AmoMondo

True, Jack. However the previous poster wanted to know what drinks were included in the all inclusive deal and the link to the onboard bar lists (same for everyone) show the drinks that are not included and those that are.

Not surprised they charge Brits more than the Italians for an all inclusive deal as on average I think it highly likely we consume more booze and less coffee than they do!

You could wait to buy onboard, then you have the same price as other nationalities.

I've been trying out the spray bottles of suncream (not that there's any sun here at the moment to protect myself from!). I think the problem is that factor 50 is just pretty thick, so even though it's in a spray bottle, it still doesn't cover as well as a thinner mix might. I'll keep an eye out for a sponge on a stick though!

There's a whole range of them here on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=back+lotion+applicator&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=12522972710&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=518913973778552792&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_801vp6bnvw_b

There is also a company called back bliss that seem to have aranged of them too. I just got mine from Amazon and went for one with interchangeable heads so I could have a spare pad when the other was still wet from being rinsed out. I'm tempted by the roll on one now though!

Looking at booking the Divina, does anyone knowwhich superior balcony cabin would be the best of these choices - 11080, 10071, 12089, 12222.

 

Also, does anyone know how these cabins would sleep a family of four? Would it be one queen bed, and one double sofa bed?

 

Thanks.

Just from looking at the portion of the deck plan Pete has posted just above, the first 3 you mention are not quads. You need to look at the deck plans for ones that have the symbol to indicate they're quads, or getnyour TA to do the legwork for you.

When I go to buffets alone and go to get seconds ....I always lean my chair forward up against the table on the front two legs. That seems to be the universal signal that the seat is occupied.

I'll certainly give that a try the next time I'm in a buffet, although mostly eat in the MDR.

Think it was €30 for 20 items and yes you can send the items in batches. If it's collected in the morning (can't remember if this has to be before 8am or before 9am) and you get it back the next afternoon, usually around 5pm.

There is an express laundry service too but that's for single items where you pay the surcharge to get it back the same day but doesn't apply to the package deal.

MSC club members get a discount on the package. It's a good service, I always use it even on my shorter cruises as it's really reasonable to avoid coming home to a load of laundry.

I believe you can buy more than one package.

I've done 14 solo cruises and never felt awkward but then I'm well used to travelling extensively on land on my own. I just don't feel self conscious ever about being solo. I've only cruised on Italian ships, so frequently English speakers are in the minority. I don't have any expectations of engaging with others, so if they want to ignore me that's fine, I won't move but will read or do a sudoku puzzle. If they are open to engaging also fine and I'll happily converse or attempt to converse depending on whether we have any common languages to do so. I always ask to be seated at a large table and fortunately never had a n issue. I've been satbsoley with solos, a mixture of solos or couples and it's always worked well. I almost never do excursions but not because I worry about being on my own, but the reverse - I prefer to do ports on my own.

For those that mentioned the issue of getting sunscreen on your back, other than sprays there is an alternative (which I discovered on here a few years ago). You can actually buy sunscreen applicators. Basically long handled contraption made of wood or plastic, with removable sponge applicator to apply the sun screen to those bits you just can't reach.

The only downsides I've found to travelling solo are

1. If you need to go to the bathroom before you've been able to check in luggage, you have to try to drag it all in to the cubicle with you or risk starting a security scare for unattended baggage!

2. Keeping your sunbed when you want to wander off for a bit to the bar or pool or whatever. Used to be easy, just used to leave my towel and paperback but now that I've moved to a kindle, not going to leave that.

3. At the buffet, how do you retain your seat if you need to go for something else? Staff usually clear away glasses and plates within minutes of you moving away, so most times you return to find new people in your seat. It's fine if there are people at your table with a common language, then you can ask them to let the waiters or other passengers know you're coming back.

I truly believe that feeling awkward comes from within. Yes some other people can be rude or inconsiderate but you still get to choose whether you allow them to make you feel awkward or not. I truly believe that we are not nearly as conspicuous to others as some of us solos feel we are. Being confident and comfortable in your own skin is key as well as being prepared to entertain yourself if necessary.

Normally when you make your booking either with a TA or direct, they ask your preference for which sitting you want to be on (1st or 2nd) and Laos the table size (2, 4,6,8 or 10). there are not a lot of tables for 2 and they do tend to give priority to people on honeymoon.

Your table allocation will be fixed for the duration of the cruise with your table companions the same throughout.

I managed to use it with a booking I've made for October. As far as I know it just works like any other onboard credit and can be used to offset onboard purchases. I think the casino is the only exception. I certainly intend to use mine for spa treatments.

Well the brochure price is what we have paid for June on the Opera! so i will keep at them until they give in or i will stand by the MSC rep on the ship and tell people it is just a Big con!

 

The £25 per night is seems is for the TA cruise in November ... we have a Balcony so its not £25 a night ! where do they get these people from ?

I noticed on the 2014 cruises I was looking for each cabin category was headed up £25 per night, even although the balconies were £45 per night...so technically "starting from £25 per night price"

Good luck Sidari.

I mostly pay the pronto price less my MSC discount but occasionally get other promos like double my club point discount or return from my cruise extra discount. Twice had 20% extra for problems on a cruise. My favourite though is the forgetting the100% single supplement on the repositioning ones - real bargain those for us who travel solo. My all time best offer though was 100% discountnon the cruise fare! Got 3 weeks notice that if I wanted ro book 7 night in Jan Caribbean sailing out of Martinique, I could just pay port taxes and air fare. That was a gold and above offer. Think there were only a couple of cabins available. Unfortunately I could not "bite their hand off" on that one as I couldn't get the time off work!

Think they only do virtual brochures in the UK. Certainly never seen a printed one.

I use the MSC website as guide of full and pronto price, but you have to watch if it has a special pricing structure such as £25 per night or the keep it simple ones they had last year.

Getting accurate information is always a bit of a challenge it would seem. Their admin skills could domwith an overhaul as well!

I bought one on my Musica cruise in September and had no issues using it on my 11 night Musica sailing this year to the Black Sea. The only issue was that online I get the pront (early booking price), my 20% club discount and 5% online booking discount. You can't do the OBC voucher online so have to phone. However the online discount was only about £50, so worth losing that to get €200 OBC. Didn't have any issues usingnit, just had to read out the info on the voucher to the sales agent and then scan and email it to her after the call.

Haven't tied tomuse it on a repositioning cruise but suspect them waiving the 100% single supplementbis counted as another discount and I definitely would not give that up for an OBC!

Yeah the MSC.co.uk website has a gap, and I can't find my cruise in the printed brouchure either. We booked through a TA.

 

Starts in Copenhagan on the 7th.

Keil on the 8th.

Day at sea.

Dover on the 10th (Where we join)

Day at sea.

Ferrol (Spain - I didn't know either) on the 12th.

Lisbon on the 13th.

Day at sea.

Malaga on the 15th.

Day at sea.

Tunis on the 17th.

Day at sea.

Dubrovnik on the 19th.

Finish in Venice on the 20th.

 

The Musica then starts a season of Black Sea cruises.

 

We, however will have 4 days in Venice :-)

 

Only 237 days. It'll fly by!

That's an interesting itinerary. I'm joint the ship a few weeks after you on it's Black Sea itinerary. Musica class ships are my favourite, so looking forward to being back on her.

Hi Guys!

 

Check out the signature!

 

7 months till our next cruise.....Watch out for Live from the Musica!

 

Regards,

Enjoy!

What's your itinerary? Seems to be a bit of a gap in the UK site between the Norther Europe routes and then the Black Sea late in September.

Behave!

 

Rest assured that if I were a catch, I would have been caught by now!

 

This is meant to be a discussion about tap water!

 

Tim (not John).

Lol!

Great info thanks. Can you remember how much the vouchers were? Are they the sort where you tear one off each time? Happy hour sounds good. Did you take wine / sodas / water on from the ports?

 

You say the drinks are cheaper in $ but the service charge is more does that mean the price ends up being the same?

Yes they are the type where you get a booklet and hand one over each time you order a drink. I can't remember the US prices but basically you pay for 10 and get 12 typically. They will add a 15% service charge to any package or individual drinks bought onboard.

The higher service charge I was referring to is the daily service charge per person. I was trying to illustrate that whilst some things are cheaper on US sailings like drinks, others are higher. It's $12 per adult per night in the Caribbean compared to €7 in the Med. See this link for full details and rates for kids:

http://www.msccruises.co.uk/uk_en/Already-Booked/During-The-Cruise.aspx

Hi Jo Nd Rob

The only free alcoholic drinks are at the captains welcome and the farewell cocktail parties. Other free drinks are iced water (freely available everywhere) and tea and coffee ( not cappuccino, carter latte or espresso). There will be a drinks station at the buffet that's open 24 hours where you'll be able to get water, tea and coffee whenever you want.

Drink prices are definitely cheaper when the cruise is priced in $s rather than €s but the daily service charge is higher. Wine by the carafe or glass is pretty reasonable are as the cheaper bottles of wine. They do a cocktail and an alcoholic cocktail of the day at a reduced price. They sometimes have other drinks promotions onboard like a happy hour or a 2 for 1 - make sure you read all the Daily Programme thatnis delivered to your cabin each night as that will not only tell you all meal, bar and activity times but publish any offers. If there is a certain drink that you or your family like and you'll drink at least 12 of them, then buy a book of vouchers fro them. You basically save the cost of 2 drinks and anyone in your family can use them. You can buy them at any bar.

Mairi, I forgot to apologise! Sorry. 'AmoMondo' sounds so masculine!

 

You also flattered my travel writing skills in my 'live review', thank you very kindly. Now I have time on my hands in Greece, I have just started to collate my ramblings with the intention of producing something more coherent and ran across your comment. I had good material to work with! I was an academic for a few years and that involved writing but, no, never a travel writer. That would be a dream job.

 

Tim.

Yes, I guess it does sound a bit masculine. Its actually Italian for "I love the world". I chose it to convey my love of globetrotting, languages and all things Italian (except for their inability to queue!). besides someone had already beat me to my usual username of mairij, but never seen them on here actually posting.

Being paid to travel, would indeed be a dream job. Mine unfortunately only involves return trips to London City or Bristol, and usually at the crack of dawn.

I know what you mean. I now have a pretty good real keyboard to go with my iPad. This is the way of the future. I will travel only with the iPad, when we come to Hamburg in May.

I adore my IPad and can now key faster on it than I can on my old desktop or work laptop. Iy is indeed the way of the future. There are still a few sites that need flash but by and large my old desktop is used about once every 3 months. It is just so convenient and easy to use.

I've only seen it available for sole occupancy on 7 night Med cruises and with a full single supplement.

Not sure if they sell out quick on repositioning cruises or they just don't offer them to people travelling solo. Guess the waynto tell for sure would be to search availability and enter 2 and see if anything comes up, then change it to 1 and see if it disappears.

All Aboard on these forums has travelled solo a few times in YC

I'm not entirely sold on Allegrissimo, you do save money but as you say does it make you order things you wouldn't have otherwise.

I absolutely loathe the free fruit juice, although the tomato is bare able. Getting the fresh stuff is a bit hit or miss. However on my other cruises when I didn't have the package, I was perfectly content with my free peppermint tea at breakfast.

The price of the package is the key point. At £20, I'm ahead, even if I buy a few extras not included, but at £30 or more I'd stick with buying things individually.

I've got it booked for one cruise next year and not for the other. It will be an interesting comparison in my drinking behaviour!

This is a very valid discussion though Tim, as not all packages suit everyone. If you're not a drinker, it's debatable if this one would suit unless you like a lot of soft drinks and ice-cream from the gelato bar. I'm with you Tim, on the ice cream in the MDR, it's great and doesn't cost anything.

Oh and BTW, you've got my gender wrong Tim! (not that it matters)

Mairi

Hi Tim

They were both expensive. I think the Barolo was around 40€ and the Amarone 75 trouble is I can't remember if that was in $ or €!

I'm confident of getting the coffee at breakfast, the jury is out on the OJ! We shall see. I do eat near the time the MDR closes, so perhaps that helps.

On the Musica in September I had no issues getting my cappuccino every morning in the MDR. One morning when I asked for my fresh OJ as well, the waiter told me I'd have to go upstairs to deck 11 for it. I just smiled and said I didn't realise that as all the other mornings my waiter had brought it and I hadn't realised they were going up 6 decks for it for me. Never mind, just the cappuccino then, I said. 5 minutes later he was back with the OJ and the coffee! Not sure if I was getting a favour for being one of their few Black Card members or he didn't like me thinking the other waiters were more obliging than him!

Now my first experience of the Musica was on a TA from Venice to Rio and the service in the MDR at breakfast and lunch was very variable from occasionally awful to mainly so so. Turned out they'd had to take on a whole load of Brazilian new crew to meet the rules for sailing out of Brazil. Ship wasn't completely full but they seemed to be struggling with all the newbies. It did get better towards the end. On a reverse crossing I had no issues as the Brazilians, were leaving when they reached Europe but were in the groove with everything. Perhaps this explains some of the hassles you had, that I didn't a month earlier?

Normally I havent gone for the AI because previously it was £39 per day and I prefer a few glasses of really good wine versus a bucket of plonk, don't drink a huge amount of anything else, so didn't think it would work for me.

Previously I've once bought a 7 bottles wine package that came with 7 bottles of water for around €90 (exchange rate at the time was around 1.40), so I thought that was a good deal. I split it with another lady at my table who was also travelling solo. On the long trips I usually get 2 or 3 packages onboard - cocktails, mocktails and water. Dont use them so much on shorter ones unless I'm travelling with someone, because I wouldn't necessarily get through all the vouchers during the 7 days and you only save money if you use all of them.

I can see where you are coming from though. If you didn't like the wine selection and weren't getting OJ and cappuccino at breakfast perhaps not such an advantage after all. I've still got all my receipts which I've yet to total up but I suspect it will be in the region of €300 for 7 nights.

I've booked it again for my 11 night sailing on the Musica next year (Black Sea) and I may still buy a few bottles of better wine for dinner (like the Barolo or the amazing Amarone de Valpocello). They usually last me 2-3 nights. if I do that I should still save a bit with my coffee and OJ in the morning, a few espressos during the day, bottles of water, a mocktail, a glass of wine or beer at lunch and a pre dinner drink and a post dinner baileys........now that must be more than £20!

The weather was undoubtedly a factor, perhaps the main factor, Max49. Extremely strong winds move ships and other objects around. There are a lot of accidents like this which is why cruises get disrupted when ships can't sail into certain ports or outnof certain ports safely because of weather conditions.

Unlike CS, I wasn't on the Pacifica when this happened, but my take on this is it's just one of the hazards of winter cruising when the weather can and does take control. This probably wouldn't even be a newsworthy sorry were it not a Costa ship.

Yes it is weird! I have looked at your voyage on expedia. Price for outside cabin category 5 is US 1600 per person with dobble occupancy. If you go solo is US 2900!

It's a pity you can't book through a UK agency or even MSC UK as that is a huge difference in price to those Skipper Tim and I pay