Jenna1983

How much was the taxi ride for the Occidental and did you book it ahead or when you got there? I read booking direct with Occidental is no refund but consolidator sites are a yes to cancel. I just worry bc I'll be there Labor Day week and who knows weather in between Florida and there.

Mine delivered today via USPS.

Right decision was made. I was on a MSC cruise in September that was to call on Tunis in Tunisia but was glad they canceled and replaced with Corfú over a place riddled by two targeted Isis attacks on foreigners.

My comment was more generally just people in general pushing or running right in front of you to get on after you'd been waiting for several minutes. I watched them do it to people in wheelchairs, to me (on a knee scooter), people in walkers/crutches, and people in general. Seemed to happen constantly. You'd be waiting for 5-10 minutes depending on elevators and just about knocked out by people unable to properly wait their turn.

My favorite was the couple who saw me standing there, looked me dead in the eyes, ran, and closed the door. And proceeded to get off the deck below. I couldn't help but laugh at how lazy and mean spirited it felt.

All I know is that there's enough of a language barrier that if you do have a food allergy- insist they give you a head waiter. I did have a head waiter assigned to me (there's four in the back dining room) and basically they said they handle the orders because they don't want anyone to die. Two of the four I encountered in the dining room between lunch and dinner had excellent English. They all spoke five languages. From what I've been told, MSC needs bodies to serve and so things like language aren't necessarily as important. They'll find someone to help you.

When I read blonde, I started to get worried it was me. Except, I wasn't in Yacht Club and my complaints were about how rude so many passengers were with elevators. By the end of my trip, I couldn't keep my mouth shut lol.

Hey Jenna, I'm sorry you broke your foot. That had to have made things rough!

Thanks. I made it through somehow. Rome was my downfall but thankfully that was at the beginning! I don't miss cobblestone streets! Lol

It's pretty much like that across the board on any cruise line. I had $600 in OBC on carnival and hey still put a hold on me. I just went on MSC in Europe and had 180€ on my account and they still put a hold for 150€ on my CC. Yet, they don't require you to put a card OR cash down. They just don't let you off the ship if you don't settle the day you debark.

I've never been sick on a cruise or had rough seas like we did leaving Barcelona. I had to take dramimine by dinner and Benadryl at bed so I slept. Even the next morning I still felt the seas were a little choppy. We were on 10 and water bottles rolled about 3 am but I was too groggy to care lol. My waiter said he's been on worse, but to me...that's he worst I've ever experienced!

Just rented a car in Florence- the car rental wants your driver's license from your country. However, they made it known the police would want your International Driver's Permit. It was $15 and with as crazy as driving is in Italy- get one. You get into an accident and you'd need it then.

I sailed 26 September this year and found more English speaking passengers than I thought I would. There was a high concentration of Australian, UK and Canadian passengers. I'd say there were the least in American passengers. I didn't think the ship was less full- I thought it was pretty full. And there were a lot of kids too. More than I've seen in Us sailings that time of year. A lot of babies, IMO. And parents who weren't too particularly good at paying attention to those babies during show times.

Probably not until next year

Hopefully the earlier part of 2016- I need to start planning! Lol.

Northern Europe schedules for 2017? I've tried searching but it seems to be either Grand Voyages or Med cruises I can only see. Thanks!

I agree- I was expecting this awful experience but I can say this: MSC's gluten free meals and desserts make Carnival look pathetic. I honestly will cruise MSC next for their ability to make special diet food taste how it should: normal. I agree the English speaking dining room staff needs to be addressed. I was SO lucky to have the most amazing Head Waiter assigned to me, who took care of me every night. Everyone else at my table had a waiter too who was very fast and efficient. His English wasn't how you'd find on Carnival but his service was great. It seems to me MSC is growing so fast they're just taking on staff to service the guests. I believe everyone else in our group enjoyed most of their food with a few meh's here and there, but overall they felt some were fantastic compared to other cruise lines.

Guest services was honestly the hardest place to deal with anything. Some could speak English but getting them to understand/explain what you were asking was another experience. I had an issue with being charged for laundry service when it had already been prepaid. They flat out told my mother she couldn't settle an account that had 1 euro over their shipboard credit until the morning we exited the ship. How stupid is that?!? She went down at 9 pm the night before. No one had all-inclusive drinks packages and those sailing: be aware. MSC offers all kinds of 20% off X beer or X champagne or sparkling wine each day. Almost every time they never applied this. You'd have to ask after they gave you your receipt. I'm not sure why it's not keyed in?!

I unfortunately broke my foot two days before flying to Rome on 9/23. I ended up in a temp cast until I can have surgery. I cannot say generally enough nice things about the security on the ship and their help at helping me get up the ramps or helping me down them. It certainly wasn't the vacation I expected (including hospital visit in La Spezia), but the security staff was great. I also visited the ship's doctor before going to the hospital, who arranged with the port agent a taxi to the hospital for an orthopedic doctor. All in all very fast and didn't even charge me the 80 euro doctor visit they charge for seeing the doctor since she couldn't do anything. The only mishap I had on the ship, which did upset me, was in Cannes coming back to the ship. Not one person offered assistance to help me up the steps from the tender to the ship. I had to hop one legged backwards to the top as an officer watched me from above. IMO, it was not very safe on their part to allow me to do it. One person, in broken English, said "you no walk?" In reality- they handled a temp disability overall better than Lufthansa, who I will never recommend or fly again based on my experience going and coming home yesterday.

Coffee Bar staff was great!! Drinks were great too! Cabin steward always had ice quickly when asked for it.

Our embarkation was fast and bags delivered quickly. Debarkation was terrible. They need to start looking at other lines for ways to make it more efficient. I understand they try to get guests staying onboard off first but no one could give us a time of when we should book our train tickets, which unfortunately cost us an additional 80 euro because we waited until day of.

Ship is beautiful. I will sail it again in the Caribbean. There are amazing gems of workers on Divina- MSC needs to look at where those have come from and how to get more like those workers.

We will be in Sicily and Naples the two days before we debark, so I'm guessing it won't be an issue since debarkation is in Civitavecchia. We no longer leave the EU on this cruise either. So if they have 8 am marked on the documents, is that safe to plan? Or plan earlier? I know any cruise I've ever taken here we are docked by 5 am!

A MSC ship once it gets in port? I have a B&B person in Florence insisting I give my arrival time (I gave what I estimate/hope) after my cruise, but I let them know I cannot pre-purchase train tickets as I have a). Never sailed MSC and know their debarkation procedure b). I've never done embarkation/debark from Civitavecchia!

I've not even sailed MSC and their customer service shoreside in the US has a lot to be desired. 20 different answers from 20 different people. I've just decided I won't be drinking this trip over one saying X is available and then one saying no X isn't available but y is available. Super fit vacation for me!

The price increased recently. It's now €30 for 20 items over the course of the cruise.

Okay. That makes sense then! They have it still 20 for 25 and then $32, so I will book now. Thanks.

18 drinks for $84 isn't half bad.

Yeah! I agree. I figure I'll have wine at some point off the ship, so I'll be okay with a small amount. Tying up loose ends here before all of us fly out next Weds. I'm so not prepared. Summer flew by.

I added the package. What was interested was that when I called MSC USA, they quoted me $35 per person per day ($700 total for 10 days). Looked on their website and yes, sure enough $35 per person per day.

 

But...I sniffed around a bit and found a way to add it to my cart (pay in Euro on the ship later) for 26 Euro per day.

 

At today's exchange rate, that's $700 if you pay in USD now, or $587 if you pay in Euro on board. A difference of $113 USD, which is substantial.

I didn't find it that way, but I just decided tonight to buckle down and pay for Sorrento ahead of time and the Allegrissimo Carnet card 18 drinks for $84. I'll likely wait to add the laundry package because they want $32 for 25 euros, which is more!

So is it 25 euro onboard for the special? Because I'm seeing 20 for 25 on MSC and they're charging me $32, which I assume is their set conversion rates months ago when the Euro was much stronger than it is now?? And if that's the case, I should wait?

Thank you for the reply. I've seen several people mention the Allegrissimo drink package, but I believe it's $35 per day. So we're talking over $700 per couple for 10 days. Isn't that a bit pricey?

I paid $456 for 8 days on Carnival for one person.

How much time would you say is "doable" to see both of these places with limited time? I've seen the outside of Sagrada Familia before; however, I was too jet lagged to go inside. We have tickets for entry between 10:30-10:45 am and two of us have tickets for the nativity tower.

I've read to take a taxi up to Parc Guell, but I'm not sure < 90 minutes is okay? We have thought about the HoHo Buses too, so maybe we could see some stuff that way beforehand.

Our port time is 9 am-6 pm.

Absolutely no way would I travel with that much cash on me. Too much of a risk. I take enough to get transportation to the hotel/b&b and then either use my CC (much easier since I have no fees) and can just pay from my account to my card if I want. Or I use my Charles schwaab card and didn't have any issues paying (no fees) or getting enough cash.

Just an update- I looked at my cruise confirmation booking reservation email and it shows the member level obtained from status match as the level. It still shows as "welcome" member for the one person they've yet to complete a match on. I didn't expect to see the reservation updated with a sailing 26/Sept