allatsea97531

We booked a 10 night cruise on the NCL Epic for November 2025. Booked it on 30th April and it sounded a good offer, drinks package and 2 speciality restaurant meals included. We paid £200 each deposit, with a balance if £4800 left over. However, on browsing online, it seems that not only will we have to pay $20 per person per day for gratuities ( travel agent didn’t mention this!) but also extra gratuities on our drinks packages and speciality meal packages. If we cancel now, do we automatically lose the full £400 deposit and as we also booked cruise travel insurance is that all lost too or if we book with MSC for example on a similar cruise on similar dates, can our travel insurance company amend our existing policy for a fee? Many thanks

Thanks everyone! We weren’t certain all food and drink outlets would be open upon boarding and I have diabetes type 2, always craving soft drinks!

We are sailing on MSC Virtuosa in September, our first ever cruise. We both have the best drinks package included, I will be on Southern Comforts, my wife on diet cokes, if I order a double southern comfort plus mixer and a diet coke, will they serve this without question, or insist only single spirit measures allowed? Also, considering we have paid for packages, how strictly do they enforce the rule you aren’t meant to take soft drinks on in your luggage? Logically, if we take on soft drinks to start off we will be reducing the amount they have to serve us onboard, thus saving them money or does everyone just have to accept you cannot take soft drinks on to the ship? Thanks

Thanks very much!

Hi, we are considering a 7 night cruise from Dundee nest year, “ Norwegian Fjords Expedition”. Just wanted to hear about this ship in general, dining options, entertainment and whether this ship actually has a casino with a fair number of slots or simply a card table or two?Many thanks

Thanks Pizaz, we had read some time ago people stating 10-11am, nice to have that confirmed!

Hi. We are going on our first ever cruise, a short 4 night British Isles cruise. We are staying overnight at a hotel and asked our travel agent approx. what time we might be able to board from, the cruise sets off at 8pm. Our paperwork says boarding from 5pm, however when we just texted our travel agent, she insisted it is from 2pm? The reason we wanted to know was to see if we may have to ask our hotel for a late check out. Thanks.

We have chosen the Leonardo Royal, we prefer a king sized bed. Ordinarily, we would pick Premier Inn, but they no longer assure KS beds and although Travelodge do promise king size, the recent Tripadvisor reviews have been dire! Thanks everyone.

We are going on our first ever cruise next year on the MSC Virtuosa. We will be flying down from Edinburgh to Southampton the night before the cruise, leaves at 8pm the following night, we are in yacht club, s should get a speedy embarking, does anyone know roughly when we might be allowed on board approximately? The bigger problem is if we need to book a hotel on our return. The ship is due to arrive at 7am back into Southampton, but apparently the latest flight from Southampton to Edinburgh leaves at 1.30pm, will we have loads of time to make that flight? Also, which hotels would you recommend and any tips about taxis would be welcome - a lot of horror stories online saying a lot of taxis are unreliable and that you should book taxis well in advance - how far ahead would be sensible? Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone, lots of interesting details to consider! Our cruise isn’t until Sep’24, but we have been instructed to expect a phone call any day soon to pay our deposit. From Edinburgh, we are flying down the day before and returning home the day after the cruise returns. I read online a small number of hotels in Southampton offer a shuttle service to the quay, but on Tripadvisor these are few and far between and not always reliable. Very important to know boarding is so early in the morning, glad we are staying in a hotel the night before! We are considering a cheap MSC cruise before then from Europe if we can find a good deal. When in Vegas recently, although smoking is still allowed in most casinos, it wasn’t as bad as in previous years, will give it a try. We had 2 Vegas buffets, one pretty good, one very poor, so will probably try the buffet just once to try it out. Interested in attending any/ all shows available on board, will book them as soon as we can. I assume the wifi is a bit patchy? My sister was on a Med cruise last summer and got very frustrated with the service. Thanks again

Thanks Hutcha for the prompt reply! Just a born worrier, this trip is to celebrate my wife’s 60th and we just want as few hitches as possible!

Hi, we have been on a few ferries etc but for our first ever cruise, we are going to book a Yacht Club 4 day taster cruise on MSC Virtuosa. It is just from Southampton to Cork and Portland UK, but we decided to do this cruise in style! We have been browsing online to check the benefits of YC and just general information but have read conflicting opinions and would just really appreciate some tips or advice, thanks in advance! For example, our deal includes a premium drinks package, but apparently MSC do not allow anyone to bring any soft drinks or even water in your luggage - is that correct? We were only hoping to bring on a small amount or use in our cabin, say if we wanted to simply stay in to watch a film one night, we know soft drinks are included in the drinks package, but obviously we’d have to go to a restaurant/buffet to obtain these. Also, although we are looking forward to a slice of a luxury cruise, we have had a look at sample menus on the YC menu and as these menus are geared towards fine dining, we might only try there once and stick to the buffet and main Dining Room generally - are they strict on enforcing smart/ casual for evening meals or can you just appear smartly dressed without having to wear a smart jacket e.g.? Another point of confusion is whether or not we would qualify for free wifi and complimentary mini-bar, some say yes to free wifi for up to 2 devices, others say both services cost extra? There is a butler service included, which I doubt we would bother with, and our offer clearly states “ all gratuities included” but if we did ask the butler for help at any point would they expect a top anyway? Our final question is about the onboard casino - a lot of people say just bring cash to play on the slot machines, but MSC seem to advise not to bring cash or credit card, any incidentals would be charged to a special onboard card. Does that mean we would have to pre- load say 500 euros on this card and then in order to play the slot machines is there a casino cashier who will dispense euros of for example 100 euros and if we hopefully won do you get paid out in cash or any winnings added to your onboard card account! Sorry for all the queries, but what we thought would be fairly simple and straightforward is far more complex than we first imagined! Thanks