GGC 2006 - Baseball Greats on an Italian Ship? and more

It does sound just a bit odd, but the cruise did originate in the US.

Stan Bahnsen has been organizing and facilitating these groups. He was
joined on Opera by Greg Luzinski, Pete Mackanin, Graig Nettles, Frank Howard
and Gary Peters. They each had their wives and other family members with
them. I had a chance to speak with each and invariably they were quite
charming. There were several activities aboard that involved them such as
clinics, video presentations, Q&A sessions, trivia and of course autographs.
I am not particularly a baseball fan, but I'm the mother of one, so made
sure I got everyone's signature and that's why all the photos with the
players. I would suggest that anyone who goes on one of these in the future
bring along a couple of baseballs as they were $25 in the gift shop.

Where Does this Cruise Start?

Apparently that depends on where one lives. For us it originated in Port
Everglades, but for others in San Juan.

Shopping Opera

There were more shops with more choices than I had seen on Melody. They now
have some MSC Crociere goods in the boutique, although nothing with any
specific ship's name. They don't have magnets and they don't have made in
China items with the names of the various ports on it. The DO have expensive
Italian clothing which doesn't seem to be selling and some reasonably priced
items such as polo shirts for $13 and baseball type caps for $4.80.

There is a Duty Free shop which seemed to do a brisk business in liquor and
cigarettes. The prices seemed good and alcohol could be purchased and taken
back to one's cabin (although everything in writing said otherwise).

There is also a pretty upscale jewelry store which sold 18K gold and diamond
jewelry along with some less expensive items.

Finally they had a perfume and cosmetic shop which was usually pretty quiet.
While I did go in, I don't know how the prices were, maybe someone else did?

You Call This Art?

I don't usually go to these things, but did last week because the subject
comes up so often...
They said frames were included, with upgrades (for a fee of course)
available.
Shipping $35.
"Fee" of (I think) 15% (I don't get that one)
Most things were available in almost endless numbers, but some were
supposedly originals.
There was a viewing and only those pieces that someone had expressed an
interest in were presented.
There was almost no real bidding, prints were sold at the price that was
presented, only bidding on the originals.
I enjoyed my glass of champagne and didn't buy anything nor did I go to any
other of their presentations.

Oops

As I've mentioned, I cruised with MSC before and knew that there was going
to be a repeat cruisers' party. Since I had passed the info on my status
along when I booked I had expected an invitation which never came. When I
asked about it I found that I wasn't the only one who didn't automatically
get an invitation, that several people had only been invited because they
had spoken up in time. I guess I missed out on a glass of champagne.

Singles

There was a meeting for the Singles at 11am on the second day. This was
attended "mostly" by women. Champagne was served and it was just an
opportunity to meet and chat. I'm not sure why men don't seem to go to these
things as I know that there were several single men aboard who didn't
attend.

Formal Nights

As is typical on a 7-night cruise, there were two of these.

The first was the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party. Only thing of note was
that this took place in two venues. The Captain and Staff were in the Caruso
Lounge. If one didn't care about that aspect of the party, they could go to
the Sotto Vento Pub.

Photos

This is one of the things I wish they hadn't changed. Opera is handling
photos the way other lines do. They print them and try to sell them. Of
course since most are thrown away, the ones which are sold are at very
inflated prices. (On Melody only a few were printed and pax selected what
they wanted from a computer. Because that kept their costs down prices were
lower.) But the photographers seemed to be less intrusive. For example they
didn't stop people on the gangway to take pictures, they were taken on the
pier and it was very easy to avoid them.

Library

Good, but as happens most times with limited hours. One or two in the
morning, two in the afternoon.

Towels and Chairs

Opera has the same type of chairs that impressed me on Melody. There were
more than enough for the number of pax aboard. Beach towels were available
on deck. One was supposed to give the pool attendant their cabin number and
sign for them.


--
Marsha

"Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love - time is eternity."
- Henry Van Dyke

Marsha L wrote:
It does sound just a bit odd, but the cruise did originate in the US.

Stan Bahnsen has been organizing and facilitating these groups. He was
joined on Opera by Greg Luzinski, Pete Mackanin, Graig Nettles, Frank Howard
and Gary Peters. They each had their wives and other family members with
them. I had a chance to speak with each and invariably they were quite
charming. There were several activities aboard that involved them such as
clinics, video presentations, Q&A sessions, trivia and of course autographs.
I am not particularly a baseball fan, but I'm the mother of one, so made
sure I got everyone's signature and that's why all the photos with the
players. I would suggest that anyone who goes on one of these in the future
bring along a couple of baseballs as they were $25 in the gift shop.

Where Does this Cruise Start?


Snipped rest of message

There was also a large Polka Band group on board. Some famous Polka
Band from New England. At the show the last night, I sat next to one
of the band members and had a bit of a talk with him about the cruise
line, and what the Polka band was doing, and planned to do.
They like the ship the Opera, that was the second time they had a
cruise on that ship. They would book the same ship next year if it was
still in the Caribbean. However, they are going to be on another MSC
ship next year. The band likes the size of the ship, and how the
people are treated. They do a cruise each year, and have tried other
lines. The prices are good, and they can get a lounge set aside for
the Polka band to play in.

roland