Nunagoras

Pretty much everything has been said. Guaranteed is always less expensive than pick your own. Unique problem might have been the less than stellar way the rep has said that to someone that really wasn't aware of the way things go.

It used to be available on the brochures both in paper or online. Depending on your market, it may appear on the "cruise personalise" section of your country's MSC website.

This is the new norm across the industry with little variations cruise line by cruise line. TBHH; I hope this to stay for the future. No need to that half an hour mess for all around. A way to reduce or avoid the ones that doesn't comply with the norm will need to be found though to assure all do the master in due time. Have a nice day!...

Basically speaking; because they have contracted the ice cream management to a 3rd party vendor which rents their space from the ship. And why on earth would they to offer some soft serve elsewhere, once they have available for a reasonable fee the nice stuff? $4 for a soft serve scoop or cone? That's nuts, really!... Pro tip: Usually they have a free small ice cream cup as part of the MDR lunch menu. It is a small cup of the good stuff! back in the day they used to have it also at the buffet. Not anymore on the most recent times, I believe. If that interests you...

Oh, thanks to the explanation!... Yeah, things are changing, some for the better, some not so much!... On MSC's credit, once again, they honored what the fine print at time of booking. Have a nice day and nice sailings!...

Wonderful review, thanks!... I assume you purchased your Aurea experience way back in the day and they honored the old perks as is customary for them. Currently they've removed the massage for 2 altogether and even for the termal suite, I believe, you just have a discount, not a full entrance for the week (that is how they're selling it here in Portugal, may vary for the US market). What surprised me is that you had the Easy package instead of at least the Easy Plus, to not talk about the Premium Extra that, presumably was for what you paid beforehand, unless something is escaping me... Kids would have had the same non alcoholic kids package from where, yeah, their mocktails used to be wonderful! 5 people in a cabin? Huh!... I know the suites are larger, but let us to put things in perspective: Sooner rather than later the boys will be bigger and bigger!... For the next time, perhaps the usual triplet/duplex might to come as more handy!... Finally: The Aurea experience might to be nice with the best general cabins available, but IMHO, it is becoming sort of a tad overpriced, considering the current perk scheme... Have a nice day!...

WOW!... Very welcome to our own capital city of Lisbon where I lived some nearly 50 years of my life!... Lisbon is as wonderful as it can be! Nice you had a lovely small group tour with a nice guide! Lisbon is perfectly doable by the most part on a full cruise port day. Luxury lines like Regent use to stay longer hours here. The cruise terminal is just near the main Lisbon's train station which is one of our landmarks as well. The station incorporates now a top 5* hotel that can be of your interest for a next time visit!... Pastéis de Belém are one of those things not to be missed. Unless you have a booking for a private spot, the place is usually very full. You can purchase some as a grab and go though. As far as I know, they were to open a 2nd place inside the cruise terminal. Don't know if the project went away or not so much. By the way you can find some tentative copies of the original pastries pretty much everywhere else on the city!... Am I wondering on whether your art tour focused especially the Belém Monastery and the adjacent areas in particular?... Have a nice day and a wonderful sailing!...

Ok! Experiences may vary. Happens that the company with whom the Portuguese shore ex I was on was working the "old" or the "odd" way? Maybe. In their credit: The guide was wonderful, and he even was proud to somewhat criticise the Putin's regime on what I thought was such a somewhat beforehand combined sort of thing. Say: Guides are instructed to criticise the government to a certain degree, giving the impression they're a democracy!... Either way; for me it was a strange experience I wouldn't recommend to anybody else!... The city itself is as wonderful as it can be!...

Welcome to our lovely Portugal!... Yes; Portimão, especially on a Sunday is mostly a beach port of call. If going to a nice beach is your sort of thing, there will be plenty to chose from. Back before the pandemic several AI's were offering daily passes not long ago from where the ships dock. Now things may be far and between venue per venue... But plenty of public beaches to chose from at a distance of a reasonably priced metered taxi drive.

From 3 to 5 the buffet will be open, but with a somewhat reduced availability choice. Leftovers from lunch, plus the wonderful always available pizza selection, and sometimes some little cakes and cookies to have with tea or whatever else by the end of the afternoon. nice pants and blouse with or without jacket is fine for gala night. Have a nice sailing and a nice day!...

They have some celebration packages you can purchase before you board the ship that include a cake to be delivered on the MDR for dinner. At embarkation day confirm your order with guest services or the MDR's personnel.

This is regular European practice for hotel transfers whatever else your transportation way or other contracts. Basically Regent purchased hotel stays with transfers, on top of that they could have purchased air, or not. Passengers with the extended hotel stays will have free shuttles. The difficulty on searching the Regent guides (same for pretty much every other cruise line) lies on the fact that Barcelona airport imposes a specific area for tourism personnel to stay that sadly is not really that well positioned to the luggage claim exit. You most likely need to "hunt" for them. Hope to have helped a little bit.

Many thanks to what a wonderful review is in the making!... So true all what you say. At least, we all have just one life to live and we must to live it the best possible way we can find... Have a nice day a wonderful sailing!... 🙂 🙂 🙂

Many thanks to the comprehensive review! But the seashore roughly the same size of an Oasis class??? In what world do you live, sir?... MSC will have a roughly the same size of an Oasis class ship, but that is the MSC World Europa and it is being built in France right now, due to enter service by the end of the year!...

Good luck on them, so!... TBHH: I'm done for Russian (or any other of those countries of that area) cruises for the sake of me... For sanity and economical well standing, to say the least. Don't want to hijack the thread with politics and such, let me to share with all of you my personal experience on St. Pete back in 2014 or 2015 on another line: When we arrived St. Pete and we passed their hard line rad trad border patrol officials, we were directed to our ship sponsored shore excursion bus provided with a Portuguese born tour leader. Guess what? All the individuals whom served us elsewhere, from restaurants to shop opportunity to the local Hermitage museum guide, to the Cathedral guide, to the restroom mid afternoon technical stop to just anything else we must have needed on that land was provided by... Portuguese or Portuguese language individuals living there! And we were forbidden to have direct contact with the locals!... That on its own shows how Russia is such a fake country with thousands of nukes on their hands!... For me, it's a no go forever and ever... The other formerly soviet era countries are just little bit better, but most of them share the same fake country mentality... Forgive me moderators the off topic, but is just to show that St. Pete won't work for anybody else Europe wise for the near future. Launch the schedules hoping for the better it is OK on me. Now hoping for the impossible is another thing. On Russians favour and to not be overly negative the city itself is wonderful and the Hermitage museum is a must see if possible. Have a nice day!...

With all the uncertainty rounding Europe right now I believe 2024 will need to wait a little bit to have its schedules available, ever far after October/November, sadly, and that will most likely to have something to do on whether that stupid war on Ukraine ends up before that or not, and on whether Mr. Putin decides to invade any other country or not. Either way: St. Petersburg cruises will quite certainly be out of question. The Baltic cruises will depend on what will eventually safety be like on that region on the next months till the schedules are set to be done. All the other cruises far away from Russian waters will likely to operate like normal. There will likely to be an Oasis class vessel doing the southern med routes, and the British market will have its regular offerings. Too early for those bookings either... Have a nice weekend!...

That's it, many thanks!... Ask away if you want. Meanwhile: The best area for you to have a huge top speed internet for high top professionals in Lisbon is Parque das Nações, home of the Expo'98. It's a modern area that provides top services pretty much on everything else. Yeah, it's amongst the most expensive ones here, but you won't regret. Have a nice day!...

WOW!... Muito obrigado; or many thanks to the confidence we're showing on us. We are a nice people! Yeah, we're sort of bureaucratic at times... For example: You'll have such a hard time to get a simple universal health care number, needed to have your Covid vaccines in order... But after those little first time annoyances you'll highly enjoy to stay with us. Several "techie nomads" choose Portugal to live these days. The Web Summit convention is here to stay. Our Eurovision 2017 organization was a huge success. State taxes are on the high side of the pound... But to compensate we're quite safe to live in. I enjoy to be a Portuguese!... And we tend to be sort on the modern side of the pound. If your workflow can to be done on a 100-200Mb fiber to the home point, you'll have access to that pretty much everywhere. If you need somewhat on the 1-2Gb, then that is restricted to certain Lisbon or Porto locations and a few very specific ones elsewhere... Have a nice day and a nice weekend! I know, this is not the best place to talk about foreign countries, but feel free to ask any particular questions if you want!...

Not from the 3rd party vendors onboard (Venchi or Jean Maury) nor from the ice cream bars. Only soft serve ice cream from elsewhere else I never understood very well where exactly. Someone with that experience may to chime in, please? And yeah... As @Morgsmom has said; lots of things that used to be available from the packages have already been removed. Back in the lovely days of the "Allegrissimo" drinks package, I used to be able to make my moneys worth only from the non alcoholic part of an already alcoholic drinks package, and that included pretty much everything from a freshly squeezed juice from the Spa bar to a superb ice cream Sunday from the ice cream bar, to not talk about a large menu of some 12-15 non alcoholic cocktails available pretty much everywhere on the ship (now they have some 5-8 if that much, some of them really very basic or uninteresting), and those little nothings that are bottles of water, sodas with meals, etc. I surely understand the need to reduce costs and to avoid the abusers... But... We, the regular happy honest cruisers are paying both the losses from bad accounting to the losses coming from the abusers... I don't feel the drinks packages as being as worth it as they were in the past... So, I'll only to purchase one if a good promotion is on order, or there is a reasonable number of sea days on my sailing... Otherwise I will go with flow, paying item per item, then, I can splurge on the "premium" 3rd party vendors products, while making my costs controlled...

As per the Portuguese MSC website variation (they have one per market, bear that in mind...), masks are not mandatory onboard, unless on areas where the law specifically states that. So, for example: If your cruise departs from, or calls, Lisbon, you'll need to use them on public areas till the ship is in international areas, once they're mandatory here for public transportation, including taxis, uber, buses, trains, planes or ships. Now, if you depart from or call Southampton you may not need them apart the port itself. So, I'd say: Try to search online for what the rules are port by port for your ports of call. I imagine they'll also have that info on the dailies as well or at shore excursion desks as well.

See the answers in blue and have a nice day!...

It will be like night and day difference! I wouldn't say the Lirica class, where the Armonia sits, as being bad. I'd say it as being on a state where it is becoming somewhat out of standards right now. Huge numbers of inside and ocean view without balcony cabins, smaller venues, smaller itens availability elsewhere, such a dated design, in summary no bells & whistles to say the least. I'd do a Lirica class cruise only if it was such a 3/4 nights cruises. Otherwise not so much.

Have my comments in blue and have a nice day!...

...I have 7 cruises with MSC with an 8th on the making for 2023, if our world permits it to be a go... hence I know relatively well the product. I also enjoyed a cruise on RCI's Allure of the Seas, and several 1 to 3 days river cruises on smaller European companies. Cruising is so my favourite holiday travel way!... Hope to continue that way for the longer future!... And hope to continue helping here at CC!... Meanwhile, many thanks to the wonderful description you made about Portugal!... We might not be that monumental like France or Italy... We might also not be as focused on nature like Norway or the Alaska... But by joining our landscape diversity with our kind and helpful people, we are, IMHO, one of the best and safest places for everyone to travel to!... Congrats for your choices that are, by the most part some of the most beautiful parts of the country to visit for people with very different interests!... For the ones that don't know: Costa de Caparica and Nazaré are mostly beach places, Sintra is either way a place where nature meets the historical places so nicely, and Lisbon, our lovely capital is a very nice city for a little bit more than a cruise day!... We have other very wonderful places to visit, both the northern part with Porto as being the 2nd most important city, Holly Mother of Fatima Shrine if one is religious, or even if not, and I'd to add also Azores, some wonderful islands on the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where nature shines at its best!... Congrats for your kind words and have a nice day!...

Just to facilitate, as far as I know, the unique ships that currently serve the US market that are compatible with the app are the Meraviglia and the Seashore. All the others are considered old for that matter. Have a nice day!...