Lovetocruise2002

Thanks @WAAAYTOOO. They are 9 and 11. But I will look into it if it ever pops up in my cruise planner. I don't even have that option right now.

@guittech...Do you think you would be able to post a review of your experience after you get back? I am really curious to see how RC handles your wife's dietary needs. I don't have any experience dealing with RC and allergies but we are going on a family Disney cruise in one month and my sister and my nephew both have severe allergies. My sister has a nut allergy and my nephew has a wheat and dairy allergy. Both carry Epi-pens. Needless to say, she is extremely nervous about this, not really for herself but for her son. Disney has been great so far. We booked this cruise almost a year and a half ago and right after booking they contact her and provided her with a detailed form to fill out. Then, they also had their special needs dept. contact my sister to assure her and answer questions about their medical facilities on board. She has been asked to head the the MDR right away after embarkation to discuss all their dietary needs and she has also been asked to dine in the MDR only for all meals because as @DocLC posted, they can cook and modify as needed for my nephew. Anyway, I'm curious because my sister and I are both RC fans at heart and I know she would love to take her kids on RC one day. So it would be so much appreciated if you could post your experience with them when you are done. Thanks! And good luck!

I've looked everywhere for weeks now and my cruise planner doesn't have it. We are 133 days out. I've always ignored these things in the past but this time we are bringing the kiddies and after a few cruises it's probably a good opportunity for them to see how it works behind the scenes. Hopefully they will appreciate more all the behind the scenes work it takes for them to have a good vacation. And if I can get it for $99 like @twangster then that would be a great deal. It's been around $120 on my last couple cruises.

@monctonguy Canadian Resident rate?? What's the date range? Now you have me interested....going to look now....

We have never used walkie talkies, we usually purchase Voom and use WhatsApp but from all the things I have read in the past WT don't work very well because of all the metal on the ship. It's spotty at best.

I'll second that. A few years back, I cannot remember which cruise it was but I forgot to switch my phone to airplane mode. We had purchased Surf and Stream and I was using my phone a lot. Well, the cell phone bill at the end definitely showed that.

@TampaiteI remember seeing this walkie talkie topic before so I looked for the links. Here they are:

So is that going to be a considered a specialty restaurant? Or complimentary like Mini Bites?

Has that been on your cruise planner for a while? It still doesn't show up in mine for March...

This is a direct quote from my husband on a weekly basis..."Sabrina, why are you constantly on on these cruise sites? I don't know where you think the money is coming from?!" My response..."I'm the Home Genie! I need time off once in a while too and when you fund our cruises that is you showing appreciation to your Home Genie" ?

@WAAAYTOOO I feel the same way. We actually booked the Seaside twice. Once for March with a large group and once in July for just my husband and I. But in march I could not get the Yacht Club only an Aurea suite. In the end, I backed out and cancelled the march sailing and just kept the July one that we have in the Yacht Club.

Ditto! ?

Omg! That's wonderful news! And an awesome deal!! I wish the upgrade fairy would visit me.....

They need water, coffee, and tea. I better look to see if that is included in their sailings out of Miami.

Wow. I would have been super uncomfortable in that situation too. Seeing that we are not adventurous people that might be a "walk around the port and back relax by the pool" day for us. Thanks for the heads up.

Yikes...I better look into this more for the Seaside for my parents. They are booked to sail this March but with the Bella experience....

Hey @KLAconQueso....Awesome that you had a great honeymoon! Can you provide more details on that last point about Costa Maya? Our cruise on Dec 2 has been re-routed there but I have never been there before. We were not thinking of doing any excursions but we were planning just to get off the ship and maybe walk around. Are there shops etc. in the port area? What is that general area like? And is it safe?

We stopped there on the Allure last year.

My life revolves around planning the next cruise....it's my happy place You must listen to the inner cruise snob....?

and the plot thickens for @Boston Babe.....lol

I agree. I could be wrong but I think from what I have read that they are predominantly a European cruise line and the customs that comes with that. And then North Americans go to book them not knowing that and expect what they have experienced from one of our NA cruise lines. Even before Meraviglia came out I expected it to be similar in customs to their other ships. The twist here is with Seaside and what they have promised with it...to cater to the NA market. This is suppose to be their ship to finally compete with all the lines we have here. They already tried it with Divina and failed miserably and even the company admitted that. So hopefully they have learned from their mistakes and changed things. Time will tell. @DocLC you must share how your experience goes.

How unbelievably frustrating! I guess at this point it doesn't matter but are they offering you a "Going, Going, Gone" rate by any chance?? Because I do know that those rates require a brand new booking. That is the only explanation that logically makes sense to me. Try not to let it bring down your experience though and enjoy your cruise. ?

Good to know. I have always known that there is marketing involved there but I did not know it was as large a factor. I guess I should clarify that in my earlier post I was actually thinking my own jewelry shopping experiences in port. We are not big into buying diamonds and etc. when cruising but I will confess that I have a huge weakness for David Yurman and Effy pieces. What we have found over the years is that you can get those pieces at way better prices on the islands than in a Macy's or official store here in North America. Especially because they are willing to deal there. So when we do go, we make sure that we a) go online first to see if they have authorized dealers on the islands that we are visiting and b) check it with the port shopping map. We never buy any other jewelry when cruising. I am skeptical of that as well.

But not too many or you might end up on YouTube...?

@DocLC and @JLMoran I got curious last night and took a look at Cruiseline.com (I use their Shipmate app) and the reviews they had on the Meraviglia. There were not very many actually. Only 24 since June?! Anyway, same type of complaints as CC but I did notice that people either hated it or loved it. There was no real in between. Which makes me wonder if MSC perhaps "fits" only a certain type of cruiser? I feel bad we have totally hijacked this thread and gone off-topic. My apologies...