perakcruiser

Thank you.

There is not just a single pick up time, but certainly not so frequently as in Marseille. And things change fast, best is to wait until on board and ask at the excursion desks, extremely unlikely that the transfer will be sold out.

And what about the many passengers that do not embark/disembark in Venice? Can they use the water bus or are they forced to use the coaches? And are "tender" tickets needed?

I spent a lot of my OBC on booze, birds, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.

Both companies know how to deliver, never a mistake to book a cruise with them. I sailed 3 times on Celebrity and numerous times on MSC. I am willing to pay 20 % more per day per person on Celebrity. Basically only the price decides for us in the end, when sailing with our (young) kids, certainly Celebrity is not an option.

Your perspective is wrong. MSC is not a low-cost line, that maybe is your US centric view, because some US lines like Disney are ridiculous expensive. MSC is Italian, even some guys at MSC USA seem to dilute the experience because they think this is needed to conquer the market. I guess many people cannot manage a holiday in Italy, so they also have problem with a MSC cruise. That is where the *sorry* dumb reviews with the "inedible food and rude crew" come from. MSC is the untouched number one on the European market, everywhere, even the markets in Italy, Germany or UK are so different. That is because they provide a quality experience. Certainly not matching the lines with double prices.

Actually it is already difficult enough for the cruise lines to set up the tours. Not just Christmas and New Years Day, Epiphany also. Celebrity had to cancel many excursions because the local travel agents could not provide busses and guides on that days. MSC in Europe is certainly more powerful to handle this as they deal with it long time already. But surely they will not be able to provide extra busses when the tours are sold out.

The algorithm decides, no humans involved. My experience, prices for August (with is the super hot season for MSC) never go down.

Pentecost holiday in many European countries, almost no chance for a last minute grab. For those great last minute rates you really need to go offseason. I am cruising with MSC the same week in Europe (other ship), have booked already and I am 100 percent sure that it will not get cheaper.

I don´t like this pure train ride where you have to immediately return. Basically it means going there, 10 minutes break, going back. Almost not worth to go out of the train. $226 sounds a hell of money, but it´s Norway. For a six hours trip with bus, train und lunch this is actually a pretty fair price. And the train one way is enough, a lot of tunnels.

So where does this endless line of people walking over the Europa bridge come from? 😄 But as said before, it depends on the terminal, if it is B it is only 2 km to Colom. And don´t forget, there are people who are fit and want to walk. In our earlier days we walked all the way from the port to Sagrada Familia and back. It is not such a big thing. The walk from the Terminal behind E to A feels longer. And probably is😉

Yes. For some unknown reasons MSC is doing the refunds extremely quick now, have not experienced this in the past 😄

Just one thing to add, even it looks so attractive and inviting from the port, you cannot walk up Montjuic directly. There is no way to cross the road B-10, you will end up at an underpass that is unfortunately closed. If you want to walk you need to go all the way to the Drassanes roundabout first and then back. For public transport you can use the busses 88 und 89 from the stop Moll Ponent to Metro Parallel and then onwards. Unfortunately it is not possible to buy a useful ticket on the bus. Also cannot buy a T-familiar card as a foreigner online. So there is no real practical solution, but when your cruise ends or starts in Barcelona, you can get the T-familiar at the airport already.

MSC is indeed not selling cruises starting in Tunisia and Morocco on their websites, but I am not sure if local travel agents might sell these cruises for MSC in their local markets.

This is available on all MSC ships since I cruise with them (2011).

For you in YC this has no relevance, but generally it is certainly much more relaxed to have the embarking/disembarking in one of the minor ports. If really all ports are used for embarking/disembarking, that depends on the route. In the Eastern Med not all ports are used, in the Western almost all ports are used, Malta and Ibiza sometimes not, Tunis never (I think).

But on board they add the 15% service charge. So it should be $107 on board and that would make it exactly 20% cheaper for you.

It is only performed if it is ordered by the guest or better said by the family of the one with birthday. I ordered it for my 7year old last time and she was so happy. I will againorder it on my birthday cruise in May, but certainly only because of the kids having fun, not because of me 😉 Unfortunately this ship does not have a Butchers Cut, otherwise I would know my birthday dinner now, the seafood platter looks so amazing and the wine pairing surely is perfect also.

You are wrong. People not book MSC "because it´s cheap", people (like me) book them, because they love the product. A cruise line can never survive with just being cheap, that´s something that works for airlines, but not for a ship one spends a whole week or more.

I have never been on the Divina, she usually loiters around in North America. So is there a real difference between the two ships? There is a difference between Preziosa and Fantasia/Splendida, these two don´t have the magical pool for example.

The Linguine alla vongole indeed do not look delicious 😄 But I never have seen this dish in all the years with MSC, it is a YC dish. Well, the MDR version better should be avoided. Still MSC is unmatched for pasta overall. The policy not releasing information to any person except the person involved is normal, Celebrity is the same. With a 80 years old person it is of cause annoying, but on the other hand this policy is not senseless.

That is because MSC changes the rules for points all the time and they not change it overall but separately for each market. Gambling, DSC, just because you got points two months ago does not mean you will get it again. Double voyager points für a cruise? Can be "prepaid", can be on board spending, who knows.

Following as we will do this cruise later this year with the Preziosa. What you plan for Le Havre?

I could not agree more, but unsurprisingly there a great, mediocre and disappointing parts. Even less surprising, the easier it is to go there, the more unattractive it is.

Oh yes, I forgot already! St Petersburg maybe had the highest priority for me, I will surely not do a Baltic cruise without.