SirWolf

Sauna and steam room in Aurea Thermal Spa are unisex and included in Thermal Day Pass fee ..or.. Aurea Experience. Aurea Thermal Spa facilities are not free for anyone to access.

Which ship and date are you looking at ? MSC Seaside has no YC Grand Deluxe Suites.

Why do you want a higher “capacity” stateroom for 2 adults ? The total size of the staterooms in this category is the same, you don’t get a larger stateroom if you book for 2 adults and 2 children. The bunkbed takes only space away. What is the goal you want to achieve ? 🤷🏻‍♂️

MSC Seashore has dedicated Aurea restaurant and Yacht Club.. and so have most other newer ships. Aurea restaurant was open for dinner only on our cruise (07/2022 Caribbean). Breakfast was served in MDR.

Starboard.. (right side) of the ship.

You are sailing in Yacht Club and your butler, or any other butler, will take care of all your requests. Just call your butler and ask for a teapot of boiling hot water and specific flavor of tea or selection of teas. Specify the number of guests so that the butler brings teacups for all guests. Complete your order by telling him that you would like some milk, sugar, sweetener or honey with your tea.

Risotto in multiple variations was on dinner menu .. Yacht Club Restaurant ~ MSC Grandiosa ~ Med Cruise ~ October 2022 Risotto was under main courses but we ordered sometimes meat entrees and split portions of risotto.

Aurea Thermal Spa attire is swimsuit, bikini, swim trunks and slide sandals. We usually wear swim clothing covered with bathrobe. Towels are in the changing rooms and in the Thermal Spa area.

MSC USA website is not working properly since mid of last week.. see thread from Thursday..

MSC USA website doesn’t work as intended.. the web design team is doing a sloppy job.. launching changes without thoroughly testing of functionality and usability. It’s an embarrassment for a company of this size. MSC public relation department in Italy/Switzerland must step up for damage control.

There is always something not quite correct on MSC USA website. They don’t even proofread what’s publicly posted -> YATCH Club .. really ? (screenshot from MSC USA website MSC Seascape deck plan /12-17-2022/6:06pm) ————— Calling MSC is not practical when browsing multiple sailings for pricing and availability of cabins. —————

MSC Germany (MSC Kreuzfahrten GmbH) website in Germany is working just fine.. including selection of sub-categories and checking availability of cabins.. https://www.msccruises.de It seems that MSC USA screwed it up >again< ! WOW , it’s unbelievable that a company doesn’t analyzes and addresses issues when entering a fairly new market.. La prima impressione è l'ultima impressione -> The first impression is the last impression.

? I don’t understand.. Are you saying that every boarding has its own Gala/Elegant Night ? .. meaning multiple Gala/Elegant Nights during a 7-day cruise ? That’s not the case from my experience.

MSC will eventually realize that the booking software needs attention .. when they notice that YC bookings have dropped by 99% during the last 7 days.

It’s another example of MSCs IT incompetence to maintain/develop their website. No more mock bookings possible to check availability, location and price of cabins in YC categories (Inside, Deluxe, Grand Deluxe, OS, RS). The booking process skips directly to passenger information. The guest can only guess what kind of YC category the guarantee booking will be. Who would book a $5K+ cruise without knowing essential details ?

Military Discount has the same restriction as Healthcare Worker Discount -> “Subject to availability”. MSC reps don’t tell (quote: “Can not tell”) if the discount qualifies for the sailing. They are telling guests to book over the phone or online and submit the required documents after confirmed booking. That’s a catch-22 because deposits for Yacht Club bookings are non-refundable. MSC can deny the request for a discount based on reason not disclosed beforehand. There is no disclaimer during the booking process if the sailing is eligible for Healthcare Worker or Military Discount. Guests are misled by MSC advertisements .. only to find out that the request for the discount has been denied. Consumer Laws in the U.S. are strict when it comes to price reductions, rebates and discounts. There is a high possibility that MSC is in violation of U.S. Consumer Laws how they advertise discounts and don’t give the guest the option to abort the booking process or cancel the booking with full refund of the deposit in Yacht Club. Disclosure: Healthcare Worker Discount has been approved and applied to my sailings in 2021 and 2022 with no problem. The discount was denied for a sailing in December 2023 -> Reason: “Discount is not on this sailing”. They failed to disclose this fact when I called MSC and inquired information about this sailing.

I don’t know the requirements for medical personnel in Brazil but in the U.S. only licensed and trained staff is authorized to perform even a simple PCR Antigen test. In a Clinical Laboratory usually the supervisor reviews the test result and releases the result in the LIMS Laboratory Information Management System. The access to the LIS is not possible from the outside (laptop in hotel lobby) due to high IT security and patient privacy laws (HIPPA). The report needs to be in printed form, handwritten results are not accepted in the U.S. The turnaround time in a Clinical Laboratory setting is : 5 min. Paperwork 2 min. Sampling 15 min. Testing 5 min. Resulting In-and-out under 30 minutes. PCR Antigen Tests are point-of-care tests and can certainly be performed at a pharmacy or test station with short waiting time. @tweakes mentioned a hotel lobby.. which is a different scenario. Unfortunately Brazil is still a third world country, their testing requirements and methods may vary from other countries.

Update: Dealing with the representative of MSC USA responsible for Healthcare Worker Discount is getting frustrating. She even refused to escalate the issue and have a supervisor look into it and contact me. Quote: “ This is not an option “. Wow ! She showed some attitude in her responses. Reviewing the eMail exchange.. this is a perfect example how not to handle a guest request properly.. and could be used for training purposes. I thought cable companies, utility companies and airlines have the worst customer service.. but MSC USA put themselves on spot #1 ! I don’t know if MSC is monitoring forums like CC but it seems they are not interested in valid complaints from guests.

@tweakes said that the test will be sampled in the lobby of the hotel. They will most probably not perform the test and resulting while on location. 3 hours for driving back to the laboratory, performing the test and resulting seems reasonable.

I guess YC sends laundry to the main laundromat on the ship. We had the newly reduced laundry package service on MSC Grandiosa, Med cruise in October 2022.. sailing in Yacht Club. The butler explained the changes and offered to press two items for us (included in YC perks).

Wow ! that’s great . Thank you for the links. I had no idea that MSC offers transfer services to airports. I can’t find information on MSC USA website.

The laundry packages used to be a good value before they changed the service to “wash, dry & fold”. We had DW’s dresses and my suit dry cleaned, dress shirts laundered and neatly folded in plastic bag for easy packing traveling home. Shirts were ironed and delivered on hanger.. ready to wear. Most changed of MSC are not for the good.

That’s exactly what they do.. wash, dry & fold only included in pre-paid laundry packages. No dry cleaning.. No ironing.. No delivery on hangers.. These are services they would charge for if requested.

Contact MSC and inform them of your needs. Fill out the form and email to your TA or MSC. Special Needs / Special Health concerns ~Link~ https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/Manage-Your-Booking/Special-Needs.aspx Special Needs Form ~Link~ https://www.msccruisesusa.com/-/media/global-contents/pdf-documents/16026_15_msc_special_needs_form_eng.pdf

Photos from starboard side of MSC Seashore.. ( location of cabin marked by comparing my photos and deck plan of MSC Seashore .. please verify information ).