jame_g

We saw several scooters on the paths the last time we were at Ocean Cay. Just be aware that they transport people the same paved paths using the longer golf-cart like "trolleys", and everyone on the paths will have to watch for them and listen for their horns and occasionally move over for them to get by (Not sure why they didn't plan it out better for this.). They transport people from the entry area to the Yacht Club area, spa, and a couple of the farther away beaches.

I've seen videos of the food and the menu at Bimini. Unless it changes significantly before we cruise, I just plan to stay on the ship for our cruises. There's nothing on that menu that I would even consider eating. And I'm sure I would enjoy a less crowded ship to relax on where I could find something to eat.

The current available chart indicates only draft beer, Miller Lite bottle, and Heineken 0.0 Alcohol free on the Easy Package. Not sure if that's accurate or needs to be updated - MSC seems to run behind on keeping it current.

Did you get a copy of your booking paperwork? It is listed as a Privillege under the "Your Experience Yacht Club" section which is about the 5th page. It shows "- 1 free cruise change* Also, if I go online to Manage My Cruise, then Cruise Details, then expand the MSC Yacht Club Benefits, it's listed as a benefit close to the middle of all the text. "1 free cruise change (Terms and Conditions apply)" It's on my current bookings which were made in Dec for 2023/24 cruises. Plus it's on a booking from my Oct 2022 cruise which was booked May 11, 2022. Of course, we booked in the US and there could be differences in the booking terms in the UK vs US.

They did toward the end of March.

MSC isn't the only company to advertise this way. Other companies, including other cruise lines, do this all the time. Unfortunately, a lot of people frequently misuse the word "Free" these days. Something is not "free" just because it's included in the price. It's free when someone will just let you have it without any charges or other strings attached. (Although I'll give "Buy one, get one free" a pass because at least that's clear and not misleading.) When you have to buy something to get the "free" item, it's either "included in the price" or at "no additional cost to you". This used to be regulated much more tightly, however it seems to be enforced only in highly regulated industries, like insurance, now.

When we were on the Seashore in October, the whole ship was warm everywhere, including the Yacht Club. It was not comfortable, even wearing shorts and t-shirts. The stateroom would be warm when you entered and would take a couple hours to get to a reasonable temperature even when turned down all the way. A lot of people were commenting about it. The Meraviglia in March wasn't as bad, but was still on the warm side. Since we live in Florida, we tend to keep our house warmer than a lot of people and definitely warmer than most public places so this was unexpected. Haven't had this issue on any other cruiseline.

Did you read the Description? When I look at it for my cruise there are several options. (8 options for my booking.) All of them include a statement toward the end: DURATION: ENTIRE CRUISE. DATA LIMIT: UNLIMITED. You might want to see if it says the same for yours.

Yes, some people dress up, but a lot of people are business casual or resort casual, even on Gala night.

No. YC includes the premium drinks and wifi. However, you will still keep getting emails and such asking you to buy such things. Your reservation will not show these as purchases, but if you look at the description of what's included in the YC (both online and in the experience at about p5 on your booking confirmation) it will show the drink package, wifi, YC restaurant, spa thermal suite, etc. as being part of your YC experience.

YC has 24 hour room service available, so there will be the limited items on the room service menu 24 hours. The main buffet is not open 24 hours. On the Meraviglia in March, there was a small area of the buffet open from about 10-Midnight with burgers, fries, pizza and a few other items. Then it closed for the night until about 6 in the morning. When we were on the Seashore in Oct, I didn't notice a late buffet after 9-10, but I also really didn't go look.

Check your junk mail or spam folder. They should email you when your bid has been accepted. They do bill your credit card immediately. Odd that it's just pending for so long, unless they just did an authorization to verify it would get approved without actually submitting the charge, for some reason.

No tank tops or swim suits or "beachwear". They've never turned us away in shorts and polos.

Yes, I did the status match and have the bar tab with the bonus bar tab and unspecified "deep blue extras". For the January, I would very likely do it 2-3 days ahead of time if I decided I wanted the bar tab. Just want to get a better idea of how we use it first. One thing I just noticed today is that for the status match the email said I was Sea Rover. I noticed my badge had updated to that as well, but then yesterday I noticed my badge was at Sea Rover. Not sure when that happened or why. Also, since we have two cruises, only the closest one shows up in the app. Anyone know how to get the app to bring up both or at least move between them? I can get both to show up on the website.

How close to your cruise can you add a bar tab? We haven't been on VV yet, but we have two cruises booked. The first one is a holiday cruise at Christmas, and includes a bar tab. The second one is early in January. Basically 10 days after we get back from the Christmas cruise. It doesn't include a bar tab or any extras. Since it's only a 4 night cruise, I'm not sure if we want to buy a $300 bar tab now. But I may decide after the Christmas cruise that we will want to get it. Will I be able to add a bar tab just a couple days before the cruise leaves? We booked the January cruise first because we always take an anniversary vacation that week. The Christmas cruise was just something that we saw recently and decided it was time to do something different for the holiday without even thinking about how close it was to the January cruise.

We had a cruise booked in Jan 2020, just before the COVID closures. MSC rented out the ship and notified us around Sept/Oct before, and automatically rebooked us for a shorter cruise we didn't want. Their email said we had a choice to keep the rebooked cruise, choose another cruise, or cancel and get a refund including related expenses. We cancelled and got a refund for the cruise. We had a non-refundable hotel stay booked the night before the original cruise. We sent copies of the expense, but MSC never refunded us despite what their offer stated.

Meraviglia had several flavors of soft serve in an area near the pool/outside the buffet for a while in the afternoon. After lunch/before dinner most, but not all days. (This was at the end of March) SeaShore had Vanilla and Chocolate soft serve in the back area of the buffet where desserts were, not too far from the Sky bar. Again most days and only from about 3-5 in the afternoon. (Back at the end of Oct) Wondering if SeaScape will do the same thing when we sail in Oct. Hopefully. It's nice to get some ice cream on a hot afternoon on board!

The app is currently designed to only work while you are actually on a cruise aboard a ship that supports it. It's designed for your cruise experience (shows, menus, excursions, onboard services, etc.) not for cruise booking and planning.

If you are on a ship with the MSC for Me app, you can also use the app once onboard to register your credit card.

Yes, if you don't have a card registered for the cabin or a cash deposit to draw against, they will stop allowing purchase at some point. We had that happen when my card didn't properly link to my spouse as well. They will place a Hold on debit cards too, and that is where people typically experience issues. Because the hold can take time to release and likely won't match up to a specific purchase, that money may be unavailable for a time until the release is processed. The hold may still be there for a while after the charges are processed and subtracted from your account. Using a debit card for onboard expenses is generally discouraged due to potential issues with a hold that can impact the availability of the cash in your account. Only you can decide what is right in your situation though.

I think they should have just said "...or put feet on the furniture". It really doesn't matter, bare or not. Shoes don't belong on the furniture either, that's really just as gross and dirty.

If your booking/boarding pass information shows the YC, then you should be good. The experience can be an inconvenience, we had that problem after they switched us. Inside the YC it won't make a difference because they don't scan your card for anything once you're in the YC. Outside, it would impact your ability to access the YC drink package, and possibly the thermal suite. It took them another day to correct that for us after we finally got moved to the YC. Sounds like you've already gotten that resolved. Like I said, MSC made it right for us eventually, and we've booked other YC cruises as a result. Congrats and enjoy your cruise!

That would make sense to me. The short cruises tend to be party cruises with people drinking a lot. The longer cruises aren't going to attract the same party crowd, so the amount of drinking probably decreases with the length of the cruise, up to a point anyway.

Usually with a true group bookings, cruiselines require the entire group to purchase the drink package or you can't get it at all. It doesn't matter who's in your cabin or who you're dining with. That's why some groups opt not to do it at all. However, many cruiselines will also give large enough groups a discount on the drink package too - assuming it's a true group booking and not just people booking individually and travelling as their own group of friends or family. This one sounds odd because groups usually have set pricing with set group benefits and everyone must book and pay within a scheduled timeframe. It's strange that one couple would have the drink package included in their pricing and others wouldn't.

In the Yacht Club restaurant (not grill) on the Mera, the director offered to make items that were not on the menu with 24 hour request. Now that was for dishes that could have been reasonably made for an individual or couple and they had the items available, and not something that would have required say a whole prime rib to be cooked just for two people when it wasn't on the menu that day, for example. (This was in response to us asking if Prime Rib was on the menu before the end of our cruise, he thought it was but when he checked it wasn't.)