Oceans 818

Yes, it certainly is. I was just pointing out that if as the OP has, they already have Voyagers Club status, there is no need to go through the process for the military discount as it is 5% unless booking balcony or above and are less than 9 months from sailing. If they already have the VC status they will not get both Military and VC discounts. The same for Health Care Workers. MSC does not combine discounts but if you will get a greater discount by submitting proof, by all means you certainly should! Plus those that don't already know; you should always give your Voyager's Club number as well to accumalte your status points to gain the higher level perks.

Cunard is listed in the status match lists on both the USA & Canada sites. Not sure on others. Just go to MSC website and look under Voyers Club for a complete listings for your country. I was surprised at some that they status match!

MSC's military discount is 5% for inside & ocean view and 10% on other catagories. It is not combinable with the voyager's discount or any other. Depending on which catagory you are booking and how far out the sailing date, it may not make a difference in the discount as you automatically get 5% with VC and it's 5%+5% if you are 9 months or more from sailing date. I'm not sure if you'd have to do it every booking but most likely MSC Custumer Service can easily answer that for you.

Hi, they did the special Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve in the MDR. Many people were dressed in fancy dinner wear but there were also quite a few in themed PJ's. The PJ wearers were seen alot over the 2 days. There was a Xmas parade with Santa. There were presents, but I'm not sure if they were provided by the parents or if MSC does something for young children. We didn't attend the parade as we had no children with us and did our own thing. For us we were docked in Honduras on Xmas. You will be at sea and will most likely have the special dinner on Xmas, with the parade. You can try calling Customer Service or emailing MSCexistingreservations@msccruisesusa.com They could probably give you specific details for your cruise. I would email as they will give you the best answer and probably have more specific details rather than a CS operator whom may or maynot have access to the information. Enjoy your cruise.

Interesting. I know you can earn points from on board spending and if it was a World Cruise it would be triple points. I've only ever heard of MSC offering a free cruise for casino play. So, I too would be interested in how they wrangled a free cruise without gambling! 🙂

Nice! They must have earned the free cruise from the Casino. We dont spend enough in there to qualify for anything, lol

You should get everything, the welcome wine & chocolate, specialty restaurant tasting menu etc. If you are more than 9 months out the $50 OBC, priority boarding...nice thing with MSC, is they are just as nice to the inside Bella passengers as they are to the Aurea suites. Of course they may be nicer to the YC, but then, it's YC! Enjoy your cruise with the family. 85 nights?? WOW! Your Diamond may be higher than their status, depending on what level they started at and what they booked and spent. MSC doesn't really go by nights. On board spending gets you points, and booking during a points offer helps. Not to mention each expience has different points given (Bella, Fantastica..)

As ATE said, you should be able to. MSC advised our friends to notify our TA and give her the Voyagers #'s and the TA will submit to MSC. If before final billing, you should get the discount no problem. When notifying your TA of your number, be sure to tell (ask) her to get the discount. For some reason, TA's don't always want to just give it to you and need to be asked. If you've made final payment, ask the TA to request of MSC, if you can't get the discount to give you OBC for the amount. A good TA will do this for you, but you have to let them know you are aware of what you should/could get. I usually start with " I spoke with MSC and they said no problem, but I had to call you to make the request for me, as I didn't book directly..." TA's aren't making the commission from MSC as they do with lines like RC or Carnival and often don't want to bother as MSC landside can be a 'treat'. Much better on board. As Diamond you should have no problem with the included Wine & Chocolate treat. But you should stop at the reception desk on board and let them know you are new to MSC and Diamond club to make sure you get the benefits that come with it. If your TA hasn't gotten you the discount, I would make a request for it on board at Customer Service. But remember, they get many people asking for lots and saying 'oh, on RC, I got this or they did that' so I've found when dealing with them to smile, be friendly and ask nicely. The worst that happens is they say 'sorry, can't do it'. Our last cruise there was really bad weather and alot of people were not so nice to the desk. We had a couple issues with the room, full ship and no other rooms available. I chatted with the CS and he was happy that I wasn't being mean and nasty and we ended up with a nice bottle of wine as a thank you sent to our room. Unexpected but appreciated. I find that dealing directly with MSC for changes such as price drops after paying in full is much easier than getting a TA to make a request from MSC for anything. But if you book with a TA, you have to go through them. Sorry this is so long! I talk alot 🙂

Congrats! With MSC and the gold status match if you are 9 months out from booking your cruise it will get you the 5% + 5% discount and an additional $50pp OBC. Also, it gets you the 1 hour thermal spa pass on board, which is pretty good, considering other lines don't match.

As EM said, I believe after you have to wait for an invite on the US site. After paying in full they start sending out upgrade offers on the US site. Usually for us it's been a week to 10 days after final payment. Bid upgrade section is fairly new to the Canadian site. Since the new year, I think.

Good advice, but Essiesmom won't need them as she status matched to Diamond. My experience is that if I book Bella Guarantee, I have gotten at least a category upgrade. So an OV would be a potential Jr. Balcony. But after final payment they usually offer the bid upgrades, so if a balcony is key then you could possibly get a better price, but with the bidding it isn't Fantastica, if you booked Bella and not always a better price. Unless you plan on a lot of room service, not much difference, between Bella & Fantastica. Assuming that you are puchasing your cruise with the all in. Which is a better price than purchasing the drink package seperately. The only non-refundable deposits I believe are for Yacht Club and I think World. The refunds are in the terms & conditions. For a regular booking the deposit is 100% refundable until final payment is due. Then everything starts prorating. Refunds can take up to 60 days.

All cruises count towards status, as long as you give them your voyager's club # . I believe points from a cruise can be added after the cruise if you don't give them the #. If you are status matching then just give the # to your TA or if you are booking directly with MSC; just call up customer service and ask to have it added to your booking #. You should still get the discount if you give it prior to sailing and have any points at all. If you have made final payment, I'd call MSC directly and ask them to apply the discount and either refund you the difference or give it to you as OBC. If they tell you they can't then call again another time and hope to get a different person, who may know what to do. But if you used a TA they have to do it, I believe as everything has to go through them. Pro's and Con's to that.

Just pick whichever gets you higher level. Which I think, but don't hold me to it will be the RC.. But from googling, they both seem to come up Silver, but I have heard some say Gold. So it may just depend on who reviews it and their mood at the time. lol. Good Luck and happy sailing!

Hi, we're booked on the Seascape for Feb/26. Looking forward to it as we've only sailed from Miami or Port Canaveral. We've yet to sail YC but have found we like MSC and have found the food decent and service excellent with the exception of the 3 night portion of a 10 day out of Canaveral. That part of the cruise was unpleasant due to fellow passengers. Many were rude, abrassive and demanding. Had that been our first, it would have been the last...

Sorry, what does this mean???? I know who bilge is but the rest....??

You should screenshot the OBC on your phone incase you need it on the ship if it doesn't show up on your web browser booking. Have your friend email MSCExistingReservations@msccruisesusa.com to get his information straightened out. You could try that as well and explain the discrepancy between App & Web. I keep any email pretaining to any issues incase I need to show it on board.

Hi Nancy, I'm wondering if the OBC turned up when you look at your booking? And the other I'm wondering, did you make your booking at least 9 months out in order to qualify for the OBC? Asking as have friends that just booked for 2026 and they have no status as yet and MSC said as long as they did a match before final payment the 5%+5%.

Hi, I heardd MSC was going to just paying the difference; but wasn't sure if it had started or not. Glad to hear they have! Thanks

Hi, The following is cut & paste from our upcoming booking. "Includes all beverages priced up to 9 euro / 10 dollars: choice of frozen and classic cocktails, fresh fruit cocktails, protein shakes, well spirits, liqueurs and cordials, draught and bottled beers, non-alcoholic cocktails, bottled mineral water, hot drinks, 10% discount on bottles of wine purchased on board, wines by the glass and beverage gratuity." If you bought the Drinks & Wi-fi package or if you pre-purchase it includes all taxes & gratuities. It is good for Ocean Cay & in any specialty restaraunts if you book one. Most frozen drinks are included as well, like frozen Marguritas & Pina Colada etc. I tried to check how much it would be to purchase as an add on but my bookings aren't showing any additional items right now. I don't know why as they were last week. Hope this helps

Hi, I get seasick and use the 72hr patches. You can put them behind your ears or about an inch or so below the belly button. I recommend below the belly button as I've seen them on people behind the ears and they look kind of foolish, in my opinion. You can get them on amazon or at some drug stores. I tried the bands and they didn't work for me. The patches are herbal. I try to avoid chemicals as I have liver issues and the herbal is easier on it. But others are correct in that big ships are not like what others are. We have been in gale force winds and barely felt it in the ships motion. Remember when looking out to sea to gaze at the horizon as experts say that will help to stabilize you.

In December last year we had 8 family members on a cruise and ourselves on a different cruise. We all ended up flying into FLL as it was $$$ cheaper than MIA. We rented a car at FLL and dropped it in Miami near the port. Some family ubered it and some took taxi's to port. In December up til the 23rd they had direct flights to YYZ for $25. It was crazy! We flew Delta booked through Westjet. But the actual planes were WJ. Some family flew Delta -WJ down and Flair back to YYZ. Flair was major expensive but they had booked the return flight way in advance of the flight down as it was important to be back by a specific time on the day the ship docked. So not much flexability. Hi, our December cruise we used the ship shuttle from POM to FLL. it was only $27pp and booked it on the ship. While waiting for our bus to FLL there were several shuttle services that pulled up to p/u passengers and one couple would ask them how much to get to FLL . The one driver offered $10 to anyone who wanted to go and the most expensive was $50. There were hundreds in the line for the MIA shuttles and when the FLL shuttle finally showed up, they didn't even ask for proof of payment to get on the bus, which surprised me. We had never booked through the ship before. An Uber was $50 as I had looked into costs in advance. I would definitely do a walk off. If the ship docks ontime and you walk off, you know you'll be there ontime. If you have to wait and then find your luggage, if the people in front of you are slow have an issue it can cause a long delay. We usually walk off but they told us to do the luggage drop the night before if we were taking the shuttle. It was a mess in the luggage area, and people blocking the doors as it was raining so it held up the hundreds of people behind them, everytime a family would stop and have a conversation in front of you.

Hi, we didn't have our passports checked on one cruise and when I said something, the response was "facial recognition is a wonderful thing!" We were doing a B2B; same cruise line, different ships. Our last cruise, the agent actually asked us a lot of questions about our travel habits. We live on the New York/ Ontario border and cross at least once a week. He said it was the first time he'd seen so many crossings. He was young and we cross alot. Family & shopping on both sides, the best of both worlds!

Hi, we use cruise time parking. book on line. They refund if you call and cancel before the date and it's only $80. including tax for a 7 night cruise. They have a minimum of $50 for short cruises. It's quick to the port and usually quick pickup after disembarkation.

Hi, thanks for the review. Prices are definitely up. I've been able to find a couple great deals but they are hidden in with all the other bookings. Not sure if you've looked at booking through a US travel agent. After factoring in a 40% currency conversion rate (hopefully it's less at final payment!) we're saving over $800 per couple CAD on our upcoming bookings. I've only booked through a Canadian TA site once and it wasn't fun to deal with. It's worth checking out the $ differences in bookings. Our Dec/23 sailing we saved a couple thousand (yes thousand) by booking in US. That's been our experience so far. We sailed the Seaside in May/23 as well and honestly, weren't fans of the experience. Husband wanted to kill the elevators! Glad to hear they may have figured out the issues with them as I've just booked the Seaside for Dec/24, 7 nights! Like you said the price was right We try to avoid the 3/4 nighters as it seems the people are trying to pack a week into a couple days and it isn't pretty!

Reading this post and some of the visous responses is not making me want to sail NCL anytime soon. As many of these customers seem to be very aggresively judgemental towards their fellow cruisers. At an average of $100 per day for a drink package, I'm inclined to think the cruiseline has factored in package sharing into the equation along with a healthy profit. OP said the odd glass of wine, or mocktail. Honestly I doubt the cruiselines are as concerned about this as they are about those who load the plates so full, you couldn't put another olive on it and then leave the plates behind and head for the desert bar. Or in the MDR have several appetizers and mains and only eat parts, leaving the senseless waste behind. Restaurants push alcohol sales as the profit margin is much higher than food margins. But that is my opinon and I find the food waste the more offensive.