Nunagoras

At least from where I live they aren't your regular promo offerings, but very specific ones, for example some last minute, some flight+hotel+cruise+transfers or some during extra season like Christmas, New Year, Easter or if we want to cruise during our own public holiday dates. Some of those offerings are not cumulative with either way VC or any other promo going out at booking time and most don't apply to the YC. Whether they may be better or not from the regular offering? Don't know. They're very specific, but they permit me to say that not all are electable like in past they were.

Back in the day? Yes. Currently; bear in mind that there are some special offers where you can't actually to stack up VC discounts with others, at least here from where I live. As Hank says; the 5% discount is most valuable for YC bookings, especially if it's a longer cruise.

May I come in? For the ones that don't know me, I'm more prevalent on the MSC boards. Let me just to add my 2 cents from someone whom actually lives here in southern Europe: If the price difference is not that big; I'd go for June, instead of August, and it's not just the weather subject. August will have strong heat; early June may have some rain and some cold evenings. There's not that thing named a perfect day, though if there is one, that'll to be mostly possible in June as well. But the problem is not really that. August is the main holiday month for most adult southern Europeans. Schools will be closed in most places late June to early September and on August most kids will be traveling around with their families. It will to be difficult for you to appreciate most of the attractions due to the huge crowds. In June, public transportation, if needed, will have the winter timesheet that usually means larger offer. Service elsewhere will be faster and more efficient, sometimes at lower price. I wouldn't recommend coming to Europe in August at all. Personally; my favorite time of the year to cruise is mid-September to mid-October with early June as possible replacement. Have a nice day and nice sailings!

I wouldn't call the VC perks as worthless. I'd call them symbolic at best most of the times, unless one is talking about tender port priority when needed or things on that sort. You have 5% discount across the board. Little? Better than nothing, considering that pretty much nobody pays brochure prices these days. You might have some special offers from them. Again better than nothing. And some discounts onboard, the same... Curiously: All my cruises with MSC were made as a member of a small charter group inside the sailing. Even though at the time those sailings were unelectable for VC points, on my last cruise, a TA from Brazil to Portugal they recognized us as VC members. We went to the VC general party one night, and we had some discounts on the shops. Little, but better than nothing, and at least we felt like there was an incentive, a recognition, or simply a way to show empathy from the business to their clients. That was for me more than enough, but I'm European and this is the way we tend to see those things.

Usually MSC don't allow drinks packages on less than 4 nights cruises and for good reasons I fully support myself. I've read here in CC that in some American sailings they're permitting it. Maybe the Captains will have a say week by week whether they can do, depending on the demographics? Either way that, if true, might to be a compromise for the US market.

This. And, like on airline or shore hotel industry wise, nobody pays brochure prices these days. Either way one will pay his/her unique price within a certain price tag on where the provider inserts its products. I use to use a way to be happy either way on that: Book what I need when I need and let the world fly by. This is my "mantra". When service needed and price align well on me, I book; and on MSC's case it's usually as part of a small charter group, so I can't even to choose my cabin.

Absolutely agree. Even though for the YC guests the YC restaurant placement was a design flow solved on the newer builds, for us regular cruisers the Fantasia class where the Divina belongs is the most balanced of them all. Not so small that you have basically no options out of the basic ones, nor so big that most of the features are in reality things many (most?) of us aren't really interested in. I enjoy a ship where I can have at least a nice coffee bar, some alternative bars to go each night, a wonderful atrium full of classical music to rest a little bit when I return from excursions at the end of the day, and so on. Oh, and I enjoy a ship that has a reliable crowd management system as well. On MSC's fleet me thinks that Fantasia class might to be the best on that as well.

It's just a matter of time. They'll follow the market ASAP.

To each his own. There's a place for all. Regarding the photo opportunities me think though that there was a time for that. It isn't really needed anymore. Decent photos for decent photos, I'll take my own ones, even if from a top smartphone. They're good enough for the purpose. True professional photos, I'll make those to stick for weddings and baptisms where they be of value, not for the annual holiday anymore, no matter the price. Lower demand will command for higher prices. That's obvious, of course.

Me too; I prefer the more reserved European way as well. We call it "reserved professionalism". As regarding the passengers, well, that depends on each particular sailing. I've had it all from wonderful sailings to an abusive crowd. That's nothing any cruise line could really control.

3-4 night cruises are a "call" for those unhappy things. Been there, done that, once on an MSC Baltic Sea cruise where part of the passengers were doing a 3 nights "adjustment" cruise before the region change while others like me were doing their usual week long thing, captain had to not only block drinks packages rights to everybody, but to finish early bar service one day due to a severely abusive crowd aboard. I find it better to not go on the details, but there were people from certain nationality whom thought the ship was all to themselves, as if they were the captains. They fortunately weren't. Yes; there are brawls elsewhere, and there are unfortunate individuals everywhere. If that was my first ever cruise, perhaps I wouldn't be here praising this pleasure as my favorite hobby... fortunately it was my 4th or 5th cruise, and here I am... Let us to make those happenings to not deter our cruise enjoyment, and I for me have learnt the lesson: No more cruises on where a 3-4 nights, "booze cruise" is involved in.

I believe YC is out of question, unless it is an inside suite. As far as I know they usually manage those situations as per the experience one booked. You won't certainly be on less than a balcony Aurea which perhaps will be quite similar to the small suites on the older ship. YC inside? Some consider a downgrade, but it is actually an upgrade.

So true; it's going from one of the oldest ships in fleet to one of the newer ones!... I believe it will be a Premium Aurea Suite, or at very least an Aurea balcony cabin, once the OP has an Aurea experience booked.

This, exactly. If Norway is in your bucket list, do it before 2025 or so when they're set to restrict the larger ships there. I've done both, both fantastic at its way.

It all will depend on what you find as "fun". My unique 2 cruise experiences have been RCI and MSC. I'd say MSC as softer than RCI on that department. Some nice shows, activities and bands playing ship wise, but don't count on superb Broadway style productions, ice shows, comedians or aqua shows like on an Oasis class, nor on vibrant contest shows, love and marriage or others on the likes. Bear also in mind 2 things: 1) MSC tends to concentrate all their daily activities on a single place during the day. Weather permitting it will be the pool deck, and those activities will tend to be more visual than speaking oriented due to the language mix. 2) In some newer ship classes, like Meraviglia or Seaside, they tend to be more vibrant than on the older ones.

Ha, ha, so true!... It seems that, at least on that ship, food offerings have in fact improved at least a good notch, to say the least, and at least the MDR breakfast menu has resumed its usual offerings as well! Be welcome to our lovely Lisbon! The big red building that dominates the right part of your 1st Lisbon photo is our central rail station that also hosts a top 5* hotel. Have a nice day!...

As mentioned above; same ship class, Preziosa slightly larger than Fantasia. That will ultimately depend on 2 factors: Whether you want the extra mile to go from Hamburg to Kiel and on which itinerary is better for you in ports of call terms. Yacht club at that region is now quoting at insanely high prices... No surprise! This region is the one where front view from the ship is a real pleasure to have, then selling at a real deserved premium!...

You're welcome! I used to work as an archivist with a market analysts team where many (perhaps most?) of the investment plans we were set to give our financial analysis on were tourism or hospitality related here; and I'm trained on human resources management myself as well. I'm relatively aware of what the "state of the art" on the industry currently is about once I only retired during the pandemic, and I still read some specialty press on the field. Surely all of us would like to see things improving faster than what it is... But; to restart an industry is not like to press a smartphone's button. Even if mainstream cruise lines start today a program to recruit a new pool of specialized kitchen trainees with a 5 years contract block so that they may be relatively safe on their offering strategy and find a way forward to put things in cross speed; one would expect at least such a one and a half years for the first ones to enter service, hoping that nobody of the current ones leave the teams... Considering that there's also a limit to the number of new trainees to enter the program, one would expect that we'll need some 4 to 6 years to have all the ones on office, hence my 2026-28 for all of this ordeal to be solved. MSC's reduced menus? Yes; they are. From the photos I'm watching here in CC they've done a huge "cleaning" on their menus, sadly. Not pretending to be out of topic, MSC has been my favorite cruise line to date, so I'm very knowledgeable of what their product is about. I'm not surprised knowing what is going especially on the 4* European land hotel industry. The 5* one is sort of escaping for now... Living on reduced menus seems to be the new normal for the mainstream industry... MSC will continue with this reduced menu for years. On the NCL boards I read that at least in some ships they're going the same way with a reduced "static" menu on their MDR's... Sooner rather than later all the others will follow suit, including RCI, because I can't see any alternative. No personnel to more variety at this market level, sadly...

Well: Nice review, so far. Have a nice sailing! Hope that at least the check-in process was at least relatively expedited now with the covid documents review. Curious to know in what way have them sort of improved the overall experience. With the current overall tourism industry lack of employees crisis it is difficult to improve whatever else, and MSC is not sadly an exception. Wonderful to know, that at least they're readapting themselves. And just another question: Are they offering any replacement for the departed paid for Cirque du Soleil show? Have a nice sailing!

Surely! One thing that many (most?) forget is that there is no that thing named infinite resources. As you said; there is a plethora of venues competing within the same talent pool, and I'd say a diminishing talent pool. Let's see from where I live: Top Portuguese celebrity chefs are now closing some of their average "mainstream" projects in town, remaining only with their top ones, in favor of opening some top venues in Dubai, Doha, etc. If those KSA projects are set to succeed in a very few years that will eventually to "kill" basically all the 4* level industry hotel level here in Europe, and perhaps even in the US or elsewhere; including the mainstream cruise industry. Why? It is worth to notice that apart the executive chefs and some of their more direct cooperators, pretty much all those kitchen "helpers" earn very low salaries, if any. Before the pandemic it was usual to see tons of young guys and girls hardworking, sometimes with no actual salary for the sake of training opportunities with those celebrity chefs, and then they'd eventually progress to have their smaller projects or working at relatively lower cost on 4* European tourism industry. On top of that; pretty much every Masterchef TV show contestant would appear as well known chef in a few time frame, obviously creating a surplus of "top chefs". All those aforementioned are the ones whom: Are quitting the hospitality industry altogether because they have better ways to enjoy a happy living with less sacrifice; or are flying Dubai, Doha or KSA in search of a new opportunity for their careers. Either way the 4* industry level will need to adapt themselves on living with less talent available. No surprise the best hotel restaurant near where I live (Holly Mother of Fátima Shrine neighborhoods) is now living out of a very reduced menu from what it used to be. No more those 20+ choices a day. Now it is pretty much an executive menu with some 4-5 main options with one daily change. They don't have personnel for more than that. In conclusion: While I want to be the most optimistic possible; I seriously believe that the mainstream cruise line industry will be far from the before the pandemic days by 2024... Maybe; they can go there by 2026-8, but only by the way of locking in some ways their new trainees for a set number of cruise contracts: Say, 5 years? And even then it will be difficult for sure to have. Reduced menus will be the new normal. MSC is doing it. As far as I understand NCL will follow suit. RCI will eventually be the next with Carnival going the same way. Sad... But as I say: There are no infinite talents on our disposal to fill the ships kitchens...

Well: Actually the market has diversified itself. There are now options for pretty much every budget and age or any other social criteria one may think about. Different cruise lines cater for different things. I started my cruising "career" on another line back in 2006 when that trend had just started. Then pretty much all ships would qualify as a true European 5* land hotel. Not anymore. Contemporary, mainstream or megaship like cruise lines had decreased their hotel standards to European 4* hotel standards. Even some of the so called premium lines went down to the European 4*+ hotel standards. Want a higher experience? That is there, but you'd pay for it: Seabourne, Regent, Silversea, soon to be Explora... Those will give you true 5* hotel experience. As I say market has diversified, but even the lower end lines have gone for the better more than not. Ships are now larger, better built, more attractive, ect. One would just need to watch what product satisfies his or her needs.

This exactly in addition to the supply chain problems all of us know. And sometimes worse. People discovered during the pandemic they may have a living out of something "softer" as workflow goes than those hard positions on the tourism industry, while earning the same or even more than on the "hard" positions. I know some former airline pilots whom quit piloting planes in favor or running inter cities trains because that way they can go home after work and enjoy their little kids playing with them. As a Portuguese celebrity chef has said the other day on the TV: "We're reaping what we have sowed years before the pandemic". Now; people will only come if they're valued, especially on the medium to the highest specialized ones, and even to hire lower end employees is becoming difficult cause of the travel requirements and the likes. Interesting times are coming.

Be welcome to our lovely Lisbon! Hope you have a wonderful day here, despite the uncertain weather! To note: The red building that sort of dominates your first photo is Santa Apolónia central rail station. It is one of Lisbon's landmark buildings by itself. It also hosts a top 5* hotel there!...

Good Evening @LauraS! As SirWolf says; MSC has no daily Internet plans currently on the market. Only packages. Do note though: Prices shown by SirWolf were the Internet prices for his sailing, and they may vary greatly. If you purchase onboard a 15% service charge will be added as it is usual on any other onboard purchase. Basic and Stream packages do have the same signal speed, but on basic, you won't be permitted to use streaming sites or apps as well as audio and video communication apps. Bear in mind that, when they say 1 device, that device is the one on where you primarily add your package. You can't move it from your phone to your laptop, for example. Other than that, all ships have a small cyber cafe with a la carte internet usage (don't know the Terms and Conditions) and possibly some printing support at a fee. Hope to have helped a bit.