heatherb1958

We have only ever done cruises of 7 nights or longer so far with MSC. I have checked online on their website and cannot find anything to say the Voyager club Diamond perk for speciality restaurants is not available on short cruises yet a friend who was on a 4 nighter last year was declined , it was their first MSC cruise too. Does anyone know ?? We are on the 29th May 5 nighter and want to be prepared 😆.

Preziosa maybe an older ship with some funky decor but MSC keep their ships spotless , we have been on her out of Southampton and loved all the different bars onboard each having live music. Would go on her again in a heartbeat.

@jame_g - wow , what a nightmare for you. Not quite as high an upgrade , my friend bid from inside to balcony , she got the acceptance e.mail and money taken out of her account but she had the same thing happen though it was never resolved onboard . The hours she spent before the cruise chasing up new paperwork for a new cabin number and then onboard the ship, she never did get what her acceptance e.mail promised. Felt so sorry for her and she was travelling with a first time cruiser too . This was for a cruise booked through the UK and sailing from the UK so doesn't just happen in the US.

Another reason we love to cruise is the friends we have made along the way who turn up on other cruises either by choice to surprise you or they just had it booked and forgot to tell you . Never ever yet been on a ship on any cruise line where new friends weren't made or old friends reacquainted with ❤️❤️

I love L'Atelier bar , great for people watching . We eat early, go to the mid timed show, a couple of drinks in either Sky lounge or l'Atelier afterwards , get a seat outside the pub for when it is time for the Galleria party. It works for us and never ever go to bed with full stomachs 😆.

We love interporting on MSC and the fact you can stay on as long as you want and even have lunch onboard before leaving the ship if it fits with our onward travel , we keep our bags with us and settle down somewhere comfortable . Can't remember what happened last year on our departure on our closed loop Fjiord cruise out of SOU except when we arrived at the port it was a zoo with people queuing up to get onboard . Thankfully we were looked after by shoreside who took great care of my hubby who has mobility issues .

We did Status match from our RCI level in 2017 and went straight in at Black , now Diamond , with MSC . It was great having some perks on that first cruise but it didn't matter anyway as we loved the experience so much have been on 8 ships with 95 nights at sea with MSC to date. All our experiences have been out of the UK or Barcelona where the clientele were mainly Europeans , I would say the only time we ever said " I am glad this isn't our first MSC cruise" was on a UK seacation after Covid start up with all Brits onboard on an included drinks package !! We recently did our first YC sailing in an inside cabin out of Barcelona , it was great having the private to YC pool deck, pool deck grill , lounge bar etc etc but having done it we will go back to booking Bella or Fantastica cabins . We didn't feel the food in the restaurant was much different to the MDR and our waiters in the MDR have always been excellent as have all the staff around the ships. We have never had service issues except on that mentioned seacation . The shows in the main theatre are short but full on production shows with fabulous costumes and a different show every night . They are catering to all languages so mainly visual with the songs all sung in English . There is live music in every bar , something to suit all tastes . You can get coffee at every bar , it is an Italian company ! Their prices are great . MSC are a family owned company and have met crew onboard who have been with them for years .

Meant to say pity about your visit to La Rochelle , another beautiful port , I walked miles there . Our last visit was September 22 and it was gorgeous weather 😍. Bad here at home at the moment so better to be on a cruise 🛳 😎.

On MSC they call them Gala and Elegant nights, one of each on 7 night trips. In the Med you will find those that dress to the nines and go all out and then others who couldn't care less. Don't fret over it. We dress to the nines and enjoy it.

Following 😎. We are onboard for the 5 nighter in May, know what to expect as it will be our 3rd time onboard, got an OV this time for a good deal with drinks . I know our cruise will be busy as it is the BH weekend and school hols but the itinerary is different to previous short runs. Have a fantastic time .

Enjoying reading your observations. We are sailing on Sky in September and I just told hubby there is going to be a new seafood restaurant , he is happy . I hope you had a good tour with Spainday , I did a CC group tour from Bilbao with Spain day tours last year , very well organised , visited all the main attractions including the Guggenheim and even had time to have a Tapas lunch at the market . Loved Bilbao.

I never tire of Norway , we loved it so much on our first visit ended up going another 3 times in the same year with one of the trips being The Land of the Midnight sun all the way upto Honningsvag with the Lofoten islands included. I love walking and climb mountains to off set the food intake onboard 😆. We have also done the Med countless times and the run-down to the Canaries but there are always new things to find , just walk in a different direction or down a different street . We have been cruising for so long now that if we have to repeat itineraries we try not to repeat the same one on the same ship.

We had our first ever experience in January this year of a butler with MSC in their Yacht club . One of the things advertised was unpacking of luggage which I would absolutely never have someone do , don't want a stranger seeing my not so smalls !! 😂😂😂. He seemed to always be at our cabin door whenever we left and found us in the dedicated bar lounge to escort us to reservations we had on the ship. Can live without the butler but the Concierge desk was a godsend for sorting any issues, never ever had to go to guest services once as the Concierge sorted anything and everything.

The creaking we had of the plastic handrails on the balconies on Iona in Jan 22 was horrendous and that was in calm seas too ! We wished we had booked an OV cabin it was that bad . Having said that we are going back on her for NYE so hope she has bedded in by then or maybe add a can of WD40 to the packing list 😆

We use Redmayne Bentley , have done so since the crash of 2008 when we bought RCI shares for $6 !! That was another wise move 😆. We cruise less with RCI now so sold them but had enjoyed countless cruises with OBC since 2008. Unfortunately RB are introducing an annual fee 😕. Up until now all actions had been done for free , drop them an e.mail with sail date, booking ref etc and they did the hard work . 😆

100% correct. This is due to the design of the ship and the carousel lounge at the rear. All MSC older ships have aft lifts for guest use and Seaview class has the aft panoramic lift.

If you cruise a lot you will get your money back very quickly as a lot of cruiselines come under Carnival group. We bought the shares in 2021 when the prices were still low due to Covid and a slow return to cruising . It was a very wise move on our part as we are no longer doing long haul flights , we did 4 P&O cruises and 2 Princess in the last 2 years with more in the pipeline so have already got our initial investment back in OBC. 😎

We always put cash on the account. When is your cruise ? Make sure what ever the currency is being used onboard your sailing that is the currency you deposit otherwise you will have a terrible exchange rate from Euros to Sterling and vice versa . How do I know this ? , because we got stumped last year when we joined the ship , hadn't noticed all the prices advertised for packages etc were still in Sterling, put our Euros in the machine and got a ridiculous conversion rate . Lesson learned .

Hi there, 2) The pub on Grandiosa is called Masters of the sea , it is on deck 7 on the mezzanine level of the Galleria. It was our go to place to watch the parties/ goings on on the level below . We would always sit near to the bridge as that is where the band plays . There wasn't a pool table in there but they did have food on offer , burgers and hotdogs , plus a singer guitarist at night . 4) you can go outside onto the deck where the lifeboats are, deck 7 I think it is. There isn't any seating but if you wanted fresh air quickly you can do it . One end of the ship has it roped off saying crew only but I think that is because it is used for the crew for smoking !! I walked end to end on that deck on another ship in the same class, outside the Carousel lounge there was some seating used by smokers . Sorry, cannot answer Q1. Actually it was on Grandiosa where I went outside beneath the lifeboats. Could have sworn it was Meraviglia or Bellisima. This was December 2019 . We were on her Jan this year 2023.

I noticed that yesterday. I wonder how true the " you will be informed approximately 6 days before sailing " is . On RCI and MSC you might not find out until day before sailing and on RCI people have received the ' sorry ' e.mails while they are on the actual cruise!!! We have been there when we found out onboarding our cabin got upgraded and spent the first 24 hours chasing up stuff we know got delivered to the original cabin . By the way , I did put in our booking reference , not eligible 😂

You can order off the main menu a la carte at 50% discount too . The taster menu is good enough though so never had to order off the main menu.

For info @Yorkypete - the big Broadway shows on RCI which include/ have included Grease, Hairspray, Mama Mia , We will rock you , Cats , they had Chicago on Allure now swapped for Mama Mia. Liberty of the seas had Saturday Night Fever , not been on her for years so not sure if still onboard but had the privilege of being onboard for the Theatre rehearsals before launched. All the casts in these shows are onboard for 6 months + then swap out for a new cast , barring injuries or sickness or just fed up and want to leave . RCI have their own production studios in Florida and every ship in the fleet has it's own stage where the cast learn the shows for each ship with having final dress rehearsals onboard the actual ship. Bizarrely even the oldest ships in the fleet still have their own stage set but the older smaller ships have the more interesting itineraries, usually, so the cast don't mind learning those old antiquated routines . It costs a lot of money to put on the Broadway shows and they will be onboard for at least 5 years , though all the older ships are still running their original shows !! I have seen We Will Rock you twice on Anthem , Curly Watts from Corrie was in it the first time then the cast changed , didn't care for that show but love Mama Mia on Allure . With regards the Jersey Boys, there are a couple of groups doing the rounds on the ships and one on RCI does have an original Broadway Frankie Valli , his pre build up to the show on the video in the theatre is all about him winning awards , number of appearances on Broadway etc etc etc. The guy, sorry cannot remember his name but can find out as I personally know someone who used to book the acts onboard , does a rap section in the middle of his theatre show with the boys which quite frankly got on my nerves, you are either Frankie Valli or not !!! EDIT - Ryan Molloy was the Broadway star who is in the Frankie Valli group onboard RCI

Having cruised extensively on all classes of ships with RCI from Vision class to Oasis class and cruised last year 3 times on Anthem I would say RCI have the edge over P&O with regards theatre shows. We have cruised on Britannia, Ventura , Iona and Azura , all 4 ships since October 21. We have many cruises on other lines under our belts but you want comparisons with these 2. What I do like about P&O is their pricing in 2 tiers , Saver and Select . I like that gratuities are included, drinks prices onboard are very reasonable , so much so we would never buy a drinks package . We get 6 free drinks a day with RCI and do use them ! On P&O we can take a litre of spirits onboard per person for in cabin consumption where the room steward will happily supply the ice and sliced lemons 😎. We buy a bottle of wine at dinner and finish it in a bar somewhere onboard then buy other drinks as required. We went to the Limelight club twice on Britannia and once on Iona , both fab experiences , we saw Toyah Wilcox, Gareth Gates plus Ray Quinn . It is NOT just a show but a speciality meal followed by the artist performance, I would liken it to a supper club. We didn't care too much about our first P&O experience on Britannia but weighing everything up with what you get for their pricing they grew on us . We have Iona and Britannia booked again and rising up in their loyalty programme which isn't as good as RCI's but currently we get 7.5% off all purchases onboard including the shops , not to be sniffed at . Food is subjective, we have never starved on any ship we have been on even on the Costa Smeralda where I described the food onboard as inedible !!! P&O's speciality restaurant prices are far cheaper than RCI , went to Epicurian twice , lovely service and experience . I find when travelling with close friends on a cruise you tend to overlook the niggles and have fun regardless. Have a fantastic time .

Many years ago we hired a car one way in the UK. . In my research it was easier to check prices from airport to airport , Southampton Airport is cheap by uber , we have done that from SOU airport to port in recent years . I am always thinking outside of the box as my mantra is there is a solution to every problem 😆.

Thanks for all the replies folks. I had forgotten they use Intercruises, we have only used Eavesway so far, would hope the transfer back is actually to the airport and not their pick up point for our area which is not convenient . Mmmm , food for thought. To those who need a suitable transfer hope you get sorted.