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Diamond Plus tries turning Black on MSC


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After about 50+ cruises within the RCI/Celebrity/Azamara family (and a few on NCL), a cruise on MSC was not really on my radar. I’m not sure how I found this cruise …perhaps an ad flashing up on my screen. Let’s start by saying it was cheap! Just £632 ($835) for 2 of us for a 7n cruise from Southampton round to Genoa in an ocean view cabin. That is cheap right? For that price how bad could it be! When I then found out that their drinks package was only £20pppd ($26.50pppd) I decided to book.

Firstly MSC have very smartly introduced a Loyalty Match to tempt cruisers from other lines. You simply send in proof of your loyalty tier, and 24 hours later you are enrolled. As I am D+ with RCI I was straight in at Black on MSC. Black is their top tier….and I hadn’t set foot on one of their ships yet! Blacks automatically get 5% discount on the booking price, and on board they get perks such as a complimentary dinner on board in one of the specialty restaurants, and a welcome bottle of champage (proscecco), a welcome gift like the baseball caps RCI used to give out, free photo and a chocolate ship. All good so far.

Now starts the story of needing to do your research! MSC have a ‘class system’ that would not look out of place on the Titanic or on Cunard…..I booked an oceanview within the Bella Category (which is the lowest category) and I expected (foolishly it would appear) that all the usual ‘stuff’ you get on a cruise would be included. No: I then learnt that Bella cabins were not entitled to free room service, Bella cabins were not able to utilise My Time Dining, Bella cabins were not guaranteed to get a table at their preferred dining time in the MDR, Bella cabins may sometimes get allocated a table for dinner in the buffet, Bella cabins have to bring their own toilet paper….ok I lied about that last one but you get the general picture. This somewhat took the shine off the cruise but it was too late! I could always drink myself to death if it was that bad.

The Preziosa is a Fantasia Class ship of just under 140,000 tonnes; with a maximum capacity of 4345; she was christened by Sophia Loren in March 2013; and she was originally being built for the Gadaffi Libyan family, complete with a shark tank on board! When they couldn't 'ahem' complete the purchase due to other commitments, MSC took her over. The ship looks new, and rather ‘bling’ with a pair of Swarovski crystal grand staircases.

Reviews often commented on the food and how it ‘wasn’t very good’ so to make sure we didn’t starve we booked a 2n dining package which gave us dinners at Eataly and Galaxy for £24pp ($31.75pp) in addition to our Black free meal!. I was certainly noticing that the on board costs were considerably cheaper than on RCI.

Have I mentioned that the drinks package is £20pppd?! Each person in the cabin has to book the drinks package. Apart from alcohol this also covered coffees and even ice cream, The Italians should be able to make good ice cream I think.

We also prepaid the gratuities at £49pp ($64.75) which is slightly cheaper than the €10pp (€70pp for the week/$82.65) payable on board.

Wifi was £14/$18.50 for the week. I understand this gives you surf access but no streaming.

MSC seems to operate their cruises like a bus.

People can board at ports along the route, meaning that there are Muster Drills on a daily basis and seems to mean that the formal nights could be on the night you board. Because of the international clientele the announcements on board are in up to 6 languages.

We also noted that the times in port were very short compared to RCI. The itinerary was

 

Wed: sail from Southampton at 1800

Thurs: at sea

Fri: La Coruna, Spain from 0800 – 1500

Sat: Lisbon, Portugal from 1300 – 2000

Sun: Gibraltar from 1500 – 2100

Mon: at sea

Tues: Barcelona, Spain from 0800 – 1400

Wed: Genoa, Italy arriving at 0900 and disembarking

……..I mean, who on earth goes to Gibraltar at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon??!!

There was a small but select CC group, most were newbies taking their first steps on board. We were all going to be in the same boat together!

So next up will be boarding and first impressions.

If you have any questions please ask.

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My views and opinions. We have just completed our first cruise with MSC, on the Preziosa, in a fantastica balcony cabin, black tier. First I agree the ship is rather bling. The constant embarkation and disembarkation is irritating as people are always running around with suitcases or wearing their life jackets. Yes you have to wear them for the muster drill. One day we docked at 10.00 but the lines were so long to get off and snaked around the deck, we didn’t get off until 12.30. They are incredibly slow. Food ( which I accept is subjective but we were a group of 6), was poor, both selection and quality in the dining room. Buffet was better but always chaotic and crowded. For breakfast one of us went up and got rolls and sausages and came back to the cabin with them. Announcements are made in numerous languages.

 

For being black tier we got a robe and slippers , great, a bottle of nice prosecco, a chocolate ship ( each) , some fruit in the cabin and a tote bag. The complimentary meals are not from the normal menus, they are a tasting menu, of which I ate nothing and the guys were still hungry afterwards.

The positives were the drinks package, although it was confusing what you could and couldn’t have we got very good value for money. As they don’t serve water or coffee in the dining room you use your package to get water and then have coffee in the coffee bar.

You get a kettle and tea and coffee in the cabin, take your own toiletries.

I don’t think we will sail with them again, our cruise was also cheap and whilst we did have a good time with our friends you do get what you pay for.

 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the experience, you don’t know until you try.

Have a great cruise.

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After about 50+ cruises within the RCI/Celebrity/Azamara family (and a few on NCL), a cruise on MSC was not really on my radar. I’m not sure how I found this cruise …perhaps an ad flashing up on my screen. Let’s start by saying it was cheap! Just £632 ($835) for 2 of us for a 7n cruise from Southampton round to Genoa in an ocean view cabin. That is cheap right? For that price how bad could it be! When I then found out that their drinks package was only £20pppd ($26.50pppd) I decided to book.

Firstly MSC have very smartly introduced a Loyalty Match to tempt cruisers from other lines. You simply send in proof of your loyalty tier, and 24 hours later you are enrolled. As I am D+ with RCI I was straight in at Black on MSC. Black is their top tier….and I hadn’t set foot on one of their ships yet! Blacks automatically get 5% discount on the booking price, and on board they get perks such as a complimentary dinner on board in one of the specialty restaurants, and a welcome bottle of champage (proscecco), a welcome gift like the baseball caps RCI used to give out, free photo and a chocolate ship. All good so far.

Now starts the story of needing to do your research! MSC have a ‘class system’ that would not look out of place on the Titanic or on Cunard…..I booked an oceanview within the Bella Category (which is the lowest category) and I expected (foolishly it would appear) that all the usual ‘stuff’ you get on a cruise would be included. No: I then learnt that Bella cabins were not entitled to free room service, Bella cabins were not able to utilise My Time Dining, Bella cabins were not guaranteed to get a table at their preferred dining time in the MDR, Bella cabins may sometimes get allocated a table for dinner in the buffet, Bella cabins have to bring their own toilet paper….ok I lied about that last one but you get the general picture. This somewhat took the shine off the cruise but it was too late! I could always drink myself to death if it was that bad.

The Preziosa is a Fantasia Class ship of just under 140,000 tonnes; with a maximum capacity of 4345; she was christened by Sophia Loren in March 2013; and she was originally being built for the Gadaffi Libyan family, complete with a shark tank on board! When they couldn't 'ahem' complete the purchase due to other commitments, MSC took her over. The ship looks new, and rather ‘bling’ with a pair of Swarovski crystal grand staircases.

Reviews often commented on the food and how it ‘wasn’t very good’ so to make sure we didn’t starve we booked a 2n dining package which gave us dinners at Eataly and Galaxy for £24pp ($31.75pp) in addition to our Black free meal!. I was certainly noticing that the on board costs were considerably cheaper than on RCI.

Have I mentioned that the drinks package is £20pppd?! Each person in the cabin has to book the drinks package. Apart from alcohol this also covered coffees and even ice cream, The Italians should be able to make good ice cream I think.

We also prepaid the gratuities at £49pp ($64.75) which is slightly cheaper than the €10pp (€70pp for the week/$82.65) payable on board.

Wifi was £14/$18.50 for the week. I understand this gives you surf access but no streaming.

MSC seems to operate their cruises like a bus.

People can board at ports along the route, meaning that there are Muster Drills on a daily basis and seems to mean that the formal nights could be on the night you board. Because of the international clientele the announcements on board are in up to 6 languages.

We also noted that the times in port were very short compared to RCI. The itinerary was

 

Wed: sail from Southampton at 1800

Thurs: at sea

Fri: La Coruna, Spain from 0800 – 1500

Sat: Lisbon, Portugal from 1300 – 2000

Sun: Gibraltar from 1500 – 2100

Mon: at sea

Tues: Barcelona, Spain from 0800 – 1400

Wed: Genoa, Italy arriving at 0900 and disembarking

……..I mean, who on earth goes to Gibraltar at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon??!!

There was a small but select CC group, most were newbies taking their first steps on board. We were all going to be in the same boat together!

So next up will be boarding and first impressions.

If you have any questions please ask.

Great helpful information,thank you.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I look forward to more.

 

We have out first MSC cruise booked for January on MSC Seaside and are very eagerly looking forward to it.

 

Sorry you were not aware of all the restrictions of booking the "Bella" experience. We did a lot of reading to try and grasp the MSC concept before we booked and did not want those restrictions so we upgraded to the "Fantastica" experience in order to get a better cabin location, guaranteed dining preferences etc. We booked under a great promo which also got us free beer and wine at lunch and dinner, 10 vouchers each for alcoholic beverages outside of lunch/dinner, an on board credit and free Internet.

 

I agree that the status match is great marketing and we certainly took advantage of it.

 

We will definitely be sharing our thoughts after our trip.

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After about 50+ cruises within the RCI/Celebrity/Azamara family (and a few on NCL), a cruise on MSC was not really on my radar. I’m not sure how I found this cruise …perhaps an ad flashing up on my screen. Let’s start by saying it was cheap! Just £632 ($835) for 2 of us for a 7n cruise from Southampton round to Genoa in an ocean view cabin. That is cheap right? For that price how bad could it be! When I then found out that their drinks package was only £20pppd ($26.50pppd) I decided to book.

Firstly MSC have very smartly introduced a Loyalty Match to tempt cruisers from other lines. You simply send in proof of your loyalty tier, and 24 hours later you are enrolled. As I am D+ with RCI I was straight in at Black on MSC. Black is their top tier….and I hadn’t set foot on one of their ships yet! Blacks automatically get 5% discount on the booking price, and on board they get perks such as a complimentary dinner on board in one of the specialty restaurants, and a welcome bottle of champage (proscecco), a welcome gift like the baseball caps RCI used to give out, free photo and a chocolate ship. All good so far.

Now starts the story of needing to do your research! MSC have a ‘class system’ that would not look out of place on the Titanic or on Cunard…..I booked an oceanview within the Bella Category (which is the lowest category) and I expected (foolishly it would appear) that all the usual ‘stuff’ you get on a cruise would be included. No: I then learnt that Bella cabins were not entitled to free room service, Bella cabins were not able to utilise My Time Dining, Bella cabins were not guaranteed to get a table at their preferred dining time in the MDR, Bella cabins may sometimes get allocated a table for dinner in the buffet, Bella cabins have to bring their own toilet paper….ok I lied about that last one but you get the general picture. This somewhat took the shine off the cruise but it was too late! I could always drink myself to death if it was that bad.

The Preziosa is a Fantasia Class ship of just under 140,000 tonnes; with a maximum capacity of 4345; she was christened by Sophia Loren in March 2013; and she was originally being built for the Gadaffi Libyan family, complete with a shark tank on board! When they couldn't 'ahem' complete the purchase due to other commitments, MSC took her over. The ship looks new, and rather ‘bling’ with a pair of Swarovski crystal grand staircases.

Reviews often commented on the food and how it ‘wasn’t very good’ so to make sure we didn’t starve we booked a 2n dining package which gave us dinners at Eataly and Galaxy for £24pp ($31.75pp) in addition to our Black free meal!. I was certainly noticing that the on board costs were considerably cheaper than on RCI.

Have I mentioned that the drinks package is £20pppd?! Each person in the cabin has to book the drinks package. Apart from alcohol this also covered coffees and even ice cream, The Italians should be able to make good ice cream I think.

We also prepaid the gratuities at £49pp ($64.75) which is slightly cheaper than the €10pp (€70pp for the week/$82.65) payable on board.

Wifi was £14/$18.50 for the week. I understand this gives you surf access but no streaming.

MSC seems to operate their cruises like a bus.

People can board at ports along the route, meaning that there are Muster Drills on a daily basis and seems to mean that the formal nights could be on the night you board. Because of the international clientele the announcements on board are in up to 6 languages.

We also noted that the times in port were very short compared to RCI. The itinerary was

 

Wed: sail from Southampton at 1800

Thurs: at sea

Fri: La Coruna, Spain from 0800 – 1500

Sat: Lisbon, Portugal from 1300 – 2000

Sun: Gibraltar from 1500 – 2100

Mon: at sea

Tues: Barcelona, Spain from 0800 – 1400

Wed: Genoa, Italy arriving at 0900 and disembarking

……..I mean, who on earth goes to Gibraltar at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon??!!

There was a small but select CC group, most were newbies taking their first steps on board. We were all going to be in the same boat together!

So next up will be boarding and first impressions.

If you have any questions please ask.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Following along, look forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

We did our first MSC cruise on Musica last year and really enjoyed it. I thought they compared fairly well to RCL, especially considering they are much cheaper and the drinks package is such a bargain. We've booked again for Magnifica next year so they must be doing something right:)

 

Julie

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We booked under a great promo which also got us free beer and wine at lunch and dinner,

 

It sounds like you got the mealtime drink package? If so, be aware that includes the buffet hours. I've been able to get free drinks at the buffet (there's 2 bars in the buffet on Divina) from 11am to 4pm and again from 5pm to 9pm. :hearteyes::hearteyes:

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We've wanted to try MSC, but I think they are going to have to simply their class system and inclusions before they have mass appeal in the US. Every time I toyed with booking I honestly just got tired of feeling like I knew nothing about going on a cruise and stopped trying to learn all of their nuances.

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We tried MSC with a status match of Black. We did the Yacht Club...and I have to say we were WOWed!! First Class all the way! Captain and Staff on the MSC Divina were fantastic. We liked it so much we booked another Yacht Club Suite on the Seaside. Best Pizza and Pasta and Gelato at Sea!! We can't really talk about much outside of the Yacht Club, which is a ship within a ship....but we did walk away impressed.

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We've wanted to try MSC, but I think they are going to have to simply their class system and inclusions before they have mass appeal in the US. Every time I toyed with booking I honestly just got tired of feeling like I knew nothing about going on a cruise and stopped trying to learn all of their nuances.

You've just got to book and try it, once onboard you'll see that they are really not that different from the other lines in how they work. Just remember that the first time you went on RCL you didn't know how it all worked but you soon found out.

 

Pick Fantastica if you want something similar to the basic RCL package, Aurea or Yacht club if you want the suite/all inclusive option.

 

Julie

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First impressions:

We got to Southampton at 11:45 and we were not able to board until 12:45. Due to the Black status match we were the 2nd group onboard after the Aurea class. Check in was 3 stages, firstly they checked your set sail pass against the passport to check it matched. Get a stamp on set sail pass and then onto the ship where they checked it again, and finally to a man who took your photo with a large iPhone! And we were on.

First impressions.....wow! Spotlessly clean, lots of mirrors and glass.

You have to self register your credit card in a little machine they have next to Guest relations at some point in the first 24 hours.

The cabin is an ocean view on deck 5 and is huge! Long and thin. Kettle and tea, and even a sewing kit!

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Black benefits: We have had bathrobes and slippers delivered, and the invite to a complimentary dinner at either Galaxy or Eataly. We have made our reservations in Eataly and were the first names in the reservations book.

 

The buffet is large and very well laid out. 2 bars within the buffet itself and I’ve lost count of the number of bars on the ship!!

 

The Spa area looks very nice and Black members get use of a sauna/steam room for an hour a day. Be careful which one you select as one is for full nudes only 587a463826e7d3a66a5c7ccf16782a4c.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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