stoneman56

Craps is a difficult game to have on board. The table itself takes up a big footprint and needs 4 people to run it. 

Add to that that it’s not the best game for the house to take advantage of if you are a skilled player then you can see why it’s not too common.

1 hour ago, TurtleH said:

Thanks for the comments guys. Looks like we won’t have time to go to Maho beach as we only have until 13.30 too. Only way to see it would be to take the msc excursion which is a boat trip moored off shore. Not quite the same I would imagine.

Anyone done the Castaway Girl Barefoot Sail & Snorkel trip in St Thomas?

No it won't be the same.

If your time in St. Marrtin is the same as ours you won’t have time to get to Mayo beach and back. It was all aboard by 1:30 a couple of weeks ago. You’ll get stuck in traffic going over the bridge.

anyway, there is only 2 decent size plans landing there now. The 747 stopped a couple of years ago. There’s a A320 and a 757 and you would miss them both

We were in 11002 which is a grand suite on the starboard side. This might sleep 5  if there is a bed in the ceiling, which we didnt look for. There is a really lovely double bed in the bedroom, then in the lounge area there is a settee that pulls out into a double bed. 

The Grand Suites get smaller as you go up the ship, so maybe in the higher decks there isn't enough room for a couch to pull out and you have to make it up as is for a single bed. 

If you have pictures and screenshots of the so called 2 bed grand suite that you thought you booked I would call customer service and tell them that you will cancel if they don't compensate you someway for their misrepresentation.   

That's what I did and got $500 OBC and upgrade to the top drinks package. On board I chanced my arm again and got a further $200

CS on the ship are well aware of this, the woman I spoke to said that the standard compensation on board for complaining about it is $200, no more. 

Do you mean at the port or airport?

I've been pondering over this for a while and thought I would start a discussion after having had a convo with an American on our last cruise. He was complaining that he didn't like MSC because even though he had a drinks package he also got 15% tacked onto the end of each drink. I mentioned that because I booked through the UK site I didn't have these charges. 

As I understand it, in the European Union (which we will soon be leaving😁) it's against the law to add anything onto a price that is not already included. (This is why all airfares have to show the total cost first, without adding it later in the booking process). But I see on the cruise I have just booked for 2020 it mentions in the drinks packages that a 15% service charge will be added to each drink. 

This  leads me onto the DSC, by the same laws MSC is not allowed to add a daily service charge onto your on-board account if you booked from the EU, but of course they do anyway. They should just be adding it to the final invoice. 

This is the reason NCL have a different "free at Sea" offer for U.S. customers than E.U. On the UK site the offer includes all gratuities and service charges but leaves out the Internet or something else.

31 minutes ago, Até said:

Meraviglia schedule has been out for for a bit now, alternating seven day Northern Europe cruises in June and July 2020.

Thanks maybe the website is playing up, I can only get till the beginning of June

Hi All,

Looking to book either Bellissima or Meraviglia for June/July 2020, can't see any dates available. 

When do MSC usually release these for booking?

Oh Merry Christmas 🎅

13 minutes ago, Mighty_Fine said:

Big negative is having to do the safety drill again on the second week if you book 2 x 7 night, we did a 14 night on the Seaside last March and didn't have to attend second week drill because It had 14 nights on the cruise card , we in the sunshine avoiding the mayhem the the second drill.

I was accosted twice by safety officers as I was going back to our cabin during the drill. They both insisted that I had to go to the drill even though I told them I had done it the week before. I paid no heed. 

The announcement quite clearly says that the drill is for those passengers that embarked that day. 

OK we are back about a week now from our "2 week cruise" on the Seaside out of Miami.  I can see there is a heck of  a lot of confusion over this so I had it cleared up to me by the on board Voyager club rep on the seaside. 

Simple, a B2B is when you book 1 week twice, you might want to do them back to back but you have to book them as separate cruises with different order numbers. Just make sure the same cabin is available for week 2.  To be safe I would have 2 browsers open with both the weeks/cabin showing, book one then immediately book the other.  I've done a dummy booking and 2x1 week cruises B2B was the same price as booking 1 two week cruise. 

Why would you want to do this? Well if you do it  that way you get all the benefits twice. OBC twice, Aurea massages twice, if a Black card member 2 specialty dinner twice, 2 free gifts, 2 invites to the party with free photo, 2 x chocolate ships. 

A 2 week cruise is what most of you would book obviously, why not, why would you even think of booking 2 separate holidays? Well see above. 

You only get 1 of everything (except black card welcome drink and if Aurea you get the thermal spa for the 2 weeks.)

EXCEPT!!! 

We were on a 2 week cruise and got everything twice, we found out we weren't supposed to when I asked the Voyager Club rep why we hadn't received our cocktail party invites for the second week. She told us that we should say nothing and enjoy the benefits, oh and then invited us to the party (I only wanted another photo with the Captain with us in different outfits)

I thought something was up when on our second week by day 2 we hadn't received our card for the specialty meal again. I spoke to the Matie d about this, he checked his list and said our cabin number wasn't on it but he could see we were Black cards and put us on the list. The Spa girls didn't bat an eyelid when we went in to book our second massage. 

Whether you are B2B or 2 week you still have to vacate the ship on change over day. If you want to just get back on they corral you all together, escort you off, down to immigration, someone from there stands at the front of the line and you just file past them with passport open, they don't even take it off you, they just glance at it and you are free then to get back on the ship. We were herded off at 10:30am and back on board by 11. This is what happens if you are on a 2 week cruise, your account stays open as well. 

I assume on a B2B you have to vacate the ship then check in again with everyone else.

We just came back from the Seaside (The Seaview's sister ship) I wouldn't pay the extra for YC, looking over at their sundeck it seemed rather small and crowded. The food in the main dining rooms was very good, unlike the buffet. So I don't think the YC offering would have been a loss. Our room has huge, (Grand Suite) one reason we decided to stay with the Aurea instead of YC. 

You would be surprised how little you use the extra drinks benefits. The mini bar only has vodka, gin and whisky, nothing else in spirits. 3 kinds of gassy lager, some syrupy juice, tins of chrisps and nuts, and some soda. We hardly used Venche.

Oh there is no swimming pool in the Aurea private bit, there are 2 whirlpools 

Just off the Seaside today and had no probs getting any drinks at all. I drink Black Russians by the bucket, wife drinks, well she just drinks! 

Even the second basic package gets drinks up to $12 and unless you want to drink the garbage Champagne at $14 there wasn’t a drink priced over $10 in any of the bars. We were on the premium package. 

Now this could be because we were grandfathered in as ours was book some 15 months ago

Ok leaving today and started to get a bit jaded  by the end.

The buffet for dinner on deck 8 was atrocious, go for the sit down meals.

Trying to get a sun bed on sea days  in either South Beach or Miami Beach was a joke unless you were up and out by 8am. Then there was just a line of saved beds. There is a really easy fix for this. We stay in a resort in Tenerife where the beds are stacked, chained and locked. At 9am someone comes around and unlocks them. 

The itenerary for the second week was a joke. We paid in advance for sun beds and drinks at Holland House in St. Martin, it was all onboard by 1pm. San Juan was a 6 hour stay starting at 5pm. We didn’t get to Nassau until 1:30pm

On 11/27/2018 at 9:55 AM, JAGR said:

Seaside Bar is in the Atrium on Deck 5.  The Seaview Lounge is on Deck 7, but the "club" opposite is the Sports Bar.  Are you thinking, perhaps, of the Haven Lounge which is further aft?

 

Seaview lounge is on deck 8, 7 is the casino. The singer there is dire, she only sings jazz and as you can imagine with jazz groups they play for themselves. 

“I’m playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order” 

And a very nicely done Filet Mignon  served for lunch in sea view restaurant!

This is the 14oz steak in Butchers Cut. I had a side of mash and sprouts. 

My wife doesn’t eat red meat so she had the chicken

3 hours ago, sidari said:

Tepanyaki was stopped from Black card meals, are you now saying it is back on again ?

 

No, as Até says. 

There is no confusion. We are on Seaside now and both Blacks. It’s one meal per cabin. What I am pleased about is that because we are on a 2 week cruise we get it twice, as well as all the other Black goodies. 

4 hours ago, Stich17 said:

Hope you're having a lovely time. We're going on the Seaside in April our first MSC cruise, usually do Royal. Do you know what times the baby place is open. Not just when you can play with them but when you can leave them. Their web site just has the following times, which doesn't even seem long enough to eat your dinner

 

Available at the following times*, exclusively when the ship is AT SEA:
between 13:00 and 14:00 and between 18:00 and 19:00.

 

Any idea how I can pre book the speciality restaurants as online pre cruise so far all there is multiple package deals and not the restaurants we won't

 

Let us know if you do the Chefs table, Ocean Cay or Teppanaki

 

What are the shows like and do we need to pre book

Do you need to book anything else like zip line, bowling etc

 

Would be grateful for any tips, thanks !!

Did Butchers Cut and teppanaki. Used black card meal for Butchers cut twice and if you are b2b you get a 20% off voucher for any speciality dining on the Saturday. 

 Both meals were good but thought the teppanaki was rushed. We were only starting soup and he was preparing second course, started eating second and he was preparing third, Linda had to rush the food down

Our exclusive Black card gift, Post-it notes🤗

So now in San Juan. This has got to be the worst itinerary ever. 2 full days sailing to arrive at a port at 5pm to then be all onboard again at 12:30am. Then onto St. Martin  to land at 7am and back on board at just after 1.  

And to think when we booked this was going to visit the private island twice. 

The longer on board also brings up the fact that when they run out of something after week 1 they don’t necessarily stock up again the next week, or just pick some up when in any port. Unable to get some drinks first week and same agin this week. Staples like Moscato and Newcastle brown as well as anything to make an apple martini. 

On 12/9/2018 at 9:33 AM, delaware32 said:

You should be able to buy the Downy Wrinkle release at most grocery stores . I have also seen travel size available at places like Walgreens and CVS drugstores . It does work .

Does it work on your face? If so I’m in!

We’ll look out for you. We can usually be found in either Cocktails and wine of the sea view lounge

This is what we had to take out of the minibar to get some food in. She replenishes everyday.

 Not the iPads