8420PR

There is no need for a phone - everything can be done without one. You will still get paper daily planners, menus etc. If you don't use the app on your phone you might need to use one of the big screens to book the theatre shows and ask the concierge to provide a copy of the bill at the end of the cruise - I can't think of any other impact.

Hola Tacos was always some kind of exception, but the drinks packages work perfectly in all other specialty restaurants.

In my experience it is relatively common when booking repositioning cruises a long time in advance (e.g. +9 months). I've had NCL change the dates of a transatlantic and MSC add an extra dayto a repositioning cruise from Brazil to Europe.

MSC has had bad reviews for as long as I have known about them (since 2016). They are cheap (relative to the competition) and you can have a great value for money vacation, with lots of fun and laughs. But, objectively (e.g. crew to passenger ratio, food quality, bar waiting times etc) if you pay more money you could have a better vacation with the competition. Personally I have more time than money, so prefer to take more vacation at a lower price point than less vacation at a higher price point. My husband sometimes (~10% of the time) loves to complain about things, so it is a win-win.

My tip: Eat like an Italian with a 4 course meal (starter, pasta, main, dessert). On my first MSC cruise in 2016 (MSC Divina, out of Miami) the menus were presented the Italian way with 4 courses, but they went to presenting the menu with just 3 courses soon afterwards I assume to avoid confusing people who are not from Italy.

Some data I found: MSC is offering 3,162 cruises to solo passengers, out of a total of 3,390 cruises offered to 2 passengers. Solo passengers: Two passengers:

Yes - just from a numbers point of view, I don't think any other cruise line invests so much $$$ in their loyalty program.

Ordering a drink and a bottle of water (or other non-alcoholic drink) at the same time is no problem.

I would go with the normal balcony cabin - though I think that is still a bit overpriced. It is impossible to justify spending an extra $400 per night on a yacht club balcony cabin.

3rd May from Rome is the first sailing.

Great news! It was posted on another thread that Champagne is an exception to this rule (so you have to pay full price for champagne). I wonder if this happens for those on the easy packet?

I still received emails about the cancelled cruise until the day before departure.... But, it looks like 3rd May from Rome is the first planned cruise on MSC Seaview after drydock. MSC have loaded the new partial cruises typical for the beginning of a new route - eg: - Rome to Barcelona (3 nights) - Rome to Canes (4 nights) All the above are new (this week I think) and bookable on Italian and German websites.

I was booked on MSC Seaside last October, which was cancelled due to the unforeseen dry-dock. My experience was the phone agents were quite unaware, but we got rebooked on an alternative cruise through email back and forth. European terms and conditions tend to allow you to change to another cruise more flexibly than MSC's email offer - I found it helpful to remind them of this. The terms and conditions are in the booking confirmation email (as a pdf), if you want to check what they were when you booked. We rebooked on a cruise that was considerably more expensive than the one we booked (without any extra payment), but without any OBC. Even with a happy ending it still leaves a bad taste how MSC handled it. 15. Cancellation by MSC Cruises 15.1 MSC Cruises reserves the right to cancel any Contract at any time by giving written notice to the Passenger but shall not be liable for additional compensation, if: (i) the cancellation is due to an event of Unavoidable and Extraordinary Circumstances and/or any unusual /or unforeseeable circumstances beyond MSC Cruises’ control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided by MSC Cruises even though it has exercised all due care; (ii) the number of persons enrolled for the Holiday Package is smaller than the 50% of the passenger capacity of the relevant ship. In both cases above, MSC Cruises will offer the Passenger the choice of: a) Receiving a full refund of all money paid; or b) Booking another Contract from the brochure and/or from the Official Website of equivalent or superior quality at no extra cost, if available; or c) Booking another Contract from the brochure and/or from the Official Website of lower quality, if available, with a refund of the difference in price. 15.2 The Passenger’s decision must be notified to MSC Cruises in writing or via their Sales Agent within 7 days of the notice of cancellation or otherwise instructed by MSC Cruises’ communication.

I also miss premium plus. :) But,are you just paying the €1 difference if you order a signature cocktail (like previous cruisers). If yes, that is a huge enhancement!

It's published on the website: https://www.msccruises.co.uk/health-and-safety-measures/grand-voyages-msc-world-cruise I received the information by email on 22nd March (I'm not starting in Brazil through) and wasn't sure if I believed it as the website had conflicting information. Now everything has been updated though. Enjoy your cruise!

I noticed this itinerary as celebrity are offering a quite reasonable price (in European countries). e.g. 10 days from 2nd February for €676 ($730) per person (including gratuity) for an inside cabin.for the sailing from Athens on 2nd February.

What is the "plus one additional offer"?

I would not be worried about future cruises. All that has happened is MSC have put the new bar menus out in some bars on MSC Seascape before the start of the Summer season and the adjustment of the package prices. It is just some of the bars on one ship and for a short period of time. Hopefully all other ships manage to get it right (it's not so difficult)! I feel sorry for surfjock27 and those on the current sailing - they obviously have a valid complaint.

My experience: Last minute "bella inside" bookings get the upgrades. This is because MSC has sold all inside cabins but wants to still offer a low price-point. You can try and identify when this will happen, as for last minute cruises you will see availability for bella inside, bella oceanview, bella balcony and fantastica balcony - in these cases I have booked bella inside and ended up in a balcony (though I would have been happy in an inside cabin).

The limit for the premium extra drink package increases to €14 from the summer, so champagne still included 🙂

Would you mind posting the bar menu? If it is still the winter 2022 bar menu, then MSC is correct that premium only includes up to $15. If the bar menu has changed to the summer 2023 menu, then I would have expected the new premium $16 limit to apply. Hope you are enjoying your cruise nevertheless!

The above is exactly what I can see for my bookings. For a cruise departing on 5th April: Premium Extra is described as all beverages up to $15, and the beverage packages are the old price. For a cruise departing on 19th November: Premium Extra is described as all beverages up to $16, and the beverage packages are the new price.

You can do a status match at any time, but only once per customer. In my opinion, the biggest $$$ benefit is the 5% discount, so maybe matching NCL silver today is better than waiting to get gold. One other method would be to get the Hilton AmEx Aspire credit card for $450 annual fee, which automatically gives Hilton diamond status and use that for the MSC status match (hopefully to Diamon level as reported here). The benefits of Diamond on MSC certainly are not worth the $450 fee though.......

I want to add (but couldn't edit my post): I'm sure the issues with service identified in this thread are real, and I don't want to imply anything about the OP. Just that I've sometimes encountered other passengers on MSC that enjoy finding problems and complaining.

There is something about MSC that attracts people who enjoy having a good moan, either as a way to start conversations and make friends or as a way to feel a bit superior. I think for many it wouldn't be a good holiday without something to complain about. My husband sometimes falls into this category.