MSC Drinks Packages (Fantasia - Fantastica)

We are booked on Fantasia next year Barbados to Genoa (Balcony Fantastica). We have not cruised MSC before so open to suggestions.

We are not particularly heavy drinkers but do like cappucino, bottled waters, the odd beer and glass of wine. Also as it is a TA repositioning cruise we will be on board full time for a number of days.

I don't like having to check my account for spurious or rogue entries. We tend to buy a package and usually more or less break even, however I know that if any drinks appear on my account they are not ours.

The roll call for the cruise, which I started, is very slow.

So what recommednations and also I gather it is best to purchase before the cruise. In which case do MSC ever discount drinks packages on their website for online purchase.

Many thanks

Geoffrey

The basic all-inclusive Restaurant & Bar drinks package covers quite a range of drinks and would be good value if the currency onboard is in Euros as it's only €26 pppd.

If you log into your account online and check under "My bookings" you will see a tab "Enhance Your Cruise". You will find the options and prices there under "Food and Beverages".

If you prebook a drinks package you avoid the 15% that's added to purchases onboard.

Was £16 per person per day when I last looked

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Here's a link to the US$ prices:

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Manage-Your-Booking/All-Inclusive-Packages.aspx

Here are the prices in £ in the 2017-2018 brochure

Here are the prices in £ in the 2018-2019 brochure on the UK web site

The one I would suggest is the

"All Inclusive Restaurant and bar Drinks Package"

which for your cruise is £18 pppn

this is the package I always have and incudes a range of alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks , water, coffees; ice-creams

Pete

Hi GSGBRUMUK - looks as if us Brummies will be taking over the cruise - my partner and I are on the same one :)

You're definitely better off purchasing the package before the cruise if you wish to have the package. Have you cruised with MSC before? As the coffee in the buffet isn't very nice in my opinion, far better to pay for one of the Lavazza specialities.

The all inclusive package is on my cruise personaliser at £192 per person for the duration of the cruise - in my opinion it is a very good value package, even if you don't drink a large amount of alcohol - a cappuccino or can of pop is about €2.50 plus 15% service charge - it doesn't take much to get to what the cost of the drinks package is per day. Also it includes ice cream from the piazza and on the pool deck, a selection of non-alcoholic cocktails, bottled water etc. We normally ask for some cans of pop / bottles of water which we take ashore with us

Pete .............. I see it's quoting £23 for the (old) Allegrissimo package. Do you know when the price is increasing? I'm wondering if the Euro price for the basic is going up, too. MSC increased only the premium package from €44 to €50 this year.

Edit: I've just looked up the 2018/19 brochure on the Ireland website and it's showing at €26 - so no increase for us!

Pete .............. I see it's quoting £23 for the (old) Allegrissimo package. Do you know when the price is increasing? I'm wondering if the Euro price for the basic is going up, too. MSC increased only the premium package from €44 to €50 this year.

 

Edit: I've just looked up the 2018/19 brochure on the Ireland website and it's showing at €26 - so no increase for us!

I've added the 2017 April - 2018 March brochure prices, to my earlier post, and you can see the price increases between the two brochures.

I'm comparing the prices for less than 9 nights

So I would assume the increase goes from 1st April 2018

Pete

I've added the 2017-2018 brochure prices, to my earlier post, and you can see the price increases between the two brochures.

 

So I would assume the increase goes from April/ May 2018

Sorry, Pete - I didn't see this year's brochure prices on your post :o - I really need to get these glasses changed!

So - an increase in price for the UK. Maybe to do with currency exchange rates and the drop in value of Sterling?

Sorry, Pete - I didn't see this year's brochure prices on your post :o - I really need to get these glasses changed!

 

So - an increase in price for the UK. Maybe to do with currency exchange rates and the drop in value of Sterling?

Only an increase ( £20 to £23) for cruises less than 9 nights it's a decrease (£20 to £18) for cruises of 9 nights or more.

Only an increase ( £20 to £23) for cruises less than 9 nights it's a decrease (£20 to £18) for cruises of 9 nights or more.

Sorry ............... again! I'm having one of those days! Plus - the site is acting up on me.

I rarely check the brochures 'til you mention them on here :rolleyes: Since MSC removed the facility for accessing prices on the website I tend to just use the "Enhance Your Cruise" section of "My Bookings" to check for prices.

There seems to be an overhauling of the price structures. The basic package in Euro pricing is decreasing from €26 to €21 for cruises of 9 nights and over. There's a drop of €10 on the premium for 9+ nights from €50 to €40.

I've gone off- topic: Apologies to the OP.

I highly recommend taking up 1fifthavenue's suggestion to purchase the drinks package beforehand - that's a fantastic price @ £16 pppd!

We have the drinks package included on our booking, we booked AI Fantastica Balcony, but I dont know where it appears on the cruise personalizer, please can anyone help, or maybe it doesnt show, however on the cruise enhancer it says it can be added to our booking. We haven't cruised with MSC before so not sure how anything works. I have been able to status match and that is showing, any input would be grateful, thanks in advance.

We have the drinks package included on our booking, we booked AI Fantastica Balcony, but I dont know where it appears on the cruise personalizer, please can anyone help, or maybe it doesnt show, however on the cruise enhancer it says it can be added to our booking. We haven't cruised with MSC before so not sure how anything works. I have been able to status match and that is showing, any input would be grateful, thanks in advance.

It's one of the glitches with the MSC Website - we're in the Yacht Club but it is still letting us add the package if we wish! Best place to look is your original booking confirmation - it would say on there the drinks package is included - hope that helps :)

Many thanks for your responses. This is our first MSC cruise so I am just trying to get to grips with things.

We have previously sailed only within the RCCI fleet. We are doing a Celebrity TA October/November 2017 and the other week the online drinks packages were on offer with a hefty discount for a few days. So I made use of it.

I was wondering whether MSC ever do such discounts / offers on their drinks packages precruise /online. If not then I may as well just bite the bullet and do it sooner rather than later.

Thanks again

Geoffrey

Many thanks for your responses. This is our first MSC cruise so I am just trying to get to grips with things.

We have previously sailed only within the RCCI fleet. We are doing a Celebrity TA October/November 2017 and the other week the online drinks packages were on offer with a hefty discount for a few days. So I made use of it.

 

I was wondering whether MSC ever do such discounts / offers on their drinks packages precruise /online. If not then I may as well just bite the bullet and do it sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks again

Geoffrey

Hi Geoffrey,

In all my MSC cruises I've never seen the drinks packages be discounted, and never seen them as cheap as £16 per day

Depending how you are paying, it can be worth your while paying up to 2 weeks before cruising - the money is better off in your bank or enjoying the interest free on your credit card than in MSC's bank

Tim

Hi Geoffrey,

 

In all my MSC cruises I've never seen the drinks packages be discounted, and never seen them as cheap as £16 per day

 

Depending how you are paying, it can be worth your while paying up to 2 weeks before cruising - the money is better off in your bank or enjoying the interest free on your credit card than in MSC's bank

 

Tim

Tim

Then if I delay I suppose there is always the risk the price will increase!

Geoffrey

Tim

Then if I delay I suppose there is always the risk the price will increase!

Geoffrey

Skier52 has posted the prices from both the 2017/18 and the 2018/19 brochures in the above post #5.

I didn't realise that there was a " two tier" price for AI...just thought it was £23 per day. Looking at an 11 night cruise for July 2018 from Southampton so the AI will be £18 per day....bargain!

I didn't realise that there was a " two tier" price for AI...just thought it was £23 per day. Looking at an 11 night cruise for July 2018 from Southampton so the AI will be £18 per day....bargain!

This is a new concept. Thanks to Pete, (Skier52) for posting the 2018/19 drinks package price tables here which led to this being highlighted.

Chances are it'll be introduced around the beginning of April next as that's when MSC usually implements changes like these so will definitely apply to the cruise you're considering.

If you're looking at Magnifica from Southampton I believe the drinks package will be included in the fare, anyway "...The 22 sailing dates (from Southampton) will (also) be all inclusive on drinks and wi-fi on-board!"

Just been onto our booking on MSC site the AI package is showing at £16 pppn. When I tried to book it, the site crashed. Will try again later.

G

Just been onto our booking on MSC site the AI package is showing at £16 pppn. When I tried to book it, the site crashed. Will try again later.

G

You could always phone them or email them @ mscdirect@msccruises.co.uk quoting your booking number. I've always had a prompt response.

Here are the prices in £ in the 2017-2018 brochure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the prices in £ in the 2018-2019 brochure on the UK web site

 

 

 

 

The one I would suggest is the

 

"All Inclusive Restaurant and bar Drinks Package"

 

 

which for your cruise is £18 pppn

 

this is the package I always have and incudes a range of alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks , water, coffees; ice-creams

 

 

Pete

Hi Pete

Does this one include bottled beers please?

Many thanks