Beamafar

On closed UK sailings from Southampton the onboard currency is Sterling (GB pounds). Some sailings out of Southampton also have embarkation ports in Northern Europe; currency is then Euros onboard.

The butlers are not supposed to pack/unpack without someone in attendance because they leave themselves exposed to being accused of stealing should someone claim that valuables have gone missing.

No charge for bracelets in YC.

As an FYI - you must be in the cabin if you require a butler to unpack/pack for you. YC butlers also offer a shoe-shine service.

On Poesia (her sister ship) there was a separate area in the MDR - with better spaces between tables and service - for Aurea guests. It’s likely to be the same case on Magnifica as there’s no way that just one of the MDRs could accommodate non-Aurea guests.

Never had a problem getting doubles. In fact, some of the barmen seem to be only capable of pouring doubles. 🙈😆

Buon viaggio. Looking forward to reading about your experience onboard.

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.