Beamafar

Would anyone have copies of Christmas Eve/Day, New Year’s Eve/Day menus? (It’s unfortunate that the time of year wasn’t included in the thread title).

What categories of cabins have people booked and what were they upgraded to?

Absolutely! We’ve done several YC sailings - many in Europe. It’s a whole other level. Having said that, we’ve done many non-YC cruises and have some fantastic memories of those, also, but YC gets us the luxury experience that we sometimes opt for, depending on budget and other bookings we may have in the pipeline.

If YC is within your budget, then go for it! You will have butler escort off the ship at the ports (which is a real plus as you skip the long queues of other pax exiting); that’s just one of the many benefits of YC. Bear in mind that there will be safety drills at each embarkation port on the itinerary; another good reason to book YC, so you can enjoy the enclave (private pool deck/private lounge - known as the Top Sail Lounge) while the rest of the ship shuts down to facilitate the muster drills.

Thanks for doing this comparison, Fogfog. It’s both illuminating and enlightening (probably means the same thing - just sounded good - in my head, anyway 🤪)

Brings to mind a particular waiter we had once; Mr B enjoyed a mains so much that he asked for a second helping. Every night after, he got seconds whether he wanted it or not. One night I couldn’t decide which dessert I wanted, so he brought all three.

One of our best MSC cruises (if not the best out of 27) was on Sinfonia. It was a 24 night repo from Venice to Durban (B2B with a 4 night Durban return). We had been on her six weeks prior, a 7 night Adriatic cruise, so got to know the crew beforehand. Between the service and entertainment onboard, we had the most amazing time we’ve ever had.

One of my bugbears with MSC is that they will seat us with other Irish passengers. When we travel, we would prefer to meet people from other places - that’s the reason for travelling abroad in the first place. Slightly off-topic: On one particular repo (from Brazil) we were seated at a 6-top with 4 others from Australia (one couple and 2 sisters). We were the first to arrive at the table on the first night, followed by the couple. While we waited for our other table mates, the wife remarked “I hope the other couple speak Australian”. 🙈

Genuine question: Does the price differential warrant these ‘better’ items? From the little I’ve read about Haven, it seems to me that it doesn’t offer some of the inclusions that YC does. That being the case, YC base price appears to offer a lot more than Haven’s. For that reason we have never been tempted to consider Haven (never had any issues with beds in YC; bring our own toiletries, so not an issue - and MSC has mixology lounges on most of their ships that the included drinks package in YC covers - not that that’s a ‘thing’ for us as we rarely drink cocktails).

There was plenty of discussion on here at the time and it certainly appeared to be fleetwide once it was fully implemented (meaning that implementation was staggered across different dates due to repositioning ships, etc)

Waiters in the Aurea dining area/room have less tables to wait on, so service tends to be better.

Lots of reviews on here with photos of menus and food offerings which will give you a flavour (😜) of what to expect.

I guess no one on these boards has felt the need to order 3 or more entrées. 🤔

We only paid the difference on our sailings last year. The drinks package, Premium Extra, is included for YC guests, but it applies regardless of whether you’re in YC or not.

You only pay the difference, plus 18% service charge. That’s fleetwide.

We have always been stopped at the MDR entrance on embarkation day (on European sailings). They look at your cruisecard, which shows that you’ve just embarked and you’re told that you have to go to the buffet. (We’ve always made a case for entry and have been facilitated - but it’s at the asst m’D’s discretion). Also, the point is that the MDR is open on port days (even if they happen to be embarkation ports, too).

There is a thread on this main page on the subject https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3005858-second-entree-complimentary-dining-room/#comment-67321201

Yeah - I have the boarding passes in the wallet for the second leg. For some reason, the TA booked, first leg cruise, MSC hasn’t issued boarding passes for. I’m just not liking not having proof of inclusions (other than on the app - which I don’t fully trust as it’s glitchy) having experienced issues onboard on several occasions over not having some pre purchased items showing in the ships’ systems.

I’ve noticed several comments about how things are different on Explora than on other lines. Isn’t that exactly what MSC wanted to achieve - an alternative experience to the competition?

Just another of MSC’s inconsistencies. It’s nearly obligatory to add ‘YMMV’ to any information posted here.

We have a B2B booked - first leg with a TA and the second, direct. The first, we just received the printable tickets; the direct booking, MSC sent us the QR codes for the boarding passes. On the app, the boarding passes indicate that the QR code will be available on embarkation day. My issue is that, other than the app, there is no longer printable proof of what is included in the booking. Having had issues in the past (where, thankfully, I had printed off what we were entitled to) I’m not keen on this set-up. While I won’t have an issue with the digital boarding passes on my phone (whether at the port or for flights), I would always print everything possible, too.

You just did. 👍😁

I wasn’t sure when the new system was introduced. Our last MSC cruise was last October; the tickets were the usual. When I was requesting the tickets for our upcoming, the TA advised that we’d receive less pages due to the ‘new’ system.

That’s my thinking, too. @jcollin is the first person I’ve seen on here reporting it. I haven’t seen anything posted about the new digital boarding passes or printable barcode cruise tickets, either. While the latter are only 4 pages now (2 of which are luggage tags), I’m not keen on not being able to see the pre-paid inclusions (gratuities, drinks packages, booked excursions) that used to come in voucher form. While they show up in the app, I’d prefer to have a printable copy as proof of entitlement.

I wonder if this is a new thing that MSC is introducing or if it’s just for this ship/region, if it’s a case that the MDR is being under-utilised on port days. We’ll be on Seascape in a few weeks’ time; I’ll see if it’s same on her. We’ve sailed on Meraviglia and enjoyed it. Only real issue for us was that the entertainment team took over the Galleria area at night outside the Meraviglia lounge (and very little seating for such a popular venue). We especially liked the English, Brass Anchor, pub.