rikitikitavii

2 hours ago, Cayman1 said:

How long after you disembark does it take to receive the survey from MSC? 

 

We got off a week ago and still have not seen one. I would like to fill this out while it is fresh in my mind.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Debarked the 15th of October, received the next day via email.

45 minutes ago, lexxfield said:

My cabin mate and I both have Diamond status with MSC. We are traveling with another couple who are in a different cabin. I realize that if there are two Diamond members sharing a cabin, then the cabin mates receive only one complimentary Diamond specialty experience.  I also realize that if a Diamond member is traveling solo, then this person may invite another guest to share in the complimentary specialty meal.  My question is this:  May the two Diamond members in the same cabin invite two guest in a different cabin to share the complimentary Diamond specialty meal?  Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer this question. 

I hope not, this practice would surely doom the complimentary diamond meal. Just imagine if everyone started feeling entitled and taking friends in for a free meal!!

1 hour ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

Also, W 24th Street in Brooklyn is in Coney Island. Not close to Red Hook or the cruise terminal at all. 

Oops, my bad, 72 Bowne St: Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, this isn’t s the correct address, 24 is hotel in Manhattan!!

15 minutes ago, Ogden0567 said:

Called MSC and they gave us 210 Clinton Wharf, Brooklyn NY Pier 12 as the address.

Clinton wharf looks like the pier for the NY water taxi/ shuttles, but the ship will be about 50 yards away. This is the address I gave our driver:140 W 24 Street Brooklyn.

2 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Roque did escort us back on.  He can walk as fast as me.

Tell him Rick and Jo said “Hi”, if you see him or Anthony!

50 minutes ago, dexddd said:

We are on 15 with Pravin.

 

Hmmm hidden duck?  Is there a hundy attached?  We were escorted back on by a nice junior butler from 14 the other day and I will secretly ask. 

Our Jr. Butler was Roque Rubenecia. 
The duck is in a very safe location!!

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

Meow

Who’s your butler? We had Anthony, October 4-15.  If you see who is in cabin 14003, I hid a duck at disembarkation!

On 10/12/2023 at 8:08 AM, AllgoodOnTheRoad said:

Good morning everyone, I have sailed 34 cruises across all the lines, but the bulk being Carnival. I have been considering Margaritaville for a while now even after all the bad reviews I have seen, but I am going to try not to let that color my experience. Last week they sent a deal I could not pass up, basically the price of a Quality inn for the weekend to cruise. I think I will try to keep that in mind and compare it to a quality inn weekend at the beach. 

 

My question is what do I not know about the differences between Margaritaville and the other cruise lines? I have been doing research on the differences and this is what I have found so far. 

 

Appears that the only free venue before dinner is the Buffet which they really should have called the Jimmay Buffet, but whatever. 

Looks like dinner times are selected once you check in, but they have a traditional early and late seating.

Check in is by class and floor. 

The ship is old of course, but I was on the Paradise last week for the fourth time, I have no problem with older ships. 

Valet Parking only at the port, but I will leave my car at home. 

No room service in the morning. 

Appears they board much later than Carnival, but I can plan for that. 

 

 

 

Are there any other big differences between Margaritaville and the Economy cruise lines? Anything I have wrong above? I will be recording a series for Youtube on the Margaritaville at Sea cruise. 

 

Valet parking only, close to $25/day. They charge a fuel surcharge of $12/ day/ per person.

WOW, was it your goal to go and find all of that??  I was on the October 4th cruise and saw nothing like the pictures posted! 
True the return to ship was slow, but a lot I would attribute to passengers waiting until at the security to unload pockets, get room cards out, etc. (They do need more than one walk through scanner and they were sensitive)

Cruise Radio is announcing that Margaritaville at Sea has bought the Costa Atlantica . The ship will be named MAS Islander!

4 hours ago, Grumpella said:

How does it work if we were Bella before the upgrade to Yacht Club? I read someone was charged more for the premium drinks (we did buy the Easy plus package as Bella) but then the butler said he would wipe out the charges? Would we get free room service and the upgraded internet?

 

Thank you for your help.

You should get all the perks of YC. Look at your latest paperwork.

1 hour ago, cruisers5 said:

I was just wondering what may happen to our Canada/New England cruise next week if the government shuts down.  That have been announcing on the news that TSA agents, border agents and air traffic controllers most likely won’t be paid, so will “slow down” (or call in sick), so was wondering what happens when we cross from the US to Canada.

From the US to Canada should not be a problem, when you enter the US, possible slow downs!

On 9/26/2023 at 9:15 PM, Ashland said:

And they wait until everything is totaled up and then start getting out their check book 😬

You forgot the fumbling around to find the checkbook and then a pen!

21 hours ago, TomTerrific said:

I sail in 30 days with MSC and just discovered that a button appeared on my MSC for Me app that says "View boarding pass". When pressed, an airline style boarding pass appears with pertinent info and a QR code. I have sailed MSC previously but have never seen this feature. Curious if anyone has any experience with using the pass?

We board Meraviglia on Sunday, I will try the QR code and report back. Since it is MSC, I’ll also take a backup copy, just in case!

38 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

TV Channels are as follows:

1. Safety (English - German)
2. Safety (Italian - French)
3. Safety (Spanish - Portuguese)
4. MSC Foundation
5. MSC Cruise Info
6. MSC Your Cruise EN
7. MSC Your Cruise IT
8. MSC Your Cruise FR
9. MSC Your Cruise ES
10. MSC Your Cruise GE
11. MSC Excursion
12. MSC Shop
13. MSC Photo
14. MSC Casino
15. MSC Aurea Spa
16. Future Cruise & MSC Voyagers Club
17. Port Shopping
18. MSC Effy
19. Virtual Porthole PS
20. Virtual Porthole STB
21. CNN
22. TCM
23. Travel
24. HGTV
25. Food
26. Discovery CH
27. Cartoon
28. NickOnboard
29. ESPN
30. ESPN2
31. RAI Italia
32. RTL
33. TVE

 

It looks like PPV movies are $10 each.

Enjoying your reviews!

Do you have any comments on the embarkation in Boston?  We are on the next cruise from NYC and saw there were long lines for embarking. Thanks!!

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures loaded a little out of order, but I don't have the time or patience to go through and fix them. Sorry!

Following along, we board Mera on October 4th!

8 hours ago, joeyancho said:

I recently bid on a yacht club interior room.  My original booking was a balcony.   We haven't heard back yet.  May question is:  is it worth giving up a standard balcony for an interior with the Yacht Club experience?  Thanks for your answers. 

  

The “worth” would depend on you. The YC interior is very similar to standard interior, small room, limited storage, small bathroom. BUT, it is in YC, with the benefits that come with it. 

On 9/17/2023 at 11:55 AM, VernRDH said:

Thanks.  I have tried multiple times but it doesn't come up. 🤔 I verified that my information is correct and I logged in but nothing shows. Is it possible there is a delay due to us booking late on Friday afternoon? Again haven't used a TA in forever so unsure of how this works.

Make sure your name is as what is on the confirmation . (First name, Middle, last name , suffix such as Jr.)

21 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Did something bad happen on the Seascape this weekend? The famous cruise attorney shared a pic on another site of a cordoned off balcony and a report of screams heard last night. I see nothing in the mainstream news. 

The following was on Crew Center Facebook page:

Message from guest:

MSC Seascape approx. 9pm 
September 16th en route to Miami
passenger incident
balcony to cabin now covered in various sheeting
4 x police vehicles waiting for ship to dock
disembarkation delayed slightly.

13 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I have no idea who this famous/infamous cruise attorney might be 😒. 

He has a Facebook page, which I have been banned from seeing/commenting!!

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

Just have your friend remember to get a wine glass from one of the bars to use.  The red Dixie cup wouldn't work on MSC. 😁

Thanks Jagr, you just reminded me to pack red solo cups for our upcoming N.E. cruise!!

On 9/11/2023 at 10:40 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

I know it's a little early for me to be starting this thread, but I am just so excited to be cruising again soon that I couldn't help but post. I can't wait to be back on the Meraviglia in 13 days. Depending on how Hurricane Lee goes, my husband and I are supposed to be doing a 10-day sailing out of Brooklyn to Canada & New England. This will be my third CA & NE cruise and my husband's second. Newport, Sydney, and Charlottetown will all be new port stops for us.

 

Initially, we had booked a flight to fly in the day of the cruise. Not something we usually risk and it turned out that I still wasn't willing to risk it. I decided to go ahead and change our flight to the night before. We are now scheduled to arrive at JFK around 9:00pm on the 23rd. The change in flight meant booking a hotel and for reasons I don't understand, hotels in NYC for that specific night are insanely expensive. We had a whole saga of booking a Fairfield Inn near JFK for over $400 for the night! Then we wanted to find something better or cheaper or both. So we tried to book the Even Hotel in Brooklyn for a deal that looked too good to be true. Turns out it was. I booked it through some online booking site I had never even heard of. Called the hotel directly the next day to confirm that I actually had a reservation. I did not. So I am not sure if that was a scam or a glitch or what. I canceled through the booking site and I do see the credit back to my credit card "pending" on my account, so hopefully that will actually go through and I won't have to dispute the charge. Finally, I booked the Baltic Hotel directly through their own website yesterday for a somewhat reasonable rate. I am already booked in the Baltic Hotel for the night before my solo cruise in October, so I had already done some research on it. That seemed to go fine, but this morning, I realized there is no actual charge on my credit card for it, so I have an email in to them to confirm that reservation. I will try to call them later today if I haven't heard back.

 

Cruise prep is underway, but I still feel like it has snuck up on me. I *think* I have all of my pre-cruise shopping done. I still need to take an inventory of a few supplies to make sure I have enough to last through the cruise (vitamins, Liquid IV, cash...), but I should have time to buy any last-minute items. I still have to do all of my laundry of my cruise clothes. I have an appointment on the 21st to get my hair done. I will post pictures of whatever crazy color I end up with this time. I am leaning towards a peach/coral? I ordered new nail polish to paint my toenails. I never paint my toenails except when I am about to go on a cruise, because that's the only time I ever wear sandals. Hopefully my fellow passengers appreciate my attempts to not have them vomit at the sight of my feet.

 

We are booked in a Fantastica Balcony on the bump-out on Deck 8. It's directly opposit the one I was in on my solo sailing on 4/22. We have bids in for an upgrade to a YC Interior (still not convinced that's an actual upgrade) and a Whirlpool Balcony Suite like we had on our 4/8 sailing. I will keep you posted on whether either offer is accepted.

 

I will post here with more thoughts and progress as the cruise approaches. Feel free to post any questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Looking forward to your review, as we are on the October 4th cruise on Meraviglia.

As for YC interior, the upgrade would be it is in YC. The cabin is small, limited closet space and the bathroom / shower is relatively small. We were in the YC inter in January out of Cape Canaveral, and it is doable for us, as we don’t tend to stay in the cabin a lot. Also, interior is great for a nap!

Enjoy your cruise!!!

16 hours ago, stobe1 said:

Yeah which is very strange. 

Local news reports he roomed with his brother.

On 9/6/2023 at 7:21 PM, Malimir7 said:

We have a 15-year-old girl leaving with us who is going on our cruise. Her mother is deceased, and her dad is MIA. I called MSC and they told me all I need is her birth certificate which we have. However, Google search finds comments that we need an affidavit saying we can travel with her, but I cannot find anything anywhere "official" that says we have to have it.

 

My question is, has anyone traveled with MSC with a child that is not related to them with just their birth certificate?

 

My biggest fear is we get to the cruise port and they deny her boarding, then I have to miss the cruise with the rest of my family.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jody

 

Make sure you keep all paperwork with you upon disembarkation, as Border Patrol will verify that the minor is allowed to travel with you.

13 hours ago, Postman1963 said:

Since Magnifica does not have the yacht club but we are booked with the aurea experience, can we use the yacht club perks at Ocean Cay?

 

 

Here is my best guess, having never sailed a ship without YC. 
The YC area on ocean cay would probably not be open, the butlers provide some of the guest services on Ocean Cay, cabana setup, bring drinks, etc.

You might could use the beach and chairs at YC area, but the YC beach is not the best in my opinion and is a long walk to get food.