JamieLogical

I had some Halloween door decorations on the Meraviglia in October of last year and that seemed just fine. Lots of people had door decorations at that time.

I was booked in a GTY mini-suite for May 4 on the Enchanted and we got our cabin assignment just under two weeks out from sailing. The cruise had been sold out for at least a full month before that.

Meanwhile, I was booked in a GTY deluxe balcony for my upcoming August 10 sailing on the Enchanted, we didn't ever get a deluxe balcony cabin assignment, but our bid to a mini-suite was accepted and assigned over two months out. There were still lots of cabins left on that sailing.

So it truly is just completely unpredictable.

13 minutes ago, suzyed said:

Just got off the Enchanted this morning.  Take 5 was not open and I was told it's going to be casino space with smoking.

Wow! I assumed it would be a non-smoking area. If they make it a smoking area, that will make the bar/lounge portion they are keeping pretty unusable!

My understanding is that the Sun has a lot of specialized bars with specialized cocktails that the other ships don't have, so that might make Premier more justifiable on that shop specifically.

They will give you a refund in OBC onboard.

3 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Sorry, I missed that probably because I would never sail out of NY. There isn't enough money in the world for that!

I find it to be the most convenient port for us because we can either drive and park there (5.5-hour drive) or do a cheap, direct 45-minute flight. Also, the sail away out of NYC is beautiful! But to each their own!

Which ship? I did a GTY mini-suite on the Enchanted Princess for my May sailing and was THRILLED with my cabin assignment. I didn't get the assignment until under 2 weeks out, but I got one of the forward-facing mini-suites on Deck 15 and loved it!

32 minutes ago, voljeep said:

and if "most" casino players have a package - why make it easy to get an already paid for drink?

 

I guess to keep gambling?

Whatever you do, don't rely on Ocean Now to get a drink in the Casino. I tried several times on my May 4th sailing and never received any of the drinks I ordered.

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

We somehow never ended up in Take 5 to see any jazz performances. As a matter of fact, I don't remember a single thing scheduled there.

I think I read elsewhere that it was closed for your sailing as they were working on putting in the new slot machines to convert half of it into non-smoking casino space. I just saw a photo from this week's sailing with many of the slot machines installed.

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

Just noticed the chairs at the slot machines. I hope they get real chairs in there soon! No one would want to sit on those cheap metal chairs for long!

If you have any loyalty status with any other cruise line or hotel chain, I highly recommend completing the status match. Otherwise, you should still at least sign up before booking so you get the 5% discount on your first cruise. A lot of people make the mistake of not signing up until after their first sailing.

You mentioned having sailed on NCL before. Did you status match on MSC? If you are Diamond on MSC, you are allowed to stay in your cabin until 8:00, but you should probably warn your room steward of your plans ahead of time.

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

Here’s a photo of the current progress in Take 5 shared by a passenger on the Enchanted now. 😔
 

Looks like they really did just cut it in half. Will be interesting to start getting some first-hand accounts about the lounge/performance experience now with all the slot machines in there. When I was onboard in May, Bon, the bartender told me that the reason they didn't even have a blender at their bar (people kept trying to order frozen drinks) was out of respect for the bands. Now we are going to have 30 loud slot machines in there instead?!!?

3 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

I agree but they are getting to be rare. We did an 11, 10, 11 day b2b2b on the Divina and loved it. Divina still does them out of Miami. Hate going to Miami so looking at the Grandiosa out of PC for a 6, 7, 7 day cruise. Would rather do a  7, 7 b2b out of PC than an 11 day on Princess out of Ft. Lauderdale just for the convenience.

There are an 11-day and 10-day on the Meraviglia out of NYC in January 2025. I am booked on the 10-day on January 23rd.

9 hours ago, wallyj said:

O’Malleys serves food from 5:30-9 every day and usually 12-1:30 on sea days. Having limited space, passengers will go early to save seats and have a drink or two before food service is available. Some venues require a little pre planning if you want to partake and it sounds like you were caught off guard.

 

I was on the Enchanted May4-18. I had the premier package and was able to dine at O’Malleys and Ocean Terrace practically everyday, sometimes twice a day, as I really enjoyed the chicken wings and onion rings at O’Malleys. My first week on the ship, the onion ring tower app consisted of frozen type reconstituted onion rings, late into the 2nd week, real onions were being served and the portion was reduced from the full tower to 6 great real onion rings.

 

I feel many passengers towards the end of the cruise realize they need to use their casual dining credits thus cause the longer waits/lines. On my sailing, I never had a very long wait,  if any,  to dine at Gigi’s. Went during lunch, and dinner times.

That was my experience on the May 4 sailing as well. We only had two sea days, but were able to dine at O'Malley's for lunch both times, by hanging out there before they started serving lunch so we already had a table when lunch started. We only had on dinner at Ocean Terrace, but did not have to wait for a table. We did have to wait what seemed like a long time for our food, especially since it's not cooked! We dined at Gigi's many times for both lunch and dinner. Never a wait for a table for either meal.

2 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

LOVED IT!!! Yes there was probably a bit more F-bomb and N-word music than I would have liked at the late night club, and I’m also not used to being on such a ridiculously packed ship but all in all it was a great cruise, I am looking forward to MSC again! I will hopefully post a review at some point

 

- pro’s: non-stop activities and parties and a younger crowd,

gorgeous ship, aft balcony cabin was spectacular, awarded everyone $200 OBC bc of late port arrivals (OBC eligible for casino spend), water and red bull included in drink package, lots of good cho’s in the theatre (probably saw about 6 different ones, sat front row centre each time), status match gold with NCL platinum, plenty of lounge areas in the main chandelier area and concourse to watch the parties if you don’t want to get into the crowd, app was generally good for chat and bookings, value for dollar was almost unrivalled in all my cruises, 2x day full room cleaning

 

- con’s: very busy, cruise staff seemed unengaged at times, not The kind of crew that remembers names, not a great variety in the buffet, pizza was good but sometimes hard to self-serve, (but all food was generally good), floors were humid and slippery in too many places, no free food on room service, weak solo traveller meetups and awkward seating for solo eaters, truly difficult finding seating in the buffet at times, less line dancing than other cruises, spa didn’t feel too clean and lacked tranquility, paper menus and dailies were a challenge to request, TV channels were poor, elevators too busy and slow and no aft elevators, free ice cream hours were limited 

Glad to hear you had a good time! I have definitely had staff remember my name many times on MSC, but I definitely tend to get into a routine and go to the same bars/lounges at the same times every day. I think the solo traveler meet-ups are very sailing-dependent. I have had both good and bad luck with them on MSC. What do you mean by "awkward seating for solo eaters"? Do you mean table assignments in the MDR?

3 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

We looked at MSC, but since we never do seven day cruises, both Princess and MSC have funky itineraries for 14 (or more) days. They both end up going back to the originating port (Miami, etc.) mid-cruise.  Who wants to go back and sit in Miami (or wherever) for a full day in the middle of the 14 days?

 

Yes, I realize that these are essentially back-to-back cruises. But still, if I'm committing 14 days to a cruise, I really don't want to waste one of those days sitting back in the originating port.

Huh? I have been on three 11-days and a 10-day on MSC so far and I have another 10-day booked in January. There are definitely more than just 7-day options available...

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

There was a live from the Enchanted last month.  You might read it or pose this question.

 

 

I don't recall seeing anything about a Crab Shack pop-up on our Enchanted sailing in May and haven't seen any mention of it in any other reviews. Also, Crab Shack is specifically mentioned on Princess' page about the Majestic, but not mentioned anywhere on their page about the Enchanted.

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/mj-majestic-princess

https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/ships/ex-enchanted-princess

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

I, too, have been perusing Princess and MSC boards since we have upcoming cruises on both, I’ve also been looking at the menus for bar and specialty dining.  Princess appears to have robust menus in their seafood and steak restaurants. And I know that MSC has a great selection in their buffets and MDR menus are good, too.

I think you will like both, depending on the ship and itinerary. Some of Princess' ships are on the old side and are in need of some maintenance and refurbishment. Some of MSC's ships are on the small side, though their older ships seem to be well-maintained. I will be doing my third Princess sailing in August. The first (as I mentioned previously) was on the Emerald Princess in 2022/2023 over the Holidays and it was TERRIBLE. I gave them a second chance in May on one of the newer ships and we did not encounter many of the issues we had on the Emerald sailing, though there are still some things I find frustrating about Princess. MSC is definitely my go-to line now and I am looking forward to sailings in October and January on the Meraviglia. I am convinced that MSC is the best value for your money right now and they still offer many of the services I had come to miss on NCL. Really, the only reason I ended up on Princess again was a casino offer on my May and August sailings that made the pricing competitive.

5 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Several posters have pointed out that MSC has unique advantages that preclude using MSC has a model for other cruise lines.

You literally said "All cruise lines"... MSC is still a cruise line, even if they are privately held instead of publicly traded.

31 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Visi some other cruise line forums,

All cruise lines are cutting back and increasing prices.

Not MSC... What has MSC cut in the past year or two? The only thing I can think of is that you now have to pay $5 if you want an additional entree at dinner in the MDR on US itineraries only.

17 minutes ago, memoak said:

Eliminating Take 5 is a horrible idea. It is one of the best music venues at sea and serves as the casino bar

They aren't eliminating Take 5 (on the Enchanted at least). They are reducing the size of it... moving the performance area to the same end as the bar and replacing the seating at the current performance end of the lounge with slot machines. Essentially they are cutting the space in half and the lounge portion will only be the half with the bar.

9 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

So what is Halifax?

I think we are miscommunicating. It is fine for a passenger to embark in Seattle and disembark in Vancouver, regardless of where else they stop, because Vancouver is a foreign port. In this case, the conversation was around the OP disembarking in Norfolk after having embarked in NYC. They stopped in Halifax, but that is not considered a "distant foreign port" so does not satisfy the PVSA requirements for a non-closed circuit cruise.

With your example of Vancouver, I assumed you meant disembarking in Vancouver, not just stopping there. If a passenger were on an Alaska cruise out of Seattle they could disembark in Seattle or Vancouver and not violate the PVSA. However, if they disembarked in any other US port (like any of the ports in Alaska), they would be in violation of the PVSA because Vancouver is not a DISTANT foreign port.

That all being said, if this were a closed-loop cruise out of Seattle, they would at least have to stop in one Canadian port (most stop in Victoria) to satisfy the PVSA requirement for a closed-loop cruise. Closed-loop cruises have to stop in at least one foreign port (doesn't have to be distant). Non closed-loop cruises that start and end in DIFFERENT US ports have to stop at a DISTANT foreign port.

11 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

So how does Alaska work with ships leaving Seattle and stopping in Vancouver?

Vancouver is not a US port.....

11 hours ago, wallyj said:

Not sure if your post is a comment regarding PVSA if a passenger wanted to debark in Norfolk, but stop in Halifax does not qualify for ‘foreign port’ for PVSA.

 

I believe on east coast, only one of the ABC islands qualify. Halifax qualifies for the closed loop itineraries departing and returning to same port, like Victoria, BC does for Alaska cruises roundtrip out of Seattle.

 

For your sailing, since it originated in NY, if a passenger wanted to disembark in Norfolk, PVSA violation would apply.

Halifax qualifies as a "foreign port," but not a "distant foreign port." If the cruise originated at a US port and the passenger disembarks at a different US port, then they must have visited a DISTANT foreign port first in order to satisfy the PVSA. A non-distant "foreign port" is only useful for a closed-circuit cruise embarking and disembarking at the same US port. So if the OP had embarked in NYC, visited Halifax or any other non-distant foreign port, then disembarked at Norfolk, they would be in violation of the PVSA. If they disembark at NYC, then Halifax does qualify as a foreign port for satisfying the simple foreign port requirement of the PVSA of a closed-circuit cruise.