Nunagoras

Many thanks to the wonderful advice on kids supervision. I believe your girls are now very wonderful ones, and among other things, they're wonderful because they had parents whom were good enough on telling them what "no" means in our entire life. Your parenting standards are what I consider the bare minimum for all of us to have a safe world to live in!... Congrats!... The no drinks other than from a bartender is essential these days where cheap synthetic drugs are as spread as they may be. Surely it would to be difficult to insert them on a cruise ship, but who knows? Nobody knows!...

This! TBHH: It seems clear that both MSC and NCL are dealing with this thread the right way. Both MSC (fleet wide) and NCL (at least on the brand new Prima) have solved it by having mostly a fixed menu out of the "plain" classics on top of what there may be a few daily specials: 1 fish, 1 meat and 1 vegetarian that changes daily. NCL introduces a pay for from the specialties. MSC adds a pasta dish to the cart. Either way; a compact menu that compromises to all aboard. The plain eaters would have some 3 or 4 options to chose from. The ones whom wish more complex dishes have other 3 or 4 to chose from. Starters seems to fall short of similar across the board lately: A salad, a cold and a hot, plus the soup of the day and the kids vegetables soup of the day. Same for desserts: A daily special plus fruit plate, cheese plate, ice cream and one or 2 more fixed treats. That would bring a reasonable fleet wide offering. Let's see how RCI will deal with it.

"We have more what we call new roles in our business than we've ever had. And these are new employees who have the depth and length of experience. So we've got a lot of new employees who simply are still learning." Michael Bayley RCCL CEO I believe this statement from the top explain this all on such a very diplomatic way. Ships are understaffed; and I'd to add; the more specialized the position, the more understaffed ships are. Several adds popping up for cruise related jobs on the social media lately. Even calling for first world employees! Things won''t to be easy on the next years to come. Compromise solutions will need to be made.

This, exactly. And it's not only with the Americans. Some of us in Europe would think more or less the same. I made the decision to visit both the UAE and Brazil by cruising on MSC for a reason, far easy to understand. Regarding the cruisers they may attract from Texas, I believe they may be after the growing Latino community there or on the near be states with consumption power enough to take a cruise there. MSC is very popular in Brazil and other Latin American countries, so if they have the chance to perform well within those communities there, it will be a plus. I expect Spanish as being the second, if not the first language out of those cruises. They may start with a Musica/Fantasia class vessel and grow it onward to the newer larger ships as demand rises.

Yes,, that is common practice on MSC EU sailings! Ships are "divided" in sections, each one for each embarkation port. Crew will work around that schedule. Sometimes it seems like you're on a ferry service, but generally you won't even to notice it at all. The official MSC's website is a mess of its own. Maybe your sailing is now sold out for direct purchases? Who knows! Have a nice sailing!...

I fully agree with you regarding low level crew personnel; those ones that usually come from the Philippines, Brazil, or most recently India and a few African countries. Problem is: Very rarely one of those will get training and the proper skills to become a mid-to-top level crew member. Basically; all the individuals I have dealt with on cruises on positions from a supervisor onward to general department manager, as well as guest services or marine officials have been well established western countries individuals. I know some Portuguese ones that used to work on various cruise lines at any market level whom have basically "retired" from the high seas. I was talking of said individuals. And believe me: Most of those individuals are "behind the scenes" ones, but ships can't to be run without them. Wish a waiter: The poor countries provide, solved the travel visa problems that remain elsewhere. Want a sous-chef? Even well established western countries have difficulty to provide right now. Ships of all levels are doing now what they can to maintain minimum standards... But believe me: Compromises would need to be done. I believe the next wave will to be to put specialty coffee drinks at automated machines like the Coke machines some ships have now to alleviate the lack of top bartenders elsewhere. And I could go on. Minimalist menus will be the norm in less than 6 months. NCL has them in some ships. MSC has them already fleet wide. CCL is on the go... Have a nice day!

Ah, on arrival day? I was thinking you're talking the 2nd day, excuse me! As I said; you can exit from the time the ship docks. My group had a 9:00AM flight on the last day that meant we needed to go out of the ship by 5:00AM. We asked our cabin steward to not open the 3rd bed in cabin nor service the cabin by the evening once we had that moment to rest a little bit before the long night; went to the buffet at 4:00AM, then out of ship on our bus to the airport as appropriate. Exit at 3:00PM for a 7:00PM flight, no worries. They do it pretty much everyday on those sailings; you just need to inform GS of your needs!

Quite interesting thread, thanks! Let me just to see it from another side: Don't know if it is for a cultural barrier challenge (EU vs US) or what else, but I can't to see myself paying up-charge for fast food inside a cruise ship where fast food is readily offered included on my basic cruise fare! Understand the 3rd party trademark renting schemes needed to retain base fares as low as possible, which explain why JR is a pay for on RCI, but again; fast food is fast food. Surely you can to make superior made to order fast food, but it remains being fast food!... 😞TBHH: Better to have it fully free, if possible. In such a more positive note; when I did my unique RCI experience on the Allure in Europe a few years ago, on Rome day the shore excursion came sort of late, and consequently we were on near ending Windjammers opening lunch time with less options available, and then I discovered they had a burger station there where they had some very nice chicken burgers displayed. The one I had was perhaps my best ever burger, but again: I'm not particular fond on burgers at all, to say the least!...

The hardware is wonderful by design. The actual service level only time will tell. I believe they'll to settle down on the so called mid-luxury cruising experience, on the likes of the Viking/Oceania/Azamara segment. But... But they're promising a lot on both the food and the entertainment sectors. Maybe: Can they to enter the full luxury at 950'ish capacity? We'll to know after the first few months in operation... Pricing seem inconsistent across the time and the board. I've seen on their website everything from mid to full luxury alike... While they claim they don't have such an MDR, I believe the "Med Yacht Club" and "Fil Rouge" are the non reservation "small" MDR settings on this ship (restaurants descriptions pave the way for at least a partly shareable menu) with the 2 specialties (Asian and Steakhouse) helping plus the premium buffet. As per Anthology's up-charge, wonderful to notice that by design it resembles such a 3* Michelin top chef experience, perhaps paired with some entertainment. Me thinks the price would make for the difference between your paid food level (high by design) and a top of the top ones with drinks pairings accordingly. They'll lower its market level and price if there isn't so much demand.

So obvious! Let me just to add: Is there anything else the Covid and Ukraine didn't change?...

This, exactly! If a bunch of waiters/waitresses becomes angry and exit ship, they'll to replace them by the day on India or the Philippines. So; now think on a sous-chef, a pastry-chef or something on those likes. Like it or not; the intermediate high qualified tourism individuals whom run those ships before the pandemic are now discovering they can have a better life at home on activities that don't require an 11 months embarkation contract doing such a "24/7" job journey! And they won't come in. There will be some 3-5 years of adaptation to train a new set of personnel to fill all those positions. Meanwhile; there'll to be some compromise solutions to be made. This is only the beginning, sadly...

No, you won't of course! Costa is losing in Europe for quite a while now. The pandemic simply gave them the sack... MSC and RCI are the leaders here now with the British market working somewhat apart. Most of the EU TA's whom used to work their charter groups with Costa are now happily on the MSC's camp... The market has changed...

They'll to cram Guy's Burgers elsewhere on a corner they find useful for that. They'll end up Costa, redeploy ships as Carnival (with a few in Europe) and turn P&O the EU mainstream line while Princess will be their EU/US premium...

The UAE cruises have some different T&C's applied to them. You can disembark from the time the ship docks till next day way up on the day, or way early if your flight demands. You'll need to empty your cabin but you'll be given plenty of time to leave the ship. Either way the Dubai authorities don't want people wandering inside either way port buildings or the airport. Please contact guest services during the cruise and they'll guide you. They'll have a pretty much permanent buffet set up from the time the ship docks to next sailing's sail away time.

Costa is; or either way was; such a continental European, mostly Italian sort of things, but the Europeans are now more demanding on their holiday arrangements. Apart some younger generations, Europeans in general are available now to pay solid 4* experience and above, instead of 3* party like ones. CCL seems to only very recently have noticed that, and they're trying to figure out what their best strategy to cope with that. Make P&O, Princess and HAL larger ship trademarks seems the option instead of Princessiside Costa. With MSC growing solidly on the EU 4* solid level, CCL has a very small maneuvering margin, and there are the ones whom remember already the Costa Concordia disaster together. I believe CCL will likely to finish Costa and grow the 4*+ service level out of Princess with somewhat larger ships elsewhere they can. After the current crisis in Europe that is where the demand will be. For the baseline, they'll just to have Carnival and that suffixes, even if Italian Fun Style.

I believe this as being such a "controlled risk decision" they're making, and they may very well to succeed. Tons of 50'ers with no kids being "forced out" now from the baseline mainstream mega-ships (I don't need to read CC boards to understand that. Just need to give a look on the prospects from the 2023-2027 shipyard order-book ship's experiences suffixes to capture the figure). Princess is obviously more expensive than baseline mega-ships, but several ones ready to pay the little bit extra, and they're coming from the below level, then less sensible to the "cutbacks", if there's any to the Princess product, while many of the Princess regulars, whom are a smaller number, will likely to "retire"... And while for me 4300 guests may feel like a little bit too much for me; current Princess new builds carry up to 3600 if my memory doesn't fail. It's not a huge increment... And FYI: While MSC is doing 4000 guests/137k GT on the Fantasia class; Princess is doing such a superb 4300 guests/175k GT on the Sun class!... That's a wonderful space per guest ration on what such a tentative mega-ship the Sun is! And, TBHH; if the Fantasia rarely feels crowded, apart on those moments when it is supposed to be; the Princess Sun will be a wonderful place to stay at on what crowd control respects!... If needed CG will only need to turn the Sun class a teens & adults only cruise experience and control the 3rd/4th beds numbers, and all will be great reducing slightly the full capacity. The ones to whom it will appeal are there, but even on the last of the last cases it fails miserably they can simply to redeploy the ship elsewhere with whatever brand they wish!... I'd to be one of those to whom ships on this like would appeal... Oh, well; let us to not turn this too out of topic, but this thread has become so interesting! And quite "addictive" too!... Many thanks!...

This, exactly! And this is why I enjoy to stay here on the MSC CC boards. Even the worst times of the pandemic this boards never degenerated! Congrats to all the members! Never done the YC, I believe it is a superior product, but not an "elite" line one. Either way: I have Explora (from MSC) on my radar for the Alaska on the next years to come (even though price consciousness is calling me the most on an HAL sailing. I wouldn't do mainstream on Alaska for obvious reasons)... But I don't consider myself an "Elite" cruise line's guest by the norm, even if I won the lottery, I'd to continue travelling on the medium sized ships. I believe the 3k guests segment (X/Princess) segment to be what could draw me on most of the time. Hope MSC to come with something on the likes on the mid-term future. I believe they'll to consolidate Explora on the next 5 years to come and then they'll eventually to pave the way for an upper-mainstream line for the 2028-2032 shipyard delivery schedule. We might to learn from it by late 2024, early 2025 if Explora is doing well by then... At least it would to make sense from a commercial point of view for them to do so, once this is IMHO where a good part of the next 20 years good cruising money will be...

Even though the lighter color scheme and sort of an "Yacht Club Lite" vibe to themselves, they seem to follow the same philosophy of the ones on the older ships. I fell like I'm at home at any of those cabins. Yeah; the lower category ones are smaller though, but hey: One has what one pays for!...

This!... While I bring some help from a big EU TA, my rankings are done from my 20+ years on financial market analysis work and from my personal experience as an user of so many tourism venues out there. I've stayed on it all from baseline Ibis to Ritz Carlton, and I understand what the differences are from product to product. The superficial appearances don't talk even minimally for the product itself. There was a little hotel in Barcelona, Hotel Condado, that used to be a 3* hotel, marketed and priced as that... But... It was a place so familiar and beautiful back in the day I was surprised it was indeed a 3* one! I went there repeatedly for several years till they seemed to have disappeared from the radar! Again; a nice place it was, but, if one watches closely it was a baseline 3* hotel, perhaps wishing to go a little bit higher. On cruises it is the same thing. Marella or Celestyal are 3* cruise lines, comparable to that small Barça hotel. The biggies on the mainstream follow mostly whatever 4* hotel standards available. X/P and the likes will go to the 4*+ and so on.

Sort of agree with you on the US vs EU vibe. TBHH: One of the reasons I booked lady RCI's Allure of the Seas here in Europe was for, at least partly, to experience such an "American vibe" aboard the ship, and the experience didn't disappoint, to say the least. Maybe; whatever the cruise line, things may vary by the region. Imagine such a Brazilian vibe on a coastal Brazilian cruise before the TA... Not better, nor worse, surely different!... I don't agree with you on the fact that all cruise lines seem the same these days. Me thinks that it is the very opposite. Only cruised myself on MSC and RCI, but went for work purposes on several ships of pretty much every other company out there, and if there's a thing that pops out on me, it is the market segmentation... Companies like CCL, NCL, RCI and MSC focus more on the affordable family holiday opportunities with OK food, lots of family like entertainment opportunities, companies on the likes of X, Princess, TUI, HAL, Cunard will focus on a superior food and service level client oriented vacation for a more selected and perhaps older clientele; and then there are the likes of Oceania, Viking, Explora, Regent, Seabourne, Silversea and the likes whom will go out of this world on superb food and experience for such a top refined clientele. Sadly for all of us; the mega-ship segment is running toward the youngster 3* like experience, while the medium-to-big ship segment is sort of retaining their 4*+ service level. This will frustrate some/many, mostly the ones for whom classy 4* is affordable and suffix, but 4*+ is a bit too much. That is my concern. I believe there's a place for classy solid 4* traditional cruising experience, but no one to actually provide it the way it should be done. Time will tell, but the prospects aren't favorable for some/many here in the CC's experienced cruisers brigade... Some will likely to be out in a not so long time frame; me included. Have a nice Sunday!...

This. Drinking policies has more to do with law of the land than companies. In fact legal age to drink in the US and UK is 21. In the EU it is 18. Regarding the spa pass, well, it is embarkation day age that matters. Maybe the ship might to provide such a little surprise experience for her birthday, but don't count on anything too fancy.

Again, those little things... As I remember on my unique RCI experience, Allure in Europe a few years ago, they only offered a special buffet experience on Rome day to welcome a big gay partly charter that was there at the time. It was very shellfish focused and they had a huge dessert section with a chocolate fountain and the fruits to dip it into, plus a huge welcome aboard cake of some sort... Maybe, these days they'll only to offer such things on special occasions...

Well: Actually; I'd consider pretty much all MSC ships, except for the smaller and older Lirica class ones, as being European land hotel 4* standards ships. Each class has an identity. I believe the Seaside class, from where the Seashore is part of, is sort of classy ships to enjoy the good sunny days, especially for the US market. There is currently a mix of both the European heritage and some American vibe. To give an example; instead of a grand piano for classical music in the atrium like on the older classes, on the Seaside class there is now a place for a rock band to make their shows. And I could go on and on. You'll have a nice time, granted you enjoy the new car smell in areas! Regarding the photo package, it seems that it is part of such a bigger special moments package you purchased or your TA offered you. It seems a triplet photo with 2 regular ones (one during dinner on gala night and one with captain) plus a bigger studio one. I had a similar thing once from my TA. They use to have a huge list of those special moment packages listed on their brochures.

By reading CC boards there are some things that are becoming pretty much noticeable on me. Among those: The market has changed a lot on the last 20 years, but there remains being a certain number of ones that seems to not noticed or don't want to notice or accept it. On top of that; part of the "Voyager-to-Oasis" cruising generation are now entering their 50's-to-60's; kids free on their lives, awaiting retirement and, perhaps, awaiting a time when to have such a quiet holiday time becomes essential. Simply; the mainstream mega-ship segment cruise lines decided to go after the 20-30 yo with little kids generation, and the little bit more premium classic experience lines might no to be ready to capture all of those, because prices are a bit higher and ships are a bit smaller. Are there opportunities? Yeah, but even Voyager class ships are ageing right now... I've no magic wand on cruise lines directions, but it would have been great if the whole industry didn't put apart what seems a relatively good part of the cruise demand and of the cruise money. Viking and Virgin are being surprisingly good at capturing that very segment, even though that wasn't really Virgin's primary goal! We need perhaps one more adult focused line so that the prices may normalize a bit. Or X will need some more ships, just to talk about RCI group. Yeah, we need more vessel for the 3k pax segment!... But I doubt it will happen. For me and for now my strategy is sadly to cruise less, but when cruising, at least I'll to go on no less than X, or an X and above like product experience. No need nor for those so many kids, not the childish designs of some of the modern mainstream ships. Maybe I can try the older ships, but if so, I keep my expectations adapted to the reality. Older ships are ageing...

I went inside one for a couple of hours with my bank's top board at the time. It's X for Germans! Marella is definitely 3*. I quickly understood your, and perhaps my own misleading post!...