perakcruiser

Depends on where you booked, you will read it on the MSC website of your market. Nowadays almost only the US pax get the DSC added to the room account, most others have to pay in advance with the booking. But I am not sure if MSC has a special website/procedures for Canada.

Yes they will hold it for you and return on the evening before the cruise ends. But if it is just one bottle they maybe let it pass anyway. Depends a lot on the motivation of the security staff.

Famous quote from MOL: "If I would get only 1 € for everyone who says "I will never fly with Ryanair again" and then flies with us again, I would be the richest man in human history" 😄 Over the years I also many times said "Not acceptable, next time I cruise with another line". And when I search for the cruise then MSC comes around with this:

Wow, never seen MSC being so generous, Option 2 is a crazy good deal. Must have something to do with the money they got from Qatar for borrowing the Opera 😄

They are rolling it out in Europe, the US market maybe will be the only one not to follow as your laws allow them the trick with the fake prices that are not final. And US pax probably have no problem with this as they are used to it. As MSC has no Malaysian webpage we usually book with them in Europe, I think two years before the gratuities became mandatory and were included in the final price already, you just could choose if you want to pay at booking time (with a good discount) or on board. On my last MSC booking a couple of weeks before I could not choose and the gratuities were not seperated from the cruise price anymore. Only for the Voyagers 5%, these are deducted from the price without gratuities.

It starts EVERY DAY somewhere. You can book Rotterdam 2nd Nov, Zeebrugge 3rd, Southampton 4th and so on.

Ah, I see, that is the one with Cherbourg. Also was thinking about that one (because of Mont-Saint-Michel) and booking on MSC UK because of the free water and hot drinks. Still don´t really understand why you Brits get this and the other Europeans not😄 But in the end Hamburg was the easier starting point for us.

Depends on "compared to what". 5% are 5%. A free photo is nice as the photos are very expensive (on all lines). Not needing to line up for a tender ticket is in my opinion the biggest perk, priority embarkation and disembarkation also nice. And then the free speciality restaurant visit, at least for Black/Diamond this is not bad at all. Certainly there are two worlds, the world before the status match when almost nobody had Black and even Gold was something rare to see. Nowadays I guess on US cruises people without Black or Gold are already a minority 😄 Next thing, MSC is a European cruise line, yes, they want to rock the US market also, something nobody else is trying. But compared to their European rivals the Voyagers Club actually have the BEST perks. Their biggest rival TUI Cruises is offering NOTHING at all, they not even recognize if you made many cruises with them before. AIDA and Costa do have a program but reaching the higher levels is almost impossible for people who do not cruise with them all the times. Actually at AIDA it is not even possible to reach level 2 of 5. And level 1 gives you exactly nothing and level 2 onboard credit of 15 Euro.

Certainly the salaries on a cruise ship are much higher compared to my country. Maybe around fife times higher for waiters, cooks, room stewards. And even more when we talk about the Indos and Pinoys. That is why these jobs are so popular. On top, someone that works at a Dominos in Jakarta or Manila never in his life has seen a tip. That actually really happens. Almost nobody can remove the gratuity any more, MSC collects it already with the cruise price and the option to let it add day by day to the cruise bill is gone. As I prefer "final price" and no late additions I am happy about this.

I would say the world is divided into the societies that see tipping as antisocial behaviour. And others that see not-tipping as antisocial behaviour. For me tipping is antisocial and should not exist in a modern civilized society, but that is just my point of view, I have no interest that my opinon becomes an eternal law. Things get strange when people think they have the absolute truth on their side. And everybody should behave like Americans. For some stange reasons "normal workers" usually have a much better income in non-tipping societies. Certainly you can do whatever you want, it is not about MSC forbids tipping, they just "do not recommend". It is not about guests are not allowed to tip, it is about if workers are allowed to take the tips. Maybe MSC already has given up their non-tipping policy in the US cruise market. So do with your money whatever you want, but by no means tipping makes you a "giver" and others a "taker".

Because the Virtuosa starts there on Nov 8. We will go there on Nov 6 already.

I am on the same cruise and refuse to think about the test before 1 Nov. I was told that there are unlimited test options in Hamburg where you get a certificate after 15 minutes. It is either free, costs 3 Euro or maximum 15 Euro.

It is as simple as this. If someone books the cheapest option for flights, hotels and even parking long in advance without any options for changing, then he has to take the risks. And the Virtuosa is a wonderful ship I am delighted to touch a second time this year in a few weeks.

As you have probably read many times: "MSC does not recommend tipping individual members of staff". But as you are still asking, if you want to tip someone above the Service Charge, you can do so. Just do it as discreet as possible. Don´t cause troubles for someone by tipping him in front of other staff. Or in the worst case in front of his superiors. Another option is to raise the Service Charge at the Guest Relations Manager if you want to give more than the norm of 14 USD per person per night.

Check if YC can still be selected on your date. If not, then maybe it is the reason for no bidding possible. It was in this way the last time for me. But no need to be disappointed, if no YC cabins left then also the bidding would have failed.

Depending on their mood they sometimes call all there Aurea Balcony cabins "Suites", sometimes and earlier "Junior Suites". But even then "Available with Suites" is wrong as Aurea cabins are also available as Oceanview on newer ships. Or it is a Oceanview Suite😄 Relevant for the Experience perks is always and only the booked Experience, never the cabin type.

I was on a Caribbean cruise on the Armonia and teenagers were sent away from the Aurea restaurant because of wearing short trousers. But this was a cruise from Havana where US guests did or could not show up, all Europeans, Asians and Latin Americans. Probably they adopt the dress code enforcement for different markets.

First, MSC has not too much to do with this. The offer is from the "upgrade company" that also is working for many airlines. For the flight upgrade from economy to business I never ever got a good offer from them, already the minumum bid was not worth it. For MSC cruises I sometimes get not so bad offers, actually quite amazing ones. From Inside Bella to YC Inside for 330€ p.P. Or from Oceanview Bella to Balcony Deluxe for 60€ p.P. Certainly no guarantee that the minimum bid will work. Sure most of the offers are useless, but that is the game. If you have Fantastica Balcony already then certainly the chances to get a good upgrade deal are very limited. And MSC prices change so often, don´t expect the upgrade company to react on this all the time.

I had so many Covid tests around the world in the last two years. All kind of and certainly at the beginning of the pandemic they were much more expensive then now. Yes, I was scammed a couple of times as a foreigner, but never ever close to 195 USD. Even for this, which is certainly not necessary for a cruise, 195 USD would be a scam. Just a smaller scam, not the biggest in the world.

As many other European cruise companies lifted the testing requirements in the last two weeks MSC certainly had to follow. Good that they reacted fast.

$195 seems to be the biggest COVID scam worldwide since beginning of the pandemic. And there have been oh so many scams.

As discussed many times here, the Switzerland HQ of MSC is not dealing any daily business of MSC Cruises. All is done in Napoli, Italy.

This guess was kind of educated guess, Poesia cannot cruise around in November and December, she also has to work at the World Cup 😄 https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28291-doha-set-for-three-msc-ships-and-other-cruise-ships-for-world-cup.html

Not true. If the TA is not really qualified to deal with MSC better book by yourself and don´t give away the booking to a second (third) party. If the TA is somebody that speaks the language MSC fluently, let him speak on your behalf.

With a TA that is well connected. MSC ranks TA in five categories. My TA has the highest rank "Commander" and does not lie when he says that they have a "good connection" to MSC. Can even change a "Bella" booking without letting MSC messing up things 😄