UPNYGuy

7 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

You are lucky! I was Fantastica on my last sailing and initially assigned an 8:30 dining time despite requesting early. Even with Fantastica, there are no guarantees that you will get your requested time, you are just allegedly given priority for your desired time. I was able to get my time changed to 6:00 once onboard by being willing to do a sharing table.

Im also Diamond, so perhaps that plays a part, but I have never had late dining with bella.

13 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I agree that the brand new terminal in Miami makes it less likely we will see MSC sailings out of other FL ports any time soon. They seem intent on expanding to other US regions right now, having just started sailing out of NYC, soon to be sailing out of Galveston, and looking towards Alaska sailings next.

and look how quickly they abandoned TPA. 

6 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

and looking towards Alaska sailings next.

They had Alaska in mind when the Meraviglia and Bellissima were built. There was a blurb from the shipbuilder at the time that they were deliberately shorter than the Fantasia class so they could fit into the existing docks up there. I would personally rather a Seaside class get sent up there, with all that outdoor space. 

On 8/25/2023 at 7:19 PM, VernRDH said:

we do enjoy relaxing at the adults pool preferably in the shade on sea days

def. go for the interior y/c on the Meraviglia in this case, much less hectic. You can feel that the ship has as many people on it as it does.

1 hour ago, ray98 said:

 

No....Aurea only.  The rest get the chaos of MSC assigned times.  Book Bella and there is a good chance dinner is the 9:30pm seating.

unless you pre-request dinner at the early seating. DW and I have done bella and have never had 9:30 dinner seating. 

On 8/26/2023 at 8:09 PM, VernRDH said:

Thanks for the replies! I think we may just go Fantastica this time and see how we like the overall experience. 

If you are used to flexible dining time, this is only offered with Aurea level bookings. Or (as it has been mentioned) forgo the balcony if you can, and book in the Yacht Club in an inside cabin. You will be surprised at the level of service. 

years ago, MSC had a ship based at Port Everglades (think it was Magnifica), They moved to Miami with Divina to compete with Royal and Carnival.

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

they are cutting their staff on big ships in half. 

in what way? I’ll admit I haven’t been following NCL as much as I used to. 

sorry to revive a 10 year old thread, but has Adrian left NCL? I havent seen anything about him pop up since the restart. 

On 8/21/2023 at 9:43 PM, wikoffclan said:

Thank you for this. I went right back in and changed my No to Yes. On my first MSC (Seaside) cruise I had an Inside guarantee and was assigned to a Balcony. Fingers crossed that happens again. If not, at least with this I might have a chance at an upgrade offer

DW and I did a bella balcony on Seaside in 2019 and were put in an Aurea hot tub cabin. Someone realized they are leaving quite a bit of revenue on the table doing that.

Thing is, seaside feels more like a ship (tons of outside space), whereas the oasis class feels much more like a land based vacation. Keep that in mind as well. Many people do not like the oasis class because they are so large, and do not feel like ships, but floating 'vacation factories' . YMMV, but they are two totally different experiences. Even within the Royal communities, there are certain pax that will not sail on anything larger than the Radiance and Vision classes. 

4 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

... no shortage of steak and lobster though I guess? 🙂

we are in the Eataly (was a bit ago 🤣) quite a bit.

worst charter group I have ever wound up with was the 'Holistic Holiday at Sea' group on Divina. It was a group of holier than thou vegans that thought they ran the ship, and overtook EVERYTHING. Good luck getting any fresh fruit or veggies, or even salad. They vacuumed it up as fast as it came out.  Now, I actively look to avoid that group when I book.

4 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Just because it’s considered a booze cruise doesn’t mean that there should be weed on it.

I agree, but short booze cruises tend

 to attract that type of clientele. 

On 8/2/2023 at 9:42 AM, PompeySailor said:

Yacht club Drugs WEED (Skunk) 🌳

Tuesday night 11:30pm

Weed (Skunk) coming through AC vents into cabin, very strong and pronounced (Fresh)

 

Reported to night shift at. YC desk,

Temp Concierge staff called Engine room.

Technician arrived within 5 minutes, they confirmed WEED smell in the hallway outside our cabin and once in room also confirmed WEED coming through AC vents 

Deck 18

 

Technician said he had to confirm it was drugs (WEED) and not anything else.

Probably for safety that is not a fire or something else burning 🔥 

Which we totally understand 

 

We will await to see if anyone today mentions it to us or has an explanation 

I’m not expecting the world to become a better place overnight ☮️ or looking for a free cruise.

 

Yes (Weed) Skunk is in the Yacht Club 🌳 and the Pro users can sugar coat it all they  like, but it’s a safety Hazzard and not allowed anywhere on the ship.

And is illegal 

 

Maybe MSC need to do what Carnival are doing and have the K9 drug dogs onboard 🐶 💊 

Carnival PAX are coming to MSC YC to avoid getting busted on Carnival

 

Will update if we get approached from anyone and informed of if they were able to locate where the source of the WEED was coming from .

Maybe the YC Director or a senior staff member will have a chat with us 😉

Would be nice after 3 days to meet them 🤣

 

We slept much better last night as well and have awoke chill and mellow 🌳

The AC is currently pumping out normal air 👍🏻

looked at the timeframe you booked. This appears to have been a 4 day cruise. All I can say is DUHHHHH. You were on what is called a booze cruise. I usually avoid cruises shorter than 7 days on any cruise line for this very reason. 

On 8/26/2023 at 6:19 AM, cruise_mojo said:

the other or one other NCL thing was lattitudes cruises with double points so that was a way to get the 4x points but when they took all our early cruises away of less than a certain amount of days away it ticked us off - that took status away from us, - then they gave it back - then they took it away again a couple years later - then we quit sailing ncl but never say never we may one day sail them again ....

I think that was how they ended up with a top-heavy loyalty program. Lots of people booking cheap weekend cruises with the 4x points to get to platinum, and they realized it.  You could have ended up platinum just by booking 8 weekend cruises with the old system of booking in advance, double points, and a suite.  

On 8/26/2023 at 5:31 AM, 3StepDam44 said:

Thank you UPNYGuy.

 

Given this Ship offers World Cruises, I assumed it would wrap aound.

 

Still may book though.

x

you should if you are curious, especially if you like the Fantasia class. It is like a smaller Fantasia class. 

11 hours ago, mowogo said:

And in general they have been trying to lower the hotel status matches. I was happy when last year I was able to match Hilton Diamond to MSC.  

MSC has been offering lower matches to hotel chains vs what they would if it were a cruise operator at the same level?

On 6/13/2023 at 8:02 AM, LMaxwell said:

 Unfortunately, the 4 day experience is pretty typical across all cruise lines because it doesn't take a lot of time or money, and for 4 days people aren't looking for adventurous travel but just a fun getaway.

This is spot on. Longer cruises of a week or more avoid this clientele, as you experienced on the first leg of your sailing. You could take a 4 day cruise on Holland America and run into this as well. It isnt so much as 'the party crowd has found MSC" as much as it is MSC doing short cruises.

1 hour ago, Hutcha said:

 Are people really regularly paying face value for an upgrade bid??

That is really what the 'upgrade' offer is, what you would have paid to book it originally.

4 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

 

Knowing which elevators to commandeer is helpful. Some are more receptive than others (the butlers know which are the best ones). Meraviglia's aren't great but they work. 

it has usually been the most forward starbord one right off the theatre

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I looked up some photos and it seems that the hot tubs are different between the Seaside and the Seascape, so maybe our experience won't be as bad. I do agree that the layout of the rooms is a bit weird with how long and narrow they are.

I did notice that the tubs look a bit different.

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Not to hijack the thread, but what was wrong with the layout of the balcony? We are looking to maybe book a Whirlpool Suite on the Seascape in May.

If you are referring to “Aurea suite with whirlpool bath” on the exact corners where the ship narrows, this entire cabin set-up has flaws.
 

It is long and narrow, and reminds me of a hallway. The balcony is somewhat narrow to have a decent sized jacuzzi tub on it. The ones that are out there are not actual hot tubs, but bathtub types.

And, if you are in the aft facing cabins, the pool deck can look directly into your balcony. You get plenty of gawkers going “omg they have a hot tub” , and stuff like that. DW and I got “upgraded” into one shortly before the bid process started, and I would have rather had my aurea balcony. 

On 8/12/2023 at 6:22 PM, PAJunkie said:

Titanium is the highest level. I’m lifetime platinum. The spreadsheet noted that Titanium or Lifetime Platinum matched for gold, so I contacted them when I was matched silver. They changed their match and all levels at Marriott now match silver. I didn’t notice the match for Lifetime Titanium. 
 

When Marriott completed their merge with Sheraton, I remember Sheraton was happy with the changes and new level, Marriott members like me were disappointed (fewer benefits though the levels “sounded” higher).

So I am guessing once MSC realized, they changed their match. 

kind of like when NCL re-did the loyalty tiers back in the late 2010's. I have platinum, which (at the time) was the highest tier on the NCL loyalty totem. You could get 4x points per day by booking certain cabins, certain destination offers, enough time in advance, and something else I am forgetting. NCL ended up with a very top-heavy loyalty program, so they made platinum the mid point. I matched in (I think) 2017, and got black (now diamond).

Two years later, a woman next to me on seaside was being insistent about her match not being done properly while I was trying to book another sailing with the FCC. She was platinum on NCL and was matched to gold. I kept my mouth shut, but started wondering if MSC was doing the same thing and re-evaluating the matches. 

On 12/21/2021 at 7:55 PM, rkacruiser said:

As a YC guest on this ship, I found it most difficult to use any priority elevator service from the foyer outside the Main Theater.  

I myeslf have accidently stepped in the elevator with y/c guests when I havent been staying in, and I have also had the reverse happen. I have had people step in and disrupt the priority service for me as well. There have been times I have gone up the glass elevators midships and walked across the deck to avoid this.