Dirtdevil71

11 minutes ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Enjoying our time on the Encore so far!

 

the Haven concierge told us there are 1500 pax and 1750 crew.

 

no Kinky Boots of Choir of Man this week, but apparently there will be a “fusion” of songs from the Broadway shows. All shows are walk-in, no reservations required.

 

The concierge also told us that they are planning to hit all the ports on our itinerary. 
 

Have not seen a freestyle daily yet. 
 

I cruise to get away from the internet, so probably won’t be online too much, but am happy to answer questions if I check in. 

Wonderful news,  we leave next Sunday, enjoy and stay healthy. 

1 hour ago, limeyalchemist said:

Last night, the Norwegian Star pulled alongside the Encore at GSC. Later we found out that sick crew were being transferred to the Star where they are being isolated. Slight delay leaving GSC. 

Or returning new crew members that are complete with their 5 day quarantine, positive thoughts, 7 days till we board, can’t wait.  You’ve given us hope!! 

4 hours ago, rnfulk said:

I'm on the Encore now and it is just leaving Miami. Honestly, the ship feels like a ghost town. It is early days so mask compliance may slip, but so far people have been good about wearing masks. It is very easy to avoid the people who aren't masking or wearing their mask properly. 

Keep us posted, we leave on 23, we are going to make the best of it,  sun and fun can always be found somewhere!! Happy cruising!! 

Thanks, well at least it’s the tropics and not old man winter, have a great time. 🌞. 

Any mask needed while you’re in port? We sail Jan 23.  Is the covid test just saliva test? And any other testing once you get off the ship? Thanks for answering,  I just hope we feel it’s somewhat normal cruising again. 

We are just getting off the sensation, a couple additions, there is a serenity adult only area sort of tricky to find but if relaxing is what you want I s great place we always found two chairs...at night hardly anyone in the area to enjoy the hot tub and bottle wine or just sit on the deck. This ship gets an occasional bad review and for us we found non of this. Embarkation was a breeze, the crew wonderful, food good cruise food. Oh remember you can bring a 12 pack of soda on by and buy you must carry it on board. We take advantage of the cheers package as it covers all drinks at no charge. We had a suite so we did have a frig . Any questions just let me know. We had a great time.

For embarkation: we did not have FTTF and if we had it would have been a waste of money. It took literally 10 minutes to be walking on the ship and we got there at 12 and our time was 12:30 but we got right on. Was very pleased. We also carried our luggage off and headed off the ship around 8:30 and that took maybe 15 minutes.

Great, we leave in a few days and can’t wait.. literally :D:')

We are leaving the 8th too, for a quick get away glad to hear it was great. How was your embarkation? We have a suite so I’m hoping it willl be little waiting in line.

advice on room on sensation should we book 7th floor extended aft or 6th floor grand suite?

Can anyone give me their 2 cent on booking extended aft balcony on 7th or better to book grand suite on 6 th??

I'm losing steam in reporting our experience because life moved in and back to reality. Lol. I'm going to make this my final post, however if you have any question, let me know I'll try to help out. As I mention I encourage you to take a trip with msc so you can form your own opinion to post. Hope to see you on our next cruise

Everyone says not so good things about excursion in Bahamas. We are happy to say that we had an extraordinary time with Carl from Bahama boat tours. We went to rose island had great snorkeling....or some of us just floated and relaxed, then on to turtle swimming...they were every where, how cool. Then we finished up with some fishing, and we caught several fish. Carl boat held 12 of us, the cost was about $80 each, well worth the cost for a personable tour...not like those of cruise ship tours of 100 plus people. We booked on line, they were quick to get back to us with our questions. We are looking forward in going again with Carl.

We just got back from Ocho rios . We used Marvyn Gales tours and abosolutely loved it. We had a group of 33, all age ranges from kids to party guys, everyone had a great time...it was one of the highlights of the cruise. You can find them on the web, really easy to book and they are also quick to reply.

We had a group of 33 that went with Marvyn Gayle tours. What a great time. We had a group from twins that were 5 to the twenty year old party guys to grand parents. This tour did an outstanding job in making this a great trip for everyone. Mr T was our driver and he made everyone feel comfortable. I highly recommend this tour and when we get back to Jamaica we will book again. You can find him on the web, simple to book, and they are fast to email you back with any questions.

Excursion- First Ocho rios , Jamaica , we booked our own tour for 33 of us with Marvin Gayle tours to the blue hole. Book this tour you will not be disappointed. You can find info on the web and book thru email, simple. It cost $35. Next up was Grand Caymans we book thru the ship. This is a tender port. To us it seems msc was more unorganized with excursion departures as our other experiences with RC. You will be herded into an area of the ship, herded outside to wait more, and if you are lucky be on your excursion in an hour. Side note we think we stood around and waited on various stuff more than we have ever experienced. We are an impatient family, lol. If you aren't, you won't even notice. On to the sting ray and star fish trip. They pack 90 people on a boat, no snacks and they ran out of drink. But moving on, the sting rays are awesome, and scary at the same time. Star fish island is cool for the kids. I would recommend this excursion, however I'd book privately. Cozumel next...

What's up with the mojitos?

Too much lime not enough sweet mint, I didn't taste the rasberry but a few did go back for seconds, 😂

Entertainment : we went to 3 shows. The Mask, The Witches ..., and Michael J tribute (side note you can catch seeing this guy in the jazz club on trivia night, ) We all enjoyed the shows, they are more like a variety show with very talented staff. The witches show has three amazing male acrobats. Go see a couple of these shows they are worth it. After the shows we would head to the black and white lounge. The live band was fantastic, 70 night, live karoke etc. Only set back this ship is really into line dancing, and teaching the dance...not our thing, we just wanna dance. Couple nights we headed with our group to the galaxy disco...now there is where you can dance. The evening entertainment is probably one of the best, it compares for us, as good as RC. We always had seats too. Next up I'll cover our excursion. ..

The ship has a layout similar to many new large Princess and Carnival ships, so I am not sure how people are still getting lost. The only "gotcha" that gets people turned around is going down to the aft dining room Villa Rosa. The elevators have been updated to be marked which go to top decks and which do not with separate call buttons. I really think you could swap our decor and call it a Princess ship and people would not think any different.

Please note we did not find this to be a negative, and we are not ship roamers,.i.e. I nrv step foot in any of the stores, and was in the reception area twice. I'm sure if you spent more time inside the ship you'd figure it out. It seems also you need to (or can) walk thru places to get somewhere, like 5th floor down the hallway of rooms to get to the reception area or go thru the jazz bar to get into the sports bar. The kids love this layout.

At sea day and almost everyday we found the pre order breakfast in the drawer by the bed, hung it on the door the night before and our coffee and danish, crosant were delivered. Both were fantastic and a great way to start a relax day. Up to the pool in afternoon. We had a wonderful waiter Nicol from India, he had us a table and took care of us the entire trip, side note, tipping is a good thing on any cruise. Most drinks were good, pina colada so-so, get a dirty banana or strawberry. Avoid a mojita. Let's talk about entertainment. ..

FOOD - the buffet is one of the best we've had on a cruise. We are pasta lovers. If you are not a pasta freak, the food will be average. If you don't like pizza, you will most likely be disappointed. BTW, spicy salami is equivalent to peperoni.

MDR - we only ate in here 2 times as the food was good to average but mostly it was the services. The first night, which remember we all were a bit on edge from the waiting waiting waiting, additionally we had some room key problems, as we were traveling with our 20 yr old and 18 year old because they are not 21, one son was in with me and the other in with his dad...when we book the rooms. As we have done this on all our cruises. HOWEVER, weve always been able to get keys for the boys in one room and my husband and I in an other. MSC would not issue new keys so basically we had one key for each room. This was a big negative and a headache all week, we did open the balcony so as we could then get into each other rooms. Ok sorry big side note...back to dinner. ..this will be the 3rd incident on our first day. The service was a bit slow but we don't mind this...we needed to relax and chill. Our seating was all mix up and after some discussion we all settled in. The wait staff are not interested in learning your needs, we are not high maintenance family..we just enjoy getting to know staff and learning about who they are, it is hard to find this on an MSC ship. At the end of the meal we needed to sign a slip, my husband signed. Remember we all are tired and now will encounter our 3rd problem. My husband left to talk to some friends, I was leaving and the waiter told me I couldnt leave I must sign, apparently they got tables all mix up, I had to sign again...and we nrv got the situation resolved. On to our first sea day....it does get better...

Waiting in the airport with some time. We have cruised with RC, Norwegian, Carnival. I would encourage everyone to try MSC. I now understand the many reviews I've read prior to our departure. BTW, most are accurate. I will try to break this down in sections.

Embarkation. Umm, this is how our cruise started out that we almost turned around and stayed in miami, lol. We did not have any kind of priority, YC, Aurea...we had fantasia package. We got in line around 1130 and nrv made it in the ship until after 1. MSC could improve in so many ways. They could entertain the crowd, they could have all the kiosks working (side note we really felt they are understaffed). You want your first impression to be WOW. If you have any of the packages mentioned above you will be fine, and most likely wonder what the negative reviews are about.

The ship. It's nice, clean, a bit aged, but not fair as the last two cruises for us were brand new ships. The floor plan is crazy, I can confirm even the last night we still were not sure were the dining room was located. This for us was not a negative. The pool areas are great, it helps spread everyone out, we had a group of 30 and even on sea days found areas were we all could hang out. The sports bar was our favorite...GO THERE early in the week....by the end of the week everyone finds it. Let's move onto..

FOOD up next

Thanks, I'll report back after our cruise. I think the 4th falls on the night that is usually white out night...so we will just add a few stars and stripes,😉

Does anyone know if Independence Day, July 4th is recognized on the Divina? I'll still pack my red white and blue but was just wondering.

We have 23 andare going with Marvyn Gale tours, I think they could do it too, and had great reviews. We go in a few weeks so I'll post when we get back

It's 169 sq ft but it is reported to be very noisy as it backs on to a lift shaft.

in addition it has 2 bunk beds that come off the wall.

This makes the room feel a lot smaller as it narrows the room at head height, I had a similar set up on OPERA . you can se for yourself on the image below which is typical of these inside cabins.it is very difficult to walk down the side of the bed without cracking your head on a bunk, unless you have a twin set up with the aisle down the centre

 

 

 

 

Here is a link to a thread which is on "flipped" cabins

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2079115&highlight=11082&page=2

 

 

 

Pete