Rosebud5t

15 hours ago, bostoncruisegal said:

We just sailed a 3-day Magnifica in February.  I never found a Daily in advance, and I unfortunately did not keep mine.

Only theme night we had was white night.  

Day time activities included trivia several times, games by the pool, sport games meet-ups. 

Nighttime included karaoke, silent disco, some game shows (we didn't go so I can't remember which ones), production shows each night, and a late night "rated R" comedian.

 

Let me know if there is anything specific you are looking for or have any questions.

 

 

 

This is very very helpful, thank you so much! It's always especially helpful to know theme nights ahead of time, especially on a short cruise. I've never done a 3-night cruise before, so I usually have plenty to choose from, but will pack very light this time. It's also great to see that for a small ship there seems to be a lot to keep entertained if the weather isn't great or I need a break from the sun.

No worries, thank you. Every cruise is a great one. 😁

I understand the admin type of information (date, weather, ports, etc) would be different, as well as specific times for things. I was more looking to see what kinds of activities, theme nights, etc. this ship generally has, which could be very different than on the much larger MSC ships and longer sailings, both of which I'm used to. 

6 hours ago, Jadycruz said:

When you say daily planners, do you mean an itinerary as in the programs/activities that will be provided by the ship?

 

Yes, that's what I'm looking for.

I thought this was the only specialty restaurant they have; is there another?

Does anyone have daily planners they could share from a recent Magnifica 3-day sailing? I've searched and can't find any. 

I saw a very recent review for the short sailings on the Magnifica and the guy who is Diamond said thatb while there is only one specialty restaurant (Oriental Festival) he was able to use his complimentary specialty restaurant perk there.

Not officially, it should just be for those in the same cabin. They didn't even check my sister's debarkation ticket, so what I would actually do is spilt the couples. Have one non-gold get off with a gold, if that makes sense. Cabins isn't what they're checking during debarkation. 

Hi all! Aurea on its own does not include priority tendering. Gold and Diamond status do. Hope that helps!

On 10/15/2023 at 12:08 PM, lor74 said:

How are we enjoying….a review will be coming.  Prob our first and last MSC cruise!

FWIW ... I feel ya! I love MSC, but would never have sailed with them again if my first had been on the Meraviglia (and I was even in Yacht Club for that!). Especially a short cruise. If you do try another one, do a longer one on a bigger ship like the Seaside, or the other "Sea.." ships. 

Fair enough. Just so strange that it hasn't been mentioned with any of my previous cruises with them. Either way, I think it's absurd they would think that dining room seating is the primary drink sharing problem.

It may help to know that MSC is now not allowing passengers (adults) without a drink package to dine at the same table with those who do have a drink package, even if they're in different cabins.

 

I'm booked on my 5th MSC cruise and this wasn't  the case on the others. I'm not sure, but it may have been in place for a while and just not enforced. And it also may only apply to linked bookings, but even the deeply buried fine print doesn't say that. I just called them and tried to (nicely) dispute it but it didn't work. Being Diamond level didn't help. They don't have an email for complaints/suggestions that I know of, so I tweeted about it and tagged them. That's all I can do other than not drink on my upcoming cruise with my parents. Yes, I'll be stubborn and petty enough to not buy any drinks at all when I was willing to buy a package. I love MSC, and have introduced many friends and family to them, but I can see this being a bad business decision on their part. Drink packages are very attractive to cruisers, and I doubt the majority of non-drinkers will buy what to them would be expensive packages just to dine with their friends and family.

Hi all!  I just returned from two weeks on MSC Seaside (solo the 2nd week) and thought I would post a few things I paid more attention to after being a part of this thread:

• Seaside does not have solo cabins.  These are specific to a few of their other ships.
• I was treated absolutely wonderfully, no staff ever flinched about my being solo, including in the dining room and the three specialty restaurants I visited.
• There were 4 different single/solo meet-ups during the week.  They were unhosted, but published in the daily planner and at the Champagne bar, which is in a public area but otherwise mostly unpopulated so it was very easy to know who was there for the meet-up.  
• There was also a "traffic light" party one night.  Perhaps more for singles than solos, at this party you take a glowing wristband based on your status - green if you're single, red if you're taken, yellow if you're somewhere in the middle.  😉

Hope this helps a little.  Happy cruising! 

All cruise lines target more people per cabin as it equals more money for them, but I hear what you're saying.  I didn't have experience with MSC until the Seaside, but I've heard there were restrictions on solos booking certain cabins on other MSC ships in the past.  A couple of MSC ships have solo studio cabins, which I would love to see on more ships across all cruise lines! 

I've been on MSC Seaside twice and didn't notice anything geared toward solo travelers and honestly didn't notice any on the ship.  While that doesn't deter me personally (I'm traveling on the Seaside twice again in February) it would be nice if they had something a little more put together for solos.  I'll provide that feedback when I'm on the ship in a few weeks.  🙂

Nice!  I wonder if I had options for downloading that I didn't notice.  I definitely didn't see a higher resolution option.  I'll be looking for that this time for sure.  Thanks!  

Hi!  I'm not sure if you've already sailed, but I was on the Seaside in June and purchased this, so I'll try to answer your questions:

• The photos are good enough quality to make regular sized prints.  If you want to make 8x10 prints, the quality isn't quite there.  You can buy prints onboard for a discounted price, around $12 for an 8x10 if I remember correctly.
• You can download all of the photos taken, including the embarkation photo.  I did the downloads onto my smartphone from their app each day while onboard - or you can wait until you get home if you don't have the internet package.  
• There are a TON of photo ops included, including all of the ones set up with the backdrops.  You can have hundreds of photos taken, as my sister and I did.  The private photo sessions that aren't included are a separately scheduled and booked session, such as for a special occasion.  We took advantage of nearly every setup they had.  
• I much prefer the digital photos.  On previous cruises I've spent a lot of money on the 8x10 prints, just to tuck them away in albums because how weird would my house be covered with them?  haha 🙂  These are nice because I was able to crop, edit, and manipulate the digital photos however I wanted, then make regular prints of the ones I wanted to display.  Plus there were a lot where there was a weird part of the photo, like maybe how they positioned a hand for example, that I was able to crop out and get a photo that was just what I wanted.  

I read the other thread and didn't have any of the challenges that those posters had.  I bought the package, got my card, showed it when I got pictures taken, and downloaded my photos.  Easy as could be.  I'll be buying it again for my Seaside cruise next week.  

 

Hope this helps!  Happy cruising!!!

I've only cruised NCL once, in February on the Epic, so I can't give a true comparison.  However, I cruised on MSC Seaside in June and found that regardless of how many kids were onboard, it wasn't really noticeable because there are SO many areas of the ship.  In face one day when we were exploring the ship and found the jungle pool area my sister actually said "so THIS is where all the kids are."  For that matter, I found that there were never any areas that were truly crowded.  I had the Aurea package, so I spent a lot of time on the private Aurea deck also, and while it's not adults-only, there were very few kids there - maybe because there's not a pool up there, only hot tubs.  If someone were looking for a "fewer kids" experience without booking an adults-only cruise, I would certainly not hesitate to recommend MSC Seaside.  

Hello! We have an Aurea Balcony on deck 14...2 adults, 2 kids. We always cruise Celebrity.......HOW DIFFERENT IS MSC FROM CELEBRITY?

We like to have FUN IN THE SUN! We like GOOD FOOD! We like GOOD POLITE SERVICE! ........IS MSC FOR US?! [emoji12] [emoji41] [emoji51] [emoji483] [emoji484] [emoji485] [emoji481]

 

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Hi! I had an Aurea balcony on deck 14 as well and loved it. I've never been on Celebrity, so I can't do a direct comparison, however I will say I loved everything about the Seaside! There are SOOOO many open deck areas, you can get as much fun in the sun as you can handle. And the service was friendlier and far more attentive than any of my many cruises. I hope you love it as much as I did!

 

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There are travel advisories and gang violence in many places, including the US. The violence currently in Jamaica isn't in the Falmouth area, but of course exercise caution. I was just in Falmouth a couple of weeks ago and felt completely safe by myself. There is a lovely little trolley tour, not that there's a ton to see in town.

 

Again, exercise caution, but enjoy!

 

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You can definitely walk to the beach and shopping in St Maarten. There is a big walkable area with shops and restaurants in St Thomas. I can't remember what's all at the pier in St Kitts, but you can walk to a lot of places. If you wanted to go to a beach farther away in any of these ports, it's super cheap, just a few bucks.

 

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I'm so sorry to hear this. In the hopes of reassurance... I've done 13 of my 16 cruises solo and have never once had a problem. Depending on which part of the trip she's most concerned about, you could reach out to those on your roll call to see if someone could take her under their wing stateside at least until she's safe on the cruise. Best of luck to you both!!!

 

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it is ridiculous that we have to lose our deposit when they could have just taken the difference in money and done the upgrade! meanwhile those in the USA can block a cabin for over a year and cancel at the last minute and not lose a thing!

I'm in the US and even I think that's unfair! I had no idea that would be different based on where we live. I can almost see not refunding (to avoid exactly the shenanigans mentioned) but why not put it toward an upgrade! Wow.

 

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I apologize if this has been answered already, I can't find anything on the boards.

 

I wondered if anyone knows if MSC will honor a price drop in the cruise fare, and if so, how to request it? I haven't paid my full balance yet, which I know is sometimes the cutoff. I received notice yesterday (from another travel app) that the cruise fare has dropped for my category. It's already a great deal, so I don't care a lot, but every little bit helps, right? [emoji16]

 

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Thank you for taking photos of the photo packages! I sometimes spend a fortune on pictures because after my first few solo trips I realized I wasn't in any of my own vacation pictures! My sister's coming on this cruise with me, so we might splurge on the VIP package. Will have to read more about it. Thanks!

 

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