pirate4me2

Have a wonderful cruise!! That’s my birthday! 😂 I’ve heard great things about Disney, I hope you enjoy it!

I keep hearing about this pizza, i Absolutely can’t wait to try it!! I told mom to realize that about our fellow passengers, and we are going in with an open mind. 🙂 😂 it’s a good problem to have! I can’t wait to see Ocean Cay! Thanks for following along!

@Moz I think a big part of it for me has been change....I do not like change, I am afraid of the unknown. I am getting over that though!

I am not sure. I was pretty psyched to learn about it! I am going to try and be as fair as possible, I am not really comparing apples to apples and I realize that. But the general entertainment, food, fellow passengers, private islands....that is what I will be comparing. 🙂 Thanks for following along!

I am glad to hear that!! I think it will be good to branch out and try them to keep things "fresh" for me.

Thank you! I'm hoping that this will kinda help any others that may be considering trying MSC in the future. I know I am feeling like a fish out of water and have been trying to find as much info as I can about how the 2 lines compare.

Pre-Cruise thoughts/comparisons: Website: Carnival’s site, as much as we may gripe about IT issues, is wayyyyyyyy better than MSC’s. I have tried pulling their site up with Chrome, Edge, and Safari, and they all have glitches with the site. It takes a while to load, and it just isn’t as user friendly. I absolutely despise it. Ugh. Carnival gets the win here as far as I am concerned. Status Match: I LOVE that MSC does this! We status matched back in 2020, and my Platinum status with CCL has got me Gold status with MSC, which is their second highest level. It’ll be weird being “gold” onboard….like, how long ago was I gold with CCL? 2017? I will have to keep reminding myself that it’s OK, it’s a good level. Hahaha. They do say tho that you have to cruise with them once every 3 years to maintain your level, and I actually think this is a good thing….it keeps there from being an overwhelming number of high-level cruisers that are not as loyal/active. Payments: CCL will allow you to make partial payments via their website, but to make a partial payment on an MSC cruise you have to call in. What the heck?? I do not want to have to do that, especially since their wait time for a representative can be long. Ugh! Also, their website won’t let you use a Discover card to make payments, so if you’re planning to use that kind of card to pay you have to call in. Carnival wins as far as ease of making payments! Pre-Cruise communication: MSC really needs to work on this. I got an email about something called a Fun Pass, and it said “Your upcoming cruise on Magnifica.” Uhhhh, I am not booked on that ship, I am supposed to be on Seaside, did they pull a dancing of the ships on me? I hopped on the website and confirmed that my cruise was still on the correct ship. Carnival’s communications are much better! Oh, and they sent out an email to personalize my YC experience about a week before the sailing, where I get to choose my pillow choice (can I just say how excited I am for this option? I am a pillow snob, and this made my day! I’m high maintenance, I know), my mini bar choices, and my newspaper choice. I filled it out and submitted it, but a lot of peeps on the MSC boards say that the information never gets transferred to the onboard crew, sooooo….we shall see how that goes. Online Check-in: MSC opens check in for your cruise 30 days prior to sailing. I really like this, as opposed to Carnival’s 16 days, as I tend to have too much going on all at once and can be scatterbrained and loose track of time and forget to check in until the last minute. That extra 2 weeks was helpful. The process and questions are much the same, but MSC’s dang website keeps giving me an error when I try and print my boarding pass. I was able to download my e-ticket packet though (holy moly how many papers long is this thing? I thought Carnival had a bunch of nonsense printed out, but MSC beats that!) so hopefully that is enough. By far, Carnival wins with ease of printing the check-in stuff….if I could get MSC’s boarding pass to work, I would have said they are equal, but man their IT departments needs to get it together!

Hello CC family! I can’t believe I am typing this….I think my mental breakdown has reached a whole new level. That, or maybe my drinking did and I accidentally got on the wrong website. I, a loyal Carnival cruiser, have done the unthinkable….I booked a cruise on a different cruise line. WHAT AM I THINKING???? I actually think this could be a good thing. I love Carnival, but after 25 cruises I am getting, how should I say this…not quite bored, but not as entertained/pleasantly surprised each day, as I originally was. I think I need to sprinkle in cruises on other lines here and there to keep the experience fresh. Chris (my hubby) has agreed, but unfortunately for him, he isn’t along on this trip…my dear Mom is. She had expressed an interest in trying MSC back in 2020, and we actually had a cruise booked with them for September of that year, butttttt we all know what happened to that. So, as I was planning our first post-Covid mother/daughter adventure, I said what the heck….and booked us in Yacht Club cabin aboard MSC Seaside for August 20, 2023. We love the Havana area on the Vista class ships, so I thought this could be a similar experience to that. I won’t be doing a full on review of the vacation on this board, since this is the Carnival forum, BUT I wanted to do a live comparison of the 2 lines to help anyone else who has sailed Carnival that may be wanting to try MSC. Each evening (or maybe every few days or as something that warrants a post happens) I will post pros and cons of MSC compared to Carnival. If you want my full live review, I will be doing that on the MSC forum (can I get directions to there, please? J/k). So, without further ado….let the craziness begin. I feel like a fish out of water, this is all new. Hopefully this is just what I need to make my heart fonder of my dear old Carnival!

Hello, my MSC Cruise family! Brand new MSC cruiser here, and although I am not new to cruising (I have 25 Carnival cruises under my belt), I feel like a newbie. I have so much to learn about this line, but it has revived my excitement about cruising, which is a great thing! I love Carnival, and I will continue to sail with them, but I am hopeful that MSC will be a line I can sprinkle in sailings with to keep things “fresh” and exciting. I love doing live reviews of my sailings on the Carnival boards, and since we have WiFi onboard this upcoming cruise I thought you all may enjoy a live review thru a new MSC cruiser’s eyes. I plan to post each evening, and I will sprinkle in comparisons between CCL and MSC in case anyone on here has thought of cruising with CCL. So, how did we come to booking this sailing? My mom began cruising with me in 2017, and she really enjoyed sailing in the Havana area onboard the Vista class Carnival ships. On one of our sailings, a fellow passenger told us about MSC and the Yacht Club, and my mom began researching and said she really wanted to try cruising with them. So, we booked a cruise aboard MSC for September 2020….butttttt we all know what happened there. Fast forward to March 2023, and I was planning our first mother/daughter post-Covid vacation, and none of the August ’23 Carnival sailings were ticking the boxes…and then I remembered MSC. I took a look at the website (which I hate by the way….it is really glitchy on both my work computer and my phone for some reason), and I saw there was a sailing August 20, 2023 aboard the MSC Seaside with Yacht Club cabins available. Heck yeah, I’ll take it! I snatched one up, and as I was researching I was a bit shell shocked at the price…in a good way! If we were to book a Havana balcony on Carnival, then add on the drink package (included with MSC) and Wifi (included with MSC), it would be more expensive than just booking in the Yacht Club with MSC! This is a great value! We did status match back in 2020, and luckily our match (Gold for me, I forget what for Mom), is still in effect until this December. I love that MSC does this program, and how they work it with the "sail every 3 years or start over" policy. Carnival has so many Platinum and Diamond members that it is getting out of hand and they are looking at revamping it. I feel like MSC's policy really keeps it so that their higher level member numbers are more manageable. I also really like that MSC opens check in for your cruise 30 days prior to sailing, as opposed to Carnival’s 16 days. I tend to have too much going on all at once and can be scatterbrained and loose track of time and forget to check in until the last minute, so that extra 2 weeks was helpful. The process and questions are much the same, but MSC’s dang website keeps giving me an error when I try and print my boarding pass. I was able to download my e-ticket packet though so hopefully that is enough. By far, Carnival wins with ease of printing the check-in stuff….if I could get MSC’s boarding pass to work, I would have said they are equal, but man their IT departments needs to get it together! I just got the email this morning to personalize our YC experience. I filled it out, even though some people say the info isn’t transferred to the onboard staff. We shall see what happens! I love that they give you a selection of pillows to choose from, I am a bit of a pillow snob and just super picky about mine, so this made my day to see. I’m high maintenance, I know! So, who is ready to see their favorite cruise line thru fresh eyes? Come sail away with me!

Yesssssssss! A review to get me thru until I cruise next week, this is just what I needed! Thanks for the early birthday present Willdra!

I’ll be following along, we embark on Seaside on the 20th! Take good care of her for us 🙂

Soooo I went to make a payment for $100 on my December cruise....and instead, it paid in full! Glad I had enough credit line on the card I was using to take that $2200 payment!

I had 2 submitted within 2 weeks of each other, the first took a day, the second was approved the same day. I was shocked at how quick!

I took the plunge and booked thru the website, and sail next Sunday. So far everything has been good....knock on wood!

This is what I was told when I applied for mine as well. Seems like they cut it kinda close!

See you onboard!

Thank you for such a quick reply!

Thank you for doing this review! We board Seaside in 19 days for our first MSC cruise, in the YC. I hope we get Arnold for our butler! Can you do a little recon for me, if you dont mind? What is the attire in the YC restaurant like at dinnertime? I have an outfit for gala night, but I am interested in non-gala night what people wear. Also, in the Topsail lounge, will they allow you in with shorts and a Tshirt to get drinks and listen to music, or do you need to be more dressy? Thanks for any info you can provide!

Thank you for the live review! I am pretty darn excited now to experience MSC in just 19 short days. 🙂 And reading your review, I realized I forgot to pack an outfit for white night. Think I could get by with a pair of white shorts and a tank top for the deck party portion? Also, how were people dressed for dinner in the YC restaurant? I have a dress packed for gala night, but on non-gala night do you think I could get by with nice dark color jeans and a nice top?

I am loving this review, thank you! We sail MSC for the first time next month and I cannot wait to experience the YC.

I am super excited to sail MG in September and check out the new menus! They look yummy!

HAHAHAHA your description if this hotel and its wonky entrance brought back my memories from our time there earlier this year. I was so lost after a long travel day trying to figure out where to go.

Thank you for this info! I’ll look into this for our upcoming Mardi Gras cruise in November!

I am following along, as we will be on our first MSC cruise, on the Seaside, in the YC, in August. I am so excited! Wishing you a wonderful cruise. :)

Thank you so much for this review! We sail MSC for the first time in August, and I cannot wait!