Princes vs. MSC...

[helenb]

The pampering is excellent in Yacht Club, but the entertainment is still meh on MSC. Part of it is the cruise staff, and part of it is the international nature of the shows, and part of it is lack of events. Princess' entertainment excels. But if you are going to be busy enjoying the ports, the private deck/pool area, the lounge, the food, then Yacht Club is definitely better than a suite on Princess (which we've done a couple of times as well).

 

For those of you who have never sailed MSC, the short of it is that Yacht Club is an entirely different world, and well worth experiencing. The non-Yacht Club MSC cruise is not.

[Ombud]

14 hours ago, 20165 said:

Im hoping the answer to this is no comparison, but we just got off a MSC cruise out of Miami and are a bit shell shocked so we wanted to ask some questions about Princess since we haven't been on them in about 20 years.  We have a Princess cruise booked 12/16/23 on Sky princess and my family is questioning if we should do it or book some other vacation give the experience we had last week.  We are seasoned cruisers, have been on most mainstream cruise lines.  RCL, NCL and Celebrity.  We have been trying different cruise lines lately because our kids are getting older.  Late teens, early 20s.  We did Celebrity Edge over the holidays last year and loved it.   The main issues we had with MSC was way over crowding and some of the rudest passengers we have ever encountered on a cruise.  Im sure overcrowding contributed to that.  Some other annoyances was 22 separate charges on my credit card with no end of the cruise bill to show what they were for, making reservations for the shows, and the zoo like atmosphere at the buffet.  

So, like i said above, i hoping the answer is the Princess cruise will be nothing like what experienced last week, but again we havent been on Princess in a long time and it is owned by Carnival which we also avoid like the plague...

Thanks 

I'm only going to address 2 lines I highlighted in red. On my Emerald Princess 5/27-6/17/23 and Royal Princess in Apr 2023 there were erroneous charges. I went on MedallionClass Crew Chat and told them (1) glass of wine wasn't mine (2) it was tea not latte. Both were immediately removed. Oddly the tea charge never showed up. The MedallionClass app Crew Chat works. Plus I can see my totals with exactly what it's for anytime. So no, you will not get any charges without explanation. 

 

Zoo like atmosphere at the buffet.  I don't like the buffets.  There's no pushing, just gluttonous ppl.  I go to International Cafe instead where I can get a few small bites (almond croissant OR sandwich, dessert, cookie -- I'm a dessert & ice creamaholic)

 

Now on a side-note, I did not feel overcrowded despite the ship being oversold. There's always a quiet spot. And it really helps now that I can get specialty teas at 2 places. 

 

[J13C85]

48 minutes ago, capriccio said:

Our experiences and opinions are similar to yours. 

 

We have been elite on Princess since 2015 or so and have sailed in full suites about 4 or 5 times.  In 2020 right before Covid, we did a one week cruise on MSC in the Yacht Club (a ship within a ship concept that Princess doesn't currently offer) which was wonderful.  MSC matched our Princess status and service, food, and ambiance was first rate.  When I was asking my long-term TA about booking an MSC cruise she sighed but when I said Yacht Club she exclaimed, 'thank goodness that's all I would recommend for you.  It's wonderful and you'll love it."  It was but the rest of the ship was too big and too crowded and we have no interest in sailing any of the other 'experiences.'  Retaining an MSC loyalty level requires a booking every 3 years (extended post-Covid) so we have another booking in the Yacht Club this December.  The fare was cheaper than a Princess full suite.

 

Post-Covid we have 52 days on Princess (4 cruises) but none in full suites.  Mini-suites are fine for us (we like the space) on Princess but if I really want to be pampered staying in a full suite, MSC is much better.  We'll look at the Sun Princess after the first reviews come in from the initial passengers and maybe try one of their new cabin categories.

It looks like Sun, snd Star for that matter, are venturing into the "ship within a ship" direction for their "Signature" suites. We were booked on Sun for Nov 30 next year in a suite and we were really looking forward to seeing what Princess would do.  That excitement waned when I saw our "full suite" was actually a mini suite (in size) with the full suite benefits.  To upgrade to the next level suite (and this would be for a Penthouse which is what we had on Sky and Grand) it was over $3k more than the suite we booked.  We wound up cancelling Sun and booked an Owner's suite on Nov 30 Discovery (the aft with huge wraparound balcony) for $2K less than the Penthouse on Sun. Looking forward to trying 360 but that is over 400 days away, lol.

 

We never returned to MSC YC b/c they changed their policy and made all deposits for YC non refundable.  We book very early to give us options if circumstances change and $500 is too big of a chunk of change to sacrifice.  It was also frustrating to have them tell me that YC deposits were non refundable but all other types were fully refundable up to 120 days out.  It's bad practice to have the tightest restrictions on those who book the most expensive cabins. The non refundable YC deposit was a deal breaker for us.

[tampabrat22]

We have only cruised on the MSC Meraviglia and we had a good time. Beautiful ship and all went well, but yes the buffet was chaos every day and the guest culture was just odd. Will be on the Seaside soon so I hope it goes ok. With my kids being grown now we have recently started trying Princess cruises and they are easily my favorite. I took my 20 yr old daughter on the Regal Princess a few months ago and although she did like some aspects of it, she still prefers the lively atmosphere of other cruise lines. Me and the hubby are ready for the relaxed, quiet vibe on Princess but my kids and cruise friends/family prefer other lines because they were bored on MSC/Princess.🤷‍♀️

[suzyed]

We have done two MSC sailings...on Divina and Seaside.  Lots of pros and cons.  The Captain was fabulous...we had the same one on both ships.  The Spa on Seaside is simply amazing! We thought we would use it once or twice but we went every day!  When we sailed the Shows were amazing and you could make a reservation for the show.   The food in the MDR is poor at best...sometimes even terrible.  The specialty restaurants were really good.  Bingo took forever....almost an hour for one full card game. The reason was every ball was called in 5-6 languages!  Many of the Europeans had no idea how to play....it was very frustrating. MSC status matches to other cruise lines so the first time we sailed, we were Black status since at the time we were Diamond on RCi and they matched that status.
We love Princess and it is for the last 13 years our cruise line of choice.  (We have also done, Celebrity, RCI, NCL, Cunard, Carnival but always return to Princess!
The Sky is a lovely ship and we really enjoyed the layout, all the staff!  I would give it a try...I think you will like it!

[GOLDENBONNY]

15 hours ago, 20165 said:

with no end of the cruise bill

you know its 21 century and all bills can be checked on app or on TV also you could go to customer service and ask for one instead of calling CC and deny charges. 

[20165]

7 hours ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

you know its 21 century and all bills can be checked on app or on TV also you could go to customer service and ask for one instead of calling CC and deny charges. 

Actually they cant see it in the app for 2 of the 3 cabins because we had minors staying in them.  And no, im not going to wait in that line the morning of departure when we are trying to get off the ship and catch a flight to try to reconcile 3 cabins.  However, i will admit to 1 huge mistake and thats not researching MSC before we cruised them.  It was a last minute booking for us and i should have paid more attention to the reviews on CC because they were pretty much spot on.  Hence the reason im on the Princess board now researching the you know what out of our next cruise...

[beg3yrs]

9 hours ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

you know its 21 century and all bills can be checked on app or on TV also you could go to customer service and ask for one instead of calling CC and deny charges. 

As of our last cruise on the CB which we disembarked June 24, you can't check your bill on the TV. While the TV still has an option to check your bill, when you select it you're sent to a screen telling you to use the app.

[memoak]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

As of our last cruise on the CB which we disembarked June 24, you can't check your bill on the TV. While the TV still has an option to check your bill, when you select it you're sent to a screen telling you to use the app.

There are always kiosks to print out your own folio without waiting at guest services 

[Shippy]

as others have said,

    If you do the Yacht Club area on MSC, you will love it.

Better than the Haven on NCL & about half the price.

You cannot compare it to having a regular cabin on MSC.

Just like....you cannot compare the experience of the suite on Princess with a regular cabin

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 6/25/2023 at 11:25 AM, 20165 said:

Sure, its on the MSC board under this title.

Seascape June 11-18 review. Warning, it isnt pretty...

We sail on Princess a lot - great, sophisticated experience - even in lowly inside or obstructed balcony cabins. We love Princess, but only Royal Class and newer. Please keep your Princess cruise - you will love Sky Princess.

We are trying out Seascape in November. Steerage class. Oy.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Bgwest]

18 hours ago, J13C85 said:

We never returned to MSC YC b/c they changed their policy and made all deposits for YC non refundable.  We book very early to give us options if circumstances change and $500 is too big of a chunk of change to sacrifice.  It was also frustrating to have them tell me that YC deposits were non refundable but all other types were fully refundable up to 120 days out.  It's bad practice to have the tightest restrictions on those who book the most expensive cabins. The non refundable YC deposit was a deal breaker for us.

Are you Diamond on MSC? If so, you have one no charge change available to you. 

[J13C85]

1 hour ago, Bgwest said:

Are you Diamond on MSC? If so, you have one no charge change available to you. 

We have no loyalty with MSC as our last cruise with them was nearly 4 years ago. Had planned on this year in Europe but non refundable YC was the deal breaker. Wound up booking the B2B Xmas/NY cruise on Sky.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

We sail on Princess a lot - great, sophisticated experience - even in lowly inside or obstructed balcony cabins. We love Princess, but only Royal Class and newer. Please keep your Princess cruise - you will love Sky Princess.

We are trying out Seascape in November. Steerage class. Oy.

And we are preferring non Royal class ships. Each to their own. We did like Royal class right after restart but not ever since we cruise on a full ship with tons of families cramping 4 people into insides and balconies 

[KKB]

16 hours ago, J13C85 said:

We have no loyalty with MSC as our last cruise with them was nearly 4 years ago. Had planned on this year in Europe but non refundable YC was the deal breaker. Wound up booking the B2B Xmas/NY cruise on Sky.

Check out their status match--LOTS of options.

I'm NO MSC fan but I have heard over & over that YC is amazing.

https://frequentfloaters.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/B2B_TA_Status-Match_Conversion-Table.pdf

[nini]

We were just on the Sky and my very first impression of the ship was, WOW! What a beautiful ship!

Was it perfect? No

This was our 9th Princess cruise and our 7th Princess ship. The positives did outweigh the negatives and we will most likely cruise with Princess again. Our favorite Princess ship is the Golden (now sold from the fleet) and the Regal.

We had fantastic weather except one port (nothing to do with Princess).

Dan, the cruise director was very good and upbeat.

 

[SeaBurd]

I love Princess and wish they had a TA Southampton to Florida at the end of November, 2023. But, no such sailing.  Since I'd rather cruise than fly home I found a TA on MSC Divina.  I've sailed on her before.

 

I haven't booked YC as I don't have unlimited funds and prefer to sail more often.  For the first time I will be in an "ocean view" cabin instead of a balcony.  I opted for this since crossing the Atlantic in late November didn't seem like the optimal time to take advantage of a balcony. 

 

It is true the food isn't gourmet in the MDR but I've always found something on the menu that was enjoyable.  The few times my meal was not to my satisfaction, I was quickly served a substitution.  Don't expect to "eat and run" in the MDR as it normally takes 1 hour or so for dinner. On evenings when I wanted to attend the early theater presentation, I went to the MDR as early as possible and told my waiter about my plans.  And, I was always finished in time.  Service was excellent in all areas, cabin and public spaces well tended and clean.  The entertainment was geared to a more European audience but presented professionally by some very talented people.  

 

In my experiences, there is a wider variety of cultures represented on MSC cruises than I've noticed on my Princess sailings.  Some social customs are different than those I have come to expect.  Consequently, some passengers are not aware of the concept of waiting in line at the buffet, bar, or other areas. However, I also noticed that a smile and pleasant greeting are a wonderful antidote to percieved "rudeness."  It also helps keep my blood pressure down!

 

If the itinerary and dates are the same, given the choice, I prefer Princess.  Then, it comes down to price.  As a solo cruiser, unfortunately, the cost is often the final and deciding factor.