Jenna1983

Was the call from 305-587-2020?

Anyone in the USA having issues getting theirs to submit? Mine are definitely not being sent. Very strange.

Fill out the form and you should within 24-48 hours receive a confirmation email from them stating the following:

We have received your special requirements form advising of allergies to X, X, X, X and X. We are also aware that you will bring an epi-pen. The reservation has been fully noted and ship advised.

Please meet with the maître d upon arrival to ensure your dietary needs.

Best regards,

Yes, I'm allergic to a lot of stuff, which sucks. So the girl eating the plain chicken breast will be me. Lol I'm used to it.

Look at it this way as someone who's never sailed MSC and will be for the first time in September. I am Platinum on Carnival and I've wanted to try something else but I was always hesitant because of loyalty. I saw this great itinerary for September and remembered the people we met on the shuttle from the dock in Marseille. They said, "oh we would have been on Carnival with you but the price was so high at the time of booking, so we decided to do MSC Divina. We really like it."

MSC has certainly made me a fan and someone a lot more likely to cruise them in the future with a status match to my Carnival Platinum status. I definitely think if all cruise lines did this there would be A LOT of people trying different lines, which would benefit the lines. I've generally found the loyalty perks have never mattered to me but it's nice to know they want someone to feel "welcomed" and "appreciated." I do realize it goes the same for those people who have sailed a lot with MSC.

So glad to be reading this review. I leave in 68 days for our 10 night cruise out of PHL with a few nights in Rome before! I was hoping to see a North American's POV before going. Did you have the water package they instituted?

There's a Devon, Luna and Erica I've dealt with. Never the same person TBH.

I had an over hour muster drill on my Carnival European cruise. They finally had to have someone come over the loudspeaker in Russian to tell the individuals roaming they were due at muster drill. Lol. Sadly, it was outside but no life jacket.

I think it's all just a matter of name differences at this point. Lol!

In the U.S. Bottled water can be purified, filtered or just left alone.

We just call regular old water, water. Lol. It's either tap water or bottled water for human consumption! Sparkling water in the USA is generally what we'd refer to as "carbonated flavored water" (to anyone I've ever known) and mineral water is your Pellegrino's etc. So the still, mineral, sparkling to me is just a difference of region and how its described in each place. :ovOr as in Italy "gas or no gas?" And I was like "well no gas I guess?" Lol.

I don't think that is what you will get though. You'll be offered the choice of still or sparkling bottled water, not tap water..

 

It is likely that you'll not only have to show your card, that they may swipe it and ask you to sign a bill showing €0.00.

Isn't still water just bottled water that's been filtered? We have water and what most would call sparkling...I don't know. I rarely ever see people drinking sparkling lol. It's definitely a European/other parts of the world thing!

Sailing in the Med. I don't even know the prices in euros for the packages; only US Dollars. However, prices were set when US dollar was not anywhere as close to the euro as now. I don't even know if we can do Allegrismo because my father cannot drink and we are all sharing a table!

Thanks. Just looked and it's $35 a day if I pre-booked for regular Allegrismo. But sadly I don't think everyone in the cabin will book, so it's out for an option. :(

Sailing in the Med. I don't even know the prices in euros for the packages; only US Dollars. However, prices were set when US dollar was not anywhere as close to the euro as now. I don't even know if we can do Allegrismo because my father cannot drink and we are all sharing a table!

I have never in all of my Caribbean cruises worried about passport stamps. Heck, you can't even read some of my stamps from European countries. They were running low on ink apparently.

Thanks Skier for that information. I see my reservation on MSC USA site indicates this new change too! I definitely do not need sparkling water- give me tap water and I'm good to go! Lol

There are actually only three of us heading to Florence. The other three are flying back to the States. I don't know if that makes a difference.

I think we'd rather get there earlier and just hit the ship a little bit, which is why I was looking at those two options. There are six of us and there's 2 for 1 deals right now, so the reserved express train fee is not bad. I would love to do the 13:57 train but we must leave our hotel by 11 so it makes sense to leave on the earlier. I could not stand the anxiety from my super anxiety driven parents on missing things to go that late! Lol

My other question is after the cruise returns to Civitivecchia we are heading to Florence. Any recommendation of time to book a train for?

I'm sure this on here somewhere but regarding pricing for MSC...if I prebook, I pay in US dollars, but if I book on board, I pay in euros, correct?

We are sailing on Divina, which departs Civitivecchia at 19:00. We are spending two days prior in Rome, where we will be located very close to Termini, which is why we've decided to take the train.

There are trains going from Termini to Civitivecchia (is there another one we should be choosing an option for?) at the following times below- is there one you'd recommend over the other?

11:57-12:39

13:57-14:37

Guests sailing in the Med and other overseas markets, regarding water, per the rep I just spoke to. They are no longer going to charge for sparkling or mineral water at the table for North American guests for lunch or dinner seatings in the main dining room. They mentioned it for American and Canadian guests who booked through the North American reservation system. Supposedly it'll be notated on documents when received.

Has anyone else heard this?

They did bring up how the policy used to be one liter per reservation previously. I asked about plain tap water and was told this new policy has gone into affect? I'm sailing Divina 26/September. I guess it'll be a wait and see game?

I can get by if they speak French and slowly. I'm definitely not afraid of being seated with other nationalities but it's nice sometimes to meet people you're able to converse with! After this cruise we are going to Northern Italy to meet my father's extended family. I do not believe they speak English and we do not speak Italian! Definitely not afraid! Haha

NBC Nightly News said they will take pretty much any currency right now-any they can get including U.S. Dollars.

I think their web server runs on dial-up internet speed while the rest of the world is on fiber optic! lol Logging into the USA portion to look at reservations etc is terribly slow.

I by all means do not have to be seated with Americans! There are six of us traveling together so we may be seated with just us. I've sat with all kinds of people on my previous cruises but we had the language commonality.

Do they tend to sit you with those from your own country? Those whose native language is the same as yours? Or is it a total gamble?

I've never been on any other cruise line other than Carnival (12) but I've never really had the crazy party experience anyone talks about. I've been lucky. I am definitely open and looking forward to this cruise; however, I am dreading how much it's going to cost me to drink water in the dining room if it's true tap water isn't included at the table. I saw the pricing for a package of water and $37. Sigh.

Formal night in Europe usually ends up with me in a basic outfit. One suitcase, 50 lbs and three weeks in Europe with varying temps in the places I'm going leaves no room for the nice dress id use in the Caribbean! 😕