Grenadinka

12 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

I don’t understand the “no snorkeling”? The Brady’s Cay website states:

 

The activities that are included in the packages that offer activities are - (Snorkel Gear, Kayaks, Paddle Boards or Aqua Park) *Transportation included * 

4 or more people required for the banana boat, towable tube or touring boat cruise*

and the reviews mention it.

What was in question was, is it a separate new area on the other side of the cay or the area the cruise ship excursions use.

 

 

Victor and Rony are both tour operators, whilst they may have additional discounts at preferential locations I don’t see why they can’t take you to any location you want.

I also didn't understand this part. Here's a direct quote about the Brady's Cay from Daniel Johnsons Monkey and Sloth Hangout "Yes, that would be the best option if you do not want to do the snorkeling". Maybe they meant that there were better places for snorkeling.  As we aren't going to book with them, I didn't ask further. But as I understand, the topic starter is interested in snorkeling and booking with Daniel Johnsons, so I thought it was worth mentioning. 

12 minutes ago, TravelFiend said:

I believe they all dock in the same area, so you should walk through the sanctuary on your way out to the city! It was really cool, I hope you enjoy it! And if it seems busy, it will probably be less crowded on your way back to the ship. A walking tour also sounds cool! I probably would have done something like that if I didn't have the kids - I just wanted to have the option to bail if needed! But they really enjoyed it and were engaged with everything (though they did complain about the heat and humidity - we're from the Rockies so it is dry here!)

Thank you for the reply! We do like port area in Dominican Republic, looks like it could be similar experience. I also expect my daughter not being happy at all about the walking tour, I'll try to bribe her with ice cream and port area experience at the end 🙂 

The only thing, they also mentioned that there would be no snorkeling at Brady's Cay, and snorkeling at Roatan is a must for us. If you are also interested in snorkeling, double check with them. 

So I am leaning towards Victor, despite some negative reviews. I also contacted Rony tours but they are affiliated with Manawakie Park Sloth's & Monkey Encounter for sloth encounter. 

I just contacted them as well about the same type of excursion. And they also told be that it would be Brady's Cay for the beach part. 

Thank you! So helpful!

TravelFiend, thank you! That's helpful. 

We are also planning to explore Cartagena on our own. And just in case booked a walking tour. Do you know if all the ships dock in one port or different? I would like to visit the bird sanctuary you've mentioned. 

Agree, good film. Could be interesting for kids as well. 

We didn't take an MSC excursion, but went on our own to Ocean World Park. When we just got off the ship, there were lots of taxis, the driver took us to Ocean World, waited with us until we bought the entrance tickets to be sure that we entered the park. When we were done, we just texted him, and he picked us up and then returned to the port. We had a relaxing day, swam with dolphins, enjoyed the shows. Probably, if we didn't have a 7 year old daughter with us, we would not spend the whole day there, but still, it was a great experience.  The same driver suggested to take us to other touristic points, but unfortunately we didn't have time.

We'll stop again at Puerto Plata with another cruise and are going to contact the same driver. 

I am definitely not a pro, not even close, but we snorkeled at Red Sea, Bonaire, etc. And enjoyed Ocean Cay: we saw a turtle several times in the lagoon, and a nurse shark. The area on Lighthouse beach closer to the rocks or near the net  was full of fish. We tried to snorkel on the beaches without a lifeguard and were stopped shortly by the security (?). We also took an excursion to the wrecked ship and had a great time. 

On 3/20/2022 at 4:11 PM, Kinnialias said:

I was on the MSC Seashore 3/5-3/12   The other Issue I noticed around day 3 onward was there were Black Particles/Soot all over the upper deck around the exhaust area (near those hot-tubs) and I noticed some on our balcony from that point onward. It would leave black coal like marks on our footwear and anything else that it came it contact with.  Close to the end of the cruise I managed to ask a guy that looked like he worked down below in engineering "What were the chunks of soot around on the decks and balconies?"  He blinked with searching eyes and said "It was normal" and veered away       I don't believe that for a moment.  I think they were having a problem with tuning the engines  or fuel flow or something.

I've been on probably a dozen cruises and have never seen soot like that fall on the decks.   Anyone else notice anything like this?

Yeah, we were on Seashore at the end of December and saw lots of black particles, especially in aqua park area, but also near the pool, cabin’s balcony, open buffet area and so on. 

It’s our fourth day. There were two crew performances in the lounge area (for 7 minutes, probably)  and, I believe, 2 shows in Cabaret.

We are on Seashore now, unfortunately, all the shows in the main theater  were canceled. We’ll try the Cabaret tonight 

3 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

The contact on board is MSC, who sent us an email and text message. They’re allowing anyone to cancel for full refund if not not comfortable. 28 of 4714 pax and crew tested positive, 0.59% of the total population. 

Interesting: we are also boarding tomorrow, but have no email from msc 🤷‍♀️

We were on Meraviglia from 11/20 to 11/27, we have a 7 year old daughter and were also worried about excursions/going ashore. The rules on the ship were less strict than on msc website. For example, we could leave our daughter at the kids club and explore the ports by our own. Anyway, we bought several excursions from msc, because we wanted our daughter also to experience new places. The excursions on board were the same I found on the website. Just look at those that are for all passengers, not for vaccinated only. 
So, we went on msc excursions all together in the morning, then came back to the ship, had a lunch, left our daughter at the kids club and then went back to the port for a couple hours. 

I won’t be much of a help, as I was also struggling to find information about the excursions with an unvaccinated kid. You could download pdf - button at the right upper corner on the excursions page. You could find some more info there. And probably, if “open to all” is in the title, that means they have no vaccines/age restrictions, that’s what I suppose. 
We are leaving this Saturday, I will have more information after our cruise. 

Thank you for sharing! She’s  beautiful indeed!

I got e-tickets, but also couldn’t fill out the health questionnaire. And no boarding passes for us yet. Do we need to fill out the questionnaire to get the passes? We are boarding this Saturday. So, probably, it’s time to call MSC again. 

Could you tell about thermal spa? Is it easy to book it on board? What’s the price for the week for couples?

Thank you!

19 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

There is no price difference as far as I know. But the most interesting excursions will all be fully booked when you try to book on board. Especially in times like these, before it was not a big thing to book late.  

 

And all the informations about the available excursions are to be found in a PDF that you can download when you log into your booking. Only refer to this, not to the "public" information on the MSC website.

Yes, one of the excursions is already sold out!

Thank you for the advice to look at the PDFs, I thought about it, but haven’t checked them yet.

We were thinking about taking 2 excursions in one day, if the schedule permits, so we could do some sightseeing and snorkeling in one day. But website doesn’t show the duration (only in some cases) and the exact schedule 🤷‍♀️

Ahhhh, I was so frustrated. First, I emailed them all the documents and got preapproved for the discount. I thought, that it could help during the process and make it quicker. I was wrong. Then I called and made a reservation, but I haven’t paid for the booking, because it was so strange for me: you need to pay in full just to find out, what’s the amount of the discount. I sent an email again, with a booking number. And got a reply 4 days later, that my booking is not existing. Of course, it wasn’t existing  at that point 🤷‍♀️
Finally, I realized that the only way to get the discount is to pay in full. But when I called them, I found out that all the cabins for 3 persons were already  sold out 😡

We decided to change our plans and we booked a cruise for another date, this time I paid in full and emailed them. 3 days after I am still waiting for the reply about the discount. 

1 hour ago, racephoto said:

I don’t know if you’re set on this particular cruise, but if you weren’t, you could try to use the cruiseflex thing and try to move to a later date where your kids would be vaccinated and you could do what you want. If you’re going to do that, you might want to do it today as over the next few days MSC is revamping their cabin categories and no one knows what that will do to the fares. But I don’t think they’re going to go down. 

Yeah, I was also thinking about rescheduling, but we are so ready for the vacation, we’ll try to enjoy it as much as possible in these circumstances 🙂

there is not lots of information about the excursions on MSC website, will it be much more expensive to book the excursions on board?

50 minutes ago, racephoto said:

You’re going straight back to the ship. You’re not allowed to wander around on your own. It states that if you do leave your group/excursion, you won’t be allowed back on the ship.  

Thank you! We do not want to break the rules or to be irresponsible, so we’ll try to find the longest excursions 🙂

6 hours ago, soosie74 said:

On our cruise in September on the Meraviglia, the vaccinated 12+ were able to get off the ship without an excursion booked through MSC. We were a group of 13 including 4 under 11 years. So we left the kids in Kids Club, and we’re able to exit and explore the port.  But if the unvaccinated, under 11 years, wants to get off the ship; you will need to book an excursion through MSC.  Hope this helps ~

Thank you for the reply! It looks like they changed the rules, because we all live in one cabin, even the vaccinated adults aren’t allowed to go ashore without the excursion. 

58 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

You are fine with Ocean Cay; other than that it is correct that your party would be considered unvaccinated.

Thank you!

Yes, I got it, that we are considered an unvaccinated group.  I just thought that maybe someone, who already traveled with children and could provide some details. For example, if we take an MSC excursion, when it’s finished, are we going straight to the ship? We aren’t interested in large group activities, we were thinking about very social distanced snorkeling 😀

1 hour ago, Two Wheels Only said:

"If you are traveling with children 11 years old and younger who are not fully vaccinated, you must purchase an MSC shore excursion if you wish to go ashore (excluding Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, our exclusive private island). This is to help ensure everyone is following the same health & safety protocol"

 

"PLEASE NOTE: Fully vaccinated guests in the same traveling party with a not fully vaccinated guest or a child 11 years old or younger are considered not fully vaccinated for the purposes of shore excursions." 

Thank you, yes, I saw this.