KSWind

The German website is screwed up too when it comes to web check-in or even viewing your latest booking. They have major, major problems.

For what it's worth - The German website for MSC is just as bad. I've been cruising with them for about 7 years and the website here has always had problems. Sometimes a few problems and sometimes a lot. I always comment about the poor website they have. Apparently without success.

Harder to book. They also use these for people that they upgrade to YC when the YC is not full. And, yes, in any case I believe you need three or more guests.

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They have them in the Yacht Club ships in Europe.

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You have to put your luggage out just like the folks in steerage. As for packing clothes (clean or otherwise) at the end of the cruise...? I'll let someone else address that.

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My experience is that they take your luggage as soon as you arrive and they ID You as a Yacht Club cruiser.

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I wondered where the extra points came from. I just booked a cruise and was unaware of the offer. Glad I updated my info.

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They can be separated.

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The itinerary you posted in your title is the same order we had in late December. The exception being that we did return to Abu Dhabi with the ship and not a bus. Though they did bus us to the airport from the Abu Dhabi port.

We were able to visit Sir Bani Yas this past December. We were scheduled to visit the island as our first stop (we embarked in Abu Dhabi). The morning we arrived it was too foggy so they postponed the visit until later in the cruise.

We enjoyed our stay there. It was comfortable and the food was decent. I might add that Disney's Castaway Quay is probably a little better. YMMV.

We received an upgrade to YC on an April sailing in Europe. We found out just before our ticket information was Emailed to us. We already had purchased a drinks package so we were able to order at the YC bars but we were not allowed to use the mini bar. My memory is not what it used to be but I think that is how it was.

It was a very pleasant surprise and it got us hooked on the YC experience. We don't expect to ever cruise (at least with MSC) and not book a YC cabin.

Our Cruise to Sir Bani Yas was postponed a couple of days in December because of fog. We went to Dubai and then Doha before returning to the beach resort.

jeweils verfügbaren Getränkeangebot."

Looks like we will be able to get drinks throughout the ship.

On the European Fantasia class ships they have quite a wide variety of nuts served in the Top Sail Lounge. I am almost certain there were peanuts there as well. I would think the Divina would have them too.

As an American that lives in Germany I originally registered with the MSC German website. I couldn't use the U.S. website while there because MSC recognized my IP address as being in Germany.

Fast forward to today. I am temporarily in the states since this summer. I wanted to take a December cruise in the Persian Gulf departing from Frankfurt on the included flights. I tried to log-in with my MSC credentials on the US site to book this cruise. It wouldn't work since, I suppose, my credentials are associated with the German MSC site.

I wonder if I try to book a Caribbean Divina cruise, for this summer, can I use the status match from my German MSC Gold card on the US MSC website? Will that work? Or will I have to go with MSC DE yet again?

For What It's Worth - I just received a survey from MSC essentially asking my opinion on ships with Liquid Petroleum Gas propulsion. It seems they are looking at the possibility to transition away from the current method to power the ship. It was in German as I am registered to MSC in Germany.

Not knowing too much about it I remained neutral in my answers. By the way the questions were presented it seems LPG is more environmentally friendly.

If I recall correctly the A/C stays on but not the lights - this is from my experience on other Fantasia class ships. I'm sure regulars will correct me if I am wrong.

You do want to keep your card in the holder on the bulkhead because it ensures a light outside the cabin door is illuminated letting the staff know the room is occupied. I've heard stories where passengers do not do this and end up getting caught in compromising situations.

Yes.

Thanks for your responses. I love cruisecritic

So you are saying I will have a nice day just walking around the city?

Valletta is one of my favorite cities in the world and very walkable. Use the Barracka lift. They have stairs there, but they may be a challenge.

MSC does play a shell game with cabins. I was booked in a larger square YC cabin recently only to get bumped. I was furious. No one could or would explain why. I finally got an answer while on board. It seems when the YC is not full they upgrade perspective customers to the larger YC cabins from the cabins they had from the other experiences. They do it to see if they can get more YC customers, I suppose.

I have been having trouble with their German website for about a week now. It is a recurring problem with all MSC websites, I believe. Very frustrating.

I am not too sure what problems solo cruisers have faced on MSC specifically. I have read posts in the past where they could not book on-line unless they added more than one name or something similar. I also think that the website in one country allows it while a web site from another country will not even for the same cruise.

I recommend you do a search for more detailed info.

No issues speaking English, and being understood, onboard. Most of the crew understand 3 or more languages. Usually English was their second language. That said, you may come across someone who can't speak English at all. Even so, it should not be too much of an inconvenience since there should be a "speaker" nearby.

Good luck getting a solo booking. I understand that some people have varying degrees of success on this. I am contemplating trying for a solo in November but on the Divina.

I have been on the Splendida a while back and never had a bad experience. Of course, it was in the Yacht Club but that shouldn't matter. Actually, I've never had a bad experience on any MSC ship.

The service was always top notch. Food is harder to comment on because people judge food according to their own likes and dislikes. I enjoyed what MSC had to offer on all the ships; either in the MDR, Buffet or YC.

The only trouble I ever had with MSC was with their front office - but that's another story.

Pepsi on Peziosa last April.