SpeedySal

Thank you so much, mustafabalcony, for your postings and replies to my questions. It is greatly appreciated.

I am so sorry you had such an unpleasant experience with the sloping bed which sounds awful. I am preparing for the fact that the Fortuna is now quite old and the cabins have had an enormous amount of wear and tear.

How did you find the food and what did you think of the entertainment? Did you enjoy the cruise overall? Thank you again.

I quite agree that it does seem as if not many out there want to comment! This board used to be much livelier before Covid, of course.

I suspect many of the regular commentators from previous years have stopped cruising with Costa……..or perhaps stopped cruising all together.

The Costa cruising experience has changed enormously, too. I think that Costa are now maybe after a different clientele than in previous years.
 

Perhaps they have also lost a lot of loyal clients with the changes to the Costa Club which is now a little bit of a joke really. I don’t know enough about other cruise lines to know how Costa’s loyalty scheme compares but it used to be quite generous in my opinion but no longer!

Does anyone else get the impression that today’s ships are more appealing to younger cruisers and that even older cruisers who are still ‘young at heart’ are no longer very important to Costa? I would be interested in some other opinions so shall we try and stir up some enthusiasm to create a bit of activity on this forum?!

Has anyone been on the Fortuna recently, please, as I would really like to know about your experiences.

Are there still minibars in the cabins? Are they stocked with anything? 

Can you still get room service? I am particularly interested as we like this service for a simple continental breakfast.

What general impression did you have about cleanliness eg.cabin cleanliness?

What did you think of the restaurants and, of course, the food!?

We have chosen to go on Costa Fortuna as although the new ships like Smerelda and Toscana, are beautiful and very appealing in many ways, we much prefer the old smaller ships and in particular we find the noise from the large open atriums on these huge ships too much for us. We last were on the Fortuna in 2018 and we really enjoyed it.

Thanks so much for any feedback.

Yes, I received this news, too! Unclear as ever…..do you think it means all the zillions of points coming off on 30/04/2023 won’t be deducted?
 

I am clinging onto Gold status for the moment so even if these points are not taken again this year, next year when zillions surely will no doubt disappear….well, that will be the end of my brief flirtation with the heady echelons of Perla Diamanté and now Gold status (and looking ahead probably Silver, too) forever given the strange new Club points system.

There seem to be very little in the way of perks or privileges worth bothering about in any case now as everything worth having appears to have been watered down or whittled away. 

Excellent, thank you Alyssamma re. minibar and room service. 

Thank you very much again Beamafar fiar all this great info which really is appreciated and really helps a lot.

I do apologise to all as well for deviating from the original thread here. I hope in the future after I have some experience with MSC cruises to be able to contribute more fully to specific topics.

That’s great to know and thanks very much. It is really nice to have a choice of wine and the odd glass of champers will go down a treat. Cheers!

Just to throw a spanner in the works, what about YC please? I know it is not exactly the PP package, but is room service totally included, items and charges?

Thanks for that advice. I intend to enjoy it all and just have fun!

Thank you so much for this great insight into cruising with MSC. It is really appreciated. Love the photos of Ocean Cay particularly, what a pretty place to visit. Can’t wait for our cruise mid-October. So glad you had a fab time.

Thanks to all here for further explanation regarding YC drinks package. I have just asked a question specifically about the wine available in the YC restaurant and the choice and quality on another thread as I hadn’t seen these recent postings above.

By the way, is any champagne included?
Thanks all

Sal

A question for all you experienced YC cruisers from a first timer with MSC and YC. On another post on this board, I was asking about what is included in the drinks selection in YC particularly about wine as we are not too fussy about our G&T for example as long as it is a reasonable brand but we really do dislike poor wine.

Hamrag gave a comprehensive explanation but this discussion here regarding what is available with YC leads me to still be wondering about the quality of the wines available to choose from for dinner. Is there a reasonable selection of decent wine in the YC restaurant in your opinion, please?
 

Thanks very much for that clarification, hamrag.Looking forward to  enjoying a nice cocktail or aperitivo pre dinner and I am hoping for a decent glass of vino with the ‘gourmet dining’ as MSC are promising in the ‘exclusivity’ of YC!

Depending on the capacity onboard, of course we will be wanting to explore the whole ship and try out at least some of the speciality restaurants or bars. I am sure DH will be keen to check out the Master of the Seas pub. It sounds as if finding out what beverages included with YC we can choose from may be a bit of a challenge.

Just really hoping we will get to cruise again as the situation is still far from certain. Mid October isn’t so far off but no doubt other kind people posting on this board who are cruising between now and then  will fill us in with what is going on at embarkation and onboard.

Hmm, have our first MSC cruise booked on Grandiosa mid October and thank you, korpo, for reassuring me that YC was going to be the best choice for not feeling too crowded on board. I thought MSC were supposed to be sailing with restricted capacity…….

If YC does not include the Premium Plus drink package, does anyone know what it does include, please? Thanks in advance.

Oooh, my head hurts!! Too complicated by far……..maybe I’ll just forget all about cruising for the time being. It used to be such fun.

Thanks very much for this , Ali, it is really appreciated. Good to know your thoughts and it is very helpful to get some upfront info.
 

Yes, claustrophobic was probably a poor choice of word as I think I was trying to say not beIng able to leave at the ports unless on the ship’s excursions is quite a large, albeit totally understandable, loss of freedom of choice. Like you, we have always tended to do our own thing but unless things change by October, we will be trying out the organised excursions.

We are really looking forward to trying MSC and the Grandiosa looks very impressive. We have read some mixed reviews regarding MSC but we also have mainly cruised with Costa and frankly we have always enjoyed ourselves and found little to complain about! I feel sure we’ll find plenty to enjoy with MSC, too. 

I am very encouraged to hear about the cocktails and particularly the wine 
being better than Costa!  Frankly, this was one area which we did find disappointing with Costa as it always seemed quite a struggle, even when we were in the club restaurant and on the Intenditore package, to get a decent wine served with dinner. We mostly gave up. 

I find your comments regarding safety measures very reassuring.   By the way, I imagine you did the Status Match? Nice to start off with a ‘welcome’ discount! 

I hope you’ll have a great cruise with Celebrity and would love to hear something about it in due course. Meanwhile, thanks so much again.

Alicat,  so sorry to hear you have cancelled your Firenze cruise but it is so difficult knowing how you might feel being able to do ONLY the ship’s excursions. It may feel quite claustrophobic if you cannot leave the ship on your own even for a short port visit if you don’t fancy the excursions.

At least you have been lucky enough to have had a cruise earlier! Would be really interested in what you thought of MSC overall compared to Costa if you felt like giving your opinion some time (I think there is already a thread here somewhere on this subject) or a review of MSC Virtuosa if you feel inclined and have the time. I am also interested in how well the Covid protocols were carried out and whether you felt happy and were able to relax? The MSC Virtuosa looks beautiful.

 We have changed our October cruise on Firenze to Toscana for early spring next year as the departure port will be more convenient for us and perhaps things will have opened up a bit more and passengers will once again be able to leave the ship independently in the ports.

We are also going to give MSC a try and we have booked an October Med cruise on MSC Grandiosa. 

Thank you, Stefan, for your thoughts and I agree with your analysis for why Costa are probably letting things remain as they are re.points/benefits etc, for Costa Club members until June next year. 

It would seem short-sighted and unfair if they were to deduct points when there are so few cruises at the moment and when most of the perks cost Costa nothing or very little.

Here’s hoping we can all get back to safe cruising asap.

So do we all think that our points will remain as they are until next June 2022, please?

If Costa has extended the validity of membership points by 1- 2 years, as drsel (thank you) says above, this means for 2020/2021 so presumably no points would expire until 15/06/2021?

Is this similar to other cruise lines current policy does anyone know, please?

In MyCosta for a cruise booked in October in the excursions section  I can buy the Passepartour package of 5 excursions (from a selection on offer) for 159€ per person.

However, on a cruise booked in November this option is not available so it’s back to the usual purchasing of individual full price excursions if you want to leave the ship.

I think it may depend on where you are cruising and possibly it is only offered on cruises around the Med but I am just guessing here. 

I wonder when we may be able to cruise again without the restriction of only being able to leave the ship on an organised excursion………..?

I've booked Smeralda early September and Firenze early October. Also looking at a bit later in the year and spring 2022. Optimistic? Probably but I am hoping......

Just checked and it says up to 15 days before departure the penalty will be zero until 31 May 2022. Presumably, it means on cruises booked between 16 June to 31 August departing from now until 31 May 2022, this no penalty offer applies.

I would still double check with Costa when booking and/or paying deposit/balance.

drsel, apologies - I have just been back to the U.K. website and now I see a great big promo offering cancellation fee up to 15 days before departure valid on Med and Emirates cruise booked before 31/08…….good time to book! Many thanks.

Me, too, can’t wait……early October on Firenze all being well.

Thank you BVI lady, I will check by phone when I am confirming any future bookings. I think it gives us all more confidence to book if you have the no penalty cancellation option up until 15 days before departure.

drsel, thank you, too, but where are you seeing this on the U.K. website please? It was on there a few weeks ago but I no longer see this so I am wondering if this is no longer on offer and it is back to the usual terms and conditions re. cancellation penalties.