drsel

Believe me that Norwegian Cruise is going to cost you a lot more than you can imagine, with all the forced gratuities on FREE perks.

I prefer Carnival because it's the ultimate fun and party ship with non stop entertainment and plenty of free activities

Carnivals pricing is also simple and straight forward.

They don't fool you with free perks,  which are actually not free but included in the cruise fare. 

And  then charge ridiculous amount of gratuity for the same free perks.

Also don't forget the nickel and dime culture of Norwegian 

We have booked a Carnival cruise from Sydney  just before Easter 2024, sailing 8 months from now.

I am in a strange dilemma.

My wife cannot come because she needs to accept paid orders from her regular customers to make marzipan Easter eggs, bunnies, etc 

(I know it sounds like a silly reason to miss a  cruise booked 2 years ago, using FCCs of 2 previous cruises cancelled due to Covid)

If I transfer this Cruise booking to any other date, I will lose the on board credit of 900 Australian dollars and the FCCs used expire on 31st March 2024 anyway.

If I sail alone and inform Carnival right now 8 months in advance, Carnival will charge a $80 penalty and reduce the taxes and Port fees of $118 for the second person

so net net I will have to pay 38 dollars less if I travel alone.

What do you think ?

Do you have any suggestions how to convince my wife to deliver marzipan Easter eggs and bunnies *12 days prior to Easter* or should I sail alone, waste her cruise ticket and allow her to deliver the orders on Easter Sunday itself ?

Thanks for responding to a rather unusual query

17 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Since many folks will read this thread we would also stress that comparing cruises is not simple.  For example, if you book a cruise on a luxury line (i,e. Seabourn, Silverseas, Regent, Sea Dream etc) your cruise price will generally include many things (i.e. all-inclusive).  We will soon be going on another Seabourn cruise and will likely end that month long voyage with a zero onboard account.  There is no need for us to spend any money on that line other than what we spend in the ports.  But take a siilar cruise on a line like Celebrity with a cruise-only fare, and our on board account would likely be several thousand dollars!

 

What drsel  calls a sailaway price or no perks just does not work these days...for many lines.  Consider that Oceania has recently (July 1) implemented their new "Simply More" where the cruise price includes a credit for shore excursions and beer/wine at lunch and dinner!  You cannot opt out of these things!  Viking cruises includes a shore excursion in every port.  etc etc.

 

Hank

All these included perks only complicates the analysis and calculation, when deciding which Cruise to choose from among thousands.

A budget traveller would be well adviced to seek a cruise line which offers the basic Cruise only fare.

He can then choose to pay extra for anything else he may require.

And not be forced into paying for things he does not really need

31 minutes ago, Szt said:

I find it very hard to compare apples to apples as some lines include drinks, tips, WiFi, ob credits, etc and some don't. And remember that if you have the drink or dining package included they will charge you extra gratuities up front. If, for example, you don't care about specialty dining, you don't want to pay extra for something you won't use. So, I find, if I total up the value of the " extras" I will use add it to cruise price, and divide by nights I get the true comparison of value for me. 
just my opinion. 

Always choose the sailaway price or no perks option 

Is there a table to show the relationship between the amount of money played, the time played and the points / onboard credit received.

How much is required to be played in a slot machine using your room card,  in order to get $100, $200 etc onboard credit?

Does onboard credit received depend on the amount of money played or the amount of money won or the amount of money lost or the time played or? Thanks 👍

Is there a table to show the relationship between the amount of money played, the time played and the points / onboard credit received.

How much is required to be played in a slot machine using your room card,  in order to get $100, $200, etc onboard credit?

Does onboard credit received depend on the amount of money played or the amount of money won or the amount of money lost or the time played or? Thanks 👍

26 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Cruiseplum does all this.  It's not a travel agent site, so no need to hide it.

You are absolutely right.

This site shows the price per day including taxes and Port fees.

It is very versatile with plenty of filters and customisation available

Do you know any website which lists most  cruises by price per night *including all port fees and taxes?*

There was one which also had charts of price movement, but its not working anymore 

12 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

I've only ever had one massage treatment on a ship. Never again! Apart from being outrageously over priced the whole experience was ruined by the relentless up sell and pushing products. I left more stressed than when I went in.

Which ship was that and which itinerary?

I know that employees get a big fat commission out of any spa products and alcohol packages that they sell.

14 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

 

So, if many Virgin TAs (First Mates), have a VV mini-co-branded website that allows you to see all the cruises and even book it yourself with the booking then being assigned to that TA. 

 

There are filters and one filter allows you to filter for each sailor per night.  The lowest rate on that basis showing right now is $162.80 per person per day for and October Dominican Daze sailing. If one interests you can always initiate, but not conclude, a booking on one of these sites to get the full price including taxes.

 

The key is to find a TA with one of these sites. Then it's easy.

12 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Given that all gratuities are included in the VV cruise fares, you can skip that point.  We have found that generally, the longer the cruise, the less costly the  nightly rate.  I don't know of any place that has ranked all cruise though.  I've seen Sea Terrace for 2 people in 2022-2024 going for as little as $84 per person per night including all costs to $350 pp per night.

When we got the $84 per night, that included the MNVV and 10% off for paying in full more than 180 days in advance.  The nice thing about VV is that many of the offers can layer on each other.

Thanks, the website I use lists price per night (including all port fees and taxes) and price movement charts for 11 cruise lines , but not Virgin.

Hence I never considered Virgin, although I heard of it.

How does Virgin compare with other British cruise lines like Cunard, P&O?

And how does it compare with Royal, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Carnival and Norwegian?

No doubt some cruise lines are better than others.

There is a website which gives reasonably accurate star ⭐ ratings to each and every cruise ship.

But you also need to compare prices and evaluate the value received for what you pay.

Always remember that a little better is a lot more expensive

And a lot better is usually exorbitant and unaffordable to many

Almost all Cruise lines have unlimited alcoholic beverage packages.

These are both very popular and profitable for all the cruise lines.

So which cruise line will be a trend setter and be the first to start an unlimited massage package?

(Or maybe limit it to 1 massage per person per day)

Is this feasible, ridiculous or impossible?

What will be the likely pricing ?

17 hours ago, Gretchendz said:

Current list is this--but they keep adding so check back if you don't qualify now:

Azamara's Circle	Explorer, Discoverer, Discover Plus, Discover Platinum
Carnival's VIFP Club	Platinum, Diamond
Celebrity Cruises' Captain's Club	Elite, Elite Plus, Zenith
Disney's Castaway	Silver, Gold, Platinum, Pearl
Holland America's Mariner Society	3-Star, 4-Star, 5-Star
MSC's Voyagers Club	Gold, Black
Norwegian Cruise Line's Latitudes Rewards	Platinum, Sapphire, Diamond, Ambassador
Oceania's Oceania Club	Gold, Platinum, Diamond, President's Circle
P&O's Peninsular Club	Mediterranean Tier, Caribbean Tier, Baltic Tier, Ligurian Tier
Princess' Captain's Circle	Platinum, Elite
Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society	Diamond, Diamond Plus, Pinnacle Club
Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club	Gold
Virgin Australia's Velocity Frequent Flyer	Gold, Platinum, Beyond
Windstar's Yacht Club	One Star, Two Star, Three Star, Four Star

Thanks 👍

Any idea where I can find Virgin cruises ranked by price per night ( including all port fees and taxes, excluding gratuities) ?

There are many websites listing bargains for solo cruises.

you just need to search.

Even Cruise critic has an article on it.

On 4/10/2023 at 7:56 PM, Heartgrove said:

The MSC World Europa appears to begin sailing the itinerary that the MSC Fantasia was sailing up to April 2024. Nothing is on the website for booking the MSC Fantasia after April 8, 2024. We are hoping to sail on the MSC Divina in September plus another MSC cruise before returning to the US on a Transatlantic cruise in October. Right now we are leaning towards the MSC Grandiosa for the 2nd cruise but enjoy the Fantasia-class ships. Anyone know any plans?

You will enjoy Grandiosa much more than Fantasia or Preziosa.

From what I remember there are very very few non alcoholic beers.

I don't think there any non alcoholic wines available on MSc

On 6/27/2023 at 5:11 PM, Plain_Spain said:

Will have Premium Plus drinks package, can it be used in the Champagne bar?

 

Fun pass, seen posts saying one pass can be used for whole family.  There would be 4 of us to play bowling, so how would that work with one card if at all possible?

 

Current prices of F1, maze, 4D cinema and bowling if don't get a fun pass?

 

Thanks all.

Premium Plus package is valid for all bars including the Champagne bar, but not the mini bar in your cabin

you will also get specialty coffees with Bailey's Irish cream and health drinks.

I recommend that you tell your room steward to empty out your fridge  as soon as you check in, to avoid accidentally opening drinks in the mini bar.

One fun pass is valid for everybody staying in the same cabin.

so if all 4 are in one cabin then it is excellent value for money, I would take it.

The formula one car racing is very addictive because you will keep going off the track and your rank will keep improving with practice.

So you will need to keep on playing and hence is better to have the fun pass for F1 racing.

There are I think 6 different 4D movies so you 4 can watch all of them  multiple times if you have the pass.

Without the pass, Voyager club members pay 50% for formula 1 car racing which is 5.50 instead of 11 Euro for each race.

there is no discount for the 4D movies which are 9 euros for each movie of 5 minutes.

I didn't try bowling because it is much cheaper on land.

If you have the premium plus alcohol package I think  you will enjoy yourself more at all the different lounge bars and at the pool side.

Have a great Cruise, because MSC is excellent value for money!

MSC is free for children upto 12 years when accompanied by their parents

It is not in the same league as Royal, Celebrity, Princess and Norwegian, but it is excellent value for money

6 hours ago, dwade1901 said:

We have the Easy package. I get the impression that a lot of the bars are 'speciality' and don't have the standard bar menu. Is that correct? ... 

🙂

Easy package includes drinks up to 7 euros.

These include the basic cocktails and lower priced spirits and of course specialty coffees  (with Baileys Irish cream) and energy drinks.

All bars will keep basic cocktails and lower priced spirits, they will not disappoint you.

it is highly unlikely that your Cruise will be cancelled

maybe one or two ports could be cancelled due to bad weather but I still suggest you book air tickets/visas 3 months prior to the sailing date.

On 6/9/2023 at 7:36 AM, At7Seas said:

Cabin on MSC Sinfonia April 9th, 2023

 

 

This is not acceptable for any Cruise line.

Luckily all our cabins never had any major problems, any maintenance issues were quickly sorted out

There is a travel Agent at both Olden and Nordfjordeid ports to book the loen sky lift with transfers

so you should book it only if the weather is good

MSC is getting better and better.

5 different free pizzas in the buffet and all of decent quality, despite being free.

Baklava and dark chocolate cakes for dessert. Norwegian pink salmon, muesli with sliced roasted almonds and walnuts for breakfast.

Different flavors of ice cream every night including pista, chocolate chips, coffee.

Free sundaes in the main dining room.

excellent shows every night, for 11 nights in a row.

It is very difficult to reach the highest level in Costa, because points expire automatically even if you sail every year.

Whereas MSC is far superior because you just need to sail once in three years to keep your points forever and accumulate more

On Costa, the lack of free drinking water with lunch and dinner in the main dining room, mandatory service charge, poor quality and variety of 'free' food are the main complaints.

Even pizzas are chargeable on Costa, an Italian ship.

 Also very limited times for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the buffet and main dining room, around 2 hours for each.

No free tea and coffee available except during the 2 hours of breakfast and 1 hour evening tea.

When you come back from an excursion, there is no decent food on the entire ship late afternoon and evening (except for pastries with evening tea)

You have to wait until 7 or 7:30 p.m. for the buffet to re-open

On Costa, the passengers are mainly Italian and less than 5% of passengers are native English speakers, whereas MSC has a better international mix of passengers.

The crew on both MSC and Costa speak good English.

On MSC, all the activities and games are conducted with English as the first language and Italian as second.

On Costa, it is the reverse. Sometimes they need to be reminded to repeat everything in English.

Spas on the the new ships of MSC are the best in the entire Cruise industry and far superior to those on Costa.

On a typical 7 night Cruise, MSc has 7 grand production shows whereas Costa has only 4.

It is very difficult to reach the highest level in Costa, because points expire automatically even if you sail every year.

Whereas MSC is far superior because you just need to sail once in three years to keep your points forever and accumulate more

On Costa, the lack of free drinking water with lunch and dinner in the main dining room, mandatory service charge, poor quality and variety of 'free' food are the main complaints.

Even pizzas are chargeable on Costa, an Italian ship!

Also very limited times for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the buffet and main dining room, around 2 hours for each.

No free tea and coffee available except during the 2 hours of breakfast and 1 hour evening tea.

When you come back from an excursion, there is no decent food on the entire ship late afternoon and evening (except for pastries with evening tea)

You have to wait until 7 or 7:30 p.m. for the buffet to re-open

On Costa, the passengers are mainly Italian and less than 5% of passengers are native English speakers, whereas MSC has a better international mix of passengers.

The crew on both MSC and Costa speak good English.

On MSC, all the activities and games are conducted with English as the first language and Italian as second.

On Costa, it is the reverse. Sometimes they need to be reminded to repeat everything in English.

Spas on the the new ships of MSC are the best in the entire Cruise industry and far superior to those on Costa.

On a typical 7 night Cruise, MSc has 7 grand production shows whereas Costa has only 4.

14 minutes ago, Skipper Tim said:

Drsel, which itinerary was that? All cruise lines vary their offering by geographic area

MSC Preziosa and MSC Fantasia both sailing from Hamburg and Kiel to different Norwegian fjords