GA Dave

As someone who has all of my experience on MSC since the pandemic, I think I can speak from a recent viewpoint. As you can see in my signature, I have sailed MSC Yacht Club five times. My MSC cruise two weeks ago was in a regular Fantastica interior cabin. I can tell you that there is no comparison between the two experiences. Yacht Club is like a completely different world than the regular cruises on MSC. Having all the separate facilities, the escorted embarkation and disembarkation, the included drink and wifi packages, the unlimited access to the thermal spa, etc., etc. makes Yacht Club well worth the money IMHO. That is the reason why I have five more Yacht Club cruises already booked in the next six months.

See attached.

I carried mine on as I usually do for all three-night cruises. They also have a luggage drop off available right in front of the terminal if needed.

Yes. Much worse. Spanish flu - Wikipedia

Just an FYI: I was on the 10/13 cruise as well, in a regular interior cabin. As a frequent MSC solo cruiser, I always speak to many of the crew and officers, and I found out some things that were not generally known. The shortage of personnel was not all the fault of MSC. They said there was a large number of new crew that were supposed to be starting work on the ship after the TA (as I would normally expect). Unfortunately, there was a significant number that had not been processed properly by CBP through the immigration process and they never made the ship. This is most likely why we all noticed a lack of personnel on board vs the number of passengers. Another thing most people did not know that I am sure affected the crew's performance the first couple of days was that a crew member had died onboard the day before they arrived in Port Canaveral. These crew members live in such close quarters and truly become like a family. Something like the death of a fellow crew member has to be devastating to many of them.

I am very happy to hear this, as I will be in the YC four times between now and then.

Unfortunately, I have seen this type of behavior at many different venues since the pandemic. I've been on many cruises, been to multiple land resorts, and several of the theme parks in the Orlando area many times since things reopened in 2021 and it seems this is the "new" attitude of many people. No matter how small the issue or how insignificant the quality slip, they feel totally entitled to a free meal, free passes, and people being fired to satisfy their idea of restitution. It's become completely out of control.

This is at the Infinity Bar, correct?

This was my lunch this past weekend. Rib, chicken, burger, dog, plenty of salads.

Plenty. They also provide towels, no need to bring them from the ship.

I only saw the one at the front. I grabbed a slice one evening, then headed to the back. So much quieter back there. And the outside eating area is wonderful.

I was one of the first off the ship this past Saturday so I just went to the Lighthouse Beach, grabbed a nice Adirondack chair, an umbrella and a table near the bar and enjoyed the morning. Just a word of warning though. I saw people coming off the ship around 10:30 and getting mad because all the good seating and umbrellas were taken. If you want the free umbrellas on this beach, get there early. Picture is from the Lighthouse Bar.

One more thing to understand about this cruise. I spoke to many people on this cruise who said it was their first-time cruising MSC, and many more that said it was their first time ever on a cruise. It appeared to me that everyone's expectations were set way too high. I actually saw one woman tie up the sole bartender at one of the pool bars for at least 15 minutes with all kinds of special drink orders for her whole entourage. When he finally finished with her, there were at least 15-20 people waiting to be served. He started working his way down the bar when she had a guy run up to her and ask her to get him another drink. She started yelling to the bartender "hey, hey, I need another". He told her he was working on the other guests' drinks and would get back down to her, and she threw an absolute fit. She even called him an "a-hole" and stormed off, yelling "I will never cruise MSC again!!" Hopefully, she will follow through on that threat. There is no need for that kind of behavior on a mass-market megaship. If she wants constant special service, she needs to rent her own yacht instead of paying $170 for three days.

I had a table for one this weekend in the Panarama MDR on Meraviglia during a sold-out cruise. Should be no problem for two.

Hi GA Peaches! Good to hear from you again. I have not been on here much. 1. I found the interior fine. Plenty of room, they have two different porthole camera views on the TV if you need to see outside. When I got there, I turned the AC temp down all the way as I usually do. After dinner, I went back to get something, and it was FREEZING!! I had to turn it up to a notch or two below the "middle" setting to make it comfortable for me. 2. Yes, I walked through the casino a few times. There were a few people smoking but I really did not find it bad at all. I am very sensitive to it as a former smoker (30+ years ago), but it really did not bother me. They have very good ventilation. BTW, the attached picture should give everyone a good idea of what I talked about related to being used to waiting on lines. This was today at Universal just to ride that one ride.

I was also on this cruise. I normally cruise in YC but decided to make this my "retirement experiment" cruise. I booked a basic interior cabin on deck 11, no wifi, but I did buy the drink package once I boarded (Easy Plus). I also waited three hours and forty minutes in the lines to board. It was not pleasant, but I think I may be immune at this point to any "pain" people find doing this as I am also a huge Universal Orlando fan and find 2-3 hour waits on top attractions all the time. I did also think the $50 OBC should have come sooner, but I just used it to offset part of my drink package charge. Overall, I had a pretty good time. Obviously, it was nowhere near as wonderful as all of my previous YC cruises, but I went in with very low expectations and came out pretty happy. I learned to avoid the front area in the buffet and always went straight to the back for my food and sat out on the outdoor deck behind the buffet to eat (usually pretty much alone). The diversity of food was more than I thought it would be, and I had things like Prime Rib, Pork Loin Roast, many grilled vegetables, etc. that I never expected. I also found the bars on decks 6 and 15 to be packed all the time, so I just went up to the Sky Lounge on deck 18 when it opened and enjoyed a mostly empty lounge every evening. Knowing that the ship was at lifeboat capacity, I got off at first announcement for Ocean Cay and got a wonderful spot with an Adirondack chair, table and umbrella right by the bar at the Lighthouse Beach. For disembarkation this morning, I was at the buffet for a quick muffin and coffee at 6:00 AM and got onto the line to disembark at 6:20 AM. Spent the waiting time talking with many wonderful people, and I was off the ship, in my car and traveling down A1A/FL528 by 7:50AM. Sometimes when everyone else is zigging, you need to zag. 😁

FYI for the Meraviglia cruise tomorrow. This is from somebody on the ship doing a B2B: "Just a heads up for those who are intending to arrive early hoping to get on early. I am on the ship now and staying on for the next 10 days and they told us that we will have to get off and no one will be allowed back on until after noon. So, I am assuming that no one new will be embarking before that either. They are doing a full Coast Guard inspection since the ship just arrived back in US waters, and they also have to convert the entire ship over to US dollars from euros. Every single menu, sign, banner, price tag, online stuff in the app and anything else you could think of. It’s going to be a frenetic day for them. Honestly, I won’t be shocked if boarding isn’t delayed even more. It’s a lot to do in a few hours.

1). The Thermal Spa on Mera is one of the best at sea. But you do need to buy a pass to use it, unless you are in a Yacht Club cabin, where it is included for the length of the cruise. 2). No idea how these cabins are. Have you searched YouTube for a video of that cabin or a similar one? 3). The Horizon Bar and Pool on decks 16-18 aft are supposed to be adults only. Unfortunately, that rule is not always enforced.

Caught you all on the webcam in St. Maarten today. Cannot wait to board Mera again this coming Thursday! And a bunch of times after that!! 😁

If they do it would be dated. Meraviglia has been cruising in the Med since May of this year.

I just cruised on Divina three weeks ago. Did everything I wanted to do, including dancing in the nightclub, dining all over, etc. The following weekend, my daughter and I went to a jam-packed Universal Orlando. They were filling every attraction as tight as back in 2019, with no open seats, etc. Tested every day for the week after both the cruise and Universal. No Covid.

I believe that is a hold-over from the European requirement that they had to get re-vaccinated after six months. I have not had any issues cruising on MSC this year and my last booster was quite a while ago (I was in the first groups to receive booster #2).

Just an FYI: I am on the October 13 three-night cruise and we have a very active FB group. Someone who said they are currently on the trans-Atlantic quoted crew members as saying that the Oct. 13 three-night is expected to have 5,200 passengers and the following cruise is expected to have 2,200.

I loved the food in YC restaurant on Meraviglia and Divina. Butcher's Cut and Kaito Teppanyaki were both very good on Meraviglia, but I found the YC restaurant to be better. They even fulfilled a special order for three of us on my March cruise. Both plates were mine! 😁 Desserts were incredible too.

YC Lobster Roll.