stuart2468

Well I've booked. Absolute bargain. Cannot wait. 

I've checked the drinks package in my booking and it works out to £64pp. I may book, But i also may jsut enjoy the cruise alcohol free. We'll see.

Just now, clarky213 said:

That will be interesting to see the price after booking. From experience, my only MSC Cruise was £30pppn when I booked, but to add after was around £65 pppn. Once onboard, it was £85 pppn.

 

Yeah, even at £65 i'm not sure i'd drink enough to justify. I'll report back if i do indeed book

13 minutes ago, clarky213 said:

Looking at this further, it is not the drinks package that is increased, they have massively discounted the package without the drinks. from £1009 to £409. The original price difference was only £300, so £42 pppn.

For someone that doesn't drink, this is a very cheap cruise especially over the new year holiday.

Exactly why it is looking appealing to me. I think i'll book the base fare anyhow. And im thinking i'll add the drinks package to my booking via my MSC account. I can't imagine it will be £900 at that point.

3 minutes ago, clarky213 said:

Wow, that is high. Is that through a TA? I know there are some UK TA's that charge the onboard price.

Which sailing is this for?

MSC Fantasia departing 30/12/24. I actually calculated the drinks package wrongly and its actually £128pppn. Which is shocking. No way would i pay £900 more for a drinks package.

24 minutes ago, clarky213 said:

If you are in UK, Usually the drinks package is cheaper to add with your booking and it is usually around £35 per day. For a Xmas 2024 Cruise from Barcelona it is Currently £40 per day, so it does increase slightly for a Holiday sailing.

 

If you add after booking it will be conciderably higher.

For the sailing I'm looking at it is about £85pppn. That certainly isnt value for me and what i will likely drink.

Are the times when the drinks packages cost more. Specifically xmas & new years and in the med. I'm looking to book a cruise where the cruise only is a good price, but drinks included price has the fare at 3 times the base amount. So is it better to add the drinks package after booking? Will it be the regualar price or is it massively increased due to the holidays sailings?

If thats the case, then i'll drink as i go.

11 hours ago, anamergirl said:

I called twice but both people unfortunately told me the same thing.  Can’t understand with such a big difference in price they couldn’t give me anything.  

If the cruise had gone up in price after you booked, and they came to you asking for more money, would you agree to pay more?

Or would you shout about the contracted price you signed for?

I can't understand, why you can't understand, why they won't give you anything. 

I never understand the logic behind these posts. 

Does anyone know if MSC show the Eurovision song contest final onboard? Looking at a cruise within Europe and wondered if I'd still get to see it.

Thanks

On 3/2/2024 at 5:08 PM, tserface said:

We were in London... but that is England right 🙂

London is very much 'in' England, however London is not England, nor is it very representative of the rest of England/UK. 

So, making the comment about almost all restaurants add the service charge, and that it's obligatory, completely incorrect. 

I'd highly advise expanding the destinations within the UK, and visit places outside of London. Far nicer, far friendlier, far cheaper and better still, you decide what your service charge is. Win win 😜

16 hours ago, tserface said:

For example, the couple of times we have visited England almost all restaurants charged us a service fee and it was not optional.  So sure, they don't tip, they just tack on an extra charge and call it something else. 

You have either not ventured outside of the London area, or have visited high end restaurants or with a party size greater than 8. Because outside of these stipulations, nowhere in the UK puts a non optional 'service fee' onto any bill. It simply isnt the culture here in the UK to be paying tips, and certianly wouldnt be accepted England wide, even UK wide for that matter. 

If a service charge is added to any bill, it should be stated on the menu, but even then it cannot be enforced. Thats not to say cheeky restaurants dont try, but as soon as they do this with me, it is removed and they are given a verbal bashing about how we are not the US and we will not be going to a compulsary tipping regime. Do not assume you gave me good service. You will wait until i confirm it with what ever monetary value i deem acceptable.

Now, when im abroad, i take a softer stance on this dependant upon the country I visit. But i will not hesitate to remove or deny a tip if i consider the service to have been poor.  

My money, my choice. And thats how we all should be.

I've just booked onto World Europa for Feb 25. I know you used to get full access to the thermal area for the duration of the cruise when booking a massage. Is that still the case or is it extra?

Monring All

Apologies if this has been asked before. I did check the search but couldnt see anything.

I'm looking at booking a last minute cruise that calls in France, Spain & Italy.

I know i can fly to these countries with between 3 & 6 months left on my passport, but im not sure if Costa cruises will allow me to board, even though im not sailing outside countries mentioned above. 

The sailing im looking at wouldnt allow for a regular passport application to be issued and i dont really want to do an emergency application. So its either on my current passport or not cruise at all.

I couldnt see anything specific to my question on Costa's website either.

Has anyone from the UK sailed under the same terms with Costa?

Thanks in advance.

Those pens are beautiful

Seems Seascape is the Ship of Choice to begin Galveston Cruises from 2025

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/its-official-msc-cruises-expanding-galveston

On 12/6/2023 at 4:07 PM, maehara said:

Our next 2 trips are on World Europa and then Lirica, which is just about opposite ends of the MSC scale. I'm looking forward to both, to be honest, as they'll be very different experiences.  Watching ship tours etc has me not expecting Europa to be massively different from Euribia, our last trip.

 

Only thing that I marked down the old Armonia-class ships is that from certain unkind angles they have a bit of a car-ferry look to them - and we wouldn't see that when we're on board.  Otherwise I'm all for the different experiences that smaller ships offer. 

Just to correct something, and its more because its quite interesting rather than an important correction.

Rather than it being an armonia-class ship, it is infact a Lirica-class ship (to MSC), although both Armonia and Sinfonia are older ships than the Lirica. 

However, MSC ordered 2 ships origionally, first being Lirica, second being Opera. Armonia and Sinfonia, formally MS European Stars & European Vision, joined the fleet in 2004 when Festival Cruises went bust.

There is also another sister ship (actually the very first 'Mistral Class') still operating for Ambassador Cruise Line. Sailing as MS Ambition. This ship was delivered origionally, as the Mistral, to Festival Cruises. I believe (open to correction on this) this ship is still the length as origionally ordered and hasn't been extended like her sister ships.

Its just one of those intersting MSC fun facts that not many people know about. 

Another being the Magnifica, whilst being a different class of ship, is younger than both Fantasia & Splendida. This fact is a little less 'wow' now given the Seaside/Meriviglia/World class ships are older/younger than each other. But back in 2008-2010 MSC was not the player it now is.

I once had a cruise booked that my sister booked onto with a friend. 2 seperate bookings, 2 seperate rooms.

We had expect to need to go to the dining room to change our tables to a joint table, only to find at check in that MSC had already put us together. (we could tell from our cruise cards). I could only assume that they recognised our same surname and were proactive about the situation. 

I'm following this thread just for the comedy. Absolutely hilarious 🤣

I can't quite recall the correct price, but I bought Divina a few weeks back for either €44.95 or €49.95. certainly was more than €35

8 hours ago, Johnny60 said:

Thank you.   Having read some very disturbing reviews on here about a dirty ship I am now having second thoughts.   I love the 11night itinerary but the reviews have really scared me.   Any thoughts?

 

Its very interesting. I certainly noticed Divina wasn't up to the usual sparkling level i've become accusomed to with MSC ships, but i wouldnt go as far as to descibe her as dirty. A couple of the public toilets looked like they could have done with a clean, but maybe I caught them before they were about to be. There were some visual signs of wear which highlighed a dry dock was needed. The outside windows weren't as spotless as usual, and i didnt see the windows cleaned once...... but maybe i just missed it.

Dirty - No, But a little bit of attention seems needed, would be how i'd discribe her.

Didn't detract from a lovely weekend cruise though and would jump on board tomorrow given the chance.

I was on Divina just this past weekend. I wouldnt describe the beds as very hard at all. They are on the 'firmer' side, but not hard. It was definatly comfortable. Had a great night sleep in them. 

To note, i also have a fused spine to pelvis, so do experience back problems and Sciatica frequently. 

I'm treating a good friend of mine to a 2 night stint on a this Divina. Boarding in Civitavecchia. She doesn't yet know she'll be on her first cruise.

Now we having to pack lightly, and trying to figure out what evening attire to bring. 

13/10 - Civittavecchia (board)

14/10 - Genoa

15/10 - Barcelone (home)

Of the 2 evenings, are either likely to be a gala/formal night? Ideally i'd prefer not to pack formal/Smart attire. and just stick with a pair of jeans and shirt, and for her a couple of dresses.

Would I be safe with this plan? 

Thanks for the assistance everyone. Seems like the saving of a few pounds may not be worth the effort should things go wrong.

Voyagers club number seems to be accepted no problem. But I also seem to come up against a locked country of residency. I'm just unsure how important that might be later down the line. 

Would love to hear if anyone has done this and successfully embarked. 

In my endeavor to find the best price, i was wondering if there would be any issue with me booking a cruise, Direct with MSC, via one of their websites that is not my home domain. I'm in the UK, and so msccruises.co.uk is my logical go to. But if there's a better price on the Italian, or US or other country's site, would i be prevented from boarding?

5 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I think MSC had a real value advantage and recent pricing increases, on drinks and the cruises themselves, have eroded that value proposition.

This is a difficult one to counter as value is very subjective. When you look at some of RCI prices they are astonishing and I really dont understand how they sell at those eye watering prices. I was quoted £1300 for a week inside cabin on the new Icon ship for next year, and whilst I except its a new ship, who in their right mind would pay that price for an inside. Only then to be stung further when onboard with their stupidly high drinks packages. I looked no further than that single enquiry.

Indeed MSC's prices have increased quite a bit, and for the latest ships, it can almost be justified, but when you start looking at the Preziosa down, then indeed the value has been eroded. 

But, the market is clearly heading in an upward trend regarding prices. I guess the need to be so cheap has gone. Will be interesting to see if this continues as the publics purse strings become tigher into next year.