UniPac

I was watching the ships since Saturday in Miami. Some left very late. One left and anchored right in front South Beach just to return the next morning.

Hi all!

I just read the mail telling me that everyone from Europe will be denied boarding. We are supposed to board Equinox tomorrow. So no hotel, car etc for us ans currently onboard a cruise that will arrive in Miami tomorrow. 
No other message on Celebrity‘s side, just the global notice.

What should we do? Show up at the port and ask for help? Will they just turn us away without anything? Our flights are booked independently.

While I can (partly) understand the ban, I feel left alone so much. It is so close to our cruise and all we get is notice who will be denied boarding without further instruction. 

Thanks for any response on what we should do.

On 3/7/2020 at 4:56 PM, London-Calling said:

Unipac, her grey hull looks so much better in the Miami sun than the UK's rain and clouds!

 

 

 

true - however, I somehow understand @The_0neuk question. Thought the same - on the webcam, it looks different. In real (or on my pictures above), it really reminds me of warship color 🙂

She has arrived and I took some pictures. Hope you like it.

1 hour ago, jimmyjackson said:

Only thing I’ve heard is that their cruise was refunded and I believe MSC paid for their airfare as well. 

I am worried that MSC did not update their policy on the website. It still says you only certein regions in Italy are denied boarding. Inconsistency is not what passenger need those times.

12 hours ago, jimmyjackson said:

Good news, we got cleared. Just got off the ship. Changed the onboard time to 6:30 pm. 

Any news regarding the italian passengers being not allowed to board in Miami?

17 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

It’s more than those select towns. On another board a passenger from Sardinia reported being  denied boarding. I think it might be all of Italy. I’m seeing a rumor posted that islands in the Caribbean will not let a ship dock if there are Italian (and I assume Chinese) passengers on board.

MSC should update their website notice BEFORE denying people from Italy to board. If they keep doing this (banning europe countries), ships will sail empty quite soon.

I am with you. Maybe worse - after that sailing, we (try) to board Celebrity Equinox the same day as this cruise returns for another week.

It is just out of our hands. Waiting one year for this (expensive) vacation and now we are struggling with all the fear. So sad :-((

Should we skip s MSC?

First of all, thanks for all the answers - very comprehensive!

11 hours ago, cellfree said:

We walked to the beach just past the Spa, follow the Spa signs. It was quiet and there were adequate chairs the day we were there.

Isn't that the Paradise Sands? https://www.mscoceancay.com/en-us/map-of-the-island

10 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We visited Ocean Cay twice in January.  The first time, we walked to the first beach to the left of the entrance (before the lighthouse); the second time to the beach beyond that (around the corner, where they rent snorkeling equipment and such). Both were quiet, crowd-wise and water-wise.  Both were nice, both had loungers, etc.  Both were also comfortably close to food truck, restrooms, water fountains.

When we took a stroll around the island later, the biggest crowds seemed to be around the buffet and the nearby lagoon.

That was on Seaside, 4500 passengers, but where we were there might have been just 30 people each.

 

We will be on Seaside, too. The first beach to the left of the entrance should be the largest, call Lighthouse Bay?

The second one was Sunset Beach from what you say https://www.mscoceancay.com/en-us/map-of-the-island

9 hours ago, jimmyjackson said:

I remember a previous poster mentioning the beaches near the YC beach are pretty quiet.  You cross the same bridge to get to the YC area and I think some may think that whole area is YC.  On the map the names are Bimini Beach and North Beach. 

Ah! So Ocean House Beach is the only YC only beach? That is good to know. Thought Paradise Sands is YC only, too.

9 hours ago, ODECCIT said:

Adult only beach by the spa will be the quetest on the island. 

So one more vote for Paradise Sands, correct?

Hi everyone!

I have been reading a lot regarding Ocean Cay and found some useful (scanned) maps and hints regarding snorkeling (Sunset Beach).

However, I still wonder which beach is the less crowded besides the YC only beach and has enough chairs?

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

The Park itself at St. John has no entry fee from what I learned. However, there is a fee for Trunk Bay.

Regarding the annual pass ($80) if found conflicting or unclear (to me) informations:

At https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm the passes are not mentioned and it says it is $5 per day pass.

At https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/fees.htm it shows different passes, "Interagency Access Pass" should be the $80 annual pass which would be $2.50 for card holder and three guests. Not much but for the four it would be $2.50 vs. $20 per day/visit. Am I correct that the Interageny Access Pass is the same as the Annual Pass and therefor it would be $2.50 entry fee?

Thanks in advance!

Same for Seaside/Seaview. I asked the staff about that at the black party, they said they will get back to me with an answer - but didnt.

Too bad I didn‘t ask the Captain when I met hin on an earlier cruise.

Will ask again onboard in few weeks 🙂

On 1/4/2020 at 5:36 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Yes except on rare occasions the shows are still at 7 and 9 PM.   

Thanks for confirming! 👍

Looking forward to our 4th sailing on the Equinox, this time in somehow new shape 🤩

We will be onboard the Equinox in March for the 4 time - so new carpet, new mattress and new TV sounds promising 😁

Are show times stil 7/9pm?

We most often book A2 and keep it as we don't like the location of the A1s on S-Class ships, even if it would be a "free" upgrade. On Edge we "used" the upgrade to A1 and on another occasion the C3 to C2 bump.

As long as you like the location of the upgrade cabin, it can be a nice thing.

12 hours ago, marieps said:

If you like numbers..

Thanks for sharing. However, you should be careful when printing email to PDF as the links on the very bottom are included and functional and lead to your personal newsletter center to adjust preferences and also show your ATT.NET email address. Next time it might be worse that could happen than just canceling a newsletter for a secondary email address 😉

20 hours ago, itsanita said:

Can you share the name of the Ferries? 

As blue_water stated, the ferries are Smith's and Speedy's.

You can find some additional information at http://www.bvivacation.com/transportation/BVI-Ferry-schedule-virgin-gorda-tortola-speedys-smith.php

Speedy's seems to be up and running from what I read at the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/virgingorda.transport.speedys/

Correct - if there is nothing named, you might not get the benefits from the experiences.

So it seems only upgrade to YC get the (whole) experience.

From what I know, yes - only if there are promotions they will not be added, but dining experience, sun deck, spa access is "included" in the room.

Thank you. We will head to SC and depending on time and if our driver picks us up 😉 we will walk to LB.

Guess both Patricia and Nigel as well as Tropical Fusion can call a "new" driver for us?

Oh and is there any shade at SC/LB by palm trees etc.?

Merry Xmas!

Hi again!

We have been to the Baths and liked it - it was still a bit crowded, so good decision to do this while only our ship was in port!

In March 2020 we will visit Tortola again and now it will be time to head for Smuggler's Cove. Did anything change (to the better) regarding our Plan B (if taxi driver does not return to pick us up)? Signal strength for our cell phones, walking to Long Bay Beach to get a taxi etc.?

I was facing the same question (Tortola diy vs. ship excursion). After checking ferry schedules, I found that departure and return times on ship's excursion was fitting better. When adding up all costs, the ship's excursion was only about 20% more expensive than DIY - so we decided to book through the ship (which usually does not happen).

However, it seems to be very doable so if your time in port fits for the ferry, go for it!

Hi all!

We are visiting Nassau in March, but ship docks late (1pm). We would love to visit a nice, quiet beach and if you can snorkel nearby, that would be awesome.

Been looking into day passes but they are really expensive, we don't need food&drinks and time before sunset is limited... so that would not be worth it.

We are fine using public transportation to get to a less crowded beach... or maybe a 4-5 hours excursion (not through the ship) to a nearby island could be fun, too.

Looking forward to some recommendations as my search here only brought up information regarding day passes. Maybe the best beaches all belong to Hotels 🙄

Thanks!

UP

Thx. So even if my upgrade bid for YC is not accepted, I will get drinks on the island with my package.

On 12/16/2019 at 4:47 PM, deliver42 said:

I used a TA once, and he, too stopped booking MSC due to their telephone hold times.

That seems to be a problem as my TA told me the same, they are so difficult to get through!