Two Wheels Only

A concierge can also help with excursions and can reserve a particular cabana for you at Ocean Cay. If your ship account is set up with cash and you have extra at the end of the cruise, the Concierge can return the balance to you in cash on the last night. There are some other things but on MSC, I tend to use the butler services more. Even if it means having the butler forward a request to the concierge, it's easier to deal with the butler. NCL Haven concierges seem to have a bit more pull when it comes to specialty restaurant reservations, though.

It's usually easier for cruise lines to fill less expensive staterooms than to fill more expensive staterooms. Let's say that the Owner's Suite was not booked. Rather than have that stateroom sail empty, MSC will bump someone up (even for free) to clear space for something less expensive. Making a few bucks here, a few bucks there while upgrading people is more money for the cruise line. As those people move up, last minute bargain hunters will swoop in and fill the gaps. Again, more money than the cruise line would have had if those staterooms were filled. The guest either feels special for the free upgrade or feels like they got a great deal. Those are just side effects as the main objective is for the cruise line to bring in more money per sailing.

The World America name was leaked a long time ago but it wasn't official. Sailing out of Miami was always the plan but the new terminal probably needs to get done first. Probably 2026 for me......😌

I would guess that Seashore and Seascape have the same "secret" larger staterooms.

There are certain image hosting sites that Cruise Critic doesn't like. Epic is already ugly enough. The least that NCL could do is keep the ship well maintained.

The pullman is above the sofa-bed. The video is Escape but Encore is basically the same.

Have you tried logging in "WITH YOUR MSC ACCOUNT" instead of "WITH BOOKING NUMBER"?

I think that the way that World Europa will be used at first has hurt some of the excitement from the cruise community. I'm looking forward to more actual photos of the ship from actual guests. I know which stateroom that I'll book whenever a World Class ship sails from Miami. I just have to wait.....

Other than that, how was the ship? Stateroom? Food? Service? ...any towel animals?

Shorts/t-shirt are fine in the Haven restaurant for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. With an upgrade, your promos remain the same but you get the amenities that come with the upgrade.

Available online to download...about 830MB per episode.

I can only give my personal experience but I preferred RCCL over Carnival. NCL Haven and MSC Yacht Club over RCCL. If taking Haven and Yacht Club out of the mix, I'd put RCCL and NCL slightly over MSC with Carnival still coming in last. A lot of it has to do with the ship choice, though. I actually enjoyed Meraviglia more than I thought that I would. I put Seaside and Seashore over Meraviglia but the gap isn't as large as I thought that it would be. I haven't sailed on a Meraviglia Plus ship but I'm sure that I would if it was an option. I'll also try a World Class ship when one comes to Miami. This varies by individual so looking at the price difference vs. what you might typically spend on drinks will tell you if it's better to take the higher price with the promos. I'd rather know what I'm paying ahead of time and not worry (as much) about buying drinks a la carte. I've never eaten in a MSC MDR but from what I saw on the menus, I would easily find things to eat. My kids and I have grabbed a few things while walking through the buffet and the food was fine. I think that most complaints about MSC food are based on MSC being "different" than what people (usually American) are used to. Kids who are used to mozzarella sticks from their school cafeteria might freak out when the waiter brings mozzarella di bufala. MSC pizza is the best at sea but ordering "pepperoni" might get actual peppers instead of meat circles. You can get either but make yourself clear when ordering. I was a bit confused when I saw that a whole pizza was cut into slices of 4 instead of the usual 8 (in America) but then I learned why it is. If you go with an open mind and are willing to roll with the punches on some of MSC's weirdness as far as shoreside customer service and IT departments, I think that you'll enjoy MSC.

Wanting an angled balcony for the same price as standard....I completely understand. There are some forum members who spend way too much time analyzing cruise ship balconies and posting about them. The really strange forum members spend too much time deciphering whether the bed is near the balcony or near the closet.🤪

I've also moved bookings to different staterooms within the same category without an increase in price and without a cancel/rebook. As others have noted, if the price has increased or if promos have changed, it might be more difficult to change staterooms. Out of curiosity, why do you want to change?

The first 2 Oasis Class ships were built in Finland. The ones after were built in France. The 2 classes have some similarities but I doubt that anyone would confuse the 2 if they were side by side. Neither will win a beauty contest but one is better looking than the other. 😁 Just an update on the progress. For Yacht Club guests, remember that there are 2 different stateroom configurations for the Owner's Suite, 2 different stateroom configurations for the Royal Suite, Duplex Suites with whirlpool, and Duplex Suites without whirlpool. The website information isn't always correct and some people will book one thing and not get exactly what they had planned on getting (looking at NCL who fooled some people with whirlpool on balcony renderings that didn't make it to reality on Prima). 🤨

Entering the zip code will often auto-populate the rest.

Getting a deposit moved has never happened for me. It has always been "...make a new deposit...wait weeks/months for refund of original deposit..." Some people haven't gotten their Yacht Club deposit returned but so far, mine have all come back...eventually.

It varies by ship. On some NCL ships, shorts are allowed in all MDRs. On other NCL ships, long pants are required in one of the main dining rooms. It's best to check the dailies on each cruise as things can change from week to week.

Based on posts from other Joy cruisers, the excess vibration felt on Joy seems to depend on many factors such as the ship's speed, the ship's direction, weather, time of day, phase of the moon, etc. Some people report that it is still horrible. Some people report that it is bad for a day or 2 then goes away. Some people report that there's no issue at all. Other BA/BA Plus ships have had similar issues and sometimes, it takes a dry dock to fully correct any mechanical issue. Even when everything is mechanically correct, there is still some vibration that we commonly refer to as the "azipod shimmy". It bothers some people. It isn't an issue for other people. It's just one of those things. If you decide to do an aft-facing balcony (Haven or not), feel free to ask any questions. Stateroom configuration, bed location, balcony depth, balcony width, etc. are easily explained when it comes to Breakaway/Getaway/Escape/Joy/Bliss/Encore.

Both. Forward decks 17, 18, 19. The aft-facing Haven balcony suites and nearly all of the forward-facing (window) Haven balcony suites have separate bedroom/living room areas.

Was the price the issue? According to #2, moving to another ship should have been no problem.... I had one of my ships changed from Seaside to Meraviglia (MSC offered $200 OBC) but I simply cancelled and booked Seaside again for a different cruise.

With my login to my MSC account, I can see all of my future cruises, my past cruises, cruise details, stateroom number, experience, etc. I don't understand why some people have issues and I don't but the issues seem to be common. Looking forward to part 2.....

Cans are unlikely but the butler will gladly bring a pitcher of soda upon request.

To be fair, even Bella guests can walk across the Bridge Of Sighs and the Infinity Bridge. 🤭

Side balconies on BA/GA are generally less deep than those on Escape/Joy/Bliss/Encore. ....the depth (or lack thereof) of the balcony is the problem.