researchfreak90

13 minutes ago, Tierun said:

1. No free massage anymore. 
 

2. The diamond dinner is booked onboard at the ocean cay restaurant.

 

3. The first 2 people on the booking get a device included. You can upgrade to stream and more devices.

 

As far as the OBC talk to your agent. Also make sure you get the VC discount. 

 right from their site in a click or 2 from home page.

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/cruise/experiences-staterooms

EDIT !!!

I actually see how I misread this and that its an offer not a free massage. DARN

Last time we cruised MSC was seaside in 2019 and 2018 in Aurea and we were Gold members. We have been lucky enough to be status matched to Diamond via our HHonors diamond status. We have booked a 7 night on Seashore in September 2024 in an Aurea Premium wrap around suite aft. A few questions as things have changed since we last cruised with MSC

1. It says the Massage is still included, but must be booked prior to boarding. I don't see this option in the account, will it appear or do I need to make a phone call to book it?

2. Specialty dining with Diamond, does this need to be booked ahead as well or do we book onboard for that?

3. We booked the package with the Easy plus package, Browse 1 device, and 100 OBC

               a. is the browse 1 device per room or per full fare( i.e wife and I each get one but none for kids) and can it be upgraded to more devices or stream?

               b. I see the 100$ OBC on the booking but no mention of the 50$ OBC credit for Diamond(i believed for silver up?) is this applied due t status onboard or do I need to call and have them add it, or is it 100OBC for the promotion and that makes the 50 OBC not valid?

Thanks, Im sure there will be mean comments about something so I will ignore those and appreciate helpful commenters.

17 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I'm supposed to be flying from DFW to MIA on Friday morning, landing in MIA around 2pm, cruising on Allure on Saturday *fingers crossed*

 

I won't drive it, so only way to get there is to fly. It is what it is....it is a nail biter for all involved...but trying to keep things in perspective, feel so bad for the people getting a direct hit. 

WE must be on the same flight, see you onboard or in DFW waiting for new plane or departure. I think the biggest cause for concern is the plane coming from Savanah, GA and not conditions at MIA 

I am booked on Indy for 10/9/2021 for 8 night sailing stopping labadee, curacao, and aruba. When i sign into my cruise planner it advertises excursions for cococay  on Day 8 which is a sea day. my first thought is a glitch second thought is maybe they are adding the stop since private islands are very profitable and they need more profits? Any thoughts?

Freedom is on her Maiden post Amplified voyage. Who has pictures and comments?

Thanks Everybody. Now I wont call and ask - let all the people who are afraid of covid-19 use all the phone lines.

With all the craziness going on with COVID-19 the prices for my cruise dropped in May and I used it to upgrade my stateroom to a Guarantee Balcony. After looking at the confirmation its just reads, GTY for the stateroom. If I had not spent 3 hours on hold today I would call back and ask but thats silly.

My question is this. Do all guarantee rooms read GTY and the type of guarantee is on the back end and nothing to be concerned with or ????

Also, I have always chosen my room, when do they usually assign room numbers? 

We stayed in 10002 I made a video, while the room was a mess because it was end of week, it has a nice representation like the posted pictures as well. 

Anyone been in the last few years? What was your experience?

Were chairs hard to find in general or just ones on the beach? Obviously beach is desirable but pool is nice to.

14 hours ago, poeticlicensed said:

We were also on this cruise. I thought the food in the MDR was hit or miss. Sometimes it was great, other dishes not so much. Dining room seemed understaffed and there was a communication problem with the bar. It took forever to get our wines each night. Bar service was great. I had read that bar service was slow but we had zero problems getting drinks fast. The food in the buffet was ok, my biggest problem in the buffet was not the food or the staff, it was the other passengers. I have never encountered such rudeness, line cutting, butting in line, reaching over me. Good lord it's not like anyone is going to starve. We finally found a quiet place outside and ate there when we did the buffet.

 

The shows were great. The Michael Jackson show is not to be missed. 

 

This was our first MSC cruise and we really liked it but learned some valuable lessons for future cruises. If you want to buy anything from. A drink package to internet to spa services, by all means pre purchase before you get on the ship. The price of everything pretty much doubles after the first day (esp internet and spa). 

 

We bought a spa package that included a massage, facial and access to the thermal area. I have to say that that the spa was by far the best spa I have ever been on a cruise ship. On our next cruise we are going to do Aurea to have weeklong access to the thermal area. 

Yes, always pre-purchase add on. The spa is absolutely the best I have ever been too, thermal area is unmatched, even by the RCL Oasis class ships!  The manners of the other nationalities was at first appalling, but when you take into account the customs of other countries and that almost all the directions of how to navigate things were in English format, I learned to let it go. I have been an international guest and can appreciate how hard it is to figure things out and make sure you are polite in that countries eyes.

16 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Wonderful review with very nice videos! Thank you!... 🙂

 

Ocean Cay has the potential to become perhaps the best out of the best cruise ship Islands of them all!... Let the vegetation to grow in the next years and the workers to become more adapted to it... And it will be great!... Oh, well!... It might to be great for now as it is, at certain extent!... 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

Have a wonderful 2020!... 🙂 🙂 🙂

I agree the potential for this island is incredibly high. a few years of trial and error and some time for the landscapes to mature and this place will be truly one of a kind. I am officially moving on from Caribbean cruises and starting to explore the Mediterranean, but I will be back to visit Ocean Cay in a few years

We just returned from a weeklong sailing on MSC Seaside, December 21-28, for Christmas. This was our second time on the Seaside and with MSC, we have an additional 5 cruises with Royal. We had a good time. Here is my take on a review of the entire trip.

We flew in PHX-FLL on Southwest nonstop. We live in CO but were traveling with family in Phoenix and air prices were best from there by a long shot. Traveling were Wife, 3yr old daughter, myself, My grandparents in their 80’s, father and mother in-law and Sister in law. In all we were 8. We did Uber from FLL to the Embassy Suites at MIA where we would spend Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday. The weather was mostly rainy, so I am glad we didn’t spend extra money to stay on the beach this trip. The hotel was great. We went to the Everglades via rental car for the day and a groupon. We went to a great local seafood place in little Havana for lunch and it was FANTASTIC. It was called, La Camaronera and Seafood Market, they are local and not a tourist stop. They only take cash but it is worth checking out, I will be back to get some more fried snapper!

Saturday, we boarded. We did the shuttle form the hotel for 10$ a person which ended up being a bit more than an Uber but worth it because shuttles get special parking where you aren’t yelled and rushed by port staff. Security was quick and we proceeded to the waiting area where we waited about 30-45 minutes. In all we arrived at port 11am and were on board by 1230. Not the slowest or the fasted embarkation we ever had, last year on Seaside it took 30 minutes from start to finish.

Once onboard we went for lunch. Buffet was crazy but food was good. Then we went to make some changed to our Roys trio. We would proceed to our rooms by 230pm. The first night dinner was Roys Sushi, or was it Fusion? Well nobody knew so some of us had sushi and some of us had fusion, I don’t think they usually allow this but it was dead for embarkation.  Everything was top notch. Sushi was fresh and all the fusion dishes were OUTSTANDING. The Filet was so tender you could cut it with a fork. We would the proceed to bed.

Now I will cover individual points

Food In MDR. We had one bad night here which was Christmas eve when the served the Martha Stewart inspired menu. It was awful. In part in think it was rushed because ship was at CAPACITY fir Christmas week and this was supposed to be a port day in Grand Cayman but it got canceled due to weather so even more people wanted to eat in MDR. In my opinion more people skip MDR on port days. It also took us almost 3 hours from start to finish this night. We ate in the MDR  several other nights and the food ranged from OK to great. This was on par from our previous cruise on Seaside. One night they did a homemade pasta exhibition and delivered bowls to the table. HANDS down the best pasta and sauce EVER! I ate 3 bowls

Food in Buffet. They had a great selection, but it did not change thru the week which was fine because who is eating one of everything each day? You don’t eat one of everything you have in the fridge each day at home, do you? The food tasted great and had a slight edge on quality and taste over MDR. We ate most breakfast and lunch in one of the two buffets and one dinner.

Food in Roys specialty. OUTSTANDING, go eat here. Sushi A. Asain fusion A+. Teppanyaki A++

Service. Was good for the most part. Most issues arose due to the Maxed-out capacity for Christmas week. I didn’t have any problems and service was better than October 2018.

Bars and beverage package. Bars were great. We had the old Classic package(not easy, premium or premium plus) and it caused a few problems because its fairly unique now. All our drinks tasted great and with a simple explanation to the bar staff on occasion it solved any roadblocks. It included Gelato, which I will miss in the future. Most times I could get any drink within 5 minutes or less

Seafood tower from Champagned bar. Food was great, they told me it would take 15-20 minutes, but it took an hour. All frustration was gone when we started eating it. Also, price went from 49$ to 69$

Stateroom/Cabin. Room 10002 Aurea interior room. Family had the other 10003 which was a mirror image. There is only 2 of these rooms. Here is a video review I did.

Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay was fantastic. It still has many operational issues to work out but since this island is run by the staff onboard the ship, it is going to take many more months to get it down. We had a Cabana on the north Island next door to the yacht club area. The cabana itself was nice and so was the beach. We had a cooler with ice and water and a bar next to use. The bar was almost useless as they didn’t have one ingredient or another to make drinks they had on the special menu. The food on the island was great and fresh, but if your on the north island you have to walk back to the seeker food court or the food truck next to it. This take 15 minutes each direction. There is NO food on North island on Bimini beach except yacht club. I hope they realize they need to move a food truck or two over to that island section to cut down on having to walk a half an hour to bring back food to the cabana. The cabana has NO attendant, and nobody checks on you or even asks for proof of purchase. When we showed up we had to shoo some people that decided that they were gonna use it for free. Light show was awesome. The parades were canceled for rain. See these videos that I posted to youtube

Ports.  Ochos Rios was great. We did the Martha Stewart Konoko Falls and Murphy Hill. Konoko falls was close to the port and not crowded like Dunns is. Murphy hill was the highlight. You drive 40 minutes up the mountain on a dirt road that has almost no other cars. You get there and you are 1,700 ft above sea level and can see all of Ochos Rios. They show you the farm and then you will have an authentic cooked Jamaican meal at Ms Ts from thing all grown in the area. Our tour group of about 15 or so were the ONLY people up there besides staff. It was hands down one of the best excursions I have ever done. No crowds, no cattle hearding of people. Truly authentic experience that you don’t get on most excursions

Grand Cayman was cancelled due to weather and the port was closed.

Cozumel We did the Discover Mexico and the Joy of Chocolate, this was another fantastic excursion. Cozumel had 7 full sized cruise ships in port on Christmas day and was VERY busy so it took awhile to get to the paid cabs they arranged for transport because of this. The chocolate making was informative and fun and it included a walk through with a guided tour of the Discover Mexico park. They had a great margarita and fantastic taco bar all very reasonably priced.

Disembarkation.  Holy good lord this was a hot mess of a cluster. I had Black tags for priority disembarkation group. If I had needed to be off fast I would have been even madder at this situation, and I was pretty agitated as it was. The sheet said to be in the Metro theater at 730 am. So, we got up and had early breakfast and were in there by 7ish, we waited and waited, the called 3 other colors that were supposed to be after us, each time repeating colors they had already called. They never said black. I finally got up and went to ask them about black. They said “oh we did that really early at 645, you can go now” Well that’s fine and dandy except now there are 4 groups of colors ahead of me and the stand and wait began. IT TOOK US 3 HOURS TO GET OFF INCLUDING 1 HOUR of UNEEDED WAITING IN THE METRO THEATER. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! The only defense I will give them is they were at max capacity and needed to keep things going. But they should have repeated the BLACK color group and updated the called status on the monitors.

Scooters. We had two people with electric scooters that did not get assigned a handicapped room. The scooters fit in the room for charging and we had no problems parking both in the hallway. The cabins steward even suggested it and cleaned them at night.

SUMMARY.

All in all we enjoyed our week aboard and would go again. I think most of our disappointments came from it being a popular sailing while we usually sail shoulder seasons. We have a cruise booked in may with Royal and a Europe Cruise booked in 2021 with MSC Grandiosa. I wouldn’t hesitate to book another Seaside or MSC cruise.

Cabana assignment is random. I did go to the excursions desk when we boarded and asked for 2 cabanas together. They said they had no promises but would do their best. We ended up on north island next to the yatch club beach. We were on Bimini beach in #3 and #4 they had a full service bar between them

14 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

That's kind of you.  I don't understand why those who have already been to Ocean Cay and have reserved cabanas don't return to answer these questions.  Although generally I find less participation on the MSC board than on other boards.

No problem. I think the traffic in this board will grow with time. Remember that MSC is new to North America and their fleet is very young when compared to the busier boards of RCL and CCL. So with time and growth it will get busier. Everyone that uses it now needs to remember to report back. A lot of times, and i am guilty of this as well, people are on these boards researching their next cruise and until they have the next one booked and are looking at cruises again they may not visit these boards so it may take months for a lot of the users to start reporting back. I will be back on here when I get back as I have a RCL Freedom cruise in May 2020 and a MSC Grandiosa cruise in August 2021 so I have plenty to research!

3 hours ago, Shippy said:

    Think my question before has got lost in the muddle of other threads...

 

For people who have already been on the island & rented a cabana.... How are they assigned? I know it is not when you make the booking. When I call the MSC people, they do not have a clue.  I am hoping you can pick one out ahead of time & not have to rush down to the beach as soon as they dock.

thanks

I sail Seaside 21st. Back on 28th. We have 2 cabanas booked in our group and we will attempt to get them together so it will get me some insight into the reservation system, I will report back.

2 hours ago, lgburnham0616 said:

Thank you so much! I figured they were, but just thought I'd ask. Did you feel like they offered good excursions that your 2 year old could participate in? Thank you again for your feedback!

We were so familiar with the ports we visited that cruise(St. Martin x2, San Jaun x2, and Nassau x3) we decided to plan our own days to the beach and exploring so we wouldn't have time constraints and other peoples enjoyment to worry about. Beach days and site seeing work well on your own because you can stop and start and deviate as you see fit without having to worry about a group.

For this age group they are very strict. They wouldn't let our potty trained 2 yr old in the older kids group last year

they have blocks of time for the under 2 group. It costs about 6$ an hour, which is very reasonable. The staff in there are dedicated to the 6 month to 3 yr old age range and have special training. they will give you a deck phone free of charge so they can reach you if there is a problem. We did 1-3 hour visits, mostly at night so we could go have some drinks or have quiet dinner. Depending on the sailing they will have in room babysitting as well but that costs quite a bit more and it wasn't available on our trip. Allure has so many great things for kids that age, my daughter loved the stuffed animal workshop and the kid+parent playroom with toys. They also have a baby splash pad that can be used whether they are potty trained or not and has very shallow, couple inches, of warm water. Also, do miss the free soft serve on the pool deck. They always had a special menu in the MDR for her for dinner and she got better service than the captain!

Make sure you go to the baby room on day one for a tour and to sign up. Usually they ask for reservations ahead of time and they will limit your initial amount of time and allow more based on demand for that sailing.

I would say that MSC is nice for the value but some of our favorite things are the public areas and the fact that the ships themselves dont feel as gimmicky as Royal or Carnival. We still Love Royal but MSC is Elegant but relaxed at the same time

Take her. I took my 11 month old on allure a few years ago. The daycare on-board is 5 stars and so is the staff. I took my 2 year old on a different cruise last year, same thing. this year I will take my 3 year old. The kids programs are fantastic and we haven't regretted taking her once and the staff in all venues love the little ones and take better care of them than the adults. we all took turns going back to the room for nap time when needed or lounged on a deck chair in a quiet area.

Booked Wednesday for Grandiosa out of Rome for 8/2021

I find it wierd that none of the purpose built "Seaside class" will be in the Caribbean that summer condisering that was the market they were purpose built for and designed to look like Miami 

27 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

Great!  Thank you!  
 

Now I just have to decide if I want to book this week or wait until next month and book while on Meraviglia...

 That was my original thought, but in my pure excitement I booked Grandiosa out of Civitavecchia 8/18/21! Lots of research to do!

They JUST POSTED.