cublet

12 hours ago, MeTarzanYouJane said:

My partner and I have just booked our first ever cruise, on the MSC Virtuosa, and having browsed various parts of this forum I have questions about eating in the MDR. I understand that we may well not be on a table for 2, rather we could be on a table for 4,6 or 8. We're both introverts so it's not ideal for us to be on a shared table trying to chat to the others, but we will manage. Go and see the Maitre d' in either Blue Danube (deck 5) or Minuetto (deck 6) ASAP and he will do his best to accommodate you.

 

However I've been reading about general etiquette in cruise MDRs and have questions please! 

Have i understood correctly that they won't start serving until all people at the table have arrived? So you are treated like a group of friends at a restaurant would be? Correct

 

I read somewhere that it is etiquette to take turns buying a bottle of wine for the table each evening - I assume/hope we can opt out of this and just order our own non alcoholic drink, or single glass of wine? Never heard of that one before - probably started by someone that wanted somebody else to buy the drink!

 

Apparently if we won't be eating in the MDR the next evening we must [must, no - should yes for the reason stated above] let our table mates know so they aren't waiting for us to arrive, but what if we don't know at that point that we won't be there the next day? What if we decide during the day that we'll eat at the buffet that evening? From watching cruise vlogs I had the impression that people happily move between eating at the MDR and buffet on different nights, making the decision on the day about where to eat, but it now seems you need to know in advance so you can tell your table? No, don't worry about it just do it. After about 15 minutes the waiter will have stopped waiting and take the orders from whoever's there.

 

Are there shared tables for breakfast and lunch? And if so do you get given a fixed time to arrive and have the same rule about waiting for all the table to arrive before any orders are taken? Breakfast and lunch are open seating (a free-for-all) and you will most probably be at a table for 2 anyway.

 

Thank you so much for any answers, and apologies if they are very basic questions! 

Hello,

See above in BLUE.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

The standard 'pour' is well over a land-based double so no need to ask for one.

Regards,

Cublet

1 hour ago, Chan50 said:

Perfect, thank you for such a prompt response.

 

Is soft drink and water available in the lounge through the day with the tea and coffee?

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

Hello,

No soft drinks. Water may be available from a glass water dispenser - but a great emphasis on the word 'may' as one is not regularly there.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

In the Concierge Club/Suite Lounge, tea and coffee are available throughout the day, temperament of the coffee machine permitting. Drinks are usually served from 17:00 - 20:00. The 20:00 is more 'fixed' than the 17:00 - if they are ready earlier then they will serve earlier. Suite grade doesn't come with a drinks package so you can't drink anywhere else 'on the house' (unless you are going to a 'presentation' and some cheap swill is offered to you as you enter).

Regards,

Cublet

13 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Every bar can make cappucinos and lattes. There are espresso machines and coffee grinders at every bar on MSC.

Hello,

Not quite every - The Champagne Bar has no coffee machine but I did spot a jar of Nescafe instant coffee.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

Closest will be the coffee station(s) in the buffet on deck 15 (24hr).

First 'freshly brewed' will be the Infinity Bar on deck 5 that opens at 6.00.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

They could always keep it in Southampton for longer.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

You have to pay for WiFi but you can be assured you will receive umpteen fliers trying to persuade to buy a mini package. But you will probably be within range of a land transmitter for most of the daylight hours.

If you do want to purchase on board then head for 'The Hub' on deck 6 at the Photo Gallery on the port side.

Re alternative food venue: The Champagne Bar, deck starboard side, from 5.30pm has offers including oysters and other seafood delicacies (on longer cruises anyway) along with Champagne pairings (Lanson Black Label included in P+ package).

A word of warning: The drinks' T&Cs currently say you only have to pay the excess cost on any drink you buy over over the level included in your package. However on Euribia earlier this month they were charging the whole whack. Whether the website T&Cs are out of date(*) or the ship was 'going native' I don't know but check before you order.

Regards,

Cublet

(*): The current Bar Manager on Virtuosa is ex Royal Caribbean who are past masters in not keeping their website up to date.

Hello,

Having said that, you should go to the Jean Philipe cafe if only to marvel at the (probably new) 'vintage' coffee machine. It must take an awful lot of polishing.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

From the T&Cs:

Availability of Drink packages and prices may vary per sailing. Packages are sold on a per cruise basis and not a per day or any other basis. Pricing applies to each day of the cruise, except for disembarkation day.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

You can use the drinks package as soon as you are on board. You CANNOT use it on departure day. The Buffet will be open when you arrive - it is usually open most of the day (0630 onwards under a number of headings). The Buffet's 'coffee stations' are open 24 hours, whether they put out light nibbles at night I've never been to find out. Snacks and pastries are available around the ship from the various bars and lounges throughout the day eg Carousel Lounge, Atmosphere Bar, Sky Lounge and Infinity Bar. A daily paper will tell you what's open and when. You have to walk through the Casino to get to the Carousel lounge.

You cannot use your drinks package for stuff in your mini bar or Jean-Philipe venues or the 'Starship' Bar - though this may be changed through lack of interest.

See the maître d'hôtel in either Minuetto or Blue Danube on arrival to re-arrange dining sittings.

'Self Assist' is towards the beginning of the departure process, after which it's done by grade of cabin, loyalty status and deck number.

There are only two levels of dress - Casual and 'Chic'.

Two nights aren't enough to get the most out of this - there are benefits to booking a cruise on board if you decide you like it. When looking forwards at Guest Services on deck 5, the Next Cruise office is on the left.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

No packages are included in 'Signature Venues', in this case Jeane-Philipe Crepes, Gelato, Chocolat and Cafe.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

The biggest I have ever sat at was 12 on Independence.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

Whilst insurance is required, I have not experienced being asked to show it at check-in since Covid.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

For Crown Vic and any other Brits of a certain age, Berni Inns comes to mind as a reasonable comparison.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

You need the tag holders for the Carnival owned brands.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

Fresh (within 4 hours) from Euribia and they did have a made to order omelette and poached egg station every day at breakfast in the buffet. It was at the stern across the beam of the ship - and I think few people made it that far apart from staff/crew (and me). Not 'Eggs Benedict' though.

Regards,

Cublet

2 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Your perspective is wrong. MSC is not a low-cost line, that maybe is your US centric view, because some US lines like Disney are ridiculous expensive. MSC is Italian, even some guys at MSC USA seem to dilute the experience because they think this is needed to conquer the market. I guess many people cannot manage a holiday in Italy, so they also have problem with a MSC cruise. That is where the *sorry* dumb reviews with the "inedible food and rude crew" come from.

 

MSC is the untouched number one on the European market, everywhere, even the markets in Italy, Germany or UK are so different. That is because they provide a quality experience. Certainly not matching the lines with double prices.

Hello,

This is the best general review of MSC (after my own of course and that of JamieLogical). My own views are posted elsewhere if anyone is prepared to look.

I don't know how many MSC cruises I've done but I have a further six booked including one departing today.so this note is only brief. MSC is, to my mind, on a par with Royal, Celebrity and Cunard. If I had to change just one thing about MSC it would be to replace the cafeteria type serving lines in the buffet with 'island' type sections as on Royal. And that's it.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

All my Anthem ex UK sailings last year had the Suite/Concierge buffet/drinks time as 17:00 - 20:00.

Regards,

Cublet

22 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

I have no plans to lose the lottery this weekend. But I bet I will!

 

If a Hotel Director is even in the loop on board level discussions like that, which I doubt, they’re hardly likely to reveal confidential information at an officers’ lunch.

 

RCG could actually play it quite cleverly and use a program merger to offer carrots and sticks to encourage more veteran top tier cruisers to move from Royal to Celebrity.

Hello,

Introduce a Single Supplement on X of 50% similar to on Royal and I'll be there.

Regards,

Cublet

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Well they're more expensive than my local pub, though agree similar to a city centre restaurant or sporting arena. The difference being you may only spend a couple of hours at that football or musical event, or occasionally visit a city centre bar.  

On board you're a captive audience for maybe several weeks with no other choice apart from port stops. 

Personally if I didn't have my diamond drinks I would pay per drink. No way could I bring myself to pay so much hard earned money on an alcohol package, especially on the longer cruises with long port days that I prefer.

 

Oh for the days pre covid when a) prices were more reasonable 

B) they had wine and beer packages

C) they had the 10 drink cards which were shareable and at a discount 

 

Hello,

Agreed.

My Pin's 6 drinks and 525 points 3 bottles of wine is quite enough to see me though a week (just). But what would annoy me, without the above, would be the offer to  'Buy one, get one 50% off" - as a solo traveller even with 50% off, a second drinks package is of no use to me so is (would be) a disincentive to me to book.

Much better value is buying a drinks package at the time of booking that includes water and gratuities from MSC and comes in at about £30 per night for me. And I will be giving it a good thrashing starting this Friday!

Regards,

Cublet

PS: And, needless to say, when I order Prosecco I get Prosecco and not something dug out from the back of the cleaning cupboard.

8 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I always get asked. And the drinks go on my folio (at $0). But that's more to find out who's in a suite and who's just a Pinnacle who has to use vouchers.

Hello,

Yes, but and/or Pins and Suite cards were sometimes a different colour so keeping them on show told the waiter which camp you were in.

Regards,

Cublet

Hello,

The former Berlitz Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships, now Insight Guide, inspects cruise ships and analyses them into four categories depending on number of berths.

The 2024 edition inspected 326 ships whilst a further 17 were not rated because of their recent launch dates.

Out of a possible 2000 points, Europa 2 came top with 1792 points and National Geographic Sea Lion came bottom with 772 points.

Of the total 326 ships, MSC Euribia was in 52^nd place with 1490 points whilst the highest Celebrity ship, Beyond, was is 75^th place with 1445 points and the highest RCI ship was Anthem of the Seas in 92^nd place with 1419 points. Aside from Cunard, the ships ahead of MSC Euribia came from Mid-size, Small and Boutique categories.

Of the top 20 Large Resort Ships category, 12 of those 20 places were filled by MSC ships, beaten by QM2 and Mein Schiff.

The criteria being marked were: The Ship; Accommodation; Cuisine; Service; Entertainment; The Cruise Experience. Price, of itself, was not a criterion.

I don't think MSC's achievements were gained by being 'cheap'.

Regards,

Cublet

10 hours ago, helenb said:

See in RED

I found a very short thread on this from pre-COVID, so I figured it was worth asking again. We just booked a Med cruise on Seaside for 2025. We have been on Seaside twice before, in the Caribbean. I understand that there will be some differences to the onboard experience sailing in the Med. I am expecting:

 

- onboard currency in Euros Yes

- multilingual activities/shows (no trivia?) Not really

- multilingual announcements Few to none depending on importance

- passengers embarking and disembarking at every port 1 or 2 more maybe, not every

- possibly more seafood-heavy menus Never look for seafood so cannot comment

- possibly more smoking onboard No

 

I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to the extent of these differences. How is it embarking/disembarking in a port where the majority of the ship is not joining you? If you're not getting off in a port, do they still make you disembark to 'clear' the ship, like they do for people on B2Bs? How much more smoking can we expect? Does anyone have any sample menus from the Med?

 

We will be sailing in YC, in situations where that makes a difference (e.g. menus).

Regards,

Cublet

48 minutes ago, ToeyA said:

I signed up just so i could respond to this comment!

 

I've been on 16 cruises - mostly Carnival & Norwegian - and i will never go on an MSC again. 

 

While the staff on our Seascape cruise in December 2023 did a fabulous job, the cruise was disappointing. The food was HORRIBLE. Who goes on a cruise and loses weight?

 

Under cooked, over cooked or cold sums up the offerings at the buffet - except for the pizza. The pizza was good.  O! And the soft serve ice cream that was only limitedly available.

 

One dinner I ordered salmon and received grouper! I was presented with salmon on a different night and altho it was seared beautifully, it was undercooked and inedible.

 

The sad part was that every staff member we talked to acknowledged that the food was bad - eveb the dining room staff acknowledged and apologized. I felt bad for them. 

Hello,

Whilst I do not go on cruises to lose weight, the only cruise (out of 50+) on which I *DID* lose weight was on Celebrity Eclipse whilst in AquaClass and dining in Blu.

Regards,

Cublet