Lou2204

Thanks all for the advice. I always wondered whether one side of the ship would be better than the other, but of course it will depend on the route. And yes, standing on deck is usually more festive when departing.

I still did change the location and we are now port side on this occasion.

Thanks!

Bhall, great tip, thanks so much, I think we'll change our cabin to the one on port side. At least we can make some nice movies from the balcony.

Did you enjoy the trip? Did you maybe post a review I can read?

Ah yes, now I see that the next one is in December. Wow I'm envious of the many cruises planned, we just got bitten by the bug quite recently, so many places still to see and try! I hope you will like the Star.

Is RCCL your favorite?

Thanks all for your valuable advice!! So many excellent reasons for using a TA. It's just that I never used one for my personal trips (I only did for business travel) and we only recently started going on cruises, so I just couldn't see why I would start now. Always booked my own flights and hotel rooms for,our regular travels.

But I can see the point now if you cruise regularly, only thing now is to find a good one.....

Thanks again!!

Better as in having a better view of the coastline, and a better view when sailing away. I don't know how close this ship sails to the coast and whether you can see anything at all, but I figure if you are on starboard, you would be facing the water, and on port side facing the land? As my dear hb pointed out ' but it also sails back the same way', and yes he does have a good point, but it looks as if it would sail closer to land going South.

(Btw I like your forum name, it makes me feel a bit less maniacal now, asking this detailed question 1 year prior to sailing :'):'))

Wait, I just checked your signature, so I know you're going in Oct. wow, you're a very experienced cruiser... i noticed you just sailed with the Star, did you like the ship?

Hi Kevmoley, thanks for,your reply, ha! And here I was thinking I was early booking this cruise, but you beat me to my game :D:D

When are you sailing? Which cabin do you have and on which side... port?

Just wondering, as I see many people referring to TA's, what are the advantages of using a TA?

Obviously they can do the research, but I do my own reasearch online and prefer to book myself, choosing own cabin etc.

Not sure what a TA would add, can they get better deals for you? Just to double check, I asked a TA for a price on a cruise I was researching online, and they offered the exact same price.

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

We are sailing from Venice in aug 2018, and booked a cabin on starboard, thinking it will have the better views of the coastline etc.

But is this true? It sails from Venice southbound, so I'm thinking maybe its better to be on port side...?

Anybody got an idea? Does it make a difference?

Kids get unlimited Soda beverage package , by the looks of it! Btw the extras didn't show up in the My NCL area, I have written to them about this.

Bit of confusing communication about the confirmation as well _ I paid the deposit by cc, would I still need to confirm the option?

Good morning!!

Well I have been studying all this, and we have booked the PH suite with balcony - it is on the newer deck 12, as you mentioned. 12012.

The owner suites are a bit above budget for this occasion, so that is not an option, alas.

From what we can see, all the suites on deck 12 are Family Suites (with only the windows), only 4 of them have a balcony. So we got one of those, as you mentioned, they seem bigger than the ones and the interior is really nice and modern looking.

We're still contemplating maybe the penthouse with the larger balconies on deck 10, but I don't like the interior as much as the ones on deck 12, e.g. the bathroom does not have a separate shower or 2 sinks, like the ones on deck 12 have. Still, the deck 10 ones are more expensive, weird huh?

Btw this website does itself a huge disservice by not asking for the ages of the passengers prior to booking/looking. It means that the price shown while you are checking out various alternatives is not accurate. This was a HUGE plus for us, when we started booking the price dropped by about 1100 euros, because 2 of the passengers are kids. We couldn't believe it!! Hurray!!!!

Btw this is all inclusive right? That's what it says all the time, but on our confirmation they then name a lot of 'add ons' - is that the same? I see we get Meal Speciality Dining Package, adult beverage, bottled water, internet AND $100 onboard credit. Looks like an excellent deal to me.

Well, we're happy campers, now all we have to do is ... wait another year before departure :D:D:D

Great advice Dexx many thanks! We have to go to a big party today so won't be able to do my research until tomorrow, Sunday. Will check it all out then.

Thanks again, really great to get insider tips!!

Have a good Saturday!!

Will check those out when back behind my pc. Now on phone.

The water comment: it's all inclusive, isn't it? So it would come with water anyway, no?

Hahaha that Daisy Dukes comment made me laugh :') Dexx!

Would be the same here.

Ok plans have changed we decided to go with NCL on the 8/26 itinerary. Looking at it in more detail we prefer the ports, the price is excellent. For less than what we would have spent on MSC, we are now in a suite, with butler and all the other perks as you described. The family suite you recommended is fab, but we really really want a balcony. So will probably go for the penthouse with balcony. That or the larger PH but they are front facing and strangely enough I didn't enjoy that as much as I thought I would on Divina. Seems you can see more when you are starboard?

Anyway thanks so much for pointing us in this direction, if ever we meet up on a future cruise, I owe you a thank you beer!! :cool:

I have not sailed msc yet but we love, love ncl. We have a teen and it is his favorite line. We are booked on msc next but not sure we will keep the booking because of reviews-- even though it is a great deal.

Thanks, that's good to know as I did read that there isn't much going on on the MSC one, and I do have two teens!

On an aside, a question: how can you have booked but not sure you will keep it? Are you allowed to cancel,once booked ? How does that work? I thought that once booked, you need to stick to it!! Thanks!

We looked at that date as well but I believe school starts that week, so we would need the 18/9 of August dates. I will double check tomorrow. Could it be that rates from the US are better than from Europe?

We did check and are seriously reconsidering changing to this sailing, dates may work out after all ( miscalculated a week).

You were right the prices are so much lower than the week before, and there still is a lot of choice in cabins and suites.

Would you prefer an NCL suite to the sinfonia balcony..?

What dates are you looking at? I just checked the 8/26/18 date and the suites on NCL Star are VERY reasonable. You can get the lowest category SJ for $4800 US for 4 (plus taxes and fees) all the way up to the DOS for $6100 US. They also have the Garden Villas available if you could convince 3 more people to go with you and split the cost for a once in a lifetime room experience.

We looked at that date as well but I believe school starts that week, so we would need the 18/9 of August dates. I will double check tomorrow. Could it be that rates from the US are better than from Europe?

What dates are you looking at? I just checked the 8/26/18 date and the suites on NCL Star are VERY reasonable. You can get the lowest category SJ for $4800 US for 4 (plus taxes and fees) all the way up to the DOS for $6100 US. They also have the Garden Villas available if you could convince 3 more people to go with you and split the cost for a once in a lifetime room experience.

That week indeed looked better, but that's when school is starting again, so we looked at 8/18 or 19... will do a double check tomorrow, but could it be that it is cha

We did a Grand Voyage to Durban on Sinfonia 6 weeks after doing a 7 night East Med from Venice last year. The food offerings were much better on the 7 night cruise!

Thanks Bea, that does put my mind at rest a bit ...

I can really recommend Stingray sailing, for what it's worth!!

Ow that sounds dreadful! Did you post a review?

Have a look our post on our experience on Sinfonia last year, loved it!http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...light=Sinfonia

 

I think you will find the experience a big change from YC though!

CruiseIreland thanks so much for sharing, very useful to read your review and the thread that follows. What struck me was the comment about the food being different on the longer cruises. That might explain the terrible reviews from the South Africans who seem to have taken the longer cruises. We are small eaters and totally not picky at all, so I suspect we'd be fine.

Will also check out the Poesia though to see the difference, I believe the itinerary didn't work as well for us. Really want to see Split and Dubrovnik!

Thanks again!

Hi Dexx!! It was the Norwegian Star, which was 2k more expensive than the MSC - mind you without the drinks package we'd need to buy on MSC, the nett difference would be €1.400 (NCL more expensive than MSC).

Would it be worthwhile to spend the extra money for NCL, you think? We have never sailed with them before, and I know you are an expert ;)

So we found the perfect itinerary from Venice, timing is ok (aug 2018) and we even found 2 balconies with connecting doors for us and the teenagers for a reasonable price (I think? €6k on Fantastica, so will buy the all inclusive package as well for 600 euros)... almost ready to book, until I started reading the reviews here on Sinfonia ....

There are some very decidedly bad reviews for the ship, mostly concerning the food and the service. Seem to be most notable for the South African sailings, but also some for Europe.

Am in doubt now, should we go ahead and book, we had a terrific time on the Divina (ok granted we were YC) but how could the difference in experience be so huge within one cruise line ...?

NCL also seem to work a similar itinerary there, so I am wondering would that be a better option? But on my dates the price difference was €2k, but would it be worth it.

Anybody here with experience on this itinerary? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Lou

We checked for our upcoming cruise, and Aurea was not available on the balcony cabin? It came with Fabtastica automatically so we'll take that and take the all inclusive package.

I just read a couple of reviews and was worried about the comments about the food not being good on the sinfonia? We loved the food on the Divina, but perhaps it is different on YC..?

Bea, what is your experience?