tkwbear

2 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

All the Carnival brands did use Seward because Whittier could not 

Not sure what you consider the good old days, as when I started cruising Alaska in the 1970's with Princess, we never went North of Icy Straight, as all cruises were R/T Vancouver. Every subsequent cruise, as a pax with Princess the ships used Whittier as the turnaround port.

 

I am aware that additional Carnival brands are now switching to Whittier, sharing the docks with Princess, so not all Carnival brands have always used Seward.

 

Spent the day in Whittier many times. As previously mentioned, the Phillips 26 Glacier tour is an exceptional day and is an easy walk from the ship. Walking around the town is also enjoyable, but it certainly isn't the tourist trap of SE Alaska.

4 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

All the Carnival brands did use Seward because Whittier could not accommodate a cruise ship back then. Seeing the ships in Seward when I visited there got me interested in cruising. I personally saw Carnival, Princess and Holland America ships there. My first cruise was from Seward on the Ryndam.

4 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Not sure what you consider the good old days, as when I started cruising Alaska in the 1970's with Princess, we never went North of Icy Straight, as all cruises were R/T Vancouver. Every subsequent cruise, as a pax with Princess the ships used Whittier as the turnaround port.

 

I am aware that additional Carnival brands are now switching to Whittier, sharing the docks with Princess, so not all Carnival brands have always used Seward.

 

Spent the day in Whittier many times. As previously mentioned, the Phillips 26 Glacier tour is an exceptional day and is an easy walk from the ship. Walking around the town is also enjoyable, but it certainly isn't the tourist trap of SE Alaska.

Back in the good old days, cruise ships used Seward as the main turnaround port in Alaska. Seward is one of the prettiest towns in the world, with plenty of things to do, including some very good restaurants.

Now the Carnival family of cruises uses Whittier. I have the misfortune to be stuck there for a day, as I am doing a back to back out of Vancouver. When I first visited Alaska, my Fodor tour book had a small write-up on Whittier, which ended by saying they didn't recommend a visit. I was there last year and didn't leave the ship.

This year I have a car rental but it's $275 for the partial day through Avis, when you add fuel and the tunnel toll, that's more than $300. Can anyone recommend a different plan? I've considered the 26 Glacier Tour but while I like glaciers, I would prefer one more like the Kenai Fjords tour in Seward that has plenty of wildlife as well. The few tours offered by the ship are also ridiculously expensive.

On 12/27/2023 at 11:10 AM, msmoger said:

First, login in using the Booking Number seems to solve the constant "getting booted out" problem.  However this is not very convenient (as opposed to Princess user name and password).

 

Second, the only way I can see to see all of your bookings is to log out and log in individually.  Also not very convenient (and now I have to reference multiple booking numbers to stay logged in 😉).

I had the same problem with the initial login from my iPhone. However I am able to see all current bookings.

I sailed the Grand last July on a back to back Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver. Since I had an inside room, I spent a lot of time outside and enjoyed the lower promenade.

My room was decent, but I did not enjoy the public areas. There was a foul smell from the laundry room, 2 doors down. The buffet restaurant was poorly designed with large sliding doors on each end. Wear your coat to the restaurant when cruising in a cool area.

I didn’t go to any shows but was told the smell was bad in the show room.

The ship looks nice from afar but there was quite a bit of rotting wood on the lower promenade deck.

Food was fair to good. Service was fair though my cabin steward was very good.

The front desk consisted of newbies. I found out the hard way to buy my transfers before boarding as they will not sell you one to Seattle once on board. No one seemed to know why; they were not sold out.

I became friends with a crew member and want to send her a gift. A Starbucks card seemed like a good idea but they aren't usually accepted out of North America and her ship is in the South Pacific. 

Amazon is an option but she already has too much luggage. Suggestions? 

I bought the standard package for an upcoming transatlantic cruise from Miami to Barcelona. It was under $100 but now I'm hearing the internet on the Divina is poor. If you have recent personal experience with the Divina internet I would be interested to hear about your experience.

On 4/20/2023 at 1:58 PM, JAGR said:

I've never seen them check too closely.  As long as you show your card, your companion should be okay.  Again, keep in mind when the say Diamond "party", it is a free drink or two and some snacks, but it is mostly welcome from the captain and then a discussion of new ships and cruises.  That means the dominant people are the CD and the Future Cruises host.  It's not a hard sell like a "Time Share Presentation" party, but it is a sales-oriented session.  Just my opinion.

That is how the US parties go, but it is a much bigger deal in Europe. At least on the Poesia last fall, it was a group of hundreds with many Europeans showing up in pin stripe tuxedos. The wine was amazing, unlike at the US parties. They had a good live band playing too.

The prices are way too high now that's for sure, but it doesn't stop there. I bought a 3 specialty restaurant package yesterday for the Virtuoso for $120. It had been $71 in the past. However Virtuoso has some interesting options so I decided to go ahead and get it.

On 4/26/2023 at 6:17 AM, RD64 said:

The number of dedicated solo cabins - apart from NCL - is minuscule. On the HAL ships they are located in the worst possible location. Bottom deck, as far forward as you can get. Also - they are usually more expensive than booking a regular cabin at double occupancy.

This is true!

22 hours ago, styles27 said:

Wow that’s an impressive resume on HAL!
I’m sorry to hear that your Alaska cruise on HAL last year was a disappointment. 
We cruised on Eurodam to Alaska and loved it. Of course that was pre Covid. 
 
Call me crazy but I miss the Veendam. Nothing like parking on Front St in Hamilton, Bermuda. So sorry they got rid of her and now it’s almost impossible to find a ship that can dock there.  Are there any?

I love the old smaller ships that look and feel like a ship. We don’t need the water slides and bowling alleys. 

 

HAL is more expensive for sure and it used to be worth it because it kept away the party crowd. 

What date did you price the Mera Bermuda for?

I’m looking at 09/04 and it’s about $2k for a deluxe balcony 

(the port charges are higher than the Boston to Bermuda on Pearl.)

 

I believe that was the date. 6 days, right? However I didn't include any packages so mine was less.

I just got off the phone with an MSC rep. I didn't get any help for my issues with their website/IT. When I purchased the beach tour, it gave me no notification, so I bought it again. I got a notification for that, but my credit card was charged twice. So yesterday I had them refund one of them. The refund on the email was $0.0 when it should have been $52.00. No change on the bank statement.

There are no specialty restaurant packages for sale on the website. Plenty of other stuff I don't want though. Also embarkation is 4pm! That's way too late. No times are given for ANY shore excursion. It's just a mess. I expect chaos when arriving in NYC because I was on the Meraviglia when it first came to Orlando and it was a comedy of errors. I was told there are NO transfers to the airport, though they have some sight seeing tours that end at the airports, but there is no "for guests with flights after 3pm" help. I would like to buy my ticket soon, not the day of disembarkation.

Also I keep seeing ads about MSC selling flights and hotels. I save a lot of money on some flights on Princess, so I am hoping I can do that on MSC but all I can find on the website is that "we do it".

Regarding the Veendam, it was my least favorite ship (though Island Princess is MUCH worse). Venndam was once a normal Statendam class vessel. I loved the other 3. However they threw a bunch of balcony cabins on the stern (that looked like they could fall off easily), took out the rear pool, and made the ship overcrowded. I sailed it to Hawaii and it listed to the starboard side the entire cruise, so my ocean view room got a REAL GOOD look at the Ocean. That was my second and final time to sail Veendam. 

I've only visited Bermuda once. There was a ship docked down there, it was an Azamara. I talked to people from that ship and they seemed to like it, but the new President (who hates old and small ships) will fix that. I believe all Azamara ships are refits from other lines.

3 hours ago, styles27 said:

 

HAL is my favorite hoping the new President will get it back to what we loved about it. 
The older we get the more we appreciate the smaller ships. 
 

Yes I think the Mera Bermuda cruise is included in the flash sale. 

That's interesting. I had 200 days on the Rotterdam, which I loved. It's now sailing for Fred. Olsen cruises, along with the Amsterdam, which I had over 100 days on. It looked like the Rotterdam but it my opinion, Rotterdam was far superior. I also loved the Maasdam (95 days). I did the Voyage of the Vikings (35 days) on her in 2009. She was slated to return to service as the Renaissance next month, but while being worked on in Brest, France she broke away from the dock and hit a bridge. Now the cruises are delayed until May. It's a startup French cruise line that bought her as their only ship.

I cruised the Konigsdam last May in Alaska. It was a noticeably worse experience. The ship was shabby and the crew didn't know their jobs. It was over an hour in Ketchikan for them to get the gangway set up. Heat went out one cold night and they told me a blanket was on the way. It arrived the next day after the heat was back on. Also for my convenience, the single supplement is now ALWAYS 100%. I looked at sailing a cruise on the new Rotterdam to Curacao, but an inside room was more than an MSC balcony. So they won't be seeing me aboard anytime soon. Also for the newer class of ships, you had better be on the 5th floor or higher or you will be pounded by music all evening.

I priced that Bermuda sailing in September. It's higher than my 11 day cruise in April and it's only 6 days. If you want sticker shock take a look at the European cruises in June and July. 

1 minute ago, styles27 said:

I noticed that Mera was doing Bermuda from NY.
We have family in Manhattan and they would like to try it so we may book it for Sept although it’s hurricane season. 
I wish the Canada/New England included Quebec City as well. Nova Scotia is beautiful but we've done that itinerary already. We really would love  to get up to Quebec City on a ship. 

The September sailing might be under the current flash sale, many NY sailings are.

HAL's Zaandam still goes all the way to Montreal, which I also love. I'm a 5 star Mariner on HAL but the idiot President they hired years ago (who had never been on a cruise ship) screwed up HAL. He was canned early during the pandemic, and is now ruining Azmara.

Bermuda is nice with pleasant weather. The Meraviglia will be doing those cruises later in the year from NYC. Their Caribbean itineraries don't look that good. The Canadian itineraries are also a bit lame, with no visits to Quebec.

It looks like overnights at Ocean Cay are pretty much going away. 😞

1 minute ago, styles27 said:

@tkwbearI ran this by my husband and asked him what he thought and his response was, and I quote “no, too soon book the Pearl” 🤷🏻‍♀️

 

Well, good luck on the Pearl then! Boston is a nice place to sail out of, but I've only done it in the summer and early fall.

 

 

13 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Wow that’s a great price. I just realized I hadn’t added my VC number and I had included drinks and WiFi. Did you include that?

Our grandson is 9 

 

I agree. I think it will be a different type of passenger. 
I like that we can use points for the one way flight to FL and take a train home from NY, we’re only a few hours from there. Hmm 

We were going to take him on the Pearl from Boston to Bermuda because that’s so easy for us living  an hour from the ship but 7days for 3 of us in a nice balcony is almost $4k all in. 

No, I didn't include the beverage package or the internet.  I did not get a Diamond member discount, so I called today and asked about it. The clerk couldn't give it to me either, evidently because it's a flash sale. So she gave me $100 SBC, which I am happy with. My final price was actually $1063 for the midship balcony on 12. I tried to get my favorite cabin stewards on starboard but those rooms were booked so I got port which is actually a better fit for this cruise. I can get by without the internet because my T-Mobile plan works everywhere (so far). I do drink but not that much.

Lots of website issues with them, more than normal. No specialty restaurants can be booked, she saw the same thing. My first attempt to book the beach excursion hung up so I booked it again, and was charged twice. So she refunded one, but the email says the refund is $0. Unable to register credit card due to "service unavailable" so she told me to wait until 2 weeks before sailing. 

4 minutes ago, styles27 said:

You’re welcome!  I always feel like I need a shower after walking by those DI stores/barkers lol so I’m happy to hear that you did that. 
 

I’m a glutton for punishment. After reading that you got a great price on this repositioning cruise I just priced out the itinerary you’re doing🤦🏻‍♀️ 

It’s during school vacation for our little grandson so I included him in the pricing. 11 days in a nice balcony for 3 is under $3k all in. 
 

Didn’t I say back on page 2 or 3 of this review that I wouldn’t book MSC again in anything but YC?

 

I need to step away from the internet and go grocery shopping. 🤪

They are having a flash sale that ends today though they often extend it. Depending on how you book it you can get different prices. Using the flash sale and assuming your grandson is 2-3 I got $ 2,138.81

midship balcony on 11 or 12. (I'm on 12). My cruise was under $1200.

I think this should be a good cruise. The short cruise partiers and the fun bunch from Miami will not be aboard. I know much of the crew I liked will still be around for this cruise so that was what got me over the hump. 

10 minutes ago, styles27 said:

I love that DI story lol it worked out in your favor!

We agree that we don’t go on a cruise to shop for diamonds or anything expensive for that matter. 
We felt very safe in Ocho Rios. Our tour guide was very nice, he was a school teacher. They were on holiday when we were there.
It was clear he wanted us to love his country as much as he did. 
It was a nice day. Nice coach style bus that had ac and was comfortable. 
The beach club does sell the lunch buffet but I can’t remember the price.
The food was good.

We purchased a rum drink that was very strong. Rum always goes down easy and then it hits me lol 

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that beach day to you. It’s a nice place to relax. The facilities were clean and the employees were very friendly. 
 

We didn’t know what to expect in Jamaica. Our son was married in 2022 and they went to a couples resort in Jamaica for their honeymoon.  They told us people were smoking pot by the pool at their resort, on the beaches etc. I was surprised because they were at a very expensive Sandals resort. 
We didn’t see that at all. 

I wouldn't normally do that, but DI had pestered me many times in Alaska and in the Caribbean. I knew they wouldn't like it, which made it a little fun.

I've booked the beach tour. So since you liked the food I will probably try that. The beach only tour is 5 hours. It's $37 cheaper than the one that includes the falls.

The only thing I don't like about this itinerary is there is no stop at Ocean Cay. However MSC rarely visits Curacao except when repositioning. I was on the last visit of the Meraviglia, in November 2021. That's when the ship repositioned from Miami to Orlando. Curacao is one of my favorite ports.

Thanks again!

13 minutes ago, styles27 said:

It’s not that we didn’t like the Falls it was more that we really were enjoying the beach and would have liked more time there. We only had about 90 min there before we had to eat and leave. 
There were plenty of umbrellas. The beach was very nice.

It’s not huge but it was pretty quiet the day we were there and the water was beautiful. 
Konoko Falls part was ok. Our tour guide walked us through a small garden area and pointed out different plants.  
They have some caged birds and iguanas. The Falls are very small. You also walk up to a lookout area. 
After that they bring you to a very over priced store that has a Diamonds International.
It seemed like the tour company gets a kick back if they bring people there. The souvenir store was very expensive. ($30 for a cheap quality t shirt)
 

That part was disappointing because the day we were in port we didn’t get the good location. There weren’t any souvenir shops near Divina and we didn’t have time to walk to the other location to shop. 

I really appreciate the feedback! I will go ahead and book the beach only. They had a couple of beaches to choose from, but I will go with the one you liked. I suppose I can pay for the buffet if it's not too high.

On my 2 previous visits, where I stayed on the ship, we were also a long way from anything. In November of 2021 we got a letter from the Captain strongly advising against doing anything on your own. So this will be the first time I set foot in Jamaica. 

Diamonds International is an irritating bunch. I don't go on cruises to shop for diamonds, though evidently some do. Once in Alaska they offered a FREE charm bracelet with the large initials DI as one of the charms. So I took the coupon in and got the bracelet but they of course wanted me to buy some of the charms, which I declined. They were quite unhappy with me, but at the time I had a girlfriend with the initials DI. She was pleased with it.

On 1/3/2023 at 9:58 AM, styles27 said:

We did the beach and Konoko Falls excursion. If we had to do it over again we would just pick the excursion that stays at the beach the whole time. It was really nice there and the included lunch buffet was great Jamaican food. 

Last night in the Pantheon they had a comedic/magician.  
We felt sorry for the poor guy as most of the audience didn’t understand him since most people on board speak very little if any English.
We enjoyed the show. It’s clear that MSC is trying to bring on some different talent but if most of the passengers don’t speak or understand English I’m afraid it won’t work. 

Today’s Daily-

It looks like if you don't book the falls you don't get lunch included. What did you not like about the falls?

At the beach, were umbrellas available? Was the beach/water good?

I just booked an 11 day on the Meraviglia, repositioning with Aruba, Curacao, Nassau, Jamaica, and another port or two. It starts at Port Canaveral on 4/9 and ends in NYC on 4/20. It's really cheap.

What I am concerned about is getting a blocked balcony at the bow. 

I'm a Diamond member. Do you think that would help in getting a decent room?

All my cruises on MSC have been Fantastica balconies. However, prices are skyrocketing in Europe for the summer, and I may have to cut some corners. IF you have booked a Bella Balcony, I would very much like to hear your experience(s), good or bad.

I was on Divina in November, and got what is likely my last chocolate ship. It was a bit stale, but still good. In December on the Meraviglia I got some excellent chocolates that I actually preferred to the ships, which are difficult to break up. However I noticed the passengers after us were getting the 1.5oz dark chocolate bar like I got last year on the Poesia. It was fun while it lasted, just like when being a 5 star member on HAL was worth something!

15 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Now I have to say, that we have had wonderful cruises with MSC in Europe and as repositioning Grand Voyages. So I am thankful that MSC went into the cruising business.

The negative reviews seem to come mainly from short cruises in USA, which are sold at discounted prices and include the drinks. With that type of cruises, MSC is attracting a certain public, similar to the spring breakers. I would never book one of those cruises with MSC or with any other company. 
 

One thing which is annoying with MSC is that even long cruises can end up being divided into short trips. MSC operates like a shuttle bus sometimes. So even if one books a 7 day cruise, it could turn out to be sold as 4 and 3 days at discounted prices. Probably few passengers who book those short cruises are interested in the cruise itself or in the port of calls. 
 

The atmosphere at MSC cruises and the quality of the service can change a lot according to the public and to the length of the cruise. 
 

Ivi

You are absolutely right. Normally I don't like to sail for less than 14 days, so I have booked cruises of that length that are made up of 3,4, and a7 days. You can really tell the difference on the 7 day cruises. On the others, many head to the bar as soon as they get on board. 

I sailed the Poesia for 13 days from Copenhagen last fall. It's an older, but wonderful ship. The crew was also amazing. On the second day, half the passengers got off in Germany, then we went back past Copenhagen on the way to Barcelona. I got off there, but many continued on.

Some of the European passengers were very difficult, but in general it was a much better experience than sailing out of Miami!