Illbcruzn4life

30 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

It makes sense to dump the $25 credit. Carnival already wrecked the loyalty program by awarding sail days to cruisers on basically free cruises. More and more of the $25 casino credits were going to people already cruising for free and likely already had fun play. How many dips in the well do people want?

I would like one please.🙂

7 hours ago, starstruck05 said:

maybe the free laundry will be the next thing to go.

22 hours ago, firefly333 said:

For reasons idk I too have seen some better princess prices for solo ot of Galveston. Also MSC currently seems to have the cheapest prices. . Though as you said it may not be going out of your port ... yet but they seem to be expanding. First I heard they are building a 4th ter final in Galveston and now I'm reading they will be building a new terminal in port Canaveral so they are for sure expanding. Royal has more new ships coming which expands their capacity. Icon just barely started and utopia will be new and coming to do short cruises out of PC.

 

With so much more capacity coming online eventually how can prices not eventually start to come down. 

 

Also you need to look at how each line prices what you want to book. For me carnival is often more expensive than royal. For a while royal was always cheaper than carnival because unlike csrnivalmtheir loyalty rewards make a huge difference. Group rates on carnival are nothing special but on royal I have gotten some totally awesome deals for group rates. You cant see royals group rates but even a solo cabin I can get group rates thru my TA. So between group rates, then I get $250 off as a diamond +, then as a solo I get 25% off the total cruisefare. At 340 pts it says 50% off the 2nd pax, but it's the same as 25% off the total cruise fare. 

 

I love carnival and their journey cruises are awesome, just same as you unless you gamble carnival is often higher priced than other lines. That's my issue. Only royal gives me as a solo a discount and 2 loyalty pts per  night so it's faster to get higher in their tier. Blerk always says carnival doesnt have to buy peoples loyalty, some people dont care about peice and will book the same line. I look at price. I'd rather do more cruises on the same $$$ amount.

 

I'm with you carnival lately has cost  more than some like msc or princess. I'd like to try HAL but dont want to drive. My friends say HAL has really good food. I'm more into food than trivia.

 

Each line is playing different pricing games since covid imo. People are saying they can book celebrity for less than royal, group rates, for 2 pax, not as a solo.

They are in the midst of building a new terminal in Miami also for the World America ship coming next April. NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART CRUISE TERMINAL AT PORTMIAMI | MSC Cruises (msccruisesusa.com)

9 hours ago, shof515 said:

Prices from New York also trend higher. it seems like every year the same exact cruise i do yearly always increases by a few hundred dollars 

That's why I have been booking MSC. Just booked a 7 night from Brooklyn for this weekend for about $1400 for 2 with the drink package and wifi. Booked an OV gty and got a balcony.

On 6/4/2024 at 11:09 AM, tigger54 said:

We will be on the Venezia in September for the 7 day Canadian cruise. Just wondering if anyone has already been on this cruise and can tell me for sure what days the elegant nights fell on. We would like to make reservations at a specialty restaurant so would really like the correct days if possible.

Thank you

It might be 2 and 5 since day 6 is a port day until 5pm. Day 5 is a day at sea. 

14 hours ago, ocdb8r said:

Just a fair warning, this problem is not exclusive to the World Europa - all the ships on this platform (the Oasis class and Icon class on RCCL) have this same elevator distance issue for the aft cabins.  In fact, World Europa is unique to having at least the extra set of "limited" panoramic elevators that service the World Promenade.

Ok thanks for that information. I may be OK then. We used to always book the last cabin in the boardwalk area and we survived that on Royal. That was until they put the slides in. Now when we do Royal we book Central Park.

I was thinking about changing to an infinity balcony on the World America but I think we will stay put for now.

2 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Yes, and it's an especially long way to the theater at the front of the ship.

Do they have taxi’s on the ship? 😝

Wow we are booked all the way aft on deck 10. Guess we will be doing a lot of walking

14 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Let me be specific. The Seascape has the easiest muster drill in the cruise industry. Scan your card anytime from 11:30 am from a pink ball capped muster station crew member, take the elevator back to cabin, watch video, call number indicated, done. 

P.S. Those that miss embarkation day muster drill, show up at Chora Theatre following morning at 9:30 am to scan card.

I wish MSC would institute that fleetwide. Why have chaos when you have a much better way of doing it

On 5/20/2024 at 11:04 AM, Scottdalfonso said:

We have three people and are under the impression that we get two devices and will need to purchase a third on board if we wanted a third. 

That would be correct.

On 6/1/2024 at 6:09 AM, Nikita4 said:

My cabin was in the middle between the elevators and the panoramic/big elevators. So no long walk trough the straight hallway.
But the ship is really big and there are long walks from the aft to the front of the ship. And the elevator area and the elevators are sometimes really crowded especially in the morning on port days in the med. I prefer smaller ships with a better layout and less pax, but the World Europa is the only ship in the med in wintertime, that sails from Genova on a Sunday, I hope for 2026 that there will be an other ship in the med.

Do they have the smart elevators?

22 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Your example did not use the elevators?

I,d argue that Msc has the easiest muster drill in the industry. 

we made the mistake of booking a b2b as 1 cruise. Everything was booked per cruise as far as excursions etc. We made out OK on turnaround day as didn't need new cards but lost out on points as you get less points on cruises over 10 days (1000). While you get 700 for a 7 day cruise.

17 hours ago, CruisingFox27 said:

Highly unlikely. The points are added at HQ a few days, sometimes weeks after your cruise has ended. But it's MSC so, never say never 😁

agreed . MSC does not do anything in a hurry.

7 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

On Seascape for April 20, 2024 sailing new procedure in place for muster drill. Ship cleared to board at 11 am. Butler escort to cabin stopped at our muster station to scan cards before going to cabin. Saw the no one was present yet to scan card so we proceeded to cabin to drop off carry on luggage. At 11:30 am pink ball cap scanner was at muster station to scan cards. We took the elevator down to muster station and scanned our cards and took elevators back to cabin. Then watched video to know number to call to confirm we watched video. Hang up. Done. Easiest muster drill in the cruise market today. MSC even allows for a muster check in the following day at 9:30 am in Chora theatre for those that miss embarkation day drill.

I'd argue that one.

4 hours ago, GeoHack said:

I was on the Seashore 4/21-4/28 in the yacht club and they we're making everyone go at the same time which is just silly. May have changed since then though. Honestly they can easily just have 1-2 people with the scanners at each station and let you scan as you board vs having 4 people at each station for the 2 hours when they make everyone come down. Doesn't cost them anything more in worker hours and makes it more enjoyable for the cruiser.

that would make too much sense.

6 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I think it varies by ship.  I've read that what @morpheusofthesea posted is valid for Seascape but may not be on Seashore. 

 

On Seashore in April we watched the video in our cabin, dialed 881 on the phone and at 3:30pm we went to our muster station to get our cards scanned.

22 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

I just booked MTD reservations for an October cruise on Symphony and the earliest I saw for any of the days was 6:45. I wonder what happens if you show up earlier? My experience in the past was that it didn't really matter, so long as you had a reservation, unless the line for people with reservations doesn't open until 6:45.

when we cruised the dining rooms opened for first seating and My Time diners had to wait until the first seating people were done eating. If my recollection is correct they used to have a dedicated restaurant for my time diners. Of course I could be remembering wrong but we used to go eat around 5:45pm to 6pm when we had MTD before covid anyway.

6 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I was only curious as, when we would eat in the MDR, we have booked MTD since it was introduced and although we have had times when getting the desired reservation times was difficult, we have never had them changed by the cruise line once set. Just seems very unusual.

It was on 2 nights. They changes were minimal by maybe 30 minutes. I've never heard of that happening before either. I liked MTD when it was first introduced. Next Royal cruise I'll just book early dining.🙂

16 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

In our experience the times typically commence around 6:30 or, with the earlier times tending to book quickly once open on the planner. Your inability to book anything before 7:45 likely was based on availability at the time you booked. We've also never experienced a situation where the cruise line changed a confirmed booked time.  That seems unusual.  Did you contact them for an explanation? Just curious.

this was for our cruise on Oasis last year sailing 10/22/23. We booked on 6/23/23. I went in to book the dining the day they opened which was 8/6/23. 

I did not question them on the change of times. We went with another couple and they said not to worry about it. So we just went with it.

3 hours ago, kad56 said:

Nice. I might be able to get in a full port day after all 🙂

good luck I think you'll be fine. They did say if we weren't off the ship by 9:45am we would have to do the walk with the b2b group to get processed and lead back on.

8 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Usually 6:45 PM.

tyvm last October on Oasis we couldn't get anything before 7:45. As a matter of fact we did have some earlier but Royal changed them to 8pm with one being 8:15pm. What's the point of picking your times if Royal is going to arbitrarily change the time.

what's the earliest time you can reserve for MTD?

3 hours ago, NRWPA said:

I ended up using a different credit card and booking the package over the phone today. The rep had difficulty removing the second passenger "Guest, GGuest" and also kept getting the double charge, but finally was able to get me the package for one. The verification email shows the package but still shows the second passenger. Hopefully, I won't be charged daily gratuities for two. I really don't want to spend any of my 7 day cruise battling to get charges posted correctly.

if nobody else checks in at the pier for your cabin I'm pretty sure they won't be charging for a second person. 

10 hours ago, NRWPA said:

thanks, I was told not to wait until I board by the MSC rep, I just want to wait until the first of June for a 6/29 cruise. My problem now is that I travel solo and when I try to buy online it wants to charge me for 2 people...for some reason, they have a 2nd "person" listed as "guest" on my rez. Guess I'll have to call, something I wanted to avoid

That's hard to avoid with MSC's website.