perakcruiser

The added service charge when booking on board probably kills any daily discounts. If there are any, not predictable. My experience after 10+ cruises and years with MSC, internet,spa,dining, excursions... everything's cheaper when booked in advance. But certainly there also have been some offers on board one could save a few bucks, I just never saw them. So for me booking everything I want in advance is the way to go.

During the last 12 years I missed a lot of ports with MSC, in Europe, in Africa and in Asia 😄 I never got any credit or anything else but "sorry". But if a whole day is getting cut off at the beginning or end of the cruise, a compensation should be paid. At least if it was a booking under EU law.

Easyjet, Eurowings, TUI, ..., actually I did not have a continental flight in Europe where I was not forced to check in online for many years. Except on flight with TAP. But in January I have another one, that is Vueling. When I fly intercontinental Asia/Europe it is different.

There are very few excursions that sell out fast. But of cause these are the most popular, so for example if you want to go on the Aix/Avignon tour from Marseille, you better book before. I would assume that in the Caribbean these excursions are very limited, only thing I remember is that on Grand Cayman there was popular stuff that was sold out.

Are you serious that you live in France? 😉 Almost all European airlines charge a brutal fee for airport checkin for many many years already. This would not be a problem, but sometimes it is because the window for the free online checkin is so tight, for example it opens only 24 hours before the flight and closes 2 hours before. People got used to it.

If you booked with MSC USA or MSC UK you will get free water in the MDR (usually a pitcher, sometimes bottles). No matter where you sail or what your nationality is. Others have to pay, selling water was always a important source of income for MSC.

No, non-Americans (most) would love to get a pitcher of drinking water in the MDR, but it is not possible for them on MSC, they have to buy the water bottles in the MDR.

On a full ship and a cruise with a couple of sea days the private sun deck for Aurea (which has very nice areas on Musica) is something very nice. And if you want to use the spa, the spa access is also worth many bucks. On board our Musica cruise in November the Spa pass for 7 days was a crazy 315 Euro plus service charge. Priority check is also fine if you are not Diamond. If you not plan to use the spa or the private sun deck, Aurea is surely not worth the cost, but if you do so, it is worth it obviously.

Oh, if there are tender ports you will use your priority tender tickets happily.

Kids have there own menu which certainly always includes pasta dishes.

Certainly they can. They deliver the MSC experience as the new ships do. No MSC class is perfect or bad. All have advantages and disadvantages. The old Lirica class does not exist anymore, these ships were cut in half and rebuilt. Sailed on it before and after, certainly not the same, but both times not much to complain. Same here, on Armonia from Havana, what a brilliant cruise this was.

Yes, but it is not as topic because fresh milk is available 24 hours at the coffee stations at buffet. If you have chosen for whatever reason a cabin that is 1km away from the buffet then you might want to change the cabin. Should be possible with Fantastica. But there fridge in your cabin can drive the problem too.

Until January 9th it is super high season. Starting January 9 the peaceful season begins.

The deck 5 OV on Virtuosa for example are so much bigger than a normal Inside cabin, for $60pp I would definitely consider.

Certainly not. Please do not take any of these videos serious. They need to generate clicks to make money. So they make up some "shocking" news. How many clicks a story "A normal cruise on a normal ship" would generate?

But we all look so forward to your Explora observations!

Yes.

If disembarkation is a nightmare or smooth as silk has nothing to do with the ship or cruise line, this is all about the performance of British customs. Seems that the disasters from last year don´t happen anymore, at least not often, but certainly no guarantee.

We were in Zeebrugge last year with no school holidays ongoing and the shuttles were also not running. Clear case of sometimes yes, sometimes no. Anyway the much cheaper public transport is always available.

They do have this. On Middle East cruises.

Impossible. But you need to give the actual dates for the cruise if you want to know why it states 1-4.

Short update from Marmaris, all is excellent so far 🙂

Arrived in Athens, ready to take over the Musica. As this Review contains basically all the valuable informations, there is no use to start another one. If @Beamafar is OK with it, I just will add a few points (no photos, no menus, all here already) from my side in the next days to reward all readers who made it to page 6 😄 Our cruise is a little bit different than Beas, it is a big family cruise with family members aged 1 to 77 meet up in Athens today and we go tomorrow morning on the boat. But first a big rest now, after a flight with Scoot you envy the ones who are coming with Ryanair 😛

This is MSC land, MSC ships certainly always have the best Pontes closest to the train station 🙂 Hotel Europa was the right choice for many years for us. Unfortunately it seems to be closed now, hopefully only temporary. Not to close port (but in town center) is Hotel Suisse, one of the very few budget friendly places there. Another one is Delfino Blue B&B very close to the ship, I have not been there yet.

Been in Hamburg on this day also before. Not even playing football is allowed. So by far the best option would be to do the ferry number 62 trip that was mentioned above. You probably have done this already, but others can consider.