perakcruiser

By no means the Germans will go to Haifa, they have no passengers embarking and disembarking there. That´s MSCs problem.

No problem at all.

As I have never been to Rhodes but always wanted to, I would sign this happily also.

Shouldn´t she go to Kusadasi now?

Just to add one thing, in the long history of MSC this was never free 😉

Pegasus - the airline, not the horse - is Turkish, not Greek 😉 It is a very important airline for the Russians, as it still brings them almost anywhere. I don´t think many of the other Europeans will embark in Haifa as it is the most inconvenient port for them to reach.

Yes because it all depends on the question if they disembark / embark passengers this Thursday in Haifa. To my surprise Ryanair today canceled some flights to Tel Aviv, but also had many going: https://www.telaviv-airport.com/ben-gurion-arrivals-airline-ryanair Very interesting for the stranded / stranding cruisers, there is a Ryanair flight from Paphos on Cyprus to Tel Aviv (only 1 hour!). Actually many.

Some for sure, but their main embarkation port for sure is Kusadasi as Izmir-Moscow is a popular (and visa-free) route. Cyprus also has a huge Russian "colony". About the substitute, I don´t think they will add another stop, we will just stay longer in Kusadasi or Limassol.

No. This is the only one about MSC (and the Musica, Sinfonia is also scheduled to head to Haifa) What other cruise lines do is irrelevant for @Beamafar and (two weeks later) myself. Still no news from MSC, but in a few hours the travel agents get up and back to work from weekend. Hoping to get news then, but I have to say that MSC delayed this already two times with me. Dropping of Tunis and rescheduling our embarkation from Abu Dhabi to Dubai.

Usually all ports have shuttles when not in walking distance, Hamburg definitely (to city center). Not always to where you expect, in Zeebrugge the shuttle goes to Blankenberg, not to Bruges.

With two ships heading to Israel next week for embarkation and disembarkation MSC surely has other things to worry than Covid. Enjoy your cruise, we will go in three weeks time with our kids and my brothers family with a 1 year old kid. But we are familiar to travel MSC with kids 🙂

Can only book on board. Minimum age is 6, so you are fine, your kid will love it. As you board in Southampton, you should be save to clinch a place.

It does not differ and with MSCs international clientele certainly a bathing suit is mandatory.

It is better to book directly than use a TA that has no high ranking with MSC. Better to use travel agents with the rank "Commander". As your friend said "it appeared the line would just prefer dealing directly with the cruiser instead of an agent" she definitely is no "Commander" 😉 Most important thing is to make a "good" booking. No changes later, book it, pay it, never touch it again. If you have any questions, ask the YC concierge on board, not the hotline. Then the chances are high, that your first MSC cruise will be the best cruise you had so far.

You can "request", but same with time slot, if you get it from the Maitre D is always maybe. On the ships with small number of table for 2 the chances are quite low. If this is really important to you, better fork out the money for Aurea. Yes.

OK, final conclusion, it is just absolutely unpredictable if it works or not 😄

Another possible thing is you booked with a TA not directly with MSC. Then you cannot link the bookings by yourself (but your TA should be able)

The answer unfortunately is maybe. Just now MSC has changed their online check in system with the MSC for me app. Looks now totally as a airline boarding pass with the boarding time 🙂 You choose your own slot now, so if you have not checked in yet, do it 30 days before departure, then you should be able to get the 11 to 12 slot. As others said, this is not relevant for YC and Aurea guests. Should be around 9 or at least 9:30. But don´t underestimate the walk to the railway station, it looks close but the way out of the port is long.

We find the city of Athens slightly more interesting than the Musica. And there is absolutely no use to go from Athens to Piraeus, back to Athens, back to Piraeus, just to check in early.

Did you see that the cruise is sold out for all of September und October. Was told that we are in at Russian school holiday, so we know what to expect 😄

There is no difference between MSC and all the other cruise lines. But some port authorities act very inconsistent.

It maybe will reappear later. It not works always, yes, we had this experience also. All of you have the same drinks package or no drinks package, right? But at least I can say after many years with MSC, at the end on board the things are sorted out. Best is to get the group on one booking number, even if one books first, the others can be added with more cabins.

You should have chosen the dining time already during the booking process. If you all have the same "Level" (Bella or Fantastica), then you can easily link the bookings online and you will be seated together. Will be done directly when you enter the ship. The fun pass is not unlimited, just much cheaper if you buy before.

The circle shows how much you have done already. Did you enter your passport details already? This is step 1. Followed by credit card details and the photo. I did everything, but could only take the photo for myself. Still after a few days all boarding passes showed up. So the others have their photos taken at check in.

OK, this is a clear call for me. La Spezia / Cinque Terre is one of the 10 best cruise ports in the whole world, I doubt that anyone who has ever been to Cinque Terre dares to deny this. Naples is also one of my favorite ports in the Med, one of the few I could go 10 times and always something to do and see (and eat). Palermo and Valletta are both nice ports for a fine city walk, but not the category of the two others. So I would only choose the Europa if you are 1000 percent sure that a later (better sooner) day you will visit Cinque Terre anyway and 100 percent sure about Naples. If you choose the Fantasia starting the cruise in Naples is the best choice for a lot of reasons🙂