RudiRatlos

Outside the US there are countries where it is illegal to have any fees, charges or taxes besides the advertised price, so in these countries the service charge is included, which of course leads to a higher advertised price.

That's the american point of view, based on the idea that tips are a significant part (or even the whole) of the service staff's income. This is not how it works in europe, and as MSC is a european cruise line, service staff is payed from a mandatory, fixed service charge (that may or may not be included in the cruise fare) and not from individual tips at guest's discretion. So there actually is a difference between a service charge and a tip: When paying a bill in europe (be it a hotel, restaurant, taxi, cruise, whatever) you generally can assume that you are already paying for the service staff with this bill (in some countries a service charge may be shown seperately on the bill, in other countries it is just included in the total). Unlike tipping in the US, any additional tip here is a bonus that you may or may not give as you like - but you don't have to feel obligated to. btw, the german word for "tip" is "Trinkgeld", which literally means "money to be spent for a drink", and that is what tips actually are considered in europe - just some extra money for the staff (besides the wages).

From a european point of view, service charge and tipping are not really the same thing. A service charge (wether included in or added to the price) is payed as a fee for the received service, an additional tip is given as a reward for good service.

Service Charge is included when booking before, so this is cheaper.

There is no service charge added to the drinks you get with your drink package, no matter if the package was included, prebooked or if you buy the package on board (in the last case, a service charge is added to the price of the drink package). Also, waiters/bartenders do not expect you to tip anyway (but they won't refuse).

Not a web expert at all, just putting two and two together. 😀

I do not think there's a thread necessary for each of these area codes. Because that's what it is - you can see for example "area=NOR" in your internet browser's adress line when searching for northern european cruises on the MSC webpage, so this is nothing else than a website glitch with area codes not being displayed correctly. For example, this is the web adress to a search result for mediterranean cruises from msccruises.de (see "area=MED" in there): https://www.msccruises.de/kreuzfahrt-angebote/kreuzfahrtangebote-familien?departureDateFrom=15%2F02%2F2023&departureDateTo=31%2F10%2F2023&passengers=2|0|0|0&area=MED%2CMEW

I think both of us cruised on her in 2017. You were in YC then, correct? I assume the YC-reservated seats required no additional reservation. Furthermore I remember the reservations not to be strictly enforced - if the theater was not crowded, one could walk in without reservation.

It is on deck 16, easy to miss.

From the beginning afaik, been there 2017. But you, according to your signature, were in YC back then, this may explain.

Reservations for theater are necessary on meraviglia(plus)- and seaside(evo)-class because the theater has a smaller capacity in relation to the ship's total capacity. Therefore also often more than 2 shows per evening.

There´s an "ethnic corner" at the buffet.

Shuttle drops you at Cathedrale Sainte-Marie-Majeur, "wrong" side of vieux port for you. Taxis are waiting just outside the cruise terminal, taking about 15-20 minutes to vieux port.

Afaik the former "El Sombrero" Tex-Mex restaurants on Fantasia class ships have been redesigned to "Butcher's cut" steakhouse.

Have not been on Seaside class yet, but this totally makes sense. In today's shipbuilding the cabins are usually pre-built units that are put in their place as a whole. I don't think they would make some units in a different scheme just for these few sideways inside cabins. PS: found a video of a similar cabin on seaview, showing that the inside cabins don't open to the main corridor.

Not surprising, with an increasing number of refugees trying to leave cuba.

Edit: (actually CC doesn't allow editing a post after some minutes...): Often a ships max. allowed pax capacity is more than double occupancy, but less than total number of berths.

MSC Divina has 1751 cabins = 3502 beds, when sofa beds etc. are not counted...

Seems they have changed the fun pass then since we have used it, so forget about my answer just above MaverickF's

You buy one fun pass per cabin and can use it for all attractions included (depending on what's available on the ship, for example 4D cinema and formula racer). You pay let's say $80 and get an additional credit of $40 on the fun pass (just as an example, I don't know the exact values - it's some years ago that we have used this). Edit: this seems to be outdated, see answers below.

afaik, free massages are not included anymore for some years, but you will be fine with unlimited access to thermal area (=spa). (On some overwiews the perks of each experience are not listed completely, one has to follow a "see all details here" link.)

As the non-YC suites usually come with Aurea experience, there is priority boarding, but not the YC's "white tent". There should be a seperate queue for aurea passengers.

Malpensa - Milan central station: 30 minutes by regional train, Bergamo - Milan central station: 1 hour by bus.

Actually there is a balcony, but it's not accessible because there's only a panoramic window (that cannot be opened) instead of a sliding door.

It's used also on baltic (Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Kiel, Warnemuende) and western european cruises (Hamburg, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Southampton, Lissabon).