Morgsmom

There is no issue if you show up later than the "assigned" time --- which will likely be changed many times until you board. 🙂

Following.... I've done a basic Google search but can't find anything mentioning discounts.

Congrats for you - reports of good customer service are, well, rare 🙂 You will know when you check in what level you have - it will be printed on your card and the color on the top of the card will reflect it. For specialty dining, hubby is entitled to 2 "dining experience" menus at Butcher's. yes, you can pay for 2 more. No worries.

OH DANG! Ok, that is correct, but no beer or wine at the buffet bar? What the??

What beer and wine bar on the Mera? There's the British Pub, The Champagne Bar, etc, but I'm not aware of a beer & wine bar ...

Fix what? MSC's wonky rules? or Linking the Reservations? 🙂

?? The YC Beach is hardly accessible IMO. The walking path down to the beach is on the side of a hill; it is not paved. The YC Ocean House is, however, accessible. As far as the Pool in YC on the Mera I cannot remember having any lift or Wheelchair access. I just googled the photo as a reminder. While the deck might be ok the lift is in the main pool, not YC pool.

We are squarely in the camp of "please expand your Caribbean itineraries!" as we don't bother getting off (unless it's Ocean Cay) anymore. I actually prefer the Divina - don't need the waterslides and bells and whistles of the larger ships.

Um, you went and took a nap in a cabana that you did not rent? Not ok. And you put a butler in an awkward situation, but, hey, you do you. In answer to the OP, you get all the drinks & food you want on the beach. No need for a Cabana for 2 at YC in my opinion.

Yes, there is priority for Diamond members in Miami. The luggage drop off works the same as in every other port - you give it to a porter and it, eventually, makes it way onboard and then to your cabin. If you have any concern you can carry on your luggage if it can fit through a standard security screening machine.

Well I can add another. We just got off the Grandiosa on Friday. There is no longer YC reserved seating in the theater. While there are 3 roped off rows, ANYONE can sit there. In fact, the very hostile young lady (who was very anti-YC and it's privileges) kept inviting guests "hey, do you want to sit here?". We ended up leaving after the 2nd occurrence of this. YC Director (the charming Mr. Balla) said that his hands were tied, too, because there'd be nights when only a few people from YC went to the show so others were complaining that the seats were going to waste so higher ups than him decided to do away with YC seating. As far as interlopers, I will say that I am keen to observe and there were none on our sailing (that I noted), HOWEVER since it was on the Med I can imagine that it is different than in the Caribbean where "guests" might want to lay around the pool all day. Sounds like there needs to be much more vigilance in the US market.

That is YC Director Craig. He's a keeper 🙂

With all of the love in my heart you must not have had many interactions with MSC previously and you have precisely 19 posts on this board. Maybe you are a veteran cruiser; maybe not... however.... You can "scour" the T&Cs all you want but you can also show up at a port and be denied boarding. In the end the Cruiseline will ALWAYS WIN. The 1000's of lines of script that basically says they can do anything they want at any time because they are the boss will pretty much give them all of the rights to deny you boarding. Heck, you can book through the US site and stuff stills goes wrong - way wrong - when you try to change something as simple as a stateroom. Try to book on one of their other country websites with a fake address (because the country is hard-coded)? Well then you must have nerves of steel because I'd be a hot mess. I'd LOVE to take advantage of currency fluctuations and offers that are country specific, but many on this board (you know who you are 😉) have been burned in countless ways for things they DIDN'T do, let alone things they willingly did, so I am not willing to risk it.

I've often wondered about this myself. I have seen at times where it'd be cheaper to book on the Italian website HOWEVER it defaults to Italy as a country of origin and you cannot change. I really did not want to risk showing up and being denied boarding because of some weird mis match on addresses.

Yes, you can do it online beforehand and save the 15%. In addition the European cruise sites are reporting a large increase in beverage packages to go into effect tomorrow. Not sure if this is happening in the US market or not.

If you have a competent Travel Agent you can TRY to do it, however, once a booking is open all sorts of things can happen INCLUDING it being re-fared.

In my experience it's usually 60-90 days. That's just the way they do it. Lots of overseas red tape.

OMG, I had to drive around for an hour to plug in my Tesla... wah, wah, wah.... Come on.....

Watched the video and can't get back those 25 minutes, however I think most of what he said was malarky. Clutch your pearls, but I doubt that his GF was accosted by Brazilian gals telling her to marry him for his $. On the specialty dining up-sell. Yup. EVERY cruiseline ever. So that's that. On the kids in Disco. Shame on cruiseline and if there's an age limit they really need to enforce it (though I doubt the whole older "P'" guy preying on the poorly clothes littles.) All in all, sour grapes for someone who sails for free (in my opinion only).

Faith restored 🙂 lol. What a silly rant. There's no way that someone who has cruised extensively wouldn't know some of these things. As far as "bar service in the smoking area was slow"... I mean, why wouldn't it be? Do you think employees want to bring booze to smokers who can't be bothered to get up and walk to a bar? The whole Cpap + Cigar + Sharps container (not indicated, but maybe diabetic?) + where's my ice cream is a head-shaker at best. Oh, and the bit about the movies should be free b/c the tv is not working... bwhahahahaha... I needed a laugh today. Thank you OP, thank you. For all those who suggested he should have been in the YC I fear for what that would have looked like when he pulled out a big old stogie in TopSail or up at the pool......

The terms are very clear, unfortunately, in the upgrade program. You pay for 2 if you sail solo. On the flipside, you pay for 2 if you are a foursome.

Unfortunately you will find MSC (and certainly it's website) is less than "logical" 🙂

A bargain then! As prior poster said, different rates in different countries. Frustrating, indeed, when I see significantly cheaper rates if I could book on the .IT (Italy) site. I would say $400/pax/day for the 1st and 2nd is about right if not a bit low nowadays

Ok, so I was on the Mera in December on a 4 nighter. Generally I find that Sun-Thursday cruises have a more laid back crowd. Not the weekend warriors, and not the folks who want the full 7 night experience. It was a hot mess. Though I was in YC, the folks in the cabin next to me smoke week INCESSANTLY on their balcony and in their cabin. The one time I left the bubble to walk across deck 15 it was like walking into a Carnival cruise on it's worst day. More weed smell (which I detest); folks yellling at bartenders, tables LADEN with drinks. Just a nasty crowd. Not one I'd want to say "hello" to let alone sit next to. I do agree that the bargain level entry prices are attracting some rather 'ratchet" (?) (or whatever the kids say) crowd. Like nasty. However, the prices of more "upscale" lines is off putting. I can do a YC with drinks for 1/2 the price of Virgin without. It's still a no brainer. Just need to stay in the bubble

Did you have 4 pax? Kids sail free?