First Cruise (Aug). Overwhelmed. First Steps?

[CruisnDeb]

7 minutes ago, Agrajag27 said:

 

There was never a chance of that not being the case with this. You should see us plan Disney. heheh My father-in-law loves to tell people he thinks of it "fondly" as the Bataan Death March.

@Agrajag27 I am getting ready to take what I think is my 15th cruise overall that will be on the Seashore this fall.  I STILL overthink it, I STILL watch all the videos, I STILL look up daily programs from past cruisers....it's ingrained in me to be prepared lol.

Edited May 10 by CruisnDeb

[SailorfromBrazil]

Hi!

 

Take a look at this Tech Guide. There are a lot of info about the ship, including detailed floor plans.

 

I'm just like you, on my first cruise I've searched for every video about the Grandiosa LOL...

Take your time and enjoy!

 

 

 

[Agrajag27]

1 hour ago, SailorfromBrazil said:

Take a look at this Tech Guide.

 

Now THAT is going to come in handy! WOW. The spreadsheet alone is a gold-mine.

[Agrajag27]

Okay, so what about these Thermal options we have (as Aura Experience). It appears that we get ACCESS to this section due to being at least Aurea

 

What the heck are these things (no one at MSC could tell me):

 

-Dark/Bright Sensory Steam Bath 

 Sounds like a steam room, but dark/bright "sensory"? Marketing?

 

-Geyser Kneipp

 WHAT?! If you google it you get some Kneipp company that sells facial/body products.

-Finnish Sauna

 Assuming this is a "sauna".

 

-Emotional showers

 I assume they beat bad passengers above me and I get to shower in their tears? Seriously, I assume this is perhaps not a service you book, but one type of shower after the sauna?

 

-Salt Relax

Sounds like a float tank which, if so, I fell in love with on a recent vacation.

 

-Snow Room

This one I don't get. How does someone spend more than 12 seconds in a room filled with snow?

-Heated benches

FINALLY. Something that sounds like something obvious.

 

-Blower pool

Jacuzzi pool perhaps?

 

It also seems unclear if we can use this at ALL without a pass/paying something. I think we have to pay something. They said we can get a couple pass for like $480 for the duration, but is that unlimited access (with reservations) during the cruise?

[Agrajag27]

Phew. Had a near-disaster. I was on with a rep and going over some things and I mentioned that none of my add-ons are showing in the web interface. She said, "What add-ons?" I explained we paid $140 for an upgrade to Premium drinks package and she said, "I don't see that anywhere." I KNOW it was there. So I find it on my first confirmation. I explain it. She digs deeper and we realize someone on their side just refunded it for no reason. At first she was like, "Well, what if the price is higher now?" Uh, that's not my problem. So she finally got the okay to just add it back in. Good thing I saw that, but it STILL isn't appearing in the add-ons section of the web interface. 

[Illbcruzn4life]

5 minutes ago, Agrajag27 said:

Phew. Had a near-disaster. I was on with a rep and going over some things and I mentioned that none of my add-ons are showing in the web interface. She said, "What add-ons?" I explained we paid $140 for an upgrade to Premium drinks package and she said, "I don't see that anywhere." I KNOW it was there. So I find it on my first confirmation. I explain it. She digs deeper and we realize someone on their side just refunded it for no reason. At first she was like, "Well, what if the price is higher now?" Uh, that's not my problem. So she finally got the okay to just add it back in. Good thing I saw that, but it STILL isn't appearing in the add-ons section of the web interface. 

My buddy had his gender as female. Called to get it changed and the rep wiped out his whole reservation.

[Agrajag27]

44 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

My buddy had his gender as female. Called to get it changed and the rep wiped out his whole reservation.

 

This last rep said it's what reps do when they don't know the answer to a problem. Not good. 

[Agrajag27]

Rep assures me that the Aurea Experience allows us to book the Thermal Suite without having to pay anything else, all cruise. That could be more clear on the website. If I had one major complaint as a new cruiser, their website developer needs to get a talking-to. So many things are wrong on it, missing, or not clear.

[CruisnDeb]

1 hour ago, Agrajag27 said:

Rep assures me that the Aurea Experience allows us to book the Thermal Suite without having to pay anything else, all cruise. That could be more clear on the website. If I had one major complaint as a new cruiser, their website developer needs to get a talking-to. So many things are wrong on it, missing, or not clear.

Yep. That is one of the biggest complaints about MSC the other is the reps screwing up the reservation when you call for a small change. 
 

My first MSC cruise on the Divina, we had an Aurea front corner 1 bedroom cabin with a large balcony (I believe these are suites now.)  I would log into my account to check on my reservation and would find they moved us to a regular balcony cabin. They did this at least 3 times. Luckily I had a TA for that booking so they had the joy of calling and getting us moved back. 

[Cruzinforpeace***]

important Cruising Tip:

Make sure if you’re using the ship internet plan to put your phone in airplane mode and cellular data off.  If you forget you may have to pay thousands of dollars in roaming fees.

[awatt]

I would recommend you take a tour of the spa your first afternoon. They will show you all the different rooms and answer your questiins.  It takes about 15 minutes.

[Agrajag27]

6 hours ago, awatt said:

I would recommend you take a tour of the spa your first afternoon. They will show you all the different rooms and answer your questiins.  It takes about 15 minutes.

 

Great idea for that period before we leave port. 

[Agrajag27]

Are all reservations able to be done easily, even the first day? I don't mean are they easy to get. Are they easy to try to get, or does one need to go to Guest Services or such, which would go against the many warnings of avoiding there on the first day or two.

[Essiesmom]

Guest Services would not have anything to do with the Spa.  There is a reception desk within the spa that would handle reservations.  EM

[Agrajag27]

3 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Guest Services would not have anything to do with the Spa.  There is a reception desk within the spa that would handle reservations.  EM

 

My thinking is to do a bunch of reservations at once; for the spa, for special dinners, for shows, etc.

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, Agrajag27 said:

 

My thinking is to do a bunch of reservations at once; for the spa, for special dinners, for shows, etc.

But they still are not handle by Guest Services.  The Spa handles the spa, although I think you can do it in the app.  You can reserve the shows in the app or on the interactive screens located about the ship.  I believe you can make the dinner reservations in the app, or at the restaurants themselves.  Not sure if you can do that on the screens.  EM

[GJB1960]

A couple comments about the thermal spa….  After spending time in the sauna, go to the snow room and you will understand and appreciate it.  They have hot stone loungers by the jacuzzi that are wonderful.  It was my DW favorite spot.  The light and dark rooms are steam rooms.  The light one changes the colors in the room while enjoying the eucalyptus scented steam.  The dark room is exactly that, steam, in a dark environment, with scented steam. 
 

we just got off the ship on 5/5, and enjoyed the thermal spa very much.   

[Agrajag27]

3 minutes ago, GJB1960 said:

A couple comments about the thermal spa….  After spending time in the sauna, go to the snow room and you will understand and appreciate it.

 

That explains it. I grew up playing ice hockey and people couldn't understand why we'd often practice in light gear, often as little as a t-shirt and still be hot. 

 

3 minutes ago, GJB1960 said:

It was my DW favorite spot.

 

What is DW?

 

3 minutes ago, GJB1960 said:

we just got off the ship on 5/5, and enjoyed the thermal spa very much.   

 

Thanks for this. We're looking for unique things, so this sounds like a major positive. Any comment on the types of showers or what the heck a Geyser Kneipp might be?

[GJB1960]

Darling wife

[GJB1960]

The only shower we used was the sensory shower.  It is 4 different shower flows.  You start with the first station, when it shuts off the second station starts, etc etc.  The water temperatures change between cold and warm as you move through the stations.  It was refreshing.   There were other shower systems, but we did not try them.   

[SailorfromBrazil]

20 minutes ago, Agrajag27 said:

What is DW?

DW: Dear Wife
DH: Dear Husband
MIL/FIL: In Laws
YC: Yacht Club, and so on...

[Agrajag27]

Can anyone elaborate on how seats are assigned to shows? Is it purely first-come/first-served? Seems crazy for up to 1,200 people.

[Essiesmom]

Seats themselves are not assigned.  It is the space that is assigned. this is to assure that there are not more people crowding into the theater than there are seats.  EM

[SailorfromBrazil]

8 hours ago, Agrajag27 said:

Can anyone elaborate on how seats are assigned to shows? Is it purely first-come/first-served? Seems crazy for up to 1,200 people.

 

In our last sailing in Grandiosa, there were 3 presentations each night.

 

You'll make a reservation at the MSC app on your session of choice.

 

The theater was almost always full (945 seats), but I've never seen any confusion.

 

There will be a small space reserved to YC guests.

 

Just try not to arrive too late and you'll be fine!

 

BTW, check out your daily planner, there are activities throughout the day in the Theater as well, I've been in a Master Chef contest that was very entertaining.

[Agrajag27]

Does anyone know if you MUST wait until you board to connect a credit card to your room (via the kiosks I hear about) or can you provide one via the app and/or website to skip that step?