skyking

So we love love fine wines.   We had the premium drink package and it was just fine.  Covers some OK reds,  but keep in mind you can pay the difference.  I was drinking a lot of Oberon on the Indy two weeks ago, and it was 15.00 a glass, but the package covers up to 13.00 so just paid the 2.00 difference.   Wines like Caymus you will only be able to get by the bottle however with the bottle discount it brings it pretty close to market price. 

22 minutes ago, BCCI Cruiser said:

Sorry.  We are leaving this Saturday, April 23, 2022. 

We got an email from the concierge on Independance about 4 days before sailing. 

44 minutes ago, Painter4me said:

We had 1748 and we loved it. I didn’t want to overlook the sports deck and those staterooms didn’t have any privacy at night with the lights on. I a;so wanted to sit on my balcony and wt h the world go by. You’ll love the CLS. 

We had 1710 and it was AMAZING, about to book it again.   Here is my tour of the cabin:) 

https://youtu.be/yF32hh7tGTE

11 minutes ago, Painter4me said:

Maybe if all kids were well behaved and didn’t run around and if parents didn’t allow which behavior, kids could go into the Suite Lounge at night. But, on a recent Harmony formal night, an older woman, in a formal dress, was sitting not far from us enjoying a cocktail with her husband, when 2 boys maybe 7 and 20 were running and bumped into her arm and her drink went down the front of her. Not all kids are brats, but not all are well behaved. That poor woman never made it to dinner in her beautiful blue dress. The parents never said a word or apologized for the brats behavior. Kids and teens have places to go, why not adults?

They DO, it's called Virgin cruises 

On 4/11/2022 at 6:14 PM, beachluver9 said:

Grecia is definitely a gem!  Indy is lucky to have her

She is absolutely wonderful!

On 4/11/2022 at 1:23 PM, Mapleleafforever said:

Royal continues to be a family friendly cruise line, one of the many reasons we choose Royal. 

 

There are definitely quite a lot of cruise line options with no kids allowed which is good for the people who choose to not be near families. 

With you 100% on this.  People walking around with those Pinnacle name tags on are FAR more annoying than the kids onboard. 

Just off Indy in a Grand Suite and PLENTY of kids were in the lounge at night, and as a matter of fact during breakfast in chops every morning the concierge made sure to invite them when she visited our table every morning.  Also to make you all feel better strolled over to the Diamond lounge a few times, and GUESS what??  Kids in there also. 

YESSSSS not bad, back in Sep 2019 we got four of us in a Crown Loft for 4600.00

Best time ever!

Being in the Crown Loft was one of the best experiences of all our cruises. 

Best part, my 11 and 6 year old act better than most adults in these lounges.  

Just sayin!

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

I cut and past the USA site as well. Two things are obvious now, and should be patently obvious ot anyone with two or more cruises with MSC:

1.  Their IT and web site is both out of date and contradictory.  You can find "facts" showing one thing is allowed on one page of the site, and one showing it is not allowed.  That is the one fact.

2.  Everyone has different experiences.  They are just that: experiences, not actual and formal policy.  For every one who got drinks in the specialty restaurant, another person reports they couldn't.  The experiences are simply a moment in time, base on the way the guest interacts with MSC staff, the level of knowledge of the current MSC "policy" on the part of the staff member, the amount of latitude that the staff member is allowed or willing to take, the position of the stars, the cruise location, etc.  To cite your experience as the actual rule is an exercise in folly. We all have different experiences.  Great butlers and junior butlers, MIA or incompetent butlers and junior butlers, a flexible concierge, a rigid concierge.  Different experiences do not equal a rule or policy.  Please share your experiences, but share them as that.  Not an "absolute rule."

   Thank you for your insight. 

On 1/25/2022 at 9:55 AM, JAGR said:

Your posting highlights MSC and the art of miscommunication.  Your experience (getting drinks in the specialty restaurants)  probably did happen, but it is against MSC stated policy, which is attached.  We all know that MSC is a left hand fooling the right hand operation.  While you may enjoy an exception or exceptions to the rules, nonetheless the rules are there.  I suspect servers have been  bending the rules in specialty restaurants because of low load factors.  I am of the opinion that the rules will become more sacrosanct as load factors begin to climb in the coming months.

 

Interesting point about Hola being a third party.  While that is definitely the case for Venchi an Jean Phillipe, I was under the understanding that Hola was a limited partnership between MSC and Ramon Freixa, formed in 2019.  He also partnered earlier with them on the Ocean Cay restaurants.  If Hola is  a third party, is that also the case for Ocean Cay? Shouldn't they both be the same?

As others stated the US site does say different.  I did notice there is a lot of confusion with the lower packages. 

When eating in the specialty restaurants on the Meravigilia Dec 27th sailing they simply asked if we had the premium package when I ordered a drink and no problem.  It was NOT an issue at all.  I attached the wording from the US site as well for your reference. 

F6712072-D904-40D0-B0B1-4F6DABCBB052.heic

The premium drink package is accepted in the specialty restaurants.  We had NO problem using them on our Dec 27th sailing, HOWEVER HOLA doesn't accept any packages because it is not owned by MSC. 

It is a third party company that leases the space. 

Outstanding review, we are also loyal Royal cruisers, and we LOVED the Meraviglia.  Can't wait to sail on her again. 

on the Dec 27th sailing guest services was not very much help so I went right into the Yacht Club to speak to the manager who was AMAZING. 

He told me exactly how many NO shows they had as of 3pm and told me he would call me directly to keep me posted.   He called me every 20 minutes but sadly everyone showed up and we were not able to upgrade, but still loved our balcony and had a GREAT time. 

PLEASE enjoy the Meraviglia, she is a beautiful ship.   Go in with a open mind and enjoy it, MSC does a great job, but people LOVE to complain about weird stuff.   

well now I am hearing this has been known for a while, but the crew I spoke to told they were crossing the 7th so maybe they didn't know?

Just got wind the repo cruise in April has been cancelled. 

Talked to several crew members onboard last week that had a feeling this would happen.

No word yet where she is going. 

Just sailed the Meraviglia with a 5 year old and a 11 year 100% vaccinated. 

No issues what so ever, they were given white wrist bands at check in, and also treated like all the vaccinated guests onboard.   

We provided Antigen tests for all four of us with no issues. 

ENJOY!

Can you find out at some point how many they are expecting on the 27th sailing?  

I appreciate it and can't wait to board on Monday.

What drink package did you have?  We upgraded to the Premium and it does say you can use it in the Specialty Restaurants.  

Hi There, 

   Did they offer the extended hours in the kids club for a charge?  We did this on the Divine and it worked out great.   Thanks 🙂 

Yep just got the same, but was mentally prepared for this.   

Posted on wrong link

We stayed in 1710 on the Harmony last year, and it was absolutely PERFECT. 

17 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Disagree.   That is why they will be limited passengers to official excursions and no wondering.

The bubble works.   They are sailing in Europe right now successfully. 

Disagree, let's just wait and see what happens.