perakcruiser

Yes, but even before you could ask to get the card instead of the stamp. Things have changed dramatically. Israel tourists can go to UAE and Bahrain and during the WC also to Qatar. I was thinking some time over this and I really wonder what contact with gov officials one could have there except the moment they stamp your passport at immigration. By the way, as a tourist I found life much more difficult in Israel on a Shabbat that during Ramadan in muslim countries.

Yes, Trieste gets much more cabins allocated than Bari and the other ports. You have not been to Europe if you haven´t been on a Ryanair flight 😄 And the trains in Italy are very cheap if you book online well in advance.

I don´t think there is any region that is more safe. For any faith.

Oh, I did not know this, I did not book a package with them. It is a little bit annoying that I need to decide the day now without knowing the dinner menu of that day.

Traditionally the demand for specialty dining is extremely low on MSC (and other European lines). A couple of years before I thought if they had any guest the whole evening as they were always completely deserted. That has changed (sometimes), status match to diamond, butchers cut and more US pax are the reason. If one day "fully booked" becomes a topic at dining or spa, then MSC maybe will follow Celebrity's example.

Certainly MSC needs to fully pay for the airline tickets. Every cruise line. Recently had a Celebrity cruise with a date change, they offered to pay my air tickets or be happy and take OBC.

Celebrity scaled back and MSC has improved the food. That´s a fact, not opinion. On the other hand Celebrity has sometimes great prices in the Med that rival or even undercut MSC.

No, your rate is fixed.

I just hope they don't give up any old ship. And certainly I want to see them attack the Germans and RCCL in South East Asia 😄

Don´t worry, excellent wines will be available for you. People usually have problems to distinguish wines they don´t like from bad wines. For example I don´t like/drink Rioja, Chianti, Barolo, ... , but it would certainly be ridiculous to say that these wines are undrinkable. Obviously MSC has a great selection of Italian wines, some varieties like Regale I never heard of before. Try the Regale Rosso Andreucci. Having said that, things go very different when talking about the (few) house wines included in the easy package. I would not call them undrinkable, but I would also not pay money for them.

Yes, they have, bar stuff usually can do it in landside quality. Not on the menu most of the time/bars, but included in Easy. Just ask, if he cannot do, he will tell you with bar to go. I love it.

Back is at 15:48 if I remember correct. All not really perfect. The overpriced Cruise Express also not always running.

Sure. But it contains Chlorine, same as with the other cruise lines.

Do you really think these call center agents have ever been on a MSC ship? Certainly they know nothing about the ships. OK, it took me also some years to find out that all questions asked landside are a waste of time. You will have no problem to do this. Even for Non-YC this request will be entertained on the spot.

MSC used Terminal 6, the RCCL terminal? OMG. Was the main terminal closed?

There is no shuttle from MSC, their shuttle goes from Zeebrugge to Blankenberg. There is a public bus from the church in Zeebrugge almost directly opposite the port. But not many rides per day. Blankenberg has much more rides, you can take the tram to there.

Did you cruise any other European line except MSC? From the Europeans I sailed MSC had the best shows. And they definitely spent the most money on shows. Not to talk about the Asian lines where entertainment means just casino 😄

All tiers except Classic get the OBC, but it is 9 months, not 6.

I don´t think this is a holiday week anywhere in Europe as school holidays in Europe are usually connected to Easter (before that date) and Pentecost (after).

Lirica-class for example. The "Junior Suite" we had on the Armonia in 2011 is now Aurea.

They are not. Maybe sometimes and in your case, depends on the ship. On the older ships Aurea cabins are the cabins formerly known as Junior Suites. And there are so many factors, which ship and of cause which embarking port. Certainly all ports get their share of Aurea cabins, that can limit the available ones for a minor port to very few.

Don't forget, MSC is not doing this upgrade stuff, it is an external company. The one that also does the flight upgrade offers for many airlines. The offers are completely different as I know from family cruises with more cabins. Actually my three year old daughter got very attractive offers to upgrade from Oceanview to balcony or YIN, maybe because she was expected to consume much less alcohol compared to the other YC guests.

Preziosa ❤️

No, not have. I was making this point because of how much the market changed in the last 10 to 15 years. Before MSC was so small, not a relevant contender, Costa ruled the Med, on the US markets nobody expected that a foreigner can ever conquer a relevant share. Now MSC is not only number one in all European markets from Italy to Norway, but also in Asia, Africa, South America. And they build a terminal in Miami, set up Ocean Cay and so on. Anyway, I am looking forward to my first cruise with Celebrity since 2012, after that I jumped ship to MSC (and other European lines). By the way after my booking I was a little bit shocked about the MDR menu I saw in the app (that could not compete with MSC, certainly I expect X being a good step above MSC), but thankfully that has been changed meanwhile. By the way, I also don’t particularly enjoy clapping and sing at dinner every night, but with so many people on board there is always a table with a birthday "kid" 😉 But it is a 60 second thing and the big napkin waving is only happing one time with the Baked Alaska parade, just a tradition...

No, you are right, this you will not find on MSC anymore I guess. It disappeared with the newer ship generations as the full program with classical music disappeared and only a small fraction is left. If you ever consider a MSC cruise go for the classical ships like the Armonia (but no YC there). Uncrowded and relaxed cruising (OK, probably not in July and August), where only very high prices and full fare for kids can keep the crowds away😄