palmbaytish

Thank you for the offer, but we will be headed to the ship around 11 am on the 13th to start our trip. We'll have flown in from Vienna the day before and are just planning on getting up that morning and taking a taxi from our hotel. Thank you for the offer though!

Sailing the World Europa in 2 weeks our of Barcelona and out of curiosity, what kind of table games did they have in the casino and do you know what the table minimums were? Thanks in advance!

Oh and one more question...what time were you able to begin boarding in the Yacht Club. Our boarding pass says 2 PM and our last YC cruise, we were on the ship by 11 am. Granted that was on the Mergavillia in the Caribbean, but wanted to know if the time on the boarding pass is firm or if they let you on early. We are boarding in Barcelona. 

Sorry, you're not having an enjoyable time. Personally, there is no way I'd book so long of a trip on a ship that was less than 6 months in service, especially on a cruise line I've never been on before. Too many kinks to work out and you have no reviews to go by to temper your expectations. We are booked on the World Europa in October for a week-long cruise and having been on MSC before, we know what to expect in the YC and are truly looking forward to a nice relaxing week. 

"Pestering" happens on a number of cruise lines. They are doing their job and that is to make money. A simple no and keep walking goes a long way. I hope you can find some enjoyment in the rest of your trip!

My husband and I will be on the ship the week before you! We are so excited!!! Enjoy your cruise!

Hi everyone!  Let me introduce myself...I'm Stephanie (age 50) and my husband Jason (age 49) are taking our second MSC cruise and we are so excited to be on the MSC World Europa for the Oct. 13, 2023 sailing. We live in the US (in Central Florida) and this is our first European cruise and we're really looking forward to it. We're going to be flying to Vienna for 4 days before the trip and then flying over to Spain, arriving in Barcelona on the morning of the 12th.

Our only other previous cruise was on the MSC Meraviglia for Christmas of 2019 and we loved it. We totally loved the Yacht Club experience, so we are booked in the YC again for this trip.

We've already booked 2 excursions for stops in Italy in Genoa (Portofino & Enchanting Views of Liguria Riveria) and in Messina (Mount Etna tour). Normally we hate to do cruise ship tours, but these seemed not too bad and are something we would want to have planned out for us.  We are planning on doing a walking tour in Marseille, France with a private guide and In Naples we are planning on doing a self-guided trip to the ruins of Herculaneum (much less crowded, and very well preserved, albeit smaller than Pompeii). I am a history nerd and don't want to be stuffed on a bus when we can do a trip on our own and tour the ruins on our timeline!

Since we live in Florida, we've done more Caribbean cruises with our daughter than I can count and we've also done 2 cruises to Alaska. Since our daughter is now away in college, we aren't bound to the school schedules, so this is a trip just for my husband and I! We're super excited. The World Europa looks to be a beautiful ship and we're looking forward to meeting more people who will be on board! 

I would tip at each instance of delivery, regardless of who it is. it just makes it easier and they recieve the tip then and there. If it is your butler who delivers, you can always reduce the amount of your end tip if you have an issue with tipping when the delivery is made. 

The menu looks great...It will be nice to have a relaxing sit down breakfast in the mornings!!

7 minutes ago, marco said:

Last time we were on, someone noted, "they're Americans....they're not...they are, they're not, etc etc.  I said, "how can you tell?" and she said, "They dress better".

For me, it was super easy to spot the American in a crowd of tourists like they were wearing a neon sign saying "tourist". The tennis shoes (sneakers) and Baseball hats were always a dead giveaway. 

Is this allowed? I have about $1500 in Carnival Gift Cards I have accumulated over the last 2 years from promos, points redemptions and such and I was wondering that in lieu of carrying money for the casino, can I just get chips with my S&S when I sit at tables, which will then go on my card balance. Can I thn just go to gest services and have the cards applied to my balance? I know there is a 3% service charge for getting money at the tables, but I'd just be doing $300 or so at sitting.

Thoughts?

Our cruise to Alaska was booked through Casinos at Sea uitilizing the discount we recieve as Total Rewards Platinum members. I've only sailed NCL once, 15 years ago, so I am not familiar with their boarding processes, but I have read that there is a designate CAS line in some ports. How do you know if you are eligible for that line? Is that just for VIP's who are on comped cruises or previous high rollers...

thanks in advance. :)

I added day 7 and childrens' age 10-12 activities

Thanks so much for this! I want to be able to show my 12 year old daughter the activities they have. Do you know by chance how many kids were on board during your sailing/ We are doing a May 22nd cruise next year and I wonder if there will be many kids on board since some schools aren't out of session yet.

I'm looking forward to our 8 day cruise on the Sunshine in March. I've traveled enough to know that for the most part, I don't give much credence to "bad reviews". I do my research and I remember that a vacation is what you make of it. So the Sunshine can feel crowded at times. So did the Liberty, the Breeze, and the Glory before it. Buffet lines are long. What a great reason to eat in the Main Dining room! I don't expect world class food on a cruise, either. I go on a cruise to enjoy time with my family. Seeing or not seeing a comedy show is not going to ruin my trip. I am looking forward to seeing new ports (St. Marteen & St. Kitts) and just relaxing.

I have the NCL credit card in my name only and received the bonus 10,000 points which can be redeemed for a $100 OBC. If my husband, who will obviously be in the same cabin with me, gets his own NCL card and the subsequent 10K bonus points which he can convert to an $100 OBC, can we put them both on the same booking?

I am ALWAYS trying to work an angle to get the best bang for my buck and I know my husband will be thrilled.

I looked to see if this was discussed, but didn't see it and thought I'd mention it. I booked a 7 day Alaskan cruise for my husband, daughter and I, a couple of weeks ago and have paid all but $900 of the balance. I am a Total Rewards Platinum member through Caesars Properties and remembered that we get a 10% discount on cruise bookings. So I figured why not see if I could still get the 10% discount. So i called...

After verifying my Total Rewards # and platinum status, they were able to give me the discount, AND I still got to keep the promotional Ultimate Beverage Package we chose when we booked using the current Free Style Choice promotion. So instead of having a $910 balance due to be paid off by March, they just deducted the discount and dropped our balance to $656.

I just wanted to share in case there were other Total Rewards members who may be able to get the same deal!

-Stephanie

I just booked a cruise on NCL for the first time in 15 years. The only other time I was on NCL was the Majesty in 2000 and I loved it, but in subsequent years, as a newlywed and then parent, we started on Carnival as cheaper way to travel as a family. The cruises have always been enjoyable, nopt a bad one yet, in fact we have another one scheduled for the Eastern Caribbean this next March on the Carnival Sunshine.

That being said, when we decided we wanted to do an Alaskan cruise in late may, we KNEW we would do a different cruise line and NCL was just what we were looking for. Traveling with a 12 year old, we didn't want something "stuffy or boring" but was still family oriented. Our budgets for cruising has increased over the years, so the NCL Pearl seemed to be an ideal fit to both our schedules and selection of ports of call.

I am actually really excited. We have a balcony cabin and although I hear the rooms are smaller than on Carnival, I'll be in Alaska so who the heck cares? It's vacation!!!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you in helping me decide whether to book with NCL or Chilkoot on the Yukon Rail Expedition. The cost is lower and I HATE, HATE, HATE ship tours where you feel like cattle.

Are the buses/vans comfortable for the drive to the Yukon? It will be my 12 year old daughter, my husband and I and do they make stops for photos or is it a straight drive there with no stops?

My boss is going on her first cruise, an Eastern Caribbean, on the Disney Magic in May. She has been asking me tons of questions, as I've cruised a number of times before, but never on Disney.

She wanted to know if the ship uses MagicBands like you have at the Disney Resorts, as opposed to the swipe cards used on other cruise lines.

Thanks in advance!

We were just there on 3/29 and we had a lovely time. It was raining on and off, but our tour guide, Albert Aguirre (who was awesome) took us to the rainforest, around Old San Juan and it was lovely...even with the rain. Here are a couple of my favorite shots!

And the rain really got the water falls flowing in El Yunque rainforest. My daughter is wearing a hat Albert made out of leaves from one of the trees to keep the rain off her face:

Well, we just got off the Carnival Glory today (4/1) and let me tell you, I think I spent all of about 15 continuious minutes the entire cruise in the piano bar....I wanted to give Peter Brenner a fair chance, but alas, the previous posters were right. After 15 minutes, I was SO ready to leave. Fun, friendly interaction with the audience is NOT his strong suit. He does oversing in a MAJOR way and he just was not Mr. Personality....and honestly, not a great singer.

I wanted to like him...I really did. We popped in at other times during the cruise to keep seeing if maybe he got better as the cruise went on. Judging by the crowds (or lack there of...I never saw more than 5 or 8 people there at 10:30 or 11:00 at night) he is not a fan favorite. Bummer!!!

He doesn't do well with requests, he seldom smiles, he "oversings" in a melodramatic way, audience doesn't appeal to him, he doesn't interact with questions, requests, suggestions, he doesn't act like he enjoys what he is doing...

shall I go on?

The piano bar on the Freedom had at the "most" 8 people in it every night, I checked...

In regards to Peter Brenner:

Oh goodness...well that just sucks. Why does Carnival keep players like that? Piano bars are supposed to be fun! :) I saw a video of him singing "Maybe I'm Amazed" on YourTube and I wasn't very impressed. He sort of reminded me of a low rent Neil Diamond....and I like Neil Diamond.

Thanks for letting us know and like I said, I'll give him a chance but at least I'll be able to try more places without feeling like I was missing out.

Thanks. The website link doesn't work for some reason. Anyone know of him?

Brad is AWESOME. We had him on the Liberty last March and he was great. Very fun and entertaining and as the night passes, he has some very amusing songs he sings. It's a really fun time!

On the last night of our cruise last March on the Liberty, there were 3 college age guys who decided to stoll the Promenade dressed in their finest banana hammocks. It was a Spring Break cruise and I'm happy to report that this was the only display of "shenanigans" on the trip. We all found it quite amusing for our last night on board...This was around midnight, so there were no younger kids out and about...

That is what I meant, Brad (which he says is the greatest name ever, and who am I to disagreee? LOL)

I sailed with Peter Feb 09, and it was 8 days of utter disappointment. The PB was near empty most all nights.

So, once you have something to compare to, ie: Brad, Ron, Vince, Jason, James, Josh, et al, Peter will be a letdown.

IMO, Peter B and Sean Laws are the least entertaining in the fleet now.

I would always give the benefit of the doubt though, any one can improve, it's simply a matter of if they do

 

Which is even more disheartening as Carnival continues to cut back on their other live entertainment venues.

 

G. Brad

Thanks for your thoughts on Peter B. and the piano bar. i figure we will give him a shot the first night and if he does suck, at least that will be the push for us to explore other venues of entertainment on the ship that we may not have normally gone to (the jazz bar, atrium bar, etc...).

If you don't mind me asking, what was it about him specifically that makes him one of the least favorable. Is it personality, talent, does he not engage with the audience, poor song selection, etc. I guess we got spoiled by Brad. He was just so much fun!!!

On the previous post they said we would not be happy with Brad. We just got off the Valor with Brad Alexander and he was fantastic!!! John & Priscilla

I think what the previous poster was saying is that compared to Brad, who we had last year on the Liberty, the guy we have performing in the PB on the Glory, Peter brenner, will be a let down for us. I have to say that every review I have read of him over the years has been less than stellar.

That being said, talent is all subjective, and i am a firm believer in a cruise being what you make of it, so we will give him a fair shot. There are plenry of other places to be entertained while on board (jazz bar, ect...)

Brad set the bar pretty high for us...:)