saleeb

Hello,

We are new to MSC and leaving from Venice to Bari, Mykonos, Corfu, Dubrovnik (not in that order) this Saturday. We have 4 kids so excursions are too pricey and we normally do our own thing with public transportation when possible. When in Corfu and in Mykonos we would like to go to a beach. I've scoured the internet to find the bus routes and get mixed and contradicting results. Can anyone tell me if getting to a beach in Corfu and Mykonos is difficult or easy via public transportation while in these ports, or any ports for that matter. 

I appreciate any tips. Thank you.

Saleeb

Hello. We are hopefully sailing on the Orchestra in July out of Venice with our 4 kids. I have a couple of questions:

Can my 15 year old stay with her 13 year old sister in the club meant for 13 year olds?

Is there still a white night theme and if so, can we just eat at the buffet to avoid dressing up? We want to pack extremely light. Same question regarding formal night.

We decided against any drink packages because of price. My kids love the ice cream that's free on other cruise lines. If we don't get the drink packages on MSC, we don't get ice cream. Will there be plenty of desserts at the buffet?

Thank you for your help. 

We just booked our first msc cruise on the Orchestra for 3 July sailing from Venice. I didn't do much research on the cruise line prior to booking. Now I'm concerned at seeing some posts about the cruise line canceling or completely changing departure port without notification. It sounds like we should drive to Venice from Germany instead of flying to be on the safe side if it gets changed. How best can we be kept up to date?

Thank you, Vacationlover_md. It looks more like a pillowcase on me, but that’s ok. Lol

Thank you, Whyrlygig.

6 minutes ago, Jasukkie said:

There's a lot of variety in women's cover-ups. I don't think I've ever seen anyone in the Windjammer wearing a cover-up that is mesh/open style where you can see the swimsuit and their bottom would be directly on the seat. I only draw the distinction because you totally would see that at a resort beach bar for example. I'm not saying it's never happened or they would ask you to leave, just that it's not the usual. 

Yes, there are a ton of different ones. I’m a bit of a prude in my older age and bought ones that look like dresses so our bottoms are completely covered. It’s a bit short but it still covers fully. I got my kids the same one as mine because it’s one size fits all but at their ages (9, 11, 13) they will look longer on them. This is what I was thinking. I just wish I looked like the model!

Thank you, everyone. We will be sure to get dried off first and will wear shoes but I’m happy that we don’t need to completely take off suits. 

Great! Thank you!

Hello Everyone,

i have 3 girls and a boy. I know it is very likely that we will want to eat lunch right after getting out of the pools. Is a swim coverup ok for them to wear inside the buffet? Thank you in advance. 

Ok, I was holding out hope but it’s good to know. Thank you.

1 hour ago, Shmoo here said:

I'm going to hazard a guess of "no".  Current military discounted cruises:

January 28, 2019Disney Dream05AStarting at $180 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,440. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

February 4, 2019Disney Dream05AStarting at $180 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,440. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

February 11, 2019Disney Dream05AStarting at $190 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,520. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

January 25, 2019Disney Dream05AStarting at $190 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,140. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

February 1, 2019Disney Dream05AStarting at $190 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,140. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

February 7, 2019Disney Wonder09CStarting at $189 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $1,134. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $65 are not included.

February 23, 2019Disney Fantasy05CStarting at $230 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $3,220. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $96 are not included.

March 9, 2019Disney Fantasy05CStarting at $257 per person, per night, based on double occupancy. Cruise fare for two guests is $3,598. Taxes, Fees and Port Expenses of approximately $96 are not included.

Special Military Rates are also available for the following sailings:

4-Night Bahamas Cruise from Port Canaveral

• January 14, 2019
• January 21, 2019
• February 10, 2019 

4-Night Bahamas Cruise from Miami

• February 13, 2019

5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise from Miami with Marvel Day at Sea 

• February 3, 2019

7-Night Southern Caribbean Cruise from San Juan

• January 27, 2019

7-Night Mexican Riviera Cruise from San Diego

• April 21, 2019

Since they've got one of the cruises after the PC on the list, I'm thinking that the PC cruise won't be added.

Thank you for the great info 

Ok thank you both.

Hello,

We we are hoping for a military sale on the Feb 2019 sailingvto Panama Canal. However, nothing has been announced yet. Does anyone know how likely or not this hope is realistically? We did this back in 2017 and loved it! We love the sea days best. Any help is appreciated.

 Thank you,

Saleeb

Thanks for help. :) Sounds good.

Is it customary to tip more than the already included 15% for bar drinks? Is it frowned upon to not tip more than the included tip? I don't want to sound cheap. We are just sticking to a budget.

We also chose to prepay our tips and understand that we can add more at the end if we choose. Is it terrible if we decide to not add extra? I will certainly add more if we can, but wanted to know how "expected" it is and how much more?

Thank you Shmoo. Good to know. I will just give my son a limit then on his KTTW card.

Thank you Shmoo and Moki'smommy. It is good to know that I can pack light. :) I like your ziplock bag idea Moki'smommy and I plan to use it. If I turn off the KTTW cards for my kids, can I give them some spending cash or does the boat not accept cash?

This site has been invaluable to us in our cruise planning. Thank you all.

I have a few more questions.

I thought I saw a sticky a while back on packing tips but I can't seem to find it. The cruise is 14 days long and I plan on doing laundry twice because I like to travel as light as possible with our 5 kiddos.

My questions are:

1- How many formal nights should I expect? Do people re-wear formal wear or do I need lots of dresses? I only have 2.

2- Are young kids expected to dress up, as well? Ages 3,5,7,9, and 16 (will wear slacks but not sure how willing he is to look very formal).

3- Can I make sure that my 16 year old isn't able to accidentally charge things to his key to the world card? I am most worried about his addiction to soda. Even though there are places to get the soda for free, I don't want to depend on his following the rules. lol

Thank you,

I never would have thought of the food quality or things running out, ex techie and moki'smommy. One of the early days at sea it is!

We do have our passports but thanks for the reminder. That would have been terrible to try to coordinate last minute. I appreciate you looking out for us.

Several of you have answered my several questions already. Thank you for helping us to book a cruise for Oct. 23 to the Panama Canal.

What are your thoughts on eating a brunch at Palo during the day that we pass thru the canal? I think the views from the windows might be neat to see but don't want to miss any narration. I know that it takes all day for the ship to go thru the canal so I was hoping that perhaps a couple of hours in Palo wouldn't waste the experience.

Am I wrong?

Awesome list! Thanks. I will be busy that first day! hahah

ex techie, thank you for the links. I just tried to watch one and my kiddos walked in, so I will check them out once they get to bed. Thanks for finding them for me!

mokismommy, my kids are going to love the wake up exercise with the characters! I had never heard of it before. Thanks for the tip. In another post you mentioned to start a list of things to do on embarkation day. You mention getting the embarkation photo done. How does this work? Do they take your picture automatically and you order it once you get situated? How much is a photo?

Thank you dread_pirate. We actually did a 180 and booked an October 23 cruise on the Wonder, which means we will actually be on the boat during Halloween. I was comforted with some of the responses here and we did a 180 because the October 23rd sailing had a sale. I was worried, but in the end, after looking thru lots of pictures, it didn't look too bad. Davidmbfonz, you wrote an amazing review and I enjoyed your photos. What a beautiful family!

I was in the middle of a reply and my computer died. :( Anyhow, Ex Techie, I was going to book with DCL directly, but when I learned of an on board credit thru a TA, I went with the TA. I did know that the Wonder is a smaller ship. That was no surprise, but I hadn't really looked at the boat at all because we hadn't planned on booking the Wonder or the Panama Canal cruise. You see, we had been hoping for quite a while to secure an MTO rate for a September sailing on the Fantasy. We had our eyes set on that and researched all about that ship and itinerary. However, when we learned that there was an MTO for the Wonder and the Panama Canal itinerary, and with encouraging words from Moki'smommy, we did a 180 and booked that cruise without much research. We figured, we will have a great time no matter what. It is a vacation, a long one at that, and it is a dream come true for my kids. We are going to have a fantastic time, no doubt.

My questions about the kid's clubs is due to the fact that my 9 year old has spent days watching videos about the ships and will let me know about all of the neat things like the magic portholes. Now honestly, a magic porthole is not going to make or break the cruise at all, but I want to be prepared to let my kids know that, "hey, just so you know, the kid's club will not have that cool thingamabob you saw on youtube." Just want to give them a heads up.

I do plan to surprise the kids but I figured that I can chat with them on the plane ride (once they know we are going on a Disney cruise), that we are going on the Wonder and it won't have the Aqua Duck or the magic portholes, etc. They will still be more than excited and I am so thankful that we can go. I'm counting down the minutes!

Moki'smommy, yes four out of five of my kids are going to utilize the kid's club, hopefully. I have a 3, 5, 7, 9, and 16 year old who will do his own thing or go to the teen club. Actually, two of my kids will have a bday prior to the sailing. Time flies.

Thanks again for the great tips! I will certainly look at the Navigator each night so that we can make the most of each day. I like the tip about the TV light too. Although, my kids are fairly early risers.

I am happy to hear about the Animator's Palette because my one daughter has talked endlessly about that show. Thanks to youtube, yet again. :)

I'm sure I will come up with other questions before the cruise. Thanks again.

Does anyone know if the Wonder's Oceanear Lab and Club are just as spacious and are comparable to those on the Fantasy and Dream? I ask because we are set to sail on the Wonder in October. We are sad to learn that there is no secret port hole for our inside stateroom. We also knew before booking that their is no Aqua Duck but now I want to make sure that the kids' clubs are as magical as they appear on the others. We have four kids who will be in those clubs. There are surprisingly few videos of the clubs for this boat, in particular (on youtube). One of my daughters has watched endless videos of the newer ships and I just hope that there won't be lots of things like missing from the kid's clubs. Either way we are thankful and blessed that we are going at all and we will have a great time. I just want to know what to expect so that I can prepare my kids on the plane ride. We are keeping it a surprise until we wake them up to drive to the airport. :) You have all already been instrumental in our decision making. Thank you.