MSC Splendida - first time cruise

[AmoMondo]

Hi AT8500

 

I'm going to try and catch up on your as yet unanswered questions about Allegrissimo

 

There are 2 versions for all non US sailings. Allegrissimo (basic one where the stuff with a red asterisk is excluded and usually means beer in draught form only - often Heineken but sometimes other choices too) or much more expensive Allegrissimo Premium.

 

On US sailings the basic Allegrissimo is called Allegrissimo Classic.

 

When you add on onboard services like excursions and drink packages, you need to remember to check out. If it has worked, you will get an email confirming what you have pre booked. I strongly recommend you print this and take it with you. If the ship is not notifies (sometimes happens) it gets fixed much quicker if you can show them proof you booked it.

 

You can add or delete items up until a certain date before your sailing. The email confirmation will tell you the latest date that changes can be made.

 

Hope this helps.

[AT8500]

Thanks CruiseIreland & AmoMondo for your answers. Now I understand better all those things.

 

I see that this premium allegrisimo is expensive and with drinking habits of my wife and me I think that we would have "work" really hard to justify daily price, so Allegrisimo (not premium) is looking much better but only if we don't loose some drinks that we like. Also what about icecreams? Are there limitations on them if we choose allegrissimo over allegrisimo premium? There have been some changes in allegrisimo as I can see from posts on forum and one thing that I know is not included is fresh orange juice.

 

I know main difference (bottled beer vs only draft beer, more vs. few vines, not included mini bar and premium drinks), but is there other things that were in allegrisimo and now not available anymore (for example I would like to try all coctails or at least most of them, etc)

[lmg3591]

I am not sure if this question was answered on any threads, but I am going to ask anyway. It is my first time cruising on MSC and I have read that water is not served in the MDR or throughout the day. My husband and I do not drink soda and barely drink alcohol so it didnt make sense to get a beverage package. When we called MSC they told us that those are rumors and they so serve water but I have read online that everyone must pay for water....

 

Can anyone clarify this please? Thanks! :)

[tsahall01]

I am not sure if this question was answered on any threads, but I am going to ask anyway. It is my first time cruising on MSC and I have read that water is not served in the MDR or throughout the day. My husband and I do not drink soda and barely drink alcohol so it didnt make sense to get a beverage package. When we called MSC they told us that those are rumors and they so serve water but I have read online that everyone must pay for water....

 

Can anyone clarify this please? Thanks! :)

 

Hi Img3591

 

I see that you are from New York--when I sailed on the Fantasia in November, we were given, upon check-in, a coupon book good for 9 waters (I think--maybe it was 12). They were only giving these to Americans as we Americans are so used to getting free water with meals. I don't know if they are still doing it or not--you might try contacting your travel agent to see if they are still doing it. You should be able to buy a book of n/a drink coupons--cheaper if you book but don't buy until on board (no 15% added on). Water is always available at the buffet....

 

Enjoy your cruise!! We LOVED the Fantasia!! Susan

[AmoMondo]

Thanks CruiseIreland & AmoMondo for your answers. Now I understand better all those things.

 

I see that this premium allegrisimo is expensive and with drinking habits of my wife and me I think that we would have "work" really hard to justify daily price, so Allegrisimo (not premium) is looking much better but only if we don't loose some drinks that we like. Also what about icecreams? Are there limitations on them if we choose allegrissimo over allegrisimo premium? There have been some changes in allegrisimo as I can see from posts on forum and one thing that I know is not included is fresh orange juice.

 

I know main difference (bottled beer vs only draft beer, more vs. few vines, not included mini bar and premium drinks), but is there other things that were in allegrisimo and now not available anymore (for example I would like to try all coctails or at least most of them, etc)

 

Most cocktails are included, ones with champagne for example are not. There is no limitation to ice cream by the tub or come, but the fancy sundaes with fruit etc aren't.

 

I always go for the basic package. I don't drink enough to justify the premium one. There are a few things that I like as an I occasional treat (like an XO Armagnac or Cognac), so I just pay for a few of those during my cruise. It still works out a lot cheaper than the Premium package and I don't do without anything I like.

[AmoMondo]

I am not sure if this question was answered on any threads, but I am going to ask anyway. It is my first time cruising on MSC and I have read that water is not served in the MDR or throughout the day. My husband and I do not drink soda and barely drink alcohol so it didnt make sense to get a beverage package. When we called MSC they told us that those are rumors and they so serve water but I have read online that everyone must pay for water....

 

Can anyone clarify this please? Thanks! :)

 

It depends on where you are considering sailing. Certainly on sailings out of the US, iced water is served as you'd expect in the US.

 

Bottled water is never free regardless of where you are sailing. Water is also available free of charge at the beverage stations on the buffets on any ship all day and night.

 

However, on other non US sailings, particularly those in the Med, it is not common practice for iced water to be served in the MDR. Bottled Water is the norm. Those booking Med sailings via MSC USA get a book of vouchers to ex grange for a large bottle of still or sparkling mineral water when having dinner in the MDR.

 

There are those who say they always get tap water in the MDR regardless of the location of the cruise and those who say they don't. My own experience having sailed with them many times is that it is unpredictable. Some waiters have obliged when asked for a glass of water, others have just stuck to do you want bottle of still or sparkling. I'm not bothered at all whether it is tap or bottled and a few euros here or there is insignificant to me, so I've never truly argued to get water and not given up until I did. I've got better things to do on holiday than get in to arguments over something that to me is insignificant. Now I have the all inclusive package so I just get bottled water all the time.

[hlperez]

There is free water and ice available 24 hours a day in the buffet.

[lmg3591]

Thank you all for the great insight. I am not trying to penny pinch, I was just curious so I know how much to budget for so I really appreciate your feedback.

Thanks again! :)

[AmoMondo]

There is free water and ice available 24 hours a day in the buffet.

 

No not on the Splendida which is what this thread is about. Free ice cream all day long is only on the Divina and probably only while she is sailing from Miami. The only free I e cream on the rest of the fleet is in the MDR at lunch and dinner and only the flavour of the day. All ships have water, tea and coffee at the buffet though.

Edited December 31, 2014 by AmoMondo

[Plan B]

Hi,

 

I just recived my boarding instructions on mail and I see that it says that I have cabin with balcony on dock piero dela francesca or something like that... So now is it mistake or what? They didnt say anything about upgrade or something in those papers

 

Wow! An upgrade!! Does your new cabin have a number or is it to be allocated on boarding? How exciting :)

 

I tried booking the Allegrissimo package last week and the week before but the MSC website just reloaded back to the beginning every time. I emailed MSC and they sent me a web link to follow to confirm and pay. So all sorted ready for next week :D

[AT8500]

Wow! An upgrade!! Does your new cabin have a number or is it to be allocated on boarding? How exciting :)

 

 

 

 

 

I tried booking the Allegrissimo package last week and the week before but the MSC website just reloaded back to the beginning every time. I emailed MSC and they sent me a web link to follow to confirm and pay. So all sorted ready for next week :D

 

 

 

In my boarding documents there is cabin number and when I check deck plan it is cabin with balcony. But strange thing is that there is no single word about upgrade butevery thing looks like we booked balcony cabin as our choice. I asked my TA and she was also suprised and told me not to ask anything MSC because it could be mistake but also it could be upgrade but she is also finds strange that there is ni mention about that upgrade. So we will be ready for inside cabin but if they really gave use balcony then we will be great.

 

 

 

Also is it imoprtant that we will be newlywed and we stated that when booked. Also we got discount off 10% because of that but am not sure if thatdiscount was from our TA or MSC.

[Babyeddiedog]

In my boarding documents there is cabin number and when I check deck plan it is cabin with balcony. But strange thing is that there is no single word about upgrade butevery thing looks like we booked balcony cabin as our choice. I asked my TA and she was also suprised and told me not to ask anything MSC because it could be mistake but also it could be upgrade but she is also finds strange that there is ni mention about that upgrade. So we will be ready for inside cabin but if they really gave use balcony then we will be great..

 

I'm sure you'll get your balcony cabin :). We booked a last minute deal in December, an inside guarantee. When we got our documents they indicated a balcony cabin, and that's what we got as did many others. Having read through other posts it looks like they do upgrade you (without saying anything) if the ship is not full....enjoy yourselves the balcony cabins are lovely!

[DiDavy]

We also have booked a guarantee inside on the Fantasia in feb, when I looked online at the cabin number,we have been assigned a balcony too 😀

[AT8500]

About those baggage tags. I have only two (from mail) and I see that they asks not to print more than those two,but what if I have 3 bags? And can I have more than two bags? Is there any limitations on that?

[AmoMondo]

About those baggage tags. I have only two (from mail) and I see that they asks not to print more than those two,but what if I have 3 bags? And can I have more than two bags? Is there any limitations on that?

 

No there are no limitation on the number of bags you can take. You can get extra labels at the port. Do bear in mind though that cabins are not huge and whilst most bags will fit under the bed, of you have a lot they won't and you'll be cluttering up an already smallish space. Likewise the more stuff you take, the more issue you may have storing it all away. They do design the cabins quite well and maximise storage space.

[AT8500]

Last week we returned from our cruse on MSC Splendida and that was for sure one of the nicest seven days in my life. I just can't imagne what cruse looks like on other more "luxury" ships when it was that nice on Splendida.

 

Only mistake I made was embarkation in Genova and traveling by car to there, that was 1200Km from Bosnia in one way, and road to Genova is just crazy. I never saw motorway with so many curves :). But ok it was part of holiday so i don't complain.

 

Genova is strange same time I like it and hate it :)

 

Rome was grate. We did it on our own because our guided excursion was canceled. And I sugest to do it on your own always. We wasn't prepared for it but we bought turistic map and it was enough.

 

Palermo also exceeded my expectations. I was planing to stay on ship but I am glead that I took excursion and saw that nice place. Driving is different story but that is bus driver problem :)

 

Tunis. OMG that was greatest disappointment. I don't know how on the earth there is so much garbage on the street. Also everything looks strange and filthy there. I would not go to Tunis never ever again. (Probably it is nice in those all included hotels but outside is terrible).

 

Barcelona as expected was grate. Again did it on our own. That was mistake because we didn't see much and we freezed on Hop-on hop-off bus, but we will go there again for few days. La Rambla and everything else is great and I really liked it.

 

Marseill, same as Palermo. I planned to stay on ship but that is one really nice city. Because of weather got worse we stayed there shorter so we didn't see much but what we saw is really nice.

 

So this Genova-Rome-Palermo-Tunis-Barca-Marseill-Genova is really nice for first time cruisers as we were.

 

 

Also, upgrade which I mention before was because of our honeymoon. We met there one couple on their honeymoon and they booked balcony cabina and was upgraded to MSC yaht club. (we were upgraded to balcony from inside cabin). That is really nice from MSC.

Also in our cabin we got bottle of champain and fruits with their greeting card. Nice touch. I know it is nothing special and that they do it routinely but it is really nice to feel little special in that way.

 

 

We bouth allegrisimo and we did not used it well. In seven days we never drink more than 53€ (which was our allegrsimo per day 2*26€). So even we bought drinks for our friends that didn't had allegrisimo it was still below 53€. I was ill and took antibiotics for first two days so I didn't drink bear just water so that was maybe one of the reasons of our small drinking.

But from the other side if I didn't have allegrismo I would not try all coctails because I would feel sorry to give 6,7€ for something I don't know if I like.

 

One think that could be better is crew. There are some nice crew but lot of them are just too arrogant and ignorant. It didn't bother me much, because I understand that they are at work and not on vacation as I am but I just mention it as one and probably only bad think on whole trip.

[Babyeddiedog]

It's good to hear that you had a great time on your honeymoon, even if the drive to Genoa was crazy. We to have 'fun' driving around Rome to Civitavecchia, but we now stay over the night before so it isn't quite so bad.

 

We also loved the ship and I'm sure we will sail on here again and I think you may too :)

[huggiebear]

Thank you for reporting back on your cruise and I'm thrilled that you had such a fabulous honeymoon.

We are setting sail from Rome on Splendida in 2 weeks time and are really looking forward to it. We never buy a drinks package and just fill our water bottles with tap water in our cabin and then buy a carafe of wine with our dinner as we too are not big alcohol drinkers (plus I know that they don't have any good South African wine on-board)

You have given us a lot of very useful information - thank you again ;)

Edited February 1, 2015 by huggiebear

[AT8500]

No problem, if you have some other questions feel free to ask.

We are far from experts but lot of thinks are now much clear to us.

 

One question for others:

 

How those lady that make up our room knows when we are not in it. She visit room at least 3-4 times per day and in 7 days I never saw it in our room when we come in. Is it just "luck" or do they really know when you are not in your room.

 

I would not mind to come to my room and find it in it but just asking this.

 

By the way, Annik is name of lady that made our room (deck 13) and she was really nice (I met her in coridor but never in our room) and did her job perfectly.

[AmoMondo]

No problem, if you have some other questions feel free to ask.

We are far from experts but lot of thinks are now much clear to us.

 

One question for others:

 

How those lady that make up our room knows when we are not in it. She visit room at least 3-4 times per day and in 7 days I never saw it in our room when we come in. Is it just "luck" or do they really know when you are not in your room.

 

I would not mind to come to my room and find it in it but just asking this.

 

By the way, Annik is name of lady that made our room (deck 13) and she was really nice (I met her in coridor but never in our room) and did her job perfectly.

 

No it isn't luck. When you put your card in the slot for the lights to go on, it also lights up a small light outside above your door. This is how the cabin stewards tell whether there is anyone in the cabin or not.

 

The older ships don't have this feature (yet)

[AT8500]

Hello,

 

My parents are going on cruse this summer on Mediterranean , and they are considering Allegrisimo premium package and they asks me are those drinks that are marked with red "*" included in it. On bar list they say "not included in Allegrisimo", but are they included in "Allegrisimo premium"?

 

They ask me and I don't know because I used only "regular" Allegrisimo.... So please help me with this question.

Edited June 5, 2015 by AT8500

[Plan B]

Yes, all the drinks marked with a red * are included. Cheers

[mistyraj]

Hello

 

How was the Splendida for kids?

[Janwin]

[hi...see you were on the MSC splendida...did you like it..we are american and always travel Royal Caribbean but this itinerary really struck us so we decided to try a new line...a little nervous...

[Janwin]

Yes, all the drinks marked with a red * are included. Cheers

 

Hi...trying MSC for the first time in September...always do Royal..but love this itinerary...did you like it...any tips