eagletwo

I feel everyone's frustration. I just booked another cruise for November 24th on the Regal 2 hours ago. We have another cruise booked on November 30th, Enchanted Princess that we booked 8 months ago. 

Everything on the Princess app for Enchanted was great. When I signed into the app this afternoon, it shows both of our cruises are booked on the Regal. Looks like I will be on the phone tomorrow for a while?

Beat the Heat drink.  We heard about this from a TA while in the ocean at the YC, Divina, Sept. 16-19.  We had a wonderful time on the beach but did not go to Ocean House for food or drinks.  When we got back on board Divina, my 24 year old daughter asked for the Beat the Heat drink in the YC pool bar.  The bartenders did not know what it was.  They called the Ocean House and were given the recipe.  Her drink had actual watermelon juice instead of the mix.  It was awesome!

We have sailed in the YC on the Meraviglia, March 2020 and just recently on the Divinia Sept. 16-19. Two very different experiences.  The Meraviglia cruise was awesome.  YC with all the areas located in the front of the ship was nice. Our butler was ok, nothing special.  We were not sure what to ask for.  He and his assistant cleaned our cabin, kept our mini fridge stock and would do anything we asked but he never asked us if we needed anything.  Food in the YC was very good.  Arthur "MSC Legend" was the Maître d of the YC dinning room.  He would provide anything you asked for.  

On the Divinia, Arthur again was the Maître d of the YC dinning room. Perfect service even though the food was not the greatest.  Hated that the YC dinning room was all the way in the back of the ship.  15-20 minute walk at best.  Butler does escort you to the dinning room which is nice.  Our Butler, Donny, was awesome.  He just seemed to anticipate our needs. Some how we had a bottle of champagne or Prosecco in our room every night.  Macaroons and other chocolates showed up every night.

Lobster on the 7 night cruise on the Marviglia was available in the YC one night, I had two.  Not on the 3 day cruise on Divinia.

We will sail with MSC again, but only in the YC and the Meraviglia or newer ship.

Just off the Divina. Met a few travel agents during the cruise that said the chocolate ships are going to be discontinued. I can't confirm if it's true. There were a few changes in our Yacht Club experience that we were surprised. 

This will be our first and last Divine cruise. 

We were in the Yacht Club on the Divina, September 16-19. They asked all YC pax to be ready to leave the ship by 9 am.

We depart Sept 16. Will update. 

22 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

Just off the Meraviglia.  Divina was sitting outside the OC channel as we departed.  We were chatting with several ‘senior’ officers.  Divina is ready to go.  
 

also for you Yacht Club cruisers on Divina for the next few months.  Expect an ‘old friend’ in the YC.  Assigned as of Monday!  😀

I hope the "old friend" is Arthur!

Both personal and trip advisor website not working at 8:30 PM EDT.

17 hours ago, Elkins45 said:

My state is missing from my eTicket and it fills in the wrong town, probably because they are both tiny communities that share the same zip code. I've updated my info about six different times but the website never saves the changes. Then a few hours later I get mailed a new eTicket with exactly the same info as the last one.

 

Surely they wouldn't turn me away at the port because my info is missing my state? Or should I call and wait on hold in the hope someone at MSC can fix it?

We have the same issue.  Our travel docs do not have the state listed and you can't update on the website, even on my travel agent site, MSCbook..  Just hope it is not an issue at the port.

Kind of worried.

23 minutes ago, groundloop said:

What a mess, especially now that we only have a two day window for testing.  I guess I feel at least a tiny bit better knowing that Carnival will soon have rapid testing available at the ports.

When will they have testing at the port?

Sad to hear they no longer are on Meraviglia.  We went to a show last March (2020) and it was awesome.

I feel your pain.  We sail on the Divina September 16th and our web check in shows the same thing. Need to provide updated data.  

I am a travel advisor for an agent here in SC.  I had booked our cruise on the agent MSC website with no problems as I have done in the past.  Three days ago, my boss sent me all the documents, health form,  luggage tags and all required documents.

My personal sign in on MSC still shows I need to update information.  Yeah, they have issues.

1 hour ago, styles27 said:

I’m very happy MSC is doing this.
We sail Nov 14th on Divina so I’m hoping this policy will be extended to include our cruise. 

I don't think MSC is doing this.  It a requirement from the Bahamas. 

Buying trip insurance is a tough decision. Personally, we always buy it. I'm in the private air charter business. A flight to take me home from Nassau would be over $15K, not counting any fees if I were transported by helicopter from the ship to the closest land based hospital, plus the fees the local doctors charge. 

Call it a ripoff, but like car insurance, you really don't need it until you need it. 

1 hour ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Totally agree.....

It is worth the extra cost to us. 

Does not impact my cruise.

We sail on Divina Sept. 16th. Web check-in completed. Can't download documents. Called MSC, they tried to send them to me. Did not work. The young lady I spoke with tried a number of different things to release our documents and had no luck. She said sometimes they wait until 20 days out before documents can be downloaded. FYI, I work for a travel agency.

Not sure why, but it seems all the ships back into Ocean Cay. That would put your view on the (starboard) right side of the ship.

On 7/20/2021 at 5:25 PM, sid_9169 said:

The bone in pork chop... They call it something different on the menu, but definitely worth ordering. Also, Nona's meatballs...

Definitely one of the best bone-in pork chops I've ever had. 

On 7/16/2021 at 9:56 AM, alyssamma said:

I guess the cruise lines disagree with you 🙂 As mentioned, I've known people who have done this - both in the Caribbean and for Alaska cruises that stop at Canada. I found the above article plus several others that this.

 

From Carnival's website about Martinique:

 

• For cruises that visit Martinique, guests going ashore are required to carry a valid, unexpired passport. .

There are some countries that require all passengers to  have a valid passport no matter if you plan on staying on the ship.  Most Caribbean ports, Mexico and Canada will allow you to use a certified birth certificate.

 

That being said, if you don't have a valid passport and you need to return to the US, even if you need emergency evacuation, the Passport card and your birth certificate do not work to board a plane right away until you go through many hoops/getting in touch with the local US Embassy.  I'm in the private air charter business and we deal with this weekly.  US Customs is very strict and all passengers have to be cleared before departure and have a negative COVID-19 test before they board our plane.  We submit our manifest to Customs 2 hours before departure and they run the checks for proper documentation. 

 

Spend the few extra dollars and get a passport.  Also think about travel insurance.  An ad hoc last minute emergency airlift from Aruba to Miami can cost over $25,000+ and must be paid up front.  I have a high limit on my Am Ex, but not enough to cover the air ambulance plus any other medical costs. 

 

I feel everyone's pain.  I do a little part-time travel agent work and we just booked a cruise last night for my wife and I on the Divina for September 16th, paid in full.  The MSC agent site will not let me print e-tickets until we get under 60 days before sailing.  Will update in a few days if we are successful. The website is challenging at times and I have spent many times over an hour on the phone trying to get answers for clients, so if you have a TA, give them a break when they take days to answer your questions.    

We were on the last sailing on the Meraviglia last March, 2020. Our Yacht Club experience was awesome. Yeah, Arthur made eating in the YC restaurant special. The food was not 5 star, but it was very good and the entire YC staff were just great.  Never crowded anywhere in The YC areas. Being escorted to the Cirque du Soleil by the Butler was nice as was being escorted off the ship for your excursions. The Private island with the Yacht Club area was phenomenal. Food was very good. Yacht Club beach could use a lot of sand to cover the dredged rock mixture on the beach. Bring water shoes. 

As a YC guest, we were treated very well on the entire ship. Never a problem getting a drink anywhere. I did like the YC band that could override some of the elevators to take you straight up to the YC floor. "Snob" maybe, but this is a perk for YC guests. 

Wife and I have cruised Carnival twice (interesting), and Princess 6 times, from an inside cabin, mini-suite, Club Class mini-suite, full suite and and Owners Suite.  MSC YC was the best so far. After the Yacht Club, you will not want to book a regular cabin on MSC. It does cost more, but dang, not much more than our Princess Club Class mini and there is no butler.

We are booked on the Enchanted Princess November 30th. If it cancels and we rebook, $2,000 more unless Princess honors the current rate. 

So sorry E731 is not available.  We have had this cabin twice and the extra long balcony and the last cabin on the starboard side is so awesome.