ready2cruzagain

I agree, we have sailed under that bridge a few times and never dreamed this would happen. I cannot image being in Baltimore, the families or all involved pain. My prayers are with them. I agree about the impact on commercial shipping will be greatly impacted.

NCL Sky has a sailing out of Baltimore this September going to Quebec

I know NCL only has one cruise out of Baltimore that I see this year but it was one that I was looking at. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/26/key-bridge-collapses-into-patapsco/ From what I have seen on the news, massive casualties. Very sad

I am a bad over packer and our next cruise will be our 60th and I still over pack but I do pack like half of what I use to. I remember one of my first cruises the CD wanted to know how many shoes the women brought and I had the most for a 7 day cruise (dh told on me). 14 pairs of shoes for a 7 day cruise!! 😂 At least our last cruise which was 21 days I only took 5 pair. I sure did miss some though! And even though I over pack, I still have to send laundry out.

We have done 11 NCL cruises and 14 MSC cruises. We have 2 more NCL cruises booked this year and then going back to MSC. Sailing out of the US, English is the main language spoken and never came across a crew member that did not know English. Crew is awesome and unforgettable on MSC. IMO MSC is a way better cruise line than MSC as far as food goes. Our cruise on the Epic in January the food was sad. Very little beef in MDR. Turkey the main item 2 nights out of 7 other nights were pork dishes (tenderloin, ribs, bratwurst) and fish every night which I love fish but their fish consisted of Swai, Salmon, Blue Fish, Pollack and Tillapia, no Grouper, Snapper or Swordfish. We missed the lobster, Snapper, Grouper, Filet Mignon, Pasta dishes, etc that MSC' MDR serves. Of course, food is subjective. NCL does not include bottled water, MSC does include bottled water on their drink packages. NCL does not include coffee drinks, MSC does include coffee drinks if under the threshold, of $10? (drawing a blank right now). We find the basic drink packages on MSC to be much better than NCL's basic drink packages. Can't help with sailing out of Brooklyn. Never thought I would miss MSC as much as we did! The problem is the itineraries stink out of FL. I wish they would have better ports and that is why we switched to NCL. Like I said, 2 more booked on NCL this year then going back to MSC.

Wow, not sure why MSC ship you sailed but looks like you didn't like them at all. Oh and NCL now closes their buffet at 9:30pm and no pizza or anything after that. On the Epic in January if you wanted to eat after 9:30pm you had to go to O'Sheehan's which was the only restaurant open and it was packed. NCL's tv in January was the worst that I have ever seen. They had just a few channels, way less than MSC.

What ship? Ship makes a difference. On the Epic in January a 7 day thermal pass was $299 pp on our 11 day cruise coming up on the Jewel an 11 day thermal pass is $259 pp. You should be able to go into my NCL and check out the price of the thermal spa. I see it on coming up cruise and it was on the Epic online also

You can no longer call to do a transfer of cruise next. I have bought some over the last year and you now have to email the cruise next department. It has taken anywhere from 24 hours up to 1 week for them to transfer now. You now need to send an email to cruisenext@ncl.com.

It varied. Continental Breakfast opened as early as 5:30am on Port days some mornings. But then other days it did not open until 6:30am in January out of PC. Normally they tended to open full breakfast at around 6:30am on port days. For some reason I remember breakfast in the buffet not opening until 7am one morning. Not sure why though. O'Sheehans was a great alternative to the buffet and we ate there most mornings.

I guess we pack differently, cause I disagree. 😂

If booked as a 14 day then no, you only get the Diamond benefits once. At least that has been our experience.

Must depend on the ship, we have done 8 b2b's on MSC and never had to close it out. That is why I said ask

On the Meraviglia in Feb. 2023, we received one at the end. Our bill rolled over from the first week. You can go to guest services once onboard to make sure. They will tell you.

Just seen this on another site. Price of the mid week laundry special went up $5. I know, some will say "no biggie" but thought I would mention it for those that use it.

$299 for 7 days pp

Ohhhh thank you! We will try this next time!!

Thank you for the review! We are sailing on the Jewel for 22 days out of Tampa this December and the first time on an older ship in forever. Driving down from the cold and blister North also!

OMG and here I thought we were the only ones that do that! In January it was hilarious on the Epic to sit between Spinnaker and Maltings and watch the people turn right at the curve and go into Wasabi and Teppenyaki and would have to turn around and find their way out. Yes, it was lame but it was hilarious to watch. Definitely better than sitting in O'Sheehans and listening to a movie from below at the atrium blaring or Deal or No Deal.

I am older (well old for me late 50s) and have no problems working a phone, computer or anything else technical. I do not go on a cruise and use my cell phone. It goes in the safe and stays there until the day we get ready to get off of the ship. The reason I would not go or would walk out is I hate being entertained by other passengers. When Carnival went down this road with their entertainment mostly being done by passengers we switched lines and have not been back. The being old thing and not being able to work the phone doesn't jive for me

Curious myself as I am ready to book December 2025 but MSC has no Caribbean sailings out of FL posted for that time yet. Most other cruise lines have had them out for a long time.

On the Epic in January, it was tasty but tough as a brick. Not edible. It did have the runny brown gravy or sauce on it.

I agree it is very subjective! We don't care for MSC's pizza at all. I wish they had more than the 3 they offer, Marguerita, Cheese, and Pepperoni, all thin crust.

14 cruises on MSC and love their food in MDR. I have read on MSC boards many YC people complaining that MDR food is better than the YC.

And here I thought the Epic was bad in January. We did have one beef choice every night on the MDR menu other than the really tough New York Strip. Mostly though the emphasis was on cheap fish, (swai, bluefish, hake), some type of turkey several times and cheap cuts of pork. Gone are the days of Grouper, Snapper, Salmon, Swordfish. I have only had turkey on a cruise during Thanksgiving but it is actually one of the main items now the same as pork (pork loin, pork medallions, pork ribs, pork chops, pork belly, etc). We have a 22 day cruise on the Jewel and then we are going back to MSC because we miss their food.

@Birdnutty Thank you so much for the review! Hard to believe it has been a year and still no one else has done a review and I can find nothing out about this port. Very little on YouTube or anywhere else. We are going to be at this port twice in December and trying to find out everything we can. I see you said there is no food on the island which is the same as I seen from someone else on another social site. That person also stated you could pick up a box lunch. Is there information about this in the Dailies? How did you know to go to the buffet to get a box lunch??? I see there is a stand with a local selling some drinks. I also seen that you took a few of your own with you. I am assuming it would be okay to take a couple of waters off of the ship since resources are limited. The picture of the guy providing the drinks was pretty dirty from what I seen on another site. Any other information you can provide would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.