actuarian

Does anyone know whether any of the specialty restaurants on the Seashore are open for lunch on boarding Day?

I have heard the same thing from others on CC. However, the docs do include the following language (in red) "Do not arrive for check-in before the time indicated.You will be requested to wait outside the terminal until your scheduled time." So, I do not know what to believe. My eight prior MSC cruises have all been in the YC so check-in times did not matter. However, my next (March) reservation is not in the YC so I guess that I will find out what is true. Perhaps the fact that I am a Diamond Member will also make a difference.

That last item is only true if you book an ordinary YC suite, rather than a YC Royal Suite or Owners Suite. Then, you do get a much better price than either the Retreat or the Haven but that is partly because you are also getting a smaller suite.

Did the eDocs you received show the same "CHECK-IN TIME" that you would have selected if you had been able to check in on line? My experience is that you get a later time that way and the agent you call on the phone is not able to change it. One way around the issue that works if you are on a cruise that leaves from a U.S. port and returns to the same port is to check-in through the app but select an other ID instead of a passport from the drop-down ID list. Then you can type in the info. that is actually on your passport and complete the check-in and get a boarding pass through the app. This only works with the "MSC for Me" app, not with a browser. You can still present the passport when you arrive at the port.

Pinnacle still includes quite a few perks that are not available at other levels: Boarding with the suites, breakfast at a specialty restaurant with the suites, access to the suite sundeck and, most of the time, access to Coastal Kitchen and the Suite Lounge. However Coastal Kitchen and the Suite Lounge are not always available to Pinnacles and the Crown Lounge is often overcrowded. There may come a time when Coastal Kitchen and maybe also the Suite Lounge are strictly limited to guests in suites, as is Luminae on Celebrity. Then the Crown Lounge will be limited to Pinnacles and the new tier that will probably be midway between D+ and Pinnacle. They could also incease the points requirement for Pinnacle. Imagine Crown Club at 500 points and Pinnacle Club at 1,000 points.

Now that the Diamond Lounge has become the Crown Lounge, how long before RCCL adds a new tier to Crown & Anchor? They have already given us the name; "Crown" or maybe "Crown Club". Perhaps Crown Club will be for members with 350 points or maybe even 500 points. Then the Crown Lounge will be only for Crown Club and Pinnacle Club members.

When my late wife and I first started cruising on Royal over 20 years ago, the food in the MDR seemed comparable to the food that is presently served in the specialty restaurants. Back then, there were only two specialty restaurants, Chops and Portofino. Chops was a true fine dining experience. We thought it was comparable to a top quality steakhouse in Dallas (where we used to live). Portofino was not quite as good as Chops but I think it was better than Giovanni's or Jamie's is now. IMHO, the present specialty restaurants (including Chops; Portofino is gone) serve food that is comparable to the food that was served in the MDR back then and, as other posters have pointed out, MDR food has gone way down in quality. However, there are a lot more other attractions on the ships now. Moreover, I think that, after adjusting for inflation, cruises cost more back then. In fact, it is probably possible to purchase the unlimited dining package and still pay less in total than the inflation adjusted price that we spent to cruise in 2004.

It is not that unusual for people to have issues with MDR seating on MSC when they book the Bella or Fantastica experiences. However, you can book the Aurea experience on MSC and still be paying less than it costs to cruise on Royal Caribbean, although the savings over Royal Caribbean will be much smaller. If you book in Aurea, you can show up in the Aurea MDR without an advance reservation and with as many people as can fit at a table. If you really want the best service, you can often book MSC in the Yacht Club for around the price of a junior suite on Royal.

I would add that one difference between MSC and those other cruise lines is that you do not have to upgrade all the way to the highest class (the Yacht Club) in order to have access to a separate sundeck area. All MSC ships also have separate sundecks for Aurea Experience guests and an Aurea Experience balcony cabin can usually be secured on MSC for less than the price of an ordinary balcony cabiin on those other cruise lines that you cited. There always seem to be available loungers on the Aurea sundeck.

I purchased a specialty dining package for my entire family. However, one of my grandchildren is only 11 years old and the web site said that people under 13 aren't eligible for the package. Does anyone know whether she will actually be included when we dine in the specialty restaurants?

Even though the Coco Beach Club no longer shows up on the excursions page, it should still show up in the "Daily Planner" section of the "Royal" app, at 8 AM on the day that the ship is in Coco Cay. If you click on it there, it should display your reservation. My Coco Beach Club reservation shows that way, even though it is almost two months until embarkation.

MSC is the one cruise line that is holding the line on price increases, especially on newer ships. In fact, I am often able to book a suite on MSC for less than it would cost to book an inside stateroom on a RCCL ship that is the same age as the MSC ship (as long as the suite is not part of the Yacht Club). Of course, food and service on MSC is not quite up to food and service on RCCL and some items that are included on RCCL (like soft ice cream or some other snacks) cost extra or are not available on MSC. Nevertheless, in my experience, the difference is also not nearly as great as great as some reviewers make it out to be and MSC's ships and private island Ocean Cay are beautiful. Moreover, MSC prices often include their "Easy Plus" drink package in the price of the cruise, which represents an additional large saving. It makes MSC a marvelous option for family cruises. I still cruise on Royal when cruising with adult guests only but, when I cruise with my grandchildren, it is MSC.

That is just not true. In fact, most United States airlines actually make more profit by selling miles to partners and (especially) credit card companies than they make by selling tickets. They cannot afford to alienated the people who use affinity credit cards; those people are their bread and butter.

Often, when I book through a travel agent website, I see prices for a balcony guarantee room that are substantially lower than the price for an assigned balcony cabin. For example, a February 12, 2024 4-night cruise on the Freedom OTS out of Miami is available for $401 per person (double occupancy) for a balcony guarantee. The least expensive assigned balcony room for the same cruise is $557 pp or 39% more expensive. That makes the $401 seem like a tremendous savings for anyone who is not that particular about the location of his or her room. This thread shows all of us that that saving is about more than just room location; it is also about the risk that the "guarantee" will not be honored at all. My late wife and I booked an oceanview guarantee cabin around 8 years ago and, when we arrived, we found out that there were no oceanview rooms available. However, we did receive an onboard credit and at least we were able to cruise (in an inside room). We learned our lesson and I have not booked any guarantee rooms since then and I will never book one again.

I enjoy MSC but I always book either the Yacht Club or the Aurea Experience. The rest of the ship outside of the Yacht Club and the Aurea sundeck is almost always very crowded and bustling, with very few places to escape the crowds (except your own veranda, if you have one). For example, almost all of the seating on the sundecks that are open to all guests gets taken early in the morning, often by "chair hogs". You almost never find any "incredible deals" on the Yacht Club or the Aurea Experience. The short MSC cruises usually go to only Nassau and Ocean Cay. I love Ocean Cay; it is a gorgeous island but it is a "lie-on-the-beach kinda" place and you say that your daughter is not "a lie-on-the-beach kinda gal". There are no animals on Ocean Cay except for some turtles. On the other hand, she may enjoy Nassau. One can swim with dolphins at Blue Lagoon Island and there are the famous flamingos and wildlife conservation center at Ardastra Gardens. If you do want to see all of Nassau, it is important to read the schedule carefully, since the time at Nassau is often much shorter than the time at Ocean Cay. By the way, I would never try to compare MSC with Disney or Celebrity. Except for the Yacht Club, MSC is not in their price category and no other cruise line is anything like Disney. IMHO, MSC does compare very will Royal and Carnival (and I have not been in NCL).