dolphin1313

30 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Diamond Plus and a free bag of laundry would be awesome!

 

I agree that a free bag of laundry would be great!

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

I've seen people ask about taxis, etc...lol, I'm one of them. Anyway, I can confirm that MSC runs free shuttles from the port to the center of town. 

 

We aren't taking one today so I'm a little unsure of exactly how they work, but it seems to be every 30min. Of course with MSC, YMMV...but regardless, no need for a taxi or to walk.

Thanks for the information!

Thanks for posting these @PaulMCO and @jethapgun!

47 minutes ago, mushroom said:

I've done a "search" and also viewed many you-tube videos and still am a bit confused about the area for Yacht Club Check in.  We will be arriving by limo and I am assuming that they will drive us to the luggage drop-off area.  Question 1:  Is the YC drop off clearly marked or is it mixed in with general drop-off?  Question 2: I understand that there will be a blue tent.  Is this located outside of the actual terminal building or inside the building?  In all the videos I've viewed I cannot find it pictured.  Once I find that tent I'm home free!  I sure would appreciate someone's help understanding how to find it.  Thank You.

There is a sign in front of the YC Tent but if you didn't know where it is, it could be confusing.  It's easier for me to explain first where you go to get escorted into the terminal.  That's to the far left (the opposite side that you drive in).  Now if you continue on the road which goes left, it will be past the taxi drop off/ pick up area.  At this point, you should see the blue tent.  Hopefully that makes sense.  After you drop your bags off, just go to the terminal and you'll see the roped off area for YC guests (left side of the terminal).  Someone will be there with a list of YC guests.  

The Explora I's handover from the shipyard is delayed.  Here's the article:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/shipbuilding-refurb-equipment/explora-i-handover-delayed

6 minutes ago, Crown Vic said:

The answer to your question is very personal. Depends on your approach to cruising. Just back from the Miraviglia and found our balcony was an oasis of quiet and solitude for escaping the hubbub, families and noise. Nothing better than the solitude of your personal balcony for enjoying your morning jolt of caffeine. YC could be the same…almost. Having chatted with dolphin1313 on the cruise, his reply makes a lotta sense as well. Cheers…

p.s. Mark, great to meet you. A bientot…

It was great meeting you also @Crown Vic

35 minutes ago, delynn72 said:

I Keep getting upgrade offers for inside YC. We have Fantasica balcony from Brooklyn. My question, for those who have sailed from NY, how often were you able to use your balcony coming and going from NY? Will I miss it if I switch to the inside YC? I like to sit out there and have my coffee in the morning. Also, i'm going with my friend and not my DH, so it gives us a little more space with the balcony. 

I agree with @Brighton Line 100%.  If I had to choose between a YC Inside or a balcony outside the YC, I would choose a YC Inside in a heartbeat.  The service in the YC is excellant.

4 hours ago, Basketball wife said:

Does anyone know what the ship charged for transport to Newark airport?

I don't believe that MSC has transportation from EWR (Newark airport)...at least that's what the CSR said.

1 minute ago, pno4te said:

Let me say this is our 4th MSC cruise in Yacht Club and our TA is out of the country on her own (well-deserved) cruise...

 

We are booked in the Yacht Club on the Seashore out of Port Canaveral on November 20, 2023. When filling out the Special Needs form for my husband I noticed different wording on our reservation. It says we have an ESCAPE TO SEA CRUISE ONLY fare. If we were in any other level of service I know that would mean we need to book our beverage and wi-fi packages separately.

 

But, is it the same with a Yacht Club booking? Thanks for any light that can be shed!

No, the Yacht Club reservation includes the Deluxe drink package and Unlimited WiFi.

25 minutes ago, happy cruzin said:

Sadly - MSC is famous for “buggy” IT issues. 🥺

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of us have been frustrated with those issues.

34 minutes ago, mungojerrie said:

I was able to get into the check in forms (we are also on the first cruise), but it seems a bit buggy so I did not complete it. For example, I entered the correct info for my passport issue and expiration dates, yet in the finally summary page the system shifted the dates by one day. And it kept dropping the country code for our emergency contact and telling me the entry was invalid. So I just quit and will try again in a few weeks.

Thanks for the information, I'll wait a few weeks for the IT department to get the bugs worked out.

39 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

That's great to hear! I also heard that MSC is planning to upgrade all the ships to Starlink in the near future, so that should improve things even further.

Jamie,

Thanks for taking time out of your vacation and sharing your experience on the Meraviglia with us.  I really enjoyed reading all about your B2B cruises!

22 minutes ago, ms sjsky said:

Personally, I'm not into subways and especially with luggage. We are taking the train into Penn Station then either walking or taking a taxi to the Ferry at East 34th st.

Taking the Ferry to Wall Street Pier 11 and then free transfer to the Ferry that goes to Red Hook.  For $4 for the ferry and room for the luggage I'm thinking this would work best for us but I haven't seen anyone else mention the Ferry at E 34th ST. so don't know if I'm missing something.

The walk is no big deal for us since we usually walk to the Manhattan pier weather permitting.

Thanks for the thought.  I'll have to check this out for my cruise.

8 hours ago, AtA said:

Where are the tours and pricing?

You have to sign in to your account, go to My Bookings and click on Details.  Scroll down and click on the paper and pencil to the right of "Experiences".  There are 2 tabs, "Booked" and "Available".  I have some excursions booked so I have to select "Available".  I can't recall if both tabs were there prior to booking excursions (Experiences).

1 hour ago, frankhi said:

So if you booked an excursion during your cruise would your OBC get used? (I want to book ahead, but just wondering)

On all of the cruise lines that I've sailed (Carnival, NCL & MSC), the OBC can be used for booking an excursion when you're on the ship.

6 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

I'm looking at booking a second MSC sailing from Florida later this year or next (having not even sailed on our first yet - next month).

 

The booking options online are like a mix & match.

 

Is there an advantage to booking the 4+6 as the "single" 10 night... either due to price or by having a simpler process for the second leg (do you not have to get off the ship and go through customs, as is typically of other lines B2B's)?

 

I can't compare costs between the two because the 10-nt says the Yacht Club is "Fully Booked". Yet, oddly, I can look at each of the two legs and see the same YC cabins available. Why would it show the 10-nt as "Fully Booked"?

 

Here's an image of the cabins available (Seashore) for the 4 night and 6 night sailings. It's not like it's even close:

 

 

Obviously, there's still a lot more to learn about this line, as they march to the beat of a different drummer !

 

Tom

My guess is that their system is setup to allow guests to embark at various ports which I believe is normal in Italy from what I've read.  So MSC allocates so many cabins to various ports.  Than at some point will re-distribute the cabins.

My personal experience was just the opposite.  When I was researching a B2B cruise, I was looking to book the same cabin and none were available but when I looked at the 14-day sailing there were a few available.  A few days later, I noticed that the cabin inventory showed a couple of the cabins that listed in the 14-day sailing were now listed in the 7-day sailing.  For this particular cruise, the 14-day solo price was much higher than the B2B cruises.  Not that I would say this is always the case, it's just the experience that I had.

16 minutes ago, ljsanantonio said:

My TA sent me an invitation; your TA should be able to secure an invite, or if you are booking directly through Explora, perhaps they will send you an invite.  It is a Zoom presentation, the link is not shareable.  I hope you are able to find one!

Thanks for the information.  I'll email the ambassador that been in contact with.

13 hours ago, ljsanantonio said:

I tried to book an excursion; it was successful until I logged out and back in, when I found no bookings.  I emailed Explora, they kindly reserved a spot for us, sent a new reservation document to my TA.  The charge for the excursion was added to the final payment due in June.  Not to wild about that idea. 

I also note the descriptions are lacking; I did find out in this process that when you see an excursion listed twice, that means there are two departure times, even though times are not listed on the website..  I inquired about minimum and maximum excursion size and distance of the hikes; response was they would get with the  tour providers and let me know.  

There is a consumer virtual event for Explora Journeys on March 23, Aimee Price, Head of Sales USA West and Canada.  I signed up, hoping to learn more. 

Will post more details of what I have found on the Roll Call page for Reykhavik to NYC.

Hello ljsanantonio,

Where did you sign up for the consumer irtual event?  I checked their web-site and didn't see the link.

Thanks,

Mark

47 minutes ago, BostonGal35 said:

have any solo cruisers here successfully won a bid to upgrade to the Haven?

 

and if you are a solo Haven cruiser (full price or upgrader) are you allowed to have a guest for dinner (or i guess breakfast or lunch ) once or twice during the week given that you have paid double occupancy or will they still charge you the nominal fee IF the concierge even allows a guest (i understand this "perk" is often concierge discretion).

I have won bids to upgrade to the Haven as well as paid full price.  Every time when I asked about bringing somebody to the dinning room, there was a fee.  The last time when I paid full price, breakfast and lunch were around $30, dinner was maybe $40.  But the other times the prices did vary.  The concierge did say that I would have to ask the Maitre d' before hand to get his/her Ok.

I believe that you're correct that it's the concierge's discretion since I was told that on one of my sailings.

10 minutes ago, wwnl said:

I'm cruising with MSC in May on the Meraviglia. My itinerary is New York - Orlando - Nassau - Ocean Cay - New York.

 

I don't understand how it is possible that the ship makes a stop in a US port on the itinerary since the ship is registered in Malta and the Passenger Vessel Services Act forbids this. Any ideas?

 

Also, do I have to get off the ship in Orlando? Since I know the US has some very strict rules during embarkation and disembarkation where the ship has to be completely empty before new passengers can get on.

Because it's a round-trip (closed loop) cruise, embarking and debarking in NY, the only requirement is that you visit a foreign port (in this case Bahamas) you are allowed to visit a US port.  As long as you didn't visit a foreign port prior to visiting a US port, you don't have to get off the ship.  However, if you were to go to the Bahama's and than Orlando, you would have to go through custom's and clear the ship.

In the case of a round trip from NY: sailing to Orlando than Nassau you won't have to clear the ship in Orlando.

In the case of a round trip from NY: sailing to Nassau than Orlando, you would have to clear the ship in Orlando because you visited a foreign port before the US port.

1 hour ago, juancarlosgarciasanchez said:

Hello -

Can anyone confirm that the Meraviglia sail's out of the Red Hook Cruise Terminal while docked in NYC and if so, any recommendations for an overnight stay at a hotel nearby in Brooklyn ? Thanks  

Yes, MSC Meraviglia is sailing from Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.  But I don't know any hotels in Brooklyn.

To add a little more information to Host Jazzbeau's comment.  After not sailing with MSC for 3 years, you're status starts over again.

2 hours ago, tgg said:

Has anyone found descriptions and prices for shore excursions for any itinerary?

I emailed my Ambassador at Explora Journeys about a week ago to get an idea when they would have excursions for my sailing, Sept. 9, 2023, and he said that the excursions should be available sometime in Feb.

38 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

Thank you, seems obvious now but damn, glad I'm not an user interface designer...

You're welcome.

Yeah, a while ago they "improved" their website and moved the Number of passengers from the search page to the Offers page.  An improvement only in the minds of the MSC Website development team. lol

8 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

Their website is so strange.  

I've been trying to mock book a cruise out of NYC for later this year but I've found no way to specify that I'm a single traveler and it is insisting I put in the info for a second passenger.  The site is not complex and I've clicked on every item on the page I could find but no luck.

 

What am I missing?

Hello PistolPete13,

From the main page, you need to fill in the selection criteria (port , date, etc.) and press <Select> which brings you to the available sailings.  Than select the sailing you want which brings you to a screen with the available offers.  You'll notice above the available offers there is a section that has "1 stateroom/2 people", "add MSC voyager club number", etc.  Select the "+" next to the "1 stateroom/2 people" and change the number of "Adults" and select <Next>.  Than continue from there by selecting the offer you want to get pricing on.