Nunagoras

All the way, all the time: 1st and last cruise in season will always be the same. I had one on MSC here in Europe and it was as bad as this situation presents. Or better the 2 last days of the week were that bad. Been there, done that, lesson learnt!...

Plenty of them from MSC Fantasia onward to the most recent ones!... Yeah! They're wonderful to be at really. No I don't travel for those "bling lover" moments, it's more for the destinations, but the better the ship's experience can be, more I'll to enjoy it!... Isn't it so good to finish an excursion day by going one or 2 decks from those staircases while taking a few photos? Yes, it is!...

Nice review, congrats! Good to see the entire embarkation process rightly shown as it is. The credit card registering system is a good pro tip once it seems to be unique industry wise, so one can just to forget it if one is not that attentive, even us experienced MSC cruisers to let alone the newbies!... By the way: MSC's website is as ugly as it can be, even me as sort of an MSC's cheerleader, I 100% agree on that. The ships, including the cabins are beautiful, the Swarovski staircases are as beautiful as they can be and provide for wonderful photo moments as described. The post covid new master drill seems to be an enhancement as well. Permit me just a suggestion for next installments: If possible, bring more ship video alongside the description! And have a nice day!...

Celebrity's problem is another, IMHO. X was ever seen as a little notch above RCI in the market. But their fares have skyrocketed on the last few years. Came Covid and they've lost part of their older loyal crowd. Now they're stuck with a company trying to be 2 notches above RCI while maintaining a price scheme competitive enough, at least with the P&O/Princess/Virgin/Cunard combo... X ships are too large for the Viking/Oceania/Explora service level, but they don't want it P&O/Princess/Virgin/Cunard either... Time will tell. I believe X to start a niche of its own: I'll call it "Affordable Luxury" to simplify things and distinguish to the Premium and Mid Luxury ones. Will it work? Only time will tell, but they'll need to make concessions on the selling point for sure. Make it no to just half inclusive is certainly one.

Surely! I understand you! Though, by newer generations I'm talking about those on 20's nowadays. They started cruising some 10 years ago when massification and trademark differentiation took part. I started my cruising's career some 20 years ago, on the early days of MSC when they were mostly an Italian thing for the Italians, and only the Lirica class plus one or 2 older ships I don't remember which names they were! I was fortunate enough to go on the inaugural MSC Musica season here in Europe. Cruising at that time was a privilege for very few ones. Going on a bar? Forget that. some EUR 10 for such an freshly squeezed orange juice was the norm. A coffee was relatively cheap though, I don't know why... Things have definitely changed, ones for the better, ones not so much. But most of those kids have no idea of what a midnight buffet was about for example. My last one was 2012 or so... They don't even know what "classical" cruising was entirely about. And to capture them cruise lines will need to meet their expectations. A multitude of "celebrity chefs" specialty restaurants booked and paid apart, adventure technology heavy activities to keep them "connected" and the likes will be the norm. An array of quick going buffet like venues to feed them in a nutshell will be what we will have bundled on our baseline fares... The wonderful days of a strong connection between us and the sea seems to have gotten to an end, unless one pays upfront for the premium... And let us see for how long will that premium resist. I hope those new energy technologies like green hydrogen to pave the way for affordable small ship experiences... But that will only to be possible several decades away from us all. And I'm becoming old enough to wait... Meanwhile, RCI has sold Azamara to a niche market business, paving the way for Silversea on the small ships niche; Explora will start one day; Portuguese owned Atlas cruises is having its momentum on the exploration market. Viking is starting their exploration ship venture as well... Some interesting moments are coming to the cruise industry!... Have a nice day!...

Quite interesting post @Homosassa, congrats! But things are a somewhat more complex than that... First of its all: sadly for me, the X, Princess and HAL loyal brigade is a diminishing one. TBHH; the over 70's are now retiring from cruising. Either way some of them are becoming older and less healthy, others are simply giving up over the post covid new normalcy. X and Princess are dealing very well with it by changing their experience to accommodate the newer premium generation. Carnival may decide to finish HAL one or the other day, or try to sell it for a niche market business that focus on a small classical experience for "those few" that will ever remain available for the product. New X/Princess experience is far from classical cruising? Sure, but it seems that the newer generations don't want classical cruising either way. MSC has looked over that diminishing classical crowd by creating the Yacht Club and now, trying to transfer the Yacht Clubbers to their new luxury experience named Explora Journeys. It's a win-win for all. Explora may survive some 15-20 years out the classical crowd from X, Princess, HAL and YC, before even them making the switch. Sooner rather than later the YC will be sort of diluted on such a slightly more than Aurea experience with the corresponding price adjustment, on a more modern fashion. The World class YC arrangement seems conductive to that by the way. As far as Carnival drunken crowd becoming the norm on MSC with time due to the unlimited drinks packages; I also can't see that happening, because MSC ship's operation by itself counteracts whom tries-to do so. MSC will then continue to be such a baseline mainstream cruise line for the younger families. Modern in most aspects, but they won't promote drunken at sea, that's is out of question, me thinks!

Pretty much an easy solution even without the menus: If the few house wines by the glass, Heineken draught beer, well drinks and most of the nonalcoholic stuff suffixes your needs, no need to upgrade. If you want specific trademark spirits, wines and beers, then the Easy plus or even Premium Xtra may be worth consideration.

Basically speaking: Larger ship on a short notice versus only the retirees having real flexibility on last minute bookings is not a secret. They wanted to replace Preziosa with Virtuosa... Good luck now filling the ships. Either way: For the ones able to go: Enjoy till it's available!...

Back in the day; when MSC was mostly such an Italian thing for the Italians; they used to have "Il Magnífico" which was a huge and wonderfully beautiful superb full midnight buffet, offered on the last day of the cruise from the main mass embarkation port. It used to be such a moment, mostly for the eyes, less for the food itself, but something I somewhat miss it to an extent, even though I understand the no food waste concerns those buffets were creating. MSC finished them by 2015, because of the food waste, cut corners, but as someone told me, to avoid electronic devices and jewelry robberies that started to pop up as ships became larger and all sort of individuals started to go on. As far as I know they only do it now on very rare occasions like Christmas, New Year's Eve and/or if a special public holiday arises. Sometimes they may to do it if there is a special event on the ship with the press. Otherwise no such things like that... And that, even though only a tiny part of it, was superb!... Hope one day to have one of those! Moments like those are to be enjoyed!...

No surprise, considering the economic situation on where the EU is living these days. I believe a 6th ship would be added if more cruise berths were available for them to operate. Alaska would be great, but it is perhaps too busy to support a new market entrant.

Official statement from MSC is that they don't offer drinks packages on cruises shorter than 4 nights. Some CC members state they've been able to purchase onboard a shorter than 4 nights US sailing, so I presume this is a sailing by sailing sort of affair at ship's Captain's discretion. If demographics permit they'll eventually offer them. A 15% tip will be added to the advertised price. Sometimes a discount may appear, but that is usually on longer than 7 nights cruises. You can purchase your package from any bar on embarkation day, or from the employees at embarkation, also bar workers by the way.

...Then, more cruises at same time frame, possibly. I'm just wondering how wonderful would it be if I lived near a main cruise port here in Europe, like Barcelona (or if we had direct reliable and affordable high speed trains from Lisbon to Barcelona...) with cruises going pretty much 365 days per year?... I surely wouldn't live inside a cruise ship year round, nor I would like to do so, but certainly a good portion of my winter months would be at cruise ships, for sure!... Wonderful basic "Bella" prices out there that season, usually, so it would even to be cheaper to stay aboard than at home, considering that the cruise price includes the ship's inside heating, so little to no electric or gas spending for home heating for the week! Inside Bella would be my choice, with a nonalcoholic package paid apart, or the Easy one from promotional, if cheaper than Bella+nonalcoholic!... And let us to see the seas "fly" by!...

Many thanks to your kind words on the other post. Have your answers in blue. I was answering in general. No need for a drinks package if what you really want is only wine. Back in the day they used to have a bottle package you could purchase in the MDR, some 4 or 5 bottles, more than suffix for a moderate drinker on a cruise. I didn't see them on my last 2 cruises, but one was on the United Arab Emirates (severe alcohol selling restrictions due to the law of the land) and the other was a transatlantic (maybe with different rules). Usually those wine packages were not advertised or apparent, but if you politely asked your waiter, a packages menu would be offered. Things might have changed though.

Demystifying the drinks packages: First of its all, bear in mind that unlimited drinks packages were created with multi drinks purposes in mind, not just a specific one. The Easy package is your casual drinker package of sort for house or well drinks on offer plus the nonalcoholic part. The Easy Plus adds some more options, for generally pretty much everything minus the premium trademarks. Now the Premium Extra will get you everything minus extra premium products. If one is only interested on wine, better to go by the bottle on MDR. They'll save the leftovers for you the next day if you want. Combining VC discounts and possible bottle packages (they may vary sailing by sailing) that will most likely to be cheaper than going by the drinks packages. On those strange post covid times, also bear in mind the supply chain arising here and there. IMHO; these times I'll only go with a drinks packages if I have no other alternative. These days from where I live, pretty much everyone receives the Easy package with their basic fare, so...

What a wonderful review, among the best ones I've read here on CC! Obviously you're a professional on the media field, but again, as I normally say; technique one can learn on schools, sensibility to the things or one naturally has or one not; and to make cruise reports, you surely have!... Congrats!... As some say here: RCI or whatever cruise line may be should hire you to make their advertisement!...

So true. I know some former teachers whom are current tour guides after retirement. A way to remain active and earn a little bit more. The international tour leader ones are another tribe, to say the least, and I know some ones too. They run long distances, stay away several days with groups, sometimes of very difficult individuals... Instead of finishing the day and go home to stay with their little kids, they'll to sleep at same hotels or cruises with their groups... And they don't have better social protection either or too much higher wages as one can think about. Old age "poverty" is quite common even among that tribe... Oh, well, let us not turning this far out of topic. I believe tour guides and tour leaders more than deserve our attention on the tipping scheme. While that might not be the most apparent, they're among the most fragile ones.

Yeah, I was talking mostly about southern and east European countries. Here in Portugal that is the case. Most of those jobs are very low paid, and or very rotative. In Germany it is generally better, but even there, several workers from outside Germany earn lower wages. I usually bear that in mind as tipping goes.

Hi! Read your answers in blue. Here in Portugal tipping is mostly a way of rounding for hand money transactions. It is becoming useless these days when basically all things are paid by card. I don't use to pay additional tips more than the, already included on my cruise fare or onboard purchases, service taxes, unless there is a very exceptional reason that requires it. Imagine I need something from my cabin assistant very late in the evening or very early in the morning. Imagine I have a severe food allergy and in some day they need to fix it very closely in the MDR. I use to act accordingly on those occasions. There are some exceptions though: Here in Europe the handling personnel dealing with your luggage in ports are usually workers from the same businesses that deal with your airport luggage handling, because those are the ones authorized to operate by the port authorities. They earn minimum wages on a quite dangerous environment, mostly as temporary contractors. They should be tipped accordingly. An EUR 5 per person is adequate, once here, apart the bags, in some places, they're there to make a first view on your cruise documents. This might to be similar on the US. As said above, in some places, tour drivers and guides, while hired by local tour operators, they receive very minimum wages, so they rely on your tips. An EUR 5-10 per individual involved should be considered depending on shore excursion duration and quality. If you are traveling inside a charter group with a tour leader, bear in mind that those are not cruise line employees. Tip them accordingly. An EUR 10 pppd should be considered these days.

Not exactly a dish by itself, but their authentic gelato, in most ships from Venchi, is to die for. Pro tip: You usually can have a little small scoop of that on the MDR as a lunch or dinner dessert for free.

Yeah! No matter what, that may be the best possible explanation. Actually me thinks that from Cunard to MSC we're basically talking on comparing an apple with an apple cake. Obvious both are cruises, but MSC is your regular simple European land 4* like hotel for such a younger crowd (an apple), while Cunard in general, even though some very attractive pricings from time to time, tends to be such an European land solid 4*+ to even true 5* luxury experience (an apple cake). If you want the best of 2 worlds the Yacht Club is your MSC's best bet coming from a Cunard experience level. Surely one can appreciate a "steerage" MSC experience cruise, but bear in mind that you'll be surrounded with a more vibrant, younger crowd and the service while nice will have its "hit or miss" regular moments on the current "4*" industry level. That's it. If you want a strongly port intensive cruise in Europe, go for it. You'll be out of the ship most of the time. But adjust your expectations to the reality. It's different. No worst nor better. Just different!

This! Long gone are those times when MSC was mostly such an Italian thing for the Italians, or for the Italians plus a few other EU citizens alike. Long gone are consequently the days where I was sort of viewed as such a "2nd class" guest for not being an Italian... Paradoxically those were the wonderful good ole MSC days, and their glorious ones to say the least. That was when the Musica class vessels were their flagship and when MSC had less than 10 ships overall!... Some might claim their service was far worse than it is now... for me it was nicer, yeah, perhaps a little bit less demanding, but surely more relaxed... I'd to describe that MSC's era as a company where simplicity would meet sophistication... It seems not anymore. On my last 2 cruises (2017 on the UAE and 2018 TA from Brazil to Portugal) the experience was just like what you described for some of the newer builds; a mix between the American way and the European way; and I believe the difference is dwindling by the day. I understand that from a business point of view it makes things easy to just Americanize the experience, once cruising is just seen as an American sort of experience in general. But, there are my wonderful memories about my early days cruises some 15-20 years ago!... And yes; it seems from what I've read on those boards that US sailings mainstream cruise dress schemes are clearly going down the road by the day, while here in Europe sailings people are becoming less formal, but at least making their effort!...

Again. Don't know how it is being dealt right now, but back in the day till my last cruise in 2018, MSC always sent a copy of my statement to be signed on the last night of the cruise. Your cabin assistant would deliver it for you by 1AM, or you could just pass by guest services on the last day and sign it there. Either way, by 1AM on the debarkation day, your cruise card will to loose purchasing permissions other than to buy drinks (for some amount depending on your credit card safety allowance) and other than those drinks nothing would be added from 1AM or the time you previously signed up your final statement. Some problems may arise, this is for what credit card disputes is there about, but something I have never heard was about a final bill not signed up. Have a nice day!

No shorts on MDR for dinner is probably among the few rules they may have these days, and I praise them to actually enforce it. Allowing 1rst night when luggage can possibly not have been delivered is a thing, allowing all and a pair of boots everyday is just another thing. While mainstream cruising (European 4* land hotel standards) is pretty much for everyone, that doesn't translate on let the MDR to be the next door McDonald's outlet! Going on the MDR for dinner should be at least like going on a nice restaurant in town. Relatively casual? Sure! That's the way the society is going! But, at least making an effort to understand in what context one is!

On that particular venue? Yes, it may be new, but MSC is quickly expanding their advertising plans as they're diversifying their clientele base and cruising regions. On general? No, they've had several ads going elsewhere, including where I live here in Portugal. And to add to the count they even have a huge container transportation business here on which their logo is used on thousands of containers, some of them even painted with MSC cruises adverts! They're elsewhere here where I live.