LBeeE

We will be new to MSC if we decide to book. Anyone have experience with food allergies on MSC? We are considering Divina (family of 4), daughter has severe peanut & nut allergy. Kids will be 11 & 13 at time of sailing, wondering about kids programs as well.

I looked at all sailings March-Aug 2018, nearly everything from mainland US is on a mega ship with a few exceptions. Guessing they're sending the older "smaller" ships overseas, and primarily banking on US cruisers wanting to book on 5000-6000 passenger ships from here out? Have always loved royal, but, ehhh ... not excited about next year's offerings. While 2 of us would have no issues hopping a plane to PR for the southern sailings, it's a whole different story when you have to pay for a full family to fly. That's the cost of the cruise in airfare. Wish the new offerings were a bit more diverse. Would like to have access to at least 1 Vision or Radiance class ship. Any idea why they don't seem to be basing these in the US anymore?

I called RC a few years ago and asked about Norfolk. I do agree it would be a great option for them to return to Norfolk, and no Bay issues to deal with, still close enough to harness DC area passengers. The person I spoke to said too many people in the immediate Norfolk area were looking for lower priced options than what RC was offering and everyone expected a deal. They were not able to sell the cruises for what they thought the value should be. This is just what I was told. Don't shoot the messenger. In no way, do I speak for the cruise line or their current philosophy. Just passing along what I was told.

Thank you all!!

@ Keesar - My husband & I have been on RC, Carnival and Celebrity. We've never taken our kids. Our daughter has severe food allergies. We've asked on every cruise about allergy policies, and by that I mean we've cornered the head of dining and grilled them with a million specific questions, trying to find the best line with the best policies for the safety of our daughter. Let me just say Celebrity is the only line that has made me feel comfortable. RC had no clue about allergies at all. Carnival was much better, but the food was like Denny's. Yuck. So if we are to take our daughter on a cruise, it will have to be Celebrity. They are the only line that was 100% together and 100% well versed and every dining staff member knew the policies backward and forward.

We just got off Summit a few days ago. With the exception of the sofa in our stateroom looking a bit tired, the rest of the ship looked to be in great conditions. The flooring, walls, armchairs, all looked good. I didn't see any nicks or scratches anywhere, and I didn't see anything (aside from our sofa) that looked like it needed to be replaced. Will be happy to post pictures, if I can figure out how

We were on Summit last week, paid $200 for internet package. It was *passable* the day after we left port, (like dial up in the 90s, painfully slow). From our cabin (deck 9 mid ship) FB messenger (but not FB) & texts (no pictures) worked most of the week, SLOWLY, sometimes multiple attempts to send a text with only words, forget about photos. Forget loading websites the first 5-6x. I was not able to text pics to my kids back home about 1/2 of the time. No videos. While docked in Bermuda it was fine. The other days it was non-existent except in the MDR & Blu. Hope this made sense. Basically I just gave up. If we were in a dining room, I attempted to communicate with my kids via text, and several friends via FB Messenger. Had the kids been with us, or been grown, it would have been a waste. I only paid for it because my kids are tweens and were staying with family.

We are looking at taking our kids on their 1st cruise next March over spring break, the 10-day on Reflection, (they will be 11 & 13 at sailing). We were thinking there may be more kids than usual being spring break (a plus for us), but since it's a 10-day, maybe not. We didn't love the itinerary as much on the 7-day, so we prefer the 10-day. But we also don't want them to be the only kids their age onboard. Thoughts please?!

If staying in Aqua class, can multiple things be ordered from the menu like in the MDR (ie, 2 appetizers)?

I can sympathize, I'm 40 and have invisible disabilities, can't walk or stand for long periods. I get lots of disbelieving looks from other passengers when we cruise since I always get wheelchair transport. They think, "i saw this person who doesn't look sick, standing a minute ago, and now she's in a wheelchair bypassing lines, really??" Of course I'm sitting there thinking, "why would anyone CHOOSE this?"

What's good for someone with mobility issues (can't do much walking/standing - ferry will be too long of a walk), but wants to see Hamilton, St. Georges, historic sites, and do some photography?

Anyone got pictures of fairly recent 7-day Bermuda SUMMIT menus?

Thank you, great links, VERY helpful!!

Does anyone know where I can find MDR Menus for the Escape for June? I'm trying to decide when to reserve specialty dining. Also, what are the hours for the Garden Cafe? Is this where most people eat breakfast, lunch & snacks? I also heard a rumor there might be grilling near the pool? Is this accurate? If so, what is offered & when? We got the specialty dining & drink package when booking, what are the limitations on this? If we decide to have lunch at Margaritaville, does that take away one of the specialty dinner options?

New to NCL. I'm seeing lots of complaints about the food quality. We've only cruised with RCI before. We are booked on NCL escape in June. I never thought the food on RCI was much to talk about, it was passable. Never had anything bad. Biggest complaint was they had no idea how to handle food allergies and offered me nothing that was gluten free despite my filling out the paperwork prior to the cruise. I had to supply my own cracker, bread items, there were zero GF items on our cruises with RCI. And in the MDR I was told each night there was basically nothing I could have from the menu. I ended up with the same plain chicken breast, plain lettuce salad, and baked potato every night. They could have cared-less even when I called after returning home. We are not paying for another cruise with RCI if they can't accommodate serving me food that I can eat. Now I'm very nervous about NCL and don't know what to expect.

Hello, we are new to NCL, (but not new to cruising). We are booked on the Escape in June. Can anyone tell us what's different (we've only been on RCI previously)? Any insider tips much appreciated!

Thank you, some great info here! I'm not sure how to send a message but will keep trying! Looks like a few others are attempting longer term voyages. Should be like Disney park tix, the more days you buy, the more the daily rate decreases. Would be nice anyway.

Thanks all. Well I may have to be creative here. I was told at sea or on the beach, not 2 blocks from it. And yes, you would think I would have found an antihistamine that works, but no lol :(

May seem like a dumb question, I can assure you this is a real question. I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to do an extended cruise (6-8 weeks) without going completely broke. It's for medical purposes. I can't open my door for 6-8 weeks a year without going into anaphalaxis, in the fall (ragweed) nor can I stand up without my heart rate hitting over 200. I've had 2 doctors suggest I try and do an extended cruise every fall, for my health. Ha, wouldn't that be nice?! Right! I have a family, who wouldn't be able to come with me. But my doctors are dead serious. Well, it got me thinking, maybe there is some way to do it, no idea how. I'm guessing they don't give a discount for a single passenger on a back-to-back-to-back-to-back etc? I would even be willing to work for 8 weeks for free passage away from land, but somehow I don't see anyone getting a job on a cruise ship for only 8 weeks, I think they have multi-month contracts. So as dumb as this post may seem, I'm serious. Trying to figure out if it's possible to live on a cruise ship for 6-8 weeks without going broke.

And still have a wide age-range of passengers? I'm not looking for ultra-small (elite) like 100-400, but I'm also not looking for 2000+ Just looking around for a different experience next time, preferably with a mix of ages, and not sure where to look. Would enjoy a more personalized experience and would like to visit some ports that can't be accessed by large mega ships. We also don't want to be the only passengers onboard under age 40 with kids.

Haha, also, you don't need to be wealthy to own a boat and travel on it. Only to afford gas for it :) You can get around that with a hybird or sailboat though. We often hear of young families who sail all over the place and homeschool their children onboard. I wouldn't consider them wealthy or elite. Many boat/yacht owners are really just normal people, they just choose to spend their disposable income differently. They don't usually dress up, aren't elite, and just enjoy traveling and being on the water. They don't "rub elbows" with the rich and famous that I'm aware of :) Many are into fishing & wildlife concervency :)

Thank you for asking this question. We were curious too. We are considering Windstar after 3 RCI cruises. We are much more into the destinations and opportunities to learn about & enjoy the ports we are visiting, than being herded around with the masses on canned-campy excursions, and "nickel & dimed" to death. We are late 30s. I'm not sure whether we will be able to bring our 2 children since Windstar is much more expensive. They are both intellectual, quiet & respectful elementary school-age. This is something we would really like to try at some point.

No insulting or bitterness was intended. I guess I feel that I would rather pay for a cruise that goes somewhere I can't get to in my car. I guess it depends on where you live and what you have access to in the way of vacations. Due to our location we have easy access to the gorgeous quiet NC beaches every summer. And we do 1-2 beach trips a year. To us, it isn't as appealing to use one of our stops on a Port C area beach, since we've already had the opportunity of a private east coast beach at least 1x a year. We've already done the space center. It guess it's all relative based on where you are coming from and what you are hoping to spend time doing on your vacation. This was not meant to insult Port C, only to say I wouldn't want to use it as a port of call stop for us. However, we do enjoy Port C as an embarkation port since we can drive it in 1 (very long) day. What it sort of seems to us, is that instead of RCI using gas and port fees to take us somewhere exotic we can't drive to, (or afford airfare to), they're swapping instead for Port C, (which has to cost the cruise line considerably less). It's just not an itinerary I would *think* most people with access to east coast beaches would jump to do more than once.

Well just in case any RCI people read these threads, (which I'm guessing they probably don't), I will add my 2 cents, since I doubt I will ever spend the energy and time to actually call them and say the following:

Yes, I agree with the above, unless going to the space center, waste of a port stop. It's a drivable embarkation port for so many people in the US that I can't imagine going on a cruise with Port Canaveral as a stop. We drove there from DC area, even with Baltimore, and NY/NJ closer, because they had a ship & itinerary we were interested in. Get there a day ahead and see the space center (and/or) beach area on Saturday before embarking on Sunday, IMO.

I do not say this to start any arguments, only to say, I have looked at MANY RCI cruises in the past year, ready to book on a quick getaway, ("shut up and take my money" mentality, literally ready to throw money at the 1st suitable cruse I find), and so often the ones I see available that would work for us date/cost wise, are CoCo Cay & Port Canaveral as ports (not embarkation) - and I say "NOOOOOOO WAY RCI - What are you thinking?! Forget it!"

So for us personally, not to begin an argument, I think the vast number of weeklong cruises I've seen with 2/3 of the stops being CoCo Cay and Port Canaveral, are a waste. RCI could have sold us an additional 2-4 cruises in the past year alone, had they offered something better than this itinerary. This of course is my personal opinion. Not to begin an arguement. I don't see how they will be able to keep up with this particular itinerary in the same cruise, because once you've done Port Canaveral and CoCo Cay once, that's pretty much enough for most people. Don't need to go back.

Again, I just say the above opinions in the rare & unlikely event some RCI person sees it. And yes, it digresses and doesn't answer the OP's question.

OP - It's a very large port/shipyard. I can't see being able to "walk to anything" interesting should you decide to "go it alone" in the shipyard. I do have several photos of the entire shipyard area but I don't know how to upload them. All of the above are my opinions to RCI, not to make you feel badly about the cruise you have booked. If you've never been, it will be something new and interesting for you to fill your day there with.

I have to agree with what stlouiscruisers posted: "I have to disagree with what you said. Cruise contract or not, any business worth their salt would offer apples to apples. I think it is insulting to throw the contract in someone's face when they have a legitimate complaint. If you are price protected for a 14 day cruise that is what you should be offered and not for a 10 day cruise. Royal should take the hit on profit and give them carte blanche on any 14 day cruise. IMHO they are not getting what they paid for if they purchased 14 days and get 10, in this case only RCI wins."

I'm a little shocked and saddened at the type of responses the OP is getting when he/she came here for help/advice, and 98% of the responses basically say "too bad, you should have known better". Shame on you.

To the OP - yes, call RCI and tell them what St.louiscruisers said. See if you can get a better alternative. Tell them you are new to this and were unsure what you were switching to. I'm sure it was all very overwhelming for you to pick on the spot like that. If you can't find a suitable alternative tell them you would like your money back. In the meanwhile, maybe look into a back-up plan. If you had your heart set on a holiday cruise, see what other cruise lines are offering around the same time.

Good luck to you!

Is that Carnival's dress code?:D LOL