ready2cruzagain

Been on 12 MSC cruises and never sailed in the YC and never been treated substandard. Always been treated like royalty by the crew members. I find that most people that say you MUST sail in the YC to enjoy MSC have never sailed in anything but the YC. We usually sail 21 to 31 days when we go on a cruise and I would not be doing that on MSC if I was treated like I was inferior for sailing in something other than the YC. We have sailed on MSC, NCL, Carnival, Princess and Celebrity for reference. We have 21 days on MSC booked this next January then switching to NCL for 21 days for the itinerary. If I were to sail in YC or Haven I would not be sailing 21 to 31 days at a time. I would be sailing 7 days for the same price as a month. To each there own but it irks me for someone to say you can only enjoy yourself in the YC or Haven. I have sailed on 58 cruises and never been in YC or Haven and loved every cruise and look forward to the ones I have booked.

We like the lighthouse beach due to free chairs and umbrellas. Other beaches you have to rent the umbrellas. If you want a chair and umbrella though you will have to go early as they fill up fast. I like the snorkeling better there also.

I am an ex smoker of 30 years and I have been on the Seaside, Seashore and Divina and never once smelled smoke unlike the Ruby and Caribbean Princess that reeked of smoke anywhere near the casinos.

whew, thought it was just me but I also had to look up HELOC. 🤣

I think I would be looking for a different TA. We booked with an online agent for our next NCL cruise and received the Free at Sea offers, Free Gratuities (which is a big deal for us considering the cruise is 21 days) and obc.

OP we have sailed many times on Princess. We prefer MSC over Princess. We do not sail Yacht Club as we do not need a butler and do not have to be pampered. We sail Fantastica as we like to be able to pick our own cabin. Read the different experiences. We love MSC's food. They had new menus this last January and enjoyed Prime Rib (cooked to perfection), Lamb Chops, Filet Mignon, 5 to 6 ounce Lobster Tail, Coq Au Vin, Steak Diane and of course their Italian Pasta dishes to name a few things. We are not big buffet people so never ate there for dinner but lunch had a wide variety of dishes. One just had to go further back in the buffet and circle it to find different things. I find when someone says they didn't have a wide variety of food is the ones that go in the buffet and never make it past the pizza and burgers area. Unlike others I was very disappointed in the pizza and find Princess to have better pizza. The staff is different than Princess in they do not feel the need to be your best friend or buddy. They do their job and do it efficiently. Never had bad service but then again we are not into being catered to. Cabin is cleaned twice a day. The only time we had to wait a long time for drinks was on the four day cruise (we were on a b2b, a seven day and a four day cruise) when we were leaving ocean cay. Everyone was at the pool and it was crowded. I do not ever suggest a four day cruise and will not do it again myself. Different atmosphere and crowd. When sailing out of Miami the announcements are in multiple languages and there are lots of different nationalities. When sailing out of Port Canaveral this was not the case. Mostly Americans and announcements were only in English. Personally I wish MSC would broaden their itineraries. We will be going on our 14th MSC cruise this next year and after that we will be going on NCL because we want a different itinerary. We have sailed to all of the ports that MSC goes to in the Caribbean. Ocean Cay is very nice. A beautiful island that is laid back. No big toys or zip lines. Very relaxing. I say give it a try but keep an open mind. It is different from Princess, Carnival, NCL, etc. If you go and compare every little thing to Princess then you probably won't be happy.

We usually cruise 21 to 30 days at once so it was very convenient for us, not having to pack so much. Last time was only 11 days so I just took some detergent with us. Next cruise is 21 days and the one after is 28 days. Will be doing the 21 days on MSC and will be doing laundry in the sink I guess. The one after is on NCL and being Sapphire we get 2 bags of laundry a week so that will be great.

That line has been there since 2019. On the Divina in 2018 it wasn't and we could send a few things out every day. In 2019, they changed it to include this line in the description and on the Seaside they refused to let us send items out a few at a time. I was not happy and had a copy of when I had paid for the laundry and it did not state that you had to send them out all at once. Talked to the officer in charge and I was able to send a few pieces out at a time. After that though (on the Seashore) they were very strict with having you send all pieces out at the same time. It has gotten so expensive and with that rule, it just isn't worth it anymore for us.

Years ago, pre 911 you could do it. You could also just show up at the terminal and try to get on the ship if there were any available cabins. Since then no. We book b2b cruises and no discount in years for doing so. Your only choice would be to book a b2b. Since you say you are cheap and that is not an option then again your answer would be no.

Yes, they have an alcohol free package that includes soda Book now online your drink package at the lowest price compared to the onboard price*! Including: Non-alcoholic cocktails Fresh fruit and protein cocktails Energy drinks Sodas Energy drinks Flavored water Soda by glass and bottle Wide range of hot drinks Soft serve ice cream Beverage gratuities included

Here is a link for the drink packages in 2023 and the drink menus for MSC. Second link is for a great map of Ocean Cay. Hope they help. Ocean is an awesome island. Quiet, serene, and beautiful. We love it compared to other private islands. No big water slides or zip lines. https://profcruise.com/msc-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2023/ https://www.mscoceancay.com/en-us/map-of-the-island

A 17 oz bottle of spring water is $3.25. A can of soda is $3.50. An 11 ounce glass of soda with ice is $3.00

I will be following as I like the newer ships but the newest ones are getting too big. Have wondered about the older ships.

Not that I have ever seen. I know on other cruise lines you can but never seen or heard where you could on MSC.

No, it is now the same whether before or during the cruise.

This is what ours shows if we add the upgrade to our package...it says it is $69 plus gratuities in the description .

It is $69 plus gratuities which makes it $82.80

If your bookings are linked you are good. I have done a table for 12 before. It was crowded. We have a group of 28 once and had 3 tables beside each other.

Just going by experience. Have sat with others that are strangers and correct, they did not have the same or any drink package. Have linked bookings and were not sat together because of not having the drink package. Was able to talk to the maitre'd and get our table together. Maybe different now or maybe just that maitre'd.

oops

No, not children. Just active, veterans and spouses or surviving spouses.

Yay! Easy Peasy! Did it for dh then did it for myself as a spouse since spouses are also eligible for the discount. Either one of us can book that way. Since you booked with a TA they will have to call NCL and have it applied since you were already booked. Next time when you go to book it will show up automatically for the TA.

It is something new. We have booked 3 cruises with NCL since they started this. 10% is 10%!!! Here is the link https://www.ncl.com/military?cid=PS_DIG_NA_NA_GOO_NA_NA_NA_NA_NA_NAM&gclsrc=ds&gclsrc=ds

We have had our last 12 out of 14 cruises on an MSC cruise out of Florida and have 2 more booked for next year. We are tired of the same ole itineraries. We discovered that NCL this year started honoring military and give a 10% discount and a TA that we have used in the past gives free gratuities on NCL. This made us check out their cruises for 2025. Will miss MSC's MDR food which we love but will enjoy going to different itineraries. NCL has changed their menus since we last sailed them right as the pandemic hit so hoping the new menu will work for us. Good thing is we will get 4 free specialty dining meals included on a 7 day cruise which works great since we love their specialty dining venues. So, we will be jumping ship from MSC back to NCL for 2025.

True but it is a group booking and they can't sit together at the MDR if one has a drink package and the others don't. In order to sit together you have to all have a package. This could be why TA is telling them that they have to buy it. Not sure if you could get the maitre'd to do it or not once you board.