BubMunkeyBles

1 minute ago, perakcruiser said:

Maybe because you compare them with the US companies in the Med, not with the other Europeans? our past cruises give me this idea 😉

Not really. I compare them with Costa, Celestyal, P&O... I'm not brand loyal or stuck on US companies. I do take into account drink packages etc though.

I find them super competitive in the Med but less so in Caribbean when comparing promos. Just my own observation. 

It's hurricane season... Sucks, but when cruising this time of year it happens quite a bit. I personally love St Thomas and Tortola and feel they have a lot to offer. But I understand it's hard to change mindset sometimes. Sorry you were so unhappy.

I'd choose 1 or 3. Cruised a ton in the Med with my two kids (now 12 and 13). Greece, Croatia and Montegro were all favorites. 🙂 But Italy close behind. I'd probably choose the 3rd one if you're also in it for the ship, but most these cruises are port intensive anyways.

We've had great cruises on MSC. But yes, a lot of things aren't quite as good as other lines. But the price is great and I love that they have so many off season Europe options along with longer cruises with great itineraries for cheap.

I'd probably choose the Kirkwall one just because Orkney is amazing and much more difficult to get to by plane etc than the others. But we did really enjoy Amsterdam, Le Havre (went to Honfleur) and Begium and as a trio those are more interesting than Liverpool and Portland.

I did it this way when living in the UK and traveling around Europe all last year. 🙂 

So few cruises go to Sitka so I'd see it as a win. Sorry you're going to miss the Yukon though now.

Definitely go in the day prior. Too much can go wrong with flights and that's an expensive trip to miss days due to delayed flights. You can always stay in Mestre for cheaper than Venice city centre. 

I was surprised to see that my itinerary says St Lucia and St Kitts are tender ports. I hope as it gets closer it changes.

Airport is further out and about 50eu to the port. I'd definitely recommend coming in the day prior. I've done the train and metro both with luggage and wouldn't recommend it honestly. Take a taxi to your hotel and then a taxi the following day to the port. Taxi for airport to Athens city is about 40eu and probably about 30eu to the port from the city. You can also get with a company like PK travel if you have a late flight leaving and they can do a city tour and then drop you at the airport at the end.

We've been when we lived in Italy. We plan to go on Saturday and do the Christmas markets in town and just enjoy the town (probably in the rain, lol).

We used PK Travel last year and they were great. Booked again with them for in a couple weeks.

When I book online mine are all in USD (even though the cruises are in Europe). Once on the ship it’s € though.

I'd just suck it up to a hard lesson learned. It's stated in the terms that it's a non-refundable deposit. 😞 I had trouble getting an allowed deposit refunded so I highly doubt they'd give you one for a deposit that they're entitled to keep.

On 4/5/2019 at 7:45 PM, pandabebe said:

 

Unfortunately mine is nothing like that.  🙁  This what I see after I click my name (perhaps it's because I'm using the US site).  Oh well.  I have to call to find correct my son's DOB and gender so I'll ask them why I can't see anything.

 

There should be a tab that's labeled ENHANCE YOUR CRUISE. It seems to be missing for some reason. Maybe it's not all the way linked?

We did our first MSC back in November out of Marseille on the Magnifica. We really liked it, enough that I have two booked for this year and will probably be booking 2 for next year also. If coming from the states make sure you fly in a day early for sure. We stayed at the Best Western in town and it was pretty nice and walking distance to everything. Most the differences I didn't mind but I'm old at heart so was happy to not have all the crazy parties and stuff like on the US lines. It seemed a lot quieter (but was 12 nights in November when schools were in session). 

When is your cruise? I found cheap airfare on British Air from London. Definitely worked out cheaper than having to fly elsewhere and grab the train or anything. 

Yep. People complain on every cruise line about it. I've seen similar posts on the Carnival and Celebrity boards also. Same people will complain about something else. 

The website has said for quite a while that the coupons would be going away (at least on my end it has). I don't know if the price difference is really worth it from Bella, but I do like not worrying about getting the dining time I want as much. Not sure that's worth a couple hundred though or not. Sorry you're disappointed. I don't think that's enough to make or break a vacation for me though.

Genoa is an easy walk off the ship into town. Valletta the same, we walked to the Barakka lift and then walked down back to the ship since it was packed to go down, lol. We started in Marseille but I think I would just take a taxi or Uber honestly. 

We're holding out booking our November cruise to see if they offer a new deal after March like they are in the UK.

We hit most of those on our recent Magnifica cruise. We did our own thing in all three. 

Valletta- We just walked around town. We saw the battery and the cannon firing at noon. Was a nice relaxing day. Had a coffee in a coffee and got lost on the cute streets. 

Barcelona- We took the port shuttle (not the MSC one that was 3x as much) to the city center. We took the metro to Sagrada Familia. I pre-booked tickets for Sagrada Familia and to go up in the facade so we did that and looked around the area. We then headed back to the ship and walked Las Ramblas. 

Genoa- This was towards the end of our cruise and I just took the kids to the aquarium. There's some nice day trips to Portofino though which I'm hoping to do next time. 

I was wondering about this too. I've been waiting for March in hopes that a new promo for European sailings opens for the US. Wanting to book for November but planning to just hold off and see as it's not prime Med cruising time anyways. I definitely would keep bugging them as it seems wrong. The 12 vouchers are still listed on the website too for new bookings and just says until the last winter sailing with no even reference to what year. If you're just looking at MSC for the first time for all you know that's winter next year!

Enjoyed reading another view. You got off the same day we got on it looks like. 🙂

17 hours ago, sfibelko said:

Thanks for the review.  Can I ask about the formal nights?  We sail on December 11, our 27th cruise, but first with MSC.  Their web site seems to imply that they are strict about dress code on formal nights.  In addition the claim to restrict jeans anywhere on the ship after 6pm.

 

We prefer a casual experience - Jean or khakis at best in the evenings.  

 

How how was your experience with formal nights?  How strict are they?  Can we go to evening shows in blue jeans?

They were definitely NOT strict. Jeans and shirts were often worn on formal nights (not by me but sometimes people at our table didn't even know what the dress code was that day). I wore jeans a couple of evenings and no one said anything. You can wear what you want in my opinion and no one will say anything unless you're in pool clothes or something.