Just booked Poesia

[jdvmd]

I do think MSC offers a different type of experience in the Caribbean than when you are sailing in Europe. More of a mainstream-type cruise experience.

[monicajay]

Do you remember what the wine or beer packages cost?

 

In March of 2011 it was $47.00 for 14 bottles of beer. This works out to $3.35 per beer. We were given a coupon book on the first day. They could be used anywhere on the ship and they would give you the beer with cap if you wanted to bring it back to your cabin.

 

I have tried to find the new prices on MSC website so I can book now but have not found them.

[Frenchsnowhite]

We sailed twice on MSC out of FLL and have booked again for March of 2013. We had no problem getting tap water in the MDR at all meals and it was refilled often. We were never charged for juice at breakfast in the MDR, I believe there is a charge at other times of day. In the Sushi restaurant there was an all inclusive price (don't remember amount), we opted to go a la carte as it was cheaper. It was top notch sushi, we will go back

 

MonicaJay do you remember what was available at lunch time at the buffet? Limonade, ice tea? Thanks!!!!;)

[monicajay]

We are considering the Feb 23 sailing on Poesia with our kids ages 17/14 (boys) and 11 (girl). Each TA I've spoken to always tries to steer me away from MSC and to RCCL and Carnival telling me that they think our kids might be bored and the other ships are more family friendly. I frankly think the other lines are pricy to just be on a ship - I'd rather spend the $$ on excursions!

 

Our kids aren't wild sports adventure types, and have frankly told us that what they look forward to the most is just swimming and eating 24x7 soft serve ice cream.

 

The MSC price is great, but we have to get 2 cabins since we have 5. Leaning towards 2 inside connecting cabins as we are trying to do this as inexpensive as possible (it would be their first cruise but not ours).

 

How are the inside cabins? Any pointers, locations that are better?

 

Thanks for any input/advice...

 

Advice: contact MSC and find out if there are any special offers for dates that could work for you. We got a balcony for the price of an inside on our upcoming cruise. Sometimes the offer the second cabin at a reduced rate.

 

If you do go with insides, MSC did not require the cabins to be connecting, just next to each other when we traveled with my daughter. We had the two last cabins on deck 12 in the aft. Just beside our door there was a door to a huge aft balcony (open to all) with lounge chairs. I felt like we had a balcony for the price of an inside. Also, a set of stairs that led to the back entrance of the buffet. Easy to pop up and get coffee or a snack and then return to 'our' balcony on 12. 12207 and 12209. Works on the other side too.

[Frenchsnowhite]

In March of 2011 it was $47.00 for 14 bottles of beer. This works out to $3.35 per beer. We were given a coupon book on the first day. They could be used anywhere on the ship and they would give you the beer with cap if you wanted to bring it back to your cabin.

 

I have tried to find the new prices on MSC website so I can book now but have not found them.

 

I did not find the link to buy a package, the only thing I saw was for Europeen sailing and the price were in Euro money.

[AmoMondo]

Fresh squeezed juice at breakfast is extra and you may well be happy to pay for it as it is so much better than the free stuff included at breakfast.

 

Water as Monicajaynsays is easy to get and readily available. If you are cruising MSC in the Caribbean, just be were when younare reading threads here that if people are discussing cruises sailing from Europe there are difference in the standard "product". There are even differences within Europe! (UK sailings can be different from sailings out ofnthe Med, for example).

[monicajay]

I did not find the link to buy a package, the only thing I saw was for Europeen sailing and the price were in Euro money.

 

I have not found a link the link either.:eek: It was there for winter 2012 Caribbean sailings but it has disappeared. Not sure if they will bring this back or only be selling the new overly priced all-inclusive packages.

 

On the web-site the have a new 'cheers' package which includes beer and wine at meals but even when I log in with my reservation number and then click book there is no pricing and tells me to log in on-board.

[monicajay]

Here is the link to the packages offered in the Caribbean during fall/winter of 2011/2012. Hoping they will still have some beer and wine packages similar to these.

 

http://www.msccruisesgetforms.com/

 

click on special services to view PDF. In the past you could fax this in or call and have it added to your file. If added to file you paid it at final payment time.

[jff50]

Perhaps others who have sailed MSC can chime in... but I'm learning that tap water in the dining room can be a challenge, and pax usually buy bottled water.

 

Juice for breakfast can be extra charge depending on what you read. (Juice is part of their extra-cost beverage packages and is included, which makes me think that the fee is accurate.)

 

Room service after a certain hour has a fee.

 

The premium restaurants do not have a cover charge like other cruise lines: it is menu/ala carte dining and you pay for what you order. For example last year I dined in the Pinnacle Grill on HAL and paid either $25 or $30 per person for anything we wanted to eat (kids loved it). On MSC we would pay per item. On the plus side, it could be less... but it could cost more too.

 

Regardless, all of these things are choices made by the passenger. I've decided that I will probably need to order bottled water in the dining room and will probably skip the per-diem restaurants. Since I always tip room service a fee is not a problem. Most cruise ship coffee is awful, so I've been visiting the coffee shops for a drinkable cup for years. Buffets are always crowded at peak meal periods. Since I sail Disney a lot, I'm used to crowds and lines for food, so I'll just go at an off time or visit the MDR.

 

They do not permit anything to be brought on board (water, soda) which is in their written policies and verbally stated by reservation staff. Worse case scenario is that I'm buying their water or getting some in port. Its OK because I know about it and while I'd rather bring my $5 case of Dasani on board with me, I might get pulled over at embarkation and get it confiscated.

 

I've pretty much sailed all of the major cruise lines and MSC is a bargain, price-wise, at initial booking. They also allow pax to pre-purchase some things and I'll look into the beer package for hubby. We are not big drinkers so I won't be doing any of their packages for alcohol, but for people who sit on the ship and want plenty of adult beverages, that is the way to go.

 

It is what it is... not like they didn't put it on their site or tell us in advance. Agents are not familiar with extra charges (for things like juice at breakfast), and with passenger reviews being all over the place for positive and negative the best thing for an agent to do is to try it out for themselves. For me, its just another cruise line to cross off my list and my family is along for the ride. I like the itinerary and think the ship is beautiful and have read mostly favorable experiences regarding stateroom attendants and cleanliness (which is more important to me than whether or not I have to pay for bottled water.)

 

We're just going to roll with what happens once we get on board as far as extra costs as we'll be expecting them.

When sailing in the Caribbean, tap water is available/free in the buffet and dining room. MSC caters to Europeans more than other mainstream cruise lines, and Europeans always seem to buy bottled water in restaurants.

 

Juice is available (no charge) in the dining room (and I believe in the buffet). My guess is that the extra charge for juice is for fresh squeezed. Pretty sure that fresh squeezed juice is an extra charge on many/most/all mass market lines.

 

I can't speak to a fee for late night room service.

 

Poesia has 2 speciality restaurants. We only ate at the sushi restaurant on our last cruise. While the normal pricing is ala carte, they had a fixed price/all you can eat option on at least one night. We did that and it was fabulous--my favorite of all cruise ship speciality restaurants (and we'ver tried many). While we didn't eat in L'Obelisca on our last MSC cruise, I think we will try it on our upcoming cruise. They had a fixed price option on at least one night.

 

Wine prices, by the bottle are very reasonable. We thought the house red wine was quite good and inexpensive, had a carafe most nights on our last MSC cruise, and will probably do so again.

[Jo and Rob]

Wine prices, by the bottle are very reasonable. We thought the house red wine was quite good and inexpensive, had a carafe most nights on our last MSC cruise, and will probably do so again.

 

Please could you tell me the price of a carafe of wine?

Also, how much are mocktails?

[AmoMondo]

Please could you tell me the price of a carafe of wine?

Also, how much are mocktails?

 

Have a look at the Allegrissimo thread, someone has posted pictures of the bar menu. From memory the carafes were around €8-9.

[jff50]

Please could you tell me the price of a carafe of wine?

Also, how much are mocktails?

I guess that it depends on where you are cruising. Our was in the Caribbean, and the price was in dollars. Pretty sure that it was less than $10 (seems to me that it might have been $7-$8). Seemed dirt cheap to us--relative to the wine prices we were used to paying on other cruise lines. And it was actually good.

[Jo and Rob]

I guess that it depends on where you are cruising. Our was in the Caribbean, and the price was in dollars. Pretty sure that it was less than $10 (seems to me that it might have been $7-$8). Seemed dirt cheap to us--relative to the wine prices we were used to paying on other cruise lines. And it was actually good.

 

That sounds great. How big is the carafe?

We are sailing out of the Caribbean and I agree it is quite confusing when trying to work out what has an extra charge and what is included.

 

For Caribbean sailings are the following charged or not please?

 

• room service after breakfast
  
• thermal suite
  
• mini golf
  
• coffee after meals
  
• shuttle buses if required
  

many thanks :)

[monicajay]

That sounds great. How big is the carafe?

We are sailing out of the Caribbean and I agree it is quite confusing when trying to work out what has an extra charge and what is included.

 

For Caribbean sailings are the following charged or not please?

 

• room service after breakfast -small menu, never ordered
  
• thermal suite
  
• mini golf -no charge
  
• coffee after meals -no charge
  
• shuttle buses if required -Didn't see ports with free shuttles
  

many thanks :)

 

Not sure about the thermal suite. I think there might have been a charge as it is in the spa area however I do know the hot tubs and loungers in the spa area had no extra charge.

[GOLDENBONNY]

We are considering the Feb 23 sailing on Poesia with our kids ages 17/14 (boys) and 11 (girl). Each TA I've spoken to always tries to steer me away from MSC and to RCCL and Carnival telling me that they think our kids might be bored and the other ships are more family friendly. I frankly think the other lines are pricy to just be on a ship - I'd rather spend the $$ on excursions!

 

Our kids aren't wild sports adventure types, and have frankly told us that what they look forward to the most is just swimming and eating 24x7 soft serve ice cream.

 

The MSC price is great, but we have to get 2 cabins since we have 5. Leaning towards 2 inside connecting cabins as we are trying to do this as inexpensive as possible (it would be their first cruise but not ours).

 

How are the inside cabins? Any pointers, locations that are better?

 

Thanks for any input/advice...

 

5-6 years ago I called TA to book me Xmas cruise on Costa Magica.she started to make up stories about Costa's bad service and food .I had to tell her 3times ! that we cruised with Costa before, and we love Costa ,and we do not consider other cruise but this specific.... You think she would do what she asked to? no she continued to push me with Princess ... Since then I never use TA ,always book from cruise line or on web TA.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Please could you tell me the price of a carafe of wine?

Also, how much are mocktails?

 

Wine was $9 per 500 ml last year

[Jo and Rob]

Wine was $9 per 500 ml last year

 

That is great news. I was thinking that drinks were going to be really expensive onboard as they don't let you bring anything on. Can you bring back sodas, water or alcohol from ports and keep them for the cabin?

 

Does the cabin fridge have drinks inside? Are they the same as the bar prices or more expensive?

[joybaby]

You cannot bring alcohol back from the ports without having them take it from you and then return it the evening before debarkation.

Not sure about sodas or water.

There are drinks in the mini fridge, not sure about price, but I know the mini bottles of alcohol are expensive. I think it is cheaper to get a drink at the bar.

[jerseygirl06]

We are also on March 30th cruise. Would just like to check with others. We were looking for a drinks package but company we booked with said only one available in the Caribbean is the premium one which works out over £1000 for both of us - a little too steep even though we both enjoy a drink!!

 

Does anyone have any other info on this or know why we cant book the other package which I believe is £20ish per person per day insted of £40.

 

Thanks

[AmoMondo]

All I know is that it isn't available on all sailings which includes the Caribbean. Don't know why, although I suspect that with far fewer Italians who seem tomstick to buckets of coffee, water and some wine, they think they'd lose too much revenue.

 

There will be onboard individual drinks packages sold onboard for beer, wine, water, cocktails. They're books of vouchers where you usually pay for 10 and get 12. Admittedly not as great as the £20 AI but will save some money. Drinks prices tend to be a bit cheaper when they price in $ rather than €

[CRUISER2B]

Hi All... just booked the MSC Poesia for March 30 out of Ft Lauderdale. We're a family of four somewhat seasoned cruisers. I sail a lot of DCL, and generally like all of our cruises.

 

Kids are 18 and 16... they don't care about activities for them which is why we don't care what cruise line we sail. I selected the Poesia because of their itinerary and I have to say that the price for two staterooms was pretty nice.

 

Anyone here able to tell me about entertainment and dining? I've browsed some posts and there seem to be lots of different opinions. I believe this to be a very European cruise, and I don't depend on the cruise line to help me enjoy myself. Just looking for decent internet (I work all the time), good food, a clean ship and friendly crew. The menus that I have found on the MSC site are appealing to me. (Plus, no one starves on a cruise ship, even one with lousy food, ;) )

 

Also, I am looking for actual photos of the Poesia and have not been able to find much online. If anyone has an album that they are willing to share I would be most appreciative.

 

Thanks!

 

I am booked on the Poesia for December 1, 2012 with m DH, DS(16) and Mom. My DS(22) is not going. This will be my first MSC cruise and I am looking forward to it. My DS and Mom are sharing an inside cabin and DH and I have an Aft Balcony cabin. I will post review after return. Thought you may want to know since it will be a recent cruise with son close in age.

 

Happy Cruising!