helenb

Unfortunately, I cannot give you any information as to Christmas on MSC, as I have not experienced that myself. I have done Christmas cruises on Princess. It was nice, but for us, it did not feel like Christmas at home... almost as if we missed the holiday. But I think that comes down to personal preference. My favorite is to do a cruise over New Year's... you get Christmas at home, then enjoy the holiday decorations onboard, as well as the multiple NYE parties.

There was something in the FAQ on the site stating that as countries were added, they would be given sufficient time to adapt. The question is, what is sufficient time. 6 months is very reasonable. 2 months, maybe not? Regardless, TounchstoneFeste's suggestion is very reasonable. I check all of my travel arrangements again a couple of weeks before I travel, and this is something else that should be added to that list.

Oh trust me, we will be at the YC restaurant for lunch, probably right when it opens! And then probably at gelato for dessert.... 😉 But that is a great tip!

Yes, we have experienced that when driving or cruising in Europe before. I wasn't certain if the stop in Africa would make a difference or not.

Thanks for the info! We're fine if we have to go through customs when disembarking in Marseilles, but I agree, it would be nice not to have to do so!

Thank you, everyone for your responses. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one confused, because that might mean that there have been no announcements/official statements... *fingers crossed*. I'm guessing that this might be like the Real ID rollout in the US that keeps being pushed forward and pushed forward and pushed forward...

Yep, that looks consistent with the information I found... what's bothering me is the vagueness of 'later in 2024' to roll out to other countries. Ah well, our trip is in 2 months. Perhaps I should just take it for granted that they can't announce and then begin enforcement in such a short time period? 😉

Okay, after some online investigation... ETIAS is for the EU. I am talking about the ETA (which seems to be a similar thing) for people entering the UK.

Perhaps it's the same thing? It's called the ETA on this website. https://www.etauk.uk/requirements/us-citizens This site also discusses it, but just says 'in 2024' without specific dates. https://uk-eta.com/eta-eligibility/uk-eta-for-american-citizens-everything-travellers-need-to-know/ If it has been pushed to 2025, that would be very helpful! 😉

I keep hearing that Americans will have to register via the ETA when entering the UK in 2024, but I cannot find a start date. Is this already in effect? We are cruising out of Southampton in June, so I'm trying to figure out if we need to apply.

Thanks, Alserod! Actually, we will be on Seaside which is a bit disappointing, since we have sailed her twice before and were hoping for a new ship. But hers is the one whose itinerary fits our dates. I appreciate the info about Barcelona. We have been there before, but it has been a long time. it will be weird to see the Sagrada Famila (nearly) complete when we are there in 2025!

Thank you, everyone, for your responses! I knew that I could count on Cruise Critic for information! We will be embarking in Marseilles and doing the Western Med, so I'm expecting that every port (except Tunis?) will have new people. The many languages doesn't bother us, as we're used to that from our previous travels in Europe. We're going to Europe to experience the culture, so that's part of it. I'm surprised (but pleased) that there would be trivia! Given the different responses on smoking, I'm guessing that it varies from cruise to cruise. I don't mind less salty, as I can always add salt (that's why there's a shaker on the table right?). Less sugar... depends on the dessert, but I'm sure that there will be plenty to eat, so I'm not too worried. For anyone else interested, I did find some Med menus here. Many of the dishes do look familiar from our Caribbean cruises, so I would expect the recipes to be the same. But there are definitely more seafood dishes. https://www.alannazingano.com/videos/yacht-club-menus-on-msc-grandiosa-mar-2023

I found a very short thread on this from pre-COVID, so I figured it was worth asking again. We just booked a Med cruise on Seaside for 2025. We have been on Seaside twice before, in the Caribbean. I understand that there will be some differences to the onboard experience sailing in the Med. I am expecting: - onboard currency in Euros - multilingual activities/shows (no trivia?) - multilingual announcements - passengers embarking and disembarking at every port - possibly more seafood-heavy menus - possibly more smoking onboard I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to the extent of these differences. How is it embarking/disembarking in a port where the majority of the ship is not joining you? If you're not getting off in a port, do they still make you disembark to 'clear' the ship, like they do for people on B2Bs? How much more smoking can we expect? Does anyone have any sample menus from the Med? We will be sailing in YC, in situations where that makes a difference (e.g. menus).

I agree. It is the best of both worlds. There are people with whom you can converse, yet you can ignore them if they don't seem like they would enjoy your conversation. And officially, you are at 2 different tables, so you do not have to wait for them to be seated, order, finish a course, etc. Each table can eat at its own pace. Much nicer than being at a 4-top with no escape and being locked into the other couple's dining style.

Yes, you are correct, the 8th! I mistyped. On the 7th, we will be touring Windsor, enroute to Southampton. The DDay Beaches are amazing sights, even if you are not a 'World War/Military Historian' type. Being able to walk through those old bunkers and looking down on the beach, and then a visit to the cemeteries, really brings it home. This being said, if there is an anniversary and it is packed with people, you may be better off elsewhere. I would highly recommend Mont St. Michel, if you can get there. Paris is too much of a slog (for me) for too little time. For us, we have done all of these sites multiple times, so we are going to take it easy in Le Havre and just go to Honfleur for a few hours.

I thought that the 'monte cristo' was dry. However, the mac & cheese was excellent, although more of a side dish. I paired it with the chicken from the chicken and waffles and it was a great lunch. My husband enjoyed the 'spring' and 'summer' rolls, and the chocolate tart for dessert was good too. This being said, there are lots of lunch choices, including the pizza and grill on deck, the buffet, the IC, and also Alfredo's (if you have Premier).

Actually, if you just want sodas, juices, mocktails and smoothies, you can get the classic soda package, which is $14.99 per day. With added gratuity, that's closer to $17 per day.$17 + $16 auto-tip is $33 per day. So then you have to decide it the wifi, desserts, etc. are worth an extra $27 per day. We tend to share a 1 device wifi plan (purchased at half price because we are elite) and we just couldn't make the plus package work for us. We likely would do it for $40 per day, but $60 per day feels like too much when you don't drink alcohol.

We boarded Regal at Galveston for the NYE cruise. We had 3 bottles of wine (for 3 people) in our carry on bags. When we went through the X-ray detector, they pulled my bag over... it was NOT the one that had the wine. It did have a plastic bottle of BBQ sauce from Buc-ees, which I gave away at the Cruise Critic gathering. They inspected it and let me go. They didn't care about the wine. I was just packing up my bag again and we were walking away when I saw a table with some Princess people at it. I walked on by, and a few seconds later wondered if that had been the wine table (which makes sense, since it was right after security/scanners). Since we were already past, and we had an allowable amount of wine, I didn't go back. In 2022, I did a NYE cruise on Celebrity out of Long Beach (same port that Princess/the original Love Boat uses/d). They pulled my bag at the scanners and I wasn't certain why. They asked me if I had any alcohol, and I told them no... this repeated another couple of times. They didn't like my answers, so they made me pull over and dump out my bag. Turned out they didn't like my toiletries case, with my 3 oz bottles of moisturizer, toner, shampoo, etc. They inspected all of them. I guess they thought I was smuggling in alcohol in those tiny bottles? I have to think that these people were over-zealous and not the norm, because I have never heard of that happening to anyone else. I was annoyed, but also amused. I was wondering if they were going to drink my moisturizer to check and see if it was alcohol!

The $10 is annoying, but it covers everyone in the cabin. We were sailing (standard pacakge) with our son on our recent Regal cruise and $10 shipped all 3 of our Medallions (even though they came in 2 separate packages).

When my husband was a boy (early 80s), he was visiting his grandparents in the USVI. He was so excited to see the Pacific Princess docked in St. Thomas! He wasted half a roll of film on pictures. 😉 I definitely recall the specials where the ship sailed to Australia (Julie almost got married!) and Alaska.

Thank you for the update! And also the picture of where to pick up the bus... that is very helpful!

I saw that, and I have it in my notes as an option. But when I checked out their site, they did not yet have up any information about 2024, so I still have it listed as a 'backup'. if it is as convenient as I have heard people say, I may use them instead of the train.

We did Mont St. Michel from Le Havre once using a rental car. Since the ship gets into port very early and stays late (to accommodate the busses that go to Paris) it was very doable.

Okay, here's what I have (note that our itinerary may differ from yours): Portland - Walk/blue shuttle to Portland Castle, visit D-Day Center, walk/taxi to Tout Quarry Sculpture Park. (Note, most people will be going to Stonehenge or Bath, but we have been to those sites before. I strongly recommend visiting Stonehenge on your own before/after the cruise (easy to reach if you are driving to/from London) as it will be cheaper and easier than taking an expensive tour from port. Cobh - Private tour to Blarney Castle and Cork Dublin - Taking DART to Dublin, then HOHO Bus to get around and see sights Glasgow - Taking train to Glasgow, then HOHO Bus to get around and see sights Kirkwall - Private tour to see Skara Brae and Maeshowe (Maeshowe not available on big tours) Invergordon - Private tour to Lochness and Inverness Edinburgh - Taking train to Edinburgh, then walking between sights Le Havre - Walking along beach, visiting Maison de l'Armateur, catching Bee Bus to Honfleur (Most people will be visiting Paris, Mont St. Michel and the Normandy Beaches, which we have see many times before, so we wanted something new. I highly recommend Mont St. Michel or the Normandy Beaches via private tour/rental car if you have never been.) NOTE I do NOT recommend visiting Paris from Le Havre. It's a long journey and you won't see much in the limited time you are there. Instead, it is worthwhile to fly into/out of Paris before/after your cruise and take a few days to see it on your own. You can then take the train to London. If you're sailing out of Dover, you can also take a ferry from Le Havre to Dover (and vice versa).

Our OBC for the 'Galveston inconvenience' stayed on our accounts the entire cruise. We actually did not purchase any drinks while in Texas waters, and it ended up applying against our gratuities daily charges.