pmacher61

Sadly there are some people who think they can do whatever they like and then wonder why they come unstuck if they break the rules.

 

Suron

Hmm. And exactly what rules would that be? Did you bother to read the WJS article reporting on jail sentences for nothing more heinous than publishing parody on a social network, parody that hurt the country's image?

What rules would it be "sad" for people to think they should not break? Talking one's mind about social issues? Making fun of the government or a religious ideology? A ban on holding hands in public or falling in love with someone of your own sex? Why is the attempt to achieve greater personal freedom from Neanderthal, oppressive rules that restrict personal freedom considered to make for a sad situation? Why wouldn't it be considered progressive to break such restrictions? After all, we in the west take such freedoms for granted.

Shall we just celebrate the absence of street crime and think that this makes a wonderful social environment regardless of all else? Monarchy? No thank you. In any case the delta between the mores in UAE and the mores (and laws) of those typically reading these forums is so great that a reminder that such places still do exist and that punishment is really severe is warranted.

We now return you to your regular programming.

I am so confused by this concept. All of the tour operators want cash in Argentina. I will be taking taxis and buses, purchasing chairlift tickets, etc. along with the occasional tour company. If I get Argentine pesos from the shipboard ATM or even a landside ATM, I would be making a mistake? Are you saying I would get a better deal by paying in USD where accepted?

Please read my subsequent post at #10. A lot of bad info being posted will confuse you.

There is a black market for USD in Argentina. Arg pesos are not accepted in most places outside of Arg, so residents seeking international travel need to acquire USD to be able to travel. The government only allows residents who prove they are going to travel outside Arg to purchase unrealistically small amounts of USD at the official rate. It makes international travel impossible for most Argentines. They need to acquire hard currencies in order to travel (and as a hedge to beat inflation which is running at about 35-40% per year).

The official rate of exchange is about 6.5 pesos to 1 USD. That is , if you pay for something (anything) with a credit card, you will be charged 1 USD for every 6.5 pesos of the local peso price/cost (with fees for foreign currency transactions further adding to your expense). If you change your USD at a travel agency or jewelry shop (or anywhere else where USD are commonly traded) you will now get at least 9.5 pesos for each USD.

Likewise if you get Arg pesos from an ATM you will get only about 6.5 pesos for each of your USD (minus ATM and foreign currency transaction fees further reducing the amount of pesos you will receive for each USD). Rather than get the lower official rate, you can get the black aka blue rate for cash. Today's rate is 9.85 pesos for 1 USD. See http://www.ambito.com/. It changes every day. Expect to get a few cents less than the published price. I will likely trade at 9.65 today.

To get the best black market rate it is frequently said one should bring "clean crisp" 100 dollar bills to offer. That is something of an exaggeration - clean 100s will do, they need not be "new or crisp" though that wouldn't hurt. Your hotel bartender, bellboy, or lobby merchant may be able to steer you to a "cueva" aka exchange house. Travel agencies and jewelry shops frequently make change. Don't be dissuaded by a sign saying "we don't make cambio." That is just for show.

When buying any large ticket item including fancy meals always ask first how much the seller will give for your dollars if you pay with such cash. Euros are also traded at a premium, but not as great as that for the USD. Some merchants will trade for the blue rate even if you don't buy anything. They want to travel outside Arg sometime in the future and they don't want to hold rapidly devaluing pesos. Bank interest on pesos deposits is unrealistically low.

Tour operators are required by law to accept pesos. If they quoted a price in USD and you insist on paying in pesos they will convert that USD quoted price to pesos at the blue rate. That is probably illegal . It is definitely illegal for renters of accommodations (including hotels) to insist on payment in other than Arg pesos. Moreover, it is illegal for renters to convert the rental price at the blue rate of exchange when making the conversion from USD quote to pesos price. It is understandable for tour guides to quote in USD for tourists who have USD and not unfair if you agreed to that price. Nevertheless, it is your right to insist on paying in pesos and, like renters of accommodations, it is likely the law that tour guides must convert the USD price at the official rate. If you ever get into a squabble with the guide because you think he has misrepresented the service he was to provide, you can use the law as a tool to renegotiate. It may help resolve disputes.

Am I missing something?

 

Is this just something you are posting as information for other travelers?

No. Yes.

The Obelisco specialty restaurant was closed. The only specialty restaurant is the Japanese Sushi one. I didn't try it.

Sidari, thanks for your MSC Divina review. I would love to do a TA on MSC, to bad the oneway airfares are so expensive. But we are considering a Caribbean B2B next summer in YC.

 

Pmacher61, I'm curious about your MSC Poesia cruise. What itinerary is this? We had a lovely cruise on here in the Baltic Sea last summer. Try the Obelisco Speciality restaurant. Great food, service and views.

Buenos Aires to Punta del Este and back. Thanks for the tip.

PM ... How is Informing people of issues that may affect them on their cruise Nagative ?

It isn't and I didn't say it was.

are you another one of the Rose Tinted Glass brigade that can only accept things if they agree with your own perspective of how things should be?

Preliminarily, you are misusing the Rose Tinted Glass (sic) reference. Seeing the world through rose tinted glasses means to be oblivious to negatives, to think everything is rosy when it is not. It doesn't mean that one only accepts things if they agree with his own perspective. In answer to the last part of your question, my answer is no, and I don't think I wrote anything that could reasonably be interpreted to mean that I can only "accept" things if they agree with my own perspective of how things should be.

There is a wide latitude of how things 'should be" aboard a cruise ship and much, but not all, of what is acceptable (i.e., should be) and what is not acceptable is related to price. That should be uncontroversial. You can't expect Crystal treatment for MSC prices. Accordingly, what 'should be" on Crystal is vastly different than what should be on MSC. Nevertheless, there are some minimum standards that should apply to all cruise ships regardless of price just as what should be escalates as does the price. That's just common sense.

Here at the Cruise Critic forum one is given the opportunity to evaluate, in light of what is available in the broad cruise market, the product one receives for the price paid. That is the raison d'etre of Cruise Critic. When a cruise product fails to provide a reasonable value for the price paid, it can and should be described as a poor value, or not worth the money, or any number of other words including , when appropriate, unacceptable and bad. Given the list of negatives you included in your review I think it is reasonable to conclude that cruise was bad.

would you have people do? go on a cruise and come home and tell them that everything in the garden is Rosy just because it is what they want to hear.

No, but why are you even asking me this? I don't think you understood my remarks about your review. I applaud your candor in setting forth the long list of negatives you experienced aboard the Divina. Many "fans" of a particular cruise line, any cruise line, might not be so candid in detailing the negatives they experienced during a cruise. I simply expressed curiosity over why you did not believe it would be correct to conclude that the cruise was bad inasmuch as, in your own opinion, so many things were just that, bad.

Just because the review gives information to people on things that we did not like does not make it a bad cruise nor does it make it a bad ship for some other people.The review says that any future cruise would likely be on the Musica class that we preferred to the Divina and in our opinion are much classier.

I'm familiar with the quip 'any day on a cruise is better than a day at work' or even 'there's no such thing as a bad cruise', but these are just light hearted, philosophical commentaries on cruising per se. They are not meant to be taken as realistic, objective reviews of a cruise. Sorry, but in light of the list of negatives you detailed the refusal to call this cruise experience a bad one is akin to ...seeing the cruise through rose tinted glasses.

I am however curious as to the desire that you have to find out when and if we will cruise with MSC again!

The other lines you make reference to I am guessing are the likes of Silversea etc, due to the size of their ships it is doubtful we would ever book a cruise with any of these.

We have however cruised in Inside, Outside, Balconies and Full Suite cabins.

Do you class Cunard as upscale or just another run of the mill mass market cruise line ?

I was curious to find out if this Divina experience was sufficiently poor to turn you off MSC altogether. You answered. Thank you. You may be confident that purchasing another MSC cruise on a different class vessel will be a worthwhile use of your cruise/vacation money, but I'm pretty sure that your review will discourage many from considering a Divina or any MSC cruise.

Silversea is one line I have not cruised on (along with Regent). I have been on all others including the ultra lux lines at least once, usually more often. I can deal with small or large as long as it is good. I think Cunard is not on a par with the premium lines such as Oceania, Azamara, but I only cruised Cunard once (a TA).

I am booked on a 3 day MSC Poesia cruise sailing in 3 days just because it was so available and brief and I am curious to try MSC again. I hope it is good, but as I know what to expect I will not be disappointed if it is not.

PM ... If the cruise was Bad then the review would say it was Bad! go and read the other Reviews on the other Two MSC ships we have sailed on. You clearly have not read the Review correctly or you would not be asking if we would cruise with MSC again, the answer is in the Review.

 

We do not book cruises purely based on price and HAL would not even a be a consideration.

I didn't read your other reviews. I read your review of this particular cruise here and on the member reviews page. Contrary to what you may suspect, I have a decent reading comprehension level. Nevertheless, I couldn't find that part where you definitively said you would or would not cruise on MSC again, only that any future cruise with MSC would likely be on a different class of vessel.

Be that as it may, after reading this review I, too, would not want to cruise on this ship because without reiterating all the negatives that you take great effort to detail, you obviously found many negatives about almost every aspect of the ship. It goes without saying that you are entitled to your opinion, however when someone sets forth a bunch of negative comments and then concludes with "it was a great cruise" I can only wonder what it would take for them conclude it was a comparatively bad cruise. Would the ship literally have had to sink before you would categorize this particular cruise as bad?

Just what are your standards which would allow you to conclude that despite the plethora of enumerated defects in this cruise experience it rates as other than simply unacceptably bad? We often hear you get what you pay for. I guess as politically incorrect or crass as it may seem, it is true that one's standards may very well depend upon one's financial wherewithal together with sufficient experience to learn what is available at different price points. Your statement that you don't "book cruises purely based on price" would seem to indicate you could afford other than the mass market product which MSC indisputably is and have tried them. Have you cruised on any other lines besides those in your published history? Any "upscale" lines? If so, how did they compare?

You did a fine job of responding to a lame attempt to pick apart your Divina review by belittling you. Poor Skippy seems so very eager to defend MSC that he routinely indulges in personal attacks against those who write about their negative experiences. There are a couple more like him. I suggest you just ignore their comments. Most of the time these attacks are vacuous and infantile gibberish.

Not at all. One should always seek the advice of a knowledgeable waiter. They will always know more about what is especially good that day than the guest. Try it - it pays excellent dividends.

It's one thing to seek advice. It's quite another for you to say that bad food problems would resolved if only "guests should showed some humility and took the advice of their spirited waiters in their menu choices instead of arrogantly telling us (sic) how certain dishes they think they know should be..."

Thank you all for your replies. I booked a single occupancy cabin on the Fascinosa 26 night TA from Buenos Aires to Venice. The Samsara category (SI) is on deck 9 right outside the Spa and Samsara dining room. The price was so low especially for a single occupancy with a specialty open seating restaurant that I won't complain even if the food isn't as good as the collective opinion indicates it is.

MSC's food would have a better reputation if guests were given no choice or, better, guests showed some humility and took the advice of their spirited waiters in their menu choices instead of arrogantly telling us how certain dishes they think they know should be...

So overall, I trust that many observations of the OP are accurate it is just that we would draw diametrically different conclusions from them. The Divina in the U.S. doesn't sound half as bad as I had expected.

Some aspects of a cruise, especially food, are subjective so reviews will vary. For various reasons, not the least of which are financial status and cruising experience, some people's standards of what is acceptable or not are also quite different. This, too, will cause a variance of opinion of the very same product or service on a cruise.

But there are limits to subjectivity. It seems that some people's standards are so flexible that they are willing to gloss over abusive service that only someone with a pain threshold just marginally below that of a masochist (or perhaps a submissive) would find acceptable. The Divina seems to be testing those limits. However, anyone who reads the very credible and well documented* recount of this OP's Divina experience should, at least, be forewarned that most people including Europeans (north and south) will find the food and service seriously wanting.

Though he describes numerous shortcomings I was particularly taken aback by the OP's account of his dining room waiter's remonstration, to wit, “if we wanted fast food we should have gone to the buffet.” Unbelievable, in deed, and grounds for immediate termination. I have signed on for a 3 night cruise on the Poesia later this month and have expectations sufficiently low to avoid disappointment or angst, however, if a waiter ever treats me as described by the OP, he and I will immediately be confronting dining room management in an office or, if necessary, in public.

footnote *: You need not worry about wearing asbestos underwear. The description of your experience aboard the Divina is itself flame retardant.

 

If we are deep inside the port, am I correct in assuming that we can't readily call ahead for 2 radio taxis to pick us up? IF we are docked near the street, this does seem a viable option.

You are not correct. You can call ahead. Try Premium or Pidalo or Paris Radio taxis which should be easy (if your Spanish is okay) inasmuch as you can set a specific time as you will be docked. The fare would be on the meter plus a small fee for the call-ahead feature. From port to Defensa & Belgrano is about 70 pesos or $8 at current "blue" rates. And all days are the same rate though the night fare is higher.

If that doesn't seem doable email this chap - Rafael at lazaroor10@yahoo.com.ar - and he will accommodate your needs fairly and honestly. His English is limited but his integrity compensates. He should be able to arrange 2 cabs for you but it will be for more than the meter fare - 120 pesos each I would guess. Cab drivers generally prefer AR pesos. They don't lust after US dollars UNLESS, of course, they can get them from naive passengers at the official rate of exchange which is currently about 2/3 of the blue rate commonly obtained.

Unless someone volunteers the information, it is a little intrusive to ask how much they paid. MSC prices are on their website. TA's are under instructions not to undercut so pricing is fairly transparent.

Hmm...intrusive and transparent strike me as mutually exclusive, but for someone inclined to criticize, anything goes.

Thanks Skier 52 for sharing the info. That pricing is a lot cheaper than the luxury lines which puts the YC in a very favorable light.

Thanks for the replies ... :) despite how things went for us we have tried to write the review from a point of Information for others rather than a Negative one.

Are these two perspectives mutually exclusive? Of course not. Why not just admit that based upon the detailed information you described the cruise product on this occasion was negative, i.e., bad. No one will think less of you (one would hope).

Based upon the totality of your MSC experience would you cruise on it again IF THERE WERE A SIMILARLY PRICED ALTERNATIVE, e.g., HAL, NCL, RCCL, Carnival, Princess...This assumes you have sufficient experience upon which to make such a recommendation.

People don't all pay the same price for the same cabins. Best to call MSC or your TA to price what dates etc you are looking for. Too many factors go into pricing. Hope this helps.

It doesn't help. Hopefully, the OP will give us an "idea" of the cost of the YC accommodations. It is my understanding that YC cabins approach the cost of cabins aboard the luxury lines , e.g. Crystal, Seabourn, Silversea, etc, and I was interested in ascertaining whether that is, in fact, the case.

Google MSC Yacht Club and find all kinds of info including videos. But yes, separate DR and pool.

Can you or the OP advise about YC pricing? Hard to google that.

What category cabin did you occupy ( i.e is there much variation in the YC cabin choices)?

How much per night did you pay for each of the 2 cabins you occupied?

Does YC have its own separate dining room for all meals including breakfast buffet?

Does YC have its own separate pool area?

The cruise line wants US$99 for a transfer to the cruise port. There will be 2 of us with 2 suitcases (23 kg each). Should we take a yellow cab, a radio taxi, or the prepaid taxi voucher from the Rio de Janeiro State Tourism Authority (if it is different from the radio taxi)? Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

The yellow metered taxis waiting right outside the terminal door will cost about US$20 or R$45 to go from GIG to the cruise pier at Praca Maua ( Praza Mahwah). They are safe, convenient, and should be your best mode of transportation. Do not accept propositions from cab runners who approach inside the terminal. It's a short walk from the exit of the secured area to the waiting cabs outside. Get cash at ATM in airport.

How can someone arriving at EZE take advantage of the blue exchange rate? I would like to get close to 10 pesos per dollar if I can do that in the airport legally.

The black (aka blue) rate is not the legal rate so you can't ever get it legally. You would have to go into town or ask your cab driver whether he would accept dollars and at what rate.

OP.

A cab from EZE to the pier is about 250 pesos or about $25. It would not be a good idea to pay $28 pp esp since the Celebrity transfer probably entails trying to hire an other taxi at the pier - where the mafia taxis rip off the passengers seeking to exit the port area. You should arrange your own transportation when you arrive at EZE specifying the need to drop off the luggage and then continue on to various spots.

Here is the email of a reliable experienced cab driver (Rafael) who will accommodate your needs for the correct tariff. His honesty will make up for his lack of English language skills.

lazaroor10@yahoo.com.ar

We are looking for recommendation as to the best Samba show in Rio that would be available on January 3, 2014, a Friday night.

A samba school rehearsal is a good way to observe and participate in dancing to samba music though other than hearing the school's carnaval song and perhaps seeing the flag bearers dance to it there won't be a "show."

To see more of a theatrical type show (other than the time worn tourist show at Plataforma) check out the schedule at Cidade do Samba in Gamboa. It is the venue where the samba schools make their floats. Elaborate musical shows featuring samba music and dancing are presented Thursdays (and maybe Fridays) in the weeks leading up to Carnaval. That would be the place to go if you are there when a show is presented. Look at the following sites for info an0d ,if need be, call. It's a great evening's entertainment. For example;

General info-

http://cidadedosambarj.globo.com/

http://www.mydestination.com/riodejaneiro/nightlife/1152423/cidade-do-samba-(samba-city)

There is a botiquem ( café) that has music as well. I don't know the schedule for it. See

What is CUEVA? I read recently that you have to be very careful of counterfeit Pesos in Buenos Aires?? What do you know about this?

A cueva is a black market exchange house, usually a travel agency or a jewelry shop.

There is an ATM at the airport (if you want to waste money , use it).

I know a lot about counterfeit pesos and cuevas are not likely to dispense them.

Try reading a bit at the BA forum of www.tripadvisor.com