perakcruiser

11 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Not so long ago, unless you went with the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet for "domestic" EU flights, one could very well to afford a 23Kg checked bag per passenger.

Unfortunately it is even more complicated now. Every time we come to Europe Ryanair seems to have changed the rules again. The others also, but we are not considering other airlines for flights in Europe meanwhile. Only if Ryanair cannot offer what we need. Before it was quite simple, hand lugguage free 23kg checked bag more expensive than a passenger. So we and probably most others had the simple rule, Gentlemen and kids hand luggage only, Ladies one checked bag each 😄

That was the time when I stopped bringing a suit and downsized the gala outfit to nice trousers and shirt. And a tie because of the size and weight🙂 

Now as the hand luggage is the size of a notebook and the surcharge for a real suitcase is quite acceptable one could think about bringing the full fittings again, but the motivation going back to this seems to be limited not just for me. 

21 hours ago, JAGR said:

Well, Perakcruiser is Malaysian, so the German for dress code may not help.

The super hot tropical country where you will be not allowed to enter a public library if you don´t wear long trousers 😄

Where the marshal reminds me at the start of my round of golf to tuck in the collared shirt correctly. Always so shocked when I see Tiger Woods on TV without a real collar, how can they allow him to play, here they would send him off even from the driving range 😄

Just don´t ask MSC to set up and enforce rules for all just because you would like to have it this way. They will ignore you anyway as they do in many other ans probably more important ways. 

20 hours ago, jcathers1 said:

"Formal" and "elegant aren't terms that each person gets to define for themselves, at least not in this context. These definitions are set by the cruiseline. You can choose to disregard if you like, but it's not due to lack of clarity on expectations. 

You are making the popular mistake that you think that everything must be as in your home country. Above was stated "For Gala evenings, the dress code is more formal. We suggest a tuxedo, dinner jacket, or dark suit and tie for men and a dressy outfit, formal gown, or cocktail dress for women."  

You think in any other MSC information than in the one for US/UK the word "tuxedo" exists? And the phrase "dress code" does also not exist, usually there is a word like "recommendation". 

22 hours ago, JAGR said:

That wouldn't work very well if the OP or the others drank or tried to purchase something.  The picture on the server's screen would not match the person tendering the card.  Also, a lot of double switches getting on and off in port.

All true. I not really thought about this as we were a family and basically most of the time together and I paid everything 😄

Actual we had to swap the cabin cards because on that family cruise only my wife and I had Voyager Club status and so we had to book us in different cabins to get the discount for both cabins.

23 hours ago, doones2 said:

Also my grandson and his friend want to switch cabins with me after I get my booking #.  How difficult is that to do?

Very easy, you hand them over your cards, they give you theirs 🙂 

If you want to do this before the cruise, make sure all have exactly the same Voyagers Club status, otherwise chaos is guaranteed. But even if all have, follow the common advice and dont touch the bookings. 

18 hours ago, mnpurple said:

Our family of six will be departing from Naples at the end of May on the Seaview. 

Make sure you visit the "Sentiero degli Dei". Google helps.

If you are pasta lovers you MUST visit the village of Gragnano.

18 hours ago, mnpurple said:

Excursions - First, can I wait to book on board? I'm thinking we can explore on our own, but maybe Marseille it would be good to have an excursion to Aix En Provence??

You can book on board, but not the very few extremely popular excursions. They will be sold out. Aix is exactly one of these very few. I have to admit that visiting Aix also in my opinion is the best thing to do here. Which seems not to be a secret tip 😄 The only other one you better think now and not two days before is Taormina (from Messina). 

Starting the cruise from Naples is in many ways the perfect choice, congratulations.

2 hours ago, U4icmusic said:

Thank you. Which areas were closed?

The steam areas, traditional saunas were not closed. No idea why steam is seen as a friend of the virus.

But you really need information from someone who was on board in the week before you board. Beginning of February no Spa passes were sold, not weekly and not daily. Only Aurea, YC (I guess), Gold and Black 1 hour. And maybe the guests who bought long before in advance.

So many things change so fast. But the "all back to normal call" is very close in my opinion.

 

7 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

There was a guy in a  kilt yesterday. And another guy in a tux. Some were in jeans.

 

Enjoy your cruise and don't worry about what other people are wearing.

The point is that MSC is so international that it is close to impossible to enforce a dress code. One time there were many guests from West Africa on board, they dressed up definetely, but in a style I would call oh very casual. Same with Arab guests. And certainly for a Scotsman his clan kilt is the thing to wear at a formal event. 

So one should understand the "gala" and "elegant" in the way he feels comfortable to enjoy these nights. Make photos and create memories. Anyway, usually the people will share the table with same nationalities, which is a good thing. I would not enjoy to join the dinner table with Italian guests where the 5 year old kids are constantly better dressed than me at my wedding.

3 hours ago, JAGR said:

Sorry about your experience.  We've had one or two unsatisfactory incidents, but none so bad that it resulted in an overall negative experience.

Which is probably true for 99% of cruisers. Yes, MSC has been not been perfect on on most our nine cruises with them, but the overall product is hard to beat. Especially not for the price they charge. 

@mscdivina2016 and @cheeseheads4ever can try hard, but they will not stop MSC to become the cruise company No. 1. Probably they are anyway already No. 1 everywhere outside the US,  there is a reason for this. I really would hope to find an alternative, I always tried in the last years before I booked MSC again. No success. 

16 hours ago, tedbearz said:

For sailings in the Caribbean, are most of the people sailing aboard Americans or European or Latin American ? Trying to get a feel for the vibe of the ship.

That depends mainly if the cruise is sold as "Cruise & Fly" by MSC in Europe. If yes, most are Europeans, if not certainly it is opposite.  

5 hours ago, gobear said:

First time we will be going Europe trip and I am wondering which itinerary seems to be better and we are more of a landscape scenery type of person rather than historical stuffs.

 

Easy call, Grandiosa because of La Spezia. Cinque Terre is one of the best sceneries not only of Italy but of this planet. 

Having that said I would start the cruise in Naples. If you cannot do this and have Naples as a stop fork out the money for a Sorrento plus Pompeii tour. 

On 4/19/2022 at 3:27 AM, Oxo said:

This is a first! I have been cruising since 1986 and on over 100+ cruises and never, even on MSC as Diamond, heard of paying for Ice Tea. 

I would be totally embarrassed if I was MSC!!

Which ship is this on where you have to pay for Ice Tea? I know the posting says Seashore. I just want to be correct when I reference this.

I am cruising with MSC since 15 years or so with all kinds of their ships and in all regions. Also with the Armonia in the Caribbean, but from Cuba not USA. The free drinks setup through all the years and over all the ships was exactly the same.

Never I saw free ice tea at the buffet. Certainly I believe that US sailings have this. Where to get? At the breakfast "juice" dispensers? 

Anyway, apart from that I don't drink it, why should especially ice tea be free? 

20 hours ago, clemsonlori98 said:

We were in YC so there was no problems getting drinks anywhere.  Just talking about wait time for a simple glass of ice tea.  

This simple glass of ice tea may be free for you in YC and people with drinks package, but the all the others have to pay € 3 for it. So how they should manage this with machines? Cruise lines tried the machines to tap by yourself and using your cruise card but the result you might can imagine😉

On 4/14/2022 at 9:24 PM, JAGR said:

This may be one area where Morpheousofthesea and I may disagree.  It is my understanding that even on US-based cruises, the "Hotel Service charge" is intended for distribution to all service crew, both customer facing and behind the scenes, which is why MSC recommends not tipping individuals.  That doesn't mean we still don't tip servers anyway.

I also disagree because that what you write is official MSC policy and it is not true that waiters, room stewards and butlers not get their share of the DSC.

BUT! 

If MSC not adopts this to the US market then they will get no other staff anymore except waiters, room stewards and butlers. Because with this exorbitant tips @mmbcater and other posted they earn 100 times more than the others on board. Just for the privilege to be directly confronted with the guests. On non-US based cruises with very little tipping this was a different thing. 

8 minutes ago, clemsonlori98 said:

This made zero sense

Drinks Packages

55 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Feels like 75%plus are European, haven’t heard any English in line. Lots of children and youth. 

Two weeks Easter holidays at the European schools and no more covid restrictions is a combination that provides the expected result. 

On 4/13/2022 at 8:38 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

The gratuities, DSC (discretionary service charges) are the $$ going to all those 'behind the scenes' like chefs and those cleaning the railings, etc that one would not tip or come 'in contact with'.

That maybe is true on MSCs US sailings, where there is probably a lot of tipping going on with the "frontliners". The cruise line have to find a way to make it more even and fair, difficult. 

But on all other sailings certainly all the restaurant waiters and room stewards also get their fair share of the DSC because tipping is quite minimal with the lack of US pax. Usually we don´t give any tips above the DSC, but in special occasions we also tipped the room steward or MDR waiter with € 10 on the last day of the cruise. 

16 hours ago, RJ1 said:

Trying to plan a cruise and wanted to try out MSC. I have been on many cruises and we like good food, not just burgers and hot dogs. I personally love NCL food so please let me know what you think about the food on MSC. Thanks

Please try by yourself. With "not just burgers and hot dogs" you are perfectly right, I find everything OK to good on MSC except their burgers and hot dogs. Certainly not every dish in the MDR is a hit. 

59 minutes ago, RudiRatlos said:

Yes, now there is a MSC cruise terminal at "Ostuferhafen", which is not in walking distance from station.

Oh my god, that looks really ugly on Googlemaps. Thanks for the "warning".

And I guess still no ride-hailing in Germany, only terrible taxis, right? 

2 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

They'll have surely a shuttle bus from Rashid to the metro station, free, affordable, or part of the Dubai Metro daily ticket for us to use and Port Rashid wont to be such a relatively isolated site on Dubai anymore!

I am not sure of a future shuttle bus to the Metro. The infinity bridge is very long, hence the name. While pedestrians can just take the elevator up from the port entrance, driving is much much more complicated. Same on the other side, you can go down with elevator very early, but driving is a completely different thing. 

If one day Deira Islands and Deira Mall is completed, yes, this is ideal for a shuttle bus. But I guess that will take many years more. 

@blueskadoo The pre-purchase normaly works online with your booking. But as yours is an upgrade I am not sure if you can do this by yourself or need to call them. 

The MSC for me app only works Meraviglia, Meraviglia plus and Seaside class ships. The Divina is Fantasia class. 

15 hours ago, blueskadoo said:

My second question is that I know some level of internet is included with YC bookings, but I need unlimited and as high of quality as I can get as I need to stay connected to home and the office. Do I need to pre-purchase/upgrade to get some kind of discount?

Upgrade NOW before you board. Not just because it is much cheaper pre-purchased. There is usually just one internet dude on board and he will be extremely busy and regularly suddenly disappears. So if you want to upgrade your internet for work, the last thing you want is standing in a long line. And even the line is not long it can take ages.

On 4/4/2022 at 2:23 PM, Stockjock said:

I'll get it fixed, but it might take 6 months to a year off of my lifespan to sort it out.

Well, you broke your own rule 😉

For something that usually is so easy to be fixed on board. And when asking "Are you sure, because I've had problems with this in the past?" you already knew 100% what will happen ...

Did the MSC terminal in Kiel move? As far as I remember, it was only a easy 10 min walk along the water from the railway station to the ship. But that was more than 10 years ago.

No. But maybe some people force their waiter with a gun to bring them coffee or cocktails from an outside bar. Or they brought by themselves.