perakcruiser

4pm is not a problem if the ship leaves at 6pm. 

Being able to bring my bicycle on a cruise would be an absolute dealbreaker for me. I never thought about it as I expected to be not allowed anyway. 

8 hours ago, mayleeman said:

1. You can bring 2 bottles of wine per person (at most 4 per stateroom).

 

2. No corkage fee if you drink in your staeroom. Get glasses from a bar or have your attendant bring them. They can take them away, too.

 

3. No corkage fee if you pour your own in your room and take the glasses with you to dinner or anywhere else. They don't care in the dining rooms where you got the wine.

 

4. Don't worry about doing it wrong. Just keep the bottle in your room and you will be like 1000 other people on board!

Excellent. Especially when dining in Tuscan Grill and Le Petit Chef I want to enjoy a nice glass of my wine. And in the MDR a Sancerre at Lobster Night if there is a Lobster Night 😄 

7 hours ago, Ejane said:

We're sailing on Celebrity Apex in October. We've booked a Veranda stateroom with the All included package (classic drinks, wifi and gratuities). I'm just wondering if I was to book a massage or a Sea Thermal Suite pass would I need to pay the gratuities on top of that, or would the gratuities already be covered in my All Included package?

Thanks 

When going onboard you are leaving EU law so Celebrity (and all other cruise lines also EU lines) can add gratuities to their services. They cannot add later on board gratuities for anything you buy NOW from Ireland online, these prices have to be final.  

On 3/21/2023 at 9:54 PM, Alakegirl said:

Maybe, maybe not. Unfortunately there’s no predicting whether they will take it or let you bring it on board.

Absolutely true, it is totally unpredictable and it all depends solely on the motivation of the security guy behind the screen. Has nothing to little to do with "Europe" or the ship, I think this level of laxness is really personal and even the cruise line is not a factor😄 

2 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I have never seen a carafe of water on the table on Celrbrity. The assistant waiter comes by to fill your glass during the meal

That was 12 or 13 years before on a Celebrity cruise in Europe. I prefer to fill by myself from a carafe, but not a big thing. 

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

Ok, to clear a handful of things up.

 

1. All cruise lines charge a daily service charge to cover your state attendants and waiters/waitresses.

Just to clarify, this is not true for many European cruise lines and even Celebrity does not charge a daily service charge in some European markets. 

On 3/26/2023 at 9:35 AM, cruisestitch said:

these are tonight’s dispensers in Eclipse.  The orange juice is unusual but the other drinks are as expected.

These wonderful machines are found at the buffet only, not in the MDR, right? Does Celebrity still put a mug of water on the table in the MDR or do you have to order water by the glass? 

(1) only dinner

(2) only main dining room

(3)  2 hrs minimum

(4)  expect 6:15 pm early, 8:15 pm late. +/- 30 mins

(5)  no

(6)  always same time, same table

Actually the point is not to touch a booking again if it is fine. Sometimes you cannot follow that advice, I also had to touch my last booking again (via call with the hotline) and it certainly produced a disaster, price exploded, crazy fees were added. Then you need to be lucky and get a person on the hotline who can fix ist. I was told "I will fix it and call you tomorrow at 10 am if I made it". And he called and he fixed it. I now have to pay EUR 54 more than expected, but this is for two cabins and it was my fault that the first booking was not "perfect". 

So my advice for all beginners is FIRST THINK, then THINK AGAIN, then BOOK. Then never touch it again. But as my example shows, it is not impossible that the MSC hotline solves a problem fast and efficient.  

The "largest" tables are just a lot of square or rectangular tables put together for big groups. You can ask them to do so for you, but there are no big round tables for 20 (certainly). Not much use (if you are not the Russian president), I would prefer two more communicative round tables. 

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

If you go to Following - you can choose how often you receive notifications -  You probably have the default currently set

 

Where to find this Following? 

We just walked from the terminal to the Metro, not far, but no signs, you need to use googlemaps. Inside the port there was a shuttle to the gate/ship. 

On 3/22/2023 at 9:55 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

Thank you for posting the PUP link as I and my husband don't get the emails despite signing up many times. Much appreciated! 😊

"Foreigners" usually don´t get the PUP emails, but I heard some from UK are lucky. 

7 minutes ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

 

Not really. I compare them with Costa, Celestyal, P&O... I'm not brand loyal or stuck on US companies. I do take into account drink packages etc though.

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? 😄 

1 minute ago, BubMunkeyBles said:

I find them super competitive in the Med but less so in Caribbean when comparing promos. Just my own observation. 

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

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

It’s a 7 night this year from Piraeus (Athens). 

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.

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

It’s the only one of the 4 Musica-class ships we haven’t been on.   We loved the other 3 - Magnifica twice, Poesia and Orchestra once. 

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😄

34 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

That’s terrific, P.  What’s your embarkation date?  Ours is Oct 15th. 

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. 

On 3/16/2023 at 1:09 PM, Beamafar said:

I’ve just booked a great value cruise on Musica for next October - grats and PremXtra included - for a similar price to what I would have paid for a similar booking 3-4 years ago.  Fabulous itinerary, too, with 3 POCs we haven’t been to, yet.  That’s saying something for a Med cruise, of which we’ve done many!

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 😄 

6 hours ago, Gatordad1967 said:

first world problems

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. 

6 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Because cruise prices have increased a lot, I'm now starting to look at land-based trips a bit more.  Won't stop cruising, but I might mix things up a bit due to these price increases.

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. 

1 hour ago, pattimow said:

We are sailing out of Civitavecchia.

From Civitavecchia they do.