muskrat191

At this point, our sailing is still running. However, we cancelled (via our travel agent) two weeks ago. We just haven't received any money on our credit card yet. We had paid our final payment, but cancelled early enough that the cancellation fee is only the deposit.

Does anyone have any recent experience on MSC refund timelines for cruises booked with MSC Canada? My travel agent cancelled our May 2020 cruise on March 4. I received 9 copies of the email cancelling my Cirque tickets, but neither the cruise refund nor the Cirque ticket refund have posted to my credit card yet. Based on the date I cancelled, I am entitled to everything except my deposit back.

I need the refunds to go through before I do my cancellation insurance claim. I've received refunds for everything else on my trip (Air Canada, Air France, Disneyland Paris, SNCF, 3 private tour companies, hotel booked through Expedia).

11 hours ago, GatorMomInNC said:

I don't understand how they can offer on FCC when THEY cancelled.  I understand they have been holding out on cancelling  until the last minute, in my opinion to pressure the passengers to cancel and accept a FCC.  I think it is unfair if passengers are basically unable to make it to the cruise due to various travel bans, including this sudden and ridiculously broad ban from here in the US; but again, I guess they can say, well, not our fault, you cancelled, FCC only.  BUT WHEN THEY CANCEL THEY SHOULD REFUND THE MONEY.  I am beginning to wonder if I will ever be reimbursed for the cruise that I cancelled, more than 90 days before my cruise, which should mean NO penalty.  It has been 12 days, and no refund so far, and they acted like they were doing be a favor in allowing me to cancel and be reimbursed, when I was just doing what the contract provided for.

I cancelled 9 days ago. I am supposed to be reimbursed for everything except the deposit, and I need confirmation of their refund amount before I do my travel cancellation insurance claim. I received 9 copies of the email for the cancel/refund of my Cirque tickets, but nothing on my credit card for that or the cruise payment yet.

1 hour ago, LAOkie said:

 

I called MSC today and it was a total joke. They refused to transfer me to the Crisis team because my sail date is May 11th - they would only let people who were booked in March/April through to the Crisis desk. I was told there was nothing else they could do, but if I wanted to cancel my cruise, I would incur a penalty. Now just 4 more days that I can cancel without losing half of my cruise fare (right now it's $400 to cancel).

My sail date for a Mediterranean cruise is May 9th -- we have decided to cancel while the cancellation penalty was only $400 CAD. We do have trip cancellation insurance that has a travel advisory as a covered reason, our cruise had Genoa as a stop, and there is a current Canadian travel advisory that covers Genoa. I'm hoping our cancellation insurance will cover the $400.

57 minutes ago, SirWolf said:

There is no such thing like a “mild” virus, if somebody is infected the virus is in his body. Some people have little or no symptoms because they are healthy and their immune system deals with the virus by producing antibodies. The immune system of some people is weak because of underline conditions, the virus can cause sometimes deadly complications. 

Sorry I didn't word it perfectly -- I meant the symptoms from the virus are mild in many/most people. 

Has there been any other instances of testing large groups of people that were likely exposed and are asymptomatic? How many of the people on the ship that tested positive actually have symptoms? It may be that this virus is mild in many/most people and these cases are usually not identified as the people are not tested. If this is true, the plus side would be that the mortality rate is much lower than the current numbers suggest.

Has anyone used "Italy Tours for Kids"? We are thinking of booking their Pompeii tour, but I would love to hear some feedback if anyone has used them. Our kids will be 7 and 9 at the time of our trip.

Another compact (although not inexpensive) option is the RSTV. It is a vest that the child wears, and the seat belt is threaded through portions of the vest. 

Access to anything at KSC is dependent on what else is going on there. We drove ourselves last year and did the public tour. We had to skip the launch pad portion because SpaceX had some equipment blocking the roads. 

. Your younger daughter will not be able to do a lot of activities on both ships such as iFly, waterslides on Escape, ropes course on Escape. I have to lookup the bumper car age/height restrictions.

For iFly, the minimum age is 3, so that is available to her. The bumper cars would not be an option for her. (The minimum age for a passenger is 5, and they are strict about it. My daughter's 5th birthday was 11 days after our cruise and she was not allowed on the bumper cars.)

Yes, that is the same itinerary. We rented a car and went to the Kennedy Space Centre for the Port Canaveral stop, and in Nassau, we bought day passes at the British Colonial Hilton. It is walking distance to from the port and has a beach and heated pool. A food credit is included in the day pass, and there is even a bunch of sand toys available. The beach faces the cruise ships (I'm sure there are lots of better beaches), but walking distance and therefore no car seat/vehicle safety concerns with the kids was worth it for us.

We did Anthem for Ontario's March Break this year. Ship was full of families from Ontario on March Break (over 1000 kids!). I've never cruised NCL, so I can't compare, but I can give you my thoughts based on my experience. My kids were 4 and 6 on our cruise (turned 5 and 7 a few weeks after the cruise).

My kids typically hate kids' club type things, but didn't mind the kids' clubs. They were in two different clubs due to the age splits. The staff run activities which my kids enjoyed. Our kids went a couple times in the morning or afternoon. We also did a few of the family science/art activities offered.

Keep in mind that the 3 year old will not be able to participate in bumper cars (even as a passenger) or trapeze. The 3 year old can roller skate if an adult is out with them in closed-toed shoes, but the smallest available roller skates may be too big. The 3 year old can do the indoor skydiving!

Our cruise was quite cold, so I appreciated the indoor spaces - particularly the indoor pool for families. The room at the back of the ship called 270 is a cool multi-purpose space. There is no splash park or waterslides on the ship. There is an outdoor, zero-entry, water play area for kids, but it doesn't really have any water features. The small pool with the current (I can't remember what it is called) had a height requirement that even my oldest didn't make (and she is tall for her age).

For food, the kids' menu in the main dining room is limited. IIRC, there were only two appetizer choices and limited dessert choices. However, my kids had no issues ordering off the adult menu if they wanted - particularly cheesecake for my oldest :)

Our cruise was 8 nights with just three ports, and we ended up missing CocoCay due to the wind/waves making tendering unsafe. Even with all that time on the ship, we were never bored. However, we brought toys and my kids enjoy just playing in the room while my husband and I read or napped. I was very happy with our experience (and it didn't hurt that we got a great deal!)

I don't remember which one was where, but I'm pretty sure one is on deck 11 and one is on deck 12. There is a staircase in the Adventure Ocean area.

We have two daughters that were going to do iFly, so we booked me and one kid in one time slot, and my husband and the other kid in the other time slot. That was enough time separation to switch out taking pictures. Obviously separate days would work as well.

We did BOGO on Anthem with our 4 and 6 year old. I booked the BOGO for all four of us, and then they refunded the kids' fees on the ship at our first meal. I think my 6 year old was supposed to pay $10 at each meal, but we were never charged.

The kids clubs are split by age - 3-5, 6-8 and 9-11. My kids were 4 and 6 on our Anthem cruise, so I don't have any experience with the 9-11 club specifically. There is a kids cruise compass that comes out everyday and lists the activities planned in each "session" - morning, afternoon and evening.

I've only done one cruise, and my kids were older (4 and 6). I chose excursions with vehicle safety in mind. In Port Canaveral, we rented a car and brought a booster for my oldest and an RSTV for my youngest. In Nassau, we chose something that was walkable from the port. I won't travel in a vehicle where my child is not safely restrained.

My kids swam in the indoor pool before muster. It was too cold on our sailing for the outdoor pool.

An option for your 4 year old is the RSTV. It will properly restrain the child in any car with lap/shoulder belts, and it takes up very little room. Unfortunately, the 2 year old needs a car seat in order to travel safely in a vehicle. If the 2 year old is a lap child, then the 4 year old could use the car seat on the plane, and the 2 year old use it in any vehicles. That would avoid checking the seat, because checked seats are often damaged even if gate checked.

Assuming you are flying within the US, FAA regulation 121.311 requires a seat for your 2 year old on the return trip. The regulation states, in part,

(a) No person may operate an airplane unless there are available during the takeoff, en route flight, and landing—

(1) An approved seat or berth for each person on board the airplane who has reached his second birthday; and

(2) An approved safety belt for separate use by each person on board the airplane who has reached his second birthday,

Not like the nursery. AO is not open when you board. Just need to arrive early for sessions. While I’m sure it happens, I’ve never heard of kids being turned away for crowding. They know how many to expect prior to sailing.

We had 1000+ kids on our Anthem sailing, and AO did fill up at least once (in the 3-5 and 6-8 age groups).

When you have MTD you will dine in either Silk or American Icon. When you get to the podium they will assign you whatever table is available in either dining room. Very rarely when it is very crowded they will bring you to Chic or Grande, but that is very rare.

We ate at the main dining room 4 times on our Anthem cruise. We had MTD and ended up in one of the traditional dining rooms for 3 out of those 4 dinners.

If you were seated in a traditional dining room, were you still given a table big enough, or small enough, for just your party? In other words, did you have to sit with others?

The table was just the four of us, although once we got a table for four in one of the traditional dining rooms that was stuffed into a space that should not have a table at all. It was right where the waiters brought out the food carts and my husband had his chair bumped through the whole meal. I really hope some poor family was not assigned that table as their regular table!

We had My Time dining on Anthem. There are three lines for those with reservations and one line for those without. The actual time of your reservation seems to be irrelevant, although we were generally close to our reserved time. Getting a table is crazy to watch - there are a bunch of people with headsets/phones trying to figure out the tables. It was amazingly disorganized. Depending on when you show up, you may be seated in one of the traditional dining rooms or in one of the my time dining rooms. Once we were seated, it was fine, although we seemed to get better service in the actual my time dining rooms.

We did a day pass at the Hilton with our 4 and 6 year old this past March. We bought the passes through Resort for a Day. It was an easy walk to the hotel (I won't put my kids in a taxi without proper child restraints, so I wanted to avoid the taxi). The hotel has a beach with a small roped off swimming area and a swimming pool. A food credit is included in the passes. We had lunch, some non-alcoholic drimks and I had a daiquiri, and we did not spend the whole credit from 2 adult passes and one child pass (the 4 year old was free to enter). Waitresses will take orders and deliver right to your lounge chair. There was a deck box full of sand toys. We brought our own puddle jumpers, so I'm not sure what they had available for life jackets.

We were on Anthem in March. The My Time Dining is fine once you are seated, but the process of getting a table is crazy. There are three lines for people with reservations and one for people without. The actual time of the reservation is completely irrelevant to getting seated. There are a bunch of people running around trying to figure out table assignments. Most of the time, we ended up in a spare table in the traditional dining rooms rather than one of the MTD rooms, although that may be related to our timing (when we went to the dining room, it was typically around 6pm).

For the Internet, speeds were good. We had no problem streaming Netflix. Be aware that Royal does not allow connections to VPNs (which was a problem for us when work had an issue and we couldn't VPN to the office to help).