Mark_T

We had exactly that cruise booked until recently, the various changes and the trajectory of the changes caused us to doubt the wisdom of doing that trip with Celebrity, but we will do a similar itinerary with another line some time in the next couple of years. Not sure it would suit the OP though if beaches are something would want to enjoy...

We would agree, we sailed on Millennium from HK to Singapore in 2019, it was indeed a fantastic cruise.

That makes it a much easier choice then. I'd take YC over a Retreat Sky Suite every time, so a V1 wouldn't come close, for us at least.

If you've found a 9 day Celebrity cruise in the Retreat for anything close to the MSC YC price I'd be surprised...

Good to see some different ports being visited, but for us at least, 5 ports on a 12 day cruise is too many seas days to justify long-haul flights, but if you are based close to Singapore I can see the attraction.

For the future, it is easy to check on the Miami arrivals using the Port website: https://wwwx.miamidade.gov/apps/seaport/dailydock/Default.aspx

We will be boarding Divina in just over a week, and cruised on her in June last year. I wouldn't hesitate to book YC on her again, even with the walk to the YC restaurant.

Not sure which cruise you are on, but our next one sails on 2/11 as well, and there have already been 3 upgrade bid emails over the last month or so, so it is possible that they may already have all the bids they need, especially if the ship is full or close to it...

In the USA too based on that menu, as the pasta options did not carry the same '+'. As ever implementation may vary from ship to ship of course.

No, you can't get around it that way, note the little '+' symbol: So far at least, MSC have only felt this was a necessary restriction on US departures, so you should be fine in the Med.

See you onboard 🙂 We will fly in on the Friday and do a little exploring on Saturday.

April 7th - May 22nd was the original plan, but as mentioned above, I wouldn't plan to be there on May 23rd... 🙂

Sounds like you were very close to missing it again with that cruise, as you must be one of the last to visit before the shut-down for the redevelopment work in early April...

I understand, but I recently moved a cruise and initially the agent thought I was asking to move it to an earlier date, and he asked for the reason as he would have to get approval from 'the corporate office' to do that and the reason could make a difference... That didn't sound like a blanket 'no' to me... Anyway, it falls under the general heading of 'it never hurts to ask...' 🙂

Most of them were paused or cancelled during Covid and generally have not restarted. There is a link here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/meet-mingle/main/

I don't disagree with you, but being pragmatic, this is how most reservation systems would handle things: The flip side of this is that once groups have been allocated a sitting, they are less likely to be moved on request, and further just because they are allocated first, doesn't mean they will all get their preference as too many large groups in the same sitting can be problematic as well.

Typically you can only move a cruise to a later date, not an earlier date, but I suspect there is some latitude on this, especially if the reason is to facilitate an Explora booking...

I called the UK MSC office number and one of the options was to be put through to web support, not much help for you in the US though...

I just phoned MSC web support and they kindly offered to delete my account so I could set it up again and promised that would solve the problem without impacting on our booked cruises. I politely declined their offer due to the two existing reservations and our departure on the first of those in just over a week... I'll roll the dice on that after the next cruise is over if there isn't a fix before then...

Indeed, there will be plenty of time to debate the matter in a more convivial environment 🙂

It certainly isn't as 'frictionless' as the way Celebrity handles it for example, but in one way I think the MSC approach might be considered a little better is that it does help highlight those who would have difficulty getting down the stairs in a real emergency and enables MSC to have a real idea of who may need help in those circumstances. The Celebrity approach makes it just a bit too easy I think...

Check the menus posted earlier, it is shown on there...

Full menu attached, scroll down below the 'Brunch' section for the 'Experience' menu. Butchers-Cut.pdf

Personal choice, but I don't find the 'Experience Menu' pricing expensive, especially when purchased in a package and when compared to the up-charge that Celebrity are asking these days...

If you go again, you'll see there is an 'Experience Menu' option which is usually at a very reasonable price and offers a limited selection from the full menu. There are also package options available which gives you access to that same 'Experience menu' at even lower prices...