dce85

On our recent Seaside cruise we had that experience that no one wants . . . the need for medical evacuation. My husband is a heart transplant recipient and therefore needs to be faithful to taking his medications. He's developed a way of packing them that ensures he has what he needs plus several extra days workth. He took them Sunday morning as we left for the cruise (Florida residents) and looked twice because something seemed off. He looked at his whole pill box and everything matched so we took off for the cruise. The next morning he realized the mistake; he was missing one of his immunosuppressant drugs. It had just been refilled and the medication wasn't where it should have been so it was left out of the pill box. Big oops. He knew he couldn't skip it for a week; his heart is a bit too precious for us to do that. That's where he asked for help. A huge THANK YOU to Carlos (guest services) and Sebastian (immigration) for all their help. Unfortunately, his needed medication is not available in the Bahamas and we weren't sure it would be available in Cancun (after a 5 hour drive from Costa Maya) so the decision was made to go home. Thankfully he didn't need to be airlifted (that's a $25,000 bill without trip insurance). The next morning he caught a boat from Ocean Cay to Bimini. From Bimini to Nassau he caught a plane. Then he had a long wait in Nassau before flying to Fort Lauderdale. There he rented a car to drive home. Then on Thursday he drove to Tampa and caught a flight to Cozumel so that he could rejoin us for the last two days of the cruise. As he said, the most expensive excursion he's ever taken but he got the meds in the doctor's preferred time window. Thanks again Carlos and Sebastian! You made a very stressful situation manageable.

We just returned from a 4 generation cruise. Our group was my husband and me (celebrating 60th birthdays), our 81 year old dad, 3 sons, 2 daughter-in-laws, and 2 grandchildren (11 months and 19 months). I'm still reflecting on things so I thought I'd share the hits and misses for this trip. Hits: * Ocean Cay . . . perfect two beach days for our family bunch. We got cabanas both days and this allowed even the little ones to hang at the beach. * Baby Club . . . this is a wonderful area for little ones to play and crawl. There were plenty of toys. On this cruise, we maybe shared the space with one other family when we went. * Drink Package . . . it was offered when we booked and it does make the experience easier. The price was good and so even though some of us did not consume much alcohol, overall we felt it worked well for us. * Theater shows . . . the shorter format worked for us taking our granddaughter to her first "live" shows and she enjoyed them. * All 10 of us got the same dining table that was assigned before we got on. * Deck 16 Buffet . . . this was never crowded and it made a great place to grab breakfast and lunch with the grandkids. The food didn't change but the lack of crowds made up for it. Misses: * Room Steward . . . we didn't get our cabana tickets until AFTER the day they were needed. We had set dining (5:15) but came back at 7 every day with him telling us he hadn't gotten to our room yet. This is a problem when one is a family of 4 and they are coming back with children ready for bed. That meant we didn't always get towels switched out. I asked for ice one evening and never got it again. * Food quality . . . we had been on MSC twice before. The food in the main dining room has definitely declined. The last two nights I didn't bother to eat much of my main entree (the veg and starch were ok). For the first time, my husband actually returned an entree. It seemed the farther into the cruise, the quality of the beef declined. The buffet food is fairly repetitive but you can find something to enjoy . . . you won't starve. Several members did eat in specialty restaurants and really enjoyed them. Their feeling is the low food quality in the main dining is meant to drive people to the specialty restaurants. * Thermal Spa . . . four of us got thermal spa passes. They were enjoyed to varying degrees. I only went once. The mistake was my first try was a sea day. It was crowded and LOUD. I have never had the experience of going into a steam room and having the other spa users start conversations. There are only 3 ceramic loungers . . . right next to the hot tub where people are carrying on full conversations. I guess others expect the spa to be a social experience so I'll skip it next time. Bottom line: We'll probably always look at MSC but I'm not sure we'll select them. Yes, the price point is very good but I'm left wondering if we should have paid up to go with a different line.

My family and I were on the 9/3 sailing of the MSC Seaside to celebrate my husband and my 60th birthdays. For that reason, I purchased the Celebrations Photo Package. I know others might be interested and so I want to share our experience. First, don't expect any information from MSC about your purchase before you get onboard. You will receive no directions or even written confirmation about the package. Once onboard, I went to the photo desk and was able to easily schedule our session. Originally, we were scheduled to take pictures the morning we were at Ocean Cay. Unfortunately due to an issue within our family we had to postpone to Saturday (last day) to have pictures taken onboard. I'm sure I'd be writing a completely different review had we stuck to the original plan and had beach pictures with natural light. When I had to reschedule (my husband had a medical emergency so he left the cruise and returned), I was assured that they would be able to take the photos onboard and the photographer would know great places to take the pictures. I let them know several times that we were 4 generations, a group of 10 and included two children under the age of 3. Our reality, even though the time was booked on Tuesday, the photographer did not know she was doing a group shoot until I arrived 10 minutes before the time we were given. There was not forethought about where pictures should be taken. I was asked where I wanted them to which I replied, "I was told you would know where to take us." So we were taken to the photo hallway with bright fluorescent lights (colors are not natural), by the casino, in the main atrium to get the crystal stairs with very loud music going on (try that with a 2 and 3 year old) and back into the garage lounge (which has a wall of kaleidoscope light). This was half way into our 60 minute session and the kids were overstimulated and we called it quits. We were never taken outside onto a deck (like maybe the infinity bridge), or into a quiet lounge. When we looked at our photos, they appeared to be highlighting the ship and not our family. Additionally, the photographer had nothing to help grab the attention of small children like a toy, etc. When I looked at my photos that night, I actually went back to complain. The photographer was there and I was not kind and let her know that the pictures were crappy (yup, not kind but that is what they were). I asked to speak to the supervisor. They did offer a retake but it was 9 PM and the two children were asleep. I was able to show the supervisor the pictures because I felt it was important to see what the results were. I told him I was very surprised that they didn't have a set list of "quiet" locations for this package. When asked how the situation could be rectified, I pointed out that there really wasn't a way to fix it at that point. So what would I do differently: Take the pictures at Ocean Cay so you can use natural light. Plan the photo shoot for yourself -- know what groupings and pictures you want. Your photographer will not necessarily have their own ideas. Take the pictures in the beginning of the cruise so that if a retake is necessary, you can have it done. If you are in one cabin, use the digital package as your method of having photos taken (we were in 5 cabins so that didn't work for us) so that you can pick and choose what pictures actually are worth keeping. I like the idea of this package and it really would be a great way to get family pictures if the photographers were actually trained to do these shoots.

Driving home from 9/3 cruise on MSC Seaside. We had a group of 10 including an 11 mo old and 29 mo old. High chairs were no problem in the dining room or buffets. We had requested a pack n play through our booking agent (not MSC) but it wasn’t there. Because we drove to the port, we simply had given our pack n play to the porter.

Quick question: Did you see door decorations? We are planning a four generation cruise in September. During the planning time, a son has decided to get married the day before we leave. I wanted to celebrate with a magnet or two. Plus the original reason for the cruise was our kids wanted to celebrate us turning 60.

We are sailing from Dover (London). Does anyone know what size our cans would be? I’m wondering if we’d get 8 or 12 oz size. Can we bring it onboard in Europe?

Has anyone purchased this photo package? It says you get one photographer for an hour, printed 5x7’s and a USB drive with all the photos. We are taking a four generation cruise in September with two days at Ocean Cay. I was thinking of buying the package to do beach pictures of our family. I can’t figure out a way to get more information about this option. It’s not a bad price but I don’t want to purchase it to discover there are “rules” on how we can use it.

We rented a car from Hertz and picked up from Divi Flamingo. There is one major road but it’s on the skinny side. Even though it’s two way, you need to pull over to let others get by if they are going the opposite way.

We were in Bonaire on Nov. 1 and rented from Hertz at the Divi Flamingo which is no more than a 3 block walk from the south pier. Drive north up the west coastline. At some point it becomes one way going north. We came from the east so missed part of the coast line.

Visited Bonaire on Nov. 1. We rented from Hertz and picked up at the Divi Flamingo which is maybe 3 blocks from the South pier. Reasonable rental rate but be aware that the employee working tries hard to “upsell” you on insurance, etc. If you are doing the north part of the island drive up the WEST coast and come back on the east. A section of the road is one way going north.

I’d encourage you to enjoy the dining room experience with children. We took our first cruise back in 2000 when our youngest was 4. (It was on Premier’s Rembrandt.). Our boys loved trying new foods and the wait staff was wonderful to them. When they were little, we allowed a book or crayons to come to the dining room to help fill the wait time. There were a few cruises where I took an antsy son to the Kids’ Club and came back to finish my meal, but I followed the lead of the child. There were some cruises they didn’t want to miss a specific cruise activity and planned to live dinner at a certain time. I think part of our success is that we were a family that did sit down to dinner together most nights. We have shared many cruises with them at this point but dinner together is still a highlight.