perakcruiser

OK, I am acting the same way, my last 5 bookings are MSC, TUI CRUISES, AIDA, CELEBRITY and MSC again right now. Costa was always more expensive than MSC, not to talk about the Germans. At the moment MSC is sometimes more expensive than all others in Western Med, which I have never seen before. Celestyal and P&O, I heard the names, but have never seen any ships of them or even any advertisement. So they do really exist? 😄

Maybe because you compare them with the US companies in the Med, not with the other Europeans? our past cruises give me this idea 😉

My brother who just joined in with his wife and one year old son could not believe that this route can be done with only one sea day and in one week :)

When looking at this printed menu I mainly see the Italian MSC "favourites" that do business with MSC since many, many years. Reminds me of the good old "Wine & Water" packages that we always booked. Nothing to be excited of but compared to the wines they offer now in their AI packages something to miss. @LiquidWu Enjoy your cruise and maybe a recommendation from me to enjoy it more. ask if they offer you a glass of Cloudy Bay sauvignon. Especially with fish or seafood.

I love the older MSC ships (but also the Mera). Just checked, I also never been on the Musica! But Orchestra and Poesia, both have been very nice cruises. Preziosa is my all time favourite MSC ship. By the way, my overall all time favourite ship is now getting a fourth! life as Marella Voyager. Hope I will be able to sail it in 2024, even a 100% UK style and passenger cruise is not really something I always waited for😄

Two weeks later. So if you write here about your trip I will take detailed notes. I am only familiar with Santorin, it will be my fourth time here. Kusadasi I have been 20 years plus before but not with a cruise ship.

OK, checked it and booked it. The price is crazy !!! The itinerary is even better, if MSC would let me decide a route in the Med for them I guess I could not do better. Places I most happily visit again PLUS 2 new POC for me PLUS a new country with Cyprus. And the best, I can fit it in the autumn school holidays, both kids pay NOTHING except 50% of the gratuities. And the cruise hits a kids birthday, so I even can hand over this burden to MSC 😄

Which can easily end up with first worlds problem number 1: tax. Bring all your receipts from buying these watches or prepare for a few test nights in a Norwegian prison. Having said that, I would expect Norway to have the most comfortable prisons in the world 😄

Meraviglia is a masterpiece you can book without thinking. Don´t think you will find any "shortcomings". But the older and smaller Lirica- and Musica-class ships maybe not suit everyone.

Normal is four separate accounts. But you have the options to put others (not even need to be the same cabin) on your account / credit card. This is useful to get more Voyager points. Not relevant for you, just to let you know.

Here too. No spring/easter cruise for us this time, the prices are way too high. And the MSC prices for summer are "amazing", not to talk about the others. But I am optimistic that there will be good offers again for October/November.

From Civitavecchia they do.

(Unbottled) Water is free at the buffet if you get it by yourself. Water was never free in the MDR, this is totally normal for Europe. But UK guests get the water free in the MDR, to be correct, guests with a booking from MSC UK. Gratuities are mandatory for most, but not for US guests as with the US lines. So not really too much differences. Guests especially from Italy love Gala, but nobody expects Americans, English or Germans to take part, so take it easy and just do what makes you happy.

The shops at the touristy area on the north side of the Elbe tunnel ("Landungsbrucken") will be open. And on the south side of the tunnel there is also a place to grab some food and drinks at the view point.

The Germans have the crazy rules that Uber must be as expensive as a normal (and very expensive) taxi, so this is not surprising. But @LiquidWu certainly should know this better. 30 Euros sounds normal to me for this route. I guess there is a much cheaper inside route while some taxi drivers "prefer" the outside. Advantage with Uber, at least you cannot be cheated. About the tunnel, that is a sight by itself. Actually it´s made for horse carriages 😄 Then it was used for cars, since many years it is under renovations and cars cannot go, only pedestrians and bicycles. Cars will be back some day. I would recommend to see it and walk it. Maybe you want to walk one way and take taxi for the other. If you are walking, after the tunnel you can take public transport (or taxi) to the Wunderland. Then the walking part is reduced to 3 km. Or even better, take a taxi from the cruise terminal to the tunnel. The walk through the tunnel and then along the river to the Wunderland is really something to enjoy.

National Express is absolutely brillant. I love it. If just all countries in the world could have a bus service like this.

This place is absolutely awesome and my daughters totally enjoyed it. So did I 🙂 But it is also extremely popular, maybe more than any other place in Hamburg. Sunday is certainly worst, definitely book online well in advance! I think otherwise huge disappointment is almost guaranteed. And yes, Sunday is a disaster with public transport in Hamburg.If you don´t want to do the 4.5 km walk (that is enjoyable as soon as you reached the Elbe tunnel), you have to take a 10 km taxi ride. Foreigners are often cheated by not taking the shortest route.

We got walkie talkies from the kids club (so they can contact us when the baby is "unhappy") on MSC Meraviglia and it worked perfectly. But not sure if outside walkie talkies would work as good.

Totally empty. In Europe at least, maybe in the Caribbean there are more guests interested in sports at this time. At least before Covid the feedback forms had a big impact on the salary of the room stewards and waiters.

Not at 6am 😄

Maybe the gym will open at 7 already, otherwise the running track is your thing. Never closed. Like on many other cruises lines the spin bikes are put away when no spinning is going on to use the space for other classes. Zero chance to use them.

If there is a sea day it is likely to be the night before the sea day. Otherwise Gala is set on a night before a port with no or very limited guests (dis)embark. Valetta for example.

Probably there are different "generations" of kiosks around depending on how new/old the ship is.

It is not so easy. MSC (and other cruise lines) certainly don´t want out of the market bookings. And they are aware of this practice very well. So the tried to forbid this, but European Union law stopped them. EU citizens have the right to book in any EU market and no measurements are allowed to hinder them from this, the residence in a specific country cannot be a requirement. Your situation as US citizen is totally different, MSC can certainly forbid you to book in UK or EU. Certainly you can risk it. The main risk is maybe not that MSC cancels your booking, the main risk is that you give up all customers legal protection you have in your home country. That is the reason I would not book in a country I not even speak the language. And with a fake residental address the correspondence anyway in finished before it starts and you basically even gave up the consumer legal protection from your "guest" country.

The confusion is because BEFORE the kiosks came, the CC had to be registered at check in. Now it cannot be registered at check in, only at the kiosks. The possible cash deposit at the reception I personally would avoid thinking about the notoriously long lines there. Especially when it come to the settlement of the final bill.