alanstarr

I'm traveling solo in Nov on a 15-day TA, and had no issues getting the full $250 OBC within 24hr of submitting my request.

I have an inside cabin for my TA on the Dawn in November. Interesting that the minimum bid for Club Balcony Suite just dropped from 250 to 225. Keeping an eye on it, hopefully it'll go lower! (Traveling solo, so have to pay double that amount for myself.)

Yup, that makes total sense!

Has anyone bid on a room, and then been awarded a higher upgrade? I bid to go from an inside to a balcony. But when doing a mock booking, seems like there's only 6 balcony cabins open right now; but there's 37 Cub Balcony Suites available. Just wondering about the chances of being slotted into one of those?

Good news is that after boarding today, they were more than happy to sell me the 3-dinner package with the chef's table 49.95 upgrade option.

I've done many free walking tours, enjoyed them all. I think tips are typically in the €10-20pp range. The last few that I've gone on, the guide was able to accept credit cards via a portable card reader. But that might not always be the case.

So strange that it's so different! It's a shame too, because I've been vaccilating back and forth between buying into the 3-dinner package, and this would have tipped the deal.

When I look at the fine print of the Buy 3 for$120, it specifically says "Not valid for premium experiences including Chef's Table, wine pairings dinners, Taste of Royal and Mystery Dinner Theater." Do I need to purchase the 3-dinner package first, then I'll see the $50 Chef's Table offer?

Thanks for all the advice! First time in a suite, it was a (free) upgrade from a balcony after multiple cancellations and ship changes over the past couple years.

To be clear, it wouldn't really be 4 drinks at once, just in a short period of time. Order the scotch, bring that to my room; return to have a glass of wine in the lounge, the finally order one more wine to go.

I'll be on the Voyager next month in an Owner's Suite, and was wondering if there's any specific policy about the drinks in the suite lounge? I won't have a drink package, so was thinking that I could grab a couple neat whiskeys and put them in my room for a nightcap, and then a couple glasses of wine (maybe have one in the lounge, then take one to dinner). Anyone think there's any issues grabbing 4 drinks or so in a short amount of time? Also figure it won't hurt to drop $20 on the first day to the bartender....

MSC has some crazy-cheap TA fares. There's a 26-day Istanbul to Rio de Janeiro on Oct 6th, $1292 for a solo balcony. That's almost a month!

I just got off the Escape last Wednesday in Civitavecchia. Self-helped myself, process was easy and quick. There was no immigration or anyone checking IDs, just walked off and grabbed a shuttle bus to the train station. Funny, when I flew home yesterday from Venice, immigration police at the airport pulled me aside because they had no record of my entering the country. They kept flipping through my passport, looking for the entry stamp. Had to explain that I arrived via cruise ship. Wasn't a big deal, luckily.

I tested negative on Sunday March 27th, positive on Monday March 28th, and negative again on Monday April 4th, so a total of 8 days for me. I was prescribed anti-viral medication (Paxlovid), so not sure if that helped speed things up.

My cabin steward swapped mid-cruise last week (TA on the Escape) because his 8-month contract was up. He told me ahead of time, and introduced me to his replacement. And one of the MDR servers told me the same thing, she was leaving mid-cruise because her time was up. They've been working non-stop since cruising restarted in earnest last summer. Having said that, it does seem more likely in your case that Covid was involved.