MSC Bargains Thread

[sidari]

An advantage of flying ex-Dublin to the USA is that US immigration is completed at Dublin and the flight is then treated as a domestic arrival in the US.

 

Hi Tim ... Any idea why the flights are treated as domestic from Dublin rather than International ?

[Skipper Tim]

Hi Tim ... Any idea why the flights are treated as domestic from Dublin rather than International ?

 

Precisely because U.S. immigration is completed in Dublin. It is a special concession, the like of which I have never heard of before. Seasoned UK-US frequent flyers swear by it. They say it can save hours compared to immigration in the US.

 

The Dublin connection is especially advantageous for Avios redemption flights to Boston. Dublin-Boston justs falls within a distance boundary and saves a heap of Avios compared to London-Boston as a consequence. Details upon request....

[bridgetjonesni]

An advantage of flying ex-Dublin to the USA is that US immigration is completed at Dublin and the flight is then treated as a domestic arrival in the US.

 

Hi Tim ... Any idea why the flights are treated as domestic from Dublin rather than International ?

 

You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

 

If the price is right for Aer Lingus I would do it in a heartbeat, if only to avoid the huge immigration queues in the USA, which took us an hour and a half last time. Also any airport that has free WiFi is a winner for me, and Dublin does.

[Skipper Tim]

You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_border_preclearance

 

If the price is right for Aer Lingus I would do it in a heartbeat, if only to avoid the huge immigration queues in the USA, which took us an hour and a half last time. Also any airport that has free WiFi is a winner for me, and Dublin does.

 

Aer (apologies) Lingus is a BA partner and therefore Avios can be used to book Aer Lingus flights on the BA or Avios websites.

[maryann2]

We have pre-clearance in Canada also.

Once we pass through we are in fact in the US, although of course still in Vancouver which means that if the flight is cancelled or changed we have to go back through Immigration to get back into Canada. This has happened to me.

Also forget about taking a banana to eat at the airport. No fruit dairy etc allowed except for purchase once through US Immigration.

[sidari]

By going via Atlanta a few years back we found there was less hassle and no long waits as there were at Miami, no idea why this is the case.

 

bridget ... Thanks for the link.

[CruiseReg]

We have pre-clearance in Canada also.

Once we pass through we are in fact in the US, although of course still in Vancouver which means that if the flight is cancelled or changed we have to go back through Immigration to get back into Canada. This has happened to me.

Also forget about taking a banana to eat at the airport. No fruit dairy etc allowed except for purchase once through US Immigration.

 

I did this flying back into the US from Ottawa. It's very convenient, even if the agent was less than pleasant with me for no reason :)

[soloadventurer]

Cheers Tim - should have been clearer i meant a cruise from South America to Europe i prefer not to fly via U.S so which European cities are best for direct flights ?

[Kelownabccan]

I just checked on MSC USA's website and it is not sold out at all.

 

It's the the cruise before the dry dock.

 

Not a bad price though.....for 10 days...

 

 

10 nights departing September 26, 2015 on

MSC Cruises' MSC Divina

 

 

Brochure Inside $1,739

Inside $769

 

 

Brochure Oceanview $2,039

Oceanview $919

 

 

Brochure Balcony $2,539

Balcony $1,119

 

Brochure Suite $3,339

Suite $1,569

[Skipper Tim]

Cheers Tim - should have been clearer i meant a cruise from South America to Europe i prefer not to fly via U.S so which European cities are best for direct flights ?

 

Definitely ex-Madrid with Iberia. Avios will save a considerable fortune - read the guide linked to at the bottom of mi signature. You need to open and credit an Iberia Plus account 90 days before booking!

[Skipper Tim]

P.S. It is essentially £208's worth of Tesco Clubcard vouchers + £70 taxes for what otherwise is a £4,000+ business class ticket from Madrid to Brazil. The new Iberia Business class seat is huge and goes completely flat and horizontal for a perfect night's sleep. The food, drinks and service start before you sit down - before takeoff - and, well, I could go on. It is more than worth the Tesco vouchers!

 

I flew with Ryanair from Manchester to Madrid for around £30 and had a good few hours there in the superb Iberia lounge. I drank some of the best wines I have ever had in my life waiting for the flight.

 

I must do it again!

Edited June 12, 2014 by Skipper Tim

[janny444]

Hi everyone....just as a follow on and curiosity :))....maybe should have started a new thread but what do you consider to be a "bargain" per night...including flights etc....I think £100 per night is maybe the going rate so for me if it is less than that it is an OK price....£50/60.....bargain...less than that...absolute bargain.... best bargain we had was 12 night Princess cruise £399 of course that's prices for an inside cabin

[Skipper Tim]

Hi everyone....just as a follow on and curiosity :))....maybe should have started a new thread but what do you consider to be a "bargain" per night...including flights etc....I think £100 per night is maybe the going rate so for me if it is less than that it is an OK price....£50/60.....bargain...less than that...absolute bargain.... best bargain we had was 12 night Princess cruise £399 of course that's prices for an inside cabin

 

I think it is important to separate out the flight costs. Flights can cost £10 or £5,000. Also, it is often possible to get cheaper and/or much better value or convenient flights than the cruise line can.

 

I think one should concentrate on cost per night of the cruise-only and stand the extra cost of flights and possibly hotels too, according to your needs and desires!

 

The going rate for MSC repositioning cruises in the previous two years was £25/£35/£45 per night inside/outside/balcony. That would make a 12 night repo £300 in an inside cabin before MSC Club discounts. There was previously no sole-occupancy supplement for MSC repo cruises.

 

So my recent MSC Armonia cruise, originally booked as 10 nights, then extended to 11 with a totally different itinerary (at no extra charge and with o.b.c as compensation) cost £250 less £20 MSC Club discount, so £230, with sole-occupancy of an inside cabin. It is my first ever cruise where I was not upgraded!

 

MSC UK's rates this year are a hugely inflated £35/£45/£55 inside/outside/balcony with either a 50% or 1000% sole-occupancy supplement. I won't book at these rates.

 

Checking Cruise Sheet, which ranks cruises of all the major cruise lines by cost per night, there are a dozen or so cruises at US $36-37 (£22) per night before port taxes.

 

Taking everything into consideration therefore, I would say that £25/night with no sole-occupancy supplement, ideally with a free upgrade, plus flights (use Avios, low cost airlines etc.) is still the target.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Skipper Tim

[janny444]

Wow..those are bargains...you can pay that for B/B...easily in this country. Unfortunately ..owing to health issues we can no longer fly so we are limited to what is on offer from Southampton etc but next year with so many of the larger ships sailing from the UK they may struggle to fill em...could be bargains aplenty..:)))

Edited June 12, 2014 by janny444

[Skipper Tim]

Wow..those are bargains...you can pay that for B/B...easily in this country. Unfortunately ..owing to health issues we can no longer fly so we are limited to what is on offer from Southampton etc but next year with so many of the larger ships sailing from the UK they may struggle to fill em...could be bargains aplenty..:)))

 

I can't afford to holiday in the UK! The latest booking, the Hotel Su (link below) is a five star, ultra-chic, designer hotel on the beach near Antalya for.... £7.50/night including breakfast (and yes, no sole-occupancy supplement).

 

Earlier this year I paid around the same per night for a lessor hotel, but still five star and all-inclusive - i.e. all food and drinks. We stayed over three weeks - it was around the same price per day as just running the heating at home!

 

I am sorry your health prevents you from flying. I think I would have to emigrate if I could no longer fly. Greece is already my second home and I would settle there I think.

 

What I would love to do is the QM2 from Southampton to New York and back. I saw a deal for under £900 departing a few days ago. I am dog-sitting at the moment so couldn't go. Next time!

[Alex71]

I can't afford to holiday in the UK! The latest booking, the Hotel Su (link below) is a five star, ultra-chic, designer hotel on the beach near Antalya for.... £7.50/night including breakfast (and yes, no sole-occupancy supplement).

 

Earlier this year I paid around the same per night for a lessor hotel, but still five star and all-inclusive - i.e. all food and drinks. We stayed over three weeks - it was around the same price per day as just running the heating at home!

 

How did you manage to book at these rates? On their website, they charge 150 EUR / night in October, which is when we are looking to travel. Cheapest I can see is 90 / night in December.

[Skipper Tim]

How did you manage to book at these rates? On their website, they charge 150 EUR / night in October, which is when we are looking to travel. Cheapest I can see is 90 / night in December.

 

Rates did almost triple, to around £21 per night, after a couple of our recent bookings but have since fallen back down to double. We are not allowed to mention travel agents on CC but hopefully this is so off-topic that it will be allowed, at least for a short time. I booked with sunshine (dot) co (dot) uk.

 

The £7.50 rate ran from 1st Jan until 31st March. I checked every date! It was more, but I can't remember how much more, before Christmas, and silly over Christmas and New Year.

 

I have known of this hotel since it opened. Until now, the closest I have been to it, apart from physically passing its entrance a fair few times, is meeting an estate agent who picked up clients who were staying there - "Wow, how was it?". I didn't get much of a response. Not everyone is such a hotel-nut.

 

Email me if you need any further pointers: tim (at) millea (dot) com.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Skipper Tim

[janny444]

One of many cruise deal sites emailed me this...19 nights...QM2...24thJune...Shampton to Shampton...including 5 nights New York £1299/1799 balcony...didn't think too bad a price

[Skipper Tim]

One of many cruise deal sites emailed me this...19 nights...QM2...24thJune...Shampton to Shampton...including 5 nights New York £1299/1799 balcony...didn't think too bad a price

 

Now it that were just a month later, I would take my my mother on it for her birthday. Thanks for the inspiration though, I will be looking out.

 

I have dragged her on Royal Caribbean and MSC cruises but I think Cunard is the love of her life.

[Alex71]

Fantastic, thank you Tim.

[AmoMondo]

Hi everyone....just as a follow on and curiosity :))....maybe should have started a new thread but what do you consider to be a "bargain" per night...including flights etc....I think £100 per night is maybe the going rate so for me if it is less than that it is an OK price....£50/60.....bargain...less than that...absolute bargain.... best bargain we had was 12 night Princess cruise £399 of course that's prices for an inside cabin

 

Like Tim I keep the flight cost out of it?I also have different expectations depending on where and when I'm cruising. I thought having a balcony on the orchestra in the Med in August was a bargain for solo occupancy at just under £600 (it was the same price as an inside) so that was around £85 per night.

 

I was on the same Armonia cruise that Tim mentioned but get a better club discount (although he is fast catching up with me) so I ended up paying £260 but for a balcony suite for 11 nights - that is my best cruise bargain to date.

 

O

I also thought paying £420 for a week on the Costa Fortuna solo occupancy in the Arabian gulf was a great deal. Original price was £2k solo occupancy for an inside and there is no way I'd have considered it at that price but as a late booking heavily discounted it was great.

 

My main criteria often is comparing the cost to staying in a decent hotel in that area. Last year because I got a few bargains on cruises paying less for a week in the Med than staying 2-3 nights in a hotel and adding on meals, I did more cruises than land trips.

[Kelownabccan]

We always just check the cost per day....if under $100 Can/US or about 54 pounds sterling we figure it is not a bad deal....usually for an Oceanview....my wife and I will also do insides but only for short cruises...say 7 days....and warm ones as usually not in your room but on deck somewhere suntanning out of the wind...lol.....we are currently looking at Tahiti in the last fall or early spring .....an outside on the Princess Pacific is currently about $109.....we figure that is pretty good as that area usually demands high prices....the Divina we have booked back to Europe next April is running us less than $90 for an aft balcony...we think that is not too shabby

[Alex71]

It of course all depends on the season, but generally I would consider around 200 EUR / cabin / night the cut off. In the week before Easter, the club discount and travel agent discount got us just below that for our inside cabin. Our cruise later voucher was just enough to cover the service charge, water package and a bottle of wine.

 

What makes cruising cost effective is that we can drive to many of the embarkation ports and then take the ship to ports that would normally require flights. It takes us about seven hours to drive to Venice or Genoa, five hours to Hamburg and four hours to Amsterdam. Since I have a company car with gas included, we only have to pay for tolls and parking. We have two kids and typicaly fly to America once or twice a year to visit family, therefore we try to keep flying to a minimum for our other trips.

[janny444]

Quite a few like-mined peeps on this thread all on the look out for a bargain and there certainly are some very good prices out there...just takes time to root them out.

Next year I have booked early...mainly because its for a special occasion and its a ship I want to try. Not exactly a bargain price £133pppn....but its a balcony/AI/Tips included/$100/upgraded cabin so I didn't think it was too excessive considering what we are getting but I usually look for a much keener price.

Same with the upcoming MSC....booked that when they were offering balconies for inside price/free parking...looking at the prices now looks like I may have made the right decision but also we are on a "mission" when we visit Le Havre....to visit the cemetery where my hubby's uncle's grave....who was killed on the last day of WW1...we will be the first of the family to visit so we had to be sure we were on the cruise....besides which we wanted to try MSC. :)

[Alex71]

My main criteria often is comparing the cost to staying in a decent hotel in that area. Last year because I got a few bargains on cruises paying less for a week in the Med than staying 2-3 nights in a hotel and adding on meals, I did more cruises than land trips.

 

That's an excellent critera. We often do the same thing.