perakcruiser

In their coffee???? NOOOOO!

In Malaysia we roast coffee with ... MARGARINE!

Ipoh White Coffee, so, so delicious. MUST TRY! A shame it is not served on this unprofessional MSC ships.

Sadly MSC often lacks commonsense.

Which is sometimes good, sometimes bad.

The Loyalty Program is of cause for many a very sad thing. I was close to Silver some years before when the "MSC Club" was totally different. Then they started the Voyager Club which made it much much more difficult to gain higher status. Then the status match and Silver was more or less useless, for stuff like the One Day Spa pass you need Gold now etc. Black is now almost impossible to get without status match.

And I guess they will cancel the Gold advantages when I reach this status after the next cruise finally.

It’s probably the biggest selling butter in the U.K.!

Wow, the Danish are really good in exporting their milk products. They also overflow half Asia with their terrible cheeses, even the Australians are better :cool:

But this Danish-UK-MSC butter is absolutely OK :halo:

Europeans don't prefer margarine. I've never heard of such a thing.

Lurpak is a popular brand in Europe, it's probably because it's unsalted that it tastes different than salted butter.

Lived in many countries in Europe, the only place I ever saw "Lurpak" was on MSC ships ;)

Google says this is from Denmark.

But yes, Europeans don´t prefer Margarine, but they think the Americans do :cool:

I went to book a cruise on the MSC Preziosa after being approved time off from work and the room we were going to book (A Fantastica balcony) went from $2900 total to $3900 total. Does anyone think this has to do with the myth that prices shoot up during storms, and once the hype of this snowstorm that the Eastern USA received is gone, it will drop? Or do you think this price is likely to stay? Thanks for help in advance!

Nothing to do with storm. But cannot answer your questions without details about the route and the month. If you follow the prices of MSC they are in a movement all the time and in all directions. You won´t believe how down they can go if the booking situation of a cruise is very bad and how much up if the ship is almost full many weeks before departure.

So are they giving you a Kida menu every night including on elegant night?

Yes. And it is the same menu probably on all ships. At least the Meraviglia kids menu is exactly the one above.

Nobody cares if you bring a bottle of water, also a bottle of wine goes through easily. But embarking from US harbours maybe is much more strict in terms of security checks.

Can you chat with other passengers through the app? We have a big group going together and it would be nice to be able to connect this way if needed.

No.

And should we book train tickets in advance or just buy them on the day?

In Europe the train tickets get MUCH MORE expensive if you book late and SUPER expensive if you book on the day. Not a big drama from Genoa to Milan but if you book early you can grab the supersaver for 9 Euro. We also always fly from Milan and the train station in Genoa is so close to the ship, just perfect.

Does this work on all ships?

No, only Meraviglia and Seaside.

-- Do they follow the custom of other cruise lines of having the dinner menus posted outside the dining room in the afternoon? I like to swing by early and see what's on the menu so I can start whetting my appetite!

I jump in on that one. The menus can be checked on the electronic boards all around the ship. And - much easier - via the MSC App from the bed in your cabin.

This is from Pete’s thread.

Here we got it. This wording, where MSC connects the service charge with "not recieving satisfactory service" is actually illegal in most European countries. There MSC also cannot name it "Service Charge", a service charge as well as harbour taxes cannot be collected after payment of the cruise. They call it tips. They write it like this "We recommend tips up to 10 EUR or 12 USD per day. To make things comfortable for you we reserve this tipping suggestion already on your bill. If you wish, you can adjust or delete the amount at the Guest Service Desk".

It is not just a naming thing, think about the consequences. Europeans can just embark and cancel the suggested tips, the company cannot even ask for a reason. While the "unlikely event" means that it can only be done after a "unlikely event" happend. And as User Cafedumonde wrote before, it would be possible "customers were grilled repeatedly about why they wanted the charges removed" like he saw on DCL and CCL.

I don´t think on MSC the people at the Guest Service Desk nowadays check the nationality and then grill or not :cool:

Thank you so much! Never been to Naples. We're arriving the day before and staying at a hotel near the harbour to make life less stressful. Any tips?

This is a good idea and should make life easy. Actually the best tip is a very common one, don´t use a rental car. Even if you are a good driver, this is hell. Otherwise just a few steps north of the harbour you can enjoy the city and the great great great food by walking.

About trips outside the city (highly recommended), do you have time? Looks like not before the cruise, maybe after?

Since MSC is big in Europe I would have thought the european sites would be much better.

Not at all. I can guarantee this.

I guess patience is a must when booking with them.

Yes, oh yes. "Phantom cabins", no flight ticket confirmation until the very, very last moment, we had it all :cool: But finally, everything goes well at the end by magic, this is the famous italian way.

They won't likely tell you about it, BUT on the "Italian Night" make sure you get photos taken of you at your table. EACH CABIN can receive 2 FREE photos! I discovered it afterwards while visiting the photo desk, and came across the sign. When I confronted the photo gallery assist as to why we weren't made aware of this opportunity PRIOR, he just shrugged his shoulders.

Last night I made the photo gallery manager aware that I would post this FREE opportunity, and they should expect huge crowds collecting their 2 free photos in the future!

This is not new at all, for many years already Fantastica brought you a free photo from the "Italian night" on all ships. But maybe it is new for MSC US bookings as you already got the drinks vouchers and the free water. If you want to know if you can get the free photo you can check your Fantastica advantages in the MSC App. "Free souvenir gift" is the Italian night photo. On the Meraviglia in November it was strictly one photo per cabin not per person by the way.

Don´t try to find the Fantastica free photo on the internet, MSC is keeping this a little bit secret and it is really written NOWHERE. But over the years cruisers spread the word. Cool, thanks to the postponement there is now a official evidence that can be published online, thanks for this :cool:

I find it frustrating that people on here keep asking the same questions over again and they get answered over again and all you need to do is use the search function!

Skier Pete has most of the information in the stickies thread also.

Did you read the thread? As the cruiselines have totally different policies for the different markets, the information given from Skier Pete and the others in the sticky threads are very useful for cruisers from the US, but this thread is orginally about MSC Brazil.

The Opera is a wonderful ship to begin your cruising career. Soon ships like this will be disappear :(

Life on MSC ships from the first generation is even more relaxed than on Seaside or Meraviglia, you don´t need to think about Do´s and Dont´s.

But Naples is certainly full of Do´s and Dont´s, I don´t know how familiar you are with this place.

If you remove the service charge they will make it as uncomfortable for you to do so as they can. I have seen people try/remove service charges on 2 occasions while I was waiting in line at guest services the last night of a cruise (DCL and CCL).

MSC was the same before consumer protection organisations stopped them 2014 in Europe. In 2015 the courts finally decided and only since then the passengers could cancel the Service Charges without a reason at any cruiseline not just MSC.

I am quite optimistic that MSC will follow the others (who would have expected that Costa and NCL stop the automatic Service Charge!) and sooner or later will include it in the price. Certainly this will increase the prices a little bit.

• Is the above correct? -> Partly. The App don´t need the wristband. The wristband just brings some additional functions like vea52 described.
  
• If that's not the way to connect, is an internet package required? -> No, you just can use the wifi of the ship. So you don´t need internet package, if you have the a package the MSC for me App does not reduce your internet quota. Hopefully, I think because the App uses so little data, it is difficult to see.
  
• Do all pax receive the wristband on embarking or is there a charge? -> No! Only Aurea, Wellness and Yacht club get the wristband on embarking. Belle and Fantastica can buy it on board for a fee. Your next question probably will bei "how much?", but I don´t remember, maybe 9 Euro?
  
• Does it work? -> Yes, to my surprise it worked flawless.
  

Not on the Seaside, not on other MSC ships. CdS is something different, but that is not happening in the theatre anyway. Guess what you read about was this.

You sign up for a cruise that has a service charge, you pay it unless you receive terrible service from everyone.

That is just your opinion, I pay the Service Charge if i think I should reward MSC for this cruise. If I already paid a price I think was not cheap at all, I will cancel it.

And explain to me how service charges are finished in Europe? They’re not.

Which other line apart from MSC is still collecting Service Charges? None of the three big competitiors Costa, TUI and AIDA.

Bottom line, want to cheapen out on the staffs wages, don’t cruise

Bottom line, want to tell other people what they should do, limit this to your family members.

Certainly Two Wheels Only is right anyway, no one ever changes anyone else's mind. The Europeans and the Americans anyway have both the strong feeling that they are the center of the world and must be right alone for this reason. But it is amazing, that some US cruisers want to tell the Europeans how to behave on European cruise ships :')

Non of both including myself have the slightest idea of Brazilian law and the T&C of MSC Brazil, unfortunately this are the only relevant things for the question of the thread opener.

That is at least the conclusion for me, know your rights, of cause not MSC or the international sea law sets the rules, it is the Government of your country that does. And then make your decision, if you are fine with the Service Charge, just pay it, if you think that it is too much, then reduce it or cancel it.

I am always mystified when someone says that in their culture they do not tip or pay service fees. The fact is that when you step onboard a ship and the ship sails out to sea...you are no longer in your country...such is maritime law.

All totally wrong. Certainly all cruise companies have to follow the law of the country where they sell cruises. The maritime law is relevant for running a casino on the sea. So it has nothing to do with "culture". You seem to have no knowledge about this topics, otherwise you would know about the many lawsuits that were going on in the European Union about this cruise companies "Service Charges". This is finished now as the cruise companies have lost them all and now even the US lines follow the respective law. By the way, after having lost some cases it was no other than MSC has sued Costa Cruises for the clause that you had to give a reason if you wanted to cancel the Service Charge.

And this brings us back to the question of JosephMusk which I answered already correctly. This all depends on Brazilian law and what MSC is writing in their T&C in the catalogue. So whatever people from other countries that never booked a cruise with MSC Brazil answer you ist not relevant. Honestly I don´t know if MSC now follows European law in all their markets. I doubt it. I am pretty sure everybody can cancel the Service Charge, but maybe with different conditions.

I am from the Philippines and i understand where u are coming from but to be blunt it will be a very rude gesture not to tip, this the same as saying the people that served you on board did something very bad for you not to tip.

Great stuff ;p You Pinoys never ever tip anybody and you tell other people how they should behave. On a cruise ship from Europe! So brillant, best greetings from Malaysia to you and don´t forget to pay always your famous travel tax :halo:

You can go to guest services and have the service charge removed, they might ask why or may not, but they will do it for you if you wish.

Depending on your country of booking MSC is allowed to ask why or not. I also don´t think all nationalities can just skip the service charge. Maybe meanwhile, before definitely not.

Just look at the wording in the Brazil MSC catalogue, JosephMusk.

By the way, I guess one reason why MSC loves US pax so much that they give them free water in the MDR and free drinks vouchers in Fantastica, is because other than many Europeans and Asians they are not running to the reception after boarding to cancel the service charge :')

Are people "reserving" them early each morning? If so, are belongings being removed?

Yes, the Germans and the British will do this. Not all, but many :halo: Anyway, on the Seaside they will not be the majority, so should not be a problem.

No, this removing will not be done on a European cruise line, guess it would end up in excellent pool deck brawls. Same with the sanitizers at the entrance of the restaurants. A European passanger would react very unhappy if the staff recommends them to use and feel it is a totally unacceptable insultation as he is making this decision by himself and nobody has the right to give him recommendations what to do.