MSC (first time)

[steveknj]

15 hours ago, nferr said:

  I'm on the Meraviglia right now. I booked the dining package way back on line. Three nights in the specialty restaurants for $71 or just about $24 per.  Yes you eat off the experience menu but at that price it's a no brainer. I already tried the Ocean Cay seafood restaurant and the Teriyaki hibachi. Both were excellent. Tomorrow night I'm doing Butchers Cut steakhouse.  I know they raised the price of the package quite a bit recently.

 

On my three day cruise on the Seashore, it was $99 for two meals pp and it was limited to ONLY the Steakhouse and Tepenyaki.    While I would have enjoyed the steakhouse, we've done the Tepenyaki on other cruise lines and it's fine, but really, nothing I need to do again.   $71 for 3 nights sounds like a really good deal.   Maybe next time if that's offered we'd take it.

[steveknj]

18 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

I’ll agree wholeheartedly that MSC’s post-covid muster is substandard. 
 

What possible reason can there be for making everyone go to a muster station at the same time, only to be clocked in?  The resulting run for an up elevator is so unnecessarily unpleasant. And before hand, making everyone climb up or down multiple flights of internal stairs without having a good system in place for those who can’t is a mistake.  (This includes not only those with physical challenges, but families with small children. We saw one poor guy with two small kids, one on his shoulders, one in hand, climbing down 6 flights of stairs. Far more likely to suffer an injury there than endure a sinking!)
 

(We were in YC. DH has a bad knee right now and can’t do stairs. First we were lied to despite a direct question as to whether we could take the elevator down (“yes of course” —— err,  nope), and no record was made of any handicap that might require assistance in the event of an actual emergency. I can only imagine it to be worse in steerage…)

 

(JK with that last quip 😀)

 

Thinking about this more, I'm really surprised with newer technologies that use interactive TV, that none of these cruise lines have made it just REALLY simple.  You get into your cabin, you turn to whatever channel has the muster instructions, you thumb up that you've watched the video, and your done.   It's that simple.  NCL's kinda/sorta works that way in that you could watch the video on your phone prior to your cruise, and then you just check in with someone on the ship, where they check that you've acknowledged that you watched the video on your device.   I think that's where they need to do at this point.

[davy jones]

21 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

Davy Jones (love your moniker!), what ship were you on?  Some do have very good kid water parks. (Divina does not for example, but IIRC Seaside and ilk do. 

Meraviglia.  The water park and ropes course were small compared to the newer ships on the other 3 mass market lines.  (At least I thought so when passing by.

[DaKahuna]

16 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

TSL will be open and serving whenever you get back there.  🙂

 

 We sail on Super Bowl Sunday so will most likely be in the room to watch the game vs the Top Sail Lounge where there are no TV's that I have seen. 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

1 minute ago, DaKahuna said:

We sail on Super Bowl Sunday so will most likely be in the room to watch the game vs the Top Sail Lounge where there are no TV's that I have seen.

True that there are no permanent TVs in TSL. I have seen on this board where YC added a special celebration for the game. Not sure if boarding day is too soon to have developed a relationship with staff where they'd want to accommodate fans of American football in a special way. Also, that first day might be too hectic with all else going on. (This is when the European-style of boarding at multiple ports may have been an advantage.)

 

Just a thought -- if there are enough B2Bers interested, maybe it could have been pre-arranged? I don't know if YC Director Pepe is a football fan, but I do know that is very interested in keeping his YC guests happy. 🙂

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

True that there are no permanent TVs in TSL. I have seen on this board where YC added a special celebration for the game. Not sure if boarding day is too soon to have developed a relationship with staff where they'd want to accommodate fans of American football in a special way. Also, that first day might be too hectic with all else going on. (This is when the European-style of boarding at multiple ports may have been an advantage.)

 

Just a thought -- if there are enough B2Bers interested, maybe it could have been pre-arranged? I don't know if YC Director Pepe is a football fan, but I do know that is very interested in keeping his YC guests happy. 🙂

 

 I am not overly concerned about it.  I do not have a vested interest and I am not a supporter of either of the two teams playing and more than likely will miss the first half due to dinner.  

 

 I am sure if watching it in the room is impractical, I'll be able to find a bar somewhere that has the game on and can relax and watch it there.  Worse case scenario, I take my iPad and ear buds and go to the Top Sail Lounge and watch it there.  

 

 

 

[TrinaLC]

8 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I am not overly concerned about it.  I do not have a vested interest and I am not a supporter of either of the two teams playing and more than likely will miss the first half due to dinner.  

 

 I am sure if watching it in the room is impractical, I'll be able to find a bar somewhere that has the game on and can relax and watch it there.  Worse case scenario, I take my iPad and ear buds and go to the Top Sail Lounge and watch it there.  

 

 

 

The playoffs were available in room TV (Jan 2024) but more fun to watch in the sports bar with multiple tvs and “fans”. (Divina).  

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, TrinaLC said:

The playoffs were available in room TV (Jan 2024) but more fun to watch in the sports bar with multiple tvs and “fans”. (Divina).  

Thanks.  The Sports Bar is one of the ones I had in mind.  Expect it will be super crowded though.