MSC Lirica Stretching - your ideas?

[Skipper Tim]

Now it is confirmed, we can have some fun making suggestions.

 

Here is my proposal. In addition to the announced 200 extra cabins, I would add Yacht Club, 2 more bars, more shops and more accessible cabins. Here is how.

 

Slice her at the bulkhead immediately located behind the suites on deck 12 (red line on the plan below) and insert a 16-cabin long section. Then put in, by deck:

 

13: Yacht Club One Pool and One Bar (to use with existing deck 13 sun deck)

12: 32 YC balcony suites (for a total of 60 on deck 12)

11: Yacht Club concierge area, TopSail Lounge and YC restaurant on the port side, extend the Aurea Spa all down the starboard side

10: 32 balcony suites - designate these and the existing 18 forward (total 50) as 'Aurea Suites'

9: 32 outside cabins + approx 20 inside (including 4 accessible)

8: 32 outside cabins + approx 20 inside (including 4 accessible)

7: 32 outside cabins + additional lifeboats

6: Theatre bar

5: Sports bar, 3 new shops & a centre-piece fountain between them

 

What do you think? I hope All Aboard? would approve.

 

Tim.

 

[Skipper Tim]

And here she is after an hour in Photoshop....

 

Edited November 30, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[papcx]

Tim.

 

You have far too much time on your hands! :D

[AmoMondo]

I'd like to see an a la carte restaurant like they have on the Musica class and some balcony cabins as currently it's only the suites that have a balcony. Bigger spa would be good to.

 

I'm impressed with your endeavours with Photoshop Tim!

[EDLOS]

I would not be surprised if 90% of what MSC will be doing is cabin expansion "cause that's where the money is" and 400 more persons could affect Lido Buffet and other dining capacity and service and theatre, etc.

 

Is the novelty of other dining venues wearing off, A month ago on HAL, I twice dined at their Pinnacle Grille and Canaletto Italian Restaurant and each was about half full ???????? I Missed my early fixed dining time one night and walked into Canaletto's at 7:30 and there were only 4 tables occupied out of 20. That was not the case in 2011 and 2012 cruises ???

[Skipper Tim]

I'd like to see an a la carte restaurant like they have on the Musica class and some balcony cabins as currently it's only the suites that have a balcony. Bigger spa would be good to.

 

I'm impressed with your endeavours with Photoshop Tim!

 

I did think about balcony cabins as, using the Opera layout, they allow an equal number of insides too. However 1) they would require protruding balconies which would spoil the line of the ship and 2) placing accommodation inferior to the suites in prime parts of the ship, at least by MSC mythology (high and forward), did not seem right. The alternative would have been to place them on decks 8 or 9 but there the exterior aesthetics would have been even worse - breaking the line of 'ocean view' windows for patio doors AND protruding balconies. When they stretch the Opera I am sure they will add balcony cabins and insides on decks 9 & 10.

 

Forward on Deck 11, besides adding Yacht Club facilities for All Aboard?, I increased the size of the Aurea Spa by around 70% just for you! You are right though, Deck 11 of the 'insert' needs to be better divided between a small and intimate a la carte restaurant, the Yacht Club restaurant (sharing the same kitchen), a combined YC concierge area and lounge and a modest but significant extension of the Aurea Spa.

 

I would be very interested in such a ship - at least when I can afford Yacht Club.

 

Tim.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

I don't think there will be a YC and MSC has not confirmed that either but I've seen that they will add a new main dining room onboard in order to cope for the extra cabins added.

 

BUT I would love a YC onboard:D

 

Interesting deckplans, thanks:)

[Skipper Tim]

I would not be surprised if 90% of what MSC will be doing is cabin expansion "cause that's where the money is" and 400 more persons could affect Lido Buffet and other dining capacity and service and theatre, etc.

 

This is why I think Yacht Club is the way they will go. It is expensive to increase the capacity of all shared facilities by say 20%. However, providing a ship within a ship contains the extra numbers to their own facilities to a large degree - pool, deck, restaurant, even increased traffic flow around the ship is therefore controlled. It seems the most logical way forward and probably the best revenue model too.

 

Is the novelty of other dining venues wearing off, A month ago on HAL, I twice dined at their Pinnacle Grille and Canaletto Italian Restaurant and each was about half full ???????? I Missed my early fixed dining time one night and walked into Canaletto's at 7:30 and there were only 4 tables occupied out of 20. That was not the case in 2011 and 2012 cruises ???

 

I think it depends upon who you are cruising with. We Europeans are known for not wanting to pay a lot extra for food when it is already fully paid for. I think partly because of the work conditions of North Americans, who have relatively few paid holidays, they tend to spend to make the most of a short time when they do go away. Europeans have the Mediterranean on their doorstep, never more than a £30 flight away, have far more paid holidays and take them. If one takes a relatively large number of days holiday, one has to spread the holiday funds around more carefully. Even in retirement, the mentality on both sides continues.

 

So MSC will do good business with the Eataly on the Divina in the Caribbean but Carnival and RCI have a hard time with extra-pay restaurants this side of the pond. Even so, there is always a (small) market for a top class experience in an intimate environment - totally unlike the Eataly from the photos I saw.

 

Where and with whom did you cruise?

 

Tim.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[sidari]

As a guess if balcony cabins are added it would look something like the Costa Neo Romantica externally, the pictures posted after the re fit shows that Costa did a really great job internally of the re modeling.

 

I think MSC will ruin the look and use of the smaller ships by adding the yacht club to them but time will tell as to what they do and how they do it.

 

On the opera this year we were told that the shops on board at that time were too few and too small and that the area where they were was going to be re modelled, as opera has already been into the shipyard for a week recently i wonder if they chose to leave that part of the work until the ship is lengthened.

[Skipper Tim]

Tim.

 

You have far too much time on your hands! :D

 

I don't at all. Doing these things is productive all round.

[EDLOS]

This is why I think Yacht Club is the way they will go. It is expensive to increase the capacity of all shared facilities by say 20%. However, providing a ship within a ship contains the extra numbers to their own facilities to a large degree - pool, deck, restaurant, even increased traffic flow around the ship is therefore controlled. It seems the most logical way forward and probably the best revenue model too.

 

 

 

I think it depends upon who you are cruising with. We Europeans are known for not wanting to pay a lot extra for food when it is already fully paid for. I think partly because of the work conditions of North Americans, who have relatively few paid holidays, they tend to spend to make the most of a short time when they do go away. Europeans have the Mediterranean on their doorstep, never more than a £30 flight away, have far more paid holidays and take them. If one takes a relatively large number of days holiday, one has to spread the holiday funds around more carefully. Even in retirement, the mentality on both sides continues.

 

So MSC will do good business with the Eataly on the Divina in the Caribbean but Carnival and RCI have a hard time with extra-pay restaurants this side of the pond. Even so, there is always a (small) market for a top class experience in an intimate environment - totally unlike the Eataly from the photos I saw.

 

Where and with whom did you cruise?

 

Tim.

 

It was on HAL in the Mediterrean in October which I booked after, as you know, MSC canceled the 9 day Repo through the Suez Canal and the 7 day Red sea cruises which I was booked on a B To B. I am wondering When and If it will be reinstated as that was on top of my bucket list.

There was a very large group of Americans on board as the roll call had more then 1500 posts and every port had organized multiple choice private shore tours.

I do know this, HAL specialty restaurants are getting mixed reviews, particularly the Pinnacle Grille which was a service disappointment to me.

[Antonintassie]

Good Morning Tim

 

We are new to crusing but like the look of the yacht club concept this class of ship with YC in the Arabian Gulf would be fantastic

 

Kind Regards

 

Tony

[Skipper Tim]

I don't think there will be a YC and MSC has not confirmed that either but I've seen that they will add a new main dining room onboard in order to cope for the extra cabins added.

 

BUT I would love a YC onboard:D

 

Interesting deckplans, thanks:)

 

Oh, that changes everything. Zut. :)

[anniegb]

I hope they revisit the passenger flow/usage on decks 5, 6 and 7.

 

IMHO a disaster - neither fish nor fowl.

 

Annie

[Skipper Tim]

It was on HAL in the Mediterrean in October which I booked after, as you know, MSC canceled the 9 day Repo through the Suez Canal and the 7 day Red sea cruises which I was booked on a B To B. I am wondering When and If it will be reinstated as that was on top of my bucket list.

 

The UK Foreign Office has recently relaxed its travel advice for Egypt. I imagine other countries are doing the same. The danger for MSC is committing to another season in the Red Sea then trouble flaring up again, as it may so easily do. It is easy enough to have an itinerary which avoids all the potential trouble spots (it was really only Cairo and Alexandria) but people are very fickle and when they hear of unrest in Egypt, or any other country, they think that it is the whole country that is affected.

 

My guess is that MSc will return to the Red Sea in 2015/6, when one or two new ships join the fleet, providing there are no major troubles before.

 

Tim.

[irnbru]

Having just came off the ship yesterday, your plans look good though I would like to see a main street created like the RCCL voyager ships. Makes more of a meeting and coming together area which is really lacking on the Lirica.

[anniegb]

The Coffee Corner already functions as a Theatre Bar. It could do with expansion as there are not enough seats at critical times.

 

Annie

[Willow1686]

Do the Yacht Club areas on other ships have their own swimming pools? I may someday overcome my quintessentially European approach to holidaying by laying out some big bucks for a cruise but the thought of being dive bombed in a pool does not commend itself to me...

[Skipper Tim]

Do the Yacht Club areas on other ships have their own swimming pools? I may someday overcome my quintessentially European approach to holidaying by laying out some big bucks for a cruise but the thought of being dive bombed in a pool does not commend itself to me...

 

Yes, signature features of Yacht Club are the 'One Pool' with whirlpools and bar and the 'Top Sail Lounge'. Photos here.

 

On the Fantasia class, the pool at the stern on deck 15 is far quieter than the ones on the main pool deck, if you don't want to splash out on Yacht Club. I had a cabin on the stern of deck 13 and with the buffet directly above and the pool, whirlpools and bar one deck higher, all connected with my 'private staircase' a few steps from my cabin, I referred to it as 'the poor man's Yacht Club. Apart from dinner, there really was little need to go anywhere else.