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Just off the Armonia (Cuba/Christmas)

lmfinney

By lmfinney,
in MSC Cruises

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NCTribeFan

NCTribeFan

Posted
Posted

I finally booked.  Bit of a mess, as when my TA tried to book under the 5+15 (yes, it reappeared for a few days), the MSC agent didn't see it.  I had it pulled up right here on my laptop, so I went ahead and booked online with the intent to transfer to her.  When I got my confirmation, it showed us in 2 different cabins with a balance of double.  So, I called MSC yesterday and got us removed from one of the cabins.  That young woman seemed to know what she was doing.  I then realized this morning that I was in a HC cabin.  Yes, it's possible to book them knowing you could be bumped, but I would never intentionally book one.  Unfortunately, the young man I spoke to this didn't seem nearly as competent because when he moved us down the hall, the price went up.  Sigh.  Going to let my TA deal with MSC once I get the booking transferred to her.

 

Anyway, time to start planning.  Going to head to the Cuba board to do some reading.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the dinners on Divina last month.  I'm not much of a fan of buffets, but I certainly didn't go hungry.  I was pleased with the breakfast choices.  Sure, the ship's double the size of Armonia, but she's large enough that there should be a decent selection.  As long as I can find some protein in the morning, I'll be fine.

 

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Jerryr11

Jerryr11

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16 hours ago, Sailgal05 said:

Jerryr11-as dancers, what did you think of the Tropicana? Wish we could dance like that!

Were you the lovely couple that would dance in the lounges? If so, you were wonderful to watch.

As dancers, we really enjoyed the Tropicana Show but we also enjoyed the dancers on the Ship and actually thought they were better, as were the singers on the ship. Of course, there weren't nearly as many dancers on the ship (10 vs about 200) and their costumes weren't as over the top but they were good.  This clearly wasn't our style of dancing but we do enjoy watching a good show. Yes, we did dance in the lounges whenever we could. Much of the music wasn't really our thing and we wish there was more: ballroom, swing, Country music or even a polka, but we were able to make the most of the few that fit our style and practice a few we don't get a chance to do often.  We enjoyed the entertainment and had a good time.

 

Thanks for the comment. 

 

Jerry and Joan

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AntiPincess

AntiPincess

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Posted

Thank you for this. I was just considering this cruise and came to CC looking for just this kind of information. It's incredibly helpful. 

 

While the schedules that were posted seem to answer these questions, I want to confirm:

Is there no art auction/gallery/program on board?

I didn't notice any piano bar or karaoke. Are there any activities like that?

 

Thanks again!

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Sailgal05

Sailgal05

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8 hours ago, Jerryr11 said:

As dancers, we really enjoyed the Tropicana Show but we also enjoyed the dancers on the Ship and actually thought they were better, as were the singers on the ship. Of course, there weren't nearly as many dancers on the ship (10 vs about 200) and their costumes weren't as over the top but they were good.  This clearly wasn't our style of dancing but we do enjoy watching a good show. Yes, we did dance in the lounges whenever we could. Much of the music wasn't really our thing and we wish there was more: ballroom, swing, Country music or even a polka, but we were able to make the most of the few that fit our style and practice a few we don't get a chance to do often.  We enjoyed the entertainment and had a good time.

 

Thanks for the comment. 

 

Jerry and Joan

Oh my gosh, those two women on the ship who sang had wonderful “pipes”!!

Can you imagine singing and dancing for over two plus hours? If I did that, I’d be swelt like them 🙂

What energy! 

If the music wasn’t your thing, you still did a fantastic job of owning the dance floor!

Thank you for the entertainment.

 

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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 1/16/2019 at 8:09 AM, NCTribeFan said:

According to MSC's website, we US residents get to pay $75 for the visa while onboard the ship.  I'm assuming it's just charged to our onboard account, but I should probably double-check that.  Don't want to have to stand in line at the service desk for an hour to make a separate payment!  But if you have to physically obtain a visa while on the ship to show when you disembark, I'd hope they have a system to make it fairly painless to obtain!

 

MSC provides the form in your cabin

 

20190126_085257.thumb.jpg.799ea6451be0722c752e06b443f2b4e8.jpg

 

We received ours when in Cayman Islands.  If you mess them up you have to pay for new ones so be extra careful when filling them in.  The cost for the visa is added to your onboard account.  As Irish citizens, ours cost $50 pp ... I believe it's $75 for US.  If you don't intend to go ashore in Cuba you must return the blank forms to Guest Services ... otherwise you'll be charged for them.  They are individually numbered so need to be accounted for.

Edited by Beamafar
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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

Posted
Posted
On 1/24/2019 at 7:02 PM, Cruiser933 said:

It seems like several recent reviews complain about problems getting off in ports.  Does anyone know how long to expect it to take to get on shore in Grand Cayman?  I have a third party tour booked and I am worried we won't make it.  We are supposed to have priority tendering.

 

We had priority tendering this week.  You don't have to get a ticket ... you should receive priority tickets to your cabin.  However you have to skip everyone in the queue.  DH got verbally abused for doing this.  We were on the first tender across.  Someone DH spoke to complained that it took them 2 hours to get across!

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sidari

sidari

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10 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 

We had priority tendering this week.  You don't have to get a ticket ... you should receive priority tickets to your cabin.  However you have to skip everyone in the queue.  DH got verbally abused for doing this.  We were on the first tender across.  Someone DH spoke to complained that it took them 2 hours to get across!

Maybe they need to spend more money and get to the same level then Bea ...😀

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NCTribeFan

NCTribeFan

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Beamafar - thanks for the pic of the visas!

 

Two hours to get a tender to GC?  Seriously?  Are they rowing people across?

 

I detest ship excursions and, imho, this is just a means to twist arms to get people to book through the ship - that worry that they'll miss their excursion.

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lmfinney

lmfinney

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Posted
8 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

Beamafar - thanks for the pic of the visas!

 

Two hours to get a tender to GC?  Seriously?  Are they rowing people across?

 

I detest ship excursions and, imho, this is just a means to twist arms to get people to book through the ship - that worry that they'll miss their excursion.

 

Wow, that wasn't our experience at all. We left on the first tender, and we were able to just walk directly on board the tender without any wait. And then we came back a couple hours before the last call, and we had the same experience.

 

So, maybe the message is not to delay!

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NCTribeFan

NCTribeFan

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But if I don't book a ship excursion, and you don't get a tender ticket, don't they just have mobs of people trying to tender over at the same time?  I'm confused yet again.

 

I've only tendered on Carnival and HAL.  I get priority on Carnival, but on HAL I had to get a tender ticket and sit in the main theater and wait.  Had an independent excursion and we were late (but so were others on the tour).

 

I think it's already been asked in this thread so forgive me if I'm repeating the question.  DD is going to need to keep in touch with work so we'll need an internet package.  She'll need access to email so the mid-level package will probably suffice.

 

How's the connection?  I'm guessing fairly slow, as has been the case on every other ship, with some areas having better reception than others.

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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Alimo711 said:

Saw a deal on TravelZoo, and they mention that the ship was recently renovated. Any idea what was done??

 

They've added a speciality restaurant, Surf n' Turf, onboard which has a very limited menu which I posted - along with photos of what we had - on the following thread:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2631573-notes-from-armonia-miami-havana-jan-2019

 

The ship is fantastic condition considering she's 15 years old (MSC, to their credit, look after their ships really well);  she was 'stretched' during the Renaissance programme between Aug and Nov 2014, so you could say that some of the ship is still young enough!  I posted a photo of a wonderful book I received on Armonia about the Renaissance programme.

 

 

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sailawaybellaluna Great Review Rare

sailawaybellaluna

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I'm so happy I found this review! I'm looking to book the Armonia for my family (husband, myself and two kids) for our Spring Break next year!

 

One very basic question: what's the best way to book? I typically book through the cruiseline directly, but I'm not sure about MSC? OP, I'd love the EXACT same cabin you snagged, but I don't see it on the website. Can you tell me the "category"? How did you book this?

 

Also, does the Armonia have a proper medical station / doctor onboard? The one reason we're not doing a land tour of Cuba with our kids is because my husband (the one fluent in Spanish who was actually born in Latin America 🙂 ) is concerned of a medical emergency or something with the children - in a place with hardly no internet where we would have to depend on only cash currency. Hence, the reason we're considering a cruise there instead. We have super healthy kids, but I wanted to ask, just in case! (We did once end up hospitalized in Prague with our little one, and had another medical emergency in Bucharest with the other one, so I seem to think ahead and plan for these things)!

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AerynSun_JohnCrighton

AerynSun_JohnCrighton

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On 1/14/2019 at 1:12 AM, pamrose228 said:

When we were in Cuban last week we hired via the internet a tour company Cuban Connections who did everything for us.  For two days no worries.   Met us at the ship day one took us on a lengthly walking tour, then had a classic car waiting for us (Belair 54) for the rest of day and evening.   Instead of Tropicana we went to the Le Parisean at the Hotel Nacional and the car and tour guide were there to meet us and bring us back to ship (at midnight)  The tour guide also brought us back to the ship at 7 to freshen up and eat dinner and brought through Havana at evening at 8:30.   Next day he meet us at 9 aa with a pink chevy 62 convertible.  He bought us to sights that no big bus operator would bring people.  e.g. we went to the site of the Cuban Missile Crisis with the downed American plane and the missile pointing toward USA.

 

It costs us around 300 Euros for the 2 days but well worth it no extra taxis to the clubs, etc.  Also the guide knew exactly the right place to buy cigars, rum, shirts, etc/

Do you have an email or website for them?

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