Fla Mike

40 minutes ago, Fishwife2016 said:

Having trouble registering my card as well.  It will not let me get past this screen, any tricks you would care to share?  Thanks!

I was able to just press the next button on the bottom right

Well, I guess I'm in the minority here when it comes to Monica.

Lovey and I actually had no problem with her.

Cruise directors in general do nothing for us, so less is more.

Never did understand why so many people think the CD makes or breaks the cruise.

That being said, we absolutely adored the activity staff.

We Had a ball with them all at trivia, and they kept me up and moving during the White Party.

On our Divina Cruise last month there was always a printed copy of the dailies in our room for the next day, the night before.

Also, in the Black Crab we were handed a paper menu each night for dinner.

At the bars it was all QR codes

26 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Just an FYI from personal experience that I went through the credit card registration, got not one but two .01 charges and then once onboard the ship had to re-register my card.  There was absolutely no need to do so during web check in because it didn't carry over the ship.  🙈

Same with me, my current booking I just went past the credit card stuff.

32 minutes ago, styles27 said:

@Fla Mikewell I went and did it too! Barely two weeks post Divina cruise and I booked Seashore for Jan 8th

 

We figure we may as well get as many cruises in while the masses don’t! 🙃

3 hours ago, styles27 said:

(especially interested in the minimum coverage you look for)

 

If you have any kind of health problems at all go for higher coverage.

Things can get really expensive, really fast.

I have some health problems and the current policy I have for our four day Meraviglia cruise is $100K.

2 hours ago, travelwide said:

tripinsurancestore.com

 

Steve is very knowledgeable. 

Agree.

If I can give one pointer, get primary coverage, that way you do not have to go though the trouble of filing a claim with your current carrier, even though they probably do not offer coverage outside the USA.

I had a claim once with secondary or excess coverage and was required to first file my claim with my Medicare Advantage carrier, then sent the denial letter to the travel insurance company.

Primary coverage would eliminate that step.

On the Nov 11th Divina sailing and the WiFi was pretty spotty.

I was not able to use Google Voice, or WiFi calling at all, or Standard messaging app, {standard stock android app), on the ship or Ocean Cay.

We were with another couple and were able to text back and forth with FB Messenger.

I was able to use both my email, (gmail and yahoo) programs, no problem

Oddly, I was able to stream Sirius-XM also.

In all our cruising, this was the first time we ever had WIFI because it was free.

If it was something that I HAD TO HAVE, I would see about upgrading, there is a higher tier.

44 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

 I know one Vlogger/Influencer who will tell you the 3 hour tour on the SS Minnow (With Skipper and Little Buddy) was the best cruise ever

It wasn't??? 😇

6 minutes ago, Will K. said:

And you make that statement with no knowledge how it may have lapsed in a few months

I was on Divina  two weeks ago and as I stated in another post the social distancing and COVID protocols were excellent compared to my Carnival cruise in Sept.

1 hour ago, Will K. said:

The social distancing  is a joke.  And they rarely enforced

How do you consider daily temperature checks, mask enforcement, and seating distancing in the theater a joke?

8 hours ago, styles27 said:

If you’re used to Carnival it’s nothing like that at all. It’s more in line with Royal but the entertainment is a lot different. You won’t see comedians and big broadway type shows with fancy sets. 

But you will have top notch staff on board and beautiful ships that aren’t gaudy or overdone. Many music choices in all of the lounges and bars throughout the ship and they do have a disco for late night dancing. 

That ^^^

We took our first post COVID cruise on the Carnival Magic in September...sadly it will be our last.

I'm not sure what another poster said about COVID protocols being bad on MSC. On Carnival they were non existent. Comedy Club packed solid SRO, no mask enforcement, free for all in the buffet.

MSC had true social distancing in the theater, mask enforcement, (I went up to the buffet to get something without my mask on and a crew member came up to me with one!), daily temperature checks,  and they plate your food in the buffet. How can any of that be bad?

RCCL was our favorite of the past few years, but I've had it with their idea of all ships all being "Amusement Park of the Seas".

Yes, MSC shore-side customer service can leave a little to be desired, but the onboard experience and the ships can not be beat.

As I said in another post, I canceled our Regal Princess cruise in favor of the Meraviglia, we were that impressed.

To the OP...

Just a thought, have you considered getting in touch with Christopher Elliott and his team at Elliot Advocacy?

They are a legitimate non profit group and have helped others in the past.

He has a whole section on his site entitled "Cruise Fiascos".

He may be just what you are looking for.

In further review on the Elliot site I found this list of contacts at MSC

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

As far as OC, it would be interesting if anyone had any updates to what is going on in the middle.  We heard two very different stories.

Yeah, we saw that big mound of sand and just figured it was still being used for the beaches.

8 minutes ago, phissy said:

We will be there tomorrow. I will ask around and see if I can get consistent answer to that question.

Please report back

Lovey and I had such a good time on our Divina cruise a few weeks ago that I canceled our cruise on the Regal Princess in March and booked a similar cruise on the Meraviglia.

Despite a few hiccups during embarkation, we had an AB FAB time.

The whole experience far exceeded our expectations, even the food was good, but hey, we are not foodies.

Lovey says the Divina was one of the most beautiful ships we have ever sailed in over 40 years. I say close but, it sure was beautiful.

Ocean Cay blows every other private island far, far away.

I started to write a review but it is hard to add to what everyone has said.

Hoping the Meraviglia stacks up.

So far the booking has gone off with out a hook. 🤞

At dinner in the Black Crab 🙂

I was able to find it on my desktop, but not my phone...

Thanks for a great, honest review.

Agree with almost everything, but we liked Monica, for us less is more in a cruise director.

Let's enjoy MSC , soon everyone else will discover it.

Our Nov 7th cruise on Divina was superb.

The ship, the crew, Ocean Cay, what's not to love.

"Lovey" says our MSC cruise ranks up in the top tier

HAL and Princess have become our go to lines, but as you are stating, it is time to rethink...

We have a Princess cruise booked for March 2022, looking REAL close at the Meraviglia.

For the same price I can do an Aurea Suite with "all in" over a standard balcony on the Regal Princess, or pocket $500 and do a Fantastica.

11 hours ago, styles27 said:

So far it hasn’t posted to our cc. The $250 hold they placed at check in on 11/14 just posted today (in US currency and just says MSC Divina Port Canaveral, FL) Not sure why that took a week to show up. 

We returned on Nov 11th.

The $250.00 hold is still on my card and we had no extra charges to our account.

My statement dropped Saturday and MSC hasn't charged me for anything.

No sure how long it takes to clear, just typical for MSC, I guess.

I'll wait until next week to call their stellar customer service reps to check it out.

and the saga continues...

Our website is temporarily offline for planned maintenance;
it will be back up and running by Sunday November 14, 6 pm CET/ 12 pm EST.

The latest from the site...

Our website is temporarily offline for planned maintenance;
it will be back up and running by Sunday November 14, 6 pm CET/ Monday November 15, 1 am EST.

...  it begins again

1 hour ago, sandinmyshoes said:

I just read a post on FB saying you can't walk down the hall from the the middle of the ship and get to the aft balconies on decks 8-11.  You must go to the aft elevators/stairs on deck 7 and go up or at deck 12 and go down.  Is this correct?

 

 Just off the Nov 7 Divina cruise...

We were in 10256 and you can get off at 10 from the rear elevators on 7, no need to go to 12.

5 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

I did not get the Fantastica package "free photo" from Med/Italian night because Italian night was the final night and there were no roving photographers.   (I mean, not that I really cared but I was supposed to get it as part of the package).

On the same cruise...

We were able to get our photo.

There were photogs roaming the Black Crab the first three nights during early sitting.

Last night, (Wednesday, Italian Night) we went up with an MDR Photo taken Monday night, when the guy said $24.95 my DW asked about the freebie, he scanned her card and told us one Fantastica MDR photo per cabin and gave it to her no charge.

So at least I got my photo with my White Dinner Jacket on.

The ones they took on the stairs sucked.

Wow, we were thinking, if this Nov cruise on Divina pans out, we might cancel our March cruise on Princess in favor of Meraviglia, but I hate to book something for fear of the dreaded guarantee...

Think we may sit for a while.

42 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Yay!!

I really wish that cc member who was “type yelling in bold print” at all of us last week would chime in now. lol 😜

49 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

😆😆😆 ok, legitimately cracking up.. I read this and went to check on mine (for which I should have no reason to since I have not received any email communication of any change...) and my 3pm has changed to 12:30...  BWHAHAAHAAHAH.  

 

That's right folks...we have another winner!!!

You know I had to go and check mine.

I'm now at 12 Noon!!!

Of course I can't print my docs, and the two they have sent me since yesterday evening still say 3. but there is hope yet.