Willow1686

There is something ironic about the fact that MSC keeps sending me emails about how the very best cruises depart from Southampton. :(

Very sorry to hear that Willow. I wish you a speedy recovery and a lovely glass or two of wine.

 

Tim

Thank you! I haven't felt this irritated about matters nautical since the time we sprang a leak off Blakeney Point and they called out the lifeboat, though possibly the unfortunate incident in Lamlash bay with a skipper who had apparently suddenly developed an overwhelming urge to visit Ireland comes reasonably close.:D

Oh, I entirely agree! The tricky bit is when I invariably end up with far too many clothes to fit in my suitcases and have to engage in the harrowing process of whittling them down to the ones which I cannot do without.

 

And then there's shoes; I am currently in love with some laser cut suede stilettos by Rachel Zoe, but even I have to admit that a 12cm heel may not be entirely practical at sea. Particularly if you take the wine into consideration...

A follow up as, due to an unscheduled and competely unprovoked assault from a kettle full of boiling water, which proves without a shadow of a doubt that Tea is a proufoundly dangerous drug, I may have to abandon ship before I even embark on it. I have another appointment in the trauma clinic on Monday, and there is an, admittedly slim, chance that I will make my cruise, though it would play havoc with my snorkelling.plans.

I am sure you will all have perceived the moral of this story; if you have to drink something which can ruin your life, ot at least screw it up, do it on something you will enjoy, like alcohol...

Which wine to drink, what to wear and with whom to sit with are the most important aspects of life let alone a cruise! No smiley required, this is serious.

Oh, I entirely agree! The tricky bit is when I invariably end up with far too many clothes to fit in my suitcases and have to engage in the harrowing process of whittling them down to the ones which I cannot do without.

And then there's shoes; I am currently in love with some laser cut suede stilettos by Rachel Zoe, but even I have to admit that a 12cm heel may not be entirely practical at sea. Particularly if you take the wine into consideration...

I'm really glad to see that you are dealing with the really important bits :)

From the MSC UK website, last minute deal Fly/cruise including transfers OV and Inside Cabins at same price of £450. Club discounts apply.

No cabins available for solo passengers.

 

Annie

Gosh! What a huge surprise!

Not..

I can understand there being an awful lot of fleet shuffling going on this year and next due to the lengthy stretching (sorry) of each of the four Lirica class ships but not to maintain a toe-hold in the UK no-fly market really means abandonment to the likes of Fred Olsen and P&O. This really suggests that the Brits who prefer not to fly have probably not embraced the Italian theme of the line as well as those do prefer to fly have. I can imagine the regular FO or P&O crowd being horrified by MSC if they were not expecting it just as we constantly hear from the U.S. Carnival and RCI crowd.

 

Then there is the old business model that says people will pay over the odds for a package including flights and transfers. To me those days are gone. The trend has long since being toward independence, doing one's own thing and combining a cruise with other things each element of which has been chosen and is under personal control. In my life, I never want to sit waiting on a coach or stand in line to have my name ticked ever, ever again. Those were holidays of the 70's.

 

So yes, I would rather MSC pull out of the no-fly UK market than adapt to the Fred Olsen clientele and it is probably right to do so. The degree of adaption that the Divina has gone through for the U.S. Market is a reflection of the size and hence importance of that market to a cruise line greedy to grow. The fly-cruise package totally misses the mark. it is a no-fly replacement which will neither suit the no-flyers nor the rest of us who prefer to make our own arrangements and not be dictated to by what should be just one provider of many on our precious holidays.

 

Tim.

I think you are making unfounded assumptions about British cruisers in general and people who cruise with P&O/FO in particular.

I took 3 cruises last year: Mumbai-Athens with Azamara, Athens-Rome with Voyages to Antiquity, and West Africa via Tenerife with FO, all of which involved flights at both ends. I live in the City of London, not an area noted for the insularity of its occupants, probably due to the fact that half of them are here on shortish jobs in outposts of foreign financial institutions. I think it's fair to say that my tastes are fairly eclectic; I am accustomed to the fact that I have two theatres, three cinemas, one concert hall, two art galleries, a music library and one ordinary library within four minutes walk of the front door of my apartment, and I am surrounded by a wide variety of restaurants and bars ranging from the basic to the sophisticated. Of course, if the worst comes to the worst, I can always slum it over in the West End because Moorgate Tube Station is five minutes walk from the front door of my apartment.

I have chosen to book the FO San Diego-Southampton run in March/April this year, rather than take one of the MSC repos from South America to the Med, because MSC declined to allow me to buy a Yacht Club cruise in the Med at any price later this year, and wanted a lot more money for their repos than the market will bear, which is the sort of phrase which springs readily to one's lips after more than thirty years in the City.

And, after all these years surrounded by foreign people speaking foreign languages and eating foreign food, I think I could probably just about deal with the foreign food and foreign languages and foreign people on MSC ships; if, that is, MSC had deigned to take my money in the first place. I could even deal with people for whom the concept of a queue represents a challenge to their cherished cultural traditions; spend enough of your life going Mano a Mano over the Vivienne Westwood rails in the Selfridges sale and you learn the hard way that there are moments when it is necessary to abandon your own cultural traditions and ruthlessly trample over little old ladies in burkhas, provided their bodyguards are not in the vicinity.

It may be, of course, that MSC has never really grasped the fact that not all British people live in mono cultural groups, but that is their problem not mine; presumably at some point it will occur to them that the phenomenon known as school represents a challenge to filling their ships with families at all times, but again that is their problem not mine. I have dutifully signed up to the next Webinar, and, should I master Windows 8 before then, I shall enquire why they refuse to allow singles to cruise in the Yacht Club at any price. I don't expect to get a rational answer but I will try. In the meantime I will continue to book cruises which have an interesting itinerary at a reasonable price, secure in the knowledge that there will always be at least some interesting people on board...

But Edie Bornstein, present president of Crystal, just left Azamara...

And is therefore in a good position to know whether Azamara is making any money; if it isn't then a rock bottom price for two ships drastically in need of upgrade may be a good deal for Crystal, leaving RCCL to concentrate on bigger ships. This is pure speculation, but it's based on market economics:)

It's interesting that after the posts about the lukewarm food on the Braemar on the Southampton to Canaries cruise, which seem to have been noticed by FO, the food on my subsequent Braemar West Africa cruise was hot when it should have been hot, and not when it shouldn't have been.

Thank you, Jean, for flagging this up both on board and here; it looks as if Kathy has benefitted :)

My daughter is a bit sad that she can't get on the Balmoral in the Caribbean; she doesn't get nearly enough hols for the whole leg but Caribbean to Soton would have been do-able. Perhaps another time!

The man in Boots said they had not had any in for months and there had been trouble getting the hyoscine hydrobromide :rolleyes::confused: They didn't even have their own make. I have never had trouble getting them at any other time.

 

Just noticed they are selling them for £34.99 for 12 tablets on ebay :eek::eek:

Eek!

There are a number of much cheaper antihistamines which help with sea sickness; I have no problem with it at all but my daughter used Phenergan which will also put you to sleep :rolleyes:

Alternatively, stem ginger from any decent supermarket should help! Good luck!

I looked 30 minutes ago and the cruise was there - now it isn't.

 

Re difference in pricing, obviously MSC think the value of the drinks and excursions is worth more than the flights.

 

I have emailed Stuart in response to his email asking for solo prices and as yet no response.

 

Annie

This is ridiculous! But thank you for your efforts, Annie!

We put it on the feedback form at the end, but I may write to them now that I'm home.

 

We did our own thing in Malta & dubai. Went to Petra on an organised tour which was expensive, but absolutely worth it. In Salalah we did "Salalah On Your Own". That was a big mistake, as we were dropped in a very run down area with a 2 km walk to the real town which we didn't bother with as it was too hot. With hindsight a proper tour would have been better. Luckily it wasn't expensive, as after half an hour we got back on the bus, as did a number of others.

 

Another couple of comments on the food. One night I had Bruschietta (sp?) as a starter. It consisted of some chopped up tomato and onion (very small) with two bits of toasted ciabatta. Another night I ordered Tzatziki with pitta bread. tiny amount of Tzatziki and the pitta bread was like cardboard and inedible.

 

We are on Black Watch in May, so will be interesting to compare.

 

By the way, the food at lunchtime, both in the MDRs and palms Cafe was excellent and so was breakfast. Very strange.

Well, it may be worth dropping them a line; I suspect that getting an email and not just the feedback form may make a difference. It is very odd that it was only at dinner that the weird dishes and the un brûléed brûlées turned up; I shall steer clear of the ones you mention at any rate. I have booked the first evening sitting since there are so many sea days on the last leg of the world cruise; if the worst comes to the worst at dinner there's always the late night bites:)

Petra is on my bucket list so I'm really glad you enjoyed it; it has always seemed to me to be the essence of romance. I have never been to Malta so that's also there, but I wanted to see the Panama Canal and didn't want two long flights bracketing it so riding the Balmoral all the way home seems a good way of doing it.

I'm glad the food didn't spoil the rest of the cruise for you!

We have just returned from Balmoral Southampton out to Dubai as part of the world cruise.

 

We suffered Hurricane Force 12 winds for the first 3 days and only made 5 knots, thus missing Cadiz and Minorca and going to Gib instead. Very disappointing.

 

We had a good time on board, but I have to say the food in the MDR was very poor on some nights, lukewarm soup, lukewarm meat and if I see Norwegian Salmon one more time!! We had Creme Brulee one night - there was no brulee on top. Three of us sent it back. We then had it again 2 nights later and it was fine. It was then on the menu AGAIN 2 nights after that. The beef was excellent and beautifully cooked, but in all, I found I was leaving my food. Carrots and peas with everything. We were a table for 6 and our 4 companions were seasoned Fred Olsen passengers. They said it was very poor and we compared it to Braemar last year which was fantastic.

 

Entertainment was very good mostly and we joined the choir which was great fun. There were over 100 of us and we gave a performance at the end of the sector.

 

Jean

I'm really sorry to hear that, and not only for the selfish reason that I've booked the last leg of the cruise! Obviously FO couldn't do anything about the weather, but the food is most definitely something which they should get right, particularly when you had to miss two ports. I can appreciate that the galley staff may have been suffering from the bad weather as well to start with, but that excuse doesn't last.

Did you complain about it, and if so what response did you get?

I'm glad that you enjoyed the other aspects of the cruise; did you go on many organised excursions, or just do your own thing in the various ports?

Yup.

 

I think they are targeting a larger/wealthier market. Do you blame them ?They are a business. Maybe the UK cruisers did not contribute very much to the bottom line.

 

Annie

It's kind of hard to contribute to the bottom line if they refuse to take our money :)

Probably not that many!! Will be interesting to see what happens!!

 

 

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I can see it now; all of us camping in the family rooms:D

Thanks a lot for the link MM42, very exciting news:) The Yacht Club is suddenly much closer :D

They wouldn't let me book a Yacht club cruise because I'm solo, despite offering to pay 100% supplement.

Though they are inundating my email account with offer after offer of free balcony upgrades, and a new Webinar in March to tell me exciting things. It's just that none of them include solo travellers.

I'm just about given up on them...

There doesn't seem to be a Roll Call yet for that particular cruise but I am sure that you will have a great time. FO really work at making things inviting for single travellers; I spent a fortnight on the Braemar in December and enjoyed it so much that I've booked the last leg of the Balmoral world cruise in March.

You will be invited to a singles meet-up, seated for dinner with other singles, and they organise things so if you want to just take a stroll in port you can meet up with other singles to do so. One of my very pleasant dining companions was from Merseyside and they seemed to be well represented on board.

And they have dance hosts if you dislike dancing by yourself :) I'm sure that you will enjoy yourself, and I know that people will be very understanding about your recent loss; it's not easy but I think FO is the best possible line for someone in your position. I wish you all the best ...

I think that you will find that the Balmoral will be back on the map again once it has cleared "pirate waters". :)

Well, I do hope they haven't lost her because I just booked the final leg from San Diego to Southampton :D

The original discussion was not about Allegrissimo vs. YC, it was just about Allegrissimo. Most MSC ships do not even have Yacht Club so this is simply not an issue for the rest of us.

 

Please refocus!

 

Tim.

Sorry, Tim; it was a temporary bout of insanity caused by thinking about vitamin bars...

Hi,

I've just received a promotional email from the online TA I usually use, and there are some very big pricecuts on a wide range of Azamara cruises.

I thought this may be of use of those of you who have been off by the very high prices...

I bought the repo on my last repo. I did save a lot but I did drink more than I usually do. I got bored drinking :)

 

BTW despite the excess alcohol, I lost weight.

 

Back to OP, I am unlikely to purchase the package again. The wine selection was dire and the coffee in the buffet was better than the lattes etc IMHO.

 

Annie

Thank you; if they ever get around to allowing people in the UK to book the Repos I'll bear that in mind. :D

Oh, that's wonderful. I thank you, but my bank manager won't.

I imagine that the single supplement on the Yacht Club must be pretty horrendous...

For me too, yes, but even if you don't drink alcohol at all it is worth it: coffees, milkshakes, smoothies, water, icecreams, all the soft drinks etc. at any time in any place on ths ship. I describe it as 'freedom of the ship' - why else would you visit the vitamin bar? It also saves on the hassle of smuggling aboard.

On balance I would be more likely to jump overboard than visit a vitamin bar.

I appreciate that on a Repo the days may seem long, and thus needing punctuation, but the prospect of reaching the end of the cruise weighing 10 kilos more than when I started is not one which holds much allure. And I live in central London; I go on holiday to get away from 1,264 varieties of coffee, milkshakes, smoothies, waters, ice creams etc. etc. etc.

Incidentally, if you are on the Yacht Club do you still have to buy packages?

Received my luggage labels in the post today. Not heard about why they accepted us for 2nd sittng when we booked and then changed it to 1st sitting, so will try to pay the extra and be put back on 2nd sitting :(

I'm glad to hear your luggage labels have arrived; I hope you manage to get your preferred sitting. My cruise had a few sea days so the 8.15 sitting can seem quite late, but I do agree that it's the better one on port-intensive cruises.

Have a great holiday!

Not so simples - tried that today - all gone and all they could offer was a balcony suite for £1569 per person - don't think so :O for one week round the Canaries we'll put up with the lifeboat :)

Your ability to see the funny side is exactly the right attitude; you will enjoy your holiday all the more!

My reservation about FO balconies is that people smoke on them, which I would really not enjoy, so the outside view seems the best way to go, even if you have to try and ignore the bright orange thing :D

Once you've done the FO conga on the safety drill you will be even more enamoured of the bright orange things; to be slightly more serious the staff will make sure the window is cleaned on the outside as well as inside, so you will get to see the sea and the sky...