perakcruiser

(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. 

5 minutes ago, VTSFAN said:

Most shops in Hamburg are closed on a Sunday, There are a few open around the Station, but not a lot of choice i'm afraid.

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.

37 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

On uber was coming up as 28-30 euros on a sunday. 🤔

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. 

13 hours ago, jwlane said:

Here's another vote for National Express bus to Southampton. Cheap, comfortable, reliable. 

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

2 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Thanks for the reply. I think we get to hamburg on a sunday 🤔 want to take the daughter to the miniature wonderland. Its open on sundays, so will prob have to take a taxi.

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. 

On 3/10/2023 at 4:09 PM, NorthernCouple said:

Makes me wonder how busy the gym will be at 7am.

Totally empty. In Europe at least, maybe in the Caribbean there are more guests interested in sports at this time. 

On 3/10/2023 at 7:11 PM, NorthernCouple said:

It would be interesting to know if MSC has an employee feedback program where they get benefits if customers write something.

At least before Covid the feedback forms had a big impact on the salary of the room stewards and waiters. 

1 minute ago, Morgsmom said:

NO running track, per se.  There will be lots of walkers that you will have to dodge.  

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. 

6 minutes ago, sealynx said:

So what is it that you did experience?

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. 

59 minutes ago, heatherb1958 said:

This information is incorrect,  if you try to deposit cash at Guest services they will more than likely redirect you to a kiosk machine . Been there , done that. 

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

10 hours ago, Eliminator55 said:

But MSC has no means or interest in somehow confirming that said individual(s) due indeed reside at the given address. They'd have no reason to do so. They cruise fare has been paid at that point and their main concern is to get captive customers, I mean passengers, onto their ships. 

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.

13 hours ago, Homosassa said:

I am not sure.

 

I have read on this forum that it doesn't matter if a card was entered during on line check in and that it still needed to be done at the kiosk on board

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. 

57 minutes ago, sealynx said:

Often elegant night is planned on the last day of the cruise for most passengers (not all, since you can board in almost any port), so this is often prior arrival in Genova.

I never experienced the gala night prior to Genova or on the last day of the cruise for most passengers. 

5 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

Zeebrugge - we got the coach from just outside the port. There is a free shuttle from the ship to the port gates, then go to your left across the road and there's a kiosk/van settling tickets. It's now €25 pp return.

That´s a joke for this short ride. 

Perfect to set up a Golf training area. Just need to bring some carpet, nets and a putting green. 

13 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Especially if they're not toilet trained yet (trust me, I've met a lot of not-yet-trained 3 year olds) - or if they're wetting the bed at night.

If my (younger and 3 year old) kid would wet the bed I definitely would tip the room steward. But luckily (or unluckliy for the steward) she did not do this🙂 

18 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Do you remove gratuities because you prefer to pay in cash?

This is a theoretical talk. I am talking about the gratuities for a 3 year old kid. Which I would certainly remove (if I can), because I think such young kids should not be charged gratuities, this sounds crazy to me. 

But we only are sailing Celebrity alone w/o kids, because if you are talking about a cruise with kids it would be a sensational waste of money to book them as so many others do "kids sail free". 

And to make things even more complicated we usually book our cruises in Europe. Where Celebrity only offers fare with all fees, taxes and gratuities included. Price is final. So there is anyway no option to cancel or adjust any gratuities, no matter if kids or adults. 

We only sail MSC with the kids, also here it is very simple, the gratuities cannot be removed or adjusted, adults pay $ 14.5 per night, kids from 2 to 12 pay $ 7.25 per night, kids under 2 are free. 

So I never had the chance to cancel the service charge for kids (which would have been possible in the old days), but if the cruise line would give me the option to do so I would happily do 🙂 

4 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

They did have Prosecco at the buffet bar last month when we were on her, not sure about sparkling wine.

They have sparkling wine also. 

1 hour ago, bookitdanno said:

I wish that Celebrity would just build the grats into the cruise fare. This would stop the removing of grats by some, and make them a part of the basic cruise fare.  Non refundable, non removeable.

Actually Celebrity is doing this for some markets. But we prefer that is not built in so we can remove. Anyway, Celebrity is so much more expensive with kids compared to others, the grats are not making the big difference. 

12 minutes ago, TampaGambler said:

We love MSC and are cruising in the YC this sunday on the Seascape, however, as many mistakes as they make and as bad as MSC customer service is, air fare is the last thing I would entrust MSC with handling...

No reason for this, Fly & Cruise from MSC works perfectly, even at "difficult" destinations like Havana.

You are not an experienced cruiser if you don´t try as much cruise lines as possible. 

If they seat people with and without drinks packages together that obviously means free drinks for the ones without 😄
 

The waiter just brings a bottle of water and does not care which guests card to swipe.

2 hours ago, SweetsugarNL said:

I am wondering if there are lot of kids sailing now because the school vacation in Hamburg.

Difficult to say but the ships will be totally full the first two weeks of April when all of Europe having Easter holidays. 

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Why do you feel the absence of YC on the older ships is a huge advantage for non-YC passengers?

Your movement is not limited to 2/3 of the ship. You can sit down on a deck chair and look forward, something the modern ships do not allow 90% of their guests anymore. More and more I feel that the older ships have more character and give me a better cruise "feeling".