Pizzasteve

Sorry if i missed this in the many pages, but are these credit card credits usable on Oceania and Regent or other NCL brands?

Buy and use Medium eggs all the time. Also extra large, etc. Interestingly, since it is a minimum size, many medium dozens include large eggs. We've weighed them as the sizing is by weight. 50 vs 56 grams i recall, so not that big a difference. Because of folks with attitudes like your post, Medium eggs are often a great bargain. Regarding nutrition, the yokes are often the same size, further complicating, but i dont expect the calories and other stuff M vs L, vs ExL are much different.

Hi. We were on an MSC cruise recently that was delayed by one day. MSC in their email promised an automatic credit for the day/night missed (we also lost the chance to visit one of our favorite ports). The cruise was a total cost of over $3000 for 13 nights and we received an $8.65 credit x 2. Anyone know how this promised credit was calculated? by my math $3000/13 is $200-300, not $17.30. I called (several times) and was promised a call back (never happened) then wax told by the phone reps that they could not help, but that we need to email ta special email address. Our email has as yet received no reply (about a week). Anyone else had similar experiences? MSC also didnt provide any help with hotels or other expenses while waiting at departue for an extra day, which I thought EU law requires for delays (though a 100-300 pp credit onboard was offered, depending on stateroom for the missed port). Anyway, we are puzzled because service was good prior to the cruise sailing but now that its done and the money collected it seems we dont exist anymore, nor the promised credit.

Well each ship has its own life vest storage plan and a safety briefing is mandatory. What was explained at your briefing? Not all ships store life vests in cabins. Did you inquire with the room steward? But regarding your experience, not surprised. The culture of MSC seemed to me to be ‘overbook the staff and pressure them to perform.’ Even on our half empty ship staffing was just at the level needed. So other than the cooks (pizza chef exception), our service level was pretty good, but not over staffed for sure. They had extra bartenders and excess photos staff, but everywhere else (waiters, room stewards, customer service) seemed like they would be strained under a full ship.

I think it is a good idea to look into the expected load factor when booking any cruise line, particularly those like MSC that appear to adjust poorly to crowded ships. We had great service on our recent Transatlantic, but upon leaving spoke with several crew and learned that the next cruise on a holiday week was full of 4 per room families and pretty much fully booked. The passenger load was about to double with the same crew. Our waiter knew he was in for a tough week and we tipped him extra knowing he likely would be earning it. We saw tons of child life vests being staged in hallways to add to the rooms.

Really enjoyed Oceania Vista on an Istambul to Rome this summer. Some food wasnt quite as premium as on prior cruises, possibly due to a bit of cost cutting, but still excellent. Comparable to Viking Ocean IMHO, with a bit fancier food, maybe a bit larger ships.

Agree about passengers. We did not find the 3 cheeses offered at the buffet line to change even once during a 2 week Magnifica transatlantic. We found the food choices pretty poor and other than the good pizza, not very Mediterranean at all. It seemed though that we have a brand new kitchen staff because many items in main and buffet were miss cooked, including most pastas way over cooked and the risotto resembling paella more than anything Italian. Very lively activities and fine service staff though. Don’t bother with an aurea upgrade. It doesn’t offer much for the price, unless ship is overcrowded full. I would check ship load and book if not full, knowing the food will be below average. Wine list and prices were pretty good. Can recommend the Sardinian red and Vermentino on the list for about 30-35 euro.

Its nice enough, but there were quite a few issues with finishes that early passengers after referbishing discussed. Many are likely addressed. We took it transatlantic after the referbish and really enjoyed it. A very old school mid size ship vibe, but I think similar to other Azamara ships. Some people lamented the lesser sized library, but TBH it was basically like most modern ships. Not everything was brand new. Plenty of lounge space, smaller combined theater, talk space vs big theater on larger ships. Enjoyed Captain table dinners at entry area in specialty restaurants, but no 'amazing private space'. Good ratio of ship sq ft space per passenger. I would view their R class ships as roughtly similar, date of last refit notwithstanding. Really enjoyed quality of life onboard and would rank similar to oceania.

Agreed. All I suggested was reading the link, which covers excellent food handling suggestions for buffets.

Fair enough. Best wishes to you. The words you are using tell me more than enough (eg slandering an entire university with words like the one you use isnt how my circle communicates). I have close family that are WSU grads and they are extremely successful professionals in their field. Have you ever even been to the campus? Hiding behind forum rules means you really dont have any logic backing you up, or you would express the logic, which is certainly allowed. Not even reading the content one criticises, and being proud of it, tells me all the rest about how you form opinions. I still wish you happiness.

So I guess the answer is yes, you think you know more than experts, and the reason is 'politics.' Sad youve let media with an agenda close your mind to science and reason. We are talking about food hygiene best practices and you go there? Time for a look in the mirror about why you think this way.

Why would you refuse to read good information from an university source from PhD food scientists? You think your 'home grown common sense' is superior? And even wiki posts are peer reviewed, as opposed to random ideas from cruise critic posts. Always odd that the current thinking in America/UK is that credible experts are not to be trusted. Its very scary for the future of our children.

Should be a 'must read' with key items featured on the pre departure video, lol.

It helps if you post the length of your cruise in days, so we can judge the minimums. Thanks.

Our Bella to Auria balcony offer was 425USD pp for 11 days. 565 to Deluxe suite Auria, 850pp for Premium Suite. These are minimum bids of course, so not necessarily winning. Curious if these seem like good value deals, if won, to others. Since a spa pass is 100pp, it seems we will be paying about 50per day for upgraded dining, more or less, if accepted?

Can folks comment on how much the bid cost on a per person per day basis? Its hard to judge the total price without number of days, etc. We got offers to upgrade from a bella balcony to auria balcony and wondered what a good pricce per daynoffer woukd look like. On Grandiosa, so no YC.

McDonalds doesnt add a new service charge after you have ordered and paid in full for your meal.

I really dont think going to another venue for a second complete meal is really a valid comment. People might want to try a different first entre due to some problem with the original one, or an entre item might be preferred as an appetizer or instead of desert. I dont think most people are 'looking for additional calories.' If one dish is huge a waiter can advise and the second main has been scaled down to app size, at least on other lines we book. I guess we will figure it out and adapt. Perhaps MSC has less kitchen flexibility. For example, we almost never eat dessert because they are usually empty calories and rarely something we find particularly exciting, whereas a main might be compelling (like having pasta before protein for a typical Italian meal). Anyway, its just a bit annoying and implementing this after taking full payment without notice is a sneaking practice that worrys me about other areas where they might be sneaking in hidden problems.

I tried to call MSC about this and no information one way or the other is being provided about a future paid in full cruise. The CSR just says refer to your cruise contract, which of course has no details about surcharge fees. Very frustrating.

The average CC poster might not be the target market they are trying to attract with the new venue. It smells to me like 'millennials bait.' They are looking towards their future customers and hoping to attract/satisfy 'younger upper income foodies.' Expect more vegan/veg, more poke bowls at Aquamar, fancy burgers, truffle tries, Mission style burritos, Pho and other popular 'comfort foods' to continue to pop up. Funny anecdote. At Aquamar we asked for extra poke in our poke bowl and got confusion. It was apparent no one thought to train any of the chefs or servers that 'poke' is the marinated tuna part of the 'bowl' dish. We claried that we wanted extra tuna and received it. 🙂

Ive just started following this and a bit regret not trying this strategy. We are currently in junior Balcony, decent room location, Bella experience. So I guess maybe we blew it by not getting the better experience and lowest cost, but scarce supply room (inside), then bid. Our cruise is in early November, and we've paid in full. When would we expect to get upgrade offers? Also, since we are Bella I assume we stay at Bella even if upgraded, so if our cabin is fine then an upgrade doesnt gain us much unless to Auria, where we might get the auria dining as an option? Our ship doesnt have YC but i noticed in a test booking 2 Suites are available to book (for roughly 2.5x our fare). What woukd be a reasonable bid per day to upgrade from jr balcony to suite, if offered, or will we be limited to Auria balcony. Thanks for an tips. Its my first MSC booking. Already noticed a strange feature that we could pay almost the same basic cruise fare for 20 days as we are paying for 11, due to differences in pricing and discounts offered. It wouldnt work for us, but why some pay 33$ per day (before taxes and drinks) and others $55 per day on the same ship based on length of cruise is hard to process.

Sorry might have been thinking of Regent’s steakhouse. I tend to consider Regent and Oceania cruises as pretty much similar experience, different pricing bundle.

Waves Pizza on Vista was significantly upgraded on our recent cruise. As a certified Pizzaiolo I was excited to chat with a pizza chef who explained the new ovens, new dough recipe and training they are receiving from Italian chefs. He said the new pizza program is rolling out to other ships. So gone are the beer addition to plain dough attempt to have some flavor, in favor of more traditional italian slower rises, better flour and better ovens for a more Naples approaching result. My Margharita was much more solid than previous ships.

Meh. Beatuful setting. A few nice dishes. Attept to appeal to a younger crowd with 'upscale comfort food,' which happens to be my least favorite food trend. Losing Jaques for this is a huge dissappointment. So fish and chips instead of the gorgeous Pastry wrapped whole fish....a big downgrade to me. Also miss the sole and beautiful cheese trays. Fine dining was what differentiated the brand for me. Now less and less. Would rather lose Prime than Jacques, but lots of steak and potato folk out there and steaks less cooking work, so that wasnt happening. Loved the Aquamar food, team. Limited menu but innovative, fun, easy to get a table.

For me it is annoying that the AI fares are 'averaging' in the costs of heavy users. The 20 drinks a day passengers force drink packages higher for those of us who would enjoy the freedom of a cost free drink package, but might average 3-4 drinks in a day. Would love a package that was something like 'up to 4 free drinks per day' at a lower price point.