Toofarfromthesea

Well, I had plans A, B, C, and D. Plan A - get them to check the bags all th way through despite being separately ticketed - no go Plan B - after claiming bags from first flight check them in, for second flight immediately - no go, can't check in early (plus, see plan c) Plan C - put luggage into storage at airport, overnight - no go, as we came into Terminal 5 and were going out of terminal 3 so we would have had logistical problems getting them from one to the other Plan D - once at overnight hotel, have them hold the bags in their luggage storage and only take the carry-on with necessities to the room - what we ended up doing So we ended up saving a little effort, but not that much.

When I was booking the CdS cocktails only version, the people in front of me were getting the dinner option and were only asked to choose between fish or lamb. This was 2 weeks ago on Meraviglia.

In walking by to get to the teppanyaki I saw folks at the pub with little bowls of nuts, or chips. But I don't know if they were free or not. The menu hotdogs were very good, but had, for me, an unusual add-on of a squirt of mayonaise. It wasn't bad, actually. I spent a fair amount of time there, considering I was in YC, but there were several critical football matches during my 2 weeks and it was a great venue to watch them. If you have time to kill at the Hamburg airport, there is a nice self-service restaurant on the 3Rd level that I thought very good.

On MSC Meraviglia right now. Have Mississippi River Cruise on American Queen booked for August. Have Regent Seven Seas booked for next January. My loyalty is to my wife and myself, not a cruise line.

Our cruise ends in a couple of days and we will fly from Hamburg to Heathrow, stay overnight in a hotel near Heathrow, and then fly home to Denver the next day. The 2 flights are on different tickets, because I booked a transatlantic Round trip Denver/Heathrow and a separate Round Trip within those dates Heathrow/Hamburg to get to and from the cruise port at Kiel. It would be very convenient to not have to schlep our luggage back and forth from the Heathrow area hotel, as we can put everything we need for the overnighter in a carry-on bag. So I was wondering if either of the following is possible: 1) check our luggage all the way through to Denver when we check-in for the Hamburg-Heathrow flight even though they are separate tickets. 2) if not, when we arrive in Heathrow can we get our luggage and then go check it in for our next day's flight. In case any of these things matter, we are flying BA economy from Hamburg to Heathrow and BA business class from Heathrow to Denver. In both cases the flights are nonstop.

We are in the YC on Meraviglia, as I type this, and have also been in YC on Divina. We will be on Regent Seven Seas Explorer in January, and I think that type of experience is more the model for the MSC luxury ships than YC. Even the YC staff I talked to said they were told to talk about the new ships as luxury, rather than full ship YC. It appears pretty obvious that the new ships won't be like YC in that you really can't have a ship within a ship that is the whole ship.

This is an apples to jacuzzis analogy. There is not, never was, and never will be any kind of implied right to ANYTHING in a commercial business. And anyone willing to pay the toll can get these benefits - doesn't matter who your father is or was. So no, this is nothing like the enclosing of the Commons. Pure class-diven envy.

That wouldn't excuse the cited rude behavior. The customer may not always be right, but the customer is always the customer.

No apology needed at all. I wasn't trying to correct you or anything. I wrote my response before I saw your message and was just relating what we were told. Have you tried out? If so, was it good? Are you enjoying the cruise? Little choppy out there today.

I'm on Meraviglia right now and the fellow at Butchers Cut told me that both the new Tapas restaurant and the Ocean Cay restaurant open tomorrow (Monday). Definitely planning on trying both if we can get reservations. You can walk by and see that they are ready. The tryptic and other dining package adverts on board reflect the new restaurants.

Price sensitive but you resent people who get more because they pay more? I suggest some self reflection about envy.

If this works for you, great. But personally I wouldn't do anything of this, and it is certainly not the kind of advice I would give a newby.

It is a double edged sword. You may end up like us - we will ONLY book MSC in the yacht club. And that is more expensive - and free upgrades don't come around very often. But it is great that you got it - it is a very nice experience. And Divina does a great job - better than Meraviglia, in whose Topsail Lounge I am writing this. Enjoy!!

Well, that's your choice. It is the 21st century and caller ID and voicemail have been available on land lines for a long time.

Ah, you're right, I got confused. We couldn't get it on our May, Holland America Alaska cruise.