carlmm

Walked all around Palermo many times.

Palma: City centre maybe 40 minutes walk or less than 10 minutes bus ride.

"Everything is dumped down" is unfortunately true for Cunard, too. Still, I would recommend you try it. Compared to the dumped down Princess experience it will probably a nice experience. I have sailed Fort Lauderdale to LA a couple of years ago and it was lovely. Indeed a lovely cruise with many seadays.

Who knows. Last year I was there in early October and spent a couple of hours on the beach. It was hot, crowded with people sunbathing and the water was really warm with many people swimming.

As the OP asks about "everything": No. Eg the one hour thermal spa is for the member only.

In my ecperience there is no difference between Bella and Fantastica: They will try to accomodate your preference of time and table size. No guarantee, but as close to your wish as possible, if you niecly ask in person.

To add: The only place with problems was on the balcony. In the cabin and the public areas it was fine

It was perfectly fine for all my purposes in the Carribean in March. Transatlantic the satellite connection can be weaker or even off.

At meal times you can get cappucccinos and such in the restaurant and certainly also for breakfast in the Lido. Other times I do not know if they charge in the Lido.

Coffee is free at breakfast i.e. in the morning. You may even have it delivered to your cabin free of charge. Actually tea and coffee are free - for all meals in all restaurants - via room service for breakfast - at tea time in the Queens room - all day long at the buffet - all day long by using the kettle provided in your cabin

Yes, there are pizza and other snacks all day long in the buffet.

Yes. It even is one of the benefits that officially may be extended to your cabin mates.

The diamond party on my March Divina cruise out of Miami was attended by maybe 60 to 80 people. For embarkation I used the diamond line but it did not really make a difference - both lines were short

Camps, attractions and a huge love for children.

Where are you sailing? In Europe? The wine offerings are different in Europe and on US sailings. In Europe Easy Plus had some nice wines. Sailing from Miami, I found it hard to find a decent wine even on the Premium package, certainly not below that (for me).

Having said that, the drinks you describe are partly covered in Easy but probably most in Easy Plus. The quality of available wines increases with the package but I cannot judge your needs in this regard.

Which package suits you, is less a question of moderation or of how much you drink but more about what kind of drinks you like to get. On MSC all packages allow for an unlimited number of drinks. If you are happy with the drinks included in Easy it might take you four to five drinks for it to pay off. You prefer drinks at the upper limit of the Easy Plus or at the upper limit of the Premium? Same game, four to five drinks to make it pay off. Not counted for water and similiar.

Probably there will be two formal nights.

Other musings You are right there was no enforcement of even a minimum of dress code. Yet it had been necessary. Much worse than on any other MSC cruise (all in Europe) I have been on, or any other cruise for that matter. The behaviour of some guests was disgusting. It tells story that in the daily program they had to put a line to remind people of standard conduct rules like not to remove your shoes in the public rooms and not to lay your bare feet on the furniture. The live music was varied and the production shows mostly good. Yet, most entertainment stopped much earlier than in Europe. Eg. the few deck parties on this cruise were scheduled from 10.30 to 11.30 pm, in Europe they continued until 1 am. Still, a lot of good music all around the ship.

Ports Yes, great ports. In Jamaica I joined an MSC tour: Dolphin swim and Dunn's River Falls. The dolphin swim was a wonderful experience. I had been to the falls a first time about twenty years ago: It is much more developed and touristy now. Too many people and the quality of the experience depends on the guide, which route he chooses. The overall tour guide was basically desinterested. Maybe she had a bad night before. Cartagena is beautiful, taxi were plentiful. I would love to go again. The visit to the Embera Indians was much better than expected. Here I was afraid it would be to touristy and fake, but it did not feel at all like that but authentic. The people were friendly, interesting and welcoming. Unfortunately MSC cancelled my debarkation day tour what cause me a lot of headache. It took too much time and money to organize transfers, luggage storage and sightseeing all on my own. One further negative point was the unavailability of wifi outside of the terminal in Miami, thus no way to use a ride share (for people without an American phone/data plan).

Of course I cannot comment on butlers or any other YC services. From the "regular guests" perspective there was mostly no in your face discrimination and thus no problems. The only time when the preference for YC guests was really annoying was on Ocean Cay: There is supposed to be a shuttle service to the further away parts of the island. While there was a shuttle for YC guests like every 5 minutes, sometimes more often, often only for one couple with empty seats, we "normals" had to wait more than 35 minutes and when the shuttle finally arrived, it did not even go to the stops on the schedule but just one closer by.

I don't mind 😉 First I will try to follow your order: The room was a standard size balcony room with metal rather than glass ceiling. The room was big enough with a comfortable sofa and in good conditions and my steward maintained it very well. Everything I asked for was provided. The storage space is rather limited, for a longer cruise or with two people the wardrobes are inadequate IMHO. One only gets soap and shampoo from big bottles. Embarkation was a breeze. Once past the security there was a separate line for diamond guests but it probably would not have made any difference. Lines were short. Altogether maybe 30 minutes at most. Rooms were not ready but there was a conveniently located hand luggage storage. Debarkation was rather well organized by MSC but the long lines and few officers at immigration made it a long and uncomfortable procedure. Unfortunately this was just very similiar to what I have experienced in Miami every time I came from further away countries with ships of other lines, too. Food and restaurants The buffet food was varied and included the hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and their like for those looking for fast food, but also "real food". The fish was surprisingly well, much better than on the average buffet, not cooked or standing around to long. Major food choices were repeated several times, some special food was a bit further to the back. I always found a seat. The drinks service was okay most of the time, not always immediately and sometimes one had to discuss about the availability. My dinner restaurant was the Villa Rossa. I like to share a big table: This time for most of the evenings only two other guests showed up on the table for seven, but these were a good match and we had a great time. The food choice was good; different from the offerings in Europe like less octopus and more steak. Some excellent dishes, most maybe like in an upper middle class Italian hotel. The service was too rushed and inattentive for this European. I am not on a sprint from course to course but prefer a slower but more correct service. I do not want to be made to order my dessert before dinner. Likewise you had to order your wine at the start of dinner, no chance to order eg. a different kind for a different course later. Some wine (from the premium by the glass options) were not available. Probably too few and too untrained, but mostly friendly, waiters. Having that, there were also examples of very good service: When I finally asked for the head waiter regarding the unavailabilty of all the wines, he organized what he said was the last bottle on board of a particular wine and it was kept for me for the next nights. When one of my table mates arrived almost 60 minutes late, the head waiter proactively approached him and offered him to still order a main course and a dessert. Butcher's cut: Well. The steak had to be returned the first time and it was still the worst I have had in any butcher's cut on any MSC ship. Not really bad but not great either. The seafood platter as appetizer was quite large, oyster and scallop were tasteless, all the other items including lobster, crab legs and various kind of mussles were nice.

We had a similiar early tour some time ago. My advice would be to use a taxi for the trip directly to the Vatican. For the more relaxed way back you can still use the train.

This includes a valuable hint for everybody using the trenitalia site: Even if you use the English language you must use the real Italian names of the stations.

So was onion so, salmon, caesars salad and NY strip steak.