Overall Comparison between MSC and Celebrity!

[Gatordad1967]

11 hours ago, SalthMate said:

 

I loved the MSC Merviglia. Beautiful, beautiful ship. Staff & crew were fantastic. The cost of the cruise was also fantastic; MSC gave me a balcony stateroom for the price of an inside!

 

Yeah, you shouldn't have to "haggle" onboard for a discounted price on a specialty dining package. If anything, the discounts go away if you wait until you get onboard to buy your dining package. Buy it online before your cruise. You'll love the Finecut Steakhouse.

 

No problem with the speed of the service. You're correct, the reduced pax capacities definitely help but I think MSC Meraviglia's staff/crew are excellent and would provide quick turnaround service even if the ship was at full capacity.

 

Have a great cruise on MSC  Meraviglia! I'll be back on her on Nov 20-28th (Thanksgiving cruuse!). Do the Italians eat turkey for Thanksgiving? 😂

I am sure they will have Turkey.

 

[SalthMate]

3 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Yes lived in Green Bay for 30 years of my life. Attended every single packer game while there. Retired and move to Daytona Beach to retire and have been here for 8 years. Love it. Just have to dodge a Hurricane of two but this year we were lucky.

I have more questions but will rest them for now…

Thanks again..

 

I used to live in Melbourne, Fla before I went off to college in Texas in 1978. Spent most of my career in Houston, Texas (go Astros). I retired and moved to Michigan (my original state). I'm dealing with the Michigan winters by leaving Michigan and cruising in the Caribbean 😉. Feel free to ask me any more questions.

 

Marty

[SalthMate]

1 hour ago, Gatordad1967 said:

I am sure they will have Turkey.

 

 

Lol, thanks. I posted that somewhat in jest but I appreciate your reply. It won't ruin my cruise on that beautiful ship even if they don't.

[Gatordad1967]

5 minutes ago, SalthMate said:

 

Lol, thanks. I posted that somewhat in jest but I appreciate your reply. It won't ruin my cruise on that beautiful ship even if they don't.

We haven't made a turkey ( or eaten out), in 20 years

 

[SalthMate]

5 minutes ago, Gatordad1967 said:

We haven't made a turkey ( or eaten out), in 20 years

 

 

Did you see the price of whole turkeys currently? Like a lot of other things these days, prices going through the roof.

[MonsterJoe]

1 minute ago, SalthMate said:

 

Did you see the price of whole turkeys currently? Like a lot of other things these days, prices going through the roof.

In a couple weeks, they'll be .39/lb here.  we buy 6 to 8 of them every year.

[cheeseheads4ever]

SalthMate,

Worked in Neenah for 25 years then went to Wausau for another 5 and called it quits.

You know when the time is right.

We applied for a Voyagers club status match yesterday would we get notification or do we have to call or go looking at our booking? All new to us with MSC. 
So just to confirm. If we wanted the Butchers Cut reservation and upgrade to premium plus. You would do it ahead of sailing? I see sometimes Butchers Cut goes down to $37. Is there an advantage to doing it prior like not having to pay gratuities on drinks?

im just reading others comments..

thank you again.

Larry

[SalthMate]

44 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

SalthMate,

Worked in Neenah for 25 years then went to Wausau for another 5 and called it quits.

You know when the time is right.

We applied for a Voyagers club status match yesterday would we get notification or do we have to call or go looking at our booking? All new to us with MSC. 
So just to confirm. If we wanted the Butchers Cut reservation and upgrade to premium plus. You would do it ahead of sailing? I see sometimes Butchers Cut goes down to $37. Is there an advantage to doing it prior like not having to pay gratuities on drinks?

im just reading others comments..

thank you again.

Larry

 

Hi Larry. Yeah, I recommend you book a specialty dining package (that includes Butchers Cut), like the Tri-package (I can't remember the exact name but it is for 3 specialty dining restaurants) in advance. Same goes for upgrading your drink package to Premium Plus. You should be able to get discounts for purchasing them early (that's the way it usually works). Once they have you onboard, they've "got you", so they can charge a higher price for those things. I think you'll still have to pay gratuities on the drink package (I think Celebrity is the only cruise line that the gratuities are included).

 

Marty

[cheeseheads4ever]

Thanks so much for the info. Booking early is kind of opposite of going on Celebrity. You  as most say on acc is to wait to get onboard to get 30% off dining but really $77 for 3 specialty dining nights is a good price. I’m not into sushi… but I’ve promised my wide next cruise I’d try it… so I do what ai say I will and sushi it is…

thanks again…

[SalthMate]

1 hour ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Thanks so much for the info. Booking early is kind of opposite of going on Celebrity. You  as most say on acc is to wait to get onboard to get 30% off dining but really $77 for 3 specialty dining nights is a good price. I’m not into sushi… but I’ve promised my wide next cruise I’d try it… so I do what ai say I will and sushi it is…

thanks again…

 

I'm not into sushi either but don't write off the sushi restaurant because they have other offerings on the menu (besides sushi) and if I remember correctly, they'll even get you a dish from another restaurant if you want.

 

Marty

[KennyFla]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:05 AM, SalthMate said:

Wow, I sure didn't experience the poor customer service on my MSC Meraviglia cruise. Of course, I booked and pre-planned the cruise online, so no personal interaction with the MSC office. And the crew onboard was fantastic and would go above and beyond to please. Excellent customer service onboard, imo. I believe MSC Meraviglia is a newer MSC build, so she was "new & shiny". I thought she was a beautiful ship but I gave Celebrity Edge the "edge" (no pun intended) because she was beautiful AND innovative/modern. However, the spa & thermal suite on MSC Meraviglia wins over the Edge, hands down. But MSC wins on price & value. To be fair, I'm comparing 2 newer, more modern ships in the MSC & Celebrity fleet. I can't comment on the lines' older cruise ships. I'm booked on MSC Meraviglia again and have a bid in to upgrade into the YC. Fingers crossed 🤞...

The CS problem people have with MSC is the before cruise customer service. (Or after cruise if you had a problem).   I think most people would say the onbaord service is good to very good.

 

I definitely recommend using a travel agent and let them deal with MSC.

[SalthMate]

2 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

The CS problem people have with MSC is the before cruise customer service. (Or after cruise if you had a problem).   I think most people would say the onbaord service is good to very good.

 

I definitely recommend using a travel agent and let them deal with MSC.

 

My thought, as well. I booked my MSC Meraviglia cruises directly on MSC's web site and I have not had to get on the phone with them. The crew & staff onboard have been excellent. Using a travel agent is a good option. The great deals (big bang for the $$) you can get on MSC still make them worth any pre or post cruise customer service snags, in my opinion.

[KennyFla]

1 minute ago, SalthMate said:

 

My thought, as well. I booked my MSC Meraviglia cruises directly on MSC's web site and I have not had to get on the phone with them. The crew & staff onboard have been excellent. Using a travel agent is a good option. The great deals (big bang for the $$) you can get on MSC still make them worth any pre or post cruise customer service snags, in my opinion.

You can also get a little better deal through the travel sites.  I looked this morning, I saw a three night on the Meraviglia, balcony, easy drink and wifi for $418 for 2 people.  The MSC site did not give the easy package and wifi free.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Oops! typo thanks for bringing that to my attention!

[cheeseheads4ever]

We’ve booked a MSC cruise the other day. Where do I go on their site to find beverage packer upgrades and specialty dining options?

Ive looked under Cruise planning and shows beverages but not beverage packages upgrades and so on!

[deliver42]

The difference is customer service vs no customer service. The rest is subjective. I, personally, love both products, and have a cruise booked on each.

[SalthMate]

11 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

The difference is customer service vs no customer service. The rest is subjective. I, personally, love both products, and have a cruise booked on each.

 

Same here. Just got off Celebrity Edge and I'm cruising on MSC Meraviglia again. Also have the Celebrity Apex booked and have the upcoming MSC World Europa and Celebrity Beyond "on my radar".

Edited October 27, 2021 by SalthMate

[cheeseheads4ever]

Marty,

Am I seeing this right with specialty dining. You pay a certain amount to go to Butchers Cut then if you want a Ribeye-Tbone or anything other than a small fillet mignon it’s another additional charge on top of the charge you payed in the beginning?

Same thing with seafood place if you want Lobster you will need to pay extra on top of the already payed price to go to restaurant.

Tell me this ain’t so…

 

[SalthMate]

30 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Marty,

Am I seeing this right with specialty dining. You pay a certain amount to go to Butchers Cut then if you want a Ribeye-Tbone or anything other than a small fillet mignon it’s another additional charge on top of the charge you payed in the beginning?

Same thing with seafood place if you want Lobster you will need to pay extra on top of the already payed price to go to restaurant.

Tell me this ain’t so…

 

 

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure about the lobster in the seafood restaurant (there may be a slight surcharge), but no additional charge in the Butchers Cut steakhouse.

 

Marty

[cheeseheads4ever]

From what I’m reading and other experienced cruisers who have sailed on MSC May chime in.

if you do specialty dining like the offer on their site which is $77  for the 3 restaurants. Butchers Cut, Oyster seafood restaurant, then the Sushi Restaurant you have a select menu to pick from.

Everything else is alacart. So you couldn’t get a t bone, ribeye unless you paid an additional cost above and beyond the $77 price.

Same with the Oyster Seafood restaurant no lobster unless you pay extra.

I hope I’m missing something here. If anyone has any additional help that would be great..

 

[MonsterJoe]

23 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

From what I’m reading and other experienced cruisers who have sailed on MSC May chime in.

if you do specialty dining like the offer on their site which is $77  for the 3 restaurants. Butchers Cut, Oyster seafood restaurant, then the Sushi Restaurant you have a select menu to pick from.

Everything else is alacart. So you couldn’t get a t bone, ribeye unless you paid an additional cost above and beyond the $77 price.

Same with the Oyster Seafood restaurant no lobster unless you pay extra.

I hope I’m missing something here. If anyone has any additional help that would be great..

 

I think you understand it correctly.

Each specialty restaurant has a "Dining Experience" option available to everybody and that's what comes with the package. 

You can replace one of the courses in the experience for something of that course off the full menu for an additional 50% of that replacement's price.

You can obviously order anything else you want for full price.

ex:

You order the experience for $47.  You sub a T-bone ($66) as your entre and now your experience is $47 + $33

Edited October 28, 2021 by MonsterJoe

[Morgsmom]

3 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Marty,

Am I seeing this right with specialty dining. You pay a certain amount to go to Butchers Cut then if you want a Ribeye-Tbone or anything other than a small fillet mignon it’s another additional charge on top of the charge you payed in the beginning?

 

Tell me this ain’t so…

 

Yes, it "is so"  🙂

  You can sub out one of the "approved" menu choices from the Butchers Cut Experience for another entree at 50% of the price.  

[cheeseheads4ever]

Thanks so much. HMM really different from what we are used to. I’m glad I had it kind of fiquire out. Now I got my voyager number just waiting for status match approval.

No sure if I should call or email on it or do they send you an email when its approved. Would like to wrap this all up so we are all done.

Edited October 28, 2021 by cheeseheads4ever

[SalthMate]

2 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

From what I’m reading and other experienced cruisers who have sailed on MSC May chime in.

if you do specialty dining like the offer on their site which is $77  for the 3 restaurants. Butchers Cut, Oyster seafood restaurant, then the Sushi Restaurant you have a select menu to pick from.

Everything else is alacart. So you couldn’t get a t bone, ribeye unless you paid an additional cost above and beyond the $77 price.

Same with the Oyster Seafood restaurant no lobster unless you pay extra.

I hope I’m missing something here. If anyone has any additional help that would be great..

 

 

The surcharge for lobster in the seafood restaurant doesn't surprise me. But for the Butcher's Cut Steakhouse, I don't remember having to pay a surcharge (and I had a rib eye).

 

Marty

[Stockjock]

Since this is a Celebrity vs. MSC thread, I wanted to share something that recently happened with Celebrity and how they handled it.  I'll give them kudo points, take them away, and then add them back in.

I booked a 4 night New Year's Eve cruise on Celebrity for this year.  The stops were Nassau and Cozumel.  For a reasonable upgrade price, I added $300 OBC, drinks package and wi-fi.  The ship was Infinity, which was an older M-Class ship that had not been upgraded aka "Revolutionized".  So candidly, it was and is a bit run down, especially by Celebrity's standards.  I figured there was no better than a 50/50 chance I'd do the cruise, but maybe.

Months later, I received a notification that the cruise was now 5 days instead of 4.  The ship was now the Summit, which is also M-Class but had been Revolutionized, and it is much nicer than Infinity.  And the ports were now Key West and Cozumel, which I liked even better.  So every change worked to my benefit,  They put me in the same cabin, which I was also good with.

Fast forward to last week.

At roughly 60 days from sailing, they said they were moving it back to a 4 day sailing, getting rid of Key West and substituting Nassau, getting rid of Cozumel and substituting Bimini, and offering $50 per person OBC as "compensation", take it or leave it.

Some of us weren't happy about this and I probably griped the loudest.  As you might guess, flights, hotels and other arrangements were already made.  Airfare alone was about $700 to move the flights up a day.  

I could understand moving Key West to Nassau, as there are issues with Key West and cruise ships, but Cozumel was open for business.  So why get rid of that stop and why shorten the cruise?  Bimini is a new port (opened July 2021) that has few services and amenities and there is not even a restroom at their public beach.  A YouTube video advises to do one's business in the ocean, which I think is both gross and unsanitary.  It seemed like a way to save money under the guise of Covid/health and safety, as Cozumel is at least 10 times more distant than Bimini.

I sent an e-mail to their executive offices expressing my concerns.  I shared this address with others and encouraged them to write as well.  Not sure who did or didn't.

A few days later, I received an e-mail from Celebrity and a phone call (one of my biggest MSC gripes is lack of communication).  It said to disregard last week's schedule change.  Celebrity had decided to revert back to a 5 day cruise and was getting rid of Bimini and adding Cozumel back in.  I asked the agent why they decided to revert back so quickly.  She said she believed it was due to "customer feedback".

So kudos to Celebrity for their initial response to adding a day and moving to a nicer ship and better itinerary.  Kudos subtracted for last week's fiasco.  But kudos added back because they listened and fixed the problem promptly.

Any chance MSC could reverse a decision like that in 2-3 business days?  There's no way.  I'm not so sure they would have even read the e-mail messages.

Edited October 28, 2021 by Stockjock