oellett

Thank you everyone for all of this information. I am going in Dec. 16 with my parents. They are not beach people but think some of the excursions may interest them. They have been to Mazatlan and want to go to a specific restaurant there and we will walk the blue line. At the other ports I am searching for something to do.. specially in Cabo. Will look into some of the suggestions here. Thank you again!

Happy Sailing!

Hello Jacqui,

 

Thank you for doing this. We are sailing on the Eurodam on Dec. 16 - 23 - Mexican Riviera. This is our first time on HAL I am sailing with my parents (this is their Christmas gift) as they do not travel long distances by themselves. We are looking forward to it!

Kudos for assisting your parents on a cruise that's convenient for them. Our first two cruises were with my wife's parents (one on Carnival out of Long Beach and the other on HAL to Alaska) and it got us started enjoying cruising.

 

 

When in ports, one of the things we like to do is walk through local supermarkets or convenience stores. Quite often, soda can be purchased relatively cheap overseas especially soda water which we both enjoy. As has been stated above, you can bring on all you like.

Thank you Tim! We will be walking around the same. My parents have been to Mazatlan a few times and there is a restaurant they want to visit, so that is on the agenda, other than that we will walk around. No one from our group has ever been to Cabo, I will review and see if there is a nice excursion where they show you the highlights and we have all been to Puerto Vallarta but that was over 25 yrs. ago, sure it has changed. All in all we are very excited about spending this time together.

Happy Sailings!

You can also bring sodas for your father in our carry-on luggage as well. Bring an empty group collapsible duffel bag with you if you are flying to the port and fill it with sodas before you head to the port. There is no limit as to how many carry-on bags you aboard bring but make sure the duffel bag can ride on top of a roller bag so you don't have to lug it.

 

The $25 soda card is limited to what is available in a bar's soda gun and that is very limited.

 

When you meet your Room Steward on Embarkation Day, ask them to remove everything from your minibar and you can then move your sodas to the "chilled" minibar.

Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate all of the information received. We live in So. Cal and my husband will be dropping us off at the San Diego port. We will make sure we have sodas with us for him and can always purchase at the port if needed. This will save me some money to spend on something else. This cruise is my parents Christmas gift from my husband and I; my parents do not travel long distances by themselves anymore so I am tagging along for the ride :) Hubby and I normally cruise with Celebrity but they have limited sailings from So. Cal. My parents' friends took this cruise last year and loved it so we figured it was a good choice. My first time cruising with HAL and looking forward to it. WE love to cruise!!

Happy Sailings!!

Bottles and cans of soda can be brought aboard at initial embarkation, and at all the ports during the cruise.

The $25 for $50 soda card is for soda only; you cannot purchase coffees, mocktails, or any other beverages with it.

Thank you! I think we will bring his soft drinks on board and mom and I will purchase or foo-foo non alcoholic drinks during the cruise! :-) .

Hello Everyone,

I have read that HAL allows you to bring your soft drinks on board, my dad is the only person who drinks sodas, mom and I stick with water or tea and NONE of us drink alocholic drinks... we may order a bottler of champagne one night just to toast we are cruising together but that is about it. Anyway, my question is can my dad bring a six pack or 12 pack of soda on board for his consumption? If he runs out he can buy at a port and bring on board. I have also ready somewhere that there is a soda card that you pay $25 for $50 worth of soft drinks (hope I understood properly). If that card does exist can we buy non alcoholic drinks with that or is it strictly sodas?

On prior cruises I normally do not worry about this when I cruise with my husband as I mentioned, neither one drinks sodas. My husband just buys wine at dinner (pay as we go), and I normally get a non-alcoholic foo-foo drink at dinner and stick with water. We just do not buy enough alcoholic drinks to warrant buying drink packages. But want to make sure I get the best deal and correct info for my dad.

Thank you so much,

Happy Sailing.

Olivia

Only collared shirts and slacks are required for Gala Nights, which means that polo shirts are fine and you can leave your jacket at home. Of course you may dress as formal as you wish if you have some extra room in your luggage for what that entails.

Thank you! this will really help as my dad doesn't want to wear a jacket. :-). I will give him the good news! :)

HAL no longer has formal nights, but instead has what they call Gala Nights. On those evenings people are encouraged to dress up, and your husband's dress shirt, jacket, and slacks would be fine, as would a summer dress or dressy capris and top for a woman.

 

Every night is a minimum of smart casual dress. Men need long pants and a collared shirt; women a comparable level of dress. That is also the minimal acceptable level of dress on Gala nights.

Thank you so much!! This is perfect! It is the same with Celebrity they are no longer formal nights but I can't remember their term. My parents are relying on me for guidance for this trip as this is only their 2nd cruise, so I want to make sure I give them the right info and they don't over pack. We are looking forward to the ship and the cruise!

Happy Sailings!!

Dress code question...

Hello everyone, This may have been posted but I was not able to locate the answer. For dinner in MDR are dress collar shirts and slacks for gentleman and summer dresses or capris for women allowed and also, on Formal Nights, is it a MUST dress up at MDR? My husband and I do not like to get too fancy and he normally wears a dress shirt and a jacket with slacks for Formal nights. Is this allowed on HAL? I will be cruising with my parents in December.

Happy Sailings!

HAL usually has Galley Tours at 10:30 AM on the first sea day. It is good to be their a bit early to complete the health certificate that is now required for all who enter the galley. Galley things to note are the photos of every dinner plate that show how each plate must look before leaving the galley, the single person operating all of the Room Service, the examples of culinary artistry on display, and the size of the President's Cut Steak for the Pinnacle Grill.

 

Here are some photos of my latest galley tour:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/photo-reviews/ms-westerdam-2/westerdam-kitchen-tour

My parents are going to love this. Thank you! I am trying to get a rough activities itinerary so that we have something to look forward each day, besides the ports! :):)

Yes, there is usually a galley tour on board and there are usually talks. On our cruises there has been a virtual bridge tour. Interesting. Some about the ships and some are interviews with captain, engineer, entertainers, etc.

Thank you! I will be on the lookout for this in the activities flyer.

Hello,

The posts here have been great! Thank you for all of the information. I am traveling with my parents to Mexico in December, this will be my first cruise with HAL and my parents who are in their mid-seventies and it is their second cruise ever. My question as follows: is there something we should not miss while on board? We are planning to attend the shows but there are always tips from experienced cruises that I like to get... other cruises have talks on the ships; which my husband and I have found very interesting as you learn a lot of how they operate and how they are built. The HAL offer galley tours, etc? Thank you so much for any information you can offer.

Olivia

Thank you for posting your review. Glad you enjoy your cruise. We sailed on her before and are looking forward to our 2nd time on the Silhouette! We truly enjoyed our first time on the Silhouette and expect this time to be even better.

I have to say that we have loved Celebrity since our first cruise aboard the Century many years ago. She holds a special place in our vacation life and it is our favorite; we would love to sail on her again someday.

Happy Sailing!!!

Thank you for your review. We sailed on her before and will be returning to her next month! We are also looking into some cruises in Europe and to our delight, currently the schedule is on the Silhouette!

Happy Sailing!

Thankyou I surely plan on it.......any day that isn't at work......is tops......:)

My sentiment also, I will add that spending time with my husband away from the day to day activities is always so enjoyable, even if we are just looking out at the beautiful ocean together.

Looking forward to exploring the ship and enjoying a bit of R&R. :)

Clark thank you so much for your review!

We do not have as many cruises under our belt as you do, but like you we have enjoyed Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. We are in our 40-50's and have no children.

We have enjoyed Celebrity since our first cruise on the Century, over 10 yrs. ago, and have experienced the new ships Equinox, Silhouette and Reflection in the last few years.

We booked with MSC this year due to their great prices, for us it was a way to fit in two cruises in the same year along with a few other trips within the US. Well, we booked then started reading reviews and got worried! :eek:

After reading reviews from happy cruisers like you, we feel we made the right choice. We take a cruise to be completely disconnected from the everyday routine, we enjoy spending time in our balcony with a nice glass of wine and going to dinner depending on the mood or activities of the day. If we do not make it to the MDR, there is always the buffet or a specialty restaurant. Go with the flow!

After reading many wonderful reviews, I am very excited about our cruise in October.

Thank you!!:)

Mikesa1721, thank you very much for all of the information and taking time from your vacation to do this. I have enjoyed reading all of the posts and look forward to enjoying the Divina in October!

Cheers,

Olivia

We are booked on the same sailing, we too were beginning to worry as we have 9 of us booked all together. Though my mother has sailed with MSC twice before, the rest of us have not. Really we aren't all that picky. Mostly my father is a bit annoyed at no soda package that is reasonable in the cost. Most cruises are around $55-60 for the week, and they don't offer a soda package for adults. So in the end the extras are coming out a bit higher, but overall I think still a good bargain. It is nice reading a good review.

 

Personally I plan on having a good time and am saving up my bucks for a little spending money, shore excursions, etc.

Looking forward to meeting you mom2tcdx2. I need to look into the beverage packages. I do not drink much and my husband does enjoy a drink or two a day so not sure we are the best candidates for the drink packages, but it doesn't hurt to look into it.

I do have one question: does MSC allow passengers to bring celebratory wine? Does anyone know? Celebrity does allow a bottle per cabin. I normally bring in one bottle as I enjoy my Moscato D'asti and a bottle lasts me most of the week.:).

So ready to go!!

Olivia

We can not thank you enough for such a complete and objective review. Husband and I enjoyed reading it as we will be sailing on the Divina in October.

We also wanted to compliment you on the wonderful pictures! The lighting and composition were such awesome.

Thank you for taking the time to do this "labor of love" for so many of us to enjoy.

Happy sailings!!

Olivia and Patrick

I have truly enjoyed reading your review and I know we will have a great time on the Divina in October. We booked because of the great rates at the time and then started reading the reviews and started to wonder about this cruise. We had determined that we were going to have a good attitude no matter what and we were going to enjoy the cruise.

We take cruises to get away from the everyday routine and spend quality time together (hubby and me) and normally are very casual on cruises and just go with the flow. We enjoy spending time on our veranda reading, enjoying the view, people watching while at port, etc. So we figured it would be fine no matter what. I thought: "I will not have to make the bed, clean the bathroom, cook or wash dishes for a week... how bad can that be". LOL :-).

Now after reading your review, and many others, I believe we are going to have a terrific time!

Thank you for taking the time to write it and for all of the great information and photos.

Olivia

Yes for a few more $ you get a much nicer room.

We have just upgraded to B3.. we are on deck 12 now. :-). We are hoping there is a cabin crawl so we can actually see what a B1 and B2 cabins look like.

Thank you!

Olivia

Thank you so much for your reply riclop. I have been searching and searching for a picture without success. We have called MSC and they informed us we had a couch and that the cabins were the same size.. they told me 194 sq. ft. for the cabin and 42 sq. ft. for the balcony. But on their deck plans, they do not seem the same size, so I have been very unsure.

We are going to try to upgrade.

Thanks again riclop!

Olivia

Hello Everyone,

Hoping someone here can help me find the answer to our question.

We are booked on the MSC Divina later this year in cabin 10183 (B1), I am trying to find out if this cabin has a bed, couch and vanity area and how much smaller is it than a B2 cabin.

I read somewhere that some cabins did not have a couch but more of an oversize chair and I am trying to determine if we want to upgrade.

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Olivia

We used premier parking in February of this year. If it is the same company, it was a covered parking deck (although we were on the last deck and not covered) with very colorful wall decorations on the outside of it.

The service was fine and we had no issues with the vehicle. We liked the fact we kept our keys.

We plan to use them again in October.

Good luck!

This is not a very good look, deck 5 is the life boats, deck 6 you are looking across the top of them. This is the starboard side.

Thank you very much! I know it will be a great cruise no matter what! So ready to enjoy warm weather, no house chores and great food!.

Olivia