perakcruiser

So for dinner.

 

I totally loved this pasta on our cruise in November and had to order a second serving :)

LoL. Your target audience aren't reading this.

They can´t because they don´t speak Englisg.

Yes, avoiding sterotypes, but after noticing this for so many years, everybody is lining up properly, not in a British way, but properly, but many Italians are complety ignoring this concept.

Please assure us that our 12 Fantastica drink vouchers do not need to be used on water in the dining room.

Note that the free water and the 12 Fantastica vouchers only are available for US bookings, being "a Kansas girl" alone is not enough if the booking was made in Italy :cool:

Instead of 12 vouchers we Europeans in Fantastica get one free photo from the Italy night *sigh*

Just found out due to weather we are not leaving port for 24 hours ! Glad we didn't pre book non ship tours

If you want to go to Rome again tomorrow, I could recommend you to give the train a chance :)

It is really very convenient and we did it 3 times already and never had a problem with getting seats.

But don´t use this ridiculous harbour shuttle that brings you far away from the train station. Just walk from the ship and then turn right at the small roundabout.

Well Cunard, gives free room service and tap water in the dining rooms! Perhaps a world class European line can excel with service, MSC & Costa choose not to. It is their choice, they could be better, if they wanted to.

You really think this is a useful comparison? Of cause the European luxury liners have all this included in the price, even the German lines have included almost everything, but they are certainly much much much more expensive than Costa and MSC.

And I really did not mean to be rude, basketballdad and was referring to your posting. Hearing that they closed the Pizzeria already at 11pm of cause is a bad thing, you should ask why. The midnight slice of Pizza is a nice detail of all MSC cruises for me.

But if somebody thinks that getting charged for room service and water is a scam, then I really think it is better to stay in the US and on US boats ;) By the way, in more and more European middle class hotels you will be charged if you have a booking for three nights and want to have room service on day 2 and 3. I like, I don´t want to have it, I don´t want to pay for it :)

All categories have free 24/7 room service except Bella. If you cannot handle a non-US-ship just keep cruising only with the US companies.

The other many concern is lack of food at odd hours. It's new years. About 1110 pm my wife wants a snack. Everything except the last of the speciality cost extra places are closed. Everything! Nothing opens til 630 am tomorrow. 7.5 hours of no food choices!

I guess you are wrong. We were on the Meraviglia in November and the Pizzeria was open EVERY DAY until 2am. And it cannot be missed, because loads of people gather around there.

I'm at s loss for words. Are you really saying that there is NOT tap water in the restaurants unless you pay for it?!

Free water, coffee and tea 24h at the buffet.

Free ice water for US guest and free hot water for chinese guests in the main restaurants. All others have to pay for bottled water, but Europeans are used to this as tap water is usually not free anywhere.

Bella and Fantastica don´t make any difference for the assignment of the Dining Room.

Nice review!

So yes with a USA reservation you get water for free.

Yeah, the US guest get free cold water and the Chinese guests get free hot water, all others have to pay. But note, that it is not the nationality, it is the place of booking. Your US or China passport brings you no free drinks when you book in another country ;p

With the Chinese it is obvious to me, they get free hot water in every situation in there life, but is it really a mystery how you guys from the states made it to get this donation from MSC :D

Hi, don't have a coffee of the menu, but speciality coffees are available at a range of bars throughout the ship, including the bar by reception, the coffee bar on deck 8, the piazza and the pool deck

Which ship are you talking about? On the Meraviglia the speciality coffees are only availabe in THE EDGE bar not in any other. On the Preziosa it is only the bar next to the reception.

If you have Fantastica or higher you can set your dinner session according to the Baby Care schedule. But on Meraviglia this meant Dinner very early at 17:15 or very late at 21:15. The 2+ hours is not a problem as the waiter will arrage to finish in time for picking up the baby.

Good points you mention, CGTNORMANDIE. Just maybe the world outside the US have a little bit different opinion about the motivations of the Americans for tipping and don´t believe this "habit of rewarding excellence" but that is a far too big topic for a cruise forum ;)

When you look at the people working on a ship, you find that they come from countries that are very poor and skills are very limited.

:o

The Philippines and Indonesia are definitely not very poor and very skill limited countries. And your salary comparing is completely missing the point. I am living in a country where you definitely have to have a university degree if you want to earn more than US$4 per hour. And this is reality for all coutries the cruise companies hire their non-nautical staff from. And of cause the limited number of Europeans and mainly Italians on board get a much higher salary that is better than in their home coutries also.

What you write about unaccetable behaviour of passengers I fully support. It´s a shame.

Far from convinced MSC passes this service charge to any of the crew (OK maybe the ship's officers bonus)

I did not say this and I don´t believe it also. The crew also does not know if they get anything of this service charge and they also don´t care. They care about the Pesos and Rupiahs at the end of the month.

I hope they have the service available during the day and that they don't summon you to pick your baby up if they are crying, because lets be honest, babies cry.

Yes, they also have daytime sessions, but never longer than 2 hours. Expect something like 11:00-13:00, 17:00-19:00 and 21:00-23:00. The two hours between 19:00 and 21:00 are Baby Time. The staff on Meraviglia was more than awesome. I guess you can tell them "Don´t call me when she is crying", you will not get the "daddy of the year" award, have to admit that I planned this also, but my wife had other plans :cool:

We did too! And if I remember correctly, you can get more than just coffee? Anyway, we are on a two week sailing so that is why we bought 2 packages.

Yes, also can buy kids-friendly hot and cold chocolate drinks. And you can share the coupons.

Presumably first to board are those with priority status and those booked on MSC excursions.

Exactly, MSC Gold and Black members and the MSC excursion bookers. If you queue really early, it should be possible. But I am not sure, because since the status match there are so much more Gold and Black members, before it was possible for "normal" people to get even on the first Tender.

From what I can see on the WWW. Waiter in hotel in Manilla approx 11000 php (approx $221) per month. Cruise ship crew $650 - $1150 per month (+ presume free meals/accom)

Yeah, 11000 pesos is quite correct, but only if you are not at the beginners level anymore. That is why these people love to work on cruise ships and not at the local Pizza Hut.

 

Personal attacks can never replace thoughtful dialogue.

 

I was not aware of how little staff were paid until I started researching the topic upon my return. I don't research the wages and conditions of the baker before I buy a loaf of bread. I first found out about cruising staff wages from the taxi driver who picked me up in Miami. Subsequent research on the topic seems to confirm what he told me.

 

sfaaa I urge you to address the main point in my post. I will spell it out for you: MSC trades in the West and makes some of its profit from residents of countries with strict labor laws. Its ships dock in ports where other workers benefit from laws which protect workers wages and conditions. Are MSC employees afforded the same protection?

 

If they are not, perhaps we need to ask our representatives if something can be done to address the issue. Some reports I have come across suggest cruise staff receive as little as half the minimum wage for countries their ships stop in.

 

I am far from being an expert on this topic. However, what I have read so far gives me some concern.

To support a thoughtful dialogue I would like to ask you some questions.

1. Do you have any evidence, that the MSC salary is lower than those of RCCL, Celebrity, HAL, whatever?

2. Do you know the salary of a waiter in a restaurant, let´s say Pizza Hut or Domino´s, in Jakarta, Denpasar or Manila? This is what is relevant, not something in a country the person has nothing to do with. By the way, tipping is completely non existent in these countries.

3. Did any staff onboard MSC ever tell you that they are unhappy with their job and salary and would prefer to work at another cruise company?

Number 4 is not a question because you know that 99,9 percent of the users of this board could never afford only one cruise in their life if MSC would pay Italian or even Switzerland (where MSC is registered) wages.

In my opinion your "concern" are far away from reality.

However I question the morality of MSC cruises to pay such low wages that staff depend on the generosity of passengers for a fair wage. Why does MSC refuse to pay its hard working and dedicated staff a decent wage?

They learnt this from the Americans ;)

The topic is much more difficult, MSC (and all other cruise companies) not hires the staff directly, there are always agents involved. And why not asking staff on board if they are happy with MSC or not? Many did other companies also, no matter if tips, service charges or nothing like this at the German cruise companies, nobody can pay much lower salaries than the others, otherwise the staff will leave.

Overall the wages are good and you will not find many people who complain. But there are other things than money, our waiter from Bali (I can speak (or at least try to) in his mother language to him so we talked alot) had a one year old daughter like us. But while I am enjoying a great time with the family he never saw his daughter and will not see before his next break mid 2018. Only whatsapp photos and skype. At the end of the cruise he tried to refuse to take the 10 € tip from me, only with persuading him to buy a gift for his daughter I managed to convince him.

Are you in the US? Maybe the Wine Package Easy and what is called Wine Package Classic (US) are the same?

I am not in the US, but the packages might differ according to the route. On board last time they were called "Easy" (4 bottles wine, 7 bottles water) and "Classic" (7 bottles wine, 7 bottles water). $79 for "Classic" would be very cheap.

Sure it is free. Only for the "kids around the clock" you have to pay. But that is anyway not available for under 3. The hours are maybe not aweson, but OK. The "last round" of Baby Care is from 21:00 to 23:00, the others I dont remember. You get a free handphone so that they can call you everywhere on the ship if your baby is unhappy. Ours never made the 2 full hours of a session :)

"Kids cruise free" and the absolutely excellent and also completely free Baby Club makes it impossible for us to book anything else than MSC. And makes me forget the bad things that MSC is doing to adults sometimes so easily :evilsmile:

But long time it is not free anymore.

Baby Club and Baby Care are free of charge.

You mean this?

WINE PACKAGE EASY

Be careful with this, you only can choose one sicily brand. The Reds are Merlot and Barbera and the Whites Chardonney and Grillo. After bad experiences with sicily wines on MSC we decided not to book it at our last cruises.

Will we be able to board the Seaview, and then disembark the Seaview for a few more hours in Barcelona?

Sure, but you really want to do this? At least you should have Priority Boarding otherwise I think after the long waiting time at the terminal your mood to leave the ship again will be zero.

Yes they do. it costs 15,50€ for adults, 9,9€ for kids. it takes around 20 minutes and drops you off at vieux port, near galerie lafayette. It is not the cheapest, but probably the most comfortable option, that safes a lot of time.

 

There is also a free shuttle, (20 minutes on foot away from the ship) going to Joliette, which is in walkable distance from the old harbour.

 

a Taxi is about 20 € one way. Last option (on days when the shuttle is not in operation) is the public bus

The public bus runs quite frequently, but it is not a short walk from the ship.

The free shuttle is great, but it runs not every day. We have been two times in Marseille with a MSC ship, one time it was running (Saturday), the other day not (don´t remember the weekday).

Marseille is the harbour in the Mediterranea where the MSC Shuttle is really a good option.