heatherb1958

Thanks for all the replies. I have gone ahead and put in a bid. There are LOTS of cabins available in all the lower balcony grade , practically the whole of deck 9 aft is available, 5th June to Scandinavia. I expect a fire sale to fill the ship. The upgrade bid amounts are starting at very low prices and advertised as a promo .

We have a balcony, If I put in a bid for Aqua class balcony do we get access to Blu and the seathermal suite or not? It says we get to keep our current promotions but not anything to do with upgraded cabin. Not sure what the incentive is supposed to be if that is the case, confused 😐

Got another message, apparently Border Force stopped and started disembarking 3 times , full on checking for contraband with the sniffer dogs.

Damn those Duty free Canary Islands 😆. Enjoy your lunch, hope your cruise is quieter than last week's, apparently YC was full and busy. Friends got off this morning and messaged me . Xx

I made a post on our May roll call about the traffic queue for Horizon terminal on 30th April when we were headed to Regal Princess , it was long queues then . This was at 10.25am ish . Thankfully there are 2 lanes as we got to the roundabout and our taxi could get past it . We will be arriving by taxi on 29th as the hotel is too far away to walk with the luggage , think we will arrive in the afternoon . This is where we love interporting as the whole ship is not trying to get off and on at the same time . I know M&L will be cursing in their car ... 😔. At least you are on now , can relax and enjoy YC. Xx

😆 This thread reminds me of our very first cruise on Mercury in October 1999 . We were seated at a dinner table for 8 , salad had been served , the waiter came round with different dressings explaining what each one was and the guy to my right asked which one did he recommend for his salad ?? As a newbie cruiser I nearly choked on my sorbet ! 😆

Have a wonderful time J and M. We have friends joining you tomorrow, not sure if you know them but Manxmiss on here . It is their first MSC cruise, they aren't with you in YC 😁 , I hope they enjoy it as much as we do but going to be strange as they have only ever sailed RCI and top tier with them 🍍. I love the Fjiords and for the first time in years we haven't got an itinerary booked to them this year 😪

Sorry to see you are having a mixed experience on your first European MSC cruise. We have always had a cruise excursion guide in our cabin on boarding day with instructions how to book, obviously the smart ships you can do it on the app. Glasgow and Edinburgh are very easy to do on your own if just wanting to visit the cities, train from Greenock to Glasgow . We have visited Greenock many times and were there just a few days ago on Regal though the weather was cool so I just went shopping in town, there is a small mall there with all the usual high street stores including Primark. If walking is your thing there is a lovely walk along the coast to Largs or upto the French WW11 monument with stunning views if the weather is clear . There are taxi firms who are willing to take you. If tendering at Queensferry for Edinburgh there is a local bus that takes you to the city from the top of the ramp . Viator and TripAdvisor are great tools for research for Independent tours and both cities will have HOHOs or walking tours to download . We have over 90 cuise nights with MSC out of the UK and Barcelona but wouldn't spend one single night at sea out of an American port with them even though we have cruised many many times with RCI from the west and east coasts. MSC are dumbing down their experience to attract and from what I have been reading on CC it isn't working . We just got off Regal Princess out of the UK with 1,900 Americans onboard , one time we were waiting for the lift, one arrived and the doors were closing almost immediately , I just managed to catch it . Hiding in the corner was an American guy, it was obvious he had pressed the door close before anyone had a chance to get to the lift . I said to him naughty naughty to let him know I knew what he had done . His reply was we should have walked faster !!!! This was said face to face to my husband who walks with a stick and has obvious mobility issues , such arrogance from the American . In Europe the only nation that knows how to queue or form a line are the British, you have to embrace the way France, Germany, Spain and the Italians operate and sharpen your elbows 😆 .

If you are in a YC suite then yes you can use this facility , priority lift call. MSC have suites that are not in YC whether their key card has the same facility I am not sure but YC 100% . On Grandiosa where they have the smart lifts we sometimes waited ages for the priority lift , it was always F , It would have been quicker just to take a regular one as the smart lift system is excellent . Oh , and the priority call only worked at YC end not the aft on Grandiosa which makes sense .

So now I am confused..friend currently on Seashore on a 5 night trip out of Genoa says no to Diamond perk meal 😔. That sucks but maybe MSC trying harder to win you guys over 😂.

Thanks for posting throughout your trip. We are on the 24 nighter round trip to Canada and New England in September . We have Princess plus , a mini suite and on demand movies so think the lack of production shows won't be a problem 😆 🤣 .

Thanks for the replies , so it looks like we CAN have our free visit then 😎. I should have made it clear in my post , our friends are Diamond due to the match from their RCI top tier level . Shame they missed out though they loved their first MSC experience so I am sure they will book another MSC cruise .

We have only ever done cruises of 7 nights or longer so far with MSC. I have checked online on their website and cannot find anything to say the Voyager club Diamond perk for speciality restaurants is not available on short cruises yet a friend who was on a 4 nighter last year was declined , it was their first MSC cruise too. Does anyone know ?? We are on the 29th May 5 nighter and want to be prepared 😆.

Preziosa maybe an older ship with some funky decor but MSC keep their ships spotless , we have been on her out of Southampton and loved all the different bars onboard each having live music. Would go on her again in a heartbeat.

@jame_g - wow , what a nightmare for you. Not quite as high an upgrade , my friend bid from inside to balcony , she got the acceptance e.mail and money taken out of her account but she had the same thing happen though it was never resolved onboard . The hours she spent before the cruise chasing up new paperwork for a new cabin number and then onboard the ship, she never did get what her acceptance e.mail promised. Felt so sorry for her and she was travelling with a first time cruiser too . This was for a cruise booked through the UK and sailing from the UK so doesn't just happen in the US.

Another reason we love to cruise is the friends we have made along the way who turn up on other cruises either by choice to surprise you or they just had it booked and forgot to tell you . Never ever yet been on a ship on any cruise line where new friends weren't made or old friends reacquainted with ❤️❤️

I love L'Atelier bar , great for people watching . We eat early, go to the mid timed show, a couple of drinks in either Sky lounge or l'Atelier afterwards , get a seat outside the pub for when it is time for the Galleria party. It works for us and never ever go to bed with full stomachs 😆.

We love interporting on MSC and the fact you can stay on as long as you want and even have lunch onboard before leaving the ship if it fits with our onward travel , we keep our bags with us and settle down somewhere comfortable . Can't remember what happened last year on our departure on our closed loop Fjiord cruise out of SOU except when we arrived at the port it was a zoo with people queuing up to get onboard . Thankfully we were looked after by shoreside who took great care of my hubby who has mobility issues .

We did Status match from our RCI level in 2017 and went straight in at Black , now Diamond , with MSC . It was great having some perks on that first cruise but it didn't matter anyway as we loved the experience so much have been on 8 ships with 95 nights at sea with MSC to date. All our experiences have been out of the UK or Barcelona where the clientele were mainly Europeans , I would say the only time we ever said " I am glad this isn't our first MSC cruise" was on a UK seacation after Covid start up with all Brits onboard on an included drinks package !! We recently did our first YC sailing in an inside cabin out of Barcelona , it was great having the private to YC pool deck, pool deck grill , lounge bar etc etc but having done it we will go back to booking Bella or Fantastica cabins . We didn't feel the food in the restaurant was much different to the MDR and our waiters in the MDR have always been excellent as have all the staff around the ships. We have never had service issues except on that mentioned seacation . The shows in the main theatre are short but full on production shows with fabulous costumes and a different show every night . They are catering to all languages so mainly visual with the songs all sung in English . There is live music in every bar , something to suit all tastes . You can get coffee at every bar , it is an Italian company ! Their prices are great . MSC are a family owned company and have met crew onboard who have been with them for years .

Meant to say pity about your visit to La Rochelle , another beautiful port , I walked miles there . Our last visit was September 22 and it was gorgeous weather 😍. Bad here at home at the moment so better to be on a cruise 🛳 😎.

On MSC they call them Gala and Elegant nights, one of each on 7 night trips. In the Med you will find those that dress to the nines and go all out and then others who couldn't care less. Don't fret over it. We dress to the nines and enjoy it.

Following 😎. We are onboard for the 5 nighter in May, know what to expect as it will be our 3rd time onboard, got an OV this time for a good deal with drinks . I know our cruise will be busy as it is the BH weekend and school hols but the itinerary is different to previous short runs. Have a fantastic time .

Enjoying reading your observations. We are sailing on Sky in September and I just told hubby there is going to be a new seafood restaurant , he is happy . I hope you had a good tour with Spainday , I did a CC group tour from Bilbao with Spain day tours last year , very well organised , visited all the main attractions including the Guggenheim and even had time to have a Tapas lunch at the market . Loved Bilbao.

I never tire of Norway , we loved it so much on our first visit ended up going another 3 times in the same year with one of the trips being The Land of the Midnight sun all the way upto Honningsvag with the Lofoten islands included. I love walking and climb mountains to off set the food intake onboard 😆. We have also done the Med countless times and the run-down to the Canaries but there are always new things to find , just walk in a different direction or down a different street . We have been cruising for so long now that if we have to repeat itineraries we try not to repeat the same one on the same ship.

We had our first ever experience in January this year of a butler with MSC in their Yacht club . One of the things advertised was unpacking of luggage which I would absolutely never have someone do , don't want a stranger seeing my not so smalls !! 😂😂😂. He seemed to always be at our cabin door whenever we left and found us in the dedicated bar lounge to escort us to reservations we had on the ship. Can live without the butler but the Concierge desk was a godsend for sorting any issues, never ever had to go to guest services once as the Concierge sorted anything and everything.