The Grand Traveller – Blog on the Caribbean
On this trip we left Sydney and flew over to L.A. stayed a night and experienced a 5.2 earthquake. Yep an earthquake, I was trying to sleep in the afternoon and told my husband to stop rocking the bed, he insisted he was not, then we both looked at each other and said "OMG this is an earthquake".
We left LA the next day and flew over to Miami to start our cruise with MSC.
MSC Seaside – Caribbean 2 week cruise.
MSC, they offer a variety of Drinks packages, these can vary depending on sailing date, for 14 nights you can pre-purchase any of these packages before you leave in AUD dollars if you pay on the ship it will be in USD dollars and if you pay by credit card you will incur the conversion fee.
So cheaper to pre-purchase.
Everything on this ship in the Caribbean is USD dollars. Below I have listed everything as AUD pre-purchase.
Soft Drinks $13.00 per person AUD
Water $51.00 x 14 – 1lt bottled water
Wine $216.00 AUD your choice 7 bottles whites and reds this can be shared as a couple.
Classic $51.00 per person per day AUD
Premium deluxe $60.00 per person per day AUD
Specialty Restaurants on the cruise, these are on deck 16 outside Yacht Club, it was one of my favourite bars as it is quieter and most passengers don’t do specially dinning so they do not tend to explore this end of the ship.
Premium Steak restaurant, Deck 16 forward.
Seafood restaurant, Deck 16 forward.
Sushi and Teppanyaki restaurant Deck 16 forward.
They also do top class wine tasting just outside the seafood restaurant, which looked really good. Deck 16 forward.
When in Miami port not many people go to the specialty restaurants so in the middle of the cruise you should be offered a 20% discount on some of the restaurants, we did the Teppanyaki and we had the whole area to our selves. Great Service and really entertaining. We pick the top menu I think it was 8 or 9 dishes for $50.00.
Specialty dinning on these cruises is much cheaper than you would expect.
Of course you still have your normal dining option - 3-course meal included in your cruise fare.
Gratuities will be charged on all services around $12.50 per person per day. Remember if you are not happy with the service you can go to reception and have this cost removed. Always do this on the last night after dinner or you may be waiting a little longer for service.
Sometimes one person has given such good service you can just pay them in cash. I did this in Yacht club our Butler and Drinks waiter were exceptional and we found others not so good.
Tours taken with the ship will be guaranteed to wait if you return late. If you go on your own and are late the ship will leave so make sure you know your “Back onboard times”.
Each night when you come back from dinner your attendant will have cleaned your room and will leave tickets for any tours in your room. Then you meet in the area indicated usually a bar area and then you will be given a sticker with your tour number. They usually have the same tour but on different buses so they have Tour guides to accommodate all the languages so the number is important.
As a rule I always take my Passport on all tours, most ports will want photo ID before they allow you into the terminal.
Tours: Book ASAP the most popular tours run out fast and may already be booked out. You have to think that 5,179 tourists are getting off your ship and they may have 3 other ships in port so don’t waste time in booking.
The first MSC we did in Europe we were not told to book early and we went to Naples and missed out on Pompeii. Was so annoyed.
We travelled in April, it was hot then my biggest suggestion would be to do as many water activities as possible.
In saying that never ever drink the tap water in any of these places especially Mexico, in some ports the tap water is run though 60 year old Asbestos pipes that will not be replaced for another 20 years. It will land you in hospital. Also do not swim in any pools either same source of water. I would stick with ocean water onlY. I have seen so many people over the years who get in the Spa or Pools on the ships and have gotten off with a cold, including both my kids when they were young. Again stick with the ocean.
THE TOURS WE TOOK:
Jamaica cooking classes was one of our best days, great tour guide who has lived on the plantation all his life. The cooking class was good and enjoyable and the view from the old home was amazing just such a peaceful and relaxing day, the gardens are beautiful. 8 out of 10.
It will be very hot but the ocean breeze was wonderful. Basic bathrooms and soft drinks and water for sale.
If you do this tour don’t buy the Jamaica hats at the shop they are cheaper in port markets inside the terminal prepare to haggle those ladies are tough.
Grand Cayman we did city tour, turtles, place called Hell etc.
The water in the Cayman is exceptional; I would suggest a water activity here. We found the tour a bit boring.
2 out of 10 for the tour but the colour of the water gets a 10 out of 10.
Cozumel, Mayan history, chocolate history and Tequila tasting. The Mayan history was really good and the traditional chocolate tour with traditional horn ceremony. Bit Boring, Good bathrooms and nice food in the museum, 5 out of 10.
Costa Maya, 1 hour drive to the Mayan ruins, we really enjoyed this tour, amazing history, lots of trees for shade and expect it to be really hot. They have a basic shop for snacks and drinks. Good toilets. 7 out of 10.
St Maarten/Phillipsburg, Loved Loved Loved this day. We did the Catamaran, snorkelling and swimming tour. Great fun and the water is amazing. The rum drinks never stopped. I grabbed a noodle after snorkelling and just enjoyed the moment in the water
9 out of 10. You will also see the famous Maho Bay Beach.
Puerto Rico Historical walk and coffee tour, I loved this tour very interesting and informative. If you want history this one is a beauty. Great walk all around the harbour fort and some wonderful history of the buildings.
The most expensive hotel in the city was owned by the Catholics when they sold the building they ask that certain sections not be disturbed as they had buried many catholic nuns in the walls.
They have 500 years of history and have only had a cemetery for 200 years, so all the dead where buried on vacant land which now has all the homes built over the top they never exhumed the dead. Just love that kind of history tour.
This city had a really good safe vibe about it. 7 out of 10 very hot.
Nassau – Bahamas city tour. It was boring as.
I recommend a water activity in this part of the world. Very rich and then extremely poor.
The other thing I do when on holidays is leave all my Jewellery at home, I don't wear a lot of Jewellery but what I do wear (wedding ring etc) I leave at home, some of these countries are very poor and you don't want to attract unwanted attention.
Over all the Caribbean is a great visit.
