The Jaques Family Sails on MSC

Where to even start....We got out of our comfort zone and sailed a new cruise line. I like to stick to what I know but figured since becoming a travel agent I should branch out a little more and when there was a deal we couldn't pass up for Spring Break we decided to go for it.

I had a lot of anxiety leading up to this trip. We didn't know anyone who had sailed on MSC and I just had so many questions that I had to wait to get answers to. There are just things you know when you sail one cruise line all the time so to make a change I knew it would be different. I tried my best to just go with it.

Boarding day came, we drove to Port Canaveral which was just over an hour for us. One thing about MSC is that when you do your online check in they will assign you a port check in time at a later date. They also assign your main dining room time once you board the ship. I am used to picking this and our check in time. Our check in time was 12:30pm but we are used to getting to the port by 9:30/10:00 to check in. We got to the port at 11am because we didn't want to get there too early in case they wouldn't let us check in. We got there, dropped off our luggage, parked the car and then headed straight inside. We showed our boarding pass (this has to be printed) and our passports. We then went through security and then over to do our actual check in. In addition to printing our set sail passes we also had to print a health questionnaire and fill it out. I am used to everything being digital. They then gave us a boarding group number and we went to wait. We were on the ship around 11:45am. We grabbed a drink at the bar and then went to the buffet for lunch. Our booking included the drink package and wifi. The buffet was really good, lots of options.

We did receive our cards in the port so we were able to see that we got the early dining at 5:30pm. I do not know how they choose the dining times and if it has anything to do with having young children that got us the earlier time. We spent the next few hours wondering around the boat and checking things out. I also went to register the kids in the kids club.

Our rooms were then ready so we went to check it out and look for our luggage. I am

used to Royal Caribbean where the luggage is up and down the hallways and you just look around and grab it. What is different about MSC is that they actually put your luggage on a little cart and bring it to your room and knock. Well we had 3 suitcases and 2 showed up. I started worrying. The missing suitcase had all of our toiletry bags, sun screen, snorkel gear and shoes. We unpacked our clothes and waited around for a few minutes to see if it would show up. It didn't so we decided to go back our and explore more.

In our adventure around the ship we got to take a picture with their mascot which the kids loved. It was also my birthday on embarkation so I told the family they had to take whatever pictures I wanted!

My anxiety was getting the best of me over the luggage. I kept thinking the worst, I checked them all together so why weren't they still together. We popped back to the room just to check and it was there. Now I could totally relax and fully unpack.

Lets talk about the room, we had an ocean view balcony. I assumed the couch folded out but it didnt, instead it turned into bunk beds! The best part about this is that it could stay set up, we had plenty of room to walk to the balcony and the kids could keep their extra stuff at the end of their beds. My only complaint in the room is that the vanity where the mirror was didn't have drawers. There were drawers in the closet but I felt like we lacked some storage space. Luckily this time I packed most of our clothes in cubes so I just stacked those in the closet.

Dinner Day 1 - We did not book any of their specialty restaurants as we wanted to try the main dining room. We had a great table with windows all around. Our servers were amazing. The food was great and my kids enjoyed dinner. The servers were very engaged with the kids and got them anything they needed/wanted. After dinner we walked around a bit, checked out the shops and also visited their chocolate factory.

We decided that it had been a long day and knew we were getting up early for the beach the next day so we called it an early night

Day 2 - We arrived at their Private Island - Ocean Cay

We went to the first beach right off the pier by the light house. There were different chairs and bean bags on the beach along with a bar and close restrooms. The kids really wanted to snorkel but the waves were too strong. We did learn that the drinks available on the island are slim. They had the vodkas, rums, beers etc but things like a mudslide or bloody marys are not available which are my drinks that I like. I went with my backup of Vodka, pineapple and sprite. My husband is a beer drinker so he was set. We decided after a bit to go check out one of the other beaches to see if they could snorkel.

We found a great spot and they were able to snorkel and my husband made them a sand alligator - his specialty!

It was a bit of a walk to the bar and took a few minutes to get a drink. We noticed they had a large buffet on the island as well as food trucks. Those did not open until 12pm. We had gotten out on the beach so early that by 11 the kids were ready to go swim on ship. What was interesting is that we were staying docked overnight at their island.

We went and grabbed lunch in the buffet before hitting the pool which was pretty empty since everyone was on the island. Around 3:30 or so we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner. Dinner the 2nd night did not disappoint, in fact it was even better than the first night. We walked around for a bit and then went out on the island once it was dark.

The lighthouse does a cool LED show at 9pm and there is a DJ on the beach. It was a little windy and chilly so we didn't stay out long.

I realized that we would not be at the island all day the next day, the gangway opened at 8:30 and it was all aboard at 11:30. We decided that we would rather get our chairs by the pool before it got crazy. I love the sun but I also like to have a shady place to be as well. We found 3 chairs on the 2nd level near the Jacuzzi that were completed shaded and in case of rain we would be in a good spot. It definitely got busy around 11:00. We also checked out the waterslide area and it was a bit crazy with everyone on board.

We headed back to the room at 1:30 to get my youngest showered and changed so she could go check out kids club for a few hours. This gave us a little time to get showered ourselves and then go relax with a drink and just look around the ship more. We also went to check our the photos in the photo gallery. This is where we realized something - before we went to had our status matched. MSC will match your status on another cruise line or hotel chain. Since we are Diamond Plus on Royal we had them match us which put us to Gold which is one below their top tier. We got the Gold discount on our booking and one of the perks was a free photo. The photo gallery was telling us no but I looked it up online and it said yes so we went to customer service and they didn't have it updated and our cards should have been gold. So we got that taken care of and went back for our photos. Now on Royal we each get one free photo of our choice but on MSC its only free dining room photos. Well we got 2 photos from dinner and 2 photos from the island plus a frame for $18 which was not bad at all.

By this time we had to go get our youngest from kids club, she could have stayed longer but they were taking them to a movie and she didn't want to go to that. We got changed and headed to dinner. This dinner had to be my favorite out of the entire cruise, it was Italian night. I think I ate my weight in cheese and pasta. We needed to go pack up before doing anything else. We had our luggage tags which gave us a debarkation at 9:30am. Since the kids were still on break and it was a sunday we were not in a rush. It did say to head down at 9:15 but we were required to be out of our room by 8:30am. We got ready and headed to the buffet which is not something we would normally do but my youngest needed some yogurt to take her prescription medication so we grabbed that for her and I had some hot tea since it was cold outside. we decided to take our chances and head off the ship by 8:30, we got into the port and saw they only had a few numbers of luggage and thought we were going to have to wait until our luggage came off the ship, after 10 minutes we asked and were told the luggage was spread out throughout the building and we just needed to walk further down. Found our luggage and jumped in the passport line and we were on the way to the car.

So here are my thoughts and recommendations for MSC. Great ships, food and pricing especially when you can get the drink package and wifi included. Bar tenders are not as fast as some of the other cruise lines but they do allow you to get 2 drinks at once. They also have beer carts around the pool deck and those carts also have a few liquors and mixers. The one time I didn't bring a yeti cup and I wished I had one with me. Getting 2 drinks at once is great except they melt quickly and it would have been nice to dump them into a larger cup to keep them cold. The bar tenders weren't great at knowing who was next so a few times we had to be vocal that we were next but honestly it was a great trip and we can't wait to go again on MSC especially now that we know our way around and know a lot more!

Don't forget to reach out to us if you would like help planning your next adventure!

Pre-Christmas Cruise with the Jaques Family

December is always a super busy time for the Jaques Family. With two daughters who are dancers we have Nutcracker and the start to our Competition Season. This year our daughters had a 3 day convention in Daytona Beach Florida. My oldest was also competing that weekend and then we were off to a 5 Night Cruise on Brilliance of the Seas out of Tampa Florida. Sunday night December 18th we left Daytona and went home to unpack and repack for the cruise. The next morning we left for Tampa. It is less than a 2 hour drive for us which is nice. The weird thing is the last time we went out of Tampa it was on this exact ship in March of 2020 and on the 2nd day of our cruise they announced the shutdown. I was very much looking forward to this cruise to have some down time after a super busy and exhausting dance weekend and before the craziness of Christmas.

We had no traffic on the way there which we weren't sure of being a Monday morning. We got to the port pulled in to drop our luggage, it wasn't hectic or very many people and then we circled back to the parking garage. I have to say this might have been the easiest and quickest of any cruise. The only thing I don't like is the parking garage is across the street so you have to walk a bit and the street is busy so you have to watch the kids. I suppose one of us could have stayed at the drop off and the other park the car but we like to take a moment make sure everyone has their backpacks and nothing gets left in the car and then walk together. We got inside and went through security with no line, walked to check in which took less than 5 minutes and then we were sitting waiting to board the ship. Our check in time was 11am but we were checked in and in the sitting area by 10:30 am. We were in a Junior Suite this time so we boarded first before anyone else.

We went straight to the Windjammer for lunch before it got busy. I have to say I do love a smaller Windjammer. Quick and easy to find what you are looking for and get a table. I really love Tomato Soup and have never seen it in the Windjammer but today was my lucky day it was there. It was a little chilly outside and we opted to sit outside in the sun so it was a perfect match. After eating we went to find our muster station to get that out of the way and then to register at Adventure Ocean. Once those things are out of the way I feel like I can relax. We grabbed some drinks at the Centrum Bar and walked around until the room was ready. We were happily surprised that our luggage was already there so we could get unpacked. I love the large closet that is it the junior suite. Once we got unpacked we went to walk around a bit more and wait for sail away on the helicopter pad. The one thing our youngest was so excited for was the fact that she was finally 6 and could rock climb. We grabbed socks and headed up for her first rock climbing adventure.

We were hoping to be up on the helicopter pad to go under the Sky Way Bridge but by 5:20pm we had not reached it yet and we had the early dinning.

We go back and forth on the dinning time the early dinning is just early and the late dinning is too late but we also don't want to do my time dinning as its just one more thing to remember and sometimes the lines are long. We once again said lets give the main dinning a try and if we aren't happy it will be windjammer and room service. The wait staff blew us away. They were quick with drinks and food for the kids. The food was really good as well, cooked perfect and hot. We went to have a drink after dinner and called it an early night as it had been a long day.

I went back to the room and packed the pool bag for the next day and got everyone's stuff laid out.

My youngest and I got up early and we were at the pool by 7:15ish and I expected there to be more people but there wasn't. The nice thing on a smaller ship the windjammer is right off the pool so we left our stuff for 10 minutes to walk in and get a quick breakfast that we brought back and ate at our chairs. This is also some quiet time for me to relax, I even found the bar in the back of the windjammer opens at 7am so I could grab a Bloody Mary early!

I brought clothes for my youngest as she wanted to go to Adventure Ocean pretty early. We knew the kids slide didn't open until 1pm so this was a good time for her to go play and I could relax. They also had paper and a box for kids to send letters to Santa.

On a smaller ship there is limited areas for the kids and the pools and hot tubs are small so you have to pick and choose what you decide to do and when. The water slide they have to be 46" to go alone otherwise they need someone 18 and older to go with them. Our youngest was just barely at 46" and they let her go alone. Our oldest decided to hang out in the chairs and watch on her phone so when it got a little busy we went to the Solarium.

Now most people know by 8am typically a Solarium has no chairs available and its busy but we went in there and there were plenty of chairs available and no one in the pool and 2 people in the hot tub.

By noon we were done by the pool so we picked up our youngest from Adventure Ocean and went to grab lunch. After lunch we showered and got dressed for the afternoon/early dinner. We found a bar we really liked with a good bartender so it was a nice place to hang out before dinner. We were excited to go back to the main dinning room after how good the first night was. Once again service, food and everything in the main dinning was amazing. After dinner we went to check out the shops. The girls found these animal tracking bracelets so we got a few of those. They were tired so while we got a drink to wind down for the evening they went to the room to get ready for bed.

The next day was a port day. Grand Cayman was our port of call. I was excited for this port since the last time we were there was 9 years prior on our oldest daughters first birthday. This port is a tender port so they told us we had to go to the colony club on deck 6 and get a tender ticket and we couldn't go down to the tender until our number was called. After breakfast we went to get a ticket and figured we might have to wait a bit but they gave us number 10 and they had just called for number 10. We headed down and right onto a tender boat. I have to say it was nice this time not have a stroller to get onto that tender boat. We didn't really have any plans for this port so we just got there and started walking.

We went left out of the port and found some cute shops to get some souvenirs. Of course we are in a store and my youngest needs a bathrooms. I asked the lady where the closest bathroom was and she said it was back at the port entrance but she was a so nice and said to take her to their employee bathroom. We realized after we got back on the tender that we probably should have gone right and there was a mall and other stuff which is where we went 9 years prior but the girls had already bought a bunch of stuff so we will save it for next time, hopefully won't be another 9 years! We headed back to the ship to relax a little bit.

It was a pretty low key day, lunch, pool, adventure ocean and then time to get ready for dinner. Most of our evenings were low key as we didn't do any shows. Our youngest wanted to go back to Adventure Ocean for a bit so we just sat at our favorite bar to have drinks until it was time to pick her up.

Our next day was Cozumel Mexico. We had decided we weren't getting off the boat since we had been to Cozumel 3 times in the last year and I am glad we didn't get off. We had to go into a dock further down than what we are used to and some friends we met on the cruise said there wasn't much and you had to take a taxi to get to anything decent.

I decided I would sleep in since the pool area would likely not be busy and by sleeping in I mean like 8:30am. We got up and went to get breakfast and then out to the pool area.

We spent a few hours out there and then decided we were done and wanted to get some lunch and get showered. Our youngest went to Adventure Ocean for the afternoon which gave us some time to walk around see a few things on the ship and just relax. After dinner it was back to our favorite spot for after dinner drinks to wrap up our evening.

One thing we learned on the last cruise and definitely used it this cruise is that they can use their Diamond Plus drinks at the Coffee place to get Vanilla Bean Fraps just like the ones they get from Starbucks. This is a huge hit with the kids and doesn't cost us anything else. If you aren't Diamond level yet you can use your refreshment package for the same thing.

We decided our last day we didn't want to do the pool we just wanted to sleep in and do things around the ship. We made the right call because when I woke up around 8:30am it was raining and gloomy out. Our youngest spent most of the day in Adventure Ocean, we had breakfast and lunch in the windjammer, our oldest found a comfy high back chair near a window so she could binge watch a show for the day and lets be honest I don't blame her and I should have done the same thing. We hung out at the bar most of the day with a great couple we met and just enjoyed the company.

We made one final trip to the dinning room and it was great just as it had been the entire cruise.

The kids were tired and wanted to go to the room. I stayed out for one more drink then they were calling me saying they weren't feeling well. The boat had started rocking a bit earlier in the day and seemed to get a bit rougher as the evening went on. I also needed to pack so I headed to the room. I got the kids to go to sleep since the rocking was bothering them. They have never been sick on a ship so this was new to us. I was trying to pack and could barely go back and forth as it was rocking really bad an we were on deck 10. I finally got everything packed and had to lay down. I have never been sick on a cruise but it was starting to get to me. We were traveling through a cold front that was coming into Florida. For the Tampa port you have to get into the channel and then its about 2 1/2 - 3 hours before you are actually docked so I knew once we got into the channel the water would be calm. I was dreading getting off the ship as it would be in the 30's when we got off and that is cold for us Floridians. We headed off the ship and it was freezing, I couldn't wait to get to the car! For now we only have some cruises booked for the last quarter of 2023 and we are looking for our next adventure so check back to see where we might be heading to next!

Fall Getaway on Independence of the Seas

The Jaques Family needed to fit in a fall cruise to get away and relax. There was a great deal on a 4 Night on Independence of the Seas out of Port Canaveral so we decided to jump on it. We got extremely lucky because the week before we left we got hit with a Hurricane so we were not sure if it would impact us being able to go or even if the ports would be open for us to leave on time. We didn't loose power and the ports were back up and running so on Monday October 3rd we headed out. One thing that was different about this cruise is that we did not have our typical Balcony or Suite we had 2 inside rooms. The price different for 2 inside rooms to a Balcony was a few thousand so we decided to give it a try considering it was a shorter cruise and we wouldn't be in the room that much with our port days and pool days.

The day we left I still had to work so we boarded the ship and went straight to Playmakers so I could work while we ate and waited for the room to be ready. Independence had just gotten the new internet which I was excited for but they had not worked out all the issues with it yet so it wasn't very reliable. After lunch we went to do Adventure Ocean registration and our muster drill. Both we knew would be very quick. Our rooms were then ready and our luggage was already there. We took a few minutes to get unpacked. Since there was no internet or cell service in the inside room I took my laptop up to the Diamond Lounge to work. Since no one is in the Diamond Lounge before 4:30 it was a nice quiet space to work. My husband took the girls to walk around, climb on the pringle wall, the sky pad, etc. I finished working just in time to drop off my laptop in the room and head out for Sail Away.

We headed to the main dinning room to try it again for dinner, if you have been following us then you know that we have not been impressed with the main dinning room but we always say we have to give it a try. It wasn't bad but wasn't great. We had the 8pm dinning and by 9:30 we still didn't even have all of our main course so we got up and left. We decided to call it an early night as we were going to Coco Cay the next day and knew it would be an early morning.

I really didn't mind the inside room it was quiet and dark. The extra space was also really nice. The only thing I didn't like was not being able to see where we were coming into port and if we were tied up etc. I looked at the TV but it was hard to tell. I got up and got ready early with my youngest daughter and we headed of right when the gangway opened. I am pretty sure we were the 2nd family off. We wanted to get our normal seats out by the Oasis Lagoon Pool. The nice thing about going to the same spot is that I can go early with our youngest who gets up early and my husband and oldest can take their time getting up and ready and just meet us when they want.

The nice thing is the Oasis Lagoon Bar is open early so you can get whatever you want which I enjoy a good Bloody Mary while sitting in the peace and quiet by the pool.

Usually within an hour my husband and oldest join us. We have a favorite bartender that lives on the Island so it is always nice to see him. We take the time to walk down to the beach and play some of the games, take some pictures etc before it gets really busy.

The girls want to snorkel the next time we are there so that is on our to do list. Our day at Coco Cay is basically the same every time we go and honestly we love it. We enjoy the pool, the beach, the swim up bar, the buffet, snack shack and the pirate splash pad. Maybe at some point we will venture out and do a cabana or the balloon but for now we like our norm. We did one thing a little different this time, instead of walking back to the Pirate Ship we hopped on the tram and took a little tour to get back. It was cool to see the rest of the Island while resting our feet from walking.

We got back to the ship in the early afternoon and took advantage of the pool area not being busy and hung out in the hot tubs and pool area. The splash pad and slides in the kids area is a big hit for my youngest.

We decided to do room service for dinner and just make it a more low key night. We did some things around the ship and then ordered food around 7 and it took about an hour but then we could eat and go to bed.

The next day we were in Nassau which we knew we would not be getting off the ship. We rarely get off in Nassau. The last time was in March when we were on 5 night B2B sailings on Mariner and had a lot of sea days and wanted to break it up but when we are on shorter cruises we enjoy a quiet day.

I took my youngest out to the pool early and then she went off to the kids club. My oldest hung out for a while then decided she just wanted to go to the room to relax so we moved into the solarium. At noon we had to pick up from kids club and get lunch and then the girls were off to find ducks and play mini golf. My youngest opted to go back to kids club from 2-5pm while my oldest wanted to go to the room again - this was a week of downtime for her that she needed so I was all for her relaxing wherever she wanted. We went to the Schooner Bar to have some drinks and relax before it was dinner time. We had dinner scheduled at Izumi which is always good. We don't do the Hibbachi, we just prefer the table service. My Husband loves Sushi and always says how good it is. It looks good, I just don't like it. I always opt for the Ramen Bowl which is so much food but so good. The kids tried some different protein and rice from the kids menu.

Our last day was a Sea Day which I was a love hate with. I love being at Sea and relaxing but it also means everyone else is on the ship doing the same thing so the pool area gets a little crazy. In true fashion I got up early and to the pool by 7am to get our chairs.

I knew my youngest was planning to do kids club 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm. We had our family time in the morning by the pool until she went to kids club. Once I picked her up I got the kids some quick lunch and then they were off to do more duck hunting and mini golf. Since it was so busy we wanted to move to the Solarium. I noticed a family had chairs by the doors and they had little ones but also had grandparents sailing with them. I overheard them saying they couldn't find anything by the main pool so I approached then and asked if they wanted to trade. They had 2 chairs in the Solarium and we had 4 by the pool so the grandma waited for me to bring my stuff back and the parents with the children came and took my chairs. It was perfect timing. We spent the afternoon in the Solarium and then went to pick up at Adventure Ocean and off to shower for our last night. We decided to do room service again and get packed up. The nice thing is the kids were already off school that Friday so we didn't have to rush off the ship to get them to school. They had missed 4 days for this trip but it was totally worth it and some downtime they really needed.

This time we had an amazing stateroom steward. Probably one of our favorites from all of our cruises. His personality was great, he really interacted with the kids well. Check back to hear about our cruise just before Christmas on Brillance of the Seas!