'Free' room service with Fantastica...

[pollyhog]

Hi there! Sailing on the Seaside in March:

 

When you have the Fantastica experience, and room service therefore doesn't have a charge, are you generally expected to tip when you receive an order? What about for breakfast items like coffee and pastries?

Guidance on this would be great! It's mostly for my teenagers who will be in a separate (but connecting) room and who may place multiple orders during the trip 🙂 Should I supply them with dollar bills or is it not expected because it is part of the Fantastica experience?

 

Thanks!

[jkgourmet]

With Fantastica - Isn't it only the delivery that's free - you still have to pay extra for the food, correct?  (With the exception of the continental breakfast which is free.)

[pollyhog]

40 minutes ago, jkgourmet said:

With Fantastica - Isn't it only the delivery that's free - you still have to pay extra for the food, correct?  (With the exception of the continental breakfast which is free.)

Ahhh. So it's really a very nothingy benefit 😂😂 typical!!!

 

Oh well. i'll make the most of early morning coffee and pastries 🙂

[jkgourmet]

This thread makes me kinda wonder why so many people on here seem to book Fantastica instead of Bella?

I've looked at the list on the MSC site, and really don't see very much difference.    Am I missing something?

 

This video given by an MSC employee to travel agents isn't even accurate.  We WERE  abale to set our preference for late dining - supposedly, Fantastica would get priority, but who really knows (especially since our Feb 16 Mera sailing appears to have quite a few empty cabins.)  And our cabin is dead center of the ship (8138).

 

Okay, so Fantastica would get us free room service - but we would still pay for the food (except coffee and croissant at breakfast).   50% off fitness classes. 

 

 

[BermudaBound2014]

You are absolutely correct JKgourmet. Bella doesn't really get much benefit at all other than cabin location. Lots of bella balconies are obstructed and/or generally less desirable (but not all).  Bella insides tend to be in areas with possible noise surrounding them. Now, in the past (and on some ships) bella cabins could be assigned to eat dinner in the buffet. You would be served off the regular menu with traditional wait staff, but the location would be a roped off area of the buffet. I know this is true on Musica class as I witnessed it on the Divina. When seaside originally deployed, it was true on her also, but MSC quickly added a third dinner seating when complaints went through the roof. If Mera also has three dining seating times, then late could be 9:30 or 9:45 (which is very late for most North Americans). Dinner seatings are generally in the area of 5:15, 7:30, 9:45 (give or take 15 minutes for the season).

 

Pollyhog: There are some discrepancies posted about room service with fantastica. Different people have reported different experiences. Technically, fantastica only comes with free delivery fee, not free food. However; any of the food that is complimentary on the menu will be truly complimentary because you will not pay the delivery fee. In contrast, bella would only pay the delivery fee (last time I checked it was $3.75) for complimentary items. Items like a full pizza are going to have a charge (around $10) for the pizza with free delivery. Bella would pay the $10 plus delivery fee. If there are prices listed on the menu, you will likely be charged. If no price is listed on the menu (continental breakfast for example), there should be no charge. Best to clarify when ordering because, as I mentioned, reports on this have been across the board. 

[reedprincess]

4 hours ago, pollyhog said:

Hi there! Sailing on the Seaside in March:

 

When you have the Fantastica experience, and room service therefore doesn't have a charge, are you generally expected to tip when you receive an order? What about for breakfast items like coffee and pastries?

Guidance on this would be great! It's mostly for my teenagers who will be in a separate (but connecting) room and who may place multiple orders during the trip 🙂 Should I supply them with dollar bills or is it not expected because it is part of the Fantastica experience?

 

Thanks!

Tipping is very personal. As you can see in the MSc website, they don't encourage individual tipping, but it's not prohibited by any means, and obviously anyone you did too individually would be appreciative.  A couple bucks per order (depending on size of order) wouldn't be unreasonable. But that's totally up to you.

 

2 hours ago, pollyhog said:

Ahhh. So it's really a very nothingy benefit 😂😂 typical!!!

 

Oh well. i'll make the most of early morning coffee and pastries 🙂

Delivery is free with Fantastica (otherwise it's $3.95 per order). Some food items have no charges, while others - mainly hot or larger entree/main type foods have a charge, whether Bella, Fantastica or Aurea.

[alyssamma]

Why book Fantastica? I went through this exact scenario last week. I wanted to book Bella because, like you said, there is virtually no difference. You get free continental breakfast delivered to your room (not sure if that is free with Bella...I know you pay the delivery charge) and get to pick you dining time. Neither of those we cared about.

 

However, with Bella, we could not pick our room. If it was an inside cabin it still wouldn't matter, but this is for the Greenland/Iceland Poesia trip and we wanted a balcony - a good one - for that. So we went with Fantastica...only an extra $133pp so not bad for a 22 day cruise.

 

But under any other circumstances I would pick Bella. NOTE - this assumes a ship with no yacht club. If there is YC, then why talk about anything else? 🙂

 

Kevin

 

[BermudaBound2014]

9 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

However, with Bella, we could not pick our room. If it was an inside cabin it still wouldn't matter, but this is for the Greenland/Iceland Poesia trip and we wanted a balcony - a good one - for that. So we went with Fantastica...only an extra $133pp so not bad for a 22 day cruise.

 

 

 

On the bigger ships you can select your specific bella balcony cabin. I paid extra for fantastica on Divina because I wanted an aft facing balcony. However; like fantastica, not all bella balconies are created equal.

 

We have a trip coming up on Seaside. I booked bella because I was able to select a balcony with just a tiny corner covered in metal (red arrow). Hardly enough to notice. I do like coffee delivered in the morning but will gladly pay the $3.95 delivery fee (x7) with the $375 I saved. The blue arrow is also a bella balcony, only that cabin has a considerable amount covered in steel. Finally, the black is a third bella balcony, only that entire balcony is covered in steel. Pays to carefully look at the deck plan. 

 

 

 

Regarding YC, I've sailed in YC also. While we liked the experience, to us, it simply wasn't worth 10 times what the bella balcony cost. Bella balcony: $479 pp. YC balcony $4,293 (YIN was $3,700ish). Isn't it nice we all have so many choices. Enjoy the greenland/iceland trip. We did iceland by land and its stunning. Greenland should be amazing too. It's part of the new polar code law so get while the getting is good because after January 2022, only expedition ships above and below 60 degrees latitude. 

[alyssamma]

3 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Regarding YC, I've sailed in YC also. While we liked the experience, to us, it simply wasn't worth 10 times what the bella balcony cost. Bella balcony: $479 pp. YC balcony $4,293 (YIN was $3,700ish). Isn't it nice we all have so many choices. 

Agree choices are great 🙂

 

I wouldn't pay $4Kpp for YC either. We have 3 YC cruises coming up (all outside). We paid between $3100 and $3900 *total* for them and got about $300 in OBC from our TA. Bella would certainly be much cheaper, but once you add in the cost of a drink package (which we would need Premium), the cost difference isn't that much.

 

That being said, 100% agree that $480 vs $4200pp...go with $480 🙂

[jdvmd]

All of my Bella balconies have been guarantees but have been happy with all assigned.