perakcruiser

6 hours ago, xriva said:

MSC sees no reason to actually cater to Americans.

They need the Americans to fill the Yacht Clubs. I know a lot of Europeans that could easily afford like Americans, but they would never book it. 

And I think their stategy to throw away free Black Cards, free drinks vouchers and all this stuff to the Americans was successful. See this board and how crazy the Americans are about the YC. See other countries MSC discussion boards, almost no topics about the YC at all :D

You want to go for the water park and the slides? Then go for Seaside. If you are not interested in this, I would recommend the Meravigia. But at the end you don´t make any mistake with one of this ships. 

21 hours ago, apple_cutie01 said:

We were hoping it will be possible  to drop our luggage off first without boarding the ship and checking in to walk around Venice.  Is this possible? Has anyone had experience.  Your valued input is most appreciated.

Lugguage drop off and check in are two separate things. So this is no problem, you can do everything by walking from the train station. Actually we done this two times already when cruising from Venice. How far you can go in this rather small time window depends on your walking speed :D

On 1/1/2020 at 10:54 PM, abe3 said:

Anyone happen to know if the simulators on board the Meraviglia have minimum age, height, and/or weight requirements?  

Yes, there are, especially for the F1 simulator, because you will not reach the pedals if not big enough. But anyway I would say you need to know how to drive, this is not a kids video game. 

So these are real simulators, it is hell difficult to drive (fly). If you want to use, take a game pass, only the improvement brings the fun. 

My experience from the Armonia. Teenagers with shorts were turned away from the Aurea My Choice dining restaurants. 

4 hours ago, Até said:

There was no dinner menu difference for Aurea on Divina, Seaside or Meraviglia.  The only difference was Aurea got embarkation lunch in a main dining room, that one time menu was different and a little better than the regular lunch menu.

Thanks. So this is limited to Armonia class ships. 

4 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

 

Wait - are you saying that the menu for My Choice dining is different than the set dining time menu?

It is on Armonia (and probably the other ships from this class). Some dishes on the menu are the same as in MDR, but there are some upmarket alternatives. Actually the my choice menu on Armonia sounded close to a YC menu. 

9 hours ago, gratamama said:

However, I looked at things a bit more closely and I may suggest Seaside over Meraviglia to my parents. It seems like that ship is a bit stronger in the pool/outside game and that's what we're all there for anyway.

Your parents probably prefer the Mera, but both ships are great. The Mera is the classy beauty queen on the seven seas, but the Seaside has the wunderful outdoor deck 8 and the amazing water park. 

12 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

I thought eataly was gone from the Mera - maybe it's still there for shopping, but is there still a restaurant? 

Not surprised to hear this, this concept cannot work when you serve excellent pasta in the MDR and pizza at the buffet, that customers love for many years. 

9 hours ago, gratamama said:

And, as PP mentioned pasta on board is great wherever you eat it. We can do Eataly any day we want here in Chicago anyway.

Wow, a branch in Chicago, how lucky you are. Then also the shopping is useless for you, it is the same Afeltra pasta you get in any Eataly. 

By the way, I would love to know if the My Choice menu for Aurea on Seaside and Mera class is different from the MDR (like Armonia class) or not. If anyone is on the ships right now, please check.

23 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

We to have been to all the ports but have never found Palma and particularly Barcelona to be at all boring.

The problem is that the ships dock far away from Palma, so what to do? Palma itself is not something you need to see every year. And I would be happy for any idea that motivates me to leave the ship in Barcelona, I think I walked around every interesting part of the city. 

Now time for a song and part 2
 

Where have all the Indos gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Pinoys gone?
Long time ago
Brazilians took their jobs every one
When will MSC ever learn?
When will MSC ever learn?

STAFF (skip if you are not interested)

OK, it is October "now", the Seaview will go to South America for the winter, probably and hopefully next year the Indos and Pinoys will return. I don´t want to start any sensitive discussion, but they do the jobs als room steward and waiter best. Why? Because they love this work, they are happy that the managed to get it, they can sail around the world on a so beautiful workplace and get a good salary. Sure, sure, no sterotypes please, but this is my experiece for many years, while the staff from Middle and South America (or Eastern Europe, Westerners anyway not present as well as Malaysians) seemed always a little bit annoyed and unhappy complaining many things. Last time on the Armonia in the Carribean I asked the room steward from Honduras why he not changes to an American line if he don´t like MSC and he said there life is even worse. Well ...

Our Brazilian waitress in the MDR seemed to be rather annoyed also. Her area was super-international with totally different nationalities. The biggest group was Chinese and here I need to ask again "When will MSC ever learn?". You need one of your Mandarin speaking staff and not Brazilians to handle Chinese, is this so difficult? Especially if you have them on board. On day 2 the Brazilian girl was missing and a Pinay did her area, she could communicate in Chinese (and many other, also little bit Bahasa), so I thought finally they learned. Until the Brazilian girl came back the next day, she only was sick, MSC did not learn. From day 3 onwards the big Chinese group stayed away from the MDR, that at least made service for us much faster :)

Conclusio: Overall service was OK, but we don´t care too much about service and as usually cancelled the evening turnover of the cabin. The factor that you go for dinner and look forward to meet your waiter again was missing, no big thing.

Tomorrow will be food (you will not skip this)

7 hours ago, rh1677 said:

Kids Club - there are not enough words to say how great the staff and the club are!  Every day was a different theme and party for the kids.  The kids even performed a Christmas night singing and dancing show in the Atrium.  My son wanted to be in the club as much as possible and would watch the clock of it to open. 

Yes, this is what I said, as soon as you have kids you anyway have no choice and need to book MSC. The thing is, if I would have known this BEFORE our kids came, we would have sailed more often with other lines, now it is too late :D

4 hours ago, gratamama said:

Hi all,

My parents are celebrating their 50th (!!) wedding anniversary in 2020 and they so very graciously want to treat our group of 12 (4 cabins) to a vacation. We're a diverse group of age and lifestyles, so it looks like maybe a Christmas break trip, and more specifically a cruise.

 

We've done Carnival and RC before - never MSC. Looking at Meraviglia for 12/20/20 or 12/27/20 sailings.

 

This ship looks beautiful and it looks like it can have a lot for our group (4 kids ages 6-16) and my active 72 yo parents. Also considering this is for my parents to enjoy, I love that its a little more glam. My mom is a lover of Europe/ Italy specifically and i can see her enjoying Eataly, Cirque de Soleil, etc.

 

It might be silly but a few things give me pause on this ship over something like maybe the newer Carnival ships. Are any of these justified? Or tell me they are easily surmountable?

1. To get the equivalent of My Time dining, it looks like added cost, which is maybe not in the cards? correct?

2. I know this sounds insanely silly, but no soft serve ice cream machines? That is my kids' favorite part?!?! 🙂

3. Evening entertainment for kids: beside shows, what's available? I don't think they do movies on the big screen?

 

I say all the time that I want something different/classier than Carnival/ RC, but maybe that's not totally true!?!?

If it is more "classier" or not, that solely depends on your fellow passengers. The Meraviglia empty is definitely "superclassy", more or less unmatched. But as you realized the prices are so cheap and the kids policy is so italian that many low or no income families can afford to book (in Europe, not in US), maybe this will make you feel it is even less classy than Carnival. That´s why some people are hiding in the YC :D

But enough from the class struggle in Beverly Hills, let´s bring some good news. For your mom (who seems to be like my mom) it will be surely great as for your kids. Problem, other moms and other people are not like our moms. For the vast majority of cruisers speciality dining is about expensive beef cuts and seafood. So the Eataly is not too popular, even it is exactly what you expect from it. And second problem, the pasta in the MDR and the pizza at the buffet is already so good, it is hard for the Eataly to gain customers. Not sure if it will survive. Anyway, Eataly is always Gragnano pasta which you will get in the MDR only two times or so. And you can buy the pasta and bring home. 

About your questions.

1. To get the equivalent of My Time dining, it looks like added cost, which is maybe not in the cards? correct?

-> You cannot buy My Choice Dining and you cannot book yourself in this area. On some ships the My Choice restaurant has it´s own menu that is close to the MDR menu but with some upgrades (more often Gragnano pasta, some signature dishes from speciality restaurants). Actually I don´t know if that is true for the Meraviglia, for the Armonia it is. My Choice is only for Aurea passengers. Don´t worry, the MDR will make you happy also.

2. I know this sounds insanely silly, but no soft serve ice cream machines? That is my kids' favorite part?!?! 🙂

-> Oh, long time that I have seen machines for soft ice cream. Cannot say if still available, but my guess is that your kids will lose the interest for soft ice after they tried gelato :D

3. Evening entertainment for kids: beside shows, what's available? I don't think they do movies on the big screen?

-> Yes, no movies. Actually the entertainment for kids usually happens at the kids club, also for older kids and also at night. Maybe you will not be too happy to heat, but on MSC ships the kids usually don´t have much interest to spend the evenings with the parents and vice versa. 

This was cruise number 8 with MSC, first our favourite ship was the Preziosa, then the Meraviglia, will it be the Seaview now?

Every day I will open a chapter, beginning with the route, certainly food will not be missing.

ROUTE

The Seaview is doing a little bit more interesting route in the Western med compared to other ships. While the ports Palma (boring), Genua (boring), Civitavecchia (boring) and Barcelona (boring) are boring, been there so many times with or without ships, the other three are not so common.  

Anyway we booked because we wanted to experience the one class of MSC ships that we have not tried yet. And of cause compare it with the Mera :)

But also the port of Ajaccio was new for us, so many good things heard about Corsica before. And to make the shortcut, all was true, Ajaccio was totally amazing. We took a public bus to the place on the frontpage of the tourist map you get at the port exit, Parata tower. Amazing, great area for short hiking, perfect for a half day trip for cruise visitors. On the way the bus passes a lot of beaches if you are in the mood for a swim. Many were from the Seaview, even it´s October! Certainly we were very lucky with the weather. 

In Genua it was raining heavily, well, we did not plan to leave the boat. But never been to Cinque Terre, you could do this from Genua, but we failed. So we prayed a lot for good weather on the next day. Successfully. Great weather, but off season the boat excursions along the Cinque Terre are a little bit limited. Can be booked on board for the same price than on land by the way. We planned to take the train and do some hiking. Well, it was a big hike and I was so happy that we had October and not August. And that all the terre had water refill stations. And gelato with Basil taste :) Wonderful place, don´t know many better in all over Europe. 

You can start this cruise probably at every port expect La Spezia (I guess as it is so close to Genua). We did at Cannes. Because I have not been to Cannes for many, many years and actually forgot everything. And in Europe it is very easy and cheap to fly to Nice. From Nice Airport you can directly go by train to Cannes every 30 minutes or so for friendly 12 Euro. We spent a couple of days before the cruise at the Cote d Azur, Cannes is definitely a good place to start this cruise. We took a flight not with Ryanair as usual, but with their daughter Laudamotion. Even it is the same company at the end the staff was much more friendly and the flights were great. Not too many people boarded at Cannes, so embarkation was very fast. But the day when we had to leave the Seaview heavy, heavy rain again. So we stayed as long on the ship as possible, almost until 14:00 when the rain finally got lighter. Cannes was the only tender port on this cruise, so the Gold advantage of priority tender tickets was useless for us. In the Caribbean we would have needed them so much, but at this time no Gold yet. More about the Voyager Club and the Experience levels later. 

Much later, tomorrow will be Service and Staff. Feel free to ask questions about anything. Pardon for my mistake, English is not my mother tongue as everybody easily can see/read ;)

Conclusio: When in Genua try to do the Cinque Terre. Not so easy as from La Spezia, but there should be excursions from the cruise company and with good planning you can make the northern part of Cinque Terre by train. I will not stay on the boat next time in Genua :) If there is a cruise with La Spezia available, I highly recommend. As I do with Ajaccio. Otherwise start from the place you want to see most. 

Speciality restaurants never have dress code.

Cleary this depends on the ship.

Anyway, for all ships I would answer DEFINITELY NOT, but thats because I don´t have much interest Spa things. So I can just say the Spa on Mera and Seeside class is what you expect from a modern spa, people seem to enjoy it. 

42 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

When asked why the European's do not get the same deals we get, one Future Cruise Consultant told us that the cruise lines often have their hands tied by various EU regulations that protect consumers.  I guess you could say that with some consumer rights (at least rights construed by politicians) you pay a price.

Totally agree with you. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, nice to get free water and coffee in the MDR, nice not need to pay port fees or some "government taxes", nice to grab sensational good offers, nice to have maximum consumer protection, nice to get OBC which is forbidden in other countries. One will never get everything, but always this complaining, we poor Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Asians subsidize these Europeans, Asians, Canadians, Americans, useless in my opinion. You not what you get and what price it costs, leave it or take it. 

By the way, technically MSC also does not allow you to book from another market than where your residence is. They are just - MSC style - not very strict on this. 

5 hours ago, webworm said:

'My pont is they should treat all their passengers equally and not based on nationality.

Oh how much the cruise companies would love to do so. 100 nationalities on board, only Panama law is relevant, so simple and no rights for the passengers. But you for sure want to be treated under Canadian or US law. 

If you annoyed by port fees or taxes, you need to book in Europe where the cruise companies are not allowed to add any taxes or fees after the final payment. But then no free water and coffee for you 😁

3 hours ago, Reds4life said:

I'll answer your question and not get on soapbox, yes you can remove the charges. It's relatively easy. Just go to guest services and tell them you want to remove them. 

Worth to add that -as far as I know- not all nationalities can remove the DSC. Actually I am very surprised that MSC allows the Americans to do this. 

On American ships the Europeans can remove and the Americans cannot, right?

Most Europeans also don't get back port fees and taxes, this is not about MSC want to spoil US pax, it is about the national law under which you booked the cruise. So in this case you need to blame Canada not the Italians or the Swiss 🙂

2 hours ago, Jossie1960 said:

From June 2019 MSC have included the DSC charge in the cruise fare for UK/Ireland not sure if it applies to other Europeans as well. 

No, only you guys and I would love to know the reason for this :D 

8 hours ago, WAMarathoner said:

It's called a service charge here.  I'd prefer to choose where the tips go.  (Yeah, yeah, we've all run through the arguments in other threads.)  Just want to know if anyone has done it and whether it was a PITA or not.  Thanks.

While I find it maximum unfair to the staff to delete the DSC and tip "individually" by ignoring the MSC policy, you certainly can do whatever you want. At the guests relations desk they are not even allowed to ask the passenger why he wants to remove the charge because it violates european law. They could ask an American, but they probably will not make a difference here. 

18 hours ago, twruger said:

The best thing about Fantastica was better room locations, and that's it.

The two main advantages of Fantastica are the free photo and more Voyager points imho. "Location" is difficult to say, some want to be in this part of the ship, some in that. 

Yes, not on all ships, but Seaside of cause. 

2 hours ago, Bossa Nova said:

From what I've read in the posts, MSC accepts your luggage well before your scheduled checkin time.

With our last two MSC cruises the luggage area and the check in area had not too much in common. One time the luggage drop off was at the port entrance (tent) and the other time inside the port but at a different building. But indeed it is possible to drop off the luggage very early in the morning hours before embarkation starts, then do your fair share of sightseeing and come back in the afternoon. Certainly this is not a guarantee that it works this way in every port. 

Just call them.

3 hours ago, AeroXWD said:

I just assumed they made the pasta onboard? 

They do this sometimes (in the YC certainly much more often) and then they write happily "fresh pasta made on board" in the menu. Paccheri is a pasta shape that is usually dry pasta and not fresh made. 

Anyway, this dish looks so delicous, it makes me more want to book YYC than any other perk :D 

Just like the MSC superclassic "pistachio-crusted rack of lamb with cherries", but that is available also outside the YC with Aurea on some ships. And for cash on others.