lilalila

MSC is not a publicly traded company; it is privately held.   

I'm recently off the Seashore and felt my assistant butler and butler deserved a little extra gratuity.  I easily found our assistant butler alone in the hallway on the day of disembarkation and handed him some cash. I didn't see our butler until we got into the Top Sail Lounge to await being escorted off the ship and there were many people around.  Anyway, I didn't hand her cash until just before she passed us off to the security officer to "ding" us off the ship.  It felt awkward as the body language the butler projected was as if this wasn't the time or location.  I couldn't help wondering if it was because the security officer was watching intently or if there was some other reason.  At the most handing over the cash and saying thank you to her took two seconds so I didn't think I was holding up the line any meaningful amount of time.    

I'll be on the 02/18/24 Seashore sailing in Yacht Club.  I know I'm getting a butler and an assistant butler, but I'm not sure whether there is also a cabin steward (?). 

@Two Wheels Only  How does the elevator know you're a YC guest?  I suppose I should use something called Google😉

26 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Problems at Port Canaveral shouldn't be held against MSC nor against Seashore.

 

If you can figure out the elevators (with and without YC priority hijack), it will be a plus. Some people never understand the elevators and complain for the entire week. YC hijack does work although it isn't always the fastest way to go. 

 

The crew might have a bit of burnout after the holiday cruises so keep that in mind. I've had great cruises on Seashore and would gladly sail Seashore again. Don't let the negative reviews scare you. 

What is this YC hijack you speak of? I'm booked in the YC on the Seashore in Feb. 2024

On 1/2/2024 at 11:21 AM, MisterBill99 said:

We sailed MSC once back in 2018 and did the status match with Celebrity. I thought it was to Black level but when I checked their website last year it was showing me at Diamond, with an expiration date of 12/31/23 (which was later than it should have been). We have a cruise booked for March, and I was thinking we would not have status (not a huge deal since we are doing YC), but just logged in and see that I am still diamond with a 10/2027 expiration. Has anyone else experienced this? I figured I would have to try applying for the status match again, which I understand is supposed to be a one-time thing but have read others say that they were able to do.

Black has been renamed Diamond.  Due to COVID MSC pushed out their loyalty expiration dates (yours seems to have gotten double the amount of time).  If you are showing Diamond with an expiration of 10/2027 I wouldn't try do anything with your loyalty term or ask any questions. 

5 hours ago, Mark_T said:

I was wondering about the 'Bonus' item, but why are the 'drinks' and 'WiFi' icons missing on one of them as you can't book the YC experience and not get them?

 

It seems rather misleading...

Good question.  It seems to be a quirk on the OTA's website.

@LorraineP As long as you see the tuxedo icon you get all of the YC amenities. I would book the lower price and save $10.00.  

I'm familiar with the design/pictures of the posted screen shot as I have used that website to book a cruise in the past.  The first column is the price for one person and going across is the total price. The higher total of the two ($5,438.00) has some OBC included (the purple icon that says bonus indicates that).  OP, is the OBC more or less than the cost difference?  

I forgot to mention I'm looking to do this on the Seashore (if a ship or class of ships make a difference)

I’ll have leftover OBC from my travel agent after using the money to pay the “normal” gratuities/service fees.  Can I give the remaining amount to our waiter/asst. waiter and room steward?  Has anyone done this? How?  

@Hutcha @Mark_T

Thanks for the information.  It looks like I won’t be booking onboard as the fine print says, “The travel agent through which you booked your current cruise will become responsible for a new booking made with the Future Cruise Program”. 

I want to keep control of this booking and not use my current agent. I wonder if this is doable.

@jules815 My apologies for hijacking your thread. 

@jules815 If you happen to walk by the future cruse desk (and are willing to do so) would you take a picture of the current promotional flyer(?). I'm wondering what the OBC is for booking a YC Deluxe Suite while onboard.

Any idea what the extra OBC amount is?

I will be on the Sept. 24th, 2023 Seascape sailing.  Does anyone know the current promotions for booking a future cruise onboard?  Specifically, I'm looking to book a YC Deluxe Suite on the February 18th, 2024 sailing on the Seashore. Is the cruise fare less?  OBC? Different deposit amount when booking onboard?  I've only done this with Celebrity.

Do I have to have a Virgin Voyage booked before I can apply for the Match and Sea More Program?  Or, can I do it ahead of time and apply whatever member number is generated to a later booking?  

@AtSeaWithChris

RE: 3-night specialty dining package.

After you booked the cruise you are currently on how far in advance were you able to make this (presumably pre-cruise) purchase?   I'll be on the Seascape in September 2023.  I don't see a purchasing option on MCS's app or website.  Did you buy the package by calling customer service or via the app or website?

Thanks!   

59 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

If you booked and provided you CC # when you paid it should happen automatically.   If it did not bring a screen shot and have it taken care of by calling or simply take care of it on board

When I booked the excursions I was logged into my Celebrity account.  The listed excursion prices didn't change when I added  them to the shopping cart and paid so I'm guessing the discount wasn't applied.  Or, were listed prices inclusive of the discount?

I have a few "Small Group" excursions already booked (via Celebrity's website) how do I get this discount applied?   

Thank you for the effort you've put into this trip report!

What is the latest disembarkation time that was offered for those with the Bella experience?

Have you seen men wearing dress shorts in the main dining room for dinner or at the specialty restaurants?

46 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I expect to see many more “sold out” reports. 

I made the purchase 1/2 hour ago for our May 12th, 2023 Mariner sailing.  Now showing "sold out". 

Has the Escape transitioned to the new "fixed" main dining menus?

Are the Escape's main dining rooms using the new "set menus"? 

On 1/20/2023 at 2:31 PM, goldmom said:

Is there a fee to use the pool, chairs and umbrellas in Taino Bay?

On my 12/07/2022 visit there was no fee for using the pool/chair(s)/umbrella(s). 

Not sure if there's a fee to use the large pool floaties. 

Food/beverages not included. 

The music was too loud for my liking. 

I do this and it works: (cut and pasted from the Celebrity board)

Here's the trick to view cruise planner items (including shore excursions) without having to be booked on the cruise. This same trick works for Royal Caribbean cruises since they run off the same system.

It just involves a little URL parameter adjusting.

Here's the base URL for the beverage package page (you can navigate to any other cruise planner page from there as you normally would):

https://www.celebritycruises.com/account/cruise-planner/category/beverage?bookingId=0000000&shipCode={ShipCode}&sailDate={YYYYMMDD}

1. Simply replace the {ShipCode} portion of the URL with the ship code you're looking for. You can find the ship code by doing a search with on the main "Find A Cruise" page and filter down to the ship you're looking for. The 2 letter ship code will then be shown at the end the URL for that filtered page.

2. Also replace the {YYYYMMDD} with the sail date of the cruise you want to look at. 4 digit year, 2 digit month and day.

3. Sign out from the celebrity website before entering the url. I think it blocks you from viewing if you're logged in.

So, for example the url for the cruise planner for the Dec 30, 2023 Celebrity Apex sailing would be:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/account/cruise-planner/category/beverage?bookingId=0000000&shipCode=AX&sailDate=20231230

Hope this gets you what you need! Note they do add excursions to book closer to the sailing date.

AD = Adventure

AL = Allure

AN = Anthem

BR = Brilliance

EN = Enchantment

EX = Explorer

FR = Freedom

GR = Grandeur

HM = Harmony

ID = Independence (don't say "IN" - that's Celebrity's Infinity)

JW = Jewel

LB = Liberty

MA = Mariner

MJ = Majesty

NE = Empress (her original name was Nordic Empress)

NV = Navigator

OA = Oasis

OV = Ovation

QN = Quantum

RD = Radiance

RH = Rhapsody

SC = Spectrum

SR = Serenade

SY = Symphony

VI = Vision

VY = Voyager

Are there any C & A tiers that get a person a percentage off discount when purchasing the DBP?  Specifically, I'm diamond due to my time on Celebrity.