drsel

Well I am getting Costa last minute Dubai and Abu Dhabi Cruises for just 152 pounds, including all port fees and taxes, excluding service charges. Costa Transatlantic cruises to South America were also very cheap, around 30 pounds per night Costa Cruises are worth buying up to 40 pounds per night

One thing in which Costa beats MSC hands down is last minute prices. As the sailing day approaches, often you get amazingly low fares on Costa, as they try to sell off the last few cabins. No such luck with MSC!

I was just wondering whether or not to choose the Easy Plus package for MSC Cruises in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics from 17th May to 18 June 2023, considering how cold it will be. As you well know, in the MSC Easy Plus package, the best drinks are the frozen cocktails, and even the other cocktails have got plenty of ice . Without ice, they would not taste as good. So considering how cold it will be in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics from 17 May to 18 June, I expect that we will be mostly having hot coffee and hot water. Hot water is freely available in all the bars and hot coffee is also free in the Buffet. Hence I thought that it does not make sense to pay for the alcohol & WiFi package, even though it is economical, because we will not feel like having any cold drinks or frozen cocktails. What is the majority opinion?

Let me explain . In the MSC Easy Plus package, the best drinks are the frozen cocktails and even the other cocktails have got plenty of ice . without ice, they would not taste as good. So considering cold it will be in the Norwegian fjords and Baltics from 17 May to 18 June, I expect that we will be mostly having hot coffee and hot water. Hot water is freely available in all the bars and hot coffee is also free in the Buffet. Hence I thought that it does not make sense to pay for the alcohol package., which also includes free Wi-Fi by the way.

Considering how cold it will be in the fjords and the Baltics between 17 May and 18 June 2023, does it make sense to take the alcohol package?

At these nude Cruises, the passengers are allowed to be nude at the pool side, but not in the main dining room, nor at the shows. I am not sure what the rules are for the lounge bars. These nude Cruises are also highly overpriced.

So tell him to make it with a double or triple peg of alcohol and tell him to reduce (or remove) the ice and reduce the sparkling water. and yes you can order drinks in the Specialty restaurants without a reservation, and without paying anything for the food. Just walk into any specialty restaurant which is always empty, and order as many free drinks as you want, after telling the bartender the above instructions

You just need to tell them to add one or two more pegs of alcohol. You won't have to wait at the bars at the specialty restaurants.

Ask your Travel agent to do it for you. They know whom to contact in every cruise line. They will also benefit from higher commission for the upgrade to the Premium Euro 13 drinks package. If you upgrade onboard, it will cost much more & the commission will be given to the crew member selling you the upgrade, not your TA

That reminds me-- on Costa neoRiviera when I went into the Chamomile steam room there was a topless women sitting opposite me 🤪 But recently on Costa Firenze, there was a fully naked man in the sauna. Of course Costa is not responsible for this. It could have been on any Cruise ship.

Just came back from 2 MSC and one Costa cruise and the differences are really glaring. Costa refused to serve free ice cream even once during 7 lunches and 7 dinners while MSC had free ice cream every night. Costa desserts are full of fatty cream. All desserts and pastries were very ordinary with nearly 70% cream, certainly not befitting a cruise; whereas MSC desserts are much better. When I asked the Costa chef why he could not make Tiramisu or Dark chocolate Dutch truffle, he said he had to follow instructions from the head office to make only basic desserts full of cream. In Costa, All games and activities are organised in Italian and you need to request them to speak in English. Whereas on MSC, they will first speak in English and then Italian, Spanish, French, German. So English appears to be the first language on MSC. MSC now has 7 different shows, one for each night of the cruise and each show is shown 3 times, making a total of 21 shows in 7 nights. Costa has only 4 shows and each show is shown only twice making a total of 8 shows in 7 nights In both the crew work very hard, the bartenders are always busy and there is a lot of partying and dancing every night.

Just came back from 2 MSC and one Costa cruise and the differences are really glaring. Costa refused to serve free ice cream even once during 7 lunches and 7 dinners while MSC had free ice cream every night. Costa desserts are full of fatty cream. All desserts and pastries were very ordinary with nearly 70% cream, certainly not befitting a cruise; whereas MSC desserts are much better. When I asked the Costa chef why he could not make Tiramisu or Dark chocolate Dutch truffle, he said he had to follow instructions from the head office to make only basic desserts full of cream. In Costa, All games and activities are organised in Italian and you need to request them to speak in English. Whereas on MSC, they will first speak in English and then Italian, Spanish, French, German. So English appears to be the first language on MSC. MSC now has 7 different shows, one for each night of the cruise and each show is shown 3 times, making a total of 21 shows in 7 nights. Costa has only 4 shows and each show is shown only twice making a total of 8 shows in 7 nights In both the crew work very hard, the bartenders are always busy and there is a lot of partying and dancing every night.

Please read my latest addendum alongwith my post number 5.👇

Only select MSC cruises have this offer and only at the time of booking your Cruise, not afterwards Note that all MSC Cruises may not have this offer

This is exactly why I said I wonder how some cruise lines get people to pay more than $30 per person per day and even $80 per person per day! quite shocking!

MSC is selling their Easy Plus drink package at $13 pppd or $90 per person for a 7 night cruise. So obviously $ 600 PP for a 7 night cruise is a rip off!

Yes not only is the easy plus package great and more than adequate, it is also super economical and excellent value for money! because right now I am getting easy Plus and unlimited Wi-Fi for just $87.50 per person on a seven night Cruise. I just wonder how other Cruise lines manage to sell their drinks package for $30-- $40 per person per night or more than $250 per person on a typical 7 night Cruise

Recently on MSC, course I tried to book a future Cruise using a debit card with zero forex fees. the future Cruise consultant tried her best, but my debit card was not accepted by the system; although there was nothing wrong with the card or my bank account. I had to use only a credit card to book the future Cruise while on board. Do you know why debit cards are not accepted for booking a future Cruise while on board?

The easy plus package is cheapest when bought along with your cruise. (All in fare). For bookings made during covid, the All in fare was only $99 more per person for a 7 night Med cruise & included the easy plus package + unlimited WiFi. Only $14 per person per day for unlimited Wi-Fi and unlimited drinks upto €8 Absolutely incredible! Needless to say, almost everyone had the easy plus package so the bars were very crowded and you had to wait a long time to get your drink. But the only bar with no crowd was at L'Atelier Bistro, the French specialty restaurant on deck 6. This restaurant & bar were practically empty throughout the cruise

Another piece of advice is to stick to cocktails with the same alcohol for the entire day. (to maximize your Easy Plus package without getting drunk). Like vodka based cocktails on day one, white rum based cocktails on day two, tequila based cocktails on day 3, dark rum based cocktails on day 4, Spritz cocktails on day 5, etc

Of the Frozen cocktails, first try ultimate pina colada and then BBC, (which is a better version of ultimate pina colada) You should also try Rock Lobster and the combination of pina colada and strawberry daiquiri. But I didn't like the Frozen cocktail with mango rum

Of the six spritz available in Easy Plus, the best is Hugo spritz, but ask the bartender to put less elderflower syrup and more sparkling water (and/or alcohol)

We had bottled Heineken, Budweiser and Desperados (beer with a dash of tequila). But post 236 has all the details. The bottled beer is better than the draft beer. Surprisingly most people did not realize this and were happy to accept draft beer in a glass

Just got off Seaview and Grandiosa in the Mediterranean and all frozen drinks are included in the Easy Plus package (all frozen cocktails are 8 Euros, not 9). The best Frozen cocktails were BBC and Rock Lobster. You can also request the bartender to reduce the amount of juice and increase the amount of alcohol in the Frozen cocktail (no charge). If required, you can even have it without ice. The premium cocktails €9--13 are not included in Easy Plus