kernow

That was it yes, certainly for UK cruisers I think it would be a popular choice but from the responses obviously not for US guests.

In the UK Indian food is very popular, there are lots of upscale Indian restaurants. P and O ships which have predominantly British passengers have Sindhu Indian speciality restaurants onboard, not your typical 'curry house' much more upscale. I'm sure something like that would be very popular especially with cruisers from outside the US. I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly but I think there was a time a few years ago where one of the speciality restaurants got changed to Indian when the ship was sailing from Southampton, can anyone else remember this?

You can choose Butcher's Cut, Indochine or Kaito Sushi (not the teppanyaki) for the diamond meal. You get the set price menu included. I think the cocktail for the show was vodka based, we didn't think it was very good (the drink not the show). If you have a drink package you're probably better to get one from a nearby bar before you go in, the Carousel bar itself was not open when we went. We're also on the 12th May, think bookings will open soon, our final payment is in the next couple of weeks so maybe after that. You make the general booking online but choose the day and time once onboard, they have multiple show times.

The article says he died on 14th Feb.

Was your reply from the general email address or from someone specifically at Antonio Paradiso's office? I think that general email just goes to the call centre staff who don't really seem to know anything and just recite parrot fashion. To be fair the same thing seems to happen with RCL too. Not really good customer service though.

We did the match in 2016 for our first MSC cruise on Musica, we got black at the time. It was in the very early days of the match, we got all the benefits and I remember when we went to the black party (don't know the official name) there were only about 30 people there. The captain and CD came around and when we mentioned it was our first time on MSC and we'd done the match they both pulled up a chair and started asking how they compared to other cruises we'd done. Think we were the first people they'd had with the match.

Oh no, so sad, we had him on Virtuosa last year. Condolences to his family and friends.

Thanks for the review Heather, very interesting. I completely agree with you that the butler you get can make a huge difference to the YC experience. We've done it twice now, the first time we had an amazing butler who quickly picked up what we liked and what we didn't and acted accordingly. She realised that we weren't keen on being escorted everywhere and didn't keep insisting on it but she spotted that we like cocktails and snacks and would leave us a surprise tray every evening. Lots of touches like that. Last time we had a butler who was pleasant enough but she really did no more that a good room steward. We still loved the whole YC feel but we weren't wowed like we were initially. We do love the TS lounge though, just a nice quiet haven to escape to sometimes.

Certainly never happens to me, I put on around 4 or 5 pounds on a 7 night holiday every time even though we walk a lot in port and I always do 2 miles around the track every day. Mind you I'm only small and am always watching what I eat at home so that I can splurge on holiday. I think it's all the cocktails on the ship that do it!

OP, now I know that you are teasing us😀. You play in the casino and yet you manage to leave the ship with over $300 of unspent OBC, why did you not just gamble it? Also why would someone as well heeled as you, be so upset about losing $300 of 'free' money? Sorry that you didn't like MSC, at least now you know, but please don't try to belittle those of us who enjoy their product regardless of cost.

I think you're being unfair, how much did you pay for your non YC MSC compared to Regent and Uniworld, I bet it was a lot less. We actually did a cruise on NCL Jade years ago and while it was fine, I personally prefer MSC. We cruise multiple lines and have never had what we consider a really bad cruise but you can't compare a premium line with a mass market one, generally you get what you pay for.

I'm sorry you were disappointed but it sounds to me as if you just didn't like the way MSC do things. Nothing seemed to go massively wrong so why do you want them to compensate you. TV channels, Speciality restaurants, entertainment all sound like standard MSC which you have now found out isn't for you. They are not an American company, they are European and European companies don't tend to hand out compensation for minor complaints. You don't say which level of experience you purchased but if you are used to Regent, Silversea and Oceania you probably should have spent that sort of money and sailed in Yacht Club, I think that would have been more to your liking.

Panorama lounge looks like it was inspired by 270?

Yes, I think you're right about the prices, too many of us have let the secret out 😁.

That gin menu looks great, I wouldn't know which to choose first. Looking at your balcony pic I don't think it's much different than the ones on Virtuosa.

Great to see you doing a live, looking forward to it. Hope you both have fun. x

Thanks for another great live, I've enjoyed following along. Hope you manage to get your billing issues sorted.

We did South Pacific on Ovation last Nov. We are from the UK but the process is similar, done online for both countries and comes back very quickly (same day for us). I suggest you check out the Australia and New Zealand board on CC, some very helpful people on there about all aspects of the trip. Link for NZ visa (make sure you use the official government sites) https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/options/visit

Does Grandiosa not have a bar similar to L'Atelier on Virtuosa? I really love some of their cocktails, different to anywhere else.

I think you've summed it up perfectly, we feel exactly the same. I love being out and about around the rest of the ship but once you walk through those glass doors it's like aaaah, relax😀.

Ha Ha that was so embarrassing 😁. Can't think of anything specific but lots of little things that just happen and surprise you. We were wondering when you were off, have a fab time, can't wait to hear all about it.

No, we did one of those in 2021 when they restarted after covid and they still required a passport.

There was massive debate about this all last year, MSC are notorious for poor wording, probably because they are an Italian company and everything gets translated into English. Basically they recommend everyone is vaccinated, if you are, no tests required. If you are not you are still allowed to travel but must present a certified negative PCR or antigen taken no more than 48 hours before embarkation. By antigen self test (which is not allowed) they mean one that you have done yourself and have not got certified. Certified ones (Lloyds, Randox etc) are fine.

We used an at home certified test ordered from Lloyds website last year when everyone (including vaccinated) had to have one. They email you the result certificate and we printed them off. Very easy to do and no problem getting onboard.

The currency in the summer is GBP as the ship is homeported in Southampton. I've attached the drink choices, that was last years list but probably still similar. You tell the butler your choice when you've boarded. We are going again in May and I can see the laundry packages in my account under internet, photo and others. This is only currently on the website, don't think the app is working properly for anyone. We've done YC twice on this ship and loved it.