WonderMan3

Thank you both for your help! Beamafar, do you know approximately what time cabins are typically ready in the Yacht Club? Like I said in my first post I’m used to 1pm with Celebrity but was wondering if the 2:30pm that sailco mentioned for non-YC cabins also is typical for YC?

New MSC cruiser here. Will be taking my first cruise in September on Bellissima (followed a week later by Seaview). Just had a few quick questions about the check-in and boarding process in Barcelona since I've never cruised with MSC before. I am in Yacht Club with Black Card status. 1. What is the earliest time you can arrive for boarding? With Celebrity I typically like to arrive between 11 and 11:30am. If I arrive at that time will I be able to board right away or will I have to wait? 2. Are cabins all made ready at a particular time or as they come available? On Celebrity they allow you to board usually from 11 onward but cabins are not ready until 1pm so you have to go to a lounge or restaurant and wait until cabins are ready. I know this will be a bit different as passengers will already be on board and the whole ship is not turning over. 3. If your cabin is not ready when you arrive at the pier do you wait in the terminal or can you board and then have to check at a reception desk to see when your cabin is ready? 4. Are there separate security or check-in lines for Yacht Club or Black Card guests? 5. Is there a check-in lounge for Yacht Club guests in the terminal? 6. Are Yacht Club or Black Card guests escorted on board by a butler or other staff member? 7. I thought I read that you do not process your credit card at check-in but have to do that at a kiosk once you are onboard? I believe someone said there was one inside the Yacht Club? 8. Does MSC mail you luggage tags or do you have to print them out from your online account? Thank you in advance!

Celebrity is definitely diminishing the smoking areas on the newer ships. On Edge there are only two smoking areas on the entire ship vs. 4 on S class (3 I think on Reflection). For the pool area they actually tried to strike a nice balance by creating an elevated smoking area that created a little distance from the pool and was a dead end so that non-smokers wouldn't have to walk through it to get anywhere. Unfortunately it was poorly designed as there was an air vent at the back of the smoking area that was sucking all the smoke out and depositing it in the adjacent Solarium. So then they moved that smoking area to the other side of the pool deck, still elevated but now a pass through for a stairway. At least they tried...

Generally food is better in Luminae and Tuscan can be hit or miss but when I cruised on Constellation in 2017 the food was very disappointing; our worst Luminae experience on any ship in both food quality and service. The servers were totally inept almost as if it was some sort of training cruise. Funny enough our experience at Tuscan on that same cruise was the complete opposite; outstanding service and food. I think it all depends on whoever the chef and staff are.

You won't have to pay the full fare for the second person as your voucher is a free cabin for two people (or one person with the voucher covering the single supplement). Port charges are always based on per person so you wouldn't have to pay twice for those. Taxes and admin fee though they might charge you twice for but I would hope not. Best to just ask the cruise line though.

Take the slot credit. When you add slot credits to a machine once you play through the initial amount credit (your spins will always deduct from the free credit first) whatever is left on the machine after you have played through the free credit is yours to do with as you please. Note though that on most cruise lines and most land-based casinos, once you add free play to a machine you have to play it out on that machine, but I know some more recent slot credit programs do allow you to transfer it back to your players card. Check with the casino before you start to play as you don't want a situation where you have $100 of free play, you add all of it to a slot and then find after a few spins that you don't like the game. If the casino operates that way then just transfer the amount that you actually want to play on that machine. The reason you don't want to take chips is that your free play chips always stay with you even when you win; the casino will pay you your win by including the free play chips as part of it. You actually have to lose a bet to get rid of those chips. So the slot credit is a better deal. Of course your odds are much worse on slots...

I happened to get a tour of the Penthouse on Edge from another CC member. I think space-wise it's just fine. The living area was comfortably spaced. The master bedroom had massive shower and closet space and good sized bed area. The major plus over M and S class is that there is an entire second bedroom with private bathroom. Obviously not as big as the master but perfectly sized. (Of course you pay for it in the outrageous pricing). The big negative is on the outdoor space. The balcony seemed even smaller than S class (which was already much smaller than M class) and was cluttered with furniture. And the cabins are located right under the overhang which means they are in shade all day. There was another "balcony" space with chairs that was all closed in though which was odd. There were a number of other furniture/design issues with the cabin which I won't go into detail on (some are correctable and may have already been updated) but overall I was not impressed with the cabin vs. M or S class Penthouses having stayed in both of those. I think I would only recommend it if you're two couples or a family with kids looking for a big suite.

Does MSC sometimes dock in Cannes? In my cruise planner for my Seaview cruise in September it says "docked" for Cannes.

Kind of silly of them to do that since Americans (like me) will be cruising on ships in Europe and elsewhere outside the U.S. An unremarkable experience could cause someone to just cross MSC off their list even though they might've had a better time on a U.S. based cruise. Service should be consistent across the fleet.

The priority check-in should be the same priority that Amethyst, Sapphire and Ruby level Blue Chip Club players get I would think. They should you direct you the appropriate line at the terminal. The priority prior to security I thought was only for Suites and Zenith but it sounds like they waived you through. It says "Departure Lounge" for a benefit so I think that would be access to The Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club on debarkation day

Modern Luxury Plus 🤩🤩

I have stayed there! It was back in 2013 though and the rooms did not have those cumbersome (but comfortable) rockers at that time so perhaps they did get them from an Edge fire sale. 😄😄 The views over Lake Como were absolutely breathtaking and the inn was very comfortable. I didn’t want to leave. Not sure if it’s still the same owners; they were a bit odd. I’m sure you will love it!

I’m in the same boat. Cancelled my two future Celebrity cruises on Equinox for next year and am going to wait and see for any future Celebrity cruises . The pricing was just not worth it. I’ve got two cruises coming up on MSC in September in their Yacht Club. Got a deal through a local casino so figured I’d check them out. If I like their product then they may become my preferred cruise line for the foreseeable future.

It’s just called PR spin. You are spot on with your observations about sales.

Speaking for myself, I'm not "offended". I just think that Celebrity is wasting time chasing down a demographic that they will garner very little traction with while at the same time alienating their core customer base. Now that alienation has less to do with how they're advertising and more with how they're raising prices, reducing services, making design choices that make little sense, etc. but they aren't going to gain NEW ground within the older demographics that have been filling these ships for decades if they continue to shift their ad focus away from them. If this focus on a younger demographic was such a rousing success then Celebrity would not be having a struggle to fill its BRAND NEW ship, the one that they have been focusing on the most to that demographic. I worked for a cruise line for well over a decade in marketing and revenue management and our focus was always on the market segments that were consistently booking. Anytime we strayed from that and tried to boost new segments it almost always was a negative return on investment. Now perhaps Celebrity is playing a long game here and has pockets deep enough to afford to wait for this younger demographic to come around. I guess time will tell.