publicpersona

Three reasons we prefer S class over E: "Main dining room" service on E is a hot mess. The logistics of feeding so many people who want variable dining times is already complicated enough without throwing in the complication of having "different" restaurants. But other than decor, they aren't different at all. It's the same galley and the same menu (yes, I know they pretend they are different, but it doesn't matter which one you order from). On Apex a few weeks ago, we showed up as early as 5:30 PM only to be told there was a 30-45 minute wait. Sky Lounge The "infinite balcony" is neither infinite nor a balcony.

Now that you can pay just the difference for drinks above the Easy Plus package level, I'd do that rather than a premium package. This is especially true for Ocean Cay time where no premium drinks are available on the island.

If you mean, can you use onboard credit to pay for specialty restaurants, yes you can. Generally, anything that would be charged to your onboard account can use onboard credit. If you want to continue this topic, I'd suggest starting another thread.

This is something that perplexes me. For many cruises across multiple lines, I've uploaded my (recent) passport photo. A passport photo is the gold standard for security photos and is used for facial recognition. Nevertheless, the port agent has always insisted on taking a new one, sometimes saying "You can't take a picture of a picture". No, I didn't do that at all. The photo snapped at the terminal always was a little blurry with a background of a crowd of people, yet that was OK. When I posted about this on CC, someone that said they were a port agent said she could "tell I was trying to get away with a passport photo". Get away with what? It's my image and is perfection for the purpose of visually identifying someone. So my most recent cruise a couple weeks ago I (unintentionally) took a selfie in a bad light with a harsh shadow. I wasn't looking straight at the camera but rather down and to the right. My chin was slightly out of frame. I uploaded it and it was accepted with no reshoot necessary. There's probably a reasonable explanation here. Possibly the metadata of the image must be the same day as the upload or something like that.

If you feel the need, cash. Other than that, the crew are taught to be polite and appear appreciative of whatever you do, so you can't go by that. I say that because inevitably in one of these threads someone who believes the crew actually wants and has room to keep some worthless tchotchke will argue "I brought a rock with 'Ohio' painted on it and our stateroom attendant loved it!".

I’ve been on 70+ cruises and having a make-up muster for those that missed the first day drill is pretty much standard procedure. For cruises that sail away late in the evening (for example, out of San Juan at 10 PM), the muster is the next day for everyone (no, it does not need to be completed before sail away). Let me turn the tables on you. On what cruise lines have you found inferior muster drill procedures in the last year? Right. Three times you’ve claimed best in the industry. I’ve switched to counting how many times you’ve dropped that you had a butler.

.. said the person who has twice now declared MSC has the easiest process. No, they don’t. They are getting there and as it is it isn’t bad, but give up the “best in the cruise industry” stuff. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll go back to enjoying my MSC cruise

On a positive note, it is now possible to buy a drink at a higher price than your package and pay only the difference. That’s new for MSC and I like it.

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean to start. Look, I don’t mean to start a thing here. I am pleased with MSC and the way they are phasing in the same thing. I just wouldn’t say it is currently superior to any other line.

I don’t know how you can keep saying that when other cruise lines let you watch the video on your phone at your leisure starting with when you are in the terminal building, and that’s that .. no need to call a number.

For what it is worth, I just spoke to the Guest Relations manager (no, I didn’t seek her out; this was at the repeater party) and she said they are phasing out the everybody all at once muster. The new way starts on Magnifica next sailing.

I made the mistake of upgrading to Premium for a cruise that had two days at Ocean Cay. There are no premium drinks available on Ocean Cay. In fact, about half the time onboard I have had to settle for Easy Plus drinks.

Clearly this varies ship to ship. On Magnifica today and so far they have made it an hour-long ordeal with announcements every five minutes. I’ve got to say watching the video in an app and stopping by the muster station during the first few hours onboard to be scanned is a lot smoother for everyone. MSC should consider this simplification. P.S. We have now had the every five minute announcement for an hour and a half.

On Magnifica today and it’s the everybody at once stampede. While not as easy as, say, Celebrity, I am grateful I don’t have to stand in the sun with a life jacket on any more.

When I saw another thread here asking about the "Sofa package", I thought Celebrity was taking my idea and running with it. The basic Sofa Package would have a loveseat. The Sofa Package Plus an actual sofa. With the Premium Sofa Package, they give you the cushions too.