RosieRoo

I had a balcony guarantee booked on an upcoming sailing and put in a small bid for the large balcony cabin. My original guarantee was never assigned. I just won the bid about a month out and was assigned a cabin in the category I bid on. There’s a ton of suites open, but I cannot bid again. I guess once you win a bid you cannot bid a second time. 

46 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Grand suites and above on Wonder are all on the top two floors of the ship. The only reason we went down was if we felt like walking around, specialty dining or to see the shows.  Otherwise we stayed in the suite area.  Does this sound the  same as NCL?

I have not been on the Wonder so I’m not sure what the suite set up is like. Is there a pool and hot tub up there as well? If everything is enclosed in one area, then yes it would be like the Haven. 

15 hours ago, Cigar King said:

What do you need to do to get the status match?

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club/status-match?utm_campaign=usa-en-sem-brand_general&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=msc+status+match&utm_content=branded&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw-HioZ29hQMVOV1HAR3gaAOsEAAYASACEgJff_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We matched to their highest tier. It gives you a few perks, like a specialty restaurant dinner, 5% discount and maybe an OBC. Not sure of all the perks. 

13 hours ago, Cigar King said:

Will do.  So far I'm just trying to figure what is different.  For example, their included internet is 300 minutes per person.  That's pretty lame considering what they charge for these rooms.

To me when you are paying that kind of money for a suite you should have unlimited internet and free bottled water. That’s why I prefer MSC Yacht Club over NCL Haven. The lack of bottled water on NCLs drink package baffles me. 

4 minutes ago, kjquilts said:

 

I have an FCC resulting from price crop after final payment for our upcoming cruise on the Spirit and am still receiving Upgrade notice offers.

I am still receiving offers and can place bids, but if I try to modify any of the bids it says “no eligible cruise found”.  I don’t really care because I’m happy with the cabin I have and don’t really want to spend any more money. I just thought it was weird. 

I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I have a similar scenario. The price of my May sailing went down quite a bit. I received a FCC from NCL, same as you.  The weird thing is I had bid on upgrades before requesting the price adjustment. Now if I go and try and modify my bids, I can see them, but when I try to modify them it says “no eligible cruise found”. I have never seen that message before so I’m assuming because I got the FCCs it cancelled out my eligibility to bid. I’ll be curious to see what your experience is. 

1 hour ago, Cigar King said:

That's a negative for us.  We don't drink, so bottled water is one of the things we get often.  Sparkling water the same?

On NCL no bottled waters included. You have to purchase water separately. 
 

On MSC unlimited waters both still and sparkling. Bottled water is also served in the Yacht Club restaurant both still and sparkling. 
 

I just placed bids on two cruises in June. Neither were open to bidding at the 90 day point. I kept getting a message saying it wasn’t time. I just kept checking back and it worked eventually. 

10 minutes ago, mafig said:

You can't bring water on the ship.

 

Bottled water is not included in their drink package.  

This is such a weird policy. You can get all the free drinks you want, but not bottled water. 

2 hours ago, Cigar King said:

 

Somebody mentioned MSC Yacht Club.  I've been wanting to try that since I saw a cruise show featuring their ship.  Wife not so much, mainly because we have had several reports that were less than complementary.  Is the consensus here that it's worth it?  I think they have (or at least *had*) status matching.

We’ve sailed MSC several times, both in a balcony, a suite and in the Yacht club. Everyone has their own opinion of MSC. Their website isn’t great and their shoreside customer service is lacking in my opinion, but I have never had a bad experience on MSC.  The Yacht Club experience is far superior to any other suite experience we have had (and we have been on over 100 cruises). It also costs a lot less than the Haven on NCL. The butler meets you on the sidewalk, walks you thru security, takes you thru check in and then walks you right onto the ship and into the Yacht Club. No other cruise line I have experienced does that. All of the Yacht Club facilities are behind locked doors that you use your key card to enter. Yacht club members only, no high level cruisers. All your drinks are included, including anything inside your mini fridge, which the butler refills daily. Any time you leave the ship you are escorted to the front of the line by a butler.  When you go to shows, you are escorted to the show by a butler. Their private island has its own Yacht club beach with restaurant and bar. No need to bring towels, they provide them at the beach. A butler escorts you off the ship and onto a golf cart that drives you to the beach.  There’s not one concierge to take care of you, but three at the desk most times.  

Honestly, for the money I think they offer the best experience out there. I have friends in Orlando who are Royal Pinnacles and were afraid to try MSC. I talked them into trying it and they booked 4 more cruises while onboard. Don’t be afraid to give it a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Also, they do still have the status match. It offers a few nice perks if you are at their highest level. 

57 minutes ago, Cigar King said:

Tried doing a search but I didn't see anything that answered my question.  

There's a lot of talk about "exclusive".  Is it really, or is it like Royal and various loyalty tiers have access too?  

To my knowledge none of the lattitudes levels grant access to the Haven. It’s not like Pinnacles on Royal that have access to Coastal and the Suite Lounge. 

I’ve sailed in suites on almost all cruise lines. The experience on NCL is different in that all the facilities are located in one area behind closed doors. You need a key to get into the Haven complex. You’ll have your restaurant, pool, bar, hot tubs, etc all within that closed in area instead of being spread out like on some of Royals ships. The Haven is a ship within a ship. The only other experience I can compare it to is MSCs Yacht club. 

Question for those of you that have bid before. I have an upcoming sailing in May.  I bid on 3 different haven categories. Now when I go back into the email that links to my bids and go to review your offer, the bids show up as pending, but if I try to modify them I get this message “no eligible cruise found”. I’ve never seen this before. 

shareholderbenefit@rccl.com
 

I just emailed them day before yesterday and had the confirmation in my email today. 

Just spent 20 days on the Radiance. Ate in Chops several times. We had the filet, fish and lamb chops and all were very good. Food and service were some of the best we’ve had on any Royal ship. Food and service in Giovanni’s was also excellent. 

Thank you @Sammae for all the great info.  We’re booked for a 12 nt out of Southampton in this same category. I was tempted to bid on the low level Haven suites, but this room has more square footage and almost as many perks as the Haven suites. 

I have been on both ships. Not sure if you realize it or not, but those are two vastly different ships. 

4 hours ago, chfenton said:

Not sure this is entirely accurate or if you are specifying cashing out without cycling through the machine?  I did 10 different room charges to slot machines over a 4 day Allure cruise 4 weeks ago and had no problem doing the final 9 after the first even though I cashed that one after playing some.  To be clear, I definitely cycled through at least 50% of what I loaded to the machine as a room charge each time before cashing out--doing this - I had no issues transferring to the machines whenever I wanted throughout the cruise.  

You are correct. As it was explained to me by the casino manager, you have to play at least  50% of the money you put into the slot machine from your account before you cash out or you get locked out of the system. As long as you cycle thru that 50% you’re good. 

Just spent 20 days on the Radiance and I thought she was in good shape, food and service were great. Best Chops meal I’ve had on any ship. We did eat at Samba, but heard they won’t be around much longer. The WJ manager did say they were tearing up and replacing the tile floor in the WJ. There was some grout missing and some of the tiles are uneven. A gentleman tripped on one and fell one morning. Not sure how many contractors there will be, but there were quite a few on turnaround days. 

Just now, Biker19 said:

The fare is fixed at the time of booking.

Thank you. I’m booking something quite far out so I just wanted to be sure it would be based on today’s pricing before I cashed in the points.

I have a slightly different question that maybe some one can answer. If you use points for a companion fare, can you cash them way in advance and have applied or do you need to do it right before final payment? Just wondering at what point they decide the value of the companion fare, when you book or when you pay since prices are constantly fluctuating. 

I think they are catching on to this. Put $50 of non refundable credit into machine and cashed out at $32. Next time I tried to use my card I was locked out. They said you have to play at least 50% of what you load into the machine before cashing out or you get locked out. 

41 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Thanks for the great advice.  Somehow, I can't see myself with a butler.  Probably the result of my background, growing up in a relatively poor family in NYC.  I'd have to really think that one over.🙂

One of the best perks of the YC in Brooklyn I haven’t seen mentioned is that the butler meets you on the sidewalk by the YC tent and escorts you through security, check in and right onto the ship. No lines, no waiting. They also escort you off the ship at ports, taking you right to the front of the line. 

Currently on Radiance, no Rita’s Cantina, it’s just a bar with seating now, but they do have two restaurants that were not on the Jewel or the Serenade when we were on them in the fall. The Dog House which is outside the WJ where there’s usually coffee and tea on the other ships and Samba Grill which is on 12 where Izumi is located on the other two ships. Radiance has Izumi in the back of the WJ on the opposite side from where Rita’s was. 

5 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Though thats a repo to PR. Sadly the annual Boston to Florida is also now a very short Boston to PR

And a pricey 7 nt sailing for a repo