perakcruiser

Perakcruiser ... I'd just like to clarify the "Flexi-Dining" that you referenced because that term was used for Fantastica bookings and was cancelled as it didn't work out. However, I know what you're saying. On the Lirica-class ships, it's only Fantastica suites, along with Aurea, that get MyChoice dining and the menus are enhanced. We booked one on Armonia because of this (we would have booked Aurea, otherwise).

Sure, sure, Flexi Dining is the dead pig they sold us on the Meraviglia and then cancelled before the cruise without giving notice or offer any compensation :cool:

But on the Armonia it is definitely not just Fantastica suites, also Fantastica balcony got access to the MyChoice dining place, i had to read it every day for two weeks ;)

Let´s not talk too much about the Regale, otherwise next season MSC puts it off the list ;)

If I will ever have a deluxe package (which I doubt as my wife drinks no alcohol) I will ask you for more recommendations like the Cicogna ;)

About the taxi fares, I don´t know too much, as we wanted to avoid this rip-off. Probably hiring a "classic car" for one hour (or 45 minutes) for the usual 25 CUC is already cheaper. For the egg taxis (they call them coco taxis) it maybe is already too far, I guess it is about 15 km from the ship.

Does MSC have dining seating times I must choose from? -> Yes.

If so, what are the choices? -> Depending on the size of the ship early - middle - late or early - late. Because many people from Southern Europe dine really late, "late" could also bei 22:00!

Can my choice be changed mid-cruise? -> Yes.

Does MSC require passengers to sit at the same table with fellow passengers? -> Yes, but there are also tables for 2. Guests are usually grouped on tables together by language.

How much does My Dining cost? -> Cannot buy,

Do I have to get it with the Aurea experience or can I obtain it without? -> No, not without. But depending on the ship also Fantastica balcony get Flexi Dining. Note that Flexi Dining sometimes also comes with a "better" menu and speciality dishes in a special restaurant. If you want to know more, have a look in my review "Armonia 2011 and 2018".

Simple answer: For a newbie the Armonia. But for someboys who expects to take only one cruise in his life with MSC* one of the other two :D

Not so simple answer: If you not write, what you want and expect from this ship, it is impossible to give you a good answer. And also how important the price is for you, I guess also on the US market the Armonia is much more budget friendly than the other two.

* To steal and remix a word from Michael O´Leary, the Great: The MSC ships are full of people who said before they will never cruise MSC again :)

Sorry, guys, I wrote directly in the thread this time and unfortunately killed some stuff I worte. So said this board has no auto-save function.

Anyway, not too much lost.

No TV shows in theatre, not seen this on any MSC boat.

No shortage of kids activities, but I did not look at the details.

Tropicana Club is far away from port, MSC offers excursion, I guess this cannot be done "cheap". Like most things in Havana for foreigners.

Shows, all so much Broadway-style again, too little classical music and opera. But the "classical" team was great, everybody laved Margarita, the mezzo-soprano, but also the Tenor had a terrific voice. Violin and piano also laudable.

Well, you are all tired of all this complaining (in the world outside the US market about the missing of opera on all ships nowadays, not just MSC, others are even worse. But finally the cruise lines are not doing this to make us unhappy, it is the people who decide. If the broadway shows are full and classical music is half empty and people even accept to pay for this circuit del sole stuff, than it is as it is. So I better should not complain, I should say THANK YOU MSC for at least still having a classical music team that also performs in some bars when not playing in the theatre.

Also nothing to complain about the "broadway team", the shows hat a vibe strongly geared to the Mexican, Italian, Spanish guests, but I guess almost everybody likes this.

Finally, WINE.

Do yourself a favour and buy the CLASSIC package. I don´t want to say a word about La Zolla anymore, but the quality and choice you get with the Classic package is definitely worth it. I attached a photo of the wines*

So what we enjoyed? "Unfortunately" we very fast found our favourite and got stuck with it. With the Whites it was Sauvignon "Tenuta Villanova". The other Sauvignon "San Nicolas" is way less happy. The Chardonney "Fontanafredde" was also delightful. Our overall favourite was the red "Regale Rosso", because we hat it three times, I only can tell you that the Syrah from Sicily was one of the better Syrah I ever tried. Usually I am a Riesling drinker, but after a short talk with the sommelier that basically brought the result "Anselmann is even worse than Dr. Loosen" I decided not to waste one of the precious coupons with trying.

Anyway, my conclusion: The Classic package for 119 Euro is great stuff, don´t even think about the Easy package for 69 Euros, the upgrade is the best invested 50 Euros one can imagine. Minus the seven waters it is just 15 Euros for each bottle of some really, really good wines.

Later in the near or not so near future the last part, the destinations.

* Sorry, no photo because "The Dimension limits for this filetype are 1656 x 1242. We were unable to resize your file so you will need to do so manually and upload it again. Your file is currently 3264 x 2448". I will not spend my time with this, but I remember I have seen it anywhere on cruisecritic before.

Yes, English is always available, because there are many guests on board that don´t speak Italian, German or Spanish.

Northern Routes are totally different, almost no multi-embarkation up there.

Either pinot grigio or pinot noir is that upscale just wanted to know if it's available to be served on the classic package.

The Classic package includes the following Pinots:

Pinot Grigio Colli Orientali del Friuli "La Vigne di Zamo"

Pinot Nero "Torti"

We did not try both yet, but none of the "classic" wines disappointed us so far.

1. We are cruising over America's Thanksgiving holiday. I know it isn't a holiday over there but will there be any acknowledgment of the holiday on board?

No. First the date is different in Europe and second also this date is ignored.

2. When tipping on board, I assume it is customary to tip in Euros and not American dollars? Can we exchange our money on board or would we have to do that before boarding?

As far as I know MSC is not offering money exchange, but it seems that others say they do. Anyway the staff you probably intend to tip is not from Europe, for them Euros or Dollars makes no difference if they are so dishonest to keep tips for themselves :cool:

yes there is a sports court also ready for basketball and people are playing

Why are MSC any different to all other cruise lines - VAT is a legal requirement to be charged on all Intra EU cruises no matter which cruise line - meaning an itinerary without a non EU port. MSC don't publish their rules in this regard but others do. VAT_ob

I guess they could not charge many guests, it is not allowed to add any kind of tax to the written price in most countries of Europe!

Can someone tell me if the shuttle bus from the ship stops near the Fort AND at Largo della Pace, or just the one place ?

 

We want to walk to the train station, and it would be much closer to be able to exit the port near the Fort

Unfortunately the shuttle bus does not stop at the roundabout. So no matter where the ship docks it is always much faster to walk to the train station than using the shuttle bus in the opposite direction

Only the visa is a little expensive. Everything else in India is very cheap (taxis, guides, shopping, food, doctors, dentists, medicines). Almost one tenth of the cost in the US or UK, believe it or not!

What is the sense comparing India with US or UK? By the way buying property in South Mumbai is one of the most expensive places in Asia. And I would not call the visa "little" expensive, I would call it one of the most expensive in the world, while in most other countries in South and Southeast Asia Westerners don´t need a visa at all and "everything else" is also "very cheap". I really have no idea why the cruise companies hassle their guest with this stops in India and the visa trouble. India is surely a good place to travel and if you stay a couple of weeks than the cost of the visa is worth it, but as a cruise stop it is just a unfunny joke.

On the other hand if all Meraviglia pax would embark in Genova, I would definitely not want to be in that number. Sure it has disadvantages (I noticed only one), but it also has advantages, the lines for embarking are nowhere really long.

We were on the Meriviglia last November/December. Granted, we were in the YC. But, it was my son, my sister, my nephew and myself in two suites. We thought the food was really good and the service to be exemplary. In fairness, we only ate in Eataly and the TC restaurant, but found the food to be quite good in both.

We have been on the Meraviglia also last November, but not in YC. I fully agree, all problems they might have had been solved already, this ship is so amazing.

Sounds good about Camogli, I put this on our list. We have been in Genova so often, really need to go out of the city on our next stop.

And I would recommend all to embark in Napoli, a great place to spend some days before and after the cruise.

Yes, correct. But I think you will not do that to often, the selection is really limited. We used it a couple of times on our first cruise with a balcony cabin (long long time before) but not anymore since :)

If I need to catch a flight or train in the early hours I would always carry my lugguage off the boat by myself and not use the labels even if I get a priority one.

Certainly you have to pay for everything except the things from the breakfast menu.

Every tour guide must be a tour guide from Infotur and the other government companies. Our "vintage car" driver was checked two times in one hour and it was a long and annoying procedure. I don´t think Americans need a visa, really only very few nationalities from Africa and Asia do.

Are you from the US?

No, from Perak :cool:

Thanks for the quick reply, Im from the US and was told that MSC would charge me $75 for a Visa as well. Did you hear anything about that?

No. The information I posted was written in the Daily Programs, they did not mention any visa things. But as far as i know almost no nationalities need a visa for cuba, the Tarjeta is enough.

The Tarjeta costs 25 Euros for the 1st "entrance". If the cruise visits Havana again it is 15 Euros for the second, which can be avoided by not leaving the ship as I wrote. It is not called a "visa" but there is no real difference. MSC did not bug the passengers for booking an excursion, everybody got the tarjeta delivered to the cabin. But I would not be surprised if in the future the Tarjeta will be free for passengers that book an excursion with them. Just like Russia, Beamafar has mentioned this before.

By the way, there is only one "third party", that is the national tourism company of Cuba.

The burning question is if you had to book an excursion through MSC to get off the boat in Cuba or not? MSC says you do and others say you don't, what is the answer?

Everybody needs a Tarjeta Turistica, just some nationalities get it for free. On our cruise a couple of weeks before MSC delivered the tarjetas to the cabin two days before arriving Havana and deducted the costs from our accounts. If you don´t want to go off the boat you have to return the tarjetas to the reception desk, then you will get the costs also off your account.

Hi....have I misunderstood but do you now need to book for seats in the main theatre? On our previous MSC cruises you could just turn up at the main theatre on either the early or late shows without pre booking.

On the new ships (Meraviglia, Seaside...) you have to book. If not, you have to wait if there are a seats available a few minutes before the show starts.