Looking at MSC again

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Hello JK,

 

It sounds like you are ready to book MSC.  You are a perfect fit.  If I were you...I would book Seaside...find a deal...and then upgrade from easy package.  If you want faster service at any bar...simply make friends $$ with the bartender.
Happy sailing.

Edited December 15, 2019 by CGTNORMANDIE

[jkgourmet]

14 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Hello JK,

 

It sounds like you are ready to book MSC.  You are a perfect fit.  If I were you...I would book Seaside...find a deal...and then upgrade from easy package.  
Happy sailing.

 

Thanks, But already booked Mera.  😀  and very much looking forward to it.  

 

As for the upgrade on the alcohol package, the $378 USD for 7 days feels excessive to me.  Admittedly, I am a notorious cheapskate.  I'm very willing to spend money, but always spend based on value.  If the cabernet on the easy package is drinkable, we're good.  Our definition of drinkable = our usual home supply of bottles in the $7 to $10 range.  Not the stuff in jugs or boxes.  

 

And I openly admit that we are VERY spoiled by the excellent basic package on X as well as their policy of only charging the difference on higher priced items.

 

I'm unable to find out WHAT brand of cab is on the Mera easy package.  Wish somebody could help out. . .

Edited December 15, 2019 by jkgourmet

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, jkgourmet said:

Our definition of drinkable = our usual home supply of bottles in the $7 to $10 range.  Not the stuff in jugs or boxes.  

 

The wines in the easy package are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy under this range. 

[Até]

4 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

Ate`  thank you.  Did you happen to notice what brand of cabernet sauvignon is offered on the EASY menu?

Sorry, no.  When I did see people order house wines the brand was never mentioned.  At bars I think they did have bottles of it, when ordered in the restaurant it may have been bulk wine, but I'm not sure about that.  People ordered multiple glasses throughout the cruise so I assume it was bearable stuff.

[George C]

18 hours ago, Até said:

The Easy package is not honored in any specialty restaurants.  On Meraviglia in the specialties there aren't many wine choices for Yacht Club, Premium or old Deluxe packages either with the vast majority over $12 and $14 per glass.  See attached Butcher's Cut drinks menu.

 

Upgrade from Easy to Premium has to be done through a phone call to MSC.

 

18 hours ago, Até said:

The Easy package is not honored in any specialty restaurants.  On Meraviglia in the specialties there aren't many wine choices for Yacht Club, Premium or old Deluxe packages either with the vast majority over $12 and $14 per glass.  See attached Butcher's Cut drinks menu.

 

Upgrade from Easy to Premium has to be done through a phone call to MSC.

 

[George C]

18 hours ago, Até said:

The Easy package is not honored in any specialty restaurants.  On Meraviglia in the specialties there aren't many wine choices for Yacht Club, Premium or old Deluxe packages either with the vast majority over $12 and $14 per glass.  See attached Butcher's Cut drinks menu.

 

Upgrade from Easy to Premium has to be done through a phone call to MSC.

Note almost all wines listed above are not covered by premium package which is free for YC , premium only covers up to 12 dollars, we upgraded to premium plus which covers all drinks by the glass , cost was 17 a day extra . Also in our dinner in butcher cut, they had a Robert mondavi Napa cabaret listed which is a nice wine. Waiter tried to give us a mondavi wine that was not Napa and sells for about 7 dollars a bottle. Premium plus and a small selection of red and white wines, but a really nice selection of champagne up to 30 a glass which was included. 

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Até said:

Sorry, no.  When I did see people order house wines the brand was never mentioned.  At bars I think they did have bottles of it, when ordered in the restaurant it may have been bulk wine, but I'm not sure about that.  People ordered multiple glasses throughout the cruise so I assume it was bearable stuff.

The house brand is Canti. But the Cabernet is another cheap brand. If someone wants to enjoy wine on board MSC I would highly recommend to upgrade to premium. That gives you for example a very nice Chablis and the Cabernet "Cavazza" is also good. Premium plus is completely useless. Only one extra red and one extra white. 

 

[Até]

58 minutes ago, George C said:

Note almost all wines listed above are not covered by premium package which is free for YC , premium only covers up to 12 dollars, we upgraded to premium plus which covers all drinks by the glass , cost was 17 a day extra . Also in our dinner in butcher cut, they had a Robert mondavi Napa cabaret listed which is a nice wine. Waiter tried to give us a mondavi wine that was not Napa and sells for about 7 dollars a bottle. Premium plus and a small selection of red and white wines, but a really nice selection of champagne up to 30 a glass which was included. 

I wish I could definitively remember where that drinks list was from, I think those were from Ocean Cay based on the lack of reds.  I had the YC package at the time and the $12 or less wine choices were very limited at all specialty restaurants.  Wines that were included inside the YC were not included in the specialty restaurants.  People with the Premium Plus package had the same trouble as you with both YC dining room waiters and specialty restaurant waiters trying to substitute other/cheaper wines if they weren't paying attention or insisting on getting a specific wine.

[George C]

12 minutes ago, Até said:

I wish I could definitively remember where that drinks list was from, I think those were from Ocean Cay based on the lack of reds.  I had the YC package at the time and the $12 or less wine choices were very limited at all specialty restaurants.  Wines that were included inside the YC were not included in the specialty restaurants.  People with the Premium Plus package had the same trouble as you with both YC dining room waiters and specialty restaurant waiters trying to substitute other/cheaper wines if they weren't paying attention or insisting on getting a specific wine.

I agree but when they realize we knew our wine in YC we were then offered some nice wines not on the wine list and YC Maitre d would just leave the bottle on our table. We just got off last week.

[jkgourmet]

1 hour ago, perakcruiser said:

The house brand is Canti. But the Cabernet is another cheap brand. If someone wants to enjoy wine on board MSC I would highly recommend to upgrade to premium. That gives you for example a very nice Chablis and the Cabernet "Cavazza" is also good. Premium plus is completely useless. Only one extra red and one extra white. 

 

 

Thanks for the information! 

 

I'm an ex-accountant, so doing stuff like this is kinda fun for me.  (And I openly admit, the markup on alcohol, particularly wine, is a personal irritation to me.  The liquor laws are one of the very few things I hate about living in NC.)

 

The Canti Rosso appears to be sold in Europe and Japan.  I can find online priceing for £5.50-6.25 which is roughly $7 to $8 USD.

 

I can find the Cavazza online all over the place for $9 to $11.50 for a 1.5L bottle.  That's TWO regular bottles - making this a $5 a bottle wine. 

 

Honestly, we're NOT that picky - hell, we drink Two Buck Chuck at home sometimes.  But I don't see that an extra $27 a day is a good value to get a wine that's roughly five bucks a bottle.  PS - we would have been very happy to have that $7 bottle of Mondavi. 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by jkgourmet

[Até]

2 hours ago, Até said:

I wish I could definitively remember where that drinks list was from, I think those were from Ocean Cay based on the lack of reds.

It took me a little while to remember, that first drink menu I posted was from the Champagne bar.  I can't find my pictures from Ocean Cay's drink menu but it had similarly few choices for anything less than Premium Plus.

[perakcruiser]

10 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

The Canti Rosso appears to be sold in Europe and Japan.  I can find online priceing for £5.50-6.25 which is roughly $7 to $8 USD.

By no means this is the wine available on MSC for Easy. Canti is a big wine group, I even doubt that the house wine they produce for MSC is sold b2c. Which does not mean that people cannot enjoy, but this is really 2 € per bottle stuff.

 

And for the Cabernet I guess you found the wrong one. It is this here:
https://cavazzawine.com/en/wines/cabernet-cicogna/

 

This wine is certainly available in shops, but I don´t think it is possible to get it for "$9 to $11.50" (0,75), not to talk about the 1,5 liter bottle. Would be happy if you can show me that I am wrong :)
 

So avoid further misinterpretations, the Chablis I mentioned is the Chablis Le Classique from Pascal Bouchard:
https://www.pascalbouchard.com/en/wines/chablis-le-classique/

 

 Very popular in Europa, available in some supermakets usually for 20 €, but not under 15 € per bottle. On board the bottle costs around 50 € if I remember correctly. Great stuff!

 

So these alone are two reasons why the Premium package is quite OK, while Easy and Premium Plus are really totally unattrctive for people like me who only drink wine, water and coffee.

 

The red from the Premium plus is a Barolo, one of my least favourite grapes(Nebbiolo) and the white is a Pinot Grigio. 

 

 

 

 

[jkgourmet]

5 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

By no means this is the wine available on MSC for Easy. Canti is a big wine group, I even doubt that the house wine they produce for MSC is sold b2c. Which does not mean that people cannot enjoy, but this is really 2 € per bottle stuff.

 

And for the Cabernet I guess you found the wrong one. It is this here:
https://cavazzawine.com/en/wines/cabernet-cicogna/

 

Indeed, the Cavazza I found is this one.  https://www.empirewine.com/wine/cavazza-cabernet-sauvignon-15l-i18030/

 

I do appreciate your extensive clarification.   👍

 

[stephenSJ]

I would be more concerned on the food than the wine. Unless you are happy with luke warm,  tasteless and rather  average food you should avoid meraviglia dining rooms. Other MSC ships are better. Buffet is OK.

MSC are trying to drive people into the specialty restaurants on this ship. On our last cruise on the Mera in the Panorama MDR by the end of the cruise the dining room was 25% empty as people gave up and went buffet or speciality. 

[George C]

Food in yacht club was really good , better than rccl suite restaurant, almost as good as celebrity suite restaurant. 

[chisoxfan]

11 minutes ago, George C said:

Food in yacht club was really good , better than rccl suite restaurant, almost as good as celebrity suite restaurant. 

We had solid food on the Seaside YC this year also. We like X but also and for fun checked a Sky Suite for Jan. 2021 Carib cruise and it was  2x our booked YC on Meraviglia!  I remain impressed with the YC value.

[George C]

6 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

We had solid food on the Seaside YC this year also. We like X but also and for fun checked a Sky Suite for Jan. 2021 Carib cruise and it was  2x our booked YC on Meraviglia!  I remain impressed with the YC value.

Agree I looked at edge sky suite and it was double cost of seaside YC . 

[chisoxfan]

15 minutes ago, George C said:

Agree I looked at edge sky suite and it was double cost of seaside YC . 

We are saving so much money booking MSC YC we will soon be wealthy according to my wife.

[jkgourmet]

Hey guys - I sincerely appreciate the attention to my original query. 

 

But any information about the YC, Celebrity Suite, Celebrity Aqua, etc. is irrelevant.  We simply don't value paying extra for a butler, room service, wifi and better cabins which we only use for showers and sleep.

 

A purchase that includes a better alcohol package may have value to us; hence, my question about what the Easy package includes related to wine. 

 

We are already booked on the  Mera.- inside Bella with Easy package.  I'm only trying to determine if we should pay $378 bucks more for the Premium package.  That decision is very dependent on what cabernet they offer on the Easy package (and yes, I realize it may change and/or be different on different ships).

Edited December 16, 2019 by jkgourmet

[chisoxfan]

9 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

Hey guys - I sincerely appreciate the attention to my original query.  But any information about the YC, Celebrity Suite, Celebrity Aqua, etc. is irrelevant. 

Point taken... it seems to happen this way sometimes. I had started a  post on drink package availability on another line and saw it turn into multiple reply's regarding types of wine offered and who drinks what at home.

 

Appreciate your comment but at the end of the day I trust we all benefit from the civil exchange of info even when we veer of topic.

 

[jkgourmet]

47 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

Point taken... it seems to happen this way sometimes. I had started a  post on drink package availability on another line and saw it turn into multiple reply's regarding types of wine offered and who drinks what at home.

 

Appreciate your comment but at the end of the day I trust we all benefit from the civil exchange of info even when we veer of topic.

 

Fair enough and point taken. 

 

And YES, I've had this problem many times on the X board.  I'm nearly convinced that every inside and OV cabin on any X ship is empty because everybody is in Aqua or above.  🙄  (and there's a noticeable, frequent tendency to put down anyone who doesn't choose to sail in those cabins.  I'm pleased to see very little of that here.)

[cellfree]

Have already commented on being on Divina and Seaside and Armonia and Mera most recently - Interior Bella with Easy Package. Why not stick with Easy and see how it works for you? For us an extra $378 for upgrade is not worth it. If it isn’t acceptable you can upgrade on your next MSC cruise. Just an idea! Also something to think about - if you find the wine choices are not to your liking and you had to order something other than available on Easy Package would you be spending over $378?

Edited December 16, 2019 by cellfree

[Beardface]

 

2 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

Hey guys - I sincerely appreciate the attention to my original query. 

 

But any information about the YC, Celebrity Suite, Celebrity Aqua, etc. is irrelevant.  We simply don't value paying extra for a butler, room service, wifi and better cabins which we only use for showers and sleep.

 

A purchase that includes a better alcohol package may have value to us; hence, my question about what the Easy package includes related to wine. 

 

We are already booked on the  Mera.- inside Bella with Easy package.  I'm only trying to determine if we should pay $378 bucks more for the Premium package.  That decision is very dependent on what cabernet they offer on the Easy package (and yes, I realize it may change and/or be different on different ships).

 

 

Your reasoning is exactly why we went with the Interior Suite in the Yacht Club for our Feb sailing on the Seaside.  Don't care about the butler, don't care about any of the other frills.  What I did care about was that the booking included a pass to the Thermal Suite in the spa for the week, as well as the premium drink plan built into the cost.  Thermal Suite would normally cost $110pp for the week and the Premium Plan normally runs $434pp for the week.  So its worth considering that you get about $550 in value per person baked into the cost of your Yacht Club room through your booking, so it became a no-brainer to book the interior room because we knew we were going to buy those plans anyway.  Throw in the ability to hang out in the Top Sail Lounge and YC pool when we want to get away from the crowds, and it was completely worth it.