Viccarol

You have to call them in the uk - it was definitely worth it for me got 20% off plus the 5% loyalty discount (we’ve not saved anything though as we’re now going in the Yacht Club 🤦‍♀️) but if you can show self restraint you could get a great deal.

First time we went with them I booked online and upgraded my drinks package over the phone the next day - took approx 10 minutes (2019). Trying to book this year on the phone took 2 and a half hours 😱 my phone battery went on the first call then eventually got through the day after - I would have booked online but they insist on you calling to get the NHS discount - however email seems to work ok and you can pay your balance online 🤷‍♀️

3 hours ago, optimusprime82 said:

 

My wife and I have travelled with MSC twice, both times in an Aurea balcony, and we're booked in an Aurea suite this fall. We've considered YC but we haven't done it yet because we don't think there'd be enough time spent on the ship for us to justify the increase in price.

 

If we were on a cruise with 50% (approximately) of the days at sea we'd probably consider YC more seriously. If we're docked everyday and we're off the ship neither of us want to spend that much more (for a balcony not an inside cabin) for amenities that we're not going to get to use that much. That's just for my wife and I though; we love using the Aurea thermal spa daily, I try to hit the gym at least once daily, she likes to lay out and sunbath daily, and we really enjoy the MDR which we'd probably skip in favor of the YC dining room. On a normal 7 night or 14 night voyage with only a few days at sea we just don't think we'd get our monies worth in YC.

 

With all that said, we'd love to find the right itinerary where YC would make sense for us. 

This is exactly my thoughts we’ve booked yacht club for our next cruise - I got the nhs discount (I’m so not a hero just typing letters) and we won’t do msc excursions if there’s no free time, so it makes sense this time, it’s also out 20th wedding anniversary and personally I’ve had a very difficult year so it’s a treat. We’ve also done Aurea suite in the past and it was amazing - the deciding factor this time is that we probably won’t get off which we’ve never done as we’ve always done port intensive med cruises x

5 hours ago, mickey89 said:

Its all relative, yes agree cruising is not the same as it was many years ago but MSC are still near the bottom of all current ratings.  If you enjoy fast food, large crowds, poor entertainment and terrible customer service then MSC Cruises may suit you, but we will never cruise with them again, for sure.

This goes to show how perception works and how people approach things - our one time with MCS we ate no fast food, always found a quiet place, really enjoyed the entertainment and had great customer service - this was August in the Med so an incredibly busy time and not in Yacht Club - we also enjoyed the hustle and bustle when we wanted it but honestly never felt crowded. 
 

I was almost tempted to cancel as somebody on here described it as Butlins on sea and it was as far from Butlins it could have been for us (we have done Butlins so know). I’m glad we didn’t cancel we loved it and have booked YC this summer round the uk.

I’m not saying mickey98 is wrong as this was their experience but I just wanted to balance it out 😀

Love this thread you two were one of my deciding factors on an MSC cruise - we loved it back when you could walk about being a normal person and can’t wait to get on board in Liverpool this summer - thank you both xx

I am looking at booking a suite on one of the uk cruises (not yacht club) when you look at the detail it says they come with aurea experience but when you click on it you can only pick fantastica - is this because it comes as standard - if this isn’t the case I’d rather have a balcony with all the extra benefits around the ship of aurea (although it is slightly more expensive doing it this way)hope this makes sense and somebody can help 😀😀

The MSC Half day walking tour of Marseille was really good value - if I remember rightly the difference between the shuttle and the price of the tour each wasn’t huge - following the tour you could return to the ship on any MSC shuttle bus - leaving you free to explore on your own.

On another note don’t bother with the advertised MSC ferry shuttle in Genoa - massive waste of money - it’s a lovely walk from the port to the harbour area with the aquarium 🐠

On 12/5/2019 at 11:19 AM, unitedgirl said:

Hi there, I am a little late to the party so not sure if you are still replying!

I heard that this ship has wristbands as well as key cards? Is that correct (I heard they were for Aurea guests but is this for adults as well as kids?) 

How was the anytime dining with Aurea. We sailed on the magnifica last year and although we had anytime dining the maitre 'd kind of coerced us into agreeing a set time every night, this was fine I supppose as our waiters were lovely and we got excellent service but we are travelling with firends and their two daughters this time so may need to be more flexible.

Thank you!

Just popped on today - I haven’t been on here for a while. We didn’t get offered wrist bands just a key card (we were Aurea guests) it might be simething new but it wasn’t an option in August. 

We had a similar experience with the dinning times - we ended up going the same time each night. We did go early one night and ended up on a different table than we had been on for the rest of the week - seemed more of an issue for them than for us.

hope that’s helped 😀

On 11/21/2019 at 8:56 PM, Aunt Holly Rose said:

We're thinking about booking the Western Mediterranean cruise on Fantasia out of Rome next fall.  I agree that there's very little info on CC and appreciate your thread.  We have lots of questions.

1.  It doesn't look like there's much benefit for us to choosing the Fantastica over Bella package as we really wouldn't use the room service.  Am I missing something?

we had an Aurea suite so can’t really comment - the room service for coffee and tea in a morning was nice but not a deal breaker.

2.  There is an "All In" promotion now offering the Easy Drinks package and WiFi for an additional $190 per person.  That looks like a great value to me.  Any comments?

We had the premium drinks package which was great (we both like a tipple so it suited us) I would definitely have some sort of drinks package - the WiFi we did without as all the ports had 3G which was included in our own phone packages (were from the UK so data roaming is the same as home) 

3.  We've seen reports that Fantasia is due for refurbishment in 2020.  Do you know anything about that and if so, when it's scheduled (before or after the summer season)?  It looks like a beautiful ship, but there are lots of comments that it's gotten tired and is in need of a facelift.

It absolutely is a beautiful ship - and in extremely good condition - no complaints here - you’d have to be very picky to find something to complain about.

4.  Did you try the specialty dining rooms at all?  If so, are they worth the a la carte premium pricing?  Or did you find the MDR to be perfectly fine?  There are so many complaints about bland food, small portions, etc. online that my mind is boggled.  I don't like the term "foodies" but we kinda are...

we didn’t try the speciality restaurant - there was nothing on the menu for our daughter so it would have been a waist - the MDR was fine we had a couple of great dishes and a couple that we really didn’t like but that’s a personal thing. If you want stake every night you’ll be disappointed but the food was ok for us.

5.  I know any European travel will involve more smoking than many of us US travelers are accustomed to or comfortable with, but how prevalent is it?  I've seen lots of complaints about smoking on adjacent balconies, for example, with no cruise staff intervention available.  Do you think these complaints are exaggerated?  I am very allergic to smoke and don't want to cough, wheeze and sneeze my vacation away.  I know that means no casino for me, but what about other areas?

We never had any issues with smoking from adjacent balconies - but that could just be luck. Only really noticed it in the casino which we only walked through to get to other areas. 

I know I'll have lots more questions as we get close to booking.  Thanks for reading!

 

Not been on the boards for a while I’ve answered what I can above - we had a lovely cruise and saw so lovely places. Hope I’ve helped 😀

13 hours ago, gtaylor said:

Off topic, but would love to hear about the £12k offer.

 

gary

Here’s the details (I thought we’d left that bit of paperwork on board - but the hoarder brought it home 😂) it is per person - sounds a lovely cruise but out of our price range 😬

So in August we did our first MSC cruise after cruising Disney ocean view and had an amazing time - was it disney service? No, but it wasn’t a million miles away, it was much better then some of the service you get in four star European hotels. On the last day of our August cruise we got a letter under the door with an offer for a round the world cruise for £12k from MSC  really not something we can afford so put it to one side. Just had an offer from Disney for an 11 day European cruise (something we would consider) for €11k!!! What that’s ridiculous!! I think I know who my new cruise line is!! 

1 hour ago, CruisingMom77 said:

Do you know if two ships can dock at the same time at the main pier in Ocho Rios? I checked the cruise port schedule and the day we are supposed to be in Ocho Rios with the Seaside, there are two ships listed. One is the Seaside, and the other one is the Armonia. I actually would find it cool to see two MSC ships side by side.

Haha I’m glad I’m not the only one - it’s is really cool seeing the ships docked together we docked along side Divina in Genoa and followed it out 🛳🛳 

1 hour ago, citizenfrank said:

Just spotted your reply here!

The gelato on Fantasia I recall was limited to the piazza san giorgio area.

To the left as you stand ahead of the large counter area serving cakes/pastries/sandwiches/coffee and alcohol.

There were around a dozen flavors with some changing daily.

Served by the cup/cone or in the delightful sundea offerings that have slowly contributed to my expanding trouser sizes!

Nice sitting area and good waitress/waiter service.

I'm getting the rush now thinking about it lol

Do you like 'special' cocktails?

Forgot about those cakes and pastries in that area.

It was a lovely place to sit and people watch.

We also had some amazing cocktails (off menu) in the Fantasia bar - hence the reason we missed the show 🤦‍♀️😂 

4 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

Viccarol, we are on the Fantasia in December out of Rio in South America.

I would love to know more about the included food you found around the ship and also the entertainment, which I guess will not have changed by the time we sail.

I booked a long time ago and have the old deluxe drinks package so anything you can share on gelato would be great. 

I can’t comment about the Gelato as although we had the premium package it wasn’t included for us (we booked late) there was food in the evening in the wine and beer bar, which also had more beers to choose from than any other bar. They also had burgers and things in the sports bar - we didn’t have any as we were always full from the buffet but a group of lads ordered some one day and they looked great. Most of the bars also brought snacks out in the evening with drinks, the usual nuts, olives, crisps - they were very generous.

The shows in the theatre were great (this is a passion of mine I’m a dance teacher) on the whole the dancing was of a high standard and there were a couple of exceptionally talented dancers. The singers were great and the shows were well put together. There were also musicians all over the ship if the theatre show doesn’t appeal to you - we missed the show one night as we were enjoying the music and drinks in the Fantasia Bar 🍸

5 hours ago, DDClown12 said:

What were your Ports of Call?  Would like information if you went to Palma de Mallorca & Ibiza.  We are traveling 

out of Livorno on October 4th, Genoa, Marseille, Palma & Ibiza, and then Naples back to Livorno.  Did you have

the day at sea and did you go to the spa and were there any specials in the spa?  Thank you for any response.

Diane

Hi Diane 

We embarked in Majorca so we just did our own thing in Palma, in Ibiza we took the local shuttle into the town and had a wander around, it has a nice marina area with some lovely shops and bars (and some of the most spectacular yachts I ever seen!), we did the MSC trip to the aquarium in Genoa, the aquarium was interesting but I felt the trip was overpriced the ‘ferry’ transfer took about five minutes and we walked back so it worked out over €20 each for a one way trip.

In Marseille we did the short walking tour which was actually great value, after the tour you could use any of the shuttles to get back to the ship. We went up Vesuvius from Naples again good value the tour guide was great - kept it interesting even having to do the tour in three languages.

Just as a side note our tour in Livorno was cancelled as there weren’t enough English speakers on it - we only found out as I went to ask about the Vesuvius tour.

We did have a day at sea and the ship was very busy but not unbearably, the buffet at lunch was a bit crazy but the MDR’s were open. We booked an Aurae package so had use of Top 18 which we made a lot of use of - we are not the dancing round the pool types. We only used the spa for our included massage as we had our 16 year old daughter with us and didn’t really want to leave her on her own - she actually wanted to spend time with us which is rare!! 

I hope you have have a great cruise 😀

4 minutes ago, sidari said:

With regard to your cases if you had put them out they would have still been taken by the crew.

We did, honestly we were two minutes late but they were still there when we got up in the morning 😢 it wasn’t a massive issue but if we’d had the info earlier they would have been out before we went for dinner - just wanted to warn people to get them out early. It was quite comical watching us pack in about 15 minutes there was stuff been thrown everywhere 🤦‍♀️

Just got back from a fabulous cruise on Fantasia around the Med - if anybody has any question s please feel free to ask away.

On the hole the whole holiday was fab, I can understand some of the frustrations that US and UK passengers may have, it is a VERY mixed European clientele and some (not all) really don’t get the concept of the que! But if you go with that in mind you will have a great time. We spent a lot of time on Top 18 it was a bit of a relief from the hustle of the main pool areas - it has a bar service, a decent sized hot tub and plenty of comfy sun beds. 

We also upgraded our drinks from easy to premium which was brilliant value. 

In terms of food, and this is a personal opinion, it was better than most of the all inclusive hotels we have been to - the buffet at lunch time was crazy trying to find a table could be a bit of a nightmare but the food was fine. There was also food all over the ship included in the fare which I wasn’t expecting (the tapas in the wine bar is lovely). 

Our only real complaint though was the lack of information given out. It would have been nice to have actually been told to go to our room for our cruise cards, that we needed to register our credit card at the machines, what time pre booked tours would be (we also had one cancelled and would have only found out the night before if I hadn’t gone to the excursion desk to ask about something else) and the biggest issue not getting given disembarkation info until late the night before we got off (we ended up having to take our own cases off as we were 2 minutes late getting them out). Passing on information is not a strong point! If I hadn’t researched on here before hand it would have been a bit stressful. 

Anyhow if anybody has has any question please feel free to ask - I found very little info about Fantasia on here so I’m here to help if I can 😀

Genoa is walkable into the lovely marina area - we did the excursion with the ferry transfer and aquarium but it really wasn’t worth it for the ‘ferry’ - we walked back to the ship it was about a 10/15 min walk - mainly on the flat and felt very safe.

On 8/15/2019 at 10:37 PM, little miss chatterbox said:

Can I be really cheeky and ask what number you called? My TA tried to get an upgrade from an easy to premium or premium plus and it was coming out as £800 for just the premium (for a ten day cruise). I need to speak to your person 

 I’ve just got off the ship but once I’m home I’ll try and find it but I think it was just the normal uk number off the website - by the way I got my massage and some lovely drinks 🍾🍸

So I’m having a fabulous time on MSC Fantasia thanking my lucky stars I’m not on NCL the noise coming from the Pearl all day today has been horrendous - are all their ships as noisy??? Drum and base full blast - two different tracks one from the front and one from the back non stop - it’s like being in a nightclub!! Fantasia on the other hand is like an oasis of calm (with my balcony door shut) 😱🙉🙉 think I’m getting old 

I’ve upgraded easy to premium for £8 pppd for our up coming cruise - no mention of losing anything that we booked I’ll be annoyed if I can’t get my massage 😱

How was the actual cruise? This is quite a strange review 😬

It is all very confusing and not helped by the fact that the website just has a blanket ‘they are included’ line and nothing regarding bookings made before the cut off date in June. I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see - I’ll report back when we’re home - not long now 😀

Ive just checked my copy of that document too and it certainly looks as if they are included. I’d not even thought about the exchange rate until we were talking in the office at work today and suddenly thought it might be better to get them paid. 

Hope you have a lovely cruise.

interestingly in the original booking confirmation there is a line about mandatory service charge but this has disappeared off a recent confirmation there’s no mention of service charges (I’ve added a couple of things to the original booking) so who knows - I think I’ll just wait and see!!