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Match Game 72

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Posts posted by Match Game 72

  1. 1 hour ago, marinablu said:

    thank you for one of the best, if not the best, review i have ever read on cruise critic.  your descriptions and comments are objective, informational, and helpful.  your pictures are clear, and follow your commentary, so we can actually see what you are describing.  did you ever work as a journalistic reporter?  without all the bombast, ravings and rantings, you have presented a truthful critique of your trip, and am looking forward to mine in april.  -- marina blu

    Thank you for the kind words!

    I was in the journalism club in high school. It was only 35 years ago so I am certain the learnings are still top of mind.  😉

    Seriously, I am glad to be helpful. I have learned a lot from cruise critic posts in the past.

    • Like 3
  2. Saturday, February 24
    I was up at 6:15. Yikes. The disembarkation instructions said to be out of the cabin by 7 am. Since my husband has diamond status and gets to leave the cabin by 2 hours after that,
    my father cleared our his cabin and brought his carryon bags to our cabin. We stopped and thanked the room steward. He was fine with us leaving the bags.


    And it was our final trip to the buffet for breakfast. Of course, the place was crowded, but we managed to find two small tables together. My favorite breakfast foods this trip were the Indian spiced scrambled eggs and the baked apples.


    We left there and went back to the cabin for our bags. Then we went to the Caberet Lounge to wait for our number (8) to be called. Okay, we cheated and stopped at the red sofa outside the Aegean restaurant. Just a few minutes later number 8 was called and we had the fastest disembarkation that I have ever experienced.


    With no line to have security scan our cards, we walked though the terminal, got our bags, and had an extremely fast customs check. When we got outside, I reserved a Lyft which was there in two minutes.


    Once at the airport, our luck ran out. There were lines for everything. But we made it.


    Overall, this was a very fun and easy going trip. It accomplished exactly what we had hoped. The weather was significantly better than in New England. We ate good food. We saw some decent entertainment. And we all had a very good time together.

    • Like 5
  3. The buffet opens at noon. My son and I went to get lunch for everyone. Here's where we found out how far it was to carry everything back. But we made it, and everyone got to eat lunch by the sea. Also, I must mention that cookies were available! They had four types: peanut, chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, and raisin oatmeal.


    The water in the lagoon was chilly. But we were there and I was determined to snorkel and see fish. As I acclimated to the chilly water, it didn't really bother me. I swam across the lagoon to the rock wall. There were many varieties of colorful fish. It was worth the effort.


    After three o'clock, we decided to head back to the ship. A few storm clouds let some rain out, but then it cleared up again. After we showered, my son and I walked to the Lighthouse Bar. We enjoyed watching the waves crashing over the rocks. It was a pleasant late afternoon.


    My husband had us nearly all packed when we returned to the room. Thanks! The four of us went to dinner at the Aegean. I had one of the best meals of the week, the baramundi fish. Here are some pictures.


    After thanking our wait staff, we went to the Loft Cafe and listened to the jazz quartet. Strangely
    between sets, someone turned the bright lights on. Then dimmed them again after a few moments.


    Back to the room, and we put out our luggage by 9:30 as requested. This seemed early to me, but we did it.

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  4. Friday, February 23, Ocean Cay private island
    My husband and I went to the buffet for breakfast. It was the first day that I had seen glazed donuts on the ship. Before we went back to the room, I got two donuts and some bacon for our son. It's a tough life.

     

    A day at Ocean Cay is my favorite part of an MSC Caribbean cruise. It's a beautiful island with lots of ways to hang out and enjoy the beaches. Before Christmas, my husband and I rented a cabana as a treat for all of us. With the cabana, you get a cushioned couch, two chairs and an ottoman with a small cooler of ice and bottled water. You also get four loungers, four towels, and two floating rafts.


    The cabana table is just past the lunch buffet. There you get your towels, floating mats, and the cabana number. We had #34. It was a bit of a walk to get there. As we were walking, I wondered why they had not distributed the towels and mats. Later I would realise that folks would probably take them before we got to the cabana.


    Even while we were there, someone tried to take our loungers and someone else asked for our floating mats. My husband let him have one and moved the other one inside the cabana.

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  5. Thursday, February 22, Day at Sea
    We ate breakfast this morning at the buffet. And did nothing of any consequence for the entire day. I think we went to Top 19. My favorite activity this week was reading my historical fiction novel by Phillipa Gregory. Each day I would review the activities. I considered the Welcome Back party and the dance lessons. But in the end I was completely content to read, listen to music, and enjoy the company of my family.


    That evening, we split up for dinner. My father and son went to the buffet. My husband and I went to Kaito Tempanyaki for a special anniversary dinner gift from my father. It was a very fun meal. Here are some of the plates we were served.

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  6. Wednesday, February 21, Dominican Republic
    This was the second morning that we had breakfast delivered to the cabin. We had set out the order on a form the night before on our doorknob. The first day's breakfast was what we had ordered. This morning, our order was missing coffee. We received just one herbal tea bag but cups and water for two. I used the same tea bag for two teas, but my son was out of luck with no coffee.


    We met Dad at his room, and the four of us got off the ship in Taino Bay. It's a long walk past many shops, a pool, and several animal exhibits to get to the taxi stand. Once there, there is a nice sign to take a picture at.


    The taxi director wanted to charge us $60 for a one way taxi to Ocean World. I told him it was too much. He brought over another man to talk to my husband who agreed to a taxi for $30 one way. The driver was friendly and gave us some interesting tidbits about his country. He had previously worked on Celebrity Cruises.


    Once at Ocean World, we were directed to the main lobby. They had our reservation which I had
    prepaid weeks ago. We got our wrist bands and lunch buffet tickets. Once inside Ocean World, we visited the aviary, watched the sea lion show and the dolphin show. We also saw fish in a couple of large aquariums. We had planned to swim, but the weather was overcast. No
    one felt like swimming.


    The lunch buffet was servicable. The food could not be compared to the quality onboard MSC
    Seascape. After lunch, we hung out for a while near the lagoon. Then it was time to meet the Ocean World bus. We waited on board the bus. It was a few minutes late, but we were back to the port in time to do a little shopping. Plus the bus was included in our admission tickets. So no complaints really.

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  7. Tuesday, February 20 San Juan, Puerto Rico
    This is the day that I relaxed into vacation. How do I know? Well, I am actually writing this from the plane home. There's plenty to do in San Juan right next to the port. Before we left home, I had used Google maps to mark several statues or monuments as well as a couple of shops. The port that MSC brought us to is directly across from a Walgreens. I think the prices would be lower than on the ship but higher than in our usual home shops.


    The weather was warm and sunny. We walked along the waterfront to the left and then up a hill to visit several shops. At one shop we bought a couple of pretty polished rocks and had them set into wire to be worn as a necklace. It took just about 15 minutes for two of them.

     

    Then we walked along the road and stopped in a few touristic shops. My dad bought a new hat. Then we walked down a hill and went back to the ship.

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  8. After dinner we went to the Times Square area to listen to the dueling pianos. They were not actually dueling. They were playing together. After that we saw the Premier show in the large theatre. It was really well done. In my opinion this was leaps and bounds better than the criticism someone posted online that it was of a high school caliber. We all enjoyed it.


    Afterwards, dad went back to the cabin and the three of us continued to the Loft cafe to enjoy the guitar player and singer. He was talented and has a nice bass voice. After our drinks there, the guys went to the buffet, and I went back to the cabin for the night.

  9. This evening was elegant evening. While back in the room, we opened the prosecco delivered for my husband's diamond status. Along with it, 5 macarons and a small bar of excellent chocolate were delivered. The prosecco was not bad. Then we all got ready for dinner and took a few pictures with my dad when he returned dressed in his suit.


    Dinner that night was excellent. Two of us started with the eggplant parmesan, an excellent dish that was served nice and hot. For our main meal three of us had the filet mignon, and I had the lobster and shrimp. The lobster was not cold water, but it was very good and nicely seasoned. I would order it again. For dessert we had baked Alaska and the royal chocolate cake. Both were very tasty.20240219_134753.thumb.jpg.9c1503154498c7be06a937c844f369ca.jpgIMG_0772.thumb.jpg.76500f291f011d6b2f67748682e29ac2.jpgIMG_0775.thumb.jpg.c8ce196113591ef08e4f2533f4b393bc.jpgIMG_0774.thumb.jpg.c5fd7da2989a3fe3c36ca33b28755d2f.jpgIMG_0773.thumb.jpg.6513ebe744cc160fa10bff5f82477e0a.jpgIMG_0776.thumb.jpg.a9b423611861f3919a46e01b3d3b4c88.jpgIMG_0777.thumb.jpg.78974cf8fe4d4c1fff670d9482cf6430.jpgIMG_0778.thumb.jpg.8a1994d42b44d82f2d9af8e1d7ed90f5.jpg

  10. My son want to try the thermal suite. So I called a for a reservation. We had asked at the spa deck and they said to get a reservation on sea days. It was no problem to arrive at 2 pm. The thermal suite is very clean with many choices. There are clean changing rooms with toilets and showers. also, you may use your cruise card to lock and unlock a storage locker. That's where the towels are provided. We enjoyed the thermal suite for about an hour.


    Then we dried off and went to the Jungle Pool for a drink. The bartenders served drinks in a reasonable timeframe. I had read comments about slow bar service, but that was not our experience. We had the Easy plus plan which covered quite a variety of drinks up to $10. Also we were able to use the drink package in the specialty restaurants.


    With our drinks in hand, we went to the buffet. My son ate a couple of slice of pizza. We waited for the dessert are to open at 4 pm. Before 4, people were getting soft serve ice cream from the same station. There was a line but it was moving. At 4, a worker opened the shades. I asked him if there were any cookies like chocolate chip. He told me that they no longer make cookies. I was disappointed and plan to mention it in our cruise review. (Cookie drama!)

  11. Monday, February 19 day at sea
    This morning my husband and I enjoyed the couples massage we had prepurchased. The price ($275) plus tip was lower than the ($325) plus service fee once on board. Both of us agreed that the massages were excellent. The therapists listened to us and did exactly what we needed.

     

    After the 8:30 appointment, we got breakfast in the buffet. This was a full sailing, and the buffet was often crowded. However, we were able to find seating without too much trouble by walking to the back. This morning we ate outside.

     

    After showering, everyone was ready to head out and explore another section of the ship. We sat at an empty lounge and talked for a while. Then my husband and son decided to have the unlimited sushi for lunch. Here are pictures of the sushi conveyor belt.

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  12. That night we ate dinner at the Aegean dining room. Here are some pictures of our meals. In general, the service has been very good and the meals have ranged from good to excellent. Hot food is hot when we get it.


    We also listened to the jazz quartet at Loft Cafe. They were easy to listen to. We enjoyed it, but the majority of the seating in that lounge is wide and not back supporting. The small couches are a little better.

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  13. After lunch we wanted to try the hot tub on Top 19, but we took a detour and ordered a drink at the Sky Bar because our room was being serviced and we needed to change. The Sky bar serves coffees, wine and beer. I did not see a blender for mixed drinks.


    Top 19 was great because it was easy to find an open lounger. The two hot tubs were clean and hot. We should have left our beach towels in the room because white beach towels are available to use there. There is a full service bar, too. In addition to the loungers, there are small seating areas covered by a pergola.

     

    For Aurea guests, there is a way to get into Top 19 from the front of the ship. Near the front elevators there is a glass door marked Yacht Club. Our key card worked on that door and then we could access Top 19. Our key card did not work on the 2nd door for Yacht Club.

     

    About the elevators...I really liked them. There's a screen to select your destination floor. Then the screen immediately changes to show you which elevator and the approximate arrival time (Arriving in 30s). We found that the times were fairly accurate.

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    • Like 1
  14. Sunday, February 18, 2024
    Today the ship visited Nassau, Bahamas, but we did not. Around 8:15, I was at the gym. There were a fair number of people there but I easily found an elliptical machine without waiting. After taking a shower, my husband and I ate breakfast in the buffet. Food was hot and fresh. It was a but crowded but we managed to find a table in the back.


    Afterwards we walked around several of the upper decks. We found the basketball court and confirmed that neither of us play very well.

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  15. After dinner my dad and I went to find his luggage that was being held by security. First we went to the unlabeled luggage area on deck 5 near guest services. A really helpful woman explained that his bag was being held at security. She walked us to deck 4 and stayed with us while security rescanned his bag.


    They were interested in a pair of beard trimming scissors. But once they saw the size, they let him take his bag including the scissors. So back tot he room to unpack. Then the four of us left to listen to some live music in Loft Cafe. We also enjoyed the Ocean show.

     

    My dad realized that he had lost his key card. I thought it may be in his cabin, but since it was the only card for that cabin, we went to guest services. I know to avoid guest services on the first day of the cruise, but without access to his cabin, we had to stand in line.


    Without hesitation, the desk attendant printed him a new card and assured us the old one was stopped. This was good because the old card was not in his cabin.

     

    I headed to bed and my husband and son had already returned from their late night trip to the buffet. They said pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers and desserts were available.

  16. Lunch was good in the buffet. We had gotten hungry, and it was nearly 2 pm when we finished. After lunch we went back to Times Square and made dining reservations. Next we found the Top deck on 19. The bar was open and we were enjoying drinks when an announcement of the mandatory safety drill was made.


    So back to the rooms to watch the video. Then we went to muster station C. The scanning of the cards was well organized with plenty of crew in the hallways. Also they had passengers going through the theater after scanning. This avoided a log jam at the scanning point.

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