kdogfister

Staring at Freedom from my hotel room right now, will be on in a few hours. The app shows 2 hours of open play pickleball each morning, so hard to believe they wouldn't have equipment. Of course I'll believe it when I see it. I'll try to circle back if I have better information. 

No way to know for sure until shortly before they are released for booking. Current estimate is as early as Mid-February to early March, based on previous years schedule releases. 

I was looking for something to purchase that was Italian when we were on Divina.

Several people told me they have beautiful Murano glass beaded necklaces for sale. I looked and looked, going from one end of the ship to the other. Never found them.

 

 

Anything like this on Seaside?

Limoncello???

 

We are still looking at options of getting too the airport (FLL) for the 3 of us - rental car, shuttle, uber, etc. What was your choice and how did it work out for you? Last time we flew into FLL & sailed out of MIA, we rented a car, spent the night in MIA, returned the car in the morning & took their shuttle to the port. We will still be coming in the day before.

We got off 6/30 and Uber'd from port to FLL. Thankfully we had a late flight as we were in standstill traffic for an hour because of an accident. We stayed on board a couple of extra hours and still made it to the airport by 12:15 even with the traffic jam, so a normal transit and early departure should have you there by 8:30 or 9 I would think.

Uber worked well, but it is a madhouse when you are waiting for the Uber there.

Does the butler walk you to the front of the customs line? We cruised in a suite on RCCL and the Concierge walked us right up to a customs agent bypassing the whole line.

No, though Butler does not leave the ship. He'll walk you to the ship's security checkpoint right before you leave. From there, you've got a pretty long walk to customs, including down a single escalator that keeps the line moving pretty slow.

YC Bags are all the way up and around the corner, so you do get to avoid a part of the customs line. Left line is much quicker as it enters the customs hall much sooner than the right lane does, so unless right is considerably shorter, stay left.

Will not remove existing only add new

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That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting me know. I will definitely look into it on our cruise

Any recent updates on this from YC? Sailing YC at the end of June (Eastern) and would love to hear about options.

I had prepurchased the internet streamer cruise plus package.

 

MSC has now introduced new internet packages with higher volume.

 

My question is: What happens with the existings prepurchased packages.

 

We are three persons. That was the reason for the streamer package.

Seaside 123!, what ended up happening once on board? Did you receive standard, premium or what you originally paid for?

It isn't dark now at 7, but it was in December when she first sailed. Actually, all the way up to spring forward it would have still been dark at 7

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I think the reviews were because the Seaside departs much later than many other ships leaving Miami. Especially on the early sailings it was already dark

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From reports, it does on Seaside presently but they were looking into ending the practice.

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Sailing May 5 on the Seaside. Can anyone who has sailed recently tell me if I should pack my gangster togs? Flapper dress for my DW?

 

Is there also a white night? An Italian night?

I had been searching out some dailies and found ones from February. They listed the following theme nights;

-Country/Western

-70's (Flower Power)

-White Party

-Great Gatsby

That's all I remember seeing. Of course I haven't heard anyone mention the country/western theme and it seemed a bit out of place, but 70s, White party and Gatsby/Roaring 20s have been confirmed by many.

Anybody with recent dailies confirm?

I am

 

Also, while I'm at it, we typically get a bare bones inside cabin. We usually buy a spa pass and I would like to buy a drink package. I am confused a little bit about how the various levels work. On the cruise we are interested in, which is June 9, I THINK a balcony with Aurea will do all of that - although I'm still not sure if the drink package that goes with Aurea includes frozen drinks. Or would we have to upgrade the drink package? Grand total for that idea would be $3164.

 

Or is it cheaper to get inside cabin + standalone deluxe drink package + standalone spa passes. I can't seem to get prices on the drink packages or spa packages from the website? If anyone can provide those for me so I can "do the math", that would be awesome.

At a grand total of $3,164 for your idea, you might wish to consider the YC insides. You wouldn't have the balcony, but you'd have access to the entire YC and the deluxe drink package (just about anything you want) and access to the minibar. You also have a spa pass included in that.

The downside is that YIN's aren't a secret anymore (YC insides) and they are getting tougher to find. They also might be slightly more money then the $3,164 you quoted, depending on which sailing you look at.

The spa passes are listed at $90 per person for the duration of a 7 day cruise. I keep reading other people say how good of a deal this is so I can only assume they'll be raising at some point. There are also some massages that come as a package with spa access that appear to be a pretty good deal.

Deluxe Drink package is listed at $385 per person, classic $329. The difference is largely alcohol's but there are a few drinks that are listed as specific to deluxe.

Keep in mind, the prices I'm quoting are as of today and based on my 6/23 sailing.

Hope this helps.

YC1 booked about 7 months in advance. Got the same price I would have through MSC but also received $520 in onboard credit.

Did you prebook with Johnny and he didn't have the? Or simply hope he would have them?

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b. Specialty restaurant. I've read in another thread that I can order from specialty restaurant menu while in the YC dining room. How does this work? Does the specialty restaurant cover charge or a la carte charge apply? I find it strange that this was possible (if true) and let YC passengers circumvent the specialty restaurant up charges.

What you read in another thread was posted by one either extremely entitled or extremely sarcastic poster. Said poster had not yet sailed Seaside and was relating how great his experience in YC was going to be because he wasn't afraid to ask for all the things he demanded. It was everyone else's fault if they didn't get all the things he was going to get.

I have not read or heard of anyone requesting or receiving food from a specialty restaurant within the Yacht Club restaurant. This is a practice I've heard of on some other lines for suites but not one that MSC has advertised.

Your "wet sock" reference really go my interest and I did some online research. But now I am suffering from anxiety because I do not wear socks with my sandals (sox and sandals are a major faux pas). So I will start seeking some anecdotal advice on how to effectively deal with "anxiety secondary to being wet sockless."

 

Hank

At the risk of getting too far off topic; you put wet socks in the freezer and then on a person while they sleep (typically a child) in an effort to stimulate circulation which fights off congestion or a cold or the flu or cures everything. I'm actually not entirely sure what it's supposed to cure.

I am not a Dr., but I can help get you a prescription for an emotional support animal that you can bring on your cruises to help with your anxiety. Please don't fly United.

We didn't get sick on our three most recent cruises (36, 10 and 21 days)! What did we do? Martinis! Yes, a martini (or 2) every evening does the trick. And before you laugh, my anecdotal evidence is certainly as good as most of these other ideas....which is to say it's meaningless. But you might consider that alcohol does kill germs (and some viruses) which is why its used in many topical germacides (including Purell). So its just logical that it will kill germs and viruses inside your body too :).

 

Hank

I truly appreciate this response!!!! So many looking for a magic bullet when the reality is good hygiene (hand washing) is about the only thing that has been proven to help. Well, that and the flu shot.

Now there are plenty of anecdotes about oil of oregano, apple cider vinegar, garlic, wet socks (I can't make this up) and elderberry. But, there are few if any studies that prove effectiveness for any of these potential treatments and those that do exist (n=60 and n=40 studies on elderberry for example) are, at best, well designed studies on small populations of humans. More often, these are poor quality studies done on mice and rats or directly against a virus grown in a petri dish.

None of the suggested alternatives are necessarily dangerous on there own, but they can become dangerous if they distract from actual medicine (and not alternative medicine). Add in that the supplement market is very poorly regulated, and there is some danger in whether or not you are receiving these alternative treatments at all rather than some cheaper filler.

TLDR: Wash your hands and don't waste your time and money. Both are better spent on cruising :D.

I just tried it, could log in but it won’t load booking info.

 

 

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If you have your reservation number, you can log in with your name and that number and it will load that reservation. A pain for people with multiple reservations, but a way to get in if you have to make a change or see something.

Under the login or manage booking dropdown, chose I have an existing booking instead of entering your email and password. This has worked for me when my email won't bring up my reservation (US site).

Notice the Premium package says "full web access"...which means you will be able to view video. Therefore streaming should also be available.

I actually prepaid for Streamer Cruise plus and so sent an email to customer service asking if I'd be switched to the new version and what was included as far as access. That was 5 days ago... no response.

I'll be sure to post here if I do hear back but I'm not going to hold my breath.

A lot of views, no comments. I'll throw in my $0.02, though we haven't done Seaside yet.

Travelling on Seaside in June to Nassau and I noticed Blue Lagoon and Balmoral offering similar type activities with review sites each having a favorite of the two. In researching Blue Lagoon I noticed that they suggest they might be limited in who they can allow to visit because of contractual obligations with certain cruise lines.

I took this to mean that they are contractually obligated to provide a certain amount of spots for specific excursions and private tours would be put second in line behind these.

Now keep in mind, this was when we were looking at the offered Dolphin swim at Balmoral vs. doing our own somewhere else. On Blue Lagoons web site for the dolphin swim they suggest if you are from a cruise line that you have to call if you aren't booking through DCL, CCL, NCL or RCL.

So, my suggestion would be to give Blue Lagoon a call and see if they can accomodate on your date. It also looked like Seaside had more options on Balmoral, including a beach day without the added expenses of the encounters. I'd guess they have a better deal with Balmoral, which is why they offer more there.

What would be the proper way to describe a reduction in speed from 21 to 19 knots?

2 knots.

A knot is equivalent to 1 nautical mile per hour. As the term already includes per hour in its definition your addition would be akin to a rate of change rather than a speed.

It's pedantic but always good to hear these terms used correctly.

We will be renting spyders for our day there in April. Discovered somewhere on this discussion. They look like fun. Will let you know.

 

Sue

I saw that as well. Could be a decent option as they were priced similarly.

Sue, do you have any motorcycle experience? I'm generally not squeamish but haven't ridden a Spyder before and wonder how steep the learning curve is (obviously motorcycle without the three wheels and option for automatic would be much steeper). I thought the ATV might be a little less intimidating.

Will be renting some atv’s from Johnny in a few weeks, will let you know how it works out!

 

 

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That would be awesome. It'd just be the two of us sharing a single ATV. Most concerned about riding through traffic and where to leave the ATV on the beaches so any thoughts or concerns on that would be appreciated.

Enjoy your time on the island.

Will be in port 06/26 and DW and I Would like to spend some time on the beaches, but maybe visit a couple for a couple of hours each (Grand Case, Orient and others). Would renting an ATV be a reasonable way to get around the island or would we be better off just using a taxi?

Anybody done an ATV on the roads? Recommend or avoid?

Found a Scooter and ATV rental place with good reviews (Johnny's) but would welcome other thoughts.

Suggestions for beaches? Looking for a beach with chair rentals and bathrooms. Other rental options would be a plus but not necessary especially if we rent the ATV. Clothing optional is fine.