Morgsmom

Maybe the Caymans are trying to make up some of the lost revenue they incurred by closing their borders to cruisers for so long during the pandemic?

Bwhahahahah....."to fit our customs".... bwhahahahaha... So they should be opening up a 12 midnight to 2am burger and wing joint for all of the 3 night booze cruisers to wash down their beer? Please say it ain't so. We've gone back and forth about this before. Re-faring is no longer the case with may other lines - you now can "PAY" a surcharge to have flexibility on Holland and Royal. There is a huge business cost to re-faring a guest, not alone with the lost revenue but with the labor to jump through hoops to do so. Airlines do not offer price adjustments when the fares change, which they do every minute, why should cruiselines? Same with hotels who offer non-refundable fares. Find a fare and stick with it. If you've got nothing better do to than re-fare by cancelling, rebooking, etc to save $50 please understand that the costs associated with this to the business will ultimately be passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices or reduced services. Economics 101.

Thank you so much! And the spreadsheet for budgeting that you commented on 🙂

This means to another booking, not to re-fare the booking.

Ooh, I was just about to make some 🍿Popcorn to watch this show... To answer the OP's question - it's a free for all. There is a SUGGESTED dress code and it's up to the Maitre D' to enforce. There are posters who insist (blah blah blah) that it's their vacation and they paid for it and they can wear shorts and flops to dinner, darn it, because how they dress shouldn't bother your enjoyment of your dinner. In fact it does bother me because I generally feel like it's being done sometimes to have a showdown of sorts - "whatcha mean I can't wear what I want?" (voices escalating), "I paid to be here and I'll wear what I want, wanna try me?", etc...." (However, I have seen plenty of men walk toward Le Muse on the Divina in shorts, accompanied by their butler, and be denied entrance.) Then there are posters who believe in Ladies and Gentlemen acting like ladies and gentlemen. For this we use the Country Club Attire guidelines. No hats in dining room, no shorts for dinner, etc. If you couldn't wear for dinner in a restaurant at a members only country club then you shouldn't be wearing it in the YC. You want to insist on shorts and flops and a baseball cap - go to the MDR, the buffet, order room service or snack on the olives in Top Sail (kidding). In short, jackets are NOT required for formal night. Collared shirt and trousers are perfectly appropriate, a tie is a nice touch that doesn't add weight to a suitcase. A jacket is icing on the cake, but not necessary.

but the MDRs are closed on embarkation day. Also, the food in the sports bar is for fee; it is not free.

LOL! I can relate! My DH has a "no solo to Europe" or any cool place he hasn't gone to before policy too! But if I want to go on a 4 night Bahamas from Port Canaveral he's all for it 🙂

The starting bid for your offer might be higher based on what you have already paid...

Well, it depends. #1) if you booked a rate with Wifi and Beverage you will not get any refund. However, #2) if you added a Beverage package separately to a reservation and you are still more than 3 days out you should be able to cancel the package.

That was 6 (six) years ago.

You cannot make specialty dining reservations prior to the cruise - only onboard. As far as being told they are full -- they are likely short-staffed and want to limit the # of guests per time slot. I'm having a hard time believing that a YC concierge would not be able to get a table for 2 at Butcher's on any other night than sailing (even if it were a 3 nighter).

?? Ship? Sailing? An Aurea restaurant is a sit down restaurant. If you want to go to the Main Buffet you are welcome to dine there. (Gird your loins!)

There's no tennis. It would not make good use of limited space on a ship to have that much square footage being used by 2 (possibly 4) tennis players when there could be a whole gaggle of teens playing basketball or soccer.

At your initial port of embarkation no liquids are allowed to be brought onboard (soda, water, wine, etc), however afterwards as @CruisingFox27 says, there's never been an issue coming back with a stray bottle of soda, water, or even a few (unopened) beers from Mexico. For snacks for the kiddos you CAN bring on pre-packaged items that they might like; that way you have them for ports of call. Please don't be that person making sandwiches in the breakfast buffet which are then confiscated trying to get off the ship. Worse, is trying to bring fruit into Mexico. No bueno 🙂

I've actually found that opening bids go UP closer to sailing. Once someone bites on a bid and it's accepted that seems to set a new "floor." Remember that it's an outside company that is gathering data to try to figure out exactly how much people are willing to spend.

#1 Secrets and Dreams are owned by Hyatt. #2 Perhaps because it is a different business model indeed. Each of the suites at such a resort cost, at least, the price of a Yacht Club Suite for a week, so if a few cancel last minute, no big deal, as everyone is paying top dollar rates. At those resorts there's no such thing as an introductory $299 7 night inside cabin, $499 Oceanview or $899 balcony (for the week, mind you). Thus the value of the 1 Yacht Club cabin to the overall economics of the MSC sailing is far higher than the value of the 1 hotel room at said resort. Peace ☮️and Love 💌

Shaking my head as to what kind of business would allow for that.... Back in the day when cruise cancelling was easier people would book multiple cabins (possibly on multiple lines) and then cancel at day 61 out. After final payment was due they would then hope for massive price "fill the ship" reductions and rebook. It's a time consuming, money-wasting game for the industry. I personally think that the YC non-refundable deposits of $198 are rather reasonable. As PP said, $200 is not going to break the bank.

Hum... not showing an 11 night cruise on Musica in Oct 2024 on the US website....

I could see MSC saying that it's UP TO but not including $10 😋 Wouldn't doubt it. (ARGH)

Of course

frequently on Deck 14 you can hear the pool chairs being dragged around early in the morning; no noise issues on Deck 8

Ship and cabin number?

No. The ship designs do not have any "secret" hump cabins of note. There are some aft cabins with particularly large balconies, though.

MSC Cruises (USA) LLC operates as the sales agent only and does not own or operate any MSC Cruise vessels. MSC Cruises S.A. out of Geneva operates the vessels and sets the rules. Is it a cluster? Yup. Likely to win in any sort of court? Nope.

Welcome to the wonderous world of MSC. First, I'd say you have no recourse with the cruise line. If you try to open that can of worms you will likely lose as they will re-fare your cruise and it probably went up (just a guess). HOWEVER what you can do, and should do, is now contact the Travel Agency that was "given" this cruise and has done NO work for you. You then ask them for some perks since they did not lift a finger and they are getting a commission now. They (the 2nd Agency) should give you OBC. That's the folks you need to talk to now.