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New to MSC; have some questions


Kaibigan

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Up till now, I've loved going on RCI. And now I have the opportunity to go on the Opera on March 26, (I believe the Easter sailing).

 

My questions are, does anyone know what the children's program is like? (My son is 7.) And how many formal nights on a 7 night cruise? And I've heard there is a dress code that is ship-wide after a certain time in the evenings. Anyone know for sure?

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Have no young children myself but a friend with an 8 year old son said he had a ball.

Normally 2 formal nights on a 7 day cruise.

Have NEVER encountered a ship-wide dress code and think it would be completely un-enforcable so would certainly not worry on that score.

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On Lirica the kids were looked after at the "Pirates" kids club most of the day from what I could see, they were kept busy and happy by some of the entertainment team.

There was no dress code enforced in the evenings after dinner, and at dinner I saw no-one turned away for improper attire - but also I saw no-one try to wear denim on Formal Night.

If you don't want to dress up for Formal dinner then you have to have a club sandwich and a salad or whatever from a fairly limited room service menu, you cannot have dinner served in your room, at least on Lirica, and the buffet is NOT open for dinner.

One of the Friends of Dorothy thought a studded dog collar was OK instead of a bow tie to wear with a tux on Formal Night - and no one complained. Unusual!

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I love formal nights, so there's no problem with dressing up. (But I think it might be time to buy my son a new tux!) I was just wondering if there was a problem wearing jeans on other nights when going to dance. I don't normally wear them, just wondering.

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Having just got off the Opera this a.m. (very sad to have had it end) I can say you will not be out of place after dinner wearing jeans to the lounges on all nights but formal nights. However, for the shows I saw, people tended to stay in their dinner clothes which, with very few exceptions, did not include jeans. The lounges were a different story. Good luck and enjoy the cruise! She's a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew!

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Up till now, I've loved going on RCI. And now I have the opportunity to go on the Opera on March 26, (I believe the Easter sailing).

 

My questions are, does anyone know what the children's program is like? (My son is 7.) And I've heard there is a dress code that is ship-wide after a certain time in the evenings. Anyone know for sure?

 

Experience from Lirica Transatlantic cruise:

 

kids were taken care of in the 11th. floor "i pirati" club on sea from:

 

10 am - 12 am

3 pm - 6 pm

9 pm - 11 pm

 

Do not know if Opera in Carribbean will do the same.

 

There was no 'dress code' for after dinner as far I know.

Plus it's a 'european' minded' ship where it is less formal anyway.

 

I felt a little more easy and less pressured to look 'at my best' every evening.

and thats good so since there is no other dining possiblity for dinner besides the dining room.

 

have fun, I'll meet the Opera in April 05 going from Lauderdale back to Genova, leave us something to drink ;-)

 

and..... go with the flow....it helps !

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I'm going with my friend & her 3 daughters, and my cousin and her daughter. My son will be the youngest. The girls are all older teens & 20. My guess is since I'll have to be sober enough to go pick up my son, I won't be drinking that much, but my cousin, Peggy who runs the Reggae Report and her photographer-daughter know how to do the Caribbean party thing pretty well, and my friend and her oldest are ready to party, too. But we'll try to leave you something to drink!!

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Diane, I believe Internet access is about 60 cents a minute -- not cheap, and no frequent user discount yet either. Some call it excessive; I'd say it's about in the middle of the range among the cruise ships.

 

I'd say check e-mail but don't linger in a chat room ... unless, of course, it's to tell us what a spectacular time you're having! Most of the ports do have internet cafes targeting cruise passengers; you can probably use a search engine to find their locations.

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Yep,

 

WORKING! Money still needs to be made even though I'm on vacation! Actually, I'll just need to pop in and check email and voicemail, but no actually working.

 

I only use the internet cafes on the islands if the ship's putas are running excessively slow but 60 cents a minute seems pretty cheap compared to the other cruiselines. I was told MSC doesn't have in-room internet hook-up so my laptop is useless.

 

I won't be chatting with anyone, I hate chatrooms and this is the only message board I frequent now, however, you guys will have to wait until I return to get my mini-review!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, there:

My hubby and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary on the Lirica. Does anyone know if it's 2 or 3 formal nights?

Also if anyone is on the same sailing, we found a tour in St. Lucia for only $35 per person which includes the water fall, volcano, botanicval garden, Marigot Bay, fishing villages, banana plantation, shopping and either snorkling or swimming.

Can anyone recommend a tour in Antigua or Grenada?

Hialeah couple!!

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As posted above there are apparently 2 formal nights.

 

 

I'm wondering how disembarcation works w/ MSC - is one allowed to remain in their stateroom until their group number is called? Are room-service breakfasts delivered on the last morning?

 

I'm not an early riser, and I'd be very displeased w/ anyone trying to pry me out of my stateroom any earlier than 9.30-10am...:cool:

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On RCI, they try to have everyone off the ship by that time. Not sure how it is here, but I know the crew has to strip and sterilize the cabin & set it up for the next group of passengers, so they do kind of like to shoo people out of there as early as they can. Maybe when you first board you can make buddies with your cabin steward & see if they can do your cabin last & find out what time that would be. :)

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We were on the opera 1/22-1/29

You will be asked to fill out a questionnaire with your post cruise travel arrangements.

The day before departure you receive your luggage tags.

Whatever color they are will determine where you are supposed to wait for departure.The Disco,one of the lounges .... ,wherever.

Our flight was at 10:05 , so we were some of the first passengers to leave.

It seems that 'orange 'was one of the first colors to depart.

I'm sure ,that if we wanted to sleep in ! our steward ' Dewa' would have been able to take care of some other cabins first .Especially since he got his

ENVELOPE - the evening before.

 

Have a great time !

We sure did !

Leonie

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Kids program on opera

 

Buffalo bills is for ages 3 -8, hours are:

9-12

3-6

8-11

 

My son is 4 and had a great time.

 

My daughter is 9 and had a terrible time. Once you are over 8 there is not much to do. The group for her age meets about 1hour to 2 1/2 hrs a day. The arcade had no machines. The pool was also a dud for her. The pool had two ends, one end was 10" to 12" and the other end started at just over 5' so there was nothing in between. no shallow end for kids who can't swim.

So unless the kids can go to Buffalo Bills, there is not much for them to do.

 

 

Debarkation:

 

Out of cabin by 7:30. No roomservice on last morning. Wait in a louge with more people than chairs until your colour is called. collect your suit cases. If your US, customs takes 5 - 15 minutes. If your not US you will be in line for at least 1 hour. taking a taxi - another line for about 1/2 hour.

Now your at the airport. Guess what, another 1 hour line for check in (too many cruise passangers at once.)

 

The customs line and taxi line are not necessary. this is caused by msc calling your colour when your bags are out instead of letting you sit in a lounge (possibly on the floor) until the customs line is shorter. Their attitude is if the line dosen't reach the door call the next colour. Disembarkation is a nightmare, especially for kids.

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Does MSC allow those with just carry off luggage to disembark before the other passengers???

 

Thanks

 

 

On the OPERA, I didn't notice a "self-help" disembarkation group such as Cunard and Carnival offer. No matter, you can just walk off with the first group. No one actually checks for your color when you disembark, so as long as you don't have any luggage to claim you should be able to walk off with whatever group you want.

 

Ernie

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Kids program on opera

The pool had two ends, one end was 10" to 12" and the other end started at just over 5' so there was nothing in between. no shallow end for kids who can't swim.

There isn't on a lot of ships. I was recently on Westerdam; not even a 'baby' end. Kids are also confined to the magrodome covered pool.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi, there:

My hubby and I will be celebrating our 30th anniversary on the Lirica. Does anyone know if it's 2 or 3 formal nights?

Also if anyone is on the same sailing, we found a tour in St. Lucia for only $35 per person which includes the water fall, volcano, botanicval garden, Marigot Bay, fishing villages, banana plantation, shopping and either snorkling or swimming.

Can anyone recommend a tour in Antigua or Grenada?

Hialeah couple!!

 

When my wife and I stopped on Grenada, we caught a tour bus at the end of the dock and explored the rain forest and hiked back a hiking trail to a couple of falls where locals were jumping from cliffs into a pool close to the falls. We also had time to swim on a beach when we got back. there are a lot of those buses trying to get a group together at each port. Check out the offers and see what you can negotiate.

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We just left the opera on Saturday, Feb 26. We had brown tags and were the second last to be called even with a 12:00 flight. Once called we were out in a flash, picked up our bags in the terminal, went through customs, and hailed a cab. We were at the airport before 9:30. Actually we had no lineups anywhere at all and managed to get a seat in the aircraft in row 6. We had a nice breakfast in la vele before we assembled in the theatre to await our call. Do not sweat the small stuff and if you are concerned, tell them your flight is much earlier than it really is. They have no way of checking.

 

Enjoy the ride. It's a good one

 

g courtney

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