FLgal0214

We are booking a cruise for Nov 2020. Included in our booking is the basic alcohol drink package.  Just wanting to know if we could upgrade once on the ship and the cost of the upgrade.

Thanks! 

Than you for all of your opinions and insights.  We were drawn to MSC by the price and the extras offered in their Black Friday deal. In comparison to RCL, which is what we have been on, the price is better. We don't require all the extras - Yatch Club level or any other level above Bella.  Yes, I understand this is an Italian cruise line and many aspects of the cruise are European.  My husband and I are going to give it a try.  For the price, we can't pass it up - $1693 for a Bella level balcony, in Nov 2020 with free WiFi, gratuities paid, and free drinks package.  It would be double for the cruise alone on NCL or RCL.  We are looking forward to it.  Gorgeous ship, 4 stops including Ocean Cay, and it's 7 days vacation away from work.  Can't complain about that! LOL 

My husband and I are contemplating booking a MSC cruise next year.  We have seen the Black Friday deals - no gratuities, easy drinks package included and WiFi included with no fees.  I've researched a few cruises so far.  Thinking of booking either the Meraviglia or Seaside. We would get a balcony room.  We have sailed RCL and NCL before. We are 45 & 43.  No kids. We like to relax on a cruise and enjoy the shows & casino.  

So those of you who have been on MSC - what are the pros & cons.  The ships look beautiful.  Just wondering how the food & entertainment are. Also, I know the shops are larger than we have been on before.  Does it feel too big?  What about crowding?    We love RCL but their prices are higher when comparing to a MSC balcony room.  How are the drinks when using the Easy Drinks package? 

Thanks for all you help fellow Cruise Critics. 😁

9 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

Why did you use the  public restroom and not go back to your cabin??

I used the public bathrooms for #1, never for #2.  Just wondered why so many people didn't go back to their own cabins for #2.  OR bring some poopouri along if they were going to use the public bathrooms for #2.  Many times I did walk to back to our own cabin to use the bathroom, even for #1 because the smell was so bad in the pool & Windjammer bathrooms. 

Just got off Brillance Of The Seas.  Beautiful ship.  Yes it's small but it makes getting around very easy.  We had a great time.  But a question -  Quite a few of the public restrooms smelled disgusting.  I noticed it in the women's restrooms.  Forgot to ask my Husband if he noticed it in the Men's restrooms.  What is it with people not going to their own cabin to USE the restroom, if you get what I mean.  The ship is small. It takes less then a few minutes to get to your cabin.  The Solarium women's bathroom constantly smelled, the women's restroom in the Schooner Bar and the restroom outside the MDR also smelled horrible. Why doesn't RCL put air freshner's in the public restrooms?  Also why can't people use their own cabin for that?  

I've seen posts about the dress code.  I'm so confused. LOL  Shorts are still not acceptable, correct?  I see that for a short time Royal allowed shorts in MDR but then quickly changed that.  What about jeans?  Nice, dark jeans and button down shirt for men, jeans and a nice blouse and heels for women?  Is that acceptable?   Thanks. 

Thank you all for your suggestions and input.  

Haven't been on a cruise in about 12 years.  Going on a 5 day, Brilliance Of The Seas, stopping at Grand Cayman & Cozumel.  How much cash should we bring?  We are going to Nachi Cocom while in Cozumel.  In Grand Cayman we will be walking around hitting the shops and taking the Callypso Distillery tour.   Thanks for all your input.  

Thank you everyone for your reviews and suggestions! Looks like we'll need to book a day there. 

Anyone been to Nachi-Cocom in Cozumel?  They offer a all inclusive package for cruise ship passengers.  $55 for the day, unlimited drinks - alcoholic and non alcoholic, a  4 course lunch and it's open from 8am-5pm.  It's not offered on the Royal Caribbean site. This is a location one of our friends joining us on our cruise found.   Also, any other suggestions for places to see & eat while in Cozumel?  This will be our first visit there as we've only gone on Easter Caribbean cruises in the past. 

Before everyone says "You should of done your research", I did....I researched on here as the matter of fact. I read all the review - good and bad. I went in with an open mind. My friend and I booked this as a nice girls only get away & leave the husbands at home. This was her first cruise, my 3rd. Granted, I haven't been on one in a few years but I do have cruise experience.

As you all have read the Spring Breakers were OUT OF CONTROL. Yes, I know that Spring Break is in March, but since it was the first weekend I figured we would have a few. I asked around and a crew member told me it was a total of 2,800 U of F students that were on the ship. Ship was almost to capacity. I wonder if this was a cruise directly marketed to UF students. They took over everywhere - pool area, pool bars, casino, inside bars, common areas. It took me 25 minutes to get a drink at the pool bar. We finally gave up on getting drinks by the pool and stuck with Maltings in the center of the ship. Only place I didn't really see them were the speciality restaurants, which leads me to think they only were offered or purchased only the drink package. The first day at sea they literally were laying all over the pool area. You couldn't get in the pool or the hot tubs. I noticed there were higher level crew and Maritime Security guys in the pool areas on all days. I actually spoke with one of the security guys and asked if they were aware of the amount of college students that would be on board. He said yes, they were hired by NCL and the captain of the Epic. They are mostly retired police officers. That makes me think that NCL somehow directly marketed to U of F students for this cruise. Especially if they were already aware how many colleges students would be on this cruise.

Now I have only been on RCL before. I found the staff and crew not very friendly and the service lacking on the Epic. It may have been that the crew was also fed up with college kids, I'm not sure. Several servers were very short and curt with us. I witnessed several agruments between bartenders and guests at the bars. I had never experienced that before on a cruise. I never met our Steward until the 3rd day. Our room never got a towel animal. Before you all say I'm complaining about the little things - keep in mind this was my friend's first cruise and I wanted her to see all the cool towel animals the Steward leaves for you in the cabin. We had a balcony room on the deck 8. The balcony wasn't covered. Upon stepping on to the balcony I could see pieces of food left all over the deck and small table. Not exactly the cleanest balcony or room I've been in. The cabinet over the sink was dirty and I don't know if the room was even vacuumed. As for the layout - I knew how it was when I booked it. It has it's pros and cons. Great for 2 people like us. One of us took a shower, the other got ready outside the shower/toilet area. I found the room small and since our bed was closer to the door and sink area - it was very cramped. I had a balcony on RCL and found it more roomy. Also there was a noise that occured in the ceiling every night. It was never during the day. It sounded like metal scraping and it was coming from the ceiling panel right next to the sliding door. It was very annoying and I had to use ear plugs so I could sleep. In addition, the shower was so slow draining it overflowed and I had to turn off several times during showers so it would drain.

Due to the storm in the North East the seas were rough and we could not tender to Great Stirup Cay. We literally went in circles outside of the Bahamas for 2 days. Also, these were the roughest seas I've ever felt on a cruise. I was on a RCL ship, Navigator Of The Seas, when a stabilizer went out on the ship. Even that wasn't as rough as our cruise was.

The common areas were filthy. Every common bathroom I used was disgusting with stopped up toilets, toilet paper and paper towels all over the floor and trash bins overflowing. We witnessed so many people completely trashed out drunk. While in O'sheehan's one night, we had a domestic go on right behind us at the bar. It was between a woman and man in their 50s. Yelling occurred and the male half of the domestic almost came to blows with another man who was with the group this male and female were with. At no point was security called or any crew member came to intervene. I know that people drink but I really do not want to deal with heavily intoxicated people at every turn on what is suppose to be a relaxing vacation.

What is up with the obsession with Tanzanite? Every time we walked through the ship on the deck where all the shops were, we got stopped by crew asking if we got a ticket for the Tanzanite drawing. There were numerous announcements by Pedro, the cruise director, about a special sale for Tanzanite. It became very annoying. It was as if that was the only thing they cared about - that everyone on the ship was aware that Tanzanite was on sale.

Positive things were the entertainment and the activities. We caught a few of the games in the Atrium and they were fun to watch. I wish the Atrium was bigger and had more seating. The Escape Room was fun and our team won. Modesto was excellent and was the best meal we had during our cruise. The few crew that were friendly went above and beyond. The Maltings bar was the best and Alan was THE BEST bartender on the ship.

In all we did have a good time. We tried to avoid the areas where all the spring breakers congregated. Sometimes they weren't avoidable. They slept in and weren't out and about until about noon so if you got up early you could avoid them. I gave NCL Epic a try and I guess it was okay, I just prefer a different layout on ships. I really enjoyed the large atrium/common area on RCL. I did not enjoy the smoke area from the casino and don't understand why NCL made the ship so the casino was open to other areas of the ship. Next cruise I think I will take a cruise where alcohol is not inclusive in the price of the cruise. I would rather pay the extra for drinks then deal with spring breakers who are there because they got a cheap deal and unlimited alcohol. It wasn't just the spring breakers completely wasted, I saw plenty of other people who could barely walk. To me, it's just not worth it. I'll go on RCL next time. I like to have a good time and relax. When you are dealing with long bar lines, bad service, and a large amount of highly intoxicated people - vacation isn't so relaxing and you stared getting very annoyed and angry. On our last night after having dinner at Taste and trying to navigate through the hoards of college kids, we decided to spend the rest of the night in our cabin. We were fed up and beyond aggravated by the crowds, lack of manners, and bad service.

Thank you for the information.

NCL Newbie here. Question - I've seen it mentioned on the boards that you can purchase bottled water for your cabin before the cruise. 1) Is that the best deal OR can you purchase bottled water once you get on the ship for a better price. 2) Where can you find that on the NCL website? I can't find it under the drink packages. I may be looking in the wrong area.

Thanks.

Thank you for your review. My friend and I are taking this cruise on 3/3. Not my first cruise, but her first. I was very worried after reading the more recent reviews from January 2018. I've gone on Royal Caribbean before. This is my first NCL cruise. I'm hoping it will be a nice, relaxing girls trip. Any other tips that you can think of?

Thank you. I thought with 3 ladies the set up would be great. Sink it outside so we can get ready while someone else is in the shower. I just worried about privacy while using the toliet or shower.

My girlfriends and I are looking into a 4 day cruise on the Epic out of Port Canaveral in March 2018. I've been on RCL before, this will be the first NCL cruise. We are thinking of booking a mini suite. Can anyone tell me if 3 in a mini suite would be too crowded for 3 of us? Also, are the door to the toilet and shower translucent or you can't see anything through them? Thank you.