perakcruiser

No, unfortunately all the wonderful booklets are gone forever 😞

Think about something with 1 USD value, then you will be happy with a 2 USD value gift. Like a very simple lanyard or a even simpler tote bag.

No. But if you think about beer buckets, don't think about going on board without a drinks package 😄

Very well said, especially that "bribe" thing is the point. There are indeed some other countries in the world that share this excessive tipping culture with you, actually quite a lot. Where nothing can be done if only the official price is paid without a "tip". The idea to tip to get better service then others is really a very ugly thing and in my opinion should be proscribed. Having said this, I do also tip nowadays. Not so much on a cruise ship where the jobs and the salaries are good, but when using Grab (same like Uber) for a ride or a meal delivery. Those guys are using their own vehicles to do me a favour for very limited money. Certainly if the price is not so low, I would not tip, also happens. Has nothing to do with bribe as the service is already done and one probably will not meet the driver again in this life. And about how much tip? I guess there is a very simple internationally valid basic rule, the price of a coffee. Yes, I know, the Russians and the Chinese call it "tea money", the Germans "drinking money" 😄

Actually this is what I am dreaming of. That would make a cruise absolutely perfect. MSC has some pasta signatures that I always enjoy a lot, but a great pasta master that cooks up for us, that would be absolutely outstanding.

It has been discontinued a few years before. As the coffee package. As the water & wine packages. All were great value and perfect for our needs.

OK, one important thing you need to know (for all cruise lines). If you ask anything you need to provide the information WHERE you booked the cruise. If you booked this Italy to USA cruise with MSC USA or MSC Italy that makes a huge difference. Or MSC UK, MSC Germany, MSC Singapore, different legal systems, different terms and conditions. Totally different. If the gratuities are automatically charged to your onboard account? - Depends on where you booked. If the gratuities can be adapted/removed? - Depends on where you booked. Most markets even cannot remove if beaten up but the staff directly after embarkation (happens not too often). If you get free water in the dining room? - Depends on where you booked. If you get free coffee in the dining room? - That privilege seems to be restricted to the British only 😄 One thing is the same for all. 24 hours free water, coffee and tea (and milk) at the drinks stations in the buffet. So if you have no drinks package it is a good idea to select a cabin close to the buffet. If you have a cabin front ship on a lower deck you will probably die of thirst on the way there. Life saving 1 liter bottle mineral water should be €2,90 plus Service Charge.

Depends on. From Barcelona of cause. In Northern Europe defintely not. But in the Med and the three sessions on the Mera I got the shock of my life with a 10:15 pm dinner time printed on my cruise ticket. Called them and they changed. To a 5:30 pm dinner time which I also not liked and not knew before seeing it printed on my cruise card. On board was no problem to get the middle session.

From my experience the price difference between high and low season is even bigger than before. With all cruise lines I checked recently. Not MSC, but same ship, same cabin, same route, from 699 to 1749. And I am not even talking about Christmas or school holiday times.

During covid conditions this was the case. No spa passes available for Bella and Fantastica. Now should be back, so make sure your TA really asked MSC NOW and not just tells you outdated information. Sometimes they offer couples passes, but have not seen in a while.

No, this is to make Fantastica more attractive and will stay. But still Bella sells out so fast, especially Inside cabins, not so much Balcony where the people are more interested to select their cabins as many experienced restricted views with Bella. This I also have not heard before, I think still can. Just Fantastica has "Priority" with dinner time wishes. Heard about it, especially US. But that was never so in European main markets. Had to book Fantastica a couple of time before, because Bella was sold out and/or 3 pax in cabin. The only advantages for us were the free photo and the extra Voyager points. Now things are a little bit different, I totally dislike the idea of getting a cabin front ship in the lowest deck, to avoid this risk I am willing to pay the (not too big) price difference. Aurea is too confusing for me, I don´t want to think too much about it. If I would spend this amount, I would spend even more to go YC.

Well the title sounds like it, but the story certainly not. Totally unacceptable how MSC handled your case. Starting from no buffer zone to the quarantine cabins. Best recovery for you and your family.

OK, I found the differences between Bella and Fantastica are BIGGER now as you cannot select your cabin anymore with Bella. And a lot of cabins for more than 2 are only available with Fantastica. Apart from that the Fantastica advantage comes with the Voyager points. If you are close to reach Black and can make it with Fantastica then it is worth to pay the extra $$$. Which probably is the case with my next cruise.

Probably you booked with a travel agent and the agent forgot to ask you. Or you have overread it during the booking process.

They do have. A lot of sweet breakfast pastries, we like them. Coffee depends. The free coffee is OK, the paid coffee is great.

No. But the welcome buffet leaves nobody disappointed and is open the whole afternoon.

Usually you will get the slot you "order" when you make the booking. If MSC messes it up, happened to all of us, it can be changed at the first night with the Maitre D before the first dinner session. Not in the morning, not at lunch time, not at 5 pm (if that is not the start of the 1st seating), certainly not with the reception. Early session has advantages, the early one most cruisers NOT from Southern Europe prefer, but certainly it is not ideal for the days when the ship departs in the evening. Can you imagine the chaos if many first session Pax want to change to second session because the ship is in the port from 4pm to midnight? Well, MSC offers you to BUY flexibility (Aurea) and even flexibility plus attitude (YC) 😇

Sorry 😌

Mera is surely one of the nicest cruise ships around. Food is fine, the bad user reviews can be ignored completely. Certainly some dishes rock, some dishes fail, as I first time MSC cruiser you will probably order some dishes that sound good, but are not. And their hamburgers and hotdogs are something I personally totally dislike, but with 1 billion other options, that is not a problem at all.

Actually I managed to do this one time. From late to early session. Showed just up for the early session and asked "Could we join the early session today?". Answer was "No, go to the buffet". I said "No like, today is my favourite pasta dish on the menu, but I need to watch a very important football match later". The combination of Football and Pasta convinced the Maitre D, what else?, but we had to wait quite a long time to have a table assigned and he made us feel we asked him to change the ship in the middle of the cruise not just the dinner time. That was more than 20 years ago, but I still remember that after everything worked out well, coming back to the room just for kickoff. My team was down 0-3 after 30 minutes already and I stopped watching and went to a bar 😄

Well, it may sound harsh, but it is absolutely correct. You made a mess with the dinner time and continued to make it a personal matter/fight which never is a good idea. You maybe can be lucky to find a maitre D (certainly not at 5pm) that is willing to change for this night, but the normal answer is "No, please go to the buffet". If at this night there is a dish in the MDR you don´t want to miss and that does not exist at the buffet, you need to arrange your times, not they. Apart from that the extensive selling of drinks packages and speciality restaurants sounds totally annoying and disgusting. I never experienced it in almost 15 years of cruising with MSC also not in 2022. If that would happened in the past I would have gone straight to the reception and cancel the service charge completely. Now cannot cancel anymore, hopefully this is not giving them the go for these super annoying behaviour. Drinks at the buffet, yeah, old problemI thought they had improved, but obviously not consistent.

As MSC is only refunding on the US market (as fast as I know), maybe there is a legal reason for this?

It was never valid for all cruises.

That has nothing to do with MSC. Venchi is a third party tenant doing their own business in the way they think is most profitable.

Not suprised to hear, certainly another case of cultural differences. Something like a "Domestic partner" sounds reasonable in Canada, but this idea maybe will take decades to arrive in other countries. In Malaysia centuries.