Beamafar

Thanks for doing this comparison, Fogfog. It’s both illuminating and enlightening (probably means the same thing - just sounded good - in my head, anyway 🤪)

Brings to mind a particular waiter we had once; Mr B enjoyed a mains so much that he asked for a second helping. Every night after, he got seconds whether he wanted it or not. One night I couldn’t decide which dessert I wanted, so he brought all three.

One of our best MSC cruises (if not the best out of 27) was on Sinfonia. It was a 24 night repo from Venice to Durban (B2B with a 4 night Durban return). We had been on her six weeks prior, a 7 night Adriatic cruise, so got to know the crew beforehand. Between the service and entertainment onboard, we had the most amazing time we’ve ever had.

One of my bugbears with MSC is that they will seat us with other Irish passengers. When we travel, we would prefer to meet people from other places - that’s the reason for travelling abroad in the first place. Slightly off-topic: On one particular repo (from Brazil) we were seated at a 6-top with 4 others from Australia (one couple and 2 sisters). We were the first to arrive at the table on the first night, followed by the couple. While we waited for our other table mates, the wife remarked “I hope the other couple speak Australian”. 🙈

Genuine question: Does the price differential warrant these ‘better’ items? From the little I’ve read about Haven, it seems to me that it doesn’t offer some of the inclusions that YC does. That being the case, YC base price appears to offer a lot more than Haven’s. For that reason we have never been tempted to consider Haven (never had any issues with beds in YC; bring our own toiletries, so not an issue - and MSC has mixology lounges on most of their ships that the included drinks package in YC covers - not that that’s a ‘thing’ for us as we rarely drink cocktails).

There was plenty of discussion on here at the time and it certainly appeared to be fleetwide once it was fully implemented (meaning that implementation was staggered across different dates due to repositioning ships, etc)

Waiters in the Aurea dining area/room have less tables to wait on, so service tends to be better.

Lots of reviews on here with photos of menus and food offerings which will give you a flavour (😜) of what to expect.

I guess no one on these boards has felt the need to order 3 or more entrées. 🤔

We only paid the difference on our sailings last year. The drinks package, Premium Extra, is included for YC guests, but it applies regardless of whether you’re in YC or not.

You only pay the difference, plus 18% service charge. That’s fleetwide.

We have always been stopped at the MDR entrance on embarkation day (on European sailings). They look at your cruisecard, which shows that you’ve just embarked and you’re told that you have to go to the buffet. (We’ve always made a case for entry and have been facilitated - but it’s at the asst m’D’s discretion). Also, the point is that the MDR is open on port days (even if they happen to be embarkation ports, too).

There is a thread on this main page on the subject https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3005858-second-entree-complimentary-dining-room/#comment-67321201

Yeah - I have the boarding passes in the wallet for the second leg. For some reason, the TA booked, first leg cruise, MSC hasn’t issued boarding passes for. I’m just not liking not having proof of inclusions (other than on the app - which I don’t fully trust as it’s glitchy) having experienced issues onboard on several occasions over not having some pre purchased items showing in the ships’ systems.

I’ve noticed several comments about how things are different on Explora than on other lines. Isn’t that exactly what MSC wanted to achieve - an alternative experience to the competition?