perakcruiser

From the North American/British market, I don't believe there are.

Nowadays I see much more cruisers from USA and GB on board than 5 or 10 years before.

Congratulations on winning MasterChef. We were in the theatre watching and were cheering for you guys.

 

We too had a Fantastica balcony and where given MyChoice dining when we should not have. The dining team where confused as us but still honoured the MyChoice benefits.

We also saw you "cooking" in the theatre and cheered for the two non-italian couples, because almost nobody else did. Congrats also!

And nice you all enjoyed the MyChoice with Fantastica as ours was cancelled and we had to use the normal one. Nevertheless we totally loved this cruise and the ship.

I enjoyed reading your comments. We are first time MSC cruisers having cruised many times with all the main companies. We are looking forward to "entering Italy".

Many years ago we did a TA on the Costa Romantica. We loved it' date=' it was Italy afloat. We enjoyed it so much we booked a Caribbean cruise a few months later on the Costa Atlantica. So disappointed. It was not the same at all. It was obvious they were trying to emulate US cruise lines and cater to US passengers. They only succeeded in providing a second rate Princess /Celebrity /RCI experience. Bella Italia it wasn't! So when I read your comments I was delighted. We're going with high hopes and open minds[/quote']

 

Great to hear, I am sure you will have a wonderful time with this attitude. I have heard also that MSC and Costa try to adopt to the American market with their Carribean cruises. And they TOTALLY adopt to the asian market when sailing from China, nothing what I love is left there.

 

I have also cruised two times with Celebrity in Europe, yes, we liked it also alot, the service quality was so good, from a European perspective, this is already a little bit sick ;p. This experience I definitely also can recommend, I just don´t know if I am open minded enough to survive a Disney cruise ;) Well if my kids someday force me to do ...

I know they are trying to lure cruisers from other cruise lines but they are gonna have to up their game tremendously on all fronts. This is our first MSC cruise and for us to leave our other favorite cruise lines (NCL, Disney, Princess) for good or even for another cruise they have to be on par with those other 3.

Well, to avoid disappointment please don´t compare. MSC is the favourite cruise company in Europe not for it´s customer service, we all regular MSC cruisers know here it will be ranked last on the seven seas and we don´t care :cool:

This is a common rule not only for US pax, also for British, German, Chinese, whatever: If you are boarding MSC you are leaving your home country and enter Italy. And Italy lifestyle and Italy cuisine has a great reputation for a reason, I really love it. NCL or Disney sell the US-american lifestyle, this is not a question about being "on par", it is a different world.

perakcruiser, why do you hope something like that for??? Seems a little odd to me. Be happy.

There was a "not" missing in my sentence ...

It is San Benedetto (https://www.sanbenedetto.it/en/index/) and the waiter will always ask you "with or without gas".

Maybe different in different countries. I liked the stuff MSC sent by post some years before, but I can understand that this was too expensive and now we have to print out the PDF.

You're correct, BB. The 15% service charge is the gratuity added. On our last cruise, the barman in the cigar lounge expressed his displeasure about people purchasing packages before sailing as the crew lost out.

OK, I also talked to our waiter and he said that his income is not connected to this 15% service charge. Anyway, don´t worry, so far I have not met anybody working on a MSC ship who is unhappy with the salary.

2) It appears that pre-purchasing packages stiffs the hard working staff from their gratuities.

No, the Service Charge is not working in the way you think.

No, Tea and coffee only for breakfast. Orange juice for breakfast is available, but maybe not the kind you expect.

If you want to eat in the MDR, you better invest the 26 Euro for a water package with 14 bottles.

free, but only at the buffet.

Is this the same on the orchestra in the Mediterranean? I’m on the ship in January

Yes. Buy it online before. Also the harbour terminal is "onboard" and 15% will be added.

It was served on gala night a couple of years ago. But it stopped being served last October.

OK, I am cruising with MSC since 2010, one or two cruises a year, never saw a lobster :cool:

What they usually offered at gala nights is Nephrops norvegicus. Scampi in Italian, not too big ones unfortunately.

Hubby and I are sailing on the Diviana on Nov 11th. We were wondering if they serve lobster on a special night in the regular dining room.

This never happened and never will happen ;p