Av8tor

Nice review, but from its title I was wondering when Seashore started sailing from New York! 😲

Now I get that it was New Years...

6 hours ago, jean87510 said:

Day 9 Ocean Cay.  We had 2 excursions shipwreck snorkel plus wave runners both of which unfortunately were canceled for wind. We took the golf cart over to YC and staked some chairs on the grass.  It's a little cloudy and windy but beautiful.  We have already seen 7 groups of interlopers tossed!  I was looking forward to this as a bucket list item.

Looking forward to OC or watching interlopers get tossed?  😁

7 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Slowly other points were brought up about MSC. I said something (don't remember what) and it triggered this response from the Captain. " MSC had 200 groundings last year of its container ships and no one has heard a thing about them, but just one incident of its cruise department is all over the news."

200 groundings in one year 😲  sounds like they need better container ship captains!!

I've read that YC butler service CAN be a bit slow/lacking if your cabin is outside the enclave, Just something to consider....

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 Getting off just to walk around and search for a bottle of aloe vera $9.99 for sun burn at Havensight Mall the security officer scanning my cruise card asked me for my "I95" (he was talking to a host getting off behind me). My guess is" I95" is referring to the interstate "Freeway" I95 running up the east coast. Perhaps "I95" is a permission slip to get off the ship ? 

 

  

The I95 is US CBP Crewman's Landing Permit

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2022-Mar/CBP Form I-95.pdf

Enjoying your review of Explora, just as I have all your other Poop Deck reviews

10 hours ago, dshroyer said:

Here is a quick analysis that I put together.  It shows various ships big and small.  And it calculates the “passengers per crew” metric.  The lower the number the better.  Much better to be on a ship where there are 2 crew members per passenger than 5 crew per passenger, right? 

i understand your concept of the passenger per crew metric, but I think your last sentence above is expressed backwards.  For "better" service I'd rather have 5 crew per pax than 2 crew per pax OR 2 pax  per crew  instead of 5 pax per crew...

22 hours ago, Lanierain said:

Well that worked beautifully!! I won some money while taking some out 💕

Glad it worked out so positively for you!

1 hour ago, Lanierain said:

can anybody following my post remind me on how to get more cash from the casino? I never bring enough cash even when I take more it’s still not enough 🥹 or if there is another way, please inform me. 

If I remember correctly:

Find a slot machine and use your cruise card to "put money onto the machine"

Play a few pulls then select the "cash out" option

Take the ticket to the casino cashier and get the remaining amount in cash

I've only done it on Caribbean cruises so the cash is in USD, not sure what type of cash you'd get from the casino on cruises in other locales that use other onboard currencies...

Very nice cars - many compliments to BCD!!

Pictures of a car or two please!!!

5 hours ago, gotta cruise again said:

 

 

I guess they must think people don't do math on vacations...

1 Personal Trainer session fo $49, but 3 sessions for $199??? That's just crazy!!!

1 hour ago, New2Cruise76 said:

I think you all have convinced me. Running the numbers, it's only $15 more then booking direct, after deducting the OBC. It's also a plus that this is basically a backdoor way of prepaying the DSC, which will make this an even more all inclusive vacation, which is really appealing to me. 

 

I'm a pretty cheap guy, so I'm always trying to save money where I can, so I can spend it somewhere tangible. In this case, it does seem like it would be penny wise, pound foolish to not go the TA route. Hopefully this will start a business relationship with a TA that can pay off in the long term.

 

Thanks again for helping this newbie cruiser!

Ive never had to pay travel agent MORE for a cruise than booking direct.  With the OBC the TAs offer it's usually significantly less...  Perhaps you should check for other TAs

8 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

I have not sailed on MSC yet. Our first cruise is scheduled for February but the process should be the same as any other place that uses a captive portal. 

 

I power up my travel router and then using my iPad or laptop I connect to the travel routers Wifi and log in with my credentials.  For example, I use the SSID  Forbidden for my Travel Router and a password of my choosing. 

 

I then use the feature of the travel router to scan for Wireless access points and choose the ship's WiFi and connect to it using the procedures the ship provides for connecting any device.  This results in a popup window on my iPad or laptop just as if I was connecting to the ships WiFi with one of those devices.  Once logged into the ship's WiFi, any device I want to connect to the Internet, I connect to my Forbidden SSID and the travel router bridges this connection to the ship's Wifi and my device now has internet access.  The ship's WiFi sees all traffic as coming form the MAC address of the travel router no matter which or how many devices I have connected to the travel router. 

 

If I remember, I'll do a tutorial, with screenshots, when we sail in February. 

 

That's a neat hack!  How big is the travel router since I assume you'd need to carry it with you along your phone/laptop/ipad to use them outside of your cabin?

3 hours ago, buffet24 said:

The cruise ship entry/exit channels in Bermuda are charted as being *150m* wide.   Both Apex and Mera are only about ~40m (39 and 43 respectively) wide...  If Apex (39m) made it in...  then I would think Mera can at just 43m wide... but Mera headed for stormy Florida waters instead... 🤷‍♂️

Vessel width is not the only factor under consideration by the Captain.  Surface area of the ship's sides and crosswind forecasts, status/power of side thrusters and/or azipods,  and sea state/ride conditions, among other things (whether the capt has a girl/boy friend or favorite restaurant in port 😲), all factor into the decisions 😁

11 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Seaside = cabana on the sundeck

Seascape = pergola on the sundeck

 

I've been in the pergolas on Seascape, what is the differnece for a cabana on Seaside?

Can the Seaside cabanas be reserved/rented?

Thanks

Loved our week in a Seaside YC Deluxe suite earlier this year so much that we extended onboard for another week!

Soon will be heading for a 2 week Sandals Jamaica land vacation, but the YC is still calling our name. Thinking about another YC cruise for next year and am looking at 2 weeks on Seaside in a Royal suite.

Other than the suite & balcony features, do you get additional perks for booking the RS other than the pool deck reserved cabana?

Pros/Cons or Likes/Dislikes between the 2 ships?

Thanks

On 11/3/2023 at 6:30 PM, Best Cat Mom said:

If she met the other human in an airplane lounge, she could not bring them to the front of the plane (just saying what would happen in that scenario as a comparison)... 

On 11/3/2023 at 6:36 PM, Seadweller001 said:

Not the same comparison at all.  She bought a deluxe grand suite paying for 2.  On a plane she would only buy one seat and of course she could not invite someone up front.

On 11/3/2023 at 10:18 PM, benjaminnicholas said:

Unlikely.

 

YC is accessible to YC guests only.  

 

That's like buying two seats in coach on an airline and expecting to get the same privileges as first class.

 

It's apples and oranges.

I think lots of these responses to Seadwellers post about his Grandmother are not comprehending the scenerio properly.  She paid for double occupancy IN THE YC (grand deluxe is only a YC category), so if she's actually travelling as a solo, I could see that the YC manager MIGHT let her bring a guest from the gen pop in for a meal.  While it would be adding one more person to the YC "load" for that meal, it wouldn't be any more than if she had a full-time cabin mate...

my .02

11 hours ago, GT38 said:

  The US Government has issued a Level 3 travel advisory for Jamaica.  The have posted a DO NOT travel to parts of St. Ann's Parish.  Ocho Rios is in St. Ann's parish.  The Seascape is scheduled to stop in Ocho Rios next month.  Will the tours be affected?

That warning has been out since mid-May or earlier.   The Do Not Travel areas in St Ann is only for 2 neighborhoods - Buckfield & Steer Town.  Those can be found on Google Maps and you should be OK if you stay out of those areas and use common sense.  You can never be absolutely safe, even in some areas of the US, so do your best to travel smart.  If you're really worried about it, stay onboard and enjoy the ship!

I'm not sure about that, but if they are unopened in the original packaging it shouldn't be a problem

There are some prohibited items such as the obvious explosives & weapons.  Alcohol is also not allowed.  As far as other "normal" liquids, I haven't heard of any restrictions.  You may get called to the "naughty room" to prove that the liquids aren't booze, but that souldn't be much of a problem, just a delay in getting your checked bags.  Carry on liquids can be verified right at the scan point. Please note thaty I have not embarked at Barcelona, so I'm not familiar with any local restrictions they may have.

Had you previously researched that particular 11/7 cruise and/or perhaps started a booking to check prices or available cabins??

4 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 ... we are not the only ones to sing the MSC praises and spend all our free time on these ships.

I bet the time you spend on the ships is anything but "free"  $$$$$   😁

5 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Oh my goodness! I am so glad to hear things turned out okay. Definitely invest in trip insurance that covers medical evacuation in the future, but I am just so glad your husband is safe. Happy to hear that guest services did their best to deal with the situation as well.

Glad thing turned out OK health-wise but not so much for the wallet.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure trip insurance with medical evacuation coverage would cover this.  The devil is in the details and the tons of policy fine print probably has VERY specific requirements before  they pay a dime...

On 9/10/2023 at 8:06 PM, ericosmith said:

I don't recall the price but they had transfers to both the airport and to the hotel they used.  We had an interesting experience in that the transfer bus we were scheduled on had a tire go flat in the parking lot.  This was on Labor Day a couple of years ago and there was no place open to get it fixed.  They sent people in taxis, limos and whatever means they could find to make their flights.  In the meantime they put together sandwiches, snacks, and opened the bar.  They really went all out to make the best of the situation.  

Opened the bar...now that's what I call customer service!!!

Most (or at least some) insurance policies have clauses regarding how they interact with other insurace you may have.  If one policy doesn't cover something, the other should pay in full.  If both cover an item, they would coordinate benefits to see which would pay first or if they'd "share."

At least how I've found this to work in the US.  If you're from another country things might be different.  The IMT company you mentioned has telephone agents that are very knowledgeable and should be able to discuss how any other polkicies you might be interested in would work with your pre-purchased MSC insurance.