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Aurea Sold Out


Captain-John
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It's been a few years since I cruised MSC, but I am looking at a spring cruise on Orchestra next year. However there are a number of B1 & B2 cabins available but no B3's which would bring the benefits of the Aurea experience.

 

I am happy to pay the extra as I will be adding a drinks package to the B2 cabin anyway, the perk of Aurea that swings it for me is the 'any time' dining - I am used to cruising NCL and love this aspect of it.

 

However the itinerary and price for the Orchestra sailing is too good to miss, it's just a shame I can't pay for the Aurea experience in a regular cabin to take advantage of the dining flexibility.

 

Does anyone know the chances between now and the end of February of being able to upgrade to Aurea if I go ahead with the B2 booking now? Is it even possible to upgrade after booking if there is a cancellation by an Aurea guest between now and sailing?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

John

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Last year, we had a Fantastica balcony booked (B2) on the Divina. About 3 months before our sailing an Aurea balcony (B3) became available and we upgraded. Then one month before our cruise an Aurea Suite (S3) opened up and we upgraded again so yes, you most certainly can upgrade. I was told both times that they “could” charge a cancellation fee since they were cancelling my original booking and making a new reservation but they waived it both times. Just make sure if you prepaid for anything, tell them to transfer everything to your new reservation or all your prepaid stuff will disappear. Happened to us and we spent hours in guest services, even with receipts and screenshots from my bank account showing I made the purchases.

 

 

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Thanks, that's really helpful. I have gone ahead with the B2 booking and will keep my fingers crossed for B3 availability between now and sail date.

 

I am going to hold off on buying the drinks package for now, as I have a feeling if I pay for it now and get an upgrade to B3 which includes the package in the price they might have difficulty refunding me or doing something with what I've already paid (my previous experience of MSC shoreside isn't great!). Is it right I can add the package up to 4 days before the cruise if I don't snag an upgrade to B3 by then?

 

We had a similar experience to yours a few years ago, I had on my booking confirmation a bottle of wine and some OBC, neither of which were applied to my account - even with an e-mail confirming it and me providing them with contact details of MSC shoreside they took forever to work it out and honour the entitlements.

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I have read on here about people that purchased drink packages in the Fantastica experience level, being able to receive a refund when they upgraded to Aurea. I never personally did it so just speaking from what I read about. If you cannot upgraded, yes, definitely buy the drink package no later than 4 days prior to sailing. After that, you will have to purchase on board and lose the prepaid savings which I believe is the 15% service charge. The servers and bartenders prefer cash tips, IMO.

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That's good to know. Although I guess I have nothing to lose by waiting, unless they increase the prices before I buy the package.

 

I've also asked my agent to keep an eye out for any Aurea spots so hopefully they might spot something I don't.

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Surprisingly, there now appears to be an Aurea cabin available. Before I pull the trigger, can I kindly check with anyone if we can specify a table for 2 only in the Aurea area of the restaurant, and turn up any time within the set times? The MSC call centre weren't clear on this - they said a table size was only a request, but I put it to them that if a 4 top turned up at 7PM and were seated at a table for 6, and 2 people turned up at 7.15PM, would they be joined with the existing dinners already eating their meal? Surely not? We would be happy to wait for a table for 2 if they were all occupied when we first turn up.

 

This is kind of a deal breaker for us and the reason we are so keen to upgrade to Aurea - the other perks are nice, but to be sure of a table for two (rather than it simply being a 'request' which may or may not be honoured) would be great.

 

If anyone could confirm this before I spend the money it would be great. Many thanks.

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My husband and I had a table for 2 every night. There was one or two nights that we had to wait 5 or 10 minutes for one to be available but there were plenty of them. Besides, there was a bar right outside of the dining room so it wasn’t much of a bother to have a short wait!

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My husband and I had a table for 2 every night. There was one or two nights that we had to wait 5 or 10 minutes for one to be available but there were plenty of them. Besides, there was a bar right outside of the dining room so it wasn’t much of a bother to have a short wait!

 

Brilliant, thanks for the confirmation. Yes the bar will make those minutes turn into seconds! Just waiting to hear back from the T/A with a price to upgrade and then I'll be all set. Thanks all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I managed to get the B3 Aurea upgrade, so pleased with this in order to get 'My Choice' dining. However MSC's booking algorithms are very odd - not 4 weeks ago, there was no availability at all on this cruise in any category. Fast forward to when I booked the B2 Fantastica, I was under the impression I had the 'last' and only room in any category as it was the only one offered across the MSC website and various travel agents, and there were no Aurea rooms offered at all. Now across all categories there are 8 or so cabins being offered. I don't believe for a minute all of these people have cancelled, I suspect they are 'holding back' these cabins for whatever reason. It's very odd. As soon as my upgrade to the B3 was processed, another cabin (a forward facing B3 on deck 15) became available - but it wasn't showing as 'available' 20 minutes before my upgrade went through. :confused:

 

But it brings me on to my next question - there's an S3 suite available now (actually two). I gather the only difference between the B3 and S3 is the extra square footage - as it's a 12 day itinerary the extra room might be useful, but the tub in the bathroom is just a standard tub, not a jacuzzi, and the decor etc. of the room appears the same as the B3 (or B2 for that matter). For upgrading to a 'suite' I'd have expected a jetted tub and maybe a different decor to distinguish it from other rooms offered. lisamarieh - this looks like exactly the same path you followed - hopefully you spot this! :)

 

Appreciate there is no YC on this class of ships, so an S3 is is close as I can get - but is it worth the extra £170 each to upgrade from the B3 - at the moment I am thinking not unless anyone has spotted anything I've missed when comparing the two categories?

 

Thanks.

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That is exactly the route we took to get our suite on the Divina last year. We were on an 11 day cruise and the extra room was wonderful, we had a separate living room and bedroom. Our suite also came with a very large closet (not a walk in though). Our suite was on the front of the ship #10008 so we had a balcony that almost wrapped around to the front of the ship and in the bedroom there was a floor to ceiling window looking out to the front and one looking out the side. It cost us an additional $360 to upgrade from the Aurea balcony to the suite. The balcony was 192 sq. feet and the suite was 355. We had priority boarding but I am not sure if it was because we had the Aurea experience or a suite. For the price, it was a no brained for us the upgrade!!! Best cruise ever!!!

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I think the Aurea suites are different on Orchestra, just a single room rather than a separate living room etc. (if it had that, it'd be a no brainer!).

 

It is a larger room by square footage and slightly larger bathroom by looking at the deckplan (no jetted tub though!). I would definitely pay the difference if it was like your Divina suite!

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