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chocoqueen

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Posts posted by chocoqueen

    Car rental after miami cruise

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    I have very bad experience with Budget, as a matter of fact I'm looking for someone who has the same bad experience as me. They charge me for a lost gps. But I gave the gps to the guy in the garage who checked my car in at Miami Airport. They told me I had to give the gps back at the counter. That is ridiculous. Why he didnt tell me that . Anybody with similar complaint?

    First Solo - Sunshine 8 Day Cruise Review Sept 8th thru 16th

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Not to hi-jack the thread and make it about solo, but just wanted to respond to iggipolka's concern about dining. I ate alone every meal, either on the lido deck (Ecstasy has really nice outdoor space for that) and dinner in the dining room. Never was awkward. The dining room servers acted like it was quite usual and natural for me to be there alone. That really put me at ease.

     

     

    yess me too . Has NO problem dining alone.

    Any Q's About the Glory?

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    Just returned and before writing my review I'll post the answers here that I obtained:

     

    Live music options in venues?

     

    The live music is listed in the Fun Times and the performers rotate through numerous venues so it's easy to find your favorite and where they are performing.

     

    Aft pool adult only?

     

    Yes, it is adult only (even on a holiday week) and the only times I saw kids back there was when they were getting pizza.

     

    Do they enforce chair hogs?

     

    We didn't spend a lot of time on Lido but the few times we were up there it didn't look like there was much chair hogging going on. There appeared to be a staff member walking around to enforce this type of thing.

     

    Do they have soy milk coffee creamer?

     

    I couldn't find any. I asked in the MDR and they do have soy milk available upon request and I would think this would extend to the buffet as well.

     

    Martini tasting, how much and where?

     

    Alchemy bar and it's $20.50 (save a dollar the first night). This can be shared if you purchase it (didn't have Cheers so I don't know if it's covered). You are given a menu card with 7 martinis on it and you may choose any 4. Our bartender asked us to identify each martini by tasting them which we were able to do. Not traditional martinis but still very good.

     

    Who is the cruise director?

     

    Dustin Gabriel, but he left at the end of our cruise for a 6 week vacation and Chris Loveland will be filling in.

     

    I did take a photo of the room service menu that I will try to upload into my review.

     

    Who can provide me with the Fun Times?

    Review: Couples Trip on the Divine Divina Mar 25-Apr 1, ask me anything

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    Part 3: Food and Drink

     

    On this trip we ate in the Black Crab Upper as our main dining room. We also ate at the sports bar, pizza restaurant, Eataly Steakhouse, and Galaxy. We used both the buffet and the main dining room for breakfast and lunch.

     

    Food in the Black Crab upper came quickly and at a good temperature. I know food is subjective, but the vast majority of what we ate was well prepared and seasoned. There were a few notable exceptions.

     

    The Japanese things we tried to eat were not good....I guess we could be a little spoiled being westcoasters, we have a lot of japanese food here so my expectations may be a bit high. That being said, the miso soup had celery and mushrooms in it, a thick broth, and frankly did not taste like miso paste. When we ordered tempura the batter was ok but it wasn't crispy. No sushi was every offered on the menu. The chinese soup the night before tasted mysteriously like the miso soup.....

     

    The filet mignon on the night with the steak and shrimp....it was tough, small, and overcooked. The shrimp that came with it were bloody fantastic though, totally worth the gross steak.

     

    The deserts were all good, no complaints. We had the 8:30pm seating and we were out of there by 9:45. We had our water glasses refilled frequently (on the first night they asked us to specify if we wanted cold water, which we thought was a bit strange but after all the water talk on here I was not surprised!).

     

    Galaxy was AMAZiNG, totally worth the upcharge. my husband and friend had the best steaks of their lives in there, you could cut the steak with your fork it was so tender. we loved everything in there

     

    Eataly Pizza.....meh. not my thing. some of the pizzas didn't have sauce or cheese....authentic italian pizza is not my thing I guess.....food is so subjective. I didn't feel it was worth the upcharge, it was very similar to the pizza on the buffet. Maybe if we had not paid extra for it I would have been more enchanted with it.

     

    Eataly Steakhouse.....so good! But just a warning, the side orders are massive. we thought we were choosing sides to go with our mains...nope! whole extra plates of food! so just be warned, if you order a side get it to split with your table. I had the surf and turf and the lobster tail was huge. steak was delicious and perfectly done. The staff were very very concerned about whether we enjoyed our meal.

     

    For the three above restaurants, we ordered the three visit dining package. It was $50 per person and was very good value.

     

    In the sports bar we had wings, cheese sticks, and artichoke dip. The wings and cheese sticks were great but the artichoke dip was yuck. not salty and had no tang. We had no issues getting tables in the sports bar. drink service was fast and the drinks were good.

     

    Breakfast buffet was a madhouse most days, as is usual across all cruise lines I have experienced. I didn't experience more or less rudeness on this buffet as compared to carnival, princess, or holland america. I love that they have flavored waters (like crystal light) included. Waiters came around with juice and coffee (table service). No "bacon police" and the baked goods were phenomenal. There are some items that are always on the buffet (meats, cheeses, hamburgers/hotdogs, pizza) and then there were items that rotated out (ethnic foods usually changed daily, but within the same category so there were always some chinese or curry options etc). Yummy hashbrown patties. Great eggs, my husband commented that they were the best cruise eggs he had had. Deserts were very similar day to day (pannacotta, a different daily cheesecake, lemon or lime bar, rolled cake, and something like tiramisu or a chocolate dish) but what they lacked in variety they made up for in flavor. wonderful, perfectly prepared delicious little deserts.

     

    A tip for if you want to try the gelato but don't want to pay for it is to order it in the restaurants or dining room, they always have a flavor or two.

     

    That being said, try the gelato!! you can try two flavors for $2, and it is a good sized serving. so tasty, so perfect. I think I should have been born Italian. so wonderful. I am salivating thinking about it again. I will fantasize about it until I get on another MSC ship. I don't think I will ever be able to go back to the cruise ship soft serve faucet again after this.

     

    DRINKS

     

    We bought three packages, the "More for Less" 18 drink package, the 15 canned or bottled beer package, and the dinner house wine package.

     

    My favorites for the drinks were the peachalini, le fizz, and the classic miami vice. Not a lot of variety in the slushy drinks, but they were very good. my friend loved the frozen toblerone.

     

    the beer package was perfect for my husband and was a better deal than using the more for less tickets.

     

    The dinner wine package was the best deal. $85 gets you seven bottles of wine The ticket says it is to be consumed in the main dining room, but they let you use it in all the restaurants...we had two of these packages between the four of us and we were fighting to drink all the wine! They will also let you use them at lunch time, and you can just go to the dining room to grab a bottle if you want to use it in the buffet. We drank the red every day. It was a cab and not the best wine I have ever tasted but it was good enough ;-)

     

    By the last night we were fighting to finish our drink tickets. With the free drinks we had at the meet and greet and the past guest party, we really didn't need as many drink tickets as we thought. I had assumed that we would receive one drink each at the parties but that was not the case.

     

    Keep in mind that pool bars don't serve everything and some bars can't make the slushy drinks. There is no drink service in the theatre. People like their drinks on this ship! People were out drinking at the bars late into the early morning hours.

     

    The tickets are a great deal and it is in your best interest to buy them in advance, as you save the gratuity. If you find you don't have enough you are able to buy more tickets on the ship. Same thing goes for the dining packages.

     

    If you don't want to spend the money on the dining packages, don't feel like the MDR food will be substandard, it really isn't. We were very satisfied with it and were impressed with the food quality overall.

     

     

    How can I know my dinner time ??/

    Carnival Acupunture

    in Carnival Cruise Lines

    Posted

    I was having problem with tailbone. After going on the slide on carnival Dream, i wasn't able to sit or stand up without pain. So I went to the spa for a massage and they recommend me to take the acupunture treatment. Ohh boy, that was the best experience I had on that ship!! back home I continued my treatment and it was a succes!

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