MrMike45

The pay for an upgrade up front.  Don't be mad at something that has been this way for years.  And as someone who admittedly "is not an early boarder" would probably only be more pissed if the answer was yes, there are upgrades but you got there too late.  

Of course then it would be NCL's fault for not somehow making it fair regardless what time you boarded. 

1 minute ago, marktwothousand said:

That’s fine then, if they want empty cabins and don’t wanna take money that I’m basically offering that they wouldn’t otherwise have...their loss. Thx 

Funny how you started off asking if there ever were paid upgrades available as you have never seen it...was told no there's not....and now you seem pissed at the cruise line for not offering them to you.  Odd how some people think 

Wow, after being on 16 NCL cruises in a row, followed by the last 2 on MSC, my take would be the complete opposite of yours.  NCL is great for what it is...but MSC is like a step up in class in my opinion.  Nonetheless, thank you for the review 

12 hours ago, CarolnLarry said:

Mr Mike45 can you give me the info on your casino rep as I have been trying to get hold of someone in MSC casino and have gotten no results, Thanks in advance.

I emailed 2 people.  Elaine was the one who answered on this, but Diego is who I have worked with to make reservations so I believe both are responsive

Diego.Perez@msccruisesusa.com

elaine.planas@msccruisesusa.com 

37 minutes ago, Até said:

In your screenshots did you enter in more than two passengers?  I noticed that only cabins that held three or more showed up as an option and all the two passenger cabins show not available.  If so, then it looks like MSC is intentionally keeping those square ones out of inventory until the other cabins that hold 3/4 sell first, strange.

I did try with 4 passengers, and the square rooms are still unavailable.  This is one of the few MSC cruises that leave from NY, so could be a case of those rooms being sold already due to high demand.  

Thanks again all, much appreciated! 

25 minutes ago, Shippy said:

  Yes, the YC3 are considered the Royal Suites on both ships.

Unless they have changed...we had the YC2 on the Divina several times and it was indeed a YC suite.

On the Seaside those rooms are not listed as YC but aurea.

For us...really old   :O)   the Yacht Club is the only way to go, but if it is space you want, take the aurea suite if on the Seaside.

If on the Divina just take any YC cabin you can get. All drinks are free and you will LOVE the private pool & buffet area,

  We play in the casino. Not big time but the slots. They have the most generous casino club at sea. You only need play about 2 or 3 days & they give you a coupon for 30% off you next cruise. And unbelievably you can use your own agent to get extra perks.

That is how we were able to get the YC3 last year. Unbelievable. They started adding some sneaky perks not yet advertised as I think they are trying to out do the Haven on Norwegian. We found out that in 2021 they are going to DOUBLE the price of the YC3. So, while onboard last year, along with the people in the other YC3, we searched for availability this year. Found a date, emailed my internet agent who through in gratuities and a generous on board credit. We then went down to the cruise agent onboard to try and get the 30% discount applied . Because we came to her, she did some stuff on the computer and gave us another $200. OBC ! Timing is everything...I was also informed that when the YC3 rates are hiked...they will not let discounts apply !

Needless to say...I cannot wait. It is over the top and at the new rates I am sure we will never be able to get that cabin again. We will be relegated to the yc1.

 

 

Thank you @Shippy.  Going to go with a YC Deluxe Suite.  The extra space would be nice, but the point of this splurge cruise is to treat my wife after putting up with me for 10 years.  We've been on 17 NCL cruise and 1 MSC, all balcony rooms, never Haven or Yacht Club.  So think having a butler, concierge, private pool/restaurant, etc is the way to go.  

3 minutes ago, Shippy said:

The Divina has YC2 and YC3 cabins. We have done both. You should YouTube.com them. They are incredibly large with 2 separate rooms. Giant living room. I think they had 2 sofas plus stuffed chairs. Bedroom also very large and closes off with solid doors.

Full closet when you enter the cabin and large walk-in off the bedroom.

   The downside...I think the YC 2 just had floor to ceiling widows which were fantastic but no balcony and was not on the same floor as the rest of the Yacht Club.

The YC3 has a balcony but it is awful. Very narrow and because it is located on the front of the ship, extremely windy. Location is very good.

  We took these cabins because I loved having the 2 separate rooms.

We now love the YC3 on the Seaside. Same gigantic size but biggest balcony I have ever seen. You even have your own hot tub.

There are no YC2 on the Seaside. I think those cabins are classified as Aria suites with no YC access.

No matter which ship....there are very few of these cabins. Luckily for us, we just search until we find one available and then are able to adjust our schedule around it.

 

 

 

Would those YC2 or YC3 be the Family Suite or Royal Suite cabin selections?  If so, those are more than double what the Deluxe Suite would be for this particular cruise and a little out of my price range.  

I do see a Suite w/ Balcony or a Suite with Panoramic Sealed Windows, but when I select those cabin types, only the Aurea experience is able to be selected, not Yacht Club.   

The separate room sounds appealing, but it that worth not being in the Yacht Club and only being Aurea?  I thought YC was the way to go? 

48 minutes ago, Até said:

The four squarer cabins on each deck closer to the aft (not the most aft two on deck 15) are considered a better layout.  You will find MSC holds those cabins back unless you have three of four guests, they usually release them to two person bookings a month or so before sailing.

So based off that, all 8 of the square rooms look to either be sold (or held back).  So no real difference in any of the ones available I'm guessing?  And thank you btw 

For our 10th anniversary, I am surprising my wife with our first Yacht Club cruise on the Divina next year.  

Are there any "better" or "bigger" Deluxe Suite cabins in the Yacht Club that I should see if are available?  The room chart and description when booking makes every room seem the same.  However on NCL (which we have mostly cruised) there are always a few hidden secrets of some rooms over others (i.e. bed placement, angled larger balcony, room design on a hump so it is a little bigger, etc.) 

Thanks 

Quick update, reached out to our MSC Casino representative who we used in our booking/discount.  He advised that MSC does not issue either W2 forms on hand pays or Official Win-Loss statements.  However, if requested (which I did) they will give you a summary of all your play from the previous year on MSC letter head.  I haven't rec'd it yet, so don't know what makes that "unofficial" versus a Win-Loss statement from NCL or a land based casino, but it is essentially what we need for tax purposes 

31 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Try calling corporate HQ.  They do not issue 1099’s so it might be more difficult to get a P&L.  

So if you win over $2000 on a MSC ship you don't get a W2 form on a hand pay? (unfortunately didn't have a chance to find out first hand lol).  If they issue W2s, they should issue Win-Loss statements.  If not, then you're right, probably won't happen 

Anyone? 

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction on their website.  We took our first MSC cruise in 2019.  And for tax purposes, will need a win loss statement from casino play.  

NCL, and most land based casinos, there is a link on their website with a simple form to fill out.  I was unable to find anything (including doing a search) on MSC's website.  

Does anyone have a link they can share?  Or if not, is there an email address I can contact?  

Many thanks, Mike 

While the sheer number of people who have died from the flu this year staggers those who have died from the coronavirus...that isn't an accurate view of things.

FLU

Estimated 19,000,000 people have contracted the flu this year with 10,000 of those people dying.  Or 0.05%

CORONAVIRUS

Last check, 28,018 confirmed cases this month with 563 deaths.  Or 2.0%

Yes 10,000 is a tremendously larger number than 563.  But 2% vs 0.05% is equally as tremendous.  And we're talking 1 month of the Coronavirus vs 1 year of the flu.  Who knows what the numbers will be if the Coronavirus lasts for 12 months 

2 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

 

It would be so much better if people posted the actual facts.

 

NCL has cancelled all ASIA itineraries on the Spirit through 2020.  No doubt they will simply move the ship to another part of the world and book new passengers.  They will not leave cabins empty or  lose "10 months worth if cruises."

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22418-norwegian-cancels-spirit-s-2020-asia-program.html

It would be so much better if people read fully before commenting. 

I posted the actual email from NCL and clarified my initial post about 30 mins after that the Spirit is currently in dry dock and was scheduled to be in Asia starting in April.  

And of course they are re-positioning this ship to another place.  They aren't going to leave a ship on the docks doing nothing.  However that has nothing to do with the fact that the thousands of reservations currently made on the Spirit between the time frame of April thru December are indeed CANCELLED and REFUNDED.  In addition to refunding that money, they are giving all those passengers a discount on future cruises PLUS refunding them up to $300 per person to change flight plans.  Costing NCL money, despite wherever they re-position the Spirit for that time frame.  

8 minutes ago, GrannyGear said:

With all due respect, my concern has been heightened today due to the Antham of the Seas situation in NJ. It appears that the outbreak is not limited to China and Asia. 

I live here in NY and all 19 of our cruises have departed from NY.  It is my understanding that they suspected possible virus in 27 people.  23 of which were cleared.  The other 4 have been taken to a local hospital in NJ but they do not believe that they have the virus.  BUT all 27 people were Chinese nationals who traveled to China in the last few weeks and were able to not only board the ship but fly into America.  Assuming they tighten up their screening process at both the airlines and cruise ports (which truthfully might be tough), you're probably ok to sail to Caribbean 

3 minutes ago, Liviucostin said:

She is not currently in Asia. She is in a drydock in Marseille and was supposed to sail to Dubai, then Cape Town and then to Singapore and rest of Asia 

You are correct about the drydock, apologies...however, there were 9 months worth of sailings when it got back in rotation in Asia that were cancelled.  Currently the Jade is sailing in Asia.  And per another post, when you try to do a new booking on NCL's website for any cruise between now and April (when the Jade leaves Asia and the Spirit was scheduled to dock there), you get an error message saying that it is unavailable.  So I think it's a fair assumption is that the next few months of cruises on the Jade will be cancelled as well.  

Again, all I'm really doing is reading the NCL board and posting info here.  I am not booked on any of these cruises so no inside or first hand knowledge

1 minute ago, CruisingFox27 said:

CC has been full of desperate posters wanting cruises to be canceled and saying they've called to ask if they can, perhaps NCL have just decided to appease their passengers and cancel all sailings rather than sail half full. They can the redeploy those ships and lose less money.

Agreed...although CC is like what, 5% of the passengers on a given cruise?  But in general, if I had a trip currently planned to anywhere in Asia, I would be very apprehensive and nervous.  Cancelling now, for a huge block of time, takes that away.  And maybe (?) psychologically, NCL is hoping those passengers feel a sense of relief and book another cruise with NCL feeling like they relieved some stress.    

Haven't been to Ocean Cay w/ MSC.  But NCL has their own island, and in speaking from experience (and years of sailing with NCL and reading posts on that board)...seems like a 50/50 shot of making the island or skipping it.  Mostly due to it being a tender port vs. a dock.  

11 minutes ago, renatops said:

 

Thanks for sharing it.

 

I can understand a temporary cancelation, as we know all the troubles Westerdam is having to find a port of call, for example, and the Diamond Princess quarantine.

 

But it just surprises me the 11 month decision when we have so many unkowns.

My assumption (and totally just my opinion)...they don't think this epidemic is ending any time soon, and rather than have people cancel on their own, they got the jump on it and did it for them.  IMO, if I was booked on one of these cruises, I would be relieved that NCL did this.  The stress of deciding do we or don't we go.  Yes, it's disappointing a planned vacation is cancelled.  But knowing that far out, can always plan something else.  

My feeling is that other cruise lines are going to follow NCL's lead and will be doing something similar.  Especially if there are more reports of ships and possible contamination/quarantines.  

9 minutes ago, renatops said:

Till Dec? On what basis? This is a big unknown to take such decision.

Would you happen to have the link for the site? I am curious to understand more of its details.

Don't know if it's on their site.  But from the NCL section of Cruise Critic, anyone with a cruise booked on the Spirit rec'd this email a little while ago

NCL just posted that all sailings on the Spirit (which is currently in China/Singapore/Hong Kong) have been cancelled thru December 2020.  Cancelling 10 months worth of cruises (and refunding all those passengers) plus giving them all a credit for a future booking is likely costing them millions of dollars.  Which they would not do at a whim.  So leads me to believe that the cruise lines fear this might be a long ongoing issue.  

Was on the Meraviglia in October.  First off, Casino is SMALL if you compare it to NCL Casinos (only other line we've cruised).  But their comp program is awesome.  First time cruising with MSC and earned enough points to get 40% of our next cruise.  Honestly, I don't remember if it was 3000 or 5000 pts, but it wasn't much.  I think I earned it by like Day 5 or 6 of a 10 day cruise.

Casino is literally divided in 2 parts.  One side is smoking and all slot machines.  Decent selection of newer machines.  But the layout of the casino is absolutely terrible with everyone on top of each other and bumping into each other.  

Other side is non-smoking.  Slots along the wall.  Another decent selection.  

Tables between the wall of non-smoking slots and walkway with center bar.  This is where MSC fails miserably.  I believe there are a total of 12 tables.  There were 2 roulette tables and 2 baccarat.  The other 8 are 6 black jack, 1 3 card poker, 1 ultimate texas holdem.  The black jack tables never had more than 3 people at any table.  The 3 card and UTH tables were packed with people waiting behind them to get on.  No Let it Ride.  

Over 10 days obviously got friendly with the pit bosses and dealers.  And they explained that this ship was built for a European clientele.  They all like BJ and Roulette and Baccarat over there.  There was talks of taking away 2 BJ tables for a Let it Ride and another 3 card when they went to Miami, but they didn't know if that was going to happen.  

Overall, its a decent casino if you catch it at the right time.  At times, too packed to be enjoyable.  And if your a tables player, like I am, a little disappointing if you have to stand around and wait 30 minutes before getting a seat.  But the comps are great.  

Sorry all for any part my response played in having the thread temporarily locked.  Glad the posts were removed and thread re-opened.