perakcruiser

Unsurprisingly it is the "Masters of the Sea" pub. You should be able to see all the matches, but be prepared that the big screen there is reserved for Serie A of cause 😉 But on a cruise from Barbados to Southampton there is maybe room for discussion about this selection 😄

That reports often come from the Christmas holiday cruises of the Virtuosa when every cabin is booked and the maximum number of kids is on board. I have cruised Virtuosa two times and the cruises were the opposite of overcrowded, actually the least crowded MSC cruises I had because the ship is really big. Actually I am quite happy that these christmas / new year cruises are so expensive that it protects me from booking them 😄 Food on Virtuosa in Northern Europe was also better than on other MSC ships.

Not much has changed, only the "Wellness" category has been discontinued and Aurea has been watered down heavily. Certainly the Virtuosa is a much more exciting ship than the one you sailed before. Free drinks at the buffet are the same as before, water, coffee, tea. Entertainment has been watered down also, maybe you are lucky with the Virtuosa and still catch up some classical music. Overall a standard balcony cabin on Virtuosa without a drinks package is definitely a good choice you will not regret.

OK, including the entrance fees it is a different story, I thought it only was the shuttle. "Interesting" they raised the entrance from 4 to 40 Euros. Celebrity is a different story, if you not book their excursions with 50% off during Black Friday sale 😉

Sorry, I did not see any and I am not sure if they allowed to enter the port area. You better check the situation when embarking.

Wow, that is crazy expensive for 17 or 18 km. Best is to walk away a few meters from the port and then show you negotiation skills. Not too easy as the people there see cruise passengers as idiots or at least very easy victims.

With our last two MSC cruises in November 23 and May 24 in mind, I have to say that it went down to zero in Europe also 😞 Celebrity (!) provided a lot of great music in January 24. Europe goes goes down the drain in so many ways, really sad to see.

That is ambitious, you better take taxi. Otherwise it is a 1 km walk from the port exit to the bus stop (Garibaldi-V.Emanuele) and then 25 minutes by bus number 16. We got off in Bari a few weeks before, it was most relaxed, but I cannot tell you when disembarking started, we were sleeping at this time and at 11:00 it was totally straightforward. But it was very early.

20€ per day is the usual "best" offer in all markets I have seen. That does not mean, that a 10 € per day does not exist, but nobody should expect to get it.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely impossible. MSC will never rethink this. And the problem port is Southampton, not Rotterdam, because it is not a Schengen port and causes all kinds of trouble. But UK market is too important I guess.

The "No" in my reply was related to "Maybe that's changed" 😉

No, cruise ships never dock at the new port, always tender to the old habour far away. Since many many years.

The mini fridge has beer, water and soft drinks, for wine it is best to help yourself, that means bring unfinished bottles from dinner to the room. Espresso is cheap (around 2 USD), cappuccino is expensive (around 4 USD).

As you know you cannot call them, you mailed them and have to wait. Sometimes they react, sometimes not. Five days is not really long.

Absolutely no problem to change his card to your room. Do this BEFORE he gets his kids bracelet. The kids bracelet is mandatory, has nothing to do with these bracelets you can buy. Yes correct, done this many times. I am not sure about the Mera, but you are aware that the European Championship starts next weekend and soon after the Copa America? Usually MSC uses the theater for the matches then and no more regular shows. If the shows continue, booking with the app one or two days before should be enough. Pretty hard to make the decision for myself, impossible to say what is best for you 🙂

In Europe the gratuities are included in the price because they cannot be removed. You have to pay them before boarding otherwise no boarding. As long as they are not mandatory in the US, MSC maybe will not include them to show lower prices.

Welcome to the first world, USA.

Most European cruise lines will now stop the theater shows for the European championship. Not sure about US sailings but soon there is the Copa America too. So they probably need every space for showing the matches.

Or cricket as an American with a Pakistani for the next 50 years.

Ignore what others say, basically this is a great idea. I for myself know very well how tough it is to stay in the European winter for many months, never having a durian or other nice fruit from home. Not even a dragon fruit. But here is the point, I don't think your grocery store, even it's called "international", can provide this.

Has nothing to do with queue. Basically it is only a information for the check in agent.

A nearby Corte Ingles is the best attraction in many ports, for example it is the by far best sight in boring Palma de Mallorca, only reason to leave the ship there for me 😄 Also great to buy the gifts for friends and family. In Tenerife it is located at the bus station for the bus to the airport. Also strategically good. Vigo I have been in my student days when I liked to do the "Interrail" in Europe. Remember that I went to the ticket counter in Madrid to buy a ticket to "Celta". I only knew the football club and thought the name of the city is "Celta" not "Vigo". It really was a long discussion to get the ticket in these pre-internet-days 😄 The only other thing I remember from Vigo is the fish market where I ate wonderful fresh clams on a Sunday morning after arriving with the night train from Madrid.

McDonalds staff uniforms even have no pockets so that they cannot take tips. I don´t know if it is still forbidden for them to take tips as before, but it cannot be denied that the success of these fast food chains is based on the no tipping policy and not on the food 😄 MSC nowadays is much more relaxed about staff getting and keeping tips after they made the DSC mandatory in Europe I think they don´t really care anymore if someone tips above this.

These private charters are totally uncommon in Europe, by no means it happens for the Preziosa from Southampton in spring 2025.