Homosassa

Princess pizza used to be excellent when it was the qualify held over from Sitmar. It has slowly been downgraded to mid west Pizza Hut quality. Celebrity and NCL pizza are the same mid west quality. Carnival pizza is several notches below them. MSC actually makes pizza that adheres to the standards of the Associazione Versace Pizza Napoletano. So, yes, you may think that the stuff you get from Pizza Hut, Domino's, Little Caesar's, etc.; is pizza, but that is like comparing a can of SpaghettiOs (or Olive Garden fare) to the pasta on MSC.

The pizza is 1000% better on MSC than on RCCL or Carnival.

I don't know if HAL has done away with the "Yum-Yum" man. If they haven't, check outside the dining room with the fixed traditional seatings about an hour after the first seating begins. If he is there with the cart, there will be candied ginger available which is good for queasy stomachs.

LOL - Some of us have giving up on correcting people on geography (Orlando, FL is not on the water....) I listen to the weather and look at the weather maps. If I was cruising anywhere in the Atlantic (i.e., Bermuda, Bahamas, Turks and Calicos) or the northeast section of the Caribbean, anytime in the next week or two, I would be watching the extremely high heat pressure dome sitting over Florida and the progression of the extremely cold front progressing east across the US. Could also be fun in the Gulf of Mexico. Somewhere those two systems are going to meet and it going to be a mess anywhere on the water if it occurs on the east coast and continues east. (or northern Gulf area). I expect to see threads on the rough seas or, my favorite, "We didn't go into XYZ port because of weather and it is perfectly sunny and clear here."

There is always a chance of rough waters at any time of year. All it takes is a strong front moving down or up through the area and the winds, combined with the currents and tides, can leave you rocking and rolling. And the effects of a frontal passage can be felt far from the actual location of the front. Just bring whatever you might normally use in case you need it. (Cue the posters: Never had rough water in my three cruises in the area; It's not hurricane season; Big ships are stable with no motion....)

Not the way it works. When one receives a "Congressional Inquiry" about a routine manner that someone feels needs special attention or bending of the rules, the receiving office will scrupulously follow the procedures and time frames in fulfilling the request (or denying it as the case maybe). It prevents the abuse of the system by those who think they have found a work around of procedures and timeframes in place.

Not only the wind tunnel effect in the hallways, but had damage done to my cabin when the fools next door left their balcony door open and exited their cabin. There was an apparent wind speed of approximately 37 mph hitting and moving down the starboard side of the ship. Our cabins were on the port side. The immediate drop in pressure as the hallway door was opened (think Venturi and Bernoulli) caused our common cabin wall to bow inwards and caused doors of cabinets to hang crookedly and a shelf to come down. Similar damage was done to the cabin on the other side.

Two of my favorite moments on the series, "Mighty Cruise Ships," were the two episodes where the ship was held for passengers and while the passengers faces were blurred, they taped the tongue lashing that the cruise director gave to them as they came on board. Schadenfreude was definitely my reaction.

You need to define what you mean by "babysitting hours." MSC is geared to family cruising; the keyword being "Family" as in a family cruising together and having programs set up to support family (i.e.; adult and child) activities. While there is a kid's club, hours will be limited compared to some USA based cruise lines and will shut at lunch and dinner times to allow parents to feed their children (There may be a supervised dinner meal time, but it will not necessarily blend well with adult schedules and the child will be limited to the kid's section of the buffet with very limited offerings).

I take it you have never cruised to Alaska or are not familiar with the geographic features of Alaska and its waters.

If I just told you, you would have been depending on hearsay with no proof of my statements accuracy. There are many times posters will give outdated or incorrect information. Instead I took the time to look up and link the official website where not only can you find the answer, but you now know how to find other information and may avoid other wrong assumptions passengers make about MSC policy. You're welcome. (That was a resounding thank you in your post, was it not?)

Did you book through the US website or is your booking through a European site? Your booking terms are different and US passengers will not be able to help you.

Could part of your problem be that your request is being made outside of the forty eight hours of your initial booking that would fall under the Best Price Guarantee?

LOL - hang around. Sooner or later, there will be a thread asking to verify what cruise dates to avoid from NYC ports in January 2024.

Perhaps Carnival is tapping into that cruise population that states: "You would have to pay me to cruise on Carnival...."

Oh, please! Many of us on this forum know that there was way more to this than a simple downgrade ( and quite frankly, your refusal to take the options offered when the cruise was chartered escalated the problem to a point where MSC simply was trying to accommodate your demands) . Was one of the things that you learned is that a cruise line will notify you that you will be arrested if one attempts to board a ship and claim a cabin that is not theirs?

While the OP's fares have been corrected, it might help other to know this rom those MSC Terms and Conditions (MSCUSA) that so many do not read before accepting the booking: "Prior to 20 days before departure or receipt of full payment, the Company reserves the right to modify the Contract price to allow for variations of: (a) air transportation costs; (b) fuel costs for the propulsion of the vessel; (c) dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports; and (d) the exchange rates relevant to the Cruise Package. Variations may be upwards or downwards. For air transportation costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the extra amount charged by the airline. For fuel costs, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to 0.33% of the price of the Cruise for every dollar of increase of the fuel per barrel (NYMEX Index). For dues, taxes or fees, any variation of the Cruise Package price will be equal to the full amount of the fees."

Not my monkey, not my circus.... There was a long chat with security. I didn't ask for details and was happy that she found out that rules do apply as she is of that generation that think the world revolves around them. (Surprise! Shoes are required in the buffet....)

Does "Spanish Fly" listed as the theme have a different meaning than a substance for sexual arousal? There may be more than "vertical" dancing going on on the pool deck....

Not true. Other cruise lines have them, just more discreet (as a certain young relative of mine can testify after thinking she could smuggle edibles and her THC vape cartridges on board her cruise on a different line).

This information is clearly spelled out in MSC's Terms and Conditions (look in the "Cancellation and Other Passenger Changes" section. It is best that you read and understand the official policy instead of depending on others.. https://www.msccruisesusa.com/-/media/us/documents/Booking-Terms-and-Conditions-221115-FINAL.pdf

Ditto for us. Any issues we had were either quickly corrected by shore side customer service or Guest Relations on board ship.

If he is using a walker, he will still need and enjoyed some of the accessibility features in the cabin (such as the extra space to maneuver the walker in the cabin). You will still have the same cabin.

This is not entirely true. Read through the different Terms and Conditions for various cruise lines and you will see changes in the way many lines are handling deposits (non-refundable vs refundable), final payment dates (due much sooner for different categories of cabins), cancellation fees and single supplements (closing the "no Show" imaginary cabin mate to avoid the supplement). Many lines have small print on their cabin prices that they are not available to currently booked passengers. As Carlmm noted, many of the complaints on this board are due to those passengers who are trying to game the system and lose. There are also those passengers that do not do their homework and read the Terms and Conditions/ Ticket Contract before booking and then complaint when policy is followed.

I find the HAL commercials spot on for what my husband and I want on a cruise. A quiet place to look at the water without a blaring music background or a roller coaster rattling over head. Time to sit and eat a well presented dinner after spending the day ashore. This was what were enjoyed when we started cruising in our twenties and what we now look for in our seventies. The 1988 commercial could have been us (professional couple in our thirties, however, there would have been a well behaved eight year old at the table with us). My daughter, who went on her first cruise at eighteen months (a two week trans Panama Canal cruise) has cruised many times over the years with us. Her comment on her first HAL cruise at twenty four was , "Mom, you have been holding out on me!" My concern with HAL is if the cruise experience of the past can survive their new large ships with a larger passenger load, the lessening of public space (private deck cabanas, specialty restaurants, etc) or will it become the transition line between the Carnival Cruise Line cruiser perhaps looking to try a classier cruise experience, but not yet ready to commit to a more refined atmosphere and passenger demographic.