alyssamma

https://www.celebritycorporatekit.com/individual-incentives/gift-cards/ That is the only thing I could find when I searched earlier. Not exactly clear...

No...I actually only did this to satisfy a credit card spend requirement. I don't have a final payment due for a few months yet. Hoping someone else here on CC is a guinea pig first 🙂 But seriously, I will buy one soon and if it doesn't work I'll just apply it to one of my other X cruises.

np...and, unfortunately, "nobody there knows nothing" is true for all cruise lines 😞 I'll be personally testing this in a few months...we'll see for sure then 🙂

I think @sidari's post was in jest...

This is why I called 2x. The second time the rep told me no, and I said I heard it changed last month. He put me on hold for about 10min, came back and apologized and said yes, the policy has changed.

I believe AARP has simply not updated their website. This was correct a month ago, but I don't believe is anymore. The GC you get from AARP are normal X GCs

Called again and got confirmation from a second rep...WooHoo! Other restrictions still apply though...so basically just the cruise far and nothing else (including the deposit). But that's great news IMHO

As I said in my original post, I sailed in Feb and thought the food was amazing. Yes, I know people complained about the buffet for dinner, but it wasn't quality it was reduction in amount of food offered (at least what I read). Ditto for the MDR...items being removed rather than quality going down. Maybe I was just lucky 🙂 We took a new-to-X couple with us on that cruise and they loved it so much (including the food) that they booked another cruise on the ship. And they were pretty dead set beforehand that they weren't going to like it (they are MSC loyalists).

I just applied $1K in gift cards to a booking I have and the agent told me there is no longer a limit (i.e., the entire cruise can be paid for with gift cards). Has anyone else heard this? TIA

Food quality is highly subjective as you know. I last sailed on X in February. Not sure what "recently" means to you, but I loved the food then. I say this because if you mean X changed prior to Feb, then you should probably discount what I have to say 🙂 Sailed NS last month and loved *most* of the food. Found Canaletto to be not good at all. Pinnacle and Rudi's to be hit or miss (some things were very good while others were not). Tamarind was insanely good. Perhaps the best specialty restaurant I've dined at on a cruise. The free places (Dive-In, Pizza) were really good...especially the Pizza as they had wings, breakfast sandwiches (and breakfast), and other things. Don't get me started on the Dutch cafe...probably gained 10lbs from eating there. Rarely did the buffet, but when I did it was hit or miss - some things excellent, others not so much. Dinner for me was in Club Orange. All meals there were excellent.

Thank you SO much for such a detailed response.

Can you give more detail on this? What did the $5900 include? I assume it was pp? How many landings did you make? TIA

@snmathe, I heard you went to a special place today to make your own wine? How was that? I hope you didn't sample your own product too much 🙂

I always miss the alchemy bar 🙂

This. I have 2 MSC cruises coming up *only* because no other line has the itinerary (well, unless I was to pay 5x for some niche line). I'm so over MSC, but since no one else can sail to these places, I'm cruising them. Similarly, there are a bunch of X cruises I'd like to take, but the price is too much so I'm not booking. On the other hand, there are many that fit my price point. I have 4 upcoming X cruises. I'm done cruising just to be on a cruise...I cruise now to go to specific places...whoever can get me there I'll sail (lol, except RCCL hate dynamic pricing and NCL). All thing equal I'm on X, but if not, I'll sail whoever.

By this definition I agree they aren't competitors. However, they *do* compete in that there is a segment of the population that sails both...I'm in that demo, although (now) I'm heavily skewed to X. Now, how large that overlap is...no clue 🙂

I think they were asking *why* you don't want to sail on Carnival...e.g., too many kids, too loud, don't like the food, etc... What are your reasons?

I sail X because now, at my age, it better suits what I'm looking for, Also, the price of CCL when you add in wifi, drinks, etc. the price for the 2 lines is very similar. Note, I'm talking the newer CCL ships. But that doesn't mean I don't sail CCL...sailing on the Celebration in Sept

LOL, oh the joys of text where you can't judge tone. I didn't take it as you being rude at all...sorry if *my* response came across like that 🙂 I just was trying to clarify for others reading the thread...

Your first mistake is assuming (or hoping) MSC would have something like this. Your second mistake is assuming that if they did, they'd be more competent than the phone reps (spoiler: they would not be) Your third mistake is assuming that if this magical office existed, you'd get the same answer two times in a row. As you saw with the phone reps, that isn't the case. Best bet is to google for the excursion name, or find someone who has done it. It doesn't have to be on MSC as often it is the same 3rd party doing it for multiple ships.

That's fine...but that's different than just saying one and done which gives the impression it's bad instead of it's bad *for you* There's a cruise line for everyone...sometimes two or three 🙂 Pick what you like and spend your money there. I'm 95% in your camp. I won't say I'll *never* sail CCL again, but it would have to be an amazing deal/itinerary for me to do it.

So, I'll preface this by saying X is my favorite cruise line. That being said, Carnival, when done correctly, is a lot of fun. The newer Excel class ships are amazing and the food there is great. The alchemy bar on most (all?) ships really has no equal. And if you want to party, it's the place to go. Note, I'm not in ANY way promoting CCL, just saying I feel it gets a lot of hate because people don't understand what it's for. It would be like a family with teenagers going on X and complaining because there are no water slides or activities they might like. Royal (or even Carnival) would be a much better choice. But it seems like what they are doing is a good thing.

YINs are amazing value...often half the price of a balcony. As for "too small", it all depends on what you use the room for. Do you like to sit around in the morning in bed (or balcony) eating breakfast? Do you pack a bunch of clothes and have trouble "living" out of a suitcase? Are you (excuse me) on the plus side? If any of those is "yes" then it might be too small. There is very little closet space and the bathrooms are miniscule. But...if you can live with that, then you're golden. Our first time in the YC was an inside. We have another booked in Jan because of the price. If you go to your room to sleep, they are fine. @snmathe is doing a live blog from Mera and she's in a YIN cabin. She says it's fine, but you can ask her direct Qs if you want...

LMAO, too funny. OK, so it was what I was thinking about. Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Chips Chips. No coke Pepsi. When I googles I saw a headline for Billy Goat, but didn't read the details (stupid me) so just assumed (more stupidity) it was a different skit.

lol, well, now maybe we are showing our age. I thought it was back from the *original* season with John Belushi and the Greek restaurant that always had Pepsi (and cheeseburgers and chips) and not coke. Thought it was a play on that. Didn't know about Billy Goat Tavern until I googled it. I guess that makes more sense 🙂