Dorset Cruiser

Someone posted on FB that they got the little tourist train and it dropped them at a beach after visiting a winery. Presume you can catch another one to get back to town.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

We are Platinumballs on several lines, giving us upgraded Blackballs status on MSC. We have sailed MSC a few times, and we are going again in December.

 

The Blackballs perks are minimal compared to other lines. Freebie dinner is OK, I drink Champagne not Prosecco, but on Celeb we get free internet, laundry, drinks for two hours every night, two cocktail parties, etc., etc.

 

We have got free drinks and tips on Orchestra included in our booking, so the Blackballs benefits, such as they are, do not amount to much!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Discount off booking. Free meal, free dance class, free hour in the Spa, free slippers, free chocolate ship, free sparkling wine, free chocolate strawberries, free gift, Captains cocktail party. Seems a good lot of perks to me and we got most of them twice during our 14 day cruise.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Very nice of you to post your experience. However, it means NOTHING without pictures.

How rude you are - cannot believe you would post a response like this 🙁

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Unfortunately, nothing really stood out as far as the food. I wish I could say any of it was memorable. Stay excited about the itinerary/ports. That is the whole reason we took this trip. The stops are all absolutely incredible! Stateroom and room steward were great. We had an aft balcony. Hope you have a great time!

We were on Poesia in the Caribbean in January and agree with you about the food ☹️. Absolutely loved everything else about the ship which was the cleanest and best maintained we have been on. We were status matched to Black and enjoyed all the perks that brought. It was our first MSC cruise and would certainly do another but on a bigger ship with perhaps more alternative dining options - Sushi does not do it for us 😖

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I'm not eligible for any of them but I know about them. I use social media a lot and they're publicised there as well as on P&O website. I'm retired and was a public servant for 36 years so disappointed I can't apply whereas somebody who's been a nurse for a couple of years is eligible.

Same with us. Husband was a civil servant for for 45 years until he retired and he did not qualify. I worked for the court service for 13 years until I retired and no joy for me either ☹️

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hello again!

 

We are sailing from West to East so it will get cooler rather than warmer as we go. I'm sailing with my Mum not the children or Rob. We have got a balcony cabin I thought with a lot of sea days it would be especially nice to sit and chill.

 

We will be sailing in March starting in Barbados, then Dominica, St Maarten, British Virgin Islands and the Azores before reaching Southampton. Am I right in thinking the weather should be good until the Azores? What do they do about evening entertainment. The acts would have to stay on board for a lot of sea days. I hope it isn't over reliant on the ship cast as I love to see the guest entertainers.

 

I'm assuming we can walk off and pick up tours in the Caribbean. I normally pre-book but am hoping for some cheap tours at the quayside.

Weather should be good up to the Azores. Easy to get taxis/tours in the Caribbean - they have it off to a fine art. Acts which might get on in BVI will have to stay on until the Azores, so not sure what entertainment you will get.

Thank you for the info. Seems like they treat it as a seperate cruise. Was this cruise out of the united states or europe? I am wondering on the second leg of the 7 day did you have to disembark the ship and go through us customs?

 

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

It was sold as a 14 day cruise out of Barbados. However there were a majority of passengers who embarked at the two French Caribbean ports on 7 day itineraries. Our 14 day cruise was treated as two 7 day cruises for the purposes of the loyalty perks but we did not have to disembark and do customs at end of first 7 days. Hope this makes sense.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Great to hear that as we have the 14 day cruises booked for seaside in june 2018. Wondering what black benefits you got twice and what you did not? Thanks

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

We got these twice

The sparkling wine

The chocolate strawberries

The dance lesson

The speciality meal for two

Two chocolate ships

Free hour in spa

Captains cocktail party

Fruit basket

Did not get the free gifts and did not bother to ask for them. Think they are luggage tags, hat etc, so ask if they do not turn up.

We got the robes and slippers.

Did not need priority embarkation as we got to the ship late and did all the business actually on the ship. Likewise did not need priority disembarkation as we stayed on the ship until two hours before our latish flight.

Very impressed with MSC loyalty plan.

Also impressed with their drinks package and great internet package. We prebooked internet before the cruise for about £40-ish and it lasted me until we actually left the ship for the last time and I used it a lot.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Status matched us to Black in January on our first MSC cruise. Got all the perks, some of them twice because we were on for 14 days and they appear to be awarded every 7 days. Had a great time. Only downside was that the only specialty restaurant on Poesia is a Sushi restaurant which we dislike intensely. Other than that, everything was great although the food was not as good as other cruiselines we have tried, but we certainly did not starve 😀

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Mykonos is fabulous - windy but fabulous - you will love it 😀

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Aircon and fridge are on all the time even if no card in lighting slot.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Is it possible to go to the Sanctuary on embarkation and book a bed for only the seadays on my cruise or do I have to book for the entire cruise?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HDr

Had awful problems yesterday posting using Tapatalk. Might delete app and reinstall it.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

We sail on QM2 transatlantic at end of August followed by a coach tour from New York to Niagara. We stay at Niagara but not sure which side and we are then dropped at Tirinto Airport to catch onward flights (in our case to Vancouver where we will be spending a week before returning to UK). I take it from previous posts that we will not need an ETA. Am

I reading this correctly?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Wow, a 2 pm disembarkation? I've never heard of that! At that time, the next cruisers should be onboard!

 

Thank you for your insights.

 

@Tara Jane, are you Elite on Celebrity? We are Elite on them as well, but it was much more difficult to get Elite on Princess, which is why I used that one. But does Celebrity Elite match to Black on MSC as well, I wonder...?

The Poesia cruises this winter typically embark at either Martinique or Guadaloupe on Saturdays and Sundays for 7 day itineraries. However we were on a 14 day cruise with others from UK that embarked and disembarked in Barbados. We were a large charter group. Having spoken to others in the party, we all had 2pm disembark and were allowed to keep cabins until then. I presume the next occupants would be on the flight from the UK that was taking us home. That would give them time to service the rooms as both our flights took off at around 6pm.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Dorset Çruiser, we status matched through Princess Elite as well. What did you think of MSC in comparison to Princess?

We thought the ship was lovely and very clean. Good service. Good drinks package. Good, but different, entertainment. Excellent internet package. Very noisy ship though and we were glad we had no seadays. What could be a dealbreaker for future MSC cruises for us was the food in the MDR. We thought it was quite poor compared to other cruiselines. Loved the fact that we were allowed to keep our cabin until our 2pm disembarkation time. Not sure if that was a black card perk or not but it meant we could go to the beach for the morning with no worries about our hand luggage or having somewhere to get ready for our flight home.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

It is absurd knowing that someone on their first MSC cruise as a black card holder is getting the same benefits as someone who has earned it!

They status match because they want to attract cruisers who have shown loyalty to another cruiseline and they want their business. Just off ourfirst MSC cruise and we were black carded owing to our Princess Elite status.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thanks to Status Match, we decided to look at MSC for an upcoming cruise. Next thing I know, we're booked on a cruise June 2018 on Seaside in the Yacht Club. We are very excited! While we have occasionally sailed in a suite, we have never had special 'private areas' and 'private restaurants' (save for suite breakfast on Princess in Sabatini's). I had a couple of questions though.

 

Does the Yacht Club include dining in specialty restaurants? It looks like Seaside will have a number of nice ones! I gather I get one specialty dinner for being 'black'. Does that include everyone in my cabin (there are 4 of us) or just me?

 

I gather that come this summer, the Yacht Club will have all inclusive drinks all over the ship. Are there any restrictions on this? I presume my husband can't just order the most expensive wines. What's the limit, and how limiting is it? Can we get mocktails and such as well as soda and water?

 

We have gratuities included in our cruise fare. Given that we are Yacht Club (and therefore won't be spending money on drinks) what would we need to buy onboard? Laundry? Internet? We'll probably arrange our own excursions. We also have some OBC from the TA, so I'm wondering if we'll actually have to pay anything on the onboard account when we disembark.

 

Minor thing, but what is the Black level onboard gift? Is that the chocolate ship I keep hearing about? Is the chocolate ship that good? Is it white, milk or dark chocolate?

 

Can someone link me to a good review of the Yacht Club experience (I'm sure there are some around) and/or menus from the Yacht Club private restaurants?

 

Any other tips for a first time MSC cruiser? We are experienced cruisers, usually sailing on Princess and Celebrity, but we have also sailed on Disney, RCCL and HAL.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give!

Chocolate ship is a gift in itself and is not the onboard gift. The chocolate is nasty IMO 😔

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Where would you do that ? Through MSC or booking agent

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We scanned our Princess cruise history and the completed application forms into an email to our TA and they did the rest 😀

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thought I would report back that we received all of our promised black card perks twice (once for each 7 day sector) with the exception of the free gifts.

We had a 1400 disembarkation time and were allowed to keep our cabin until we finally disembarked the ship.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Heard yesterday that we have been status matched to Black using our Elite Princess status. Really pleased

Filled in forms and sent them and scanned records of our Princess cruise history to our TA. Not heard anything back as yet but we have nearly two weeks to go - fingers crossed for that black card 😉

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Our cruise leaves on 10 January so not much time to send anything off in any event.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I can't figure out what people are providing as documentation. It asks to upload a card or PDF document. I have no such thing on Carnival or Princess to upload. I am platinum on Princess, still only Gold on Carnival. But I can't find anything on their sites to allow me to upload any type of PDF that I can then load to MSC site.

 

Though for the last few days the MSC site again tells me my log in information doesn't exist.

We have a card from Princess showing our number. We are elite with Princess. Where will that take us on the MSC loyalty programme?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Presume no launderettes on MSC ships?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD