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Note: MSC has plenty of Americanized food if that’s what somebody is looking for.

Isn’t asking here “doing homework”? Besides, this is meant as a social board. A way to interact with people.

Me? I love being able to text and chat with friends and family. Take a quick picture of a tasty beverage or snack I’ve just gotten and send it off to see who wants to join me.

Actually, I was a fairly normal kid. Then I discovered alcohol and it’s been all downhill since 🙂

Usually on MSC if you get a drinks/WiFi included package it’s the middle tier drink package and the low tier WiFi. You can pay to upgrade ahead of time, but as mentioned you pay full price + 15% for any drink above the package cutoff.

Who hoo - free dinner!

Yes.

Just our family (lots of nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.) but the requirement for teens is they present themselves for dinner. On time. No whining. If they’ve booked a shoe excursion, they have to take it. Other than that, they are responsible for themselves. If they want to skip sleep, or sleep the trip away that’s on them. Obviously not all teens are the same. “Teen” doesn’t necessary mean the day they turn 13. Some will need more supervision. But - again this is just our family - cruises are a great opportunity to give kids more freedom and let them grow. Soon they will be off at college and have to fully manage their time. It’s interesting watching the choices they make. Some stick with the family and follow the adult schedules. Some get involved in the ship activities. And some just disappear, magically appearing at dinner and then disappearing again. Note: there are of course rules - no going in anyone’s room for any reason, never accept a beverage from anyone but crew, etc. But that’s different from time management.

Obviously somebody never flew People Express.

Generic foreign currency exchange tip: Don't stress. I’ve seen people jump through all sorts of hoops to avoid a 3% fee. On a $600 exchange. On a $10,000 vacation. That said, here’s one “scam” that seems to be growing: The ATM machine* or credit card reader offers to charge your card in US dollars rather than the local currency. Don’t do it. It will undoubtedly use some god awful exchange rate. Just get charged in the foreign currency and let your bank do the exchange. It may not be the best possible rate, but it will be much better that what the ATM will use. * redundant, I know. Don’t get me stared on needing a PIN number to use one.

This thread will end. Eventually. But as long as Cruise Critic exists, this topic will never die.

Keep in mind when you get a package you have to order off the package menu. Or get something off the regular menu and pay 50% of the menu price. The package menu does generally include the kinds of thing most people want, but if you like to be adventurous probably don’t get the package. You should be able to find pictures of the menus with a simple search.

There usually going to be a big 70’s/disco/flower power night if you want to dress up and play along.

One of the crazy things about technology is how fast we go from “Sci-fi dream” to “this sucks.” A connection to the internet, every computer, business and every person in the world (sort of.) On a moving ship. In the middle of the ocean. We are docking in Rome tomorrow. Buy train tickets into town, see when the museum opens, and find a restaurant that serves Ossobusco. The magic lasts for a few years. Then we take it for granted. And when the speed isn’t quite up for streaming Matlock reruns, it sucks 🙂

I’m a carry on only guy, but like flying on Southwest with its free checked bags. Because checking a bag is free, people carry on less and there’s more room in the overhead for me.

Now that’s one ship I could never sail on. Too tempting to get separated from my wife and go around yelling “Marco” and listening for her reply. But in any other ship, I’d love to do a SE Asia River cruise.

Yes. I know there have been lots of cancellations that have screwed people. But I didn’t have a cancelled flight and the experience was as good as ever.

We were self touring in Toulon and found out you could tour the French navel base there. Cool! Passports required. Which we didn’t have. Bummer.

I’ll take a 787 over a DC-4 any day. A bit extreme maybe. But entertainment systems with thousands of choices vs the days of having one movie you could sort of watch. Power plug for my seat. The internet! Yeah, I’m good with today’s flights.

To the OP: You have stumbled into one of the great cruise critic debate subjects. Congratulations. First, there are a limited number of ports that require you to have your passport to get on/off the ship. Every single time I’ve visited such a port this has been clearly stated in the daily guide and again from the crew before leaving the ship. The much more fun situation is the ports that either don’t require you to have a passport, or technically require it but never check. There are a number of cruise critic posters who have very strong opinions on this subject and love to tell people they are idiots if they do/don’t carry their passport. No matter what you choose to do half of these people will chastise you. Enjoy The only absolute IMO is that if you go out passportless, leave your passport in your room safe. That’s where the crew will look if they need to get ahold of it.

My nephew, who tends to ignore rules he deems to be stupid, was spending a summer in Turkey. I made him sit down and watch Midnight Express before he left

Not me. Unless the bridge cam channel counts. But considering the amount of money cruise lInes spend on tv’s and service I assume a lot of people do.

Uh, hoity-toity-er?

Funny thing is some of us view Princess as one of the hoity-toity lines 🙂 Random aside: Tony from the La Lido Loca YouTube channel is a big guy at 340-ish lbs. He shows off that he dies fit in cruse ship showers.

Man, that must be some cruise 🙂 In all seriousness, I would’t expect any mainstream cruise to stop in Russia for years. Credit to HAL for admitting it and rescheduling. If MSC is slow to reschedule, I would t take that as a sign they seriously think they will be porting, just that they are being slow to reschedule.