perakcruiser

Yes and it is included in your drinks package. All speciality and iced coffees are only available in ONE coffee bar. As far as I remember it is the Infinity bar. You also can go to the chocolatier place and pay a hell of money for the same thing, but in my opinion this would be the most stupid way to spend money on board 🙂

Actually all people we spoke with said that it was almost perfect and the best value cruise they ever had. I totally agree. From my 10 MSC cruises this was clearly number 1 when considering what I paid and what I got.

8€. But this numbers will change very soon of cause, all is from times before the € crashed.

This is the Divina wine list, the wines and prices have nothing to do with MSC in Europe. I don't know if MSC used the ugly Dollar list or the happy Euro list on the TA, but I am sure a solution can be found on board 😉 But there is no us wine available with easy plus in Europe, the only us option, "woodbridge by Robert M." is 8.50 euro.

Are you mixing up a Caribbean and Mediterranean cruise? There will be lots of wines available for easy plus. From the Sommelier Suggestion as well as from the normal wine list. Expect 2 rose, 6 reds, 6 whites. Asti and prosecco also. And of cause also the easy wines (not recommended). MSC will not assist with moving the bags pier to pier, but this is no problem at all in Civita. Most have to pay the daily service charge in advance with the cruise price, some (mainly or only US bookings) still get it charged every day to their account.

Some people may like it, others not. But after seeing the 360 view i am absolutely sure that MSC will raise the prices for these two cabins after "test market" is finished. Size and layout plus the proper ocean view from the balcony totally convinces me.

Mainly they control by not selling anymore day passes. Sometimes no day passes at all are sold at all during the cruise. Also the cruise passes bought in advance are limited. I am not sure if you need to make a reservation for sea days right now, that is still a COVID related topic.

Aurea have their own restaurant on Arminia with (at least before COVID) a more exciting menu.

You can buy on board, subject to availability. But it is crazy expensive to buy a day pass on board. About 80 euro for single and 120 for couple. No official price for week pass, have to ask and negotiate. No half day pass or so available. The Virtuosa Spa is quite nice and they control the crowds good.

I was told that these face to face checks have been already mandatory before Brexit. Sometimes it works well with borderforce coming on board already the evening before (even if the port before Southampton is abroad). Sometimes it ends in chaos, because they come in Southampton, come late and with very limited personnel. While I can understand that the UK wants to protect its border, it would be nice to know how many illegal immigrants ever entered their country on a cruise ship with a UK/Schengen/Commonwealth passport. Probably in all the years less than borderforce officers checking the 2600 passengers.

All speaking Cantonese and not Mandarin and probably zero Chinese passports 😄 I am not willing to blame MSC for this. I was told that it was the same with other cruise lines and I hope all cruise lines could work together in not accepting this treatment by British immigration. If Southampton is not able to handle a cruise ship then the cruise ships should not stop at Southampton (yes, I know, the British market is way too important for such a decision). I am happy to agree, what a pleasant surprise this was! About the queue jumping you are right, but on the other hand I can understand people panic because they will miss their flights or trains and maybe have to work the next day and cannot stay in Southampton. We just relaxed because we were not in a hurry and ignored everything. Only after lunchtime (!) the situation got better.

The whole process is ridiculous and I don´t want to offend anyone, but what the British are doing here is absolutely not understandable. I don´t think there is a second cruise port in the world that causes such chaos and it probably would be easier for the cruise lines to stop at North Korea. I am not sure how many borderforce people come on board to do these face to face checks but I would not be surprised if the answer is 2. One for Schengen/UK, one for rest of the world. And the "funny" thing is that they mostly hurt their own people disembarking in Southampton. They are the ones, who miss their trains, busses or flights home.

Educated guess, these are the prices for the World Cup 😄

Could be me. Also 15 years of cruising and not in any port around the world, no matter if Europe, America, Africa or Asia, experienced a disaster like this.

Yes, with Diamond you always can board "with the next group", no matter, when you arrive. That depends on the port and even more on the number of people boarding. On a cruise with multiple boarding ports the situation is very relaxed. If you go from Miami on a full ship you can expect to wait many hours if you arrive 11am instead of 3pm without YC, Aurea or Diamond.

Exactly the same. I like Celebrity a lot, but usually they fail to compete with MSC prices. If it would be almost the same I would choose Celebrity. Just not have seen this for years, so I am happy with MSC.

Yes, that is because the "gift", in our case also the precious 1 €/$ string back pack is delivered on one special day of the week. If a 4 day cruise does not include this day, no gift.

Yes, the items have not changed, exactly the same now. But I still wonder what this cruise was, much higher prices than normal and Pounds instead of Euros or Dollars. Probably something UK only during Covid days.

The drill happens every day, you don´t need to do it on boarding day. Very good idea to board 4-6 pm, the morning in Southampton is usually a complete disaster, no matter if you want to board or leave the ship. I really have no idea what the British immigration is thinking/doing.

I often had interest to do it, but it was ALWAYS booked out long in advance. I guess it is the only MSC cruise that is always full and not getting cheaper if you book very late. Unfortunately I have no change to plan the next August so many months in advance.

I never saw a MSC cruise bar list with prices in British Pounds. The prices on the Virtuosa from Southampton are much lower. The £8 beers are €6.50 and the £9 beers are €7.00. So all is included in Easy plus.

No, MSC is just cheaper. I guess the main reason is that it is a family owned business and not a stock market company. And probably it is not a disadvantage that it's mother company is one of the largest shipping companies in the world (still family owned).

But this is the only useful answer that can be given. And as long as the Europa works at the world cup nobody knows about the real thing starting end of December.

Same thing again, it is really simple, this time opposite. So again, 409 is the price of a Fantastica inside but right at the moment you were looking there was a Bella inside available for 359. It is probably really exactly one Bella cabin. MSCs famous IT cannot react every second on incoming and returned cabins. As @Aeroplex said, usually in the morning some new cabins are coming in. To answer your next question, yes, one single booking can effect all the prices. Sometimes a Bella is not available, but if you book a Fantastica maybe one day later new Bellas are showing up.

Very simple, the 109 is a Bella inside which is not available anymore/at the moment. The 119 is a Fantastica inside, that means you can choose the cabin (and other Fantastica advantages like room service for breakfast). About the 4 night you made the right conclusion. Other than the US and Asian cruise companies, which are advertising fantasy prices that never can be booked, MSC is advertising correct and real prices according to European law.