sealynx

9 hours ago, tcc8v said:

You can always sail on the Sirena with Oceana!  According to Wikipedia, the Pacific Princess, formerly known as R three, is a sister ship to R four.

 

 True, but there is more to it 🙂. There were even 8 ships in that class. Apart from Oceania's Sirena, also the Nautica, Regatta and Insignia. And the whole Azamara fleet (3 ships). I wonder of the little Princess will go to either of these.

She looks amaizing. When I was onboard Costa Luminosa I was surprised about how similar many of her public spaces were in design. On the Costa Firenze very area seems to have a different decor, which I really like.

I was thinking about booking a may 2021 cruise, 11 days from Marseille to Portugal or Marrocco and back. Due to Covid I waited and waited, untill it got cancelled. Gosh was I glad I hadn't booked. Now I'm waiting for Costa to publish the may 2022 cruises and hoping they'll offer similar cruises. I hope they'll publish soon. MSC has already.

Ok, I'll admit it was not on a Carnival ship, but when on an MSC cruise I walked around the buffet with two plates getting bits and bites of anything that looked like it could be from a Meditiranian country. Things like olives, cheeses, prosciutto crudo, etc. etc. and this way created a tapas collection in no time, and shared with the family. Such a feast. And since MSC doesn't serve free iced tea , every morning I made myself a strong cup of lemon tea or earl grey and poured it over ice cubes to create my own sugar free iced tea.

On 1/17/2021 at 2:55 AM, Até said:

On the deck plans hull balconies have the balcony shaded grey, MSC also uses the grey for balconies that have partial or full metal design element obstruction.  The balconies shaded blue have a metal lower half and sometimes, such as in the forward cabins, also have glass extending to the top.

Blue could also mean that the for example the left 2/3 will be metal, and the right 1/3 will be glass.

I don't know about the world cruise, but when my husband and our 6 yo daughter were on MSC Seaview the summer of 2019 we did see a few other gay couples, but not too many. One couple had kids themselves (which always warms my heart), but they were too young for our girl to play with. There were no FoD-parties on board either, so no real opportunity to find others. That said, we also did not suffer from any discrimination what soever. Not from crew, not from fellow passengers. It was almost as if no-one even noticed anything out of the ordinary. And that is the way it should be.

To determine whether or not you want a city pass, you could start with listing the cites you want to visit. Take in mind the travel time between tue cites, like Nunagoras mentioned for Barcelona, and count the time you want to spend there. Then find out the admision fee for each of the cites and compare the total with the price of a pass (if public transport is included in the price, ad that too ofcourse).

Personally I'm not a fan of city passes. To me, they are often more expensive then individual admission fees. Also because I like to spend a lot of time just wandering around the city (or rent a bike), rather than going in and out of historic buildings and such.

On 8/24/2020 at 9:34 PM, drsel said:

I would avoid both land and Cruise travel anywhere around Europe in winter because there is not much sunlight for sightseeing

That is very untrue. For Barcelona: sun's up 8:00, sun's down at 18:00 (6:00 pm), so that's 10 hours of sun/daylight, often longer than your ship is in port.

On 8/25/2020 at 4:57 AM, drsel said:

What about the possibility of rainfall?

For Barcelona February is second lowest rainfall in mm after July and June. There is even more rainfall in August (often fewer, but longer and heavier showers), than in February. Most rainfall in October.

On 8/25/2020 at 5:05 AM, drsel said:

Also I don't think the cruise fares in Europe are much cheaper in February

 

 

Yes they are, often 75% to 50% lower than during the summer.

On 8/31/2020 at 4:18 PM, travelberlin said:

I have sailed a couple of times on the Magnifica. It is a lovely ship. I am glad they are not stretching it.

Ivi

I've been on the Magnifica once, and although I really liked her, she does lack some amenaties that I later really enjoyed on Seaview. Examples being the waterpark, the waterslides and the al fresco dining at the buffet. I hoped the stretching would bring those on board of Magnifica. But maybe they can bring them on board without stretching, or maybe they just postponed the stretching to a later time. I also wonder if the sisters will be stretched as well, Magnifica already being the most comprehensive of the quartet.

14 hours ago, lmb84 said:

Wait....What?  Only leave the ship if you are doing an excursion?  Did I miss something

yep, that is the case now with MSC and Costa. Hopefully as a temporary measure. MSC has even booted a few passengers because they left their excursion group and thus broke the Corona-free-bubble the company wants to create arround their passengers.

On 8/27/2020 at 6:40 PM, dapreston said:

interactive slide was replaced with a normal slide ride on our March 2019 cruise.  We loved the interactive but people kept getting stuck so the attendants had to slide down to rescue causing delays.    no fees on any slides 

When I was on Seaview the interactive slides were operational, but only few people were actually using the system. It appeared quite complicated, while all everyone wanted to do was get a slide, hurry up the stairs and get down fast as possible. Almost all the time the list of high scores was just the same person repeatedly.

On 8/24/2020 at 8:12 PM, Stockjock said:

Did a GUAR Bella balcony on Magnifica and got an aft cabin assignment on deck 11 that we're happy with,  But upon closer inspection, it's apparently not an upgrade, but rather, a Bella assignment.

I was a bit surprised by this, as aft cabins seem to be desired by many and in limited supply.  You'd think that would be a Fantastica cabin rather than Bella, wouldn't you?  Or am I missing something?

It apears to mee that the balconies on decks 8 and 9 are extra long, and on deck 10 they apear rather small.

I was on Seaview a year ago. There is a fee for the zipline (can't remember the price, but I dp remenber that a unlimited pass was no more than 2,5 times the price of a single ride). However, the zipline seemed rather boring to me. Two words: short and slow. I didn't see many people trying either.

The waterslides are free, but have an age limit and you have to sign a waiver and get an wrist band to prove.

Other amenitites with a fee were the bowling alley, arcade games and 5D cinema.

18 hours ago, gatour said:

Let me correct one thing, over night it occurred to me that the ship Queen Elizabeth II was named after the person name Queen Elizabeth II.  So Cunard has had only two ships with that name or a small variation.

It's a bit more complicated than that. The ship was named Queen Elizabeth 2, not II. There is a lot of speculation about why 2 and not II, since the Queen of England (etc.) writes it with II, not 2. Maybe the reason is because she was built in Scotland, and Queen Elizabeth II was actually the first Queen bearing the name Elizabeth to reign over Scotland. So with the 2 instead of II, the Scots can explain her name by saying the ship is the second to bear the name Queen Elizabeth, while the English can still say the ship was named after the second Queen Elizabeth. Or it might have been done by Cunard for esthetic reasons. What is known for sure though, is that when the Queen was given a note just before the launch, for in case the forgot the name, she said something like 'I don't think I need that'.

14 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

Going forward, it appears they have decided that was a one-off case.

And that is also a very good reason for a (Carnival) Celebration 🙂.

I wouldn't be surprised if these two beauties would also go to the scrapyard. It's almost like math: 2 ships in long term layup + Carnival anouncing they will remove 2 further ships from the fleet = the same 2 ships going to the scrapyard (okay, I'll admit, it's speculation). I just wonder why Carnival is so tight lipped about this. With the first 2 they almost gave information about their fate after they were beached.

On 8/22/2020 at 5:09 PM, toad455 said:

Just curious why it's only the Mardi Gras and why this one will be the Carnival Celebration? Why not Carnival Mardi Gras?

I don't know why, but I'm sure glad the prefix is back. Not giving the Mardi Gras the prefix was a mistake imho and makes her an oddball (for the wrong reason, in an otherwise near carbon copy fleet (Corporation wide)).

If I have to wear a mask at limited amound of places, like only during boarding, in corridors, lifts, or maybe even in the theater, then yes, I would take the cruise, no problem. If I have to wear the mask like all the time, except for dinner, then no thank you, I'll wait a little longer. Currently the idea of only being allowed to leave the ship with an excursion bothers me more, than the idea of having to wear a mask every now and then.

9 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Lots of interesting thoughts, but maybe a more current realistic view would be a change in the building plans and the Order Book?  

When cancelling newbuilds the company still has to pay most of the costs of unfinished ships and partial costs of the ships of which building hasn't started yet. It's more realistic to delay newbuilds or to remove older tonnage from the fleet, just like Carnival explained about their future plans. And noteworthy is that so far only Carnival Corp. has been reducing fleet seize. Maybe the other corporations foresee a brighter future.

With MSC's enormous expansion planned, many ships will be added in the nearby future. I thought it would be fun to start some speculation about their names.

Here's my two cents worth:

MSC Seaside, MSC Seaview and MSC Seashore will get one sister: how about MSC Seabreeze?

MSC Meraviglia, MSC Grandiosa, MSC Bellisima and MSC Virtuosa will get two sisters: MSC Superba and MSC Ottimo?

MSC World Europa will get three sisters: MSC World America, MSC World Asia and MSC World Oceana?

And how about their ultra luxury class? Something like MSC Yacht One, MSC Yacht Two, etc? Or MSC Sea, MSC Sun, MSC Star and MSC Sky?

On 8/18/2020 at 2:02 PM, EllieinNJ said:

It seems that the only non cove balconies are on deck 8, right above the lifeboats.  Is it this way for all MSC ships for Bella balconies?

On the Seaside / Seaview the balcony cabins on decks 9 and 10 have glass balustrades and are Bella experience. They are closer down to deck 8 where all the venues are that might produce noise.

On the Magnifica most cabins on the rear part of the ship on decks 8, 9 and 10 have glass balustrates and most are Bella experience. On this location on this class of ship you're more likely to experience vibrations from the ships engine.

Please notice that these metal balustrades are a different thing from a cove balcony. Cove balconies have much smaller opening to the outdoors, not just the balustrate, but also the top and the sides: more like an window without glass.

15 hours ago, Kevin79 said:

 

There are, If you take a look at the deck plans, you'll notice that for example cabins 8001 - 8047 have a shaded balcony. However, if you go aft on the same deck, you'll get to more bella cabins with a non-shaded balcony.

 

https://www.msccruises.com/en-gl/Discover-MSC/Cruise-Ships/MSC-Meraviglia/Deckplan.aspx

 

There is a key further down the page that lets you know which are metal balconies, those that are half glass/metal etc. Hope it helps.

That is a very nice and detailed deck plan, I didn't know they had this.

I'm guessing the reason why these cabins on deck 8 with glass balustrade are Bella, is because the view down to the water is blocked by the lifeboats. Don't expect to see the first 100m from the ship.

If you book the Bella cabin with solid balcony railing that is directly next to the Fantastica cabin with a glass balcony railing, you might be lucky and get a partial glass railing (just try and count the cabins on a photo of the ship, then you might be able to see in advance). We had this situation in our cabin (14009) on MSC Seaview, 1/3 was glass, the rest was solid. We loved this location, since it was under the bridge wing it had mostly shadow (I burn easily in the sun).

Announcements will be in several languages indeed, but as far as I can remember from my MSC Seaview cruise in de med last summer it were only one or two announcements per day. However, maybe we missed some while in our cabin or on land. Some might find it annoying, but as a European myself I'm quite used to multi-lingual announcements (even in public transport in my country most announcements are in 2 or even 3 languages). The only thing (person) multi-lingual I found annoying was the cruise director who opened the theatre show in the exact same high-speed-7-languages-yadayada-words EVERY DAY. Might have been proficient linguistically, it was disappointing creatively.

19 hours ago, WorldTraveler151208 said:

This little preview of the Veranda type cabins on Europa that was posted on “Ready for Cruise” is also a bit disappointing in my opinion. It looks like these rooms will not be as cool as on Celebrity Edge Class, because if the sofa is right next to the window, then the cabins will probably be very tiny. They will probably resemble the usual Ocean View cabins, only the window will be larger. But on the other hand what could we expect? While Celebrity is going more and more towards a premium cruises, MSC is going in exactly the opposite direction which is very sad for me.

Note that MSC calls it an infinity cabin, unlike Celebrity who calls it an infinity veranda.

On 7/28/2020 at 1:39 PM, WorldTraveler151208 said:

Will Msc Europa now be called Msc World Europa? This name is now used everywhere, even on Wikipedia of MSC Crusies. Will they really write "Msc World Europa" on the ship's hull? I find this a strange idea.

Good question, I was wondering the same thing. I'm expering her to become MSC World Europa, because that's what is says in MSC press releases. I also agree with that being kinda strange. You'd expect either MSC Mondo Europa or MSC World Europe, but mixing two languages is just kinda weird.