dad son team

OK, so I have been on many cruises but only with my son so I am not too well versed on what women wear other than what I have seen on past cruises. When we sail next month on our NYE cruise I am bringing along my 17yo niece. This is her first cruise, and she asked about what to wear for formal/elegant night and I said that given it will probably be on NYE you can go all out. She wore a beautiful gown to her prom in June and was wondering if she could wear it for this and I said yes. Am I correct or is a floor length gown overkill for a cruise on the Paradise?

Of course when I look at our itinerary, we are in Cozumel until 8pm on the 31st so maybe formal night will be a different night anyway. If it is a different night, like the first sea day as usual, can she still go all out?

We are spending Christmas with family in Florida then sailing out of Tampa before we come home. Since we are driving and our family isn't real close to the port we will have Christmas presents in the car while we are on the ship so I want the safest place to park. I have an SUV so there is no real place to hid them like a trunk. What's the best place that is gated?

That's what happened to me. I booked the same cruise twice and they took 2 deposits. Luckily they refunded one rather quickly

I have always wanted to be on a ship for New Year's Eve so 2013-2014 will be the year. I love a good party so I'm really looking forward to it. Haven't decided which ship or where yet other than from Florida since we will be there for Christmas anyway.

So it took 7 months to decide, but we are going on the MSC Divina for New Year's. Haven't been on them before but willing to try something new, especially for the price. Kids prices are so good that I invited my 17yo niece to come along for her first sailing.

There is a senior rate for over 50's? Is that just on selected cruises?

Apparently so, at least here in the US. I believe it's called a "boomer" rate.

You should get that in writing! At least in my case, not only did they not honor the rate the website gave me (and I paid for), I'm fighting to this day to get my money back (since July last year!).

 

It sounds like you booked in the States or UK, I did mine on the German website, and they can hardly do anything without approval from Italy - that's why (they claim) it's soooo difficult to simply refund. Good luck!

I did book through the US website and she said it was a known hiccup in their system and that until they get it fixed they will honor what I booked. I have the reservation document from them that indicates it was booked online, but doesn't say anywhere on it that it is a senior rate. When did they come to you and ask for more money?

My plan was to transfer the reservation to an agent that was offering OBC, but now I think I'll just leave well enough alone and not be greedy.

Let's hope they do some fixing soon. I tried to book my party of 3 for a December cruise on Divina and got all the way through the payment window and got an error message. Tried a few hours later and did the same thing and got the same error message. Something told me to chacke my credit card and sure enough the deposit was taken out twice. I never received an email with a confirmation or anything.

I called MSC and a lovely agent told me that I in fact have 2 booking. She canceled one and put in to refund the deposit. Good think I checked my card. She gave me the reservation number for the good one, and also informed me that I was booked at a senior rate for people 50+. Now I'm close to that, but not there for a few years yet, but she said they had to honor it because it was a glitch in their system. I'm hoping there will be no problems down the line, but that would explain why the rate on the website was better than any of the online TA's.

The MSC ship is scheduled to stop in Falmouth next season.

Friends of mine went last year with a group tour out of Miami and they loved it. My understanding is that Americans can go there, but the illegal part is that you cannot spend US dollasrs there.

PS-They are also went to Myanmar (Burma) last year, and are currently on safari in Africa so they are pretty adventuous. Must be nice on a retirement income.

I have always wanted to be on a ship for New Year's Eve so 2013-2014 will be the year. I love a good party so I'm really looking forward to it. Haven't decided which ship or where yet other than from Florida since we will be there for Christmas anyway.

I was on the Explorer earlier this month and the bulletin board is directly across from the Guest Relations desk. FOD, Red Hat, and AA all had lamenated cards posted. FOD was everynight in Dizzy's (Crown Bar) at 8pm. I never made it because of timing of other events, but I did notice that by the 4th or 5th day of the cruise, the card was taken down. Not sure if it was someone against the meeting or by ship staff. My guess would be that it ws taken down by someone since the other lamenated cards were still there.

If it were me, I would leave my stuff on the chair and go get the coffee and bring it back. If you were going to drink it inside, then I would take my stuff with me.

If I needed something from the buffet, I would get the attention of the waiter servicing the area I was sitting in just to let him know that I am coming right back. Most people will leave a fresh tray of food for a few minutes assuming someone is coming back. The bigger problem I have had is when I finish lunch and go back up to get some dessert. The waiter clears the tray and someone else sits down at the table thinking it is available. The remedy is to leave a book or something on the table, or get a table close to the buffet that you can keep an eye on.

Carla C was my first cruise back in 1989. Went with my mom between semesters of college. I can still remember trying to figure out how to convince my mom to wear a toga the last night. I still can't believe she did it. I remember thinking how great it was to have the pizza and gelato around the clock. If I remember correctly, the itinerary was:

Day 1 - depart San Juan

Day 2 - at sea

Day 3 - Curacao

Day 4 - Greneda

Day 5 - Martinique

Day 6 - at sea

Day 7 - St. Thomas

I even remember flying Eastern airlines from NY to San Juan.