sidari

We have been on two TA's, Poesia to FLL from Barcelona and Divina's first TA to Miami from Venice, both sailings were in November so not many kids onboard and a totally different demographic to the usual one or two week cruises. All the facilities were available and the food was much better than on our last sailing out of Miami at Xmas 2019 on Meraviglia. Both sailings were around twenty days so there was no rush to do anything onboard and staff had more time to interact with guests. Tenerife is the usual last port stop prior to the five day crossing and take on supplies there.

We have also sailed from Venice to Dubai on Orchestra which also had few kids onboard and was much like the other two sailings. These cruises are more relaxing.

The UK has had the daily Hotel charge or gratuity included in the cruise fare for a number of years now and cannot be removed. Drink packages are usually included now with the Premium packages booked via a good travel agent.

On 6/9/2024 at 7:31 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

I just updated my list and it bears repeating.

A lot has to do with which ship in the MSC fleet one has chosen. Next is who the Hotel Director is, followed by Yacht Club Director, Head Butler, Maitre d' and Chef of the YC restaurant. Our latest cruise was in April 2024 on the Seascape and it was the best cruise we have had in 50 years of cruising. Never sailed on a MSC ship in a cabin outside the Yacht Club. We can list now all the things to look out for when booking any cruise ship.

#1 E muster drill is better. Seascape was take elevator, scan at 11:30, watch video, call#.

#2 Two cabin cleanings per day

#3 No % charge for gambling if using credit card

#4 No extra charge for can sodas vs fountain drinks, all included.

#5 Reserved seating in the theatre for all shows

#6 Complimentary bottled water (not ship distilled with unsanitary reusable bottles)

#7 Reserved or ability to reserve pergola/cabanas on pool deck (avoiding chair hogs)

#8 'Cushioned' pool lounges

#9 Escorts on and off ship avoiding long lines. Group or personal escorts.

#10 First to use tenders off the ship at ports that tender

#11 Dedicated restaurant that is so good one need not book Specialty Restaurants

#12 Service that does not involve 2 hours to complete a meal

#13 An attentive butler not hard to find when needed. Much depends on guest ($).

#14 Cabins ready upon embarkation/ key cards in hand at checkin

#15 Dedicated restaurant OPEN port days

#16 Dedicated buffet to only suite guests

#17 Dedicated pool and sun deck only for suite guests with ample lounges

# 18 All the advantages of a mega ship with the exclusivity of a gated community

#19 walk-in shower not low profile tub/shower combo

#20 No non-suite paying Pinnacle/Zenith/Diamond passengers taking up prime real estate in the Yacht Club

#21 Elevator over-ride key cards for suite guests

#22 Pristine out island with NO bugs crawling all over cabanas

#23 short distance between cabin and restaurant decks

#24 At least a 100 sq ft balcony accommodating a cushioned lounge chair

#25 A reserved table for 2 for all meals in a dedicated restaurant with the same waiters for 'most' every meal

#26 More options for nightly entertainment besides theatre show productions, Loft Cafe, Uptown Lounge, Le Cabaret Rouge, Atrium, Dueling Pianos Times Square, and Top Sail Lounge

Diamond members do take up room in the YC ... 😂 Sorry Morph couldn't resist.

18 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Absolutely impossible. MSC will never rethink this. And the problem port is Southampton, not Rotterdam, because it is not a Schengen port and causes all kinds of trouble. But UK market is too important I guess. 

Looks like more 7 night cruises instead of two, three and four night booze cruises which they know the crews hate, on recent short cruises cocktail menus were minimised in number with only a small number of bars having full menus.

Pointless points!

6 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

I don't actually have anything  to base it on since I'm booked for the first time in December. BUT the Seascape seems to be the one that actually gets mostly good reviews or more positive then negatives. The ones I see with constant negatives are the Seashore and Seaside.  I've read and watched enough blogs, reviews and youtube vids that I feel confident that Seascape will be just fine and looking forward to it! 

We were on the Seaside inaugural out of Miami and sailed on it again six months later, no issues that I can recall. The Captain can make or break a cruise where the crew are concerned which can be noticed by passengers and we were lucky enough to have sailed with the then two best MSC Captains Pier Paolo Scala and Marko Massa, though there are also two former Princess Captains, Tuvo and Dino Sagani who we also sailed with on a Princess cruise.

We will be on Seascape in December and hope one of the last two will be in charge 

Since our first MSC cruise way back in 2012 we have sailed in Inside, outside, balcony and Suite cabins long before MSC brought in their so called experiences (Bella,Fantastica,Aurea and YC) when cabins were Inside (I) 1and 2, Outside (O) 1 and 2 and Balcony (B) 1,2 and 3 and YC.

Like others we chose not to sail in the YC because we were sailing sometimes 2, 3 or 4 times a year with land holidays in-between when we only sailed twice, had we done so then we would likely have sailed somewhat less than we have done and not been to as many countries as we have done. Instead in the later years we have sailed in Aurea cabins and Suites for the private sun deck (Especially the Seaside class twice, which has the best Top 19 of all the Newer ships) Anytime dining, free massage and drink package of which those last two are alas no more. We were given the chance of a YC sailing on Seascape later this year and have decided to try it out although we won't need a Butler to unpack our cases or to take us to the Theatre. Many years ago we sailed on a R.C ship in the Med and were seated with a couple from the USA who owned a lock making business and were as we would say "well heeled" and very well dressed, in fact the guy looked like Burt Reynolds.

This couple were two of the best people we have ever met on a cruise with no airs and graces and were very easy going, I think they were in the Royal suite or whatever RC call them these days, not everyone who sails in the YC or the high end cabins on other lines are snobs.

On 5/9/2024 at 8:29 AM, notley-cruise said:

 

Yes, my wife and I discussed the American purchasing power thing after our last cruise. I'm British, she's European, and we both have colleagues in USA.  We both take something like eight weeks holiday per year, whilst US takes way less. 

For myself Europe now feels quite expensive, but the Americans don't seem to flinch at the prices.  Is the USA equally expensive ?  Do Europeans visiting the US find it expensive ?

 

As regards experiences, after selecting the cruise and drinks package, your cabin selection determines your experience, it should be the same Bella, Fantastica, Aurea experience maybe just described differently.

 

There are some interesting naunces with booking in UK, Europe, RoW vs. USA. i.e. UK bookers always have gratuities included and are offered Premium Plus drinks package at 60% discount, where France sees the gratuity listed separately, and US gets offered the Easy Plus drinks package by default. 

 

 

 

UK bookings have only had the daily Hotel charge/ Gratuity included for about three years now.

16 minutes ago, phissy said:

The distance is approximately 4 miles. Not really walkable. I am attaching a map.  Pier 91 is in an area known as Magnolia. Pier 66 is city of Seattle. Ride shares readily available.

Happy Cruising!

Phissy ... Thanks for that, just checked out hotel and it is about 3 miles from 91 and a short walk to the space needle.

On 2/24/2024 at 2:29 AM, phissy said:

Seattle has two cruise ports.
Pier 66 is exclusively for NCL and Oceania.  Recently, NCL renovated this pier to be able to accommodate the newer mega ships they were bringing for Alaska Cruises.

This terminal has direct access ( walkable) to Pike Place Market and the city.

 

Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 serves as homeport for Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean.

Currently, there are no plans for a new cruise terminal.

Is there much distance from 66 to 91 in terms of mileage? We are sailing again with Princess next year to Alaska.

1 minute ago, KimPossible1 said:

I agree but that is very overwhelming ☹️

But at least it would hold MSC to account for their terms and conditions.

Kim,

The legal rout may be worth looking at due to MSC failing to follow their own written down conditions of carriage.

We have one of the forward cabins booked on Discovery for Alaska in May 2025, our cabin is one of the two centre ones L102 on the lido deck which are slightly wider than those either side of !01 and 102. We had the same forward Suite L106 on two sailings in 2008 and 2009 on Ruby and the views were great being just behind the top of the bridge.

We booked L102 on Discovery for the views and the metal superstructure is not an issue to us, on the Ruby the access to the curved balcony is on the Port side and even on sea days if you sat mid centre of the balcony against the cabin wall there was little to no wind.

On 3/4/2024 at 10:49 AM, Beamafar said:

Totally agree.  Each person has to earn their points to reach Diamond;  yet one person is effectively being denied ‘their’ perk, if sharing a cabin with another Diamond level member.  Just one more downgrading of the Diamond perks over the years.  Status Match is the sole reason for the erosion of benefits. 

No longer a real loyalty club as it used to be.

Poesia, Opera, Divina x 3, Orchestra, Preziosa, Seaside x 2, Meraviglia, virtuosa and Seascape booked for this year. Nothing less than 7 nights and three x 20 nights.

On 2/23/2024 at 2:15 PM, Eglesbrech said:

Brilliant news. Thanks for posting @sidari.

 

I hated even walking through there to get to the show lounge as you ended up stinking of stale smoke even in that short space of time. Good move by MSC. There are more non smokers than smokers nowadays.

I saw a post a day or so ago from someone claiming to be onboard Virtuosa in Dubai that said people were smoking in the Casino! Cannot confirm that though.

On 2/20/2024 at 5:46 PM, GPPhilly said:

I wonder if this will start fleet wide.  Do we know is it a test or permanent policy? 

Seascape is no smoking and it seems some others are also 

Listen to the English one and then switch off, it's not difficult.

Also started on Euribia.

18 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

 

Tried it, wouldn't do it again.    It wasn't any fault of Euribia, I loved the ship, just not as much as Virtuosa.   But the multiple port turnaround  made for a bit of a strangely disjointed atmosphere compared to a cruise that starts - sails - ends in the same port.    

When we did one many years ago in the Med it was very disjointed, every other night was a formal night and as you say didn't give a good vibe.

5 hours ago, devonuk said:

The constant embarkation/disembarkation at each port with all of the relevant tannoy announcements etc. 

Attending the evening shows and having to watch the Senior Officers introductions again and again. 

The having to listen to messages in all of the differing languages. 
The horrendous Market Place. 
The overworked waiting staff who unfortunately have no time to chat. 
The disregard for rules such as too many in the pools and jacuzzi’s. 
The dollar and dime feel. 
The pissed up passengers acting a tw@t and very loud. 
Too many passengers for me. 
The poor/overcrowded spa. 
The very limited stateroom storage with 4 coat hangers 🤷‍♂️

The evening turndown service where the towels that have just been used are not changed, thus leaving them wet until the morning. 
Having to pay to watch in room movies. 
Overpriced wine/spirits. 
The stupid situation re onboard payments if using cash or debit cards. 
Im bored now so I’ll leave it there. 
Of course there was a lot good aspects but I’ll stick with the cruise lines I like whilst continuing to try other lines I haven’t had the pleasure of yet. All have their idiosyncrasies but some are more tolerable than others. 
I’m trying out Seabourn next for the first time so that’ll be interesting but in the meantime I have 4 Princess and 1 P&O to hopefully enjoy 🙏

Just remember though that it’s your opinion that is relevant to you 👍

 

And sadly there was your mistake, sailing on a bus stop cruise and not sailing on an MSC cruise that has no stops where others get on and off. totally different kettle of fish.

1 hour ago, devonuk said:

Back from my first ever MSC Cruise (Euribia) after some 30 cruises on a variety of differing lines. My overall impression is not good and when asked I use an analogy that a Travelodge is good in that it provides a decent bed, en-suite, coffee maker etc. and if that’s all you’ve experienced you’d think it was pretty good. However, if you’ve stayed in the Hilton, Intercontinental etc. you’d probably think the Travelodge was not so great and that folks is where I will leave it. 
The ship itself is fantastic but overall for me the good was far out weighed by the very bad. 
It’s cheap for a reason and it shows 😬

We've sailed on Cunard, stayed at a Hilton and Intercontinental, sailed around 25 cruises, 11 of which have been with MSC in various parts of the globe, prefer MSC to the other lines we have sailed on. 

Never had an issue with the cabins above, the cabins above have much smaller balconies than those on deck 9.

We had a Deck 9 forward Aurea balcony on Seaside on our second sailing on the ship having had an Aft wrap Suite previously, the balcony is longer than those higher up and have sun loungers and chairs while those higher up only had chairs The balcony on Seaside is above the Spa and was a quiet area of the ship, the Spa is still included with Aurea. 

On 1/29/2024 at 1:09 PM, JTor said:

Thanks. I was shocked. Regardless of other discounts the message being sent is disrespectful 

 

its not about the money more the sense that one’s business is not valued 

As MSC proved to all of those who held Black card status in the Loyalty Club and were Royally shafted when they brought in the Voyagers club. Business not valued.