Great vacation. Clean and modern ship. Ship is a smart ship. It has interactive screens around the ship for booking or looking for info. The rooms are smart. You use your key to turn on lights but also let's people or attendant know if you are in your cabin or out. It also has push buttons to turn on lights outside your cabin if you want your cabin made up or do not disturb.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Terminal was very busy but boarding started on time. We were thankful that we were at the Diamond level which allowed us to board along with the Yatch Club level. Despite the priority boarding the announcement was.made that the cabins would not be ready until 2pm which was another 2 hours away. We decided to put our luggage in our room but was met by our cabin steward who did not want us to leave our luggage as he said the rooms were not ready. Much to his protestations I ignored him and put our bags in the room. I noted that our room was ready but he wanted it his way. I was not going to carry my bags to the lunch buffet and explore the ship. It is unknown why other Cruiselines such as Carnival and Holland America will always have the rooms ready for their top tier customers and some not. They need to fix this as it could be a deal breaker.
The muster drill was kind of annoying as our Muster station 4 was in the casino. I'm glad it was inside but the atmosphere seemed to give freedom for people to talk even when announcements were made. The muster drill was short which was good.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Dining room Service was fast once you placed your order. Got out in about an hour's time. There are 2 buffets, one on deck 8 and one on deck 16. Deck 8 is bigger and has more selections. Food at buffet for breakfast is the same each day although the food stations are visibly and attractively marked. The omelet station was around the back. The omelets were very good.
Lunch is the same each day : pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheese burgers, cold cuts, cheese. Around the side you have pasta, salad, roasted chicken and some ethnic food, soups etc.
Dinner has a little better variety but the hot dogs, cheeseburgers, burgers and pizza was always there
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Activities such as dance classes of all types: rumba, foxtrot, bachata, chacha and more.
There were other entertainers in the clubs and in the atriums around the ship. The entertainment team organized trivia, bingo, white night parties.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The entertainment and shows are great as well as the entertainment staff. The shows were magnificent and they had shows everyday! Great dancing, singing, and Cirque du Soleil like performances.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Service and staff were quite nice and engaging.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
We had a balcony cabin 9135. The balcony was nice and clean. The room was a nice size however there was very limited closet space and tiny draw space. I don't know what MSC was thinking for space for 7 day cruisers much less longer voyagers. There is a full size couch that did not pullout but no storage. underneath. A love seat size couch would have provided space for a set of additional drawers.
The bathroom is a decent size compared to other cruise bathrooms. Suggest those looking for balconies to look at stateroom plans before booking. There are 2 110v outlets, 2 usb ports (1 was not working) and 1usb port by the bed.
Ship tip
For cabin: Bring packing cubes for items that wont fit in the limited drawer space and closet.
Wifi and App: Use the MSC& Me app to get information about what is going on around the ship. If you are a Voyager member you will be invited to special events throughout the cruise. Invitations will be sent to your cabin but will not show up on your MSC & Me app. I made a suggestion to MSC to upgrade the app to be associated with each passengers profile so it will reflect on your app. Unfortunately I missed several functions because either the invitation came late to the cabin or I forgot because I was relying too much on the MSC& Me app.
San Juan was wonderful (I've been there several times) but we were scheduled to arrive at 1700pm and depart at midnight which is too late to enjoy your port of call.
We walked around and had dinner before returning back to the ship.
We arrived around Noon and the port had a total of 6 ships 3 Carnival ships (Victory. Pride, Glory), Royal Caribbean and NCL There were thousands of passengers making it difficult to walk and enjoy your visit.
We however walked to the Nassau National Museum and found it very interesting. Part of the museum was under construction and parts were adding new exhibits which were closed. We did find that in Dec 14 until April 2020 they will have a display from local artist of their experiences during Hurricane Dorian.
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