Luvcruisin76

Do you get priority debarkation with f2f?

Hi! I'm looking for some experienced people that can help answer a few questions. We are seriously looking at booking our first MSC cruise, we've been on multiple Royal, Celebrity and Carnival cruises which are all run pretty similar but I know MSC is somewhat different and want to be able to make an informed decision. It will be 3 passengers, myself, my husband and our 12 yr old daughter. We were going to do Celebrity beyond but was afraid she would be bored without the ropes course/waterslides. She has never been interested in kids club so that's a no go.

My main questions are...(and for reference I'm looking at a balcony room but no frills as we don't drink so upgrading to the next step up including the drink package doesn't help us) if I choose the early dining it shows a range of time.. how does that work. We always choose late dining but 9:30 is really late but 5:30 is way too early!

Also are there many places to get food during the middle of the day not at traditional meal times like on other cruise lines.  

2. How do the shows work is their only 1 show per night and you have to have the correct dinner time to catch the shows as well? We ran into that problem at times on carnival, we would have to leave the show early to get to dinner.  I think that's my main questions for now..

This would be out of Miami on Seascape I believe.

Thank you all, that's how I read it as well but when the RCCL rep told me it didn't cover it I was a little concerned..

Does anyone know if the travel insurance that royal offers covers the covid requirements for non vaccinated guests? I thought read it did on the website but when I asked over the phone when making reservations they said it did not...does anyone know for sure?

Does anyone know if Bahamas is requiring to be vaccinated to get off the ship there? I don't want to book if that's the case...

Ok so I'm not alone thank you!

I cancelled 3 reservations through the email that was sent asking if we wanted to rebook with FCC and OBC or just a refund. I choose refund for all 3 but haven't gotten and email confirmation.. anyone else get an email confirmation?

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

Like a restaurant at home, you show up when you are hungry or when it fits your schedule. You will always get a table to yourself so you can eat at your own pace (and not wait for that chatty person on the table to finally finish their meal). 

 

On the Breakaway, complimentary dining rooms include the Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor, O'Sheehan's Grill, Shanghai Noodle Bar, and the Garden Cafe buffet. There are specialty restaurants (extra fee) and the Velvet dinner show (extra fee). NCL embraces "Dress Up or Not". Short pants are allowed in all dining rooms for all meals except the Ocean Blue and Le Bistro specialty restaurant where gents are requested to wear long pants (jeans and dockers are fine). The Breakaway has had on-again/off-again requests for long pants in the Manhattan Room, so check your Freestyle Daily on the dress code on your sailing. You're on vacation and most folks dress very casually. 

 

As soon as you embark, you should book your comedy shows (early shows are family oriented, late shows are 18+) and adjust your main theater shows (Six and Burn the Floor) as needed. Then plan any specialty dining around those shows. Comedy shows are done in a small venue and sell out fast. The main theater shows will also sell out, so you should make reservations. Reservations for Specialty Restaurants are required. 

 

Group Dining: While everyone says "we will eat as a group every night", in practice, most groups break up very quickly because of the variety of dining venues and the ability to go to the complimentary restaurants when you want. 

 

Specialty Dining: if your kid is a hearty eater, then buy them a dining package so they can order what they want in the specialty restaurants. If your kid is a mac-n-cheese eater, then they can eat off of the Kids Menu for free. Most dining rooms are a la carte (like McDonalds, you pick items and pay for each item your pick - with the dining package, you get one entree with multiple appetizers and desserts). Moderno (Brazilian BBQ) and Teppanyaki are fixed price ($39) or one dining credit. 

 

Escape Room: On embarkation day, you can also book "Escape the Big Top" which is a puzzle-based escape room. Great fun! Sells out fast. 

 

Canvas by U: On embarkation day, you can book a painting session ($35). No prior experience required. You often see this at home where you do a wine-n-paint.

 

 

Thank you! Lots of good info!

8 minutes ago, hallux said:

Specialty are the only ones you need to make reservations for.  You may be able to reserve the MDR but there's really no reason to, especially if you want to eat at 7:30.

Thank you that helps a ton! How soon before you sail can you make your reservations?

6 minutes ago, waterjock said:

Since your traveling with young children you will want to eat early. You can book a reservation for the 8 people in your party for between 5 pm and 6 pm with no problem in the 3 main dining rooms.The specialty restaurants require you to book a exact time you want to have diner. If you book and early dining time you will have the best chance of getting a reservation but make sure you book them as soon as you board.

Thank you! We traditionally choose late dining even with all the kids so if you want to eat at say 7:30 can you make reservations ahead of time in the mail dining rooms or just the specialty dining?

Hi! I'm not a newbie cruiser but considering booking our first Norwegian  cruise and don't really understand how it works. We are used to our traditional dining, sitting at the same table every night, same time, same waitstaff. So how does Norwegian work? I like not having to decide what time to eat and love not waiting inline for a table so I want to know what to expect in the main dining room as well as the specialty dining area's.

Also tell me about the entertainment. We are looking are Breakaway  in January. I've always heard that Norwegian has good entertainment so tell me about it.

We have been on 5 Royal Caribbean, 4 Carnival and 1 Celebrity, family of 3 (our daughter is 8 ) and will be traveling with friends and their 3 kids (5, 8, 12).

Thanks for the info!

Anyone been there lately? Can you still pay just a few dollars and get in? A group of us are just wanting to get a taxi and go there for cheap. Not interested in the all inclusive. Thanks!

What time are you typically able to get off? We are going to SeaWorld after we get off and collect our rental car from Alamo. We just booked dining with the whales and 12:30 was the only option. Please tell me we can make it with no problems!

So we are staying at the Fairfield near Orlando airport the night before our cruise ( our plane doesn't land till almost midnight) so trying to decide which is the better option price wise and ease of getting to Port Canaveral cruise port. Most shuttle services I see are aprox $20 pp but seems like it may take forever to get there. Uber shows about the same price. There are 3 of us. What's others experience?

What shows are currently on Breeze and does anyone know who will be the cruise director during the first week of December

16 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I checked in online just after midnight as soon as it opened up.  I got boarding group A1.

I ended up arriving at 10:45, so I had to go to the early/late line.  It was my lucky day because there was hardly anyone in the line at the time.  It looked like a lot of people arrived earlier and were already seated.  Group A1 was called to board the ship at 11:05 am.

Ok good to know so we will probably take our chances and get in early 🤞

5 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I had an appointment time of 11:30 to 12:00 when I cruised on the Breeze out of Port Canaveral.  It might depend on the port.

That's where we are going out of... 

What normally is the earliest check in times of you don't have FTTF or booked in a suite ECT... The earliest time it shows available is 12:30-1. Did I just finish my online check in too late to get an earlier time??

39 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

FTTF provides priority debarkation too. 

Yes but we haven't been able to get it! 😟

What time can I reasonably expect to be off the ship? I haven't been able to get a FTTF pass so far but we will self walk off as soon as allowed. We are wanting to go to SeaWorld the day we get off the ship and will still have to rent a car so trying to figure it all out. Last few cruises have been out of Galveston and it seems like it takes forever to get off!

Hi! We are looking at a flight into Orlando but it doesn't land until almost midnight so we would stay close to the airport. I've never used Uber so don't know how it works. I know it's like 45 minutes to the port, will Uber take you that far?

So we usually drive to our cruises but considering flying this time. The hotel has a shuttle from airport to hotel but how do most people get from hotel to cruise port? Uber? What's the easiest way most people find?

Is there such a thing as a post cruise excursion to the Cape Canaveral space center with transportation back to the airport. The flight I was looking at doesn't leave Orlando until like 7:40 pm so lots of time to do something......but then what do you do with your luggage? Does anyone know of anything like that?

We are on Breeze Nov 30th going to Dominican, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Turks and Caicos. My daughter is wanting to get her picture taken with tropical birds. Does anyone know if that's available at any of these ports? Thanks!

Is everyone having this issue or just me?

I can get into all the rest of my stuff but can look at shore excursions.