**Live** MSC Seascape 9/21-9/28 & 9/28-10/5 Caribbean Cruise

[DaKahuna]

Our journey began yesterday when we drove from our house to our pre-flight hotel.  We always stay at the Marriott Suites Washington Dulles before our morning flights.  It’s about a 20 minute drive from our house and offers garage parking at a lower price than the open lot at Dulles.   We arrived at the hotel around 1550 in the afternoon, checked in and then relaxed in our room until we went to the hotel restaurant for supper.  They use to have the best French Onion Soup here but sadly it has not returned since the restaurant re-opened post COVID. 

 

We took the free shuttle 0630 from the hotel to the airport for our 0900 flight.  Everything went smoothly until we approached the Clear / TSA Pre area closest to the United check in counter.  The line for both Clear and TSA Pre was jammed packed with people.  As we approached, one of the folks from Clear quietly whispered to the couple in front of us and to us that they had just had 4 of the TSA scanners go down but if we walked to the far end of the terminal, that Clear and Tsa Pre station was opened and was not crowded.  So we stepped out of line and made our way down to the far end of the terminal. There were three people ahead of us in the Clear line and we quickly proceeded through Clear and TSA and made our way to the United Club near Gate C-17.  Our flight boarded uneventfully and pulled away from the gate 5 minutes early.  

 

There was very little turbulence on the way down to Miami and we arrived 12 minutes earlier than scheduled.  Then it was a matter of waiting for our bags to arrive.  We landed around 1127 and bags from our flight started arriving at baggage clam about 30 minutes late.  But all three bags arrived safe and sound.  

 

Here are some pictures of the cruise terminal I took on our approach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We elected to take a ride share and after selecting Lyft XL, we had about a 7 minute wait for the ride, we proceeded directly to the hotel. 

 

We arrived and our room was ready.  We spent a little time relaxing and are now headed to grab some lunch. 

 

Here’s the view ofhe cruise port from our room,

 

 

[MonsterJoe]

dot

 

my turn to start drooling...no, anticipating our next cruise and enjoy vicariously through you.

Edited Friday at 07:34 PM by MonsterJoe

[morpheusofthesea]

1 minute ago, MonsterJoe said:

dot

 

my turn to start drooling...no, anticipating our next cruise and enjoy vicariously through you.

I suggest an adult bib when reading this thread.

[mahdnc]

John, I will be following along with your sailings.  How do you like the Marriott so far?

[Scottdalfonso]

looking forward  to your reports!!

[Cjkfree]

Following along!  
 

…..as long as I’m replying to the correct thread this time.

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

John, I will be following along with your sailings.  How do you like the Marriott so far?

 

 I like the hotel but then again, we only went to the hotel restaurant and then came back to the room where we both took a nice nap.   

 We booked a bay view room and the view is worth the extra cost in my view.  The hotel room is very nice and has been updated as this is an older hotel.  

 

 I found the prices in the hotel restaurant a little bit much and they automatically included an 18% gratuity in the bill.  Guess they are taking a note from the cruise ships. 

 

 We would definitely stay here again.  

 

[mahdnc]

45 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I like the hotel but then again, we only went to the hotel restaurant and then came back to the room where we both took a nice nap.   

 We booked a bay view room and the view is worth the extra cost in my view.  The hotel room is very nice and has been updated as this is an older hotel.  

 

 I found the prices in the hotel restaurant a little bit much and they automatically included an 18% gratuity in the bill.  Guess they are taking a note from the cruise ships. 

 

 We would definitely stay here again.  

 

 

There is a lot of hustle bustle at the hotel.

[DaKahuna]

23 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

There is a lot of hustle bustle at the hotel.

 

 We noticed that there was not the usual two bottles of water in the room so on the way back from dinner I stopped by the front desk and asked for water commenting that there was no water in the room when we checked in.  The guy at the desk informed me that they did not provide water any longer but he went in the back and got me three bottles of water. 

 

 There is a small shopping mall, emphasis on small, attached to the hotel, and there is an Asian Fusion restaurant named Tanka.  We went there for dinner.  Again prices are what you would expect for the Waikiki of Florida, but I enjoyed the Singapore Rice Noodles and my DW enjoyed her chicken chow mien.  

 

 

[mahdnc]

In case anyone is interested, I did post a quick review of the hotel when we stayed there in April 2024: link

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

In case anyone is interested, I did post a quick review of the hotel when we stayed there in April 2024: link

 

 Our view is almost the same, even though we are a floor lower and two doors further down the hall, 2706.  But it looks identical to your room.

 

 Some additional notes —

 For those that qualify the M-Club here looks nice.  We did not get downstairs until shortly after it had closed. 

 

 Hours of operation are:

 

 Sunday - Thursday 0630 - 2200

 Friday - Saturday. 0630 - 1400

 

 Breakfast 

 Monday - Sunday. 0630 - 0930

 

 Hors d’Oeuvers 

 Sunday - Thursday  1700 - 1930 

 

So like most places between 1400 on Friday until 0630 on Sunday the only time the lounge is open is 0630 - 0930.  

 

Here’s two night time pictures of the cruise port 

Normal view

 

 

Zoomed in and cropped.

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

Good morning -  Welcome to embarkation day. 

 

 Apparently my calculations were wrong and the ship arrived and turned around while I was still sleeping.  However, it is good to see our home for the next 14 days at the pier. 

 

 We have a 1000 Lyft reservation and I am told that the drive is about 15 minutes. Hopefully the YC tent will be open by then and we can board quickly. 

 

 

 

For now it is time to make ready for the day and then head down for breakfast. 

 

 

[mahdnc]

20 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Good morning -  Welcome to embarkation day. 

 

 Apparently my calculations were wrong and the ship arrived and turned around while I was still sleeping.  However, it is good to see our home for the next 14 days at the pier. 

 

 We have a 1000 Lyft reservation and I am told that the drive is about 15 minutes. Hopefully the YC tent will be open by then and we can board quickly. 

 

 

 

For now it is time to make ready for the day and then head down for breakfast. 

 

 

Not that I knew better (I didn’t), but I was wondering if the ship would arrive earlier than you expected. And I see that she did indeed turnaround on her way in. 
 

Have a very nice cruise, John. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

Was just thinking I hope DK does a live of his cruise and here it is!  
 

Will be following along. Happy embarkation day! 🥂

[Best Cat Mom]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

the ship arrived and turned around while I was still sleeping

We were in and turned around already at 4:50am. Could have been earlier but that was when we first noticed the lights of the port.

 

We are having breakfast now,  again looking up the stern of Icon of the Seas. I'll give a shout here when we're in the process of customs turnaround so you have an idea of when you'll begin boarding. 

 

So excited to have you join us!

Edited Saturday at 12:37 PM by Best Cat Mom

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

Have a very nice cruise, John. 

 

Thanks Dave.  I trust you’ll continue to hold down the fort on the roll call and I’ll check in from time to time as best I can but my primary focus will be here for the next two weeks. 

 

18 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

I'll give a shout here when we're in the process of customs turnaround so you have an idea of when you'll begin boarding. 

 

Don’t go through any effort but I appreciate it. 

 

We’ve had our breakfast, our bags are repacked, and read to take downstairs for our 1000 departure.  I am sure we’ll be well taken care of at the terminal until we can board. 

 

[billc23]

Following along. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. I was on the Seascape for my first MSC cruise in July and booked the same b2b you are doing for January 2025. Have a great trip!

[Best Cat Mom]

We're in TSL waiting to go to customs so I don't have my PC to do this as precisely as I'd like. 

 

This image is a view from our balcony of the turn in. The taxi on the left is making the wide turn, that goes to the YC tent. You don't want to be in the lanes to the right of the island as they are turning to where the 'regular' porters take luggage.

[Best Cat Mom]

We're now downstairs waiting to exit. Left TSL at 10:12am.

[DaKahuna]

The turn in was a zoo.  People/cars leaving the parking terminal next to the ship. 
our driver dropped us off about ten car lengths from the YC tent. 
 We walked and dropped our bags off and then we escorted into the AC in the terminal. 
we left the Hotel at 0958 and at 1020 were in the terminal.  
There is about 25-30 of us inside waiting for security screening to open and our Butlers to arrive and start pampering us.

 

Edited Saturday at 02:37 PM by DaKahuna

[DaKahuna]

We are going through the security screening now

[DaKahuna]

We are in the YC checkin area. 
No beverages yet 😞 

[morpheusofthesea]

You have to turn your clocks back an hour tonight....

[morpheusofthesea]

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We are in the YC checkin area. 
No beverages yet 😞 

We seen passengers in the steerage line downing miniatures while waiting.

[DaKahuna]

Got our wristbands.  Waiting with others to be escorted.