Benzbuddy87

That's because you probablydon't have kids who sleeps on sofa and you don't have have to walk over them to go to balcony at night ) I prefer bed by the balcony.

Conversely, you would have to walk past them if and when you head for the bathroom, closet, safe, or stateroom door.

Why are they STILL listing it as a port on their website???? Now it is deliberate "false" information for anyone that does not know about it.

More than likely, details are still in the process (pending). I would not rush to cancel, as most Seaside cruises are still 12+ months awa.. Keep an eye open for a replacement cruise if you are thinking of cancelling, but wait for MSC to finalize details before you cancel.

.. I will switch to Celebrity for the first time. They have a balcony on the Equinox for just over $3000.00 with premium drink pkg, free grats, free internet, $300.00 OBC.

Nothing is free, rather, it has been built into the price structure.

While a delayed Ocean Cay opening will be disappointing, the ship is a destination ship. As for the alternate port, I will wait for MSC to dot the I's and cross the T's.

I just got off the phone with MSC. They got the e-mail today about the delay, but there is no information as yet if they will be substituting another port or giving any sort of compensation.

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that the information being discussed was from an article from Italy, not an official MSC press release (and certainly not MSC USA). Some of the people in my group are thinking the article may have defaulted to Nassau as a substitute, not thinking or realizing some cruises already call on Nassau. Replacing Ocean Cay would be much easier with a port currently used by MSC which could include St. Marteen, Dominican Republic, Tucks & Caicos ... or perhaps Haiti or Cuba. Any thoughts?

$5.00 for the first person to link me to a stateroom plan for the 14 aft suites on Seaside. I'd also love to know the size of the balcony.

 

According to my confirmation, the suite itself will be 22 meters sq., with a 4 meters sq. loo, (good to know I guess) but it's the balcony size and the layout I'm curious about.

If you can find an available stateroom, you should start to book the room online. After selecting and confirming the stateroom, you can click on the STATEROOM DETAILS box. Doing so will open a new window which shows the following (example):

Stateroom Number: 15040

Stateroom Category: Suite

Experience: Fantastica

and Stateroom Details, which includes:

- Occupancy: 3

- Surface: 215.28 Square feet

- Balcony Size 80.73 Square feet

My understanding is that (in this example), #15040 is a Fantasica Experience Suite which sleeps 3, and measures 215.28 square feet (inclusive of the 80.73 square foot balcony). To get the size of the stateroom (without balcony), deduct the balcony size from the surface area (ie: 215.28sf - 80.73sf = 134.55sf).

(Is there) Anything I can do to ensure they don't move us?

All cruise lines will move you if your stateroom cannot be occupied for one reason or another (ie: plumbing or electrical malfunction).

I have just here from a friend that has recently come back that she has been charged a fee on her credit card for exchange, this is a BOA card in $ , she was told that they process all cards outside of the USA, so some cards do get a fee unless you have a card that has no foreign transactions fee even though the cruise and money were all $'s, is this correct, as you can see new to MSC so have not heard of this before

Was this for a Caribbean cruise, or a European cruise?

Hopefully the new MSC website has some accurate data for the different cabins. I changed our cabin a few weeks ago from 9208 to 9002. The new information when booking on the website has details for 9002 that indicate the cabin surface area is 296 sqft and the balcony is 409 sqft. Sounds like that should be a pretty nice suite for a really good price.

Are you saying the specific size for each stateroom is provided when booking through MSC's website?

Cruise ship deck plans also has a weird thing on the S1/S2/S3 graphic where it appears there is a small room on the balcony when coming from the living room area. There appears to be a wall parallel to the railing mid-balcony, and even a separate door to access the rest of the balcony.... very strange.

I am not sure if this has been addressed, but I *think* the area you are referring to may be a section of the veranda which appears as though it can be blocked off - enabling separate veranda areas for the Master Bedroom, and the living / dining room. Perhaps this is something we can see in the stateroom mock-ups in the near future.

SD ... Below is the Itinerary we had for the first Divina TA to Miami, the original included Nassau but MSC changed it so they could take the ship into Miami a day early much to the annoyance of many passengers, many of whom were from the Miami and surrounding areas. There were around 1,000 people who left the ship on the day we arrived and the dining room in the evening was like a ghost town.

 

Venice

At Sea

Valletta Malta

At Sea

Malaga spain

At sea

Funchal Madeira

At Sea x 5

St Maarten

St Thomas

San Juan Porto Rico

At Sea

Miami

Miami

Thanks for the information! So, the locals were not happy to spend a day docked in Miami? I guess I can understand, but if it was me, I'd likely spend the care-free day on the ship, and enjoy one last day without having to cook or clean at home.

Last year, we sailed on a T/A cruise from Port Canaveral to Copenhagen, with our first port of call in NYC. We are from Philadelphia, so it was a bit odd for us to fly 1,000 miles to board a ship, only to head back to NYC ... about 60 minutes from our home. We visit NYC regularly, but there's almost always something to do in a big city while on vacation ... even if it's a stay-cation (on a ship)!

:D

Dr ... Glad to be of help ... :)

 

SD ... The first TA crossing for Divina was about that long.

Wow! Awesome!

Do you recall whether the T/A was port intensive? I've enjoyed several 14-15 night T/A's with several ports of call ... not sure many more ports could be added to a transit ... unless they add more European ports, or sailed doen the eastcoast USA.

:D

So the newest info I can pass along is that the inaugural sailing from Venice to Miami is available for booking,,November 30th 2017 through December 21st 2017,,,,now for a little bad news.

A three week T/A cruise?

Is anyone able to offer insight and guidance on a guest upgrading to YC prior to sailing? I have read that some guests were offered an upgrade to YC for $50 per person / per day. It appears as though this is an offer provided by an MSC PVP to select guests who booked directly with MSC.

Here are a few of my questions:

1) Is this typically offered ... perhaps as an option to fill up YC staterooms (and hence, make additional, lower priced staterooms available for booking)?

2) Is there a general rule of thumb as to when this offer would typically be offered (ie: 90 / 120 days prior to sailing, or does this vary)>

3) Any insight on the basis for the pricing? Is it typically $50pp/pd when upgrading from B1/B2 to a YC balcony ... or perhaps more if upgrading from interior or ocean view?

We are sailing MSC for the first time later this year ... not currently traveling with other cruise friends ... thinking this may be an ideal chance to upgrade.

We just got back from the Fantasia and the best black card benefit we got was the ability to stay in our cabin until 10 am on the morning of demarkation. Everyone else was to be out by 8:00 a.m.

 

We received dinner in the Tex Mex restaurant but when we went to look at the menu it was so limited that we chose not to use it. They would allow us a quesadilla, chill, burrito, and one very small steak. We passed.

 

The free photo had to be from the black card party, which we didn't attend. And they didn't send the chocolate ship until the last day. We just left them behind. They string backpacks were night to use on the way home for extra stuff our DS bought.

 

Everything was delivered directly to our cabin.

The photo is listed on the Black Card benefits.

As for the chocolate ship (and strawberries), it sounds as though you did not ask for it to be delivered on any given day ... either to your stateroom, or to your dinner table.

Also being a MSC noobie, would like to know if the 5% VC discount is also combinable with resident or teacher discounts (such as the recent 25% Florida resident discount) ?

You would need to call your T/A or MSC.

Undortunately the main benefit, dicount of 20% on cruises, was eliminated. The remaining benefits are very modest. I think MSC is not doing much to keep their loyal customers....

I am new to MSC. If MSC previously offered 20% discount across the board, that would have been sweet, but I think it would be an egregious business model ... especially if you were able to obtain 20% discount on top of all other non Voyager Club discounts (ie: 30% off, 2-for-1, etc). Granted, I see your point ... the above discounts are available to most all MSC guests.

Currently, MSC offers an automatic 5% Voyagers Club discount on all cruises, plus on-board booking discounts, plus the ability to obtain an additional 5% or 15% via Voyager Selection. I was able to book an MSC cruise at 30% off rack rate, less 5% Voyagers Club discount, less 5% Voyager Selection discount (plus a shipboard credit).

At this time on the Divina at least, My Time Dining is only available to guests who book the Aurea Balconies or Suites.

Yes, I understand. I was responding to the post regarding Lirica class which supposedly indicated My Time dining was in a dedicated restaurant, versus on the Divina, which I believe is in a dedicated section of a Main Dining Room.

I'm still perplexed about the Fantastica Balcony guest being able to book My Time dining, but believe that may be due to their T/A being able to book through UK T/A portal. My Time is not crucial for me, just trying to understand the available options.

Here's the link to Voyagers Club perks (all levels).

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/MSC-Voyagers-Club/Voyagers-Club.aspx

Here are the experiences from the UK 2017/2018 brochure ...

 

FANTASTICA

NOTE :- "MY TIME DINING" ON LIRICA CLASS (ONLY?)

I am a newbie to MSC, but I thought some MSC ships offered My Time dining in a dedicated area of a main dining room. If that is correct, I wonder whether Lirica class My Time dining in a dedicated restaurant is perhaps related to smaller Main Dining Rooms and / or additional dining venues?

:confused:

Previous ships have been christened in Genoa but no idea if any had sailed beforehand with passengers, have to wonder what has changed their mind after saying it would sail to Miami with just the crew onboard. Went to two local travel agents earlier to see if they had the 17/18 brochure, one said that non would be in print and only available on line!

I have no first hand knowledge of MSC pre-christening T/A cruises, but other cruise lines have sailed TransAtlantic to the US without paying guests to allow for completion of interior retrofit while en route. Sailings have also included a limited number of dignitaries and family of crew / cruise line employees, to serve as a soft opening.

There are lifeboats below ALL cabins in the two recessed areas and the middle hump. this is common with many more modern cruise ships.

Are you referring to MSC, or the cruise industry in general. We recently booked NCL Epic - disappointed that lifeboats hang over the edge of the ship, blocking downward views from above. Granted, my cruising history over the past 10 years has been limited to two cruise lines (ships built in 2010, 2012 , 1998 and 1999). None of the ships had life boats hanging over the edge of the ship / blocking views.

Steven

I booked a cruise on Divina for 12/6/16 with a travel agent. I booked a Fantastica Balcony cabin. I was advised that I would have the anytime dining by the agent and it is printed on my confirmation paperwork as well. I hope this is correct.

Cheap Cruises / World Travel Holdings has offices in the US, as well as the UK. I would presume you were provided a perk which is being offered by UK based travel agents.

We booked through Cheap Cruises/ World Travel Holdings, which I believe is based in the United States, which is where we live. I can't imagine that the UK brochure would offer guests from Europe different options on the ship than the options Americans are given.

It is common for cruise lines to offer different packages, perks, plans ... as well as costs to guests in different countries.

May I ask in which month and year you are sailing?

I booked a cruise on Divina for 12/6/16 with a travel agent. I booked a Fantastica Balcony cabin. I was advised that I would have the anytime dining by the agent and it is printed on my confirmation paperwork as well. I hope this is correct.

I thought anytime dining was for Aurea Class? We are Fantastica (booked on the same sailing, as well), and selected 2nd seating.

There is a slide-show on youtube of the cabin grades, if it helps:

 

https://youtu.be/NTgrrGEAdUo

It appears as though the video is merely a cut-n-paste of existing information with the same graphics as derived from MSC's website ... albeit ... the accompanying verbiage (class and size of stateroom) is missing.