the wandering two

I had a similar problem, my account was missing my last two sailings whilst my wife had been credited ok. Noticed that any marketing emails I received from them had me at gold tier & a different m/ship number.

Emailed & got no reply, waited a couple of months and tried again & got lucky.

Turns out I had two accounts in my name so all sorted.

Keep at it, I must have got someone at the other end who actually bothered to look at the issue. 

We're in the UK & mailed mscdirect@msccruises.co.uk, not sure what the equivalent would be in USA.

Merion_Mom is spot on, Jewel will have a far more intimate feel onboard. Our 2nd last Royal sailing was on J, a transatlantic also, great lounge and centrum entertainment, & rarely went to the theatre shows.

Our last a cheapie five nighter on Mariner, we found fit and finish sadly lacking, thought that  ships on the domestic Florida runs are forgotten about, but maybe not given your experience. 

Will be getting on Jewel this Friday, so will be interesting to compare. 

Don't wait for dining to open on the app, opens earlier on cruise planner via website. 

Just been able to book times last week for our August 28 2023 sailing. 

We normally walk around the old town perimeter, next to the sea, some nice linear parks & gardens, then head into the old town towards Central market, nice tapas style kiosks on the outside of the market.

For fresh sherry tasting straight from the barrel Taberna La Manzanilla is nearby.

I feel your pain, we where on Mariner April 22, dining waits in MDR for my time were bad. Fit and finish poor, lots of rust around windows,  water stained awnings and flaking woodwork in solarium, mis matched fittings in public restrooms. 

I feel that the America based lines (no offence, I'll include NCL in this too)  don't keep up the maintenance schedule that we have experienced  on other european lines such as Costa or MSC on ships of a similar age  or older.

We are pretty easily pleased and Mariner was only our second diamond tier sailing, previous being Jewel pre covid transatlantic, which we loved. The four "happy hour" drinks do go someway  towards levelling the field.

We're on Jewel again this September, in Europe, hoping for the best.

7 minutes ago, publicpersona said:

 

Perhaps they could use a computer to take "reservations" so that only those that can be accommodated at that time will have a reservation.

Have used virtual queues with an app on P&O in the UK, works really well. At least if there is a long wait you can join it whilst getting ready or enjoying another venue on the ship.

As I have just posted, we were on Mariner April  `22. For whatever reason when booking we couldn't pick MTD only early or late options. Went for late, but even prior to dining on the first night realised that was too late for us. Changed to MTD onboard but by then no pre 8pm tables available,  so joined the no reservations line.

We waited 30 mins most nights but the queue for folks with reserved times was as long.

We're back on Royal in Sept, have booked MTD for 7pm every evening,  so if we turn up at the dining room at say 6.55 & there are another 40 people already in the "with reservations" queue, what do we do, join it, walk past everyone else?

They can't check what time you've booked until you're at the podium? 

1 hour ago, loman said:

Wow , i took MTD for at least the last 6-7 cruises and strolled in the dining room at 6 pm every day , never a line up . This was oasis class ships.

I snagged a half price deal last September  on a suite so i get costal kitchen for my upcoming cruise . Seems i dodged a bullet . 

Hope this get this mess fixed soon. I wont wait in line .

I will consider early fixed seating in the dining room next time .

6pm? On our last Royal cruise, Mariner April  '22, earliest MTD was 6.45 because they now use MTD dining room for a 5.30 first sitting too. That's what's causing the problems. 

I collected glasses of ice at bars & buffet to place in the "cooler"

Yes, did the very same in April. Tested on a Thurs morning at Randox in Dublin before a flight, at that point of course we needed it to get into the USA, so the one test covered us for our cruise on the Saturday.  

I wouldn't bet on it, saw a few clamped cars when we left after our recent Mariner sailing.

11 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

That is good know we are doing Randox May 19th to Fly 20th and board 21st. I am thinking I might wait around or go back to our randox centre to get the results in person  myself later on in the day. I know they will email and say they will to 1 email or 1 phone but still if something goes wrong it would be a big problem for us.

Needless to say testing at 4am, no queues, had our email result in 30 mins.

30 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Thanks for that, I do think you could get away with doing a home test, all they will want to see is that certificate. I think I will try on my July cruise, worst case I have to pay for an NCL antigen in port.

Yeah, the OP should certainly look at bringing home tests with them from the uk.

At least in April the one test covered us for entry into the US too.

13 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Was that the ordinary "fit to fly" test which is not video observed, currently £13.50?
It does say they need to be carried out by a professional or via a video but I do wonder how they would know if you have a certificate in your hand.

We got our tests done  by  Randox in Dublin airport on the morning of the day we flew.

No good to the OP but I was reassuring bluebrummie200 on their situation. 

To the OP, can you bring a permissible certified self test from the UK with you & test yourself there? 

Most readily advertised tests such as Walgreens or CVS are for US citizens with medical insurance that cover these costs.

We had to do something similar in Orlando in February. 

Decided on a last minute on MSC so had to get a test locally. 

Advent health  near our accommodation wanted circa $179, same company at Orlando airport $65. 

I note Seattle airport tests are $69. 

On 5/5/2022 at 5:52 PM, Bluebrummie2000 said:

We are on the Spirit 5th August Alaska cruise.  Travelling to the US from the UK on 3rd Aug.. We believe a US entry test dated 3rd Aug. and will be OK, but are more than a little nervous during our one day in Seattle!  Our cruise consultant does not answer emails or her phone so have not really been able to speak to anyone to validate if we will be OK.   

 

Can anyone offer us some reassurance that we will not need to take another test when in Seattle?

You should be fine. We travelled from Dublin April 21 to Orlando &  sailing out of Port Canaveral on Saturday 23rd. We obviously had to get our tests done on the morning we flew in order to be within the time limit for the cruise, so other than a rude awakening for a 4am test for our flight at 9am, all good.

Accepted our emailed Randox results at the port  no problem. 

Re food we found Sindhu totally underwhelming, better curries in the buffet. Loved the small plates etc in Glass house & as others have mentioned Olive grove. 
Disappointed in Beach house, £7.50 supplement isn’t a lot but still not worth it. 
Pancakes in the Quays are so fluffy, don’t know why the waffles are like cardboard, you’d think it would be the same mix? 
They are available in the buffet but you have to ask & they alternate availability. 

Previous was glass house. 
MDR wine. 

A few menus that folks were looking for. From last Oct but was on again in Jan so should still be current. 

Your experiences are perfectly inline with MSC practices, if they changed the errors in the web page it would be a completely different site. 

It would cause them so much less hassle at check in but seem happy to plod along as is "putting out fires" as they go.

Dont sweat it, just off Meraviglia last week, couldn't get beyond personal info & emergency contact. We turned up with screenshots of our info from the app.

They took our photos & gave us health questionnaire at check in.

Add your credit card at the machines in the atrium onboard. 

We only booked this sailing a couple of weeks before going,  my status on the app went from Diamond to gold(with a different VC number) to no status & back to diamond within that time.

Donna and Mark, any idea what the issue on Ocean Cay was that the CD mentioned in his last night show preamble?

We didn't notice anything untoward.

Just off Meraviglia too, though the pizza was fine, didn't go out of my way to have that much, better things available elsewhere.

As Homosassa has said super thin, minimal toppings, just as it should be.

No

After eight years of not sailing with P&O (Oriana 2013) we booked Iona for last September, Spain Portugal £799 balcony, couldn't pass that up & loved it. It's brought us back to P&O, great food options & entertainment, shareholder OBC, no tips, bring your own drink (within reason), they don't gouge you on excursions or bar prices unlike the US lines.

What's not to like? 

We were on again in January & have January `23 & new year 23/24 booked already.