perakcruiser

We don´t tip on cruise ships. We also book Celebrity (and other lines) only with rates where the daily tip, service charge, whatever they call it, is included. We do tip the Grab (for you Uber) driver and the Foodpanda (for you Uber Eats) driver.

The day pass for bus and tram is 5 or 6 €. Not valid for the train. It is available at the SPAR supermarket opposite the chuch/bus station.

This will not help, when they confiscate, they confiscate and will return when the cruise finishes. So if you have a flight following, there is no use to bring more than the bottle of wine that you can finish on the last night. Or whatever you can finish on that night 😄 This couldn´t be less true, MSC nickles and dimes much less than other lines. Except the (more expensive) super AI lines where you can expect a final bill of zero.

Eastern Med from Greece (and not Italy) is not something I expect any gala. Basically nobody can drive to the cruise, I would expect a lot of British, German, Eastern Europeans coming in with Ryanair. Great to hear for my first Diamond meal. No Butchers Cut on Virtuosa, no, a disappointing Sushi on Musica 😄

No, the MSC shuttles run to Blankenberge, not Brugge. There is a public bus from opposite the port at the church, but it is running not too often. If you want to use it, you have to make a plan with the schedule.

Just to add that it is (obviously) only possible for bookings where you don´t have to pay the service charge before boarding. Which means basically only US bookings I guess.

Interesting will be Mykonos, when the ship docks until 2am, I probably will go out for a night walk if it not too cold. Usually I get sick immediately when I am in Europe in winter 😄

Uh, I am not prepared for this. But I better prepare for it. And only the females in our family / travel group are entitled for check in luggage, the males, my brother and me, only qualify for hand luggage😄

No, it has a stupid name with "Amore", in the last two years it was a short version of "La traviata". I am not keen to go to Ephesus as I have been there some years before and not expect too much has changed 😄 But the family will probably force me too. Probably the same taxi drivers as in Athens, you went with MSC?

Wrote down in my planner 🙂 If you catch the information when the opera night is happening (if) please let me know also. They have a talent that you easily miss it and there is only one chance per cruise.

Thanks, this is very helpful. Especially as the wording in the excusions section of the website is a little bit confusion. I just wonder how long we could stay on the ship. "Extend Your Stay lets you enjoy more vacation time on board, right up to approximately 90 minutes before the ship sails for its next cruise" does not help as there is no next cruise and the ships goes to the dock.

If you call it salami / salame instead of pepperoni your chances probably will be much higher. If you order pepperoni in Europe on pizza you will get this: If the staff on Explora is not from USA it will take them some time to learn how the US pax try to order a Pizza Salame 😄

Exactly, it only depends on the mood of the staff at security.

Celebritys pricing makes MSC look logical. And with all their confusing promos and the OBC the prices almost change daily and crazy in all direction. Example from today for a 11 day cruise from Barcelona: Inside 1203 € Oceanview 814 € Balcony 1443 € Concierge 1437 € Retreat 3880 € Who chooses the Inside, please raise you hand 😄

Oh, that will be interesting to see. Defintely a logistical masterpiece.

So do I as we will sail Celebrity again in January after a 11 years break. Everything I remember is GONE. Their MDR menu I checked on the app cannot even compete with MSC. All the signature dishes have disappeared. I hope the buffet at least is as good as I remember. And 20$ for a Filet Mignon and others, very funny for the premium line. Well, need to be fair, these cuts should not be too surprising as the rate per day is cheaper than this MSC Musica cruise. But one thing is guaranteed, if Celebrity wants to fight with MSC, this fight cannot be won. Sure, their Elite members will continue, but that´s it.

Not bad for a cruise that is fully booked for months 😄 That is the problem for MSC, they cannot sell the "Haifa" cabins, because these cabins are not available for the whole week. And they are not prepared to embark people in Rhodes or Marmaris, anywhere, nobody would go there for starting a cruise in a few days.

Oh a new pasta dish! With Gragnano pasta! Excitement is building up 😄

No need from my side, the only other thing I am interested about food is you visit to Kaito as it will be my first cruise as Diamond finally 😄

Thank you, so the answer for me is yes. Starting the cruise with a nice steak is preferred, even I am not a fan of MSCs lasagna and canneloni.

Love to hear that. I was thinking already about it as we will board very early. Was the Sunday lunch menu in the MDR good, did it have something I should not miss? 😉 Not surprised to hear that the taxi scam in Athens is still as used to.

Poesia in October.

There is no ban, even now MSC has cruises with cabins with ZERO surcharge for single cabins.

Not too different from ours, except that one very important two words difference 😄

I try to help 🙂 The situation looks not so difficult. The logical disembarking point would of cause be Cyprus the day before Haifa was scheduled. There are lots of flights from Cyprus. Absolutely no problem to get back to Western Europe. Check ryanair.com I also think there is a high chance that MSC allows you to stay on board and go back with them all the way to Italy. Anyway nobody can take your cabin in Haifa. That surely would be the easiest solution. If your schedule not allows you to stay on the ship until Nov 1, you need to get off either in Cyprus or Greece. All have plenty of flights. If you are not familiar with flights in Europe, many airlines do everything to avoid bookings through 3rd party / travel agents. And the flights can sometimes only be found only through their websites, so don´t waste time, go directly there.