CruisingFox27

We were booked on a cruise from Dubai but due to severe weather our flight was cancelled. We flew 2 days later and embarked in Abu Dhabi. I called MSC and obviously was able to provide proof of the situation and it wasn't an issue. 

So if there are extenuating circumstances, it's possible. 

2 hours ago, Captain-John said:

Glad to hear it! 

 

Hope you have had and continue to have a fantastic cruise. 20+ days in the YC sounds fantastic, especially as we are sitting in the airport waiting on our flight home after only a week. 🙂

 

 

It's been excellent although our itinerary was quite disrupted due to the Middle East situation,  our stops in Egypt and Jordan were pulled. We've had a lot of sea days so, very grateful for the YC! Another 7 days to go to South Africa. 

Thoroughly enjoyed your review, but disembarkation is always a sad day. Safe trip home.

20 hours ago, Captain-John said:

 

I personally dislike a butler escort to anything but on MSC they are rather insistent. On Divina the restaurant is not located within the YC complex and the butlers ask about your dining plans and then turn up to escort you, each evening. 

 

We had this on Preziosa and despite several attempts to decline the service, our butler said 'Let me do my job' and we had to actively avoid him and just head out for dinner ourselves. In my opinion the butler should pick up on whether a guest wants this level of interaction or not. May have changed since as this was a few years ago but just for your awareness. I'd say early on if you want to decline the escorts. 

 

On World Europa they insist on taking you to La Brasserie and anything else they know you have reserved (they insist on reservations for La Brasserie). We just went with it this time. As the main restaurant is within the complex there is no nightly escort thankfully. 

We're currently on Splendida, which has the same aft YC restaurant lay out. We explained that this wasn't our first cruise on this ship or class of ship and we didnt require the escorts. Fortunately,  no one insisted. I don't believe that they were escorting anyone after the first few nights.

We haven't been to the theatre so I'm not sure if they're doing the escort there.

We're on day 20 of our sailing so hopefully people know where to go by now 😉

17 hours ago, Bgwest said:

That’s a yes for the walls.

Anyone want to weigh in on the ceilings?

We used magnets on the ceiling of Seaside. 

Currently on Splendida, one part of the wall they don't work. All of the others are the ceiling is fine. 

Our previous cruise only had 2 dining times, 6.30pm and 9pm. 

20 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I would say it is following local custom.  In US restaurants we get tap water.  In European restaurants we don't; if we want water we have to purchase a bottle.

In the UK tap water would be available in restaurants without charge. 

We boarded Splendida on Saturday, we watched the safety video in our cabin and then reported to the muster station to have our card scanned. 

I can't help specifically with that ship but, we've twice sailed on her sister ship Orchestra and more recently on the older Lirica. Both had wifi in the cabins. It's obviously not as fast as your super fast at home but we didn't have any significant issues with it. Poesia was only refurbished in 2021, so I'd be surprised if there wasn't ship wide wifi available. 

11 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Very, very disappointing for all concerned but if it were me I would be glad not to be going anywhere near that region at the moment. Potential powder keg.

 

It’s very short notice for some as well if they want to cancel and book something else.

 

As you say some other ports would have been nice. Hope you have a wonderful cruise anyway in spite of the changes.

Thank you. I'm sure it'll still be lovely. We're still sailing in the region as we'll still traverse the Suez Canal and down through the red sea to Oman. We're just not docking anywhere there now. 

7 hours ago, beckyboo1986 said:

Can you request a robe if you're not Aurea experience, YC cabins and Diamond card holders?

Not supplied unless you're any of those. 

We've now received our updated itinerary for our grand voyage. We're no longer calling at our 2 planned Egypt ports or Jordan. Whilst we understand the need for change, we do not have replacements. We have an extra day in Mauritius and an extra half day at the Reunion Islands. Disappointed is an understatement. Surely they couldn't found a couple of other ports to visit. 

Aurea had a priority boarding check in the last time we sailed from Miami. It was a while ago so it's possible that's changed. 

Bathrobes are supplied to Aurea experience, YC cabins and Diamond card holders. If you're any of those, the cabin type is irrelevant.

Amendments and cancellations for six ships for the winter 2023/24 schedule. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/msc-cruises-is-cancelling-dozens-of-sailings-for-multiple-ships/113858

There is already a thread for this. Could this be merged? 

1 hour ago, 8420PR said:

Anyone care to guess if they will schedule replacement cruises for MSC Orchestra, or just leave her laid up until April 2024?   Has this happened previously, and what did MSC do?

I would guess that they'll schedule replacement itineraries. It wouldn't make economic sense to not operate. 

4 hours ago, Basketball wife said:

YC gratuities were mentioned in an earlier post. Are they the same as the regular cabins or are they more? (I read a The Points Guy review of the Meriviglia yacht club and the writer said that the gratuities were included in the fare🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️.)

The charges are the same, regardless of cabin experience. 

It depends on your location if they're included. If you're booking from the UK, they are included. I don't think they are if you're in the USA, but I'm not totally certain there. 

On 10/18/2023 at 5:52 PM, jcpc said:

An onion ring was on the plate on the first day lunch.  I would imagine you could get as many onion rings as your heart desires!!

 

 

Ooooh! I have a weakness for onion rings. I wonder if I could order that without the burger and chips 😂

4 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We received a very nice gift to the cabin from the guest relations team this evening - a ship’s model.
 

No prize for guessing what the Diamond gift was. 🤣

How lovely. 

I think you should open a shop, Bea's Bags has a nice ring to it 😉 

If we get more next week I'm going to try and barter for a mouse mat or sell them half price outside the shop 😂

We were on Divina for our 10th Anniversary, we hadn't informed anyone but when the Butler saw our cards in the cabin, he did add decorations to it. 

Sadly, we didn't qualify on any of our Divina cruises. Galaxy is such a great location, but I feel under utilised. The Pan Asian we experienced on Lirica in April was excellent, which was a pleasant surprise. We have an Asian or BC on Splendida next week, we can't recall which we chose last time on her, we've never been wowed by BC, and as we have many sea days we may opt for an Asian lunch visit this time.

@Beamafar I couldn't open the menu on my phone last night but have now read it on the computer. Yes, that was definitely the identical one to Preziosa, which wasn't great. Although, it wasn't the quality, it was the quantity.

6 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Eastern Med from Greece (and not Italy) is not something I expect any gala. Basically nobody can drive to the cruise, I would expect a lot of British, German, Eastern Europeans coming in with Ryanair. 

 

Great to hear for my first Diamond meal. No Butchers Cut on Virtuosa, no, a disappointing Sushi on Musica 😄

We are more Ryanair passengers, and that certainly doesn't prohibit us from dressing appropriately for Gala Night. As we speak, I have 3 elegant/evening dresses waiting to be packed.

If it's any consolation, my first Butcher Cut Diamond meal was my second most disappointing....after the Kaito Sushi 😂

Unfortunately, I can't help with the shuttle but we visited Casablanca in the summer. Several of our fellow passengers shared issues with taxis. They weren't metered and were demanding more money at the end of the journey than quoted. 

Such a shame to hear the Gala night efforts were lacking and your meal underwhelmed. I think Kaito was the restaurant on Preziosa we left after mistaking the main course for the appetisers, ran over and just managed to get into the YC restaurant before closing! Disappointing was a polite description 🙃