lovelights

The opera sailing Saturday Saturday Jan 21, 2016 7 Days

 

 

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MSC has a ship named, Opera? I'm not showing any itinerary on MSC's website that has Cuba as a destination.

Keep in mind that the tap water on board is purer (more chemically free) than almost all bottled water. Of course, tastes vary, but the tap water is healthy. Besides, think of the environmental benefit of drinking it rather than the stuff contained in plastic.

I don't think they'll allow you to take the tap water machine with you, when you get off the ship though. We used our bottled water to take off the ship with us at the ports.

One more thing. We thought the package was for the cabin, but it's not necessarily. We got the streamer package. If you want to share pick one person to use their internet id that's on the cruise card and have them tell you what the password is. My partner was unable to login or create the account because I had already done it. So he accidentally bought another package. We got it straightened out, but it's not totally obvious that you can't use the two separate internet id's from the cards for the same package. Other than that, the streamer package has pretty good speeds, imo.

 

 

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Yep, that got a little confusing too. We had 2 laptops, and I was trying to set up my husband a separate account, and then I noticed that it was going to charge me again, so I went back to my account, and then just added his computer to my account. It knew which computer was using the data by either him logging in, or me logging in. We both logged in at the same time on our computers and it kept track of each computer individually. Once we figured it out, everything went smoothly after that.

No way would we do a 4-day cruise to a place where you can't get off the ship without a pre-approved excursion booked. There are many more Caribbean 7-day options to destinations more interesting to us than Cuba. But, to each their own.

 

 

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I was thinking the exact same thing. I thought cruises changed ports due to bad weather, or whatever the captain needs to do to keep the ship safe. This changing of Sky from one place to another, with only a 5 month notice (supposedly NCL will announce the itinerary changes on Dec. 20th?), just seems so unfair to the passengers that already booked.

Even though someone mentioned that they can do this because it's still several months out, and you can just re-book.... well, what about people that already put in for their vacation at work, or already booked a flight?

What if they don't want to pay for an excursion just to be able to get off the ship in Cuba? What if they preferred to go to the Bahamas, or a private island? Did I read where someone said that it's only 90 miles difference? That's like saying "Well instead of going to St. Thomas tomorrow, we're going to go to St. Maarten." It's absolutely crazy.

When a cruise line changes the itinerary to a place that forces you to have to pay to get off the ship, then it's time to find another cruise line.

I'm curious too, as to how NCL is going to do this. Are they just going to change the itinerary on the cruise passengers that have already booked during this time?

I'd be a little upset if I had booked a cruise vacation, thinking I was going somewhere, and ended up somewhere else. I could understand missing a port, or swapping a port to get away from bad weather, but to miss it just because NCL decides that they want to go to Cuba instead, just doesn't seem fair to their passengers.

I just checked NCL's website for cruises leaving Miami on Norwegian Sky for May 1st thru June 2nd, and there is no itinerary that indicates the ship is going to Cuba.

If someone is already booked on that ship for a date during that time, could the cruise line change their itinerary to go to a port that wasn't on the itinerary?

It appears to read that in order for you to get off the ship there, you would need to take a shore excursion that would classify it to be okay with regulations.

Just saw on Facebook that NCL is going to start going to Cuba in May of 2017!

 

http://www.nclhltdinvestor.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1003219

May of 2017? That's like only 5 months away. I doubt very seriously that it's going to Cuba in May because it's not even shown on the itinerary yet.

There might be quite a bit of upset cruisers onboard if they signed up to cruise on a ship that took them somewhere they weren't suppose to go.

Oh, and they don't tell you this beforehand, but once you get onboard, you have to register an account online for the internet. You don't use your online account that you have when you signed up for your cruise. This is an entirely different account that you have to sign up for.

Once you sign up by putting your name and room number (I think it asks for your room number), it will automatically open with your information and will know which package you pre-paid for. They really need to put something in your stateroom to explain this, because when we went to the internet cafe place to find out what we were suppose to do, it was a total chaos.

Thank you for your responses!! Very helpful!

 

I hope I can send some emails, check social media, and make a few wifi calls.

 

Did you purchase it prior to the cruise or while onboard?

 

My mom has the black card. Are there any discounts?

I purchased ours a few months before we cruised. If you purchase before you cruise, you get (I think) 20% more data to use.

I went on Divina in October, and had my straightening wand in my luggage that arrived in my stateroom around 3:30pm, and had no problems at all. We also took 6 bottles of Aquafina water in each suitcase (had 2 suitcases), and had no problem with that either.

How is the wifi on the Divina? I am planning on getting this package : Streamer: Experience the web in full, including audio calls and video sharing

 

I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has recently had this particular wifi package.

 

Thanks!

We got that package in October on Divina. We got online each night and went to facebook, ebay, and a few other places. I have an online business, so I had to check my emails daily. I was worried that I was going to run out before the end of the cruise, however, the night before we got off the ship, I still had 1.6g left of the 2g that we started with.

I uploaded several photos to facebook, used facebook messenger to keep in touch with my children at home, and we had so much left at the end, that the night before we got off the ship, I watched The Walking Dead online. It started locking up on the streaming though (probably because everyone else was online at the same time), so I had to finish watching the last 20 minutes when I returned home.

We still had data remaining when we got off the ship.

Overall, we were glad we purchased it, and plan to purchase it again when we cruise on Seaside.

We've cruised with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Princess, and Carnival, and when we cruised on MSC Divina last month, it was one of the best cruises we've ever been on.

If I had to compare it to either of these cruise lines, I would put it up on the top with Princess. Carnival isn't even in the ballpark, as far as I'm concerned.

The shows were the best we've ever seen, and the only time we found that the announcements were in several languages was at the beginning of the shows, and at the muster drill. The captain on Divina spoke in English when he made his daily announcements.

We plan to take our next cruise on MSC Seaside. That's how much we enjoyed MSC cruise line. We chose the Fantastica experience because we wanted to pick our balcony room. I didn't want to take any chances getting put in a balcony with a lifeboat obstructing my view, or one of those angled balconies that blocked a portion of your view. We were about 9 staterooms from the back of the ship, on the 12th deck, and we absolutely loved the location.

No. MSC does not allow any beverages except the one bottle of wine per person over 21 (I think). EM

We went on Oct. 22nd, and we don't bring wine with us, but I heard that there was no wine allowed to be brought on board. We had no problem with the 6 bottles of water that we put in each luggage though.

Can I bring bottled water when I embark on Divina in Miami next month?

I read so many posts where people said "no", but I put 6 bottles of Aquafina water in my luggage, and 6 bottles of Aquafina water in my husband's luggage, and we had no problems at all. We paid the porters at the port of Miami their tip to take care of our luggage, and by 3:30pm, our luggage was in our room with all 12 bottles of water inside our luggage.

We carried a bottle when we got off the ship at the different ports, and there were no problems at all.

I also took my hair straightener wand, and had no problems with that either. Divina had the easiest embarkation than any cruise or port we've ever cruised on.

We went on the Oct. 22nd sailing, and no one was allowed to board before 12:00 (noon). I believe they took Yacht Club guests first, and then the other passengers boarded by group number. (They gave us a card with a number on it). We were #23, and our group was called around 1:00pm.

We're booked for February 2018 and of course the island won't be ready for us, but we were mostly booking to be on a new ship...while it's really new! ;)

I can't wait to see the reviews when Seaside comes to Miami. I think we're going to book for November, in hopes they have the new island ready by then. We have to wait though, for booking to become available.

I decided to buy the 3D Cruise Ship puzzle when I was on Divina, and it came out way better than I ever expected it to.

When we first seen this puzzle finished, my husband and I were looking through the Logo Store window on the ship, because the store hadn't opened yet, since we were docked in Miami for so long. So, here we are peeking through the windows and door, and I spotted this large cruise ship model (at least that's what I thought it was at the time).

I asked my husband if he could see the price on it, but it was to far away to see the price, so I took a photo of it through the glass. My husband said "I think it's $132.00". I said "Well, I won't be buying it then."

Later that night, while in our stateroom, I downloaded all the photos I had taken that day, onto my laptop. When I pulled up the photos of the ships that I took through the window at the Logo Store, I looked at my husband and said "OMG. It's only $11.90. It's a 3D puzzle!!!!"

So, I bought it and brought it home, and put it together the other day. It has 85 pieces, and it's about 20 inches long, and it took me 3 hours to complete. I have it displayed in my craft room. However, I found a piece (#36) that I can't find where it goes, and I already threw the box away. (It's a narrow piece, about 1 in. long, and appears to have little windows on it) So, if anyone can tell me where #36 goes, I'd greatly appreciate it. LOL Here's a few photos of it.

Model1 by Debbie G, on Flickr

Model2 by Debbie G, on Flickr

Model3 by Debbie G, on Flickr

Hi Lovelights, thanks for your review. Takes me back to my two weeks on the Divina a couple of years ago. I also had a bad experience on the free trolley in San Juan. Took twenty minutes to go two blocks so we got off and walked. We loved the Divina and are booked in the Yacht Club on the Seaside in January of 2018. Can't wait. Bob

We want our next cruise to be on Seaside, but I'm waiting to know for sure when the new private island will be open. I don't think you can book 2 years out anyways. Since Seaside is taking over Divina's old itinerary, I guess this time we'll pick the western itinerary and hopefully they'll be swapping out Nassau for their own private island.

I was on the same cruise. Our boarding docs said our check-in was for 2:00pm.

Mine said the same thing, but we couldn't control what time we got there, for we took a charter bus. Usually the bus doesn't get you into Miami until about 12:30pm, but for some reason, they moved the schedule up on the buses and we had to be at the bus stop before 6:45am.

My list for the YC is very similar to yours lovelights.

I didn't have a list for the YC. Matter of fact, this was my first cruise on MSC and I don't know anything about the YC. I think it was Max49 that you're referring to.

I just noticed that someone else had commented about the vibrations near the back portion of the ship. I was thinking that maybe I was just having some nervous condition. ;) However, I've been on many different cruise ships, and this was the first time I had felt the vibration that badly. I was thinking it was because we were located on deck 12, about 9 rooms from the back of the ship on the portside. I chose that side to get videos of El Morrow Lighthouse and Forts as we were pulling into port. Plus, I didn't want to look out or down onto a lifeboat.

When we left San Juan the vibration of the ship actually woke me up. It was about 1:40am. (Ship was suppose to leave at 2:00am). And did anyone else see the white smoke that was pouring from the top of the ship on the portside? We seen a Carnival ship one time that was pouring out black smoke when it left Cozumel. We were on Jewel of the Seas at the time. My husband said "I don't think that ship is suppose to be doing that." When we got home, we turned on the news, and it was the ship that ended up being nicknamed "the poop cruise". :O

I noticed that Divina only did the shimmy when it was backing up, or moving sideways to pull up and pull away from the docks.

We did notice on the t.v. that there were times that the ship was moving almost 21 knots, and the winds were hitting the side at almost 50 knots. I actually took a photo of it on the t.v., because I thought the ship stood up to the winds rather well. I didn't realize how much the wind was blowing until we opened our patio door.

We'd be sitting in the bed or on the couch in our room, and there would be a BOOM. Felt like we had a hit a deer or something. :O

Enjoying your review. Love the pics of your grand daughter and the cute toy. Notice in your photos quite a bit of marble on the floors, etc. Am I correct? I ask because I took a really nasty fall years ago on a Carnival ship and spent the rest of the cruise in a wheelchair, due to marble floors that were wet. The ship looks beautiful and your pictures turned out really well. Would you consider taking a 4 year old on this ship? Thinking about it with the daughter and my grand daughter

There is marble, tile, and carpeting throughout the ship, but we didn't have any problems slipping, nor did we see any areas that were wet, where there wasn't a sign posted. And that was usually out on the pool deck, or up on Deck 15 at the back pool, but that was mainly because we got a lot of rain on our cruise. I wore sandals, and my husband had on some sort of flip flop looking shoes, and we didn't have any problems walking on the floors.

As far as children on the ship, we have several grandchildren, ages from 2 years up to 17 years, and I would have no problems taking any of them on this ship. The kids that we seen, seemed to be having a great time. We noticed that the children's area for the smaller children, was themed with smurfs. They had lots of toys for the kids to play with in the children's program. We seen a large toy box over-filled with all sorts of toys. My granddaughter that is 2, would have had a blast.

I will let you know that this ship is very long, and it takes a lot of walking to get from the back of the ship to the front. Make sure you have a stroller.

So we are boarding the Divina on Saturday 11/5. Daylight savings time ends at 2:00 am on Sunday 11/6. I am trying to set up a private tour on 11/6 in Nassau and they are asking if we will be on Eastern Standard or Ship time. Does anyone know if we will be changing time? :confused::confused:

Nassau keeps the same time as our eastern standard time. Time is the same as our east coast in the U.S. So, I would think that if the clocks move forward on the ship, then they're going to move forward in Nassau, as well, because the ship's time is the same as the U.S. time.

On Flickr. God I'm glad I don't have to go back to work until tomorrow.

So, you need a day or 2 of vacation to recover from your vacation? lol

Here's the link. Once you download it, let me know and I'll go back over to Flickr and remove it.

https://flic.kr/p/NzXo8U

uploaded to flickr ?

Either that, or I could put it here in the forum. LOL