Beamafar

We mainly embark in Barcelona as we get direct flights there and it’s a fixed taxi fare from the airport. However, Genoa tends to be treated as ‘Day 1’ of the cruise when it’s on the itinerary.

Unfortunately I think the cat is well out of the bag by now. The ship has long since sailed. 🤪

He was being tongue-in-cheek. The point being that the less people know how good YC is, the less chance that prices will rise along with the increased demand.

Where are the cabins that are “on one end of the ship with the YC areas on the other”?? That’s what’s not true.

Not true. With very few exceptions, YC cabins are within the YC enclave. On Fantasia-class ships, the YC restaurant is located outside of YC, towards the aft of the ships.

Something to bear in mind, if you do consider MSC YC, you can do a status match to the loyalty program, Voyagers Club, using the highest level you have with any other cruise line (or hotel chain, even). You would then automatically get 5% off the fare (plus another 5% if you book 7 months or more out).

As an FYI, not anymore. Instead, you receive a bottle of bubbly and a choice of a larger bottle of liquor for the cabin. The (included) minibar is stocked with a variety of soft drinks, water and beer, which is refilled as required. There’s a large toblerone and snacks such as choc peanuts and Pringles provided on arrival (these are not replenished).

For us, MSC YC is a far superior experience (though food in Luminae is ‘fancier’ and not to my taste). MSC has a new ‘luxury’ line - Explora Journeys. There are some very positive reviews and fares seem reasonable - especially in comparison to The Retreat (which, IMHO, is overpriced and over-hyped).

Utilising plastic glasses is one of the downsides of the MSC buffet. However, it’s a safety issue, as people do bring their beverages out to the pool area.

Sailed twice on X (in Sky suites); have our first Princess cruise booked for later this year and a non-suite X booked for late 2025. Looking forward to comparing the experiences and interested in reading opinions on here regarding the differences between the two lines.

Seeing as this thread has been bumped: We’re in the EU and final payment is due 63 days - 9 weeks - before embarkation date (when booked directly with MSC. TAs FPDs are at their discretion and tend to be further out).

Ditto.

We got popcorn on Millennium (that was back in 2016).

You’ve summed up exactly how we feel about this ship (and we did a repo - so it wasn’t at capacity, nor were there many kids onboard). I thought, at the time, that it would be a complete nightmare during its Med Summer season.

Chef Lisa was in response to Meraviglia being referenced (which would cause confusion as this thread is about Seascape).