mowogo

Everyone’s pricing is going up. I know I will never see as good a deal as I got last year on Carnival with a $400 solo balcony to Alaska. MSC is filling their ships up now. No reason to fill cabins at half capacity now. Probably not going to see those steals again until the Galveston MSC terminal opens and they need people on those first sailings.

Run down is closer to the experience of Princess Cays than Ocean Cay.

Yeah, definitely helps that a lot of seasoned cruisers are just tired of Nassau and so decide to skip it. And a large portion of those getting off are going to some combination of Blue Lagoon, Balmoral, or Paradise Islands. I know I’m seriously debating about if it is worth getting off at all next week since it will be my third stop in a year. Especially since I have a Cariloha outlet easily accessible in Vegas 😉

From Butchers cut on the Divina in September. Ordered Medium and was utilizing my complimentary dining experience.

Remember that there are usually multiple ships turning over so in addition to your ship, there are more. And then you add the families that visited Disney/Universal/SeaWorld to the mix and you see how quickly crowds can overwhelm, especially since Orlando is a confusing airport for those unfamiliar with it. Doing self debark on the Divina with a GoPort shuttle to MCO I was able to pick up a rental car at 10am from Orlando Airport. Technically 11am would be doable, but risky because it requires everything to go right.

Worst case scenario is landing in T and departing from F. Figure that it can physically take up to 30 minutes to get between gates and that the door closes 10 minutes prior to departure. 45 minutes is asking to miss the connection. Good news is that MARTA can take you downtown from the airport in about 30 minutes so you can enjoy some of the attractions in town while on layover.

The argument is that MSC put too much pressure on Costa for Carnival to continue growing. The upcoming Costa by Carnival experiment is really a part of testing how little work they can get away with converting ships to repurpose them since MSC has been pushing Costa out of the EU market.

Within 2 years Carnival is moving 4 ships from Costa to Carnival. With the amount of work that takes, Carnival corporate has not shown long term confidence in Costa. The whole Costa by Carnival thing getting ready to launch is really just an attempt by Carnival to see if there is room where they can salvage the brand or if Costa is a likely candidate for shutdown in any financial restructuring.

The site is very much a regurgitation of press releases. MSC is definitely growing as they still have many ships on order for construction, while others are seeing the end of their fleet expansion/renewal plans. The next travel slowdown will likely lead to a lot of ship retirements while MSC will then be able to capitalize.

There are industry issues, and then there are issues that come with the fares that MSC is offering including the easy plus package for less than it costs to get on the older carnival ships without drinks.

So Sears has actually been good for picking up clothing for White Night with their White Linen collection. I’m pairing that with a White hat from the Panama Canal that I picked up on my Carnival Spirit cruise to Alaska.

MSC presents an international experience on newer ships for the price of Spirit/Conquest class sailings. That for me tips it toward MSC, but then I’m ok with the different language announcements as that is much more common in European destinations. On the plus side it means a lot fewer announcements so you don’t have them stopping to advertise every sale in the EFFY boutique.

I came to MSC from reading about their status match on The Points Guy and it provided a good way to experience an elevated experience at a great price for solo. When I can cruise for a week with drinks and Wi-Fi on a 5 year old ship for less than $600 and receive Diamond treatment it becomes even harder to even consider Carnival when the comparable cruise is on a 20 year old ship.

It is really only recently that MSC has even done a push beyond Florida in their advertising. I’d say for many people the Seascape being featured on the Today Show was likely the first time they heard of MSC in the US.

I’m in my Mid 30s, and even saw college students booking MSC cruises on their own because the fares are so good. The solo meetup was definitely strong on the 20s and 30s on a holiday weekend 3 day.

MSC is the line that is providing the pricing floor for the industry in FL and is really the line attacking Carnival pricing. And one reason MSC is winning converts is that the Divina is a much nicer ship than the Conquest, for the same or less. Yes there are differences between the lines, but the price floor for US cruising is always important when talking about raising prices.

We are conditioned to believe our American culture is superior, and so people love the ability to spend a day exploring and then return to the comfortable. And there is nothing wrong with this because for these type of people, the American cruise experience is actually getting them to experience more than they would otherwise. And don't discount the fact that offering something different can actually help build the market, since they can go after cruisers that love to cruise, but don't want the American Mass Market Line experience.

I went through a similar evaluation, and with Carnival casino pricing I had no problems passing on a 4 day Radiance for $250 for a 7 day Meraviglia for $530 with the MSC rate including drinks and wifi. And you bring up another aspect that makes MSC attractive, they actually let you use your drink package on the island so there is more justification if you have to pay the regular drink package prices.

MSC is making a big run at the price sensitive traveler. Why take a casino discount 3 day to Princess Cays on the Conquest when I can get a regular rate to Ocean Cay for the same price with drinks and internet included where the old ship is only 10 years old and doesn't look it. And thanks to the generous status match program that MSC offers I was able to get up to Diamond so I have the free thermal pass, free steakhouse dinner, and all the general elite benefits just adds to the value that MSC offers to a savvy traveler. Although right now the competition is just Miami, Canaveral, and NYC there are already reports of MSC offering to build a new terminal in Galveston. MSC has many issues, but they have already grown to be a large player in Europe and are launching new ships comparable to the new ships of RCL, NCL, and CCL and are making a commitment to the US market. With Carnival having the market of new cruisers who are more likely to be price sensitive over all else, the low fares of MSC make it harder to raise fares on 20 year old ships.

On the Divina no reservations needed, two performances of the main show a night. I enjoyed the 3 on my cruise, but do understand why they may not connect with the American audience.

There is demand, and we are likely to see MSC send a ship for Alaska service sometime in the next few years. With inflation in other aspects of travel even the high fares seem reasonable compared to a week long visit to a major city.

Even worse, that is the main NYC itinerary.

That is for checked bags. I was talking about the terminal screening of carry on bags

Marijuana is extremely easy to travel with in flower, and almost undetectable in vape cartridges. The security screening is really even below TSA standards which are already easy to travel with cannabis.

And that is an improvement from the Florida-Nassau-Ocean Cay.