drsel

5 hours ago, BVILady said:

I have to disagree with you on that. In July, the busiest month of the year in the Med we got 3 single Inside cabins for 1 week (Croatia/Greece/Adriatic Coast) including everything, premium drink-package, WiFi for all our devices and service charge for about $ 1000 each. Still prefer Costa food, was shocked at the MSC buffet with all the burgers and hotdogs offered, not the kind of food I am looking for on vacation. And the cream deserts you are complaining about on Costa were all I remember seeing on MSC buffet. We tipped well so had good service, so no complains about the staff at all but don't think I will sail MSC again.

Well I am getting Costa last minute Dubai and Abu Dhabi Cruises for just 152 pounds, including all port fees and taxes, excluding service charges.

Costa Transatlantic cruises to South America were also very cheap, around 30 pounds per night

Costa Cruises are worth buying up to 40 pounds per night

One thing in which Costa beats MSC hands down is last minute prices.

As the sailing day approaches, often you get amazingly low fares on Costa, as they try to sell off the last few cabins. No such luck with MSC!

I was just wondering whether or not to choose the Easy Plus package for MSC Cruises in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics  from 17th May to 18 June 2023, considering how cold it will be.

As you well know, in the MSC Easy Plus package, the best drinks are the frozen cocktails, and even the other cocktails have got plenty of ice . Without ice, they would not taste as good.

So considering how cold it will be in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics from 17 May to 18 June, I expect that we will be mostly having hot coffee and hot water.

Hot water is freely available in all the bars and hot coffee is also free in the Buffet.

Hence I thought that it does not make sense to pay for the alcohol & WiFi package, even though it is economical, because we will not feel like having any cold drinks or frozen cocktails.

What is the majority opinion?

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

Is it more necessary to drink alcohol if the weather is cold?

I don't understand the relationship between outdoor temperature and alcohol package.

Let me explain .

In the MSC Easy Plus package, the best drinks are the frozen cocktails and even the other cocktails have got plenty of ice .

without ice, they would not taste as good.

So considering cold it will be in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics from 17 May to 18 June,  I expect that we will be mostly having hot coffee and hot water.

Hot water is freely available in all the bars and hot coffee is also free in the Buffet.

Hence I thought that it does not make sense to pay for the alcohol package., which also includes free Wi-Fi by the way.

Considering how cold it will be in the fjords and the Baltics between 17 May and 18 June 2023, does it make sense to take the alcohol package?

9 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

While; on one hand, price commands the crowd; on the other hand, from time to time, Costa is known to host some naturalist specialty full charter cruises where, other than for shore excursions and women on their menstrual period, all guests are supposed to be "as they are" in public areas inside ship. My best bet is that you might have had one of those cruises near you. I feel sad for the crews involved, of course, but things are what they are.

At these nude Cruises, the passengers are allowed to be nude at the pool side, but not in the main dining room, nor at the shows.

I am not sure what the rules are for the lounge bars.

These nude Cruises are also highly overpriced.

9 minutes ago, mawvkysc said:

Good idea, but how do they make  the mixer less weak?MyMoscow Mule was made with watery ginger ale not ginger beer). The sour mix for my margarita very watered down. My frozen Toblerone  literally tasted like icy milk. It wasn’t sweet at all. 

  I’m a budget cruiser so I don’t eat in specialty. Can you walk in and order from there with the drink package?

At first it came with a lemon. I had to ask for a lime. 

So tell him to make it with a double or triple peg of alcohol and tell him to reduce (or remove) the ice and reduce the sparkling water.

and yes you can order drinks in the Specialty restaurants without a reservation, and without paying anything for the food.

Just walk into any specialty restaurant which is always empty, and order as many free drinks  as you want, after telling the bartender the above instructions

22 hours ago, mawvkysc said:

One way they do it is that (in my experience) the drinks are very weak, the mixers are even weak, there are not many servers so you have to wait in line at the bar, 

You just need to tell them to add one or two more pegs of alcohol.

You won't have to wait at the bars at the specialty restaurants.

2 hours ago, bafinegan said:

I want to upgrade from Easy Plus to Premier drink package but am not seeing the upgrade option ( yea I like the higher priced wine 😏).  It wasn't an option when I booked and when I call, I am told it's not available.  I know I can upgrade once onboard, but I like having everything paid for ahead of time...

Ask your Travel agent to do it for you. They know whom to contact in every cruise line.

They will also benefit from higher commission for the upgrade to the Premium Euro 13 drinks package.

If you upgrade onboard, it will cost much more & the commission will be given to the crew member selling you the upgrade, not your TA

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We once docked along side a Costa ship. Can’t remember which one but it was significantly smaller than the one we were on and we had a nice view of their private sun deck area. Had a hot tub and several loungers…and nude sunbathers. 🤦‍♀️

That reminds me-- on Costa neoRiviera when I went into the Chamomile steam room there was a topless women sitting opposite me 🤪

But recently on Costa Firenze, there was a fully naked man in the sauna.

Of course Costa is not responsible for this.

It could have been on any Cruise ship.

On 7/26/2021 at 12:00 AM, drsel said:

In simple and short terms, MSC is a four star cruise, while Costa is a 3 star budget Cruise.

 

MSC has 6 grand shows on a typical 7 night Cruise, while Costa has only 4 Grand shows.

 

The MSC buffet is open for 20 hours a day while the Costa buffet is open for 7-8 hours a day.

 

Costa is very very Italian,  while MSC is more multinational.

 

With MSC, you usually get the best prices when The Cruise is first announced in the beginning,  and the prices gradually go up with time.

Costa is the reverse, the prices fall with time and four to six weeks prior to sailing they are usually the lowest.

 

MSC offers a status match, while Costa does not.

In fact no cruise line offers such a status match.

 

MSC offers up to 50% discount on the basic fare for healthcare workers with hard copy proof.

No other cruise line offers this and certainly not Costa

 

Costa has some excellent bargains for Cruises coming up later this year 2021, while MSC prices for 2021 Cruises have already gone up significantly.

 

There are plenty more differences and I could go on and on, but this should suffice

On 7/25/2021 at 11:52 PM, drsel said:

 

Just came back from 2 MSC and one Costa cruise and the differences are really glaring.

Costa refused to serve free ice cream even once during 7 lunches and 7 dinners while MSC had free ice cream every night.

Costa desserts are full of fatty cream.

All desserts and pastries were very ordinary with nearly 70% cream, certainly not befitting a cruise; whereas MSC desserts are much better.

When I asked the Costa chef why he could not make Tiramisu or Dark chocolate Dutch truffle, he said he had to follow instructions from the head office to make only basic desserts full of cream.

In Costa, All games and activities are organised in Italian and you need to request them to speak in English.

Whereas on MSC, they will first speak in English and then Italian, Spanish, French, German.

So English appears to be the first language on MSC.

MSC now has 7 different shows, one for each night of the cruise and each show is shown 3 times, making a total of 21 shows in 7 nights.

Costa has only 4 shows and each show is shown only twice making a total of 8 shows in 7 nights

In both the crew work very hard, the bartenders are always busy and there is a lot of partying and dancing every night.

On 7/25/2021 at 11:52 PM, drsel said:

In simple and short terms, MSC is a four star cruise, while Costa is a 3 star budget Cruise.

 

MSC has 6 grand shows on a typical 7 night Cruise, while Costa has only 4 Grand shows.

 

The MSC buffet is open for 20 hours a day while the Costa buffet is open for 7-8 hours a day.

 

Costa is very very Italian,  while MSC is more multinational.

 

With MSC, you usually get the best prices when The Cruise is first announced in the beginning,  and the prices gradually go up with time.

Costa is the reverse, the prices fall with time and four to six weeks prior to sailing they are usually the lowest.

 

MSC offers a status match, while Costa does not.

In fact no cruise line offers such a status match.

 

MSC offers up to 50% discount on the basic fare for healthcare workers with hard copy proof.

No other cruise line offers this and certainly not Costa

 

Costa has some excellent bargains for Cruises coming up later this year 2021, while MSC prices for 2021 Cruises have already gone up significantly.

 

There are plenty more differences and I could go on and on, but this should suffice

Just came back from 2 MSC and one Costa cruise and the differences are really glaring.

Costa refused to serve free ice cream even once during 7 lunches and 7 dinners while MSC had free ice cream every night.

Costa desserts are full of fatty cream.

All desserts and pastries were very ordinary with nearly 70% cream, certainly not befitting a cruise; whereas MSC desserts are much better.

When I asked the Costa chef why he could not make Tiramisu or Dark chocolate Dutch truffle, he said he had to follow instructions from the head office to make only basic desserts full of cream.

In Costa, All games and activities are organised in Italian and you need to request them to speak in English.

Whereas on MSC, they will first speak in English and then Italian, Spanish, French, German.

So English appears to be the first language on MSC.

MSC now has 7 different shows, one for each night of the cruise and each show is shown 3 times, making a total of 21 shows in 7 nights.

Costa has only 4 shows and each show is shown only twice making a total of 8 shows in 7 nights

In both the crew work very hard, the bartenders are always busy and there is a lot of partying and dancing every night.

On 7/26/2021 at 12:00 AM, drsel said:

Please read my latest addendum below 👇 in conjunction with the original comparison

Please read my latest addendum alongwith my post number 5.👇

8 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

If I were to buy the Easy Plus Package (I have it with my cruise but when I go to manage cruise area) it states it is $51 pp per day. Not seeing $13pp per day. Where do you find that?

Only select MSC cruises have this offer and only at the time of booking your Cruise, not afterwards

Note that all MSC Cruises may not have this offer

5 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

We've sailed MSC twice and paid that much for the 7 night cruise.  I don't know how they do it.  No daily limits either.  Plus that includes wifi which is such a deal.

This is exactly why I said I wonder how some cruise lines get people to pay more than $30 per person per day and even $80 per person per day! quite shocking!

6 hours ago, Lugger11 said:

What cruise line sells their drink packages for that low??? Halloween 2022 RCCL symphony of the seas was over $80 pppd (if you booked early) so almost $600 pp for 7 night cruise.

MSC is selling their Easy Plus drink package at $13 pppd or $90 per person for a 7 night cruise.

So obviously $ 600 PP for a 7 night cruise is a rip off!

12 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Good. I have found that with the Easy Plus package for us there is no need to upgrade to Premium unless you want top shelf or drink martini's. We like frozen cocktails, beers, mixed drinks, coffees and find that the Easy Plus is great for those.

Yes not only is the easy plus package great and more than adequate, it is also super economical and excellent value for money!

because right now I am getting easy Plus and unlimited Wi-Fi for just $87.50 per person on a seven night Cruise.

I just wonder how other Cruise lines manage to sell their drinks package for $30-- $40 per person per night or more than $250 per person on a typical 7 night Cruise

Recently on MSC, course I tried to book a future Cruise using a debit card with zero forex fees.

the future Cruise consultant tried her best,  but my debit card was not accepted by the system;  although there was nothing wrong with the card or my bank account.

I had to use only a credit card to book the future Cruise while on board.

Do you know why debit cards are not accepted for booking a future Cruise while on board?

The easy plus package is cheapest when bought along with your cruise. (All in fare).

For bookings made during covid, the All in fare was only $99 more per person for a 7 night Med cruise & included the easy plus package + unlimited WiFi.

Only $14 per person per day for unlimited Wi-Fi and unlimited drinks upto €8

Absolutely incredible!

Needless to say, almost everyone had the easy plus package so the bars were very crowded and you had to wait a long time to get your drink.

But the only bar with no crowd was at L'Atelier Bistro, the French specialty restaurant on deck 6. This restaurant & bar were practically empty throughout the cruise

Another piece of advice is to stick to cocktails with the same alcohol for the entire day. (to maximize your Easy Plus package without getting drunk).

Like vodka based cocktails on day one, white rum based cocktails on day two, tequila based cocktails on day 3, dark rum based cocktails on day 4, Spritz cocktails on day 5, etc

Of the Frozen cocktails, first try ultimate pina colada and then BBC, (which is a better version of ultimate pina colada)

You should also try Rock Lobster and the combination of pina colada and strawberry daiquiri.

But I didn't like the Frozen cocktail with mango rum

Of the six spritz available in Easy Plus, the best is Hugo spritz, but ask the bartender to put less elderflower syrup and more sparkling water (and/or alcohol)

9 minutes ago, Geeynots said:

Thanks so much for that. I’ll be sure to try those drinks. We’re many beer excluded from the plus package? Seems like a number may be. 

We had bottled Heineken, Budweiser and Desperados (beer with a dash of tequila).

But post 236 has all the details.

The bottled beer is better than the draft beer.

Surprisingly most people did not realize this and were happy to accept draft beer in a glass

Just got off Seaview and Grandiosa in the Mediterranean and all frozen drinks are included in the Easy Plus package (all frozen cocktails are 8 Euros, not 9).

The best Frozen cocktails were BBC and Rock Lobster.

You can also request the bartender to reduce the amount of juice and increase the amount of alcohol in the Frozen cocktail (no charge). If required, you can even have it without ice.

The premium cocktails €9--13 are not included in Easy Plus