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YC Drink Package Changes?

marcoigna

By marcoigna,
in MSC Cruises

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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

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There was a time that, after comparing other companies to MSC pricewise, MSC won, often being up to 50% cheaper for similar cabin categories.  However, lately I've noticed how often I draw DH's attention to how "reasonable" prices are being quoted in offers for other companies.  Then I would remember how expensive drinks and drinks package prices are on other lines and that would cause me to dismiss them.  With the new packages on MSC (just to remain, somewhat, on topic) even that argument doesn't stack up anymore.

 

When MSC started including the premium/deluxe package for YC bookings (April 2017 - so not too long ago) it really enhanced the product.  By only offering the 'middle' package now, the perception/image of it being the premium, creme de la creme product - that it had become - no longer exists (IMHO, anyway).

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Dr. Cocktail Great Review Rare

Dr. Cocktail

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32 minutes ago, sidari said:

Dr C ... When it comes to £5,000 for two people for a 7 night YC cruise without hotel and flights the pricing has gone beyond being sane.

Virtuosa in 2020 has the same pricing for each week of November and December apart from Xmas and New Year, something not normally seen in MSC pricing.

Since MSC has employed ex RCI and NCL people the changes have all been one way and that is downhill as seen by the Downgrading of the Aurea experience. While prices to you in the US may still seem reasonable, to us in the UK and Europe prices are increasing and as Bea says the value for money will soon be gone.

 

Totally agree .... and I'm not in the US, I'm in Canada so I'm equally punished by paying in USD!!!

 

If you don't like what MSC is doing .... change cruise lines!  As you can see from my signature, I'm somewhat of a free agent and have gone from line to line. It's important not to let our decisions be guided by "loyalty" that only flows in one direction and generally meaningless loyalty programs. We sometimes let the tail wag the dog by booking our "preferred" line for a few perqs without seeing what's out there.

 

 

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Dr. Cocktail Great Review Rare

Dr. Cocktail

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9 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

There was a time that, after comparing other companies to MSC pricewise, MSC won, often being up to 50% cheaper for similar cabin categories.  However, lately I've noticed how often I draw DH's attention to how "reasonable" prices are being quoted in offers for other companies.  Then I would remember how expensive drinks and drinks package prices are on other lines and that would cause me to dismiss them.  With the new packages on MSC (just to remain, somewhat, on topic) even that argument doesn't stack up anymore.

 

When MSC started including the premium/deluxe package for YC bookings (April 2017 - so not too long ago) it really enhanced the product.  By only offering the 'middle' package now, the perception/image of it being the premium, creme de la creme product - that it had become - no longer exists (IMHO, anyway).

 

I'm now so confused ... I thought that YC did get the premium package?

 

I think that this issue is still a "work in progress" and we'll hopefully get clarification in the coming weeks.

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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

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3 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

 

I'm now so confused ... I thought that YC did get the premium package?

 

I think that this issue is still a "work in progress" and we'll hopefully get clarification in the coming weeks.

 

Yep ... the new, 'middle' package is known as 'Premium'.  MSC now has a 'Premium+' package that covers all the items that used to have 2 asterisks next to them on the menus and weren't previously included in any package.

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Dr. Cocktail Great Review Rare

Dr. Cocktail

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Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Yep ... the new, 'middle' package is known as 'Premium'.  MSC now has a 'Premium+' package that covers all the items that used to have 2 asterisks next to them on the menus and weren't previously included in any package.

 

But the website still shows the minibar as being included which is the Deluxe Package ...

Edited by Dr. Cocktail
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sidari

sidari

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Dr C ... If you check out our history you will see that we have sailed with others, sadly their prices other than Costa for Europe cruises and the UK have become ridiculous. MSC next year only have a small number of sailings out of the UK once again having had Magnifica all year this year. Princes for example in June next year for a round the UK cruise is around £3,000 for two people.

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Dr. Cocktail Great Review Rare

Dr. Cocktail

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1 minute ago, sidari said:

Dr C ... If you check out our history you will see that we have sailed with others, sadly their prices other than Costa for Europe cruises and the UK have become ridiculous. MSC next year only have a small number of sailings out of the UK once again having had Magnifica all year this year. Princes for example in June next year for a round the UK cruise is around £3,000 for two people.

That's actually extremely reasonable in my view ....

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Até

Até

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4 hours ago, sidari said:

Princes for example in June next year for a round the UK cruise is around £3,000 for two people.

For which cabin? While I see MSC prices have increased I still see some decent deals if you book far out, like summer 2020.  When I compare to the 2019 equivalent itineraries the prices they are pretty good.  Granted who knows what you will be getting by that time, one of the benefits of booking from the US is no cancellation fees until 89 days or so.

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Selion

Selion

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2 hours ago, 2013cruiser2013 said:

So is Venchi going the way like John Phillipe chocolate on Mervaviglia? Nothing there (gelato, coffees etc.) was included on our YC sailing this past April. 

According to my conversation with a concierge on 11/30, Venchi will not be included in YC in the future to bring it to fleet standards.  He did not explicitly state a date when that will occur, just that Venchi is being removed from YC.

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sidari

sidari

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7 hours ago, Até said:

For which cabin? While I see MSC prices have increased I still see some decent deals if you book far out, like summer 2020.  When I compare to the 2019 equivalent itineraries the prices they are pretty good.  Granted who knows what you will be getting by that time, one of the benefits of booking from the US is no cancellation fees until 89 days or so.

Ate ... We do not have that in the UK as we lose our deposit as a minimum and with deposits at £100 pp and more when air is included it is not something we are prepared to do.

 

 

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Captain-John "Live from...." Rare

Captain-John

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15 hours ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

I think (actually, I know ...) that MSC has deliberately underpriced themselves to get a toehold in the industry.

 

As they have become more popular and are filling their ships more, they will naturally increase their prices to bring them closer to the mainstream lines. With everything considered, they're still cheaper than everyone else and in the case of the YC,  the Haven and The Retreat are literally 50% more in cost for the average sailing.

 

 

I would agree that MSC pricing has been lower than that of mainstream lines in the past, to gain market share. However, I would contend the 'standard' (e.g. non--YC) product is inferior to many mainstream lines, so it's proportional to the lower pricing.

 

For me, chosing to cruise MSC has always been a compromise between quality and value. I know picking an MSC cruise (in steerage) that the food won't be nearly as good as NCL, for example. But, if I'm saving ~£1.5K per booking, like for like - then that becomes part of the consideration and I may choose to accept the compromise.

 

As noted here - generally, pricing is creeping up on MSC to match mainstream lines - but the product isn't increasing in quality - especially the non-YC offering.

 

So, if MSC in the 'end state' prices the same as RCI, NCL, Princess etc. - and the MSC core product remains the same - there's absolutely no incentive to cruise MSC over those other lines, IMO.

 

I would note that cruising in general is much more expensive than it used to be and I can only hope for a market correction. Given the increasing number of ships being built, if anything hits demand and consumer confidence in the future, there will be a huge surplus of cabins in the market.

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Captain-John "Live from...." Rare

Captain-John

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1 hour ago, sidari said:

Ate ... We do not have that in the UK as we lose our deposit as a minimum and with deposits at £100 pp and more when air is included it is not something we are prepared to do.

 

 

 

An extremely irritating drawback of being UK based is the 'lose the deposit' scenario, when our American cousins are exempt from this - although their booking contracts are generally far more generous anyway, across the industry. As usual, Brits will pay through the nose for everything which is why companies get away with it.

 

Another weird MSC pricing trick is that if you want to upgrade the cabin after making the original booking, they base the pricing for the upgrade on the pricing that was in place when you made the original booking - not current prices. Dumbfounded me the first time I was told that!

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sidari

sidari

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CJ ... Yes we have had that issue a few times of back tracking fares, no idea if the other lines do it as well, somewhat galling to be told you can cancel and rebook at the current price but lose your deposit or the full payment!

We had this issue recently with one of our booked cruises with them, luckily we have a good TA and MSC agreed to move the deposit to a new cabin that we wanted to book.

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deliver42

deliver42

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I agree with the fact that prices are creeping up, and the product isn't. MSC should be what they are. An Italian line with a European flair, and stop the Americanizing. People who want something different will sail with MSC. If they keep changing to what they THINK Americans want, and don't improve the product to, at least, match the lower end of the mass market, they will wind up failing miserably.

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