about that tomorrow. 

Consistently Inconsistent!

2 hours ago, sharktums said:

Wow, this thread got away from me a bit!

 

A few notes as I was the original poster...

 

- Multiple times the captain and cruise director reminded everyone that they would do this same diversion for you or your family members and I think that needs to be emphasized. 

 

- The captain DID keep us as updated as he could. I think it was quite clear when we left Puerto Rico after 9pm that we weren't really going to make it back Sunday.  Even if we had, there's no way they could have staffed up the port, dealt with luggage, refueling, resupplying, and boarding the next 6k people around midnight. It was a holiday weekend and I assume it took longer to get through all the red tape to figure out an exact plan. Not to mention Brilliance and Serenade were also having late arrival issues at this time. We kept joking the poor corporate intern who was left in charge over the Holiday weekend must be crying in a corner at HQ!

 

- We had a really nice, long conversation with the revenue manager Saturday night. Mostly to give him a break from getting yelled at but he had stories from guests that they had every right to be upset about. Someone had surgery scheduled for Monday, someone was doing a once in a lifetime Disney trip Sunday before flying home, there was a Universal marriage proposal supposed to happen, international guests were having a harder time getting flights home, etc.  There just wasn't a good solution for everyone and we all have to accept that.  Out of our group of seven, we had five that were excited, one that would get in trouble at work, and one teenager that burst into tears when the captain announced a Monday arrival as she had plans for Sunday. We all survived and have our RCCL official letter to give work and school to try and get an excuse!

 

- I was a bit surprised when they told us we'd have to pay extra for the 8th day of internet, food, and beverage packages but as it sat with us longer we all decided we were actually ok with this. I think we were mostly surprised just because most of the trip reports I read on here when something like this happens they all post that it's extended at no cost and that RCCL picks up the extra day of gratuities as well. 

 

- Missing Coco on this trip wasn't a big deal for our group, but we felt really bad for a lot of the families, northerners, and people who haven't had a chance to visit yet.  We didn't expect to get anything for missing the port as we've only ever gotten taxes/fees back in the past so were very pleasantly surprised to get $200 for the miss. I do chalk that up to it being an expensive holiday sailing. It was kind of entertaining that this sailing went from 3 sea days to 5!

 

- Can we make 4:30am debarkation a permanent thing!?!?  Seriously! I mean, if you need to get 6k people off a ship clearly it helps to have more time to do it and there were a decent amount of crazy people up at that hour (including my group!) to get out of there and back to real life. 

 

- We did the UDP and all the specialty restaurants were great.  I do agree with others that there seemed to be less salad bar options in Windjammer and Park Cafe. I liked the new Windjammer and thought they did a good job with most of the food options in there. This was my first El Loco Fresh and I liked it a lot. So did everyone else on the boat as there were always long lines and missing food. 

 

Ok this was a lot...happy to answer any other specific questions and hopefully not start any more drama!

 

 

Very well said.

Have you taken a look at your folio yet to see what extra things you were charged for? It seems we were charged for the 8th day of gratuities, but that's it. No extra charge for drink package or Wi-Fi made it onto our bill.

Did anyone who came off the Wonder today actually get charged for day 8's Wi-Fi or drink packages? We kept our WIFI but never saw the charge, just wondering if they changed their mind on that one.

We also lucked out with the upscale dining and Day 8. They told us they'd charge us 50% of the on ship dining rate, but once we got the bill it was FAR less than I expected. That one could just be a YMMV situation with each server. 

4 minutes ago, Wheels87 said:

 

Yep, they had multiple lanes open. It was smooth as silk. 

 

I agree with everyone about the food...not as good as usual and everything was quite slow coming out of the kitchen.  My entire party was seated every night by 5:15 for dinner and two different times it took over 2 hours to finish. We are not slow eaters, either. They also left dirty dishes sitting in front of us for long periods of time. It was like the staff had way too many guests to look after. 

 

I'm hoping it improves with time. 

 

Brad

Have you ever tried the UDP? While it is expensive, it (to us) is totally worth it. I feel the quality of food in MDR has slid a lot for years now. We used to be those people that could never imagine paying more for food, now we can't image doing the MDR ever again. Every meal on the Wonder was high quality, and most meals we were done in under 90 minutes. The Wonder was a great ship to do this on as there were so many upgrade restaurants, we never ate dinner in the same restaurant twice!