perakcruiser

Yes, MSC is very popular with Americans now. But still they cannot build something that only US pax love and all other would hate😄

And Naples is by far the best place to start and end a cruise in the (Western) Med. Completely umatched. Yes, I know, many will shout out "Barcelona" now, I don´t care 😄

Should be stated on page 3 of your booking confirmation.

You will never be asked. Just during the booking process, but that is the same with Bella. If you are not happy with your assigned time slot and have Fantastica you can tell MSC that you want to change to another slot and they should change it before the cruise. On board the Maitre D usually is not interested if one has Fantastica or Bella, if the ship is full capacity changing will be difficult. Talking about full capacity, that is when the Mera has three dinner slots. Less pax, only two slots. The official policy from MSC on land (that does not mean it is enforced all the time) is that Bella and Fantastica bookings cannot be linked together and non drinks package cannot be linked with drink package. That sounds very weird to you? So who you think will swipe the cruise card when the waiter brings the bottle of water and the beginning of the dinner? You with the package or your friend without? 😉 And if you swipe your friend will then say to the waiter when he fills the glasses "Stop, stop, I am not qualified". Some of cause will not just take the water and also order a bottle of wine for the table. So certainly MSC on land will want to avoid to lose the water money, which is - believe it or not - a very important part of their revenues. But on board the Maitre D often is not really interested if one has Fantastica, drinks package, so in the end you probably can sit together anyway.

The problem is that you cannot have it both. Use an agent and then talk with them directly to find a solution. You already solved it together with that supervisor, but then the TA needs to been brought in and the whole story starts again. I am very familiar with that situation, it is always a hard decision if i take a TA or handle it by myself. Last booking i decided to do it by my own, because i already saw potential problems coming. That was a good idea indeed I needed to change the booking and made it directly with a qualified MSC hotline person. No money was lost and I got my confirmation minutes later. By the way, i don't think Italian - or Malaysian 😄 - corporate culture does include the option that a higher ranked executive is willing to talk and discuss with a "normal" customer. Another thing, ignore it when someone says "use an agent", because it needs to be an agent who has a lot of business and is experienced with MSC and is recognized by them as valued partner. These TA usually have a personal contact at MSC and a much higher chance to get what you want from MSC.

I dont remember not getting an itemized receipt on any of the 10+ MSC cruises I did. And certainly never anything has been bundled. There have been wrong items one or two times which immediately were removed after I complained at reception. But I would never leave any cruise ship without checking and settling the final bill. Also during the cruise anytime you want you can MSC let print out a detailed bill that would also include charges that have been maid two minutes before.

The truth is that it is all about status. Your TA probably has the lowest status with MSC, so no dedicated hotline, no perks, no bonuses, it is the same as with us passengers, some are YC, some are Bella Inside and they will not get the same experience with MSC 😉 Not sure how this works, but my TA (not in US market, so no use for you) can handle this things. He has the highest status for TA with MSC, that is COMMANDER. On the other hand exactly this TA complains a lot about Celebrity Cruises, they ignore questions, reply extremely slow, bad availability on the phone and so on. To make it short, a TA who has a excellent business status with RCCL probably will tell you bad things about MSC and that he don´t want to do business with them. And opposite with MSC "Commanders". So always keep in mind, what a TA tells you always depends on HIS relationship with the cruise line and not your cruise experience.

For all. Actually during Covid everyone got a wristband, not just YC. Of cause you should return it at the end of the cruise. Price to buy is 5 or 10 Euro.

yes, I know, but that happens only in US ports.

I love the Preziosa much more than the Splendida. The infinity pool is absolutely priceless. Best pool on any MSC ship or any other cruise ship I know

Which is one of MSCs biggest plus as all other cruise lines I know kick you off as early as possible.

Your shuttle bus to the airport will not be too early when your flight is so late. We before had an evening flight to Europe with MSC from Havana and did not leave the ship until 4pm.

Also in Japan MSC has the selling point "Holiday in Italy on sea", so the differences are limited. Certainly more Asian dishes on the menu and in the buffet, but don´t hope for sushi.

No matter if YC or "normal", I would be surprised if MSC loses any staff to US lines, presume it goes the other way.

Certainly this is the worst idea because you just take the money away from some cruise members and give it all to a few. With no reason. This is why individual tipping is not "recommended" by MSC and the other cruise lines, they have all the hassle to reduce the salary for the tip winner and increase for tip losers.

You definitely did, thanks! Great! So I worked thru the menus to find out which evenings I should book a speciality restaurant for nothing. Even made some notes 😄 Usually with cruises on other lines these restaurants are not frequented too much and it is never a problem to get a table. But with these Celebrity hundreds of $$$ OBC offers things will be different of cause.

After having lost me about 10 years before (mainly to MSC), Celebrity has caught me back with a quite good offer on the good olde Infinity. It included a vast amount of onboard credit that needs to be spent now. Probably mostly on wine and coffee, but also on some speciality restaurants. 1) Are these open only for dinner? I am talking about Petit Chef, the Tuscan Grill I booked already for dinner. 2) MDR is only open for lunch on sea days, right? The menu in the app for our cruise is only available for dinner, so I wonder if it will be open for lunch at all. 3) Our cruise is longer than 7 days, the menu in the app only shows these 7 days. Will it repeat after that? Overall I could complain that the menu is rather disappointing, no Tuna or other "high end" fish, no Filet Milgnon, no Seafood special, not even duck breast, which I remember as excellent even after more than 10 years. I do not complain as the price was right, but I understand now the many angry posts on the forum 😄

I am also searching for a hotel in Athens pre cruise now, have to say that to my surprise Athens is very cheap, with this prices Celebrity makes definitely more money than with the cruise price 😄

Well, it is the cruise lines that use or used a loop-hole for their advantage with the service charge. Actually in most European countries it was not a loop-hole, it was illegal. So they were sued by consumer protection organisations (and they sued each other, MSC sued Costa for their service charge), now it is included in the cruise price as it should.

The "topic" changes everyday. Cruises from/including Southampton have more Indian food, in the Med less.

That is so popular in Europe you even can buy it in cans in the supermarkets. It is my favorite drink for Aperitivi when in Italy.

It is very simple, the DSC is mandatory in almost all of MSC markets, you cannot remove it even if a staff member beats you or your kids😄 And it is listed in the final price already at the booking. There is one big exception, that is the US market. Here MSC follows the local practice of advertising a fake price that has nothing to do with reality, DSC is missing, taxes and fees are missing. That is plain stupid, but seems to be legal in the US. So the cruise lines have these "low" prices. There is only one reason why MSC is doing this, because probably US pax mostly are not deleting the DSC even if they could. For the staff it makes no difference, if the US pax would start to delete the DSC, MSC has to compensate and would anyway immediately make it mandatory also for this market.

This bus if you go from airport: https://kielius-onlinebuchung.de/ This bus if you go from town center: https://global.flixbus.com/

Clear call for me, if you like sea days take the Poesia, if you like seeing places take the Splendida. Her itinerary is amazing.

It is different, but some dishes are everywhere on the menu.