Your favorite thing about cruising with MSC?

[JamieLogical]

38 minutes ago, skipsaur said:

 

Wow thanks for sharing this, had no idea NCL had done this. That's a huge negative in my book.

 

I am not sure if it is the case on all ships yet. It was something they initially rolled out when the Prima launched and I believe intended to make fleet-wide.

[JamieLogical]

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am not sure if it is the case on all ships yet. It was something they initially rolled out when the Prima launched and I believe intended to make fleet-wide.

 

I just checked on the NCL threads and it sounds like they never did expand the same-menu-every-night concept to the rest of the fleet and may have even done away with it on the Prima itself now. Smart move! I thought is was an incredibly dumb change!

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

23 hours ago, CoasterGuy said:

Excellent replies so far. Thank you all.

 

One question, how is the service in the NON-yacht club MDR. Does the meal there take two hours? 

Our meals never took two hours. Most meals we were in and out within the hour for three courses. We sailed April 29th.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, Ottawa_Cruiser said:

Our meals never took two hours. Most meals we were in and out within the hour for three courses. We sailed April 29th.

 

I just looked at the timestamps on the photos from my Meraviglia sailings in April. It looks like about 60-75 minutes passed from the time I took a photo of the dinner menu to the time I took a photo of my dessert.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, CoasterGuy said:

 

lol one person does something stupid and you seem to think everyone is like that

Well actually I reported on one of my past exploits here on CC of a similar occurrence of a drunk (had to be) slamming his fist on the elevator key board in front of us and our butler. Thought for sure our butler would call security with us and himself being witness to the abuse of the keyboard. Our butler just rolled his eyes and said nothing. We took our cue from him and said nothing.

  Unfortunately whether one is near or far sighted one is not in need of a loooong nose to see what is right in front of them.

[exs2]

4 hours ago, Homosassa said:

I have a theory about the Meraviglia being ported in NYC year round.

 

When I have cruised on other MSC cruises out  of a Florida port, it has come  up in discussions with fellow  European passengers  that the airport of entry for them from Europe was JFK with a transfer to a flight to Florida.

 

With Meraviglia being ported in NYC, this will be an attractive alternative to flyingto  Florida to board a ship. 

You could be onto something with this. I think (not sure) NYC have more direct connections from EU and usually NYC seems to be "prestige" route for most of the airlines meaning better equipment flies there than "holiday destinations" like Miami.

 

Me? I love connections or rather my BA tier point collection rules do, that is until the day comes that I miss my cruise because of those connections 😛

Edited July 6, 2023 by exs2

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Somehow you  and Morpheus think that I need your exception and acceptance.

Somehow it appears that 'no quarter is asked for and none shall be given'. Kind of harsh way of looking at things. Perhaps one is looking for a 'ring to be kissed'?

[morpheusofthesea]

19 hours ago, Homosassa said:

 

From conversations with senior staff who were interested in my cruising experience

They are paid to fain interest.

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Port Carnevale.

Wonder why Professor JAGR hasn't corrected your spelling mistakes, like he is so fond of doing to me (Champaign/ Champagne) (cloth/clothes) (latter/ladder), etc. Must be someone has a shorter fuse?

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Actually I have a very good sense of humor as evidenced by the fact that you and Morpheus are proving more and more entertaining as the thread progresses.

I think you purposely goad me, I love it !

[shipgeeks]

Well... As a fellow Bella to H, I was supposed to be in this discussion; however, I never did come up with any similarly witty-enough repartee to reply, so I've been reading but not writing.  But I do have some thoughts.

When we sailed on Seaside, we did not witness any boorish (or worse) behavior.  We did sense a slight difference between week 1 and week 2 of our B2B, which confirms to me that it can be the luck of the draw whether one ends up on a good or not-so-good cruise, depending on passenger makeup.

Since then, I've read some accounts of very loutish behavior onboard.  My theory is that a number of people have been drawn to MSC for the low prices, but unaware of the differences.  Once they have sailed without benefit of ketchup and butter, I predict they will not return to a cruiseline that was so disappointing.  Eventually things will return to the gracious experience that was the case a few years ago (even for Bella pax!)

Along those lines, I continue to hope that MSC will stop doing so many short cruises, many of which seem to have the worst behavior, and offer, at a minimum, 7 + 7.  Currently the only way to sail for more than 7 nights is to tack on a 4 and a 3.  No thanks.

[shipgeeks]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

They are paid to fain interest.

But are they paid the same to feign interest?

[Ryan82]

I've only said in Europe and have never had cause to judge any fellow passengers.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

But are they paid the same to feign interest?

Depending on "who' they are listening to, it's not enough.

[morpheusofthesea]

"We all judge. It is the most natural human tendency. Anybody who says they don’t judge are lying. We’re all judging all the time. Every opinion you have is a judgement in itself – whether good or bad. Judging is perceiving."  Ankush Bahuguna 

[jules815]

6 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Well actually I reported on one of my past exploits here on CC of a similar occurrence of a drunk (had to be) slamming his fist on the elevator key board in front of us and our butler. Thought for sure our butler would call security with us and himself being witness to the abuse of the keyboard. Our butler just rolled his eyes and said nothing. We took our cue from him and said nothing.

  Unfortunately whether one is near or far sighted one is not in need of a loooong nose to see what is right in front of them.

I didn't know that happened in front of you. (and your butler) Yikes!

[morpheusofthesea]

37 minutes ago, jules815 said:

I didn't know that happened in front of you. (and your butler) Yikes!

And one blames the situation on the elevators.

[skipsaur]

On 7/7/2023 at 7:58 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

"We all judge. It is the most natural human tendency. Anybody who says they don’t judge are lying. We’re all judging all the time. Every opinion you have is a judgement in itself – whether good or bad. Judging is perceiving."  Ankush Bahuguna 

 

Something piqued my curiosity about this quote so I looked up the author. I don't know what I was expecting but it was not a social media influencer/make up artist/actor! His Instagram is pretty hilarious, thanks for sharing!

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by skipsaur

[FloridaMac]

On 7/5/2023 at 3:20 PM, JamieLogical said:

• Difficulty of acquiring both toast and butter at the same time

 

🤣

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, FloridaMac said:

Difficulty of acquiring both toast and butter at the same time

 

1 hour ago, FloridaMac said:

🤣

 

It's true, though! It always felt like a huge accomplishment if I could get properly toasted bread and butter simultaneously. I could often get one or the other, but not both.

 

Best part: if you order white bread with room service breakfast, that is what you get. Plain, white bread. Apparently, that's what Italians think Americans want to eat for breakfast? Not toasted and no butter. Just plain white bread....

 

My husband even tried writing in "toasted" on the card, but to no avail.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by JamieLogical

[morpheusofthesea]

We have had the exact opposite experience in the Yacht Club. There is always butter on the table when we sit down in the morning to have breakfast. We have them take it away so as not to be tempted. DW orders toasted white bread every morning for breakfast in the dining room. Never had a breakfast room service order, so can not speak to those. Perhaps there is this benefit to getting up in the morning and having the same servers that know ones peccadillos ?

[no1talks]

9 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Perhaps there is this benefit to getting up in the morning and having the same servers that know ones peccadillos ?"

 

What happens on sea days is nobody else's business.

 

However, while in port, especially on Red Sea itineraries, I strongly recommend keeping one's peccadilloes fully covered.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We have had the exact opposite experience in the Yacht Club. There is always butter on the table when we sit down in the morning to have breakfast. We have them take it away so as not to be tempted. DW orders toasted white bread every morning for breakfast in the dining room. Never had a breakfast room service order, so can not speak to those. Perhaps there is this benefit to getting up in the morning and having the same servers that know ones peccadillos ?

Well, things are apparently different in steerage.

[morpheusofthesea]

30 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Well, things are apparently different in steerage.

I just do not want readers to get the wrong impression of any scarcity in the Yacht Club. I have photos of a drawer full of toilet paper, tissues, conditioner, shampoo, body lotion....Pringles, jars of nuts, stocked mini fridge complimentary...chocolates on our pillow every evening... newspaper... invitations to parties every other day. Only problem is keeping those in steerage out.

[morpheusofthesea]

On 7/6/2023 at 5:39 PM, shipgeeks said:

But are they paid the same to feign interest?

Can one just imagine for a moment booking a world cruise and having to listen to the same boring life stories ?