MSC not american...what does that mean

[oreosmile]

 

"That said, there are – shall we say – cultural differences that turned off many of our fellow passengers. Mainland Europeans are far less “anal” than Americans about waiting in line and, for example, allowing others off of an elevator before boarding or joining the end of a line at the buffet. My mother-in-law walks with a cane often and on only one occasion did someone stand aside and let her exit an elevator before people piled on. Having lived in Europe several times, I’m used to it, but it was obvious that many, many Americans on my cruise were taken aback and were all too willing to share their thoughts. “How rude?!” “There’s a line here!” “Did you see me standing here?” You can get the idea. Again, this is not MSC-centric, but passenger-centric. That said, Americans were far from model passengers, with teenage children among the worst “offenders.”

 

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An explanation I have read is that North Americans like so much personal space around them that they may not be viewed as part of the line. So the answer to "did you see me standing here" might be NO!

 

One thing I liked about the buffet set up on the Splendida was that there were so many small stations that there weren't really any lines to speak of. I always did a walk round to check out my options and then went around again picking just what I wanted from each section. Most times I did not have to wait (bacon was an exception!)

[jkgourmet]

You can't book them with MSC spanish webpage, however you can book them through a TA, for instance logitravel dot com.

 

Next year MSC is making a huge change in its meds itineraries, deploying 3 of the Fantasia classes in the western med. Also, major lines like Carnival (via Costa Diadema) and Royal (via Allure of the Seas) are increasing the capacity a lot. I'd expect very good last minute deals during off-peak season.

 

The Divina itinerary looks quite good, very long stays in some ports, 18 hours in La Spezia, for instance, shorter stays in others.

 

 

MSC Fantasia

 

Barcelona

Marsella

Génova

Nápoles

Messina

La Goulette (Túnez)

Barcelona

 

 

MSC Preziosa

 

Valencia

Marsella

Génova

Civitavecchia

Palermo

La Goulette

Palma de Mallorca

Valencia

 

 

MSC Divina

 

Barcelona

Nápoles

Civitavecchia

La Spezia

Cannes

Palma de Mallorca

Barcelona

 

With the troubles in the middle east, I'd bet that the stop at La Goulette, Tunisia is cancelled. NCL stopped several months ago after passengers holding passports from Israel were denied entry. No grwat loss - Except for the pin on my map of the world, we did NOT enjoy this port stop.