sjhanksaz

We got used to the Coke Zero.

Funny thing is that we found Diet Coke in Malta of all places while on the cruise.

He was able to eat with us and once and a while they would just pour him water from our package or slip him a soda.  Once at a specialty dining they told us not to tell anyone they did that......

So we bid on an upgrade to go to a partially obstructed deluxe ocean view balcony and bid the minimum of $75 each and we were granted an upgrade to a suite on the same level with an ocean view. 

My app says my experience is now an Aurea but on my updated e-ticket it sates I am still a Bella but when I scroll down there is a special service page that says Aurea..   I wonder which one I am now???

Will I still get the free choice dining and priority boarding?

Just a quick update.

When we checked in for the cruise on the app we were given the option to change our check in time.  Thought that was good so we can all check in at the same time now.

On 10/9/2023 at 12:27 PM, Preziosa said:

They serve Coca cola and Coca Cola zero in cans.

Thanks

You should meet my brother who is also coming and hear him talk about Pepsi.   That is all he drank in high school but now you would think it was poison the way he talks about it.

Hey Cruise Critic Folks

Does MSC World Europa have Diet Coke on it?

Not a Pepsi fan at all.

When in Europe I do switch to Coke Zero.

7 hours ago, maehara said:

For the actual menus for your cruise: once on board you’ll get them 1-2 days in advance on the app. No advance versions. 

Thanks

I was looking around and could not find out much information on this.

are you going to post any more menus?

These are helpful

Does MSC pre-post main dining menus to their app before the cruise or during the cruise?

We are trying to figure out a night to do a specialty dining option but kind of wanted to see the menus before we chose which night.

22 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Certainly they will not do this, but also certainly the rep on the phone cannot tell you anything but the official rules. 

It's probably a "rule" to scare you into thinking that you need to purchase the drink package for your family member so they can make some more money.

Good to hear.  We are traveling with a party of 7 and my dad got a single cabin room and didn't order the drink package.  The rest of us don't drink alcohol except for some soda drinkers but we got the drinks with a cyber Monday sale.

It would suck if our 80 year old dad had to sit in a different table because of this.

The saga continues.    
 

MSC told my sister who called about the dining time that my dad who didn’t purchase the drink package he may not be able to sit with us.  
 

none of us drink alcohol but it came with our back Friday sale. 
 

so will they really make our 80 year old father sit at a different table?

8 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

Just to set expectations, consider your request as being noted, but don't think of it as approved until you see it on your ship card when you board.

 

Not ideal I know, but just trying to manage expectations, so be prepared to follow the instructions above if you are not all assigned what you need when you get there...

Thanks that is why I said "approved for now"  I am learning!!!

13 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

That's the problem, you didn't 'reserve' it, you requested it, and below Aurea that is as good as it gets.

 

I know it can be a lot to take on when you are not familiar with the way a cruise line works, but with MSC it is never wise to mix experiences between cabins in a group traveling together and especially if it is a larger group it may not be so easy to get exactly what you want in terms of sitting...

I am learning that.  I got one brother with all the money in the world and a sister who likes to go bear bones.  I am in the middle along with my dad on the money we will spend.  This family dynanic is making it really fun.

On a positive note I did call today and the MSC rep changed my dining to the earlier with no problems.  So the request is in and approved for now.

4 hours ago, Mark_T said:

It can't hurt, but if there is a medical need to eat early then it was very unwise to book an experience that doesn't offer that certainty...

 

Be prepared to accept that they may be able to accommodate you and your wife at an early sitting but not the entire party...

 

If they can accommodate you all that would be great, but it is not something you are all entitled to insist on, so flexibility is going to be key to enjoy what you have paid for.

We reserved the early dinning and I have it in an email from MSC.  The issue is they decided to change us to the late without telling us.  I found out when I saw it when I downloaded their APP and brought up my booking.

Even though I have it in a previous email MSC said they can just change our dining time at will because of our low experience.  I didn't know they could or would do that.

And to top it all off they changed it after we made our final payment

On 9/2/2023 at 5:08 PM, shipgeeks said:

I just came across this thread, eventually realized it started a number of months ago, and that individual issues may have been resolved by now.  However, I do have some observations that could be relevant to someone now or in the days to come.

First, most or all lines have some sort of "class" system, with different privileges, possibly different dining rooms, etc., and restrictions on who can use those areas.  Perhaps MSC's is not so obvious; the levels are called "experiences" rather than first class, spa level, etc.  

If booking a Bella or Fantastica cabin, you will most likely be asked to choose early or late dining time. But, depending on the ship and itinerary, there are times within that.  Early could mean 5/5:30, or 7:30; it would not be assigned until boarding.  Late might be more like 9:30.  If the assigned time is not suitable, one can go to the dining room, or other stated venue, and request a change.  Nothing is guaranteed; it certainly depends on availability, but one can ask (politely, of course).

 

Thanks -- Do you think a note from the Doctor would help for us to have when we talk with them?

On 9/3/2023 at 10:12 PM, perakcruiser said:

But it is the truth. The other option would be that they lie to you "yes, yes, all fixed the way you want" and then you realize on the ship that certainly it is not. At the beginning of my MSC "career" I also dealt with the hotline about the dinner times, was pretty useless On board it is easily solved at the restaurant. 

 

Sounds like you are pretty sure they will accommodate the earlier dining time after we board.  Is there another route to take to try and fix this prior to the sailing?

5 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I am not sure how it works for European cruises, but for cruises out of the US, MSC does not enforce the embarkation times listed on your tickets, so I don't think that will actually be a problem for you. Also, even post-COVID when I sailed multiple cruise lines that WERE very strict about embarkation times on tickets, they would let everyone in the party board together, even if they were in different rooms with different boarding times as long as at least one stateroom in the party had that boarding time.

Thanks!!

So this our MSC experience has not been so great.

We all decided to do early dining and I called and we had that updated and got and email confirming it.

I found after getting the MSC APP that our dinner time was not on there so I called MSC and they said our dining was changed to the late option.  I said we can't do that medically for some things my wife deals with after eating.  The best they could do for us is tell us to talk to the crew when we got on the ship.  They said that there was no way to change us in the system.

Just found this answer really hard to take and that they changed us after confirming us on an early dining.

I sure hope they can change us when we get on the ship or we will have to eat at the buffet every night.

We have 4 rooms for 7 people.  We all have different check in times that are spread apart over three hours.  So we are getting a van to take us to the port from Rome and MSC will not change us all to a similar time.  I called and they said if they are not busy you may get in early but be prepared to not.  So I guess I will just sit out and look at the ship for three hours while tending my luggage.

3 hours ago, Mark_T said:

Ask again once you are onboard...

Will do 

Thanks

So I called and they said there were only two dinning times available to us 

5:50 or 7:45

Guess its early dining for us

4 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

OP, What Experience are you booked on?  That could affect your dining time.

I am on the basic entry experience

The ship is the World Europa

19 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

It is still possible they are running 3 sittings, but the late one may be 'full' already...

 

... or they are just showing those two options and will adjust later...

 

You can still go to the Maître 'd onboard and see if you can switch to the late sitting if you don't like what you end up with once you board...

We don't really want to eat at 7:45 either.  That was the only other eating time he mentioned.  Was really hoping that they were off and 7:00 is still the first/early dining

Trying to figure this out.  I found info from 2018 (See attached) that stated that dining for Mediterranean Cruises early started at 7:00 PM and late seating was 9:30 PM

I recently called to set up our dining time for our cruise in November 2023 and was told I could chose from either 5:30 PM or 7:45 PM dining times.   When I asked about how I thought they were later the man just told me that is all he sees to chose from.

Does anyone know if they eat that early?   That would mean I would have to rush back to the ship early most days to eat in the dining room.......  Not really OK with this.

I know some Royal ships with Johnny Rockets on them have a free breakfast you can get. 

Is Adventure of the Seas one of them?