Rooms on Lirica...

[Seago2]

Susan and Neil- I will definitely try to switch if I walk in and lose my breath with dismay. This sailing is also full, but you never know who won't show up. Thanks for your kind words! We are out of here today, flying to FLL, and then the ship leaves tmw. My countdown clock has been freaking me out for a week, since it says we sail TODAY, but I think it's set for midnight and not the actual time of sailing (8pm).

 

We're looking forward to it- I'll post when we get back!

[ncbulldog]

Carla and all others on this great cruise....

 

Leila and I are here, drove in today:eek: , Wednesday about noon and took care of the business that we had to attend to. Lunch and dinner with family and now relaxing at "home",,,,

We expect to get to the ship about noon tomorrow and will see you all there.:)

 

Mike

[royandjenn]

Does anyone know if the suites on the ship can hold 4 passengers? We had to move our cruise to Jan 23 because the airline would only release 2 tickets per day during high season using our airmiles. Since now we are using less points, I figured why not pay extra for the suite, and use my left over points to the hotel in fort lauderdale.....

[oceanboy54]

We Just Got Back From A 10 Day On The Lirica. The Rooms Are Very Small, But Lots Of Compartments And Storage Space.

 

We Upgraded To A Category 10, Which We Later Realized Was No Better Than Any Other Room And Was Just As Small.

 

Over All, A Great Ship - Imacculate. Staff Was Always Polishing And Cleaning.

 

If You Are Familiar With The "european Culture", You Will Not Be Disappointed With Your Cruise

[megnsamsgracie]

I just got an email that kids sail free... might want to check it out!

[royandjenn]

That is what I heard about the rooms. They are all about the same. I have been told that four people can not be in a suite. I saw thee are two family rooms aboard. Does anyone know about those? Ever seen one or heard about them? I will be asking my TA about these today. Do u think its worth upgrading and getting a window? It's been bothering me. Anyways... we shall find out... thanks for the incredible information! Oh yeah, do they shut the pool down and take away all the loungers every evening at 6ish? They did that on our carnival cruise, and would drive me nuts. We wanted to use the pool in the evening!

[oceanboy54]

The inside staterooms and the oceanview's are the same size..Actually, when I walked by an inside stateroom, it actually looked larger, due to the large mirrored wall.

 

As far as the pools are concerned, they are closed and netted for the evening. This is probably due to safety reasons (drunks falling into the pool)

[royandjenn]

Well thank you oceanboy. I appreciate all your information! So overall... the cruise was pretty good then. I have some European in me... so it should not be that bad! We are the type that likes to sit back and socialize, not watch shows and stuff! That is a good point about the pool too... I could definitaly see that happening!

[Seago2]

Be careful of the obstructed view cabins - we were "upgraded" to one after booking a guaranteed insided cabin. The obstructed view cabins are smaller than all the other standard inside and outside cabins (we were in 7109). We had no cabinet around the sink which which meant no storage room in the bathroom, also smaller amount of floor space in bathroom (which is small in the standard cabins). The biggest problem was instead of 3 closets (one of which was filled with 6 drawers and 2 shelves) we only had two closets, both with hanging space but no drawers. The room was so narrow, if the two beds were pushed together you had to climb over the corner of the bed to get in and out of bed. The only drawer in the entire room was in the small desk/vanity and it was a shallow middle drawer. We complained, asked for anything else, inside, outside we didn't care - we just did not have room to unpack our 4 large suitcases (we drive to the port so we don't have airline luggage weight restrictions). The ship was considerd sold out, but once they raised the gangplank and sailed, they did change us to a standard, unobstructed view outside cabin at no extra cost so it all worked out fine and we had a wonderful cruise.

 

There are only about 15 of these "obstructed" view cabins, but they are not worth the extra money - on top of the small size, in the room we were in, the lifeboat was totally blocking the window and was very close to the window, so you had no view and very little light coming in. The standard inside and outside rooms are 140 ft, my dh roughly measured the smaller room and it was ~108 ft.

 

Susan and Neil

 

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. The obstructed OV cabin was the smallest cabin I have ever laid eyes on. Everything written above is absolutely true. I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to change and hey- ALL cabins are small. Shaving my legs involved standing in the shower with a leg strung across the toilet AND sink. We had three shelves: one each in the end tables and one above the mini-fridge. Zero drawers, unless you count the shallow one in the "desk" that could not hold anything more than a few sheets of paper.

 

I just unpacked half of our clothes and kept the rest in the suitcases (under the bed). It really was fine. We went to Cakeordeath's cabin about halfway through the cruise and we were laughing our heads off. It was HUGE by comparison.

 

Also keep in mind that the lifeboat cabins are right next to the crew cabins- meaning the entire floor smelled like cigarettes. Just in case that's a problem.

[MMDown Under]

Appreciating reading your comments.

 

What deck smelt like cigarettes, as this is important information for people with asthma, like my husband?

[Seago2]

Appreciating reading your comments.

 

What deck smelt like cigarettes, as this is important information for people with asthma, like my husband?

 

Deck 7, odd and even numbered cabins beginning with 7100 and ending... probably in the 7140's. The category 6 obstructed OV's, basically.

[cruisingtheword]

Carla,

 

Can't wait to read your full review. Glad you were able to make do the the obstructed view OV room - you have such a wonderful attitude! However, I do think it is wrong that they advertise and sell these rooms at a higher price than the larger inside cabins. Basically these are "leftover crew quarters" and really not suitable for 2 passengers. If they want to advertise them to the passengers, I think they should convert them into "single" rooms, priced a little cheaper and put drawers in one of the closets. One person could manage much better than 2 in that cramped space.

 

Did you visit the great deck space on the back of the ship?

 

Susan

[Seago2]

Carla,

 

Can't wait to read your full review. Glad you were able to make do the the obstructed view OV room - you have such a wonderful attitude! However, I do think it is wrong that they advertise and sell these rooms at a higher price than the larger inside cabins. Basically these are "leftover crew quarters" and really not suitable for 2 passengers. If they want to advertise them to the passengers, I think they should convert them into "single" rooms, priced a little cheaper and put drawers in one of the closets. One person could manage much better than 2 in that cramped space.

 

Did you visit the great deck space on the back of the ship?

 

Susan

 

YES YES YES I did, thanks to you. The last sea day I spent the entire day out there. I get up very early, so I would grab my binoculars and climb to the buffet at 6am (in my robe) and get one of the big glasses, fill it with coffee, and then head down to 7 Aft. There was a group of Germans, the random smoker, a couple of Canadians, and US. That was the best part of the ship.

[royandjenn]

Carla... I was thinking of u guys these past weeks wondering how your cruise was going... u went on the caribbean one... (san juan... tortola...) How much were drinks approximently... How about souviners on the ship... knowing my kids, they will want to buy everything!! and shore excursions... were they pricey?? Well, I guess we will stick to our inside room! We had to move our cruise to jan 23... but that's not a big deal.. we were told we got the last quad room on the boat! Crazy being the cruise is almost a year away!! Can't wait to hear more about your time!!!:rolleyes:

[Seago2]

We were actually on the Coz-Costa Rica-Panama-Cartagena-Cayo one. GREAT itinerary IMHO.

[leanpig]

Hi RoyandJenn,

 

We are looking at the same cruise (got an email about kids free and my husband is over 50 so there is also a discount).

 

My daughter will be 11. Wondering if either of your kids might be girls?

 

Also, have you found any information regarding programs for kiddos?:)

[royandjenn]

Hi there leanpig,

We have 2 daughters actually! One will be 11 and the other is nine. The kids club sounds good so far... from what I heard... I guess if there aren't enough of a certain age, then they combine age groups. We have booked the jan 23 cruise officially! I am told there weren't any quad cabins left... She said we got the last one, but maybe thru the travel agent, all their quad rooms were booked! That would be great knowing there are other kids our kids age going to be there!!! Well, keep in touch and let me know if u do book!!!!

[earthfaries]

Wow, this is a great thread!

Thanks so much for all the information!!!

We just booked the Lirica for the 10 day eastern carrib on Dec. 3rd.

This will be our first time on an MSC ship and we're very excited!!! I'm trying to learn as much about it as possible;)

We have 3 children, me, my mom and my sister going. We booked one inside and one suite. The kids will be 12, 6 and 6 at the time of sailing and two of them were free which is wonderful!!!:D

[golf4food]

I am getting ready to book our New Year's Cruise and just wondering what tips people have for which decks are the best? What areas should we stay away from, etc? I think we are going with an inside room as it doesn't seem worth the extra for an outside room.

[royandjenn]

Can a person buy stuff online now from MSC, such as wine, etc. and have it in your room when u arrive? I know other cruiselines u can, but I can't seem to find anything with msc. I would love to show up and have a bunch of things in our room waiting for us!

[AmoMondo]

I'm trying to remember. I did take an adaptor with me, but I've a feeling I didn't need it. I think there is a European, UK & US outlet.

 

 

There is room service, but I don't think it is free. I'm not sure about coffee etc but we used it for bowls of fruit & did have to pay. It was not too much though as far as I remember, about 4 euros for a bowl of fruit I think. We were inexperienced cruisers though, & next time I'll probably order breakfast in the cabin for our early morning coffee & a light bite, & maybe go to the restaurant after if the boys want something more. As there were 4 of us in the cabin, it was easier to just go to the restaurant..no waiting as I believe there can be in the self service areas, and we could sit comfortably.

 

It's a matter of choice, but I personally wouldn't pay an extra $500 for an outside cabin on one of these cruises. A larger outside with a balcony is a different matter though as it gives more space + of course the outside area too.

 

They have 2 Us and 2 European power points (no UK)

 

Both decks 8 and 9 are ok for noise as you only have cabins above and below you. (except for the very front of 8 where you would be above the Lirica Lounge) Don't worry you aren't. Deck 10 although more expensive does get noise as it has the pool deck above it. You also feel the ship moving more on the higher decks if the seas are rough.