MSC World Europa Sales open in 10 days time

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I am in the US and if any of you guys have any questions message me privately. For the record, I am not a travel agent.
 

There is one particular travel agency I use at times, which I think is the largest in the country but I’m not sure, and I have booked a European cruise line through them in the past, so my best guess is they might be easy to work with for Europeans.

 

Here in the US there are quite a few credit cards that do not charge that foreign transaction fee. I think I have at least three or four of them, but the best cards to find are those that don’t charge the fee and are also widely accepted in the United States. As an example, my American Express cards don’t charge a foreign transaction fee, but they are not widely excepted everywhere. But I do have several Visa credit cards that don’t charge the foreign transaction fee, and they are accepted most places. Here in the United States, the cards most widely excepted are Visa and MasterCard, followed by American Express and maybe Discover.

 

I’m not sure how hard it is for you to see US pricing, but I can sometimes see European pricing by using a VPN and changing the setting to make it appear as if I am in London or something along those lines.  And it is true that under most circumstances, you can cancel without any financial penalty, but there are some cruises which may not allow you to do that. They are the exception rather than the rule. Usually they will give you 90 days before the cruise, plus or minus, to receive a return of deposit without penalty.

Also for the record, I do know the difference between accepted and excepted. I do a lot of talk to text and I didn’t catch those errors and it’s now too late to edit. 

[johnnylincoln]

Spoke to my TA this morning and we've got a 7 night Mediterranean cruise booked for October 2023. £1,885 for two adults and one child in a balcony cabin (Fantastica) 

 

Happy with that...just a shame the itinerary is the same as the cruise we are doing in May 2021 on the Seaview. 

[sealynx]

On 6/5/2021 at 11:21 PM, johnnylincoln said:

Spoke to my TA this morning and we've got a 7 night Mediterranean cruise booked for October 2023. £1,885 for two adults and one child in a balcony cabin (Fantastica) 

 

Happy with that...just a shame the itinerary is the same as the cruise we are doing in May 2021 on the Seaview. 

That seems like quite a good deal you have there. Something to look forward too.

 

MSC seems to always employ their newest ship on the most popular itinerary they have (an itinerary also offered with nearly identical ports of call by Costa, AIDA and others). And since MSC offers several embarkation ports, nearly al cruises call at Barcelona, Marseilles and Genua, leaving only 3-4 options for other ports (often Civitavecchia, Palma, La Spezzia or Naples). I am excited about them offering two totally new destinations on Seaside though, they do seem to be trying to differentiate.

[johnnylincoln]

On 6/7/2021 at 9:40 AM, sealynx said:

That seems like quite a good deal you have there. Something to look forward too.

 

My TA just called and they have taken a further £100 off of our cost because they got a bonus for booking the ship. Even happier now. 

[Nunagoras]

17 minutes ago, johnnylincoln said:

 

My TA just called and they have taken a further £100 off of our cost because they got a bonus for booking the ship. Even happier now. 

Yes, it is a good deal indeed for such a new ship these days!...

 

As per the itinerary, please consider that those ships can only to dock on basically the same ports servicing now the RCI's Oasis class, so their routes will eventually to be similar across the board.

 

Have a nice day!...

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Nunagoras said:

Yes, it is a good deal indeed for such a new ship these days!...

 

As per the itinerary, please consider that those ships can only to dock on basically the same ports servicing now the RCI's Oasis class, so their routes will eventually to be similar across the board.

 

Have a nice day!...

Not a big fan of this ship design but we have decided to give it a try after getting a decent price for a 16 night sailing, we will be sailing from Abu Dhabi to Genoa and decided to try out one of the new Aurea Infinite ocean view cabins (similar to those on Celebrity Edge) the price is £1,575 pp.

[Nunagoras]

11 minutes ago, sidari said:

Not a big fan of this ship design but we have decided to give it a try after getting a decent price for a 16 night sailing, we will be sailing from Abu Dhabi to Genoa and decided to try out one of the new Aurea Infinite ocean view cabins (similar to those on Celebrity Edge) the price is £1,575 pp.

That seems even such a nicer deal in fact, despite being a repositioning cruise!... Congrats!... :)

 

Well: Actually don't know what those infinity view cabins will look like: Are you talking about those cabins in the front of the ship with no balcony, but a big floor-to-ceiling window that can open to an extent?... Not a fan of those designs... But who knows. Better than an inside that is for sure!...

 

As regarding the World class design I've said really it all on the previous posts. It's a white branded Oasis class, even though certain areas like the cabins, the new SPA pool or the Jean-Philippe café seem to reflect all the usual MSC's symbolic architectural designs... I wouldn't say never, but for now, I'm out... And, IMHO, like the A380 planes, also the "Oasis" ships will have a relatively short time frame. And curiously both for the same reason: Too big to be easily and cheaply managed, too big to enter on most ports or airports, and too big to have a 2nd hand market for them, when they become out of standard for the 1st hand owners.

 

With MSC now owning a baseline cruise line and a top luxury one, I'm curious on whether they might to bring such a new mid price, classical experience offering on the medium to long run. It would to be wonderful to see them entering that segment around 2027-2030... I believe that that is the segment where the real money will be... Interesting times coming Sidari!... But that is for another day!...

 

Have a nice day and nice sailings when possible, possibly way before me!... I hope mine to be next year, presumably on the Splendida for the usual fall med loop from Lisbon, possibly as a member of my "specialty" TA's chartered group, if they return like what they're doing this year on the Virtuosa!...

[sidari]

14 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

That seems even such a nicer deal in fact, despite being a repositioning cruise!... Congrats!... 🙂

 

Well: Actually don't know what those infinity view cabins will look like: Are you talking about those cabins in the front of the ship with no balcony, but a big floor-to-ceiling window that can open to an extent?... Not a fan of those designs... But who knows. Better than an inside that is for sure!...

 

As regarding the World class design I've said really it all on the previous posts. It's a white branded Oasis class, even though certain areas like the cabins, the new SPA pool or the Jean-Philippe café seem to reflect all the usual MSC's symbolic architectural designs... I wouldn't say never, but for now, I'm out... And, IMHO, like the A380 planes, also the "Oasis" ships will have a relatively short time frame. And curiously both for the same reason: Too big to be easily and cheaply managed, too big to enter on most ports or airports, and too big to have a 2nd hand market for them, when they become out of standard for the 1st hand owners.

 

With MSC now owning a baseline cruise line and a top luxury one, I'm curious on whether they might to bring such a new mid price, classical experience offering on the medium to long run. It would to be wonderful to see them entering that segment around 2027-2030... I believe that that is the segment where the real money will be... Interesting times coming Sidari!... But that is for another day!...

 

Have a nice day and nice sailings when possible, possibly way before me!... I hope mine to be next year, presumably on the Splendida for the usual fall med loop from Lisbon, possibly as a member of my "specialty" TA's chartered group, if they return like what they're doing this year on the Virtuosa!...

Nuna ... Thanks, the top half of the cabin window on the Edge class comes down so that you in effect have a balcony within the cabin while having the extra space of the balcony area. There are videos on YouTube of the Edge class cabins.

We have sailed the opposite direction from Venice to Dubai on Orchestra and have been to some of the ports on the Europa itinerary but there are others we have not been to 

[johnnylincoln]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

Nuna ... Thanks, the top half of the cabin window on the Edge class comes down so that you in effect have a balcony within the cabin while having the extra space of the balcony area. There are videos on YouTube of the Edge class cabins.

We have sailed the opposite direction from Venice to Dubai on Orchestra and have been to some of the ports on the Europa itinerary but there are others we have not been to 

 

We really fancied one of those cabins...but the wife really enjoys the balcony so, as usual, she won 😆

[sealynx]

On 6/13/2021 at 12:19 AM, sidari said:

Nuna ... Thanks, the top half of the cabin window on the Edge class comes down so that you in effect have a balcony within the cabin while having the extra space of the balcony area. There are videos on YouTube of the Edge class cabins.

 

I have the idea the 'infinity' cabin on MSC World Europa will be a tad different. While on the Edge class there is still a balcony space between the cabin and the window, on the MSC World Europa the window appears to be the fourth wall of the cabin itself. It's more like a French or Juliet balcony to me.

[Nunagoras]

5 hours ago, sealynx said:

 

I have the idea the 'infinity' cabin on MSC World Europa will be a tad different. While on the Edge class there is still a balcony space between the cabin and the window, on the MSC World Europa the window appears to be the fourth wall of the cabin itself. It's more like a French or Juliet balcony to me.

Yeah!... At least that is the case from the renderings. Those Aurea cabins seem to have such a better furniture setting than the usual MSC regular cabins, I believe them to be more likely to fall under the YC concept than exactly those very few YIN cabins, and I believe them as being more suitable the YC product than for the Aurea one, but they might to know better what they're doing...

 

TBHH, I don't know if I would to exchange a true balcony for this... That would depend on the itinerary. For the usual 7 nighter huge port intensive med loops, I would say yes for the extra cabin space... But my parents would perhaps to think otherwise...

[sidari]

Currently looking at our Grand Europa 16 day cruise in March 2023 and there are now only Easy, Easy plus and Premium Extra drink packages.

Easy £464, Easy plus £640 and Premium Extra £896 all pp prices.

Upgrade from Easy to Easy plus £176 pp, Upgrade to Premium Extra £432.

[deniseatnycs]

32 minutes ago, sidari said:

Currently looking at our Grand Europa 16 day cruise in March 2023 and there are now only Easy, Easy plus and Premium Extra drink packages.

Easy £464, Easy plus £640 and Premium Extra £896 all pp prices.

Upgrade from Easy to Easy plus £176 pp, Upgrade to Premium Extra £432.

Hi Sidari, Do you know which package the Aurea included one is for this sailing please>

[sidari]

2 minutes ago, deniseatnycs said:

Hi Sidari, Do you know which package the Aurea included one is for this sailing please>

Currently the Easy package.

[deniseatnycs]

Thank you,  just looking at the same sailing into Barcelona.  Its a hard one as the easy would suit me fine but husband is a beer drinker so would need to upgrade both, which makes it a big jump.  Other spanner in the works is he prefers anytime dining so only Aurea or YC.  Still working on him to book it though as we have 2 repo/TA cruises with NCL in 2022,

Thanks again 

[sidari]

3 minutes ago, deniseatnycs said:

Thank you,  just looking at the same sailing into Barcelona.  Its a hard one as the easy would suit me fine but husband is a beer drinker so would need to upgrade both, which makes it a big jump.  Other spanner in the works is he prefers anytime dining so only Aurea or YC.  Still working on him to book it though as we have 2 repo/TA cruises with NCL in 2022,

Thanks again 

Hoping they change it to Easy plus for Aurea.

[Nunagoras]

53 minutes ago, sidari said:

Hoping they change it to Easy plus for Aurea.

Sid: Await a bit because till 2023 too many things will eventually to change, and beware that for the Grand Voyages and the World cruises their drinks packages used to be different from the regular offering. At least here in PT, pretty much everyone on those cruises used to have a dining time sort of package built in the base price. Don't know if that promo will eventually to go forward to 2023 or to World class, at all...

 

As an apart: Today; I was watching the deck plans. Despite the renderings and the external part of the back promenade, those ships seem to fall in between an enlarged Mera class and a return to the usual before Mera class scheme. Time will tell. Like on the Mera they'll to use the promenade's upper decks for the specialty restaurants, Jean-Philippe and so on. There seems to be even a cigar room on Deck 8 if my memory sticks!... Curious to see what decks 5 and 6 will look like... But we need to await patiently till the powers that be are confident enough to go away!...

 

And the YC seems somewhat small for such a big vessel. This ship is clearly catered to the baseline mainstream. Time will tell if that is good or not.

 

For now my parents are strongly enchanted with the renderings and planning to go!... Me? Not for now... Er... Really... Who knows?... Maybe: TBHH; I'm starting to fancy one of those Fantastica/Aurea infinity view cabins look like... Depending on the price difference those cabins will have to a real balcony, of course!...

 

Have a nice day!...

[sidari]

3 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Sid: Await a bit because till 2023 too many things will eventually to change, and beware that for the Grand Voyages and the World cruises their drinks packages used to be different from the regular offering. At least here in PT, pretty much everyone on those cruises used to have a dining time sort of package built in the base price. Don't know if that promo will eventually to go forward to 2023 or to World class, at all...

 

As an apart: Today; I was watching the deck plans. Despite the renderings and the external part of the back promenade, those ships seem to fall in between an enlarged Mera class and a return to the usual before Mera class scheme. Time will tell. Like on the Mera they'll to use the promenade's upper decks for the specialty restaurants, Jean-Philippe and so on. There seems to be even a cigar room on Deck 8 if my memory sticks!... Curious to see what decks 5 and 6 will look like... But we need to await patiently till the powers that be are confident enough to go away!...

 

And the YC seems somewhat small for such a big vessel. This ship is clearly catered to the baseline mainstream. Time will tell if that is good or not.

 

For now my parents are strongly enchanted with the renderings and planning to go!... Me? Not for now... Er... Really... Who knows?... Maybe: TBHH; I'm starting to fancy one of those Fantastica/Aurea infinity view cabins look like... Depending on the price difference those cabins will have to a real balcony, of course!...

 

Have a nice day!...

Celebrity Edge video on YouTube gives an idea of how the Infinite cabins are laid out. 

[Nunagoras]

11 hours ago, sidari said:

Celebrity Edge video on YouTube gives an idea of how the Infinite cabins are laid out. 

Yeah!... I've seen those. From the renderings it seems that MSC has a different, and at least IMHO, better approach!... Basically you'll have all the cabin's usable space for you as regular room space with the window being its 4th wall!...

 

Just out of curiosity: Can you tell us what the price difference is between one of those Fantastica/Aurea infinite view and a true Fantastica/Aurea balcony looks like? I'm asking because the World Europa is not open for booking here from PT yet.

 

Have a nice day!...

Edited June 17, 2021 by Nunagoras

[sidari]

8 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Yeah!... I've seen those. From the renderings it seems that MSC has a different, and at least IMHO, better approach!... Basically you'll have all the cabin's usable space for you as regular room space with the window being its 4th wall!...

 

Just out of curiosity: Can you tell us what the price difference is between one of those Fantastica/Aurea infinite view and a true Fantastica/Aurea balcony looks like? I'm asking because the World Europa is not open for booking here from PT yet.

 

Have a nice day!...

MSC UK page not working for last few days so cannot check, the actual balcony cabins were more expensive.

[Nunagoras]

5 minutes ago, sidari said:

MSC UK page not working for last few days so cannot check, the actual balcony cabins were more expensive.

...And the World Europa hasn't officially been open for the Portuguese market yet. There is a big TA that has a cabin block open for booking, but apparently no infinite view cabin on it to sell...

 

Yeah, that was what I should think exactly!... Many thanks!...

 

Have a nice day!...

[sealynx]

22 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Just out of curiosity: Can you tell us what the price difference is between one of those Fantastica/Aurea infinite view and a true Fantastica/Aurea balcony looks like? I'm asking because the World Europa is not open for booking here from PT yet.

I can try to answer this question for you, as soon as the MSC-site is working again 🙄.

[sidari]

Nuna ... Finally got to check out the price difference on the UK site, Infinite cabin Aurea without VC discount is £1859 and £1766.05 with it. The Balcony cabin is £1989 without discount and £1883.55 with it.

A difference of £130 without the discount and £117.50 with it!

[deniseatnycs]

On 6/16/2021 at 11:23 PM, sidari said:

Hoping they change it to Easy plus for Aurea.

Hope so too, just booked on the Voyagers selection Aurea Infinate ocean view Dubai to Barcelona 

[sidari]

5 minutes ago, deniseatnycs said:

Hope so too, just booked on the Voyagers selection Aurea Infinate ocean view Dubai to Barcelona 

What date ?