KarimaJ

My daughter would love that food court. I wonder if the Dec 30 sailing would be packed? We typically don’t travel during holiday times but it works out well for us this year.

Thank you to all who posted, some great info! I am liking that food concept of going to different restaurants. I assume they all have different menus? And the Galley as well. I also like that prepaid drink tab, perfect for us.

Hi all, I’m interested in trying Virgin since it is adults only, we do have an 18 year old daughter. We have been on NCL (the most), RC, Carnival, Celebrity, Crystal, most recently MSC. Can you help give some comparisons between the lines in regards to food, handling crowds, daily activities, fun factor? We aren’t big drinkers but do enjoy a couple drinks per day. How are the drink packages? thanks!

Is there a kid’s menu?

On Meraviglia we had Aurea and anytime dining, never a wait. Tables weren’t that close together and we always sat alone just the 3 of us. We love NCL/Celebrity. You will find dinner portions are smaller (that was ok with me) but not as good as Celebrity. We ate in the dining room for breakfast every morning because the buffet is not great MSC compared to the others. No fresh custom omelette station, etc. dining room was better but we did sit with others as it is very packed and busy (maybe because buffet isn’t great.

Our shipwreck snorkel got cancelled due to currents. Maybe that was a good thing. We had a nice relaxing day otherwise. The island is beautiful.

Aurea anytime dinner in Panorama was nice. Great service and quick. People I spoke with who had fixed dining said it took forever.

We were just there and able to cross the bridge to the other beaches. They have these pole holes buried in the sand at least in lagoon area. You stick the umbrella in. We found shade under the trees in lagoon, it was nice. We saw a few white fish in lagoon but not much else. My daughter swam out to the floating docks in the lagoon and somewhere saw a barracuda I guess.

We are on this sailing in Aurea deck 11. Same gross smell in the shower drain. Got tired of waiting in lines for everything by the first day. We were finally able to use the waterslides around 3:00pm after getting on the ship after ocean cay. Lines at buffet on island were awful as well. They say it’s always like this. Guest services said over the past month they have 5,000 people vs 2,000. And new staff who are still training. Well, they shouldn’t book so many if they can’t provide the service IMO. We are used to other cruise lines and the buffet here isn’t great, no omelette station and prepared eggs are dry. No good snacks, same old stuff Every evening, So we started going to waves dining room for breakfast. That is much better but packed as well, hard to get water at times. Dinner has been good, we keep requesting Andrea and Ramon, the best! Ocean Cay is wonderful though!

We find that we get better offers from NCL and Celebrity (verandah balcony).

I like carnival pizza the best, then celebrity. The rest I don’t care for. I’m hoping MSC is better.

Do they have an umbrellas besides those broken ones?

I read that gratuities are automatically added when you purchase a drink, is that true?

Which sailing? We are March 12 in the middle of spring break. In Aurea balcony as well. I think we get a special line for embarkation.

Funny you say that. I went on a Crystal cruise and there were 2 older (maybe upper 50s) couples who were obnoxious and seemed to be everywhere, we would see them all the time. Everyone was commenting on them. There's always one in the bunch 😁

Thanks. Can we all be on our devices at the same time doing it this way?

I'm in the exact same boat as you, we got a casino room and are used to NCL/Celebrity mostly. I know not to expect the same type of cruise but I hope it will be nice.

This is exactly what I am trying to figure out. The pricing says 3 devices but the cost says PER PERSON. Does that really mean PER CABIN? That would be a huge cost of it each person had to buy it at $184 each, haven't seen that on any other cruiselines. Does that mean that we can't each be on our devices at the same time if we buy this one package for the 3 of us?

I agree with most people here, though I haven’t been on RC in a while. Food is about the same, but NCL has a great selection of Indian food on the buffet. Shows are great on NCL. I do feel that Carnival has the best pizza and desserts though. I just love the crew on NCL so cheerful and happy.

Yes we did.

We used Cheryl’s taxi and tours. Hit all the major sites and even a bat cave. We were happy with them

My hubby is Indian and we like the Indian food on NCL. Is there any on the buffets? Or do you need to put in a special request like you did?

I haven’t booked my cruise yet, but you are saying when searching for excursions they don’t list the time? I know on NCL and Celebrity they always have exact time listed so you can plan.

What kind of shark? Which beach is this bridge located at?