AmoMondo

With that long of a cruise, that's probably the better choice. You could also consider a taxi from the airport to the train station or vice versa. BTW I see that you've cruised a lot with MSC. I'd love to hear about your experiences. I considered them when booking our Caribbean cruise next year. Feel free to send me a PM, if you wish. All the best, Stephen

I don't think PMs are possible on here as they are on Tripadvisor?

MSC have a lot of similarities to Costa, maybe a bit more Italian except on sailings out of the US where's they tone it down a bit and adjust for the US market.

Their ships are really beautiful and elegant. Lots of natural wood, marble, polished metals etc colours more understated than say on the Favolosa but that wouldn't be hard! I think the layouts are more open and allow more light. The fleet is certainly much newer than Costa's.

Their onshore service is more chaotic. When it all goes well, it goes well but trying to get detailed information can be a challenge. Their website is quirky at best. They're not good at communicating promptly unless by Facebook.

Most people who enjoy Cosat will enjoy MSC and vice versa.

Any suggestions?

 

Pax et bonum,

Kevin

What do you want us to suggest? Which one to have, whether you should have one?

They differ by cruise, so we'd need to know where you're cruising and Laos what your wine preferences are.

Well MSC should give you something as you've sold both of us on trying out at least one body treatment! Thank you for explaining and the suggestion for doing the moisturizing one at the end :).

Hope you both enjoy them.

Honestly, even when you can lay your hands on a spa menu with descriptions, it is all such flowery wording you haven't got a clue what they are going to do to you - and MSC Spa is not alone in this.

Their hot stones treatments are bliss as well, so if you see them on a special, snap it up.

On our cruise with Aurea experience we chose to have our dinner at the same time every night and our Aurea host ensured we had a table for two with the same waiting team which allowed us to build up a rapport with them and they always had our wine ready for us.

 

So it is entirely possible to have a table ,with the same companions and waiting team with the My Time dining arrangements. The choice is still there to have traditional dining arrangements :-Quote "Priority choice of dining".

The My Time dining is an additional choice for Fantastica balcony guests. I suspect there will be a waiting list system in the MDR to cope with it.

I'll be interested in how they arrange the two experiences dining facilities as when I was in Aurea the fantastica choice was not available

Thanks Pete, we shall have to wait to see how it works in practice. Many may not have noticed this yet anyway! I think if there is still the option to have same time and table, then that is the best of both worlds. Passengers can then choose what they want. Seems though that the move is to flexible dining generally across the industry.

Thanks, we're going DIY for all the other ports, Rome just seems more difficult with the distance. I have a 300euro quote from a private company (not including admission to colosseum and Vatican). A comparable ship tour is $130 pp on a bus, so not much different.

 

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My friend was less adventurous than I am about complete DIY, she was worried we'd mess up the train back, so I compromised and we did the Rome on Your Own with MSC. It is less than half the price of a tour and no risk of it being cancelled due to lack of English speakers booking since all nationalities can go on in. They drop you off (or at least they used to) at a multi storey car park (with bathrooms and cafes) which is around a 5 minute walk to the back of the Vatican. It is a shop walk from there to theHOHO bus as well (you need to buy your ticket before boarding from a shop opposite the stop)

Personally I'd have been happy with the train but he does give you more time on the ground and requires less thought and planning about how to get back. All you have to remember is where to go back for the bus and when you have to be there.

The walk to the train station is about 20 minutes, 1.7 km.

 

 

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Thanks for that. I'll bear it in mind as an option for a future cruise, but as this one will be a 23 day one, I'll be too laden with luggage to manage that.

If I were you, I'd DIY with a decent map (I like Insight's Fleximaps), but that's just me.

If you want a tour, your options might be to wait until you get onboard. And meet your table companions as you may be able to organise something together. That only works though if Romes is one of the later ports of call and you've asked to be seated at a bigger table. If that doesn't work then book a shored from MSC. They usually take bookings right up to 24 hours before. Some tours get cancelled though as not enough English speaking passengers book them to reach the minimum number. Sometimes they get combined with another language if the tour guide is multi lingual.

A plan B or C may be to either book the MSC Fome on your own transfer and the. Get on the HOHO bus or if you're feeling braver, get the train in and do the HOHO bus.

This is a question I have myself. Can you explain the GF menu that your daughter used mairead224? I'm used to NCL's system of pre-ordering my meals, but MSC's dining is so different that I'm not sure what I need to do to eat gluten-free.

You should notify them in advance (now before you board the ship). For some reason there is a higher than the norm incidences of Italians with gluten intolerances, so they are well used to catering for it.

Basically you get your own menu and waiter and you choose form that menu. I don't think it is as simple in the buffet though but I guess you are used to being able to yell obviously safe things to select.

Allegedly it is available for Fantastica balcony guests

 

see the last sentence of the information below

 

 

 

Pete

Hmm, wonder when they introduced that change? Nope it isn't true for our Caribbean repo. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and like set dining times with a set table. I like having the same table and companions for the duration of the cruise. I suspect My Time will not work well for a solo and end up with me eating alone or stuck with people who don't speak English as a first language. I don't mind at breakfast and lunch, but I like a long dinner with good conversation and my French and Spanish are fine for all the tourist stuff plus a bit bit not real dinner conversation. My Italian and German I'd worse.

Then there is the advantage, especially on longer cruises of your waiter getting to know you and your habits. No idea how leaving an unfinished bottle of wine would work either. At the same table every night, it is sitting there waiting for you.

Deposit for European passengers is 100 euros per passenger even children.

 

Yes in YC you can secure tables for 2 and anytime dining however \for the rest of the ship if you book b2 or higher you have only a preferential dining time. Which means you have your pick of early or late dinner seating. I'm nearly positive that tables for 2 are nonexistent in the MDR and you will be required to share a table every evening however your tablemates will always be the same passengers.

 

hope this helps

Nor in the UK. It's £100 per person cruise on,y and£250 per person for fly/cruise package and unlike in the US, deposits are non refundable (unless they cancel)

Sorry to hear your cruise is being cancelled. Let's hope they offer you an acceptable alternative. Yes, there may be a time when our paths will cross and we can meet. Hope things get sorted for you.

 

Suzanne

Thanks Suzanne.

It's all sorted, departs a day earlier from Savona instead of Venice but now also includes Abu Dhabi before ending up in Dubai on 19 & 20 December. Waiting to find out if they will let me off early on 18th in Abu Dhabi so I can get the direct Etihad flight back home. If they don't I can book their coach from Dubai to AUH.

Booked on MSC Opera March 1st 2016 leaving from Cuba, 7 nts cruise any idea if there will be a theme night besides captain's dinner ?

Don't know for certain but I'd be amazed if there were not 2 gala nights (welcome and farewell ones) and a few theme nights. White party and Italian night have featured on many cruise in many locations in the last 5-5 years. However as most people only know in advance about formal nights, not many bother (other than the crew) about the theme nights. Some don't even bother to observe the formal nights.....

Has anyone here had the Bali “Sunrise Lulur”, Bali Thalassic "Sea and Volcanoes”, Bali "Moisture of the Sunset" and/or "Aurea Thalass" spa treatments? What are they like? I'm all about massages and facials and never had a body treatment before. Any favorite packages or massages?

Ive had the first 3 more than once as part of a spa packag but I'm struggling to remember the precise details,of each. The moisture one, I tend to book towards the Nd of the trip in case my skin is feeling a bit dehydrated after sun exposure.

They all usually involve a body exfoliation with some sort of body scrub. The first 2 have you then covered in gloop (one is a seaweeds type one the other more a mud type one with sea minerals). They wrap you up in cling film and stick you in this big white machine (I dare say it has a technical name!) with a lid on it (think body sized toastie machine) with only your head sticking out. It heats up a bit and vibrates a bit for a while (all supposedly to make the gloop penetrate more). Then it has a series of water jets to,rinse you off. Once your all cleaned and de-glooped, you get a full body massage.

Hope that gives you an idea of what is involved. MSC aUra Spa will not be employing me any time soon to ride their spa menu descriptions for them!

sEriously though, they do leave your skin feeling much nicer and the massage part has you all chilled out.

Heard today that the Venice to Dubia cruise on neoRibiera has definitely been cancelled. It has been replaced by Savona to Dubia on neoClassica at same price as original cruise but with a lot of different ports. I also an e the option of cancelling with a full refund of deposit but I'm going to accept the alternative.

So mystery over. Now waiting to find out whether my friend and I will still be in cabins next door to each other or not.

Sestri Ponente is a local suburban railway station, trains from Savona take about 1 hour (stopping at all stations), this is the nearest station tothe Airport but there is no physical connection, being about 3 km away.

 

We are facing much the same problem for our cruise in March, as our flights from Munich arrive too late in Genoa, the last time we flew in a day earlier and stayed at a hotel near the airport and took the Costa transfer, never again it was chaos and we got on the ship about 45 minutes before sailing. For our March cruise I asked Costa if we could book their transfer for the day before and stay in a hotel in Savona - Costa will not allow it. So we are arranging a Limo service from the airport to Savona, enjoy an afternoon and evening by the sea and get to the terminal early next morning.

 

Mairi, have you heard anything new about which ship you will be on fro your cruise to Dubai?

 

Here are a couple of links that maybe useful:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g194918-i21949-k8065427-Sestri_Ponente_train_station_to_airport-Sestri_Ponente_Province_of_Genoa_Liguria.html

 

http://www.genovaairport.com/getting-to-genova-airport.htm

Thanks Ron.

Heard today that I've been switched to neoClassica leaving one day earlier from Savona instead of Venice.

I can't decide on whether to just get a taxi into Genoa and stay overnight at a hotel near the station, or spend the night in Savona. The Gatwick flights used to land just after 2pm so I have time to do either.

My daughter booked a solo just recently for Ma rch 19 th Divina sailing- granted it was $300 more for inside cabin but worth it to her to come on family cruise .

She did not book thru MSC however. I'm m not sure if I'm allowed to mention website she went thru but if you give me your email I'll give you info

MSC has 11 other ships operating out of other countries, with others due in the coming years. The restrictions on solos we are talking about is for UK pax sailing in Europe and other non US locations. I believe that it is different with MSC USA, unfortunately neither I or the OP were wanting to book the Divina.

Not food is part of your cruise, u less they have specialty items that has extra cost to it, and of course any alcohol.

Room service breakfast is free (food and change), other food is charged but no delivery charge if you're in Fantastica or higher. The US sailings may be different though.

What is the cost on their Caribbean cruises on the Divina? In U.S. dollars, please. And how many items - just washed and folded or pressed also??

 

Thanks.

It's 20 items too. Washed and pressed. You choose whether you want them back folded or on hangers.

Think I recall someone saying the price was $25 but not certain as I don't sail out of the US anymore.

Dollars on US sailings. Euros if sailing elsewhere.

Not true my friend has 3 solo's booked on the Divina!!!!!!!

 

MSC is not just the Divina!

 

I tried yesterday online to make a solo booking on at least three cruises this year in the Med and Greek islands with the same answer, it would not allow you to book.

Thanks Dave!

A bit more complicated, but MUCH cheaper: take a taxi from the cruise port to the railway station in Savona and a train to Genoa (Sestri Ponente, aka airport station). The train fare is only 8 Euros for 2 people.

Hi,

I'll be embarking at a cruise in Savona Lat in the year and had thought getting a taxi into Genoa main train station would be best. Is Sestri Ponente right at the airport itself? Can you access it from the arrivals hall or do you need to exit the terminal and walk somewhere else?

Thank you.

Thanks so much for your answer. This was the only issue holding me back a little bit. I will wait for 2017 May - Fall 2017 itineraries to decide. We did the balcony Breakfast a few times on Princess and wished we tired the balcony dinner so this is the perfect opportunity to enjoy a nice meal on our balcony.

You can't enjoy a nice meal on your balcony. They don't offer full room service emu but far more limited things like soup, sandwiches, fruit. It's more a snack or light meal than a substitute for the 6 course dinners in the MDR.

You do have the option of the buffet or perhaps a speciality restaurant if you don't want to attend the gala dinners.

If you booked directly with them, they usually send an email, otherwise it goes to the TA.

It is possible though that the website changes before all emails go,out. I wasn't watching my cruise online when I received an email a few months ago saying they'd dropped Tunis from a June 2017 sailing.

Not true my friend has 3 solo's booked on the Divina!!!!!!!

Absolutely is true. Remember MSC do not operate the same way in every country. Your friend may have been able to book on the Divina. I on the other hand could not book on the Lirica and Fantasia and various other ships from 2014-2015. Why would I lie about this?

Why also would other UK posters lie about this? Look back the threads to 2014. When MSC UK did a complete about face from being very solo friendly to severely restricting places available to them.

They blocked entire sailing programmes on some ships and just popular sailings on others.

I can understand them preferring to have 2 rather than 1 person in a cabin. In the past they may have a quota from Italy on how many cabins they would allow at solo occupancy. Then if you called them, they would contact Italy and get another cabin cleared to sell to a solo. When the new policy came into force, even when they had dozens of cabins available less than 3 weeks to whe sailing date, they would not relent. Napoli insisted no solos, so they preferred to have empty cabins than a solo occupying them.

The OP is from the UK like me, not the US.

The position seems to have improved again albeit you still encounter a certain sailing where they will say that no cabins are available at that occupancy.

I always book direct now. Had hassle around 8 years ago with a famous UK TA who subsequently went bust.

Don't see much advantages over here in using them, compared to the benefit of being able to deal direct with MSC.

You also have to,pay the final balance earlier when booking with a TA as they ask for payment anything from 2 to 4 weeks earlier than when it is actually due.