Cruise info for newcomers - all the questions I had before cruise, answered
Hello, I went on my first cruise, I didn't know much about it, so going to write some summary of basic information for cruise newcomers so they can find it here. (Cruise Miami - Bahamas)
Arrival - if cruise leaves the port at 5, embarkation ended 2 hours before! so plan your flights accordingly, unfortunately I needed to reschedule my flight because of that.
Embarkation process is super easy - you will leave your luggage to the staff and just pass the face scanners that will scan your face and ID. Super quick, convenient and easy. You will have written on your boarding pass information WHEN you should be in a port, the timing is not so strict as they wrote in the boarding pass.
Cruise - all relevant information are in the MSC mobile app, be sure to download it before. You have there information about restaurants and other facilities. You can book speciality restaurant before the cruise, I tried it out, but frankly I'm not sure if it worth the money. We had one fancy restaurant on a boat that was with life food preparation, that was probably the best.
Food - was American 😄 average quality, I wasn't excited, but there was a lot of things to choose from, desserts were really bad, but I that is everywhere in US. I preferred the buffet restaurant, coz the restaurant where they served the food it was just too huge, packed with tables and you had only 15 min time slot to enter it.
Internet - I bought Internet for US and Bahamas, I didnt buy the cruise internet package, and it was the best decision money wise, coz you dont need internet when you are on a cruise in the evening/night, but you have internet full day when In Miami, Bahamas, when on MSC Bahamas island, and when you cruise during the evening/night, there is not connection obviously.
Service - was really great, but sometimes too many stuff people came knocking to my door just to let me know they gonna clean the balcony the next day.
Room - definitely, buy balcony room, the fresh air while cruising was one of my best experiences
Disembarkation process - last night your will receive documents how to disembark, they want to you to put some sing on your luggage and take is from you the night before leaving the ship - I didnt do any of that, I carried my luggage myself, I cruise was in port before 7 am, I was able to disembark at 7:45 - it was smooth, not too many people. Then when you get to the port, its crazy lot of people there, even the mobile internet is not working, so you need to log into the port wifi to call an Uber. MSC will offer you their bus to the airport, it costed me 25 usd and firstly they told me the bus leaves in 5 min, than they made us wait for 30 more min!!! then you are going to the airport with FULL bus, it takes lot of time, you are stopping at 2 terminals. I Had my flight at 11:30 so it was ok, but you can do even earlier flight, but be aware that their buses suck, if you are in a hurry take UBER and run the airport. If you are not in a hurry, It's ok.
Enjoy your cruise!