perakcruiser

4 hours ago, SalthMate said:

Have a great cruise on MSC  Meraviglia! I'll be back on her on Nov 20-28th (Thanksgiving cruuse!). Do the Italians eat turkey for Thanksgiving? 😂

No. And Thanksgiving has a different date all around the world for a obvious reason 😉

But as MSC USA now seems to be allowed to do more and more their own thing there should be a Turkey on the menu für US Thanksgiving. Especially when no other nationalities are allowed anyway. 

23 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Following as I will be sailing solo and do not care to "join" for dinner.  I will say that there were almost NO tables for 2 recently on the Divina.  

Sure, but Fantasia Class and Meraviglia Class are very different in terms of table for 2. Not to speak about Musica and Lirica. 

10 minutes ago, TomNorth86 said:

I enjoy spinning, and typically do Peloton classes on my iPad. I noticed that there are spin bikes in the gym - does anyone know if these are available for solo use? I don’t feel as comfortable doing a group class. 

As far as I remember these spin bikes are put away when there is no group spinning going on. 

According to my knowledge there is no free lunch 🙂 (and dinner) with room service. And especially not the normal menu from the restaurant. This will only be delivered to you if you are sick (confirmed by ship hospital). The happiness of the private balcony can only be enjoyed at breakfast. 

But with the probably low occupancy in November and Fantastica and the quite high number of tables for 2 I think there is a good chance for you that you get of these for you alone. 

As "MSC COVID 19 PROTECTION PLAN" is mentioned on the cruise booking PDF I don´t think that we need to bring anything else. 

18 hours ago, styles27 said:

Sure “never check the price again” if you live in Europe I guess, because you really can’t do anything about it.
In the states we can, so I do check it often and it pays off for us. 😊

That is true for sure 🙂

4 hours ago, 8420PR said:

If you do book don't forget all the cruises are currently offered with the 5+15% voyagers club discount.

Oh yes, and at least in some markets even more:
 

5%+15% OFF + ONBOARD CREDIT €/$50 PER PERSON* + DOUBLE POINTS

We will take this cruise in January. 

The prices are very attractive, I expect a lot of Italians and EXPO tourists. I figured out already how to go to the EXPO and back from Dubai port and Abu Dhabi port, it is very easy and the shuttle busses are free. 

But if @KINGBOBOFTHENORTH could enlighten us about the EXPO to the boat in Abu Dhabi route when  back, that would be great. 

By the way, if this cruise is cheaper from Abu Dhabi or Dubai, choose the cheaper one, the connecting buses are free throughout the EXPO as mentioned. 

MSC is a world company, not US company that acts also in other markets.

So they follow the local law for their markets. And have to respect what the competitors do in some market and what the customer expects. Always keep in mind everything you say or experience is only valid for your market. 

For example in most European markets even after the downpayment there is zero chance for any refund or OBC when the price drops. You just can cancel the booking and lose all the downpayment and rebook. MSC gives a best price guarantee valid for 72 hours after downpayment, if the price drops in this 72 hours you are eligable for the lower price.

We are cruising with MSC for about 15 years and another Golden Rule apart from "Never call MSC after your booking is as you want it" is "If you liked the price and booked the cruise, never check the price again" 🙂 

7 hours ago, Seadweller001 said:

My prediction:  in 10 years MSC will be the largest cruiseline in the world, privately owned with ZERO accountability to shareholders.

This will not take 10 years. They are unstoppable. 

MSC and Celebrity are my favorite cruise companies. But for different reasons, comparing is not so easy, because MSC is way cheaper. If you have been spoiled by Celebrity for many years then you should go for MSC only with the newer ships and not with Lirica- or Musica-Class. 

The annoying Over-Friendliness of the Celebrity crew not appears on MSC, that is a good thing for many. Gyms are great, overall the (new) MSC ships are more spectacular, Celebrity food is better. But no drama, MSC has a lot of exciting signature dishes. 

Indeed both are great choices, but really keep this in mind:
 

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

And always remember the MSC Golden Rule:  Once your reservation looks the way you want it to, for God's sake, don't call MSC about anything!

Just to add: "And when onboard, for God's sake, only go to the ship reception if it is really, really, really necessary."

Probably I destroyed it with a not so complicated booking they had to change two times today (because they have the well-known problems with maths). After final payment it looked good, but only for a few moments then no more login 😄

Finished a booking today that started yesterday. Also a sensational comedy of errors, but hey, thats MSC, in the end one can be so proud that he managed this challenge. 

Just that I cannot log in on the MSC website anymore, but I think that is part of the game 😄

On 10/21/2021 at 4:53 PM, Beamafar said:

The most common gift has been a tote bag

Ah yes, that was it indeed. And we used it as a dirty clothes bag 🤭

I remember it came at the end of the cruise with one of the last room services. But it was so low value I already forget. You can go the MSC shop on board and see what is the cheapest MSC souvenier and than you will probably get 🙂

As I said, I don´t remember what it was, but I remember that it was 2 or 3 € in the gift shop.

No definite answer to this. Sometimes Italy will be better, sometimes UK and sometimes US. But you cannot look just on the price, the conditions are very different. 

For example the US offers usually look very cheap, but "Gov. fees, taxes & port charges" are not included. On the other hand they give "MINERAL WATER AND COFFEE IN DINING ROOM". 

I found it too much work to go thru all this and prefer booking on a MSC website where at least all fees are included and the price it the final price. 

If someone is going on a Middle East cruise before mid January we would love to know about going to the EXPO from Abu Dhabi. There are free shuttle busses from Abu Dhabi to the EXPO but not from the port. 

The Saudi eVisa seems to be crazy expensive? In this case we leave it to what MSC offers and stay on board if it is more than 30€. We actually only go there for the EXPO, so the cruise is not really important, but looking forward to see the Virtuosa. 

On 10/13/2021 at 3:03 AM, shipgeeks said:

My understanding is that Bella and Fantastica have set dining times, and Aurea has flex dining.

 

Basically yes, but before Covid 19 on some Lirica-Class ships and some routes, some Fantastica Cabins (Balcony) also qualified for flex dining.  No idea if it is still in this way.

9 hours ago, codeyell0 said:

Alfredo is a simple sauce maybe in Italy they make it different but the sauces were lacking IMO. The bolognaise was great.  

Alfredo sauce is not common in Italy. Mainly exists in the Rome area and is quite (or totally) different from the product in US.

MSC has some great signature pasta dishes (since many years), but for first time cruisers with them it is hit and miss.

Lower deck?

And after stretching all new magnifica cabins will probably be Fantastica, more of the older in front and back will be Bella

I hope one day all countries in the world will reach a level where these ridiculous "taxes and fees" are not allowed to add to the price. I love the Europeans for this.

4 hours ago, sidari said:

PC ... What you quote for Germany may well be right, in my earlier post setting out the charges the Costa text about charges is direct from the UK website! and the German ruling clearly does not apply.

Yes, but the question is "Is Costa following UK law with this procedure or not?". Do you not have the "final price" rule like the other Europeans? Then why don´t the cruise lines not charge you these port taxes? Or do they? 

I suspect a little bit that Costa is breaking UK law like they did in other countries before, but nobody sued them so far 😄

7 hours ago, pepper said:

I would really want to do tubing, rafting, or falls - most tours I've checked out online are morning or 12:30 departures, and Shoreexcursioneer site says we are not in port long enough for their excrusions of that type 😞  Any advice or assistance please?

Just go with the MSC excursion as you arrive 1pm. Certainly you can buy many excursions also at the chaotic port area when you go off the boat, but as everything else, it is not cheap in Jamaika. Room for negotiations maybe is limited when it is 2pm and they know you need to go immediately 😉

12 hours ago, sidari said:

Costa have not abolished the mandatory charge!

They did. Go to the German website and use Google Translate. Or to make it short "Servicegebühren inbegriffen" means "Service charges included". As it is required by German law. My brother sailed Costa last year with a booking from the German website, he also had a drinks package included and his final bill was zero. Prices in Germany and most other developed countries 😉 have to be published including taxes and all other parts, thats why they call it final price law. I am a little bit shocked that the UK is not following this as I thought it is a place with exemplary consumer protection. 

If the EU should bring anything to all countries in the world that it is this final price law. Everything else is just customer cheating. 

8 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

. But your 'cute' $2 bills are actually a royal pain for them as they are much more difficult to exchange and they get a worse exchange rate.  They take them because something is better than nothing, but you aren't doing them any favors by doing this

How many times in your life you tried to exchange a $2 bill in Indonesia or the Philippines? Probably never, but you tell people here that you know exactly how it goes, great! Certainly you can exchange a bunch of small USD or EUR bills there also. Only these two currencies of cause. Somebody who has do it more often will also have the money changer of his trust (we all have here in SEA, also me in Malaysia), and will get a very good rate from them also. 

The Airport area is by far the worst choice. Hotels in Rome are quite cheap compared to other cities so we always stayed in Rome close to the railway station.  But why not spending the day in Rome and move in the evening to Civita, no bad plan either. You need to check the prices, on days with no cruise ships Civita is of cause much cheaper, I dont know what happens to the prices the day before a big MSC ship departs.