JamieLogical

This one I have mixed feelings about. I do think that people serving themselves is unhygienic and honestly just try not to think about it too much, because when I do, it really grosses me out. However, having sailed on several sailings post-restart when staff were serving the food in the buffets on all the cruise lines, I found that I wasted MUCH more food. I had gastric sleeve years ago and can't eat more than 5-7 oz. in a sitting, so I take one or two bites worth of the foods I want to try when serving myself on a buffet. When the staff were serving, even when I would ask for "just a tiny bit" of something, I would end up with half a plate-full or even a whole plate-full.

Congratz on being the 3rd person to correct me and now we have a 4th! I think this was resolved 4 weeks ago when the others corrected me?

Considering I recently got an offer for a free British Isles cruise through Player's Advantage, I am pretty sure they expected me to gamble onboard!

The mall I went to last time I was in St. John is definitely closed on Sundays according to the mall's website: https://www.brunswicksquare.ca/general

Yeah, I don't like that they force it to be specific restaurants now. I also think it is super dumb to waste a specialty dining credit on Hola!, since the prices there are so low.

The one time I canceled, I had my refund in under 48 hours.

Yes, you don't need a dining package to book Specialty Restaurants. You will have a choice to pay for the dining experience menu or pay a la carte. If you get a free specialty dinner for being Diamond, that will be the dining experience menu.

Yes, when TAs (typically big box or large-scale online TAs) don't participate in the Upgrade program, anyone who books through them simply is not eligible to bid, even on their own through the cruise planner.

That means your TA participates then. Those who book through big box TAs that don't participate in the Upgrade program will not be able to bid at all.

This is the area where you wait for Ubers/Lyfts. It extends quite a ways past the left of this photo... all the way to the end of the sidewalk:

Yes, but it is just a covered walkway and can get a bit crowded. I was there waiting for an Uber in the pouring rain and managed not to get too wet. As you walk out of the terminal and across the crosswalk, there will be no shelter, but there should be shelter as you wait.

That sounds like an excellent philosophy!

This link will give you a sense of the drink prices: https://profcruise.com/princess-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2024/ As others have said, if you order a drink over $15, you just pay the difference, plus the gratuity on the difference.

Also, the Magnifica is an older ship. The newer ships have far more bells and whistles, as well as more modern staterooms with shower doors vs. curtains in the bathrooms.

This link shows Cognacs between $10 and $16. https://profcruise.com/princess-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2024/

I just checked the app. I don't even have a room assignment for my May 4 sailing on the Enchanted Princess and it too is showing the Captain's Circle desk as my muster station. So, I am assuming that is just a default until the app populates with your actual station.

I haven't done an overnight in OC, but I will warn that when I was docked there until about 9:30 in the evening, all the bars and food trucks were closed by about 4:00pm.

@Momto3girlsintheCarolinas I hope you are feeling better overall about sailing MSC. There are certainly mixed reviews, but I think it's best to keep an open mind and judge for yourself. The worst cruise I ever sailed on was on Princess, and that's supposed to be a higher-quality line. The food, service, entertainment and ship's maintenance were truly TERRIBLE. But even there, I have decided to give Princess another try in a few weeks, because I know that those things can vary from ship-to-ship and sailing-to-sailing even on the same line. Now, if I have a second bad cruise (I mean "bad" in comparison to other cruises... it's still a cruise!) on Princess in May, then I may write the line off completely, but we will see. I have a third Princess cruise booked for August and final payment for that one is due the day after I come back from my May sailing.

For sure, on an itinerary with a lot of sea days, I can't imagine not having a wifi plan!

Depends on your cell service. I have Google Fi and international text and data rates are the same as in the US. Only change for me is the cents per minute with cell calls (not wifi calls). So it I am comfortable just having Internet and and contacting loved ones in port, then I have no need for the wifi plan. However I do like being able to surf the Internet while at sea and have to check in with work frequently, so for me, wifi is worthwhile.

We are on the Enchanted May 6, so really looking forward to following along!

Wow, that is crazy late for a spring break.

I have sailed both MSC and Celebrity several times since the restart. Increased pricing on Celebrity drove me to MSC. I have mostly sailed in Balcony cabins on both lines (did one sailing in Retreat on Celebrity). For me, the main differences are assigned dining times, more crowded ships, and more children onboard. Some things that are better about MSC are clearly the pricing, the fact that Bailey's is included in the Easy Plus package (have never found a need to upgrade to the premium drink package on MSC), and the ships are generally newer (I never sailed on any of the Edge class ships). I have heard there have been cuts on Celebrity since I last sailed with them in September 2022, so I don't know how it would stack up now, but I would say that if pricing were equal, I would probably sail Celebrity over MSC. However, the pricing is nowhere even close to equal so MSC is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better value for my dollar these days. Another thing I really dislike about Celebrity is the non-refundable deposits. In the first year or so post-restart, Celebrity's deposits were still non-refundable, but you could transfer them to a different sailing if you needed to without penalty. Now that is no longer an option and I find the non-refundable deposits to be a real deterrent for us.

Right, college spring breaks can be pretty much the entire month of March and into early April. It the public grade school breaks that are a little more consistent and predictable.

Yep!