Zambini

Well, not if you travel as a solo cruiser. Costa has some single cabins for a reasonable price and MSC tends to have special offers on the single supplement but HAL as well as Celebrity (following RCCL policy) tend to be quite heavy on the single supplement

I'm not a solo, but i've read NCL has solo cabins on EPIC

And what line would you suggest Zambini? :)

Here are two with links to their reviews, they have a pretty good Med. presence, which seems to be the primary area of interest on the MSC board.

Holland America:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews_cruiselines.cfm?cl=21&StartRow=1&sort=date_newest

Celebrity:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/celebrity-cruises/cl/

Note the difference with MSC:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/msc-cruises/cl/

Personally, I have found their prices to be reasonable and in the same ballpark as MSC

And now we know how the two Italian cruise lines invented copper wire, by fighting over a penny!

Spend a few more dollars and choose a full service line!

Amazing what we take for granted in Canada...especially in the mountains and valleys of BC....good clean, cold drinking water.......whatever ....this will not ruin our first cruise on MSC.....going on the 14 day one with open minds.....thanks for the input....

Looking at your past cruise history, I'm sure you will have a different experience than you are used to.

Personally, I like new things but when I was on MSC I sure missed the other lines way of doing things.

I'm sure you'll have a good time, you've obviously been cruising for awhile and know the deal but you have to admit that when the MSC champions tell you to get your water from your cabin faucet or pay for it's a whole new ball game.

Bring your water bowl!:p

Did not think this was such a hot topic....as Canadians and on the ships we have been on water is a non issue ...but.... with the Euopean experience on MSC I guess it is going to be one....If I remember right in some European countries people drink lots of bottles water...so I guess the ship is sort of like a country...lol......I will drink lots of beer to make up...just kidding

I highly recommend you drink heavily on MSC.:D

Not kidding:eek:

;)

Yes ... I read that article earlier this morning. More competition has to be good for the consumer!

Interesting to see that they've done their homework and are "adjusting" the product to suit the Australian market.

Maybe they read CC ;)

I'm sure they will bring you a good, competitive product; lots of value for the money in my opinion.

Yes ... I read that article earlier this morning. More competition has to be good for the consumer!

Interesting to see that they've done their homework and are "adjusting" the product to suit the Australian market.

If I'm not mistaken, don't you Aussies pay a lot more for cruises than the rest of us and aren't you banned from purchasing thru a US website?

It will be interesting to see how the prices and bookings will be handled, if I'll book here or there, so to speak.

OP, I apologize for us hijacking your thread...

Thank you for thinking about us.

I'm on the mid-north coast of New South Wales and we're not affected here. We have many cruising friends as well as family in Queensland but thankfully everyone is fine.

The situation is still very bad in many parts of Queensland and also in northern New South Wales. The situation is improving in the Queensland state capital Brisbane, but there will be a very lengthy and expensive cleanup required. The effects will be felt for years to come.

Some cruises depart from Brisbane (particularly P&O and Princess) but at the moment the port is completely closed to all shipping.

Our thoughts also go out to Sri Lanka and Brazil ... both are experiencing disastrous flooding with many lives lost. Kind of puts the antics on these forums into perspective doesn't it.

Carnival is on the way, no tipping!

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4311

What lines have you cruised on, Zambini?

Which ones haven't I? LOL!

When I first started cruising, I thought I would try them all( within my budget of course) and didn't really care for a loyalty program.

Now, I see others with lots of perks such as Diamond plus for cruising with RCCL and tend to get jealous, but then I remember I don't like RCCL that much and remember how much fun I like trying new lines so ~

CCL

RCL

HAL

NCL

MSC

Celebrity

Princess

Cunard

Viking

Azamara

Hoping to:

Oceania

Seaborn

Crystal

Costa

prolly never:

Disney

Up next

Azamara & Hal (two favorites)

Thanks Andrew, it is appreciated that you have also actually sailed both lines and are qualified to answer the question, rather than just postings suppositions and second hand reports.

Go here, count the one stars for MSC:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/msc-cruises/cl/

Now go here, count the stars for Celebrity:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/celebrity-cruises/cl/

Now go here, see what the Italians think:

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.crocieristi.it%2Fshowthread.php%2F3066-Miglior-compagnia-crocieristica%3Fs%3D72fa70dad7ce55bfd983e30bab9e343f

There is no comparison, it is a low class, low budget smokey cruise line.

No further questions...

Thanks for the help

So I guess the general consensus is that's it's not necessarily that much cheaper than taking the ships excursion but it's the fact that you get more time on St. John that everyone really likes?

I'll be on Carnival victory, 7-5, will that be sufficient timing to get to St. John and back and have a decent amount of time on the beach?