Mark_T

Not yet, likely to open at some point this year, but no date yet announced and looks to be a few months away not just a few weeks...

On MSC, you will find that booking early or very late will yield the most options for solo travel, as there is often a period in the middle where there will be no availability for solo bookings. The logic is inescapable though as they are trying to maximise revenue from the remaining cabins, so MSC do that by closing down solo options as a cruise hits its allocation for solo bookings, Celebrity handles it by charging more than twice the price...

A match to Gold should have given you 4,300 points, did you already have points on your account before the status match ?

None are needed, our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.

The emails are hit or miss both in arriving and in your reply ever reaching the ship, so I wouldn't worry as they will gather the same info from you at check-in on Sunday. Re arrival time, just turn up when you want, as long as it is well before the ship is due to sail 🙂

From the reports of others on here, there is a separate cart line for YC vs everyone else, but that doesn't mean it is necessarily quicker than the general line. I have not seen mention of a separate provision for those with mobility issues.

The point at which cancellation would result in a penalty, before that point there is no need to change, you just cancel and rebook.

Excellent, your location experience will closely mirror ours I expect as we will be in 31 right next to where you are now. Enjoy the extra space you have there though.

If you only recently booked it may be that this isn't the first round of upgrade emails and they already have sufficient bids for the other categories so you are just seeing the ones where they still need a few more and they have perhaps adjusted the minimum bid levels for those accordingly. Also keep in mind that bid invites do not require that there are actually vacant cabins at this point in time as they are making sure they have cover for any last minute cancellations...

When you consider the state of some of the ports that they service with their roughly 790 container ships, and that 'grounding' can just amount to getting caught on a sand bar for a couple of hours, it isn't quite the drama it might appear to be...

It should also include double points unless that has changed...?

Check what time the ship is due to arrive on the day you board and adjust accordingly. The printed boarding times do move around a lot, but there is little enforcement of those times, just make sure you are not arriving early morning for a ship that has not actually docked yet, or leaving it so late that you risk missing the cut-off to board...

It does open for lunch or brunch, but not necessarily every day. Perhaps jean87510 can comment on how it has been this cruise on port days for example...

That's a good point, we tended to walk past La Cantina di Bacco, as in YC you can just order pizza from the room service menu for free... ...but it does make for a good casual dining option, especially if you have spare OBC....

The various retail discount days can help for sure.

The best advice is to talk to the concierge once onboard as with the TA OBC it seems to make a difference how it was obtained by the TA, or at least that is the way it looks from the mixed reports of it being refundable/non-refundable. Either way your backup plan to wash it through the casino should work just fine. Just try to avoid the retail outlets on deck 7 or your wife may find something to use it up for you 🙂 Seriously though it is a challenge we will face as well, as we have a lot of OBC, all of it from MSC so we know it is non-refundable.

I'll be interested in your thoughts about deck 16, we were on 15 in June and decided to try 16 for our cruise next month. Main motivation was it is nicely placed so it is only one deck up to the pool and breakfast, and one deck down to the lounge. Only a minor point really of course.

They do not credit unused OBC, possible exception if it came from cancellation of something you purchased before boarding, but if it is just the promotional OBC that came with your reservation it is use it or lose it... You probably know this already, but if you are on a B2B, purchased as two cruises, rather than one cruise that is also sold as smaller cruises then make sure you have used all the OBC associated with the first cruise.

It isn't just data mining, they are building a reserve list so when the inevitable late cancellations occur they already have the bases loaded.... No, one person doesn't spend as much as two onboard so they are holding out for a full cabin at that point, but as mentioned above, you can sometimes get lucky if it gets close enough to departure that they give up on that and are willing to take a solo booking...

In general with MSC the package prices are always cheaper in advance. There are exceptions when for example the speciality restaurant bookings are down so they have a promotion mid-cruise, but you cannot depend on those. With the internet packages if you need it for the whole cruise it is most likely going to be cheaper before you sail. That is correct, but if you need one device each then there is nothing stopping you from just taking a 2 device package for one person and logging both in on the same account...

What they usually serve is no less 'real' for being Italian and not American 🙂 The Marie Rose sauce they usually use is not made with horseradish and uses mayonnaise, so they may be less familiar with how much horseradish to add when making an American cocktail sauce, so another time perhaps ask them to serve the horseradish on the side so you can add it to your taste...

Sorry to hear that. In June last year we noticed the humidity in that area and a little dampness near the doors to the pool area, but no issues between the elevators and the YC entrances. Hope you feel better soon.

In that one it is the last two pages and if they don't appear immediately just refresh the browser and wait. It isn't the current list but for the purposes of seeking inspiration it isn't a bad place to start, but for someone currently onboard it should be possible to locate a paper menu or at least a QR code....

That is a great list for all the other bars, but it is not the Yacht Club list.

In June '23, there were a small number of printed menus, usually at the bar, or a QR code to scan at the table.