On Bella bookings, what category did you book, what did you get, when did you get the cabin assignment?

[Stockjock]

On 2/20/2024 at 5:00 AM, Guest jbme203 said:

PS, I am not condoning gambling!  I made an idiot out of myself and so many times previously, I think I've lost 80,000 in eight years.  There went my retirement fund.  I just got an msc free cruise voucher, no surprise.  And God as my co-captain, Creator of all things, I need his forgiveness.  

My father (RIP) was a professor of law and economics, and an NFL agent.  I work for a big Wall Street firm and I know more about investing and making money than he did, but he knew far more about economic theories than I do.

But dad loved to gamble.

He had photo after photo of himself winning big jackpots on the slots and shaking hands with the casino manager.  $10,000 here, $8,000 there, even $20,000.  He loved showing these photos to others.  In fact, I still have those photos, even though he's been gone for many years.

It all seemed so simple.  Play the slots and win a ton of money.

But when he passed, I got to clean up his estate, which was not only insolvent, but quite messy.  And despite all of those photos showing him winning, if memory serves, his actual losses were somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 (closer to $800k, I think).

His only saving grace was that he had a great teacher's pension to barely keep him afloat, but because the estate was insolvent, largely due to gambling, my sister and I didn't inherit a penny.

Of course, that's not the main point.  The point is that gambling is typically a losing proposition.  The odds are often much worse on a cruise ship than a land-based casino, and of course those odds *always* favor the house.

When dad passed, in with his belongings, I found about 8-10 small checks waiting to be mailed.  $12 to Discover card, $16 to Visa, $8 to MasterCard.  He was trying to pay at least a tiny bit on his credit card balances, but those small payments didn't put a scratch in terms of what he owed.  

After he passed, I checked his answering machine.  I couldn't begin to count the number of messages from creditors due to overdue bills.  It's hard to imagine how much stress this must of put on him.  Dad, who was a smart, highly-intelligent, educated and charismatic man, was broke.

I attribute this to gambling.

Because I work for a big Wall Street firm, people sometimes think that investing in the stock market is gambling.  I don't see it that way, because you can be wrong initially, but be right later.  And a properly allocated portfolio stands a good chance of recovery, and then some, even in a lousy environment.

But gambling losses tend to be forever.

I do gamble every now and then, but not much.  I think my last loss was about $120, which I can handle.  Pretty sure I'll never be offered a "free" cruise by the casino department.  And that's okay.

Edited February 21 by Stockjock

[Morecruisesplz]

On 2/20/2024 at 9:07 AM, Super Curly said:

Booked Bella Guarantee and day after making final payment got assigned an interior room. Question: On the deck plan map, our room is a different shape than the others on that level. It is more square than long and narrow. Anyone know what that room arrangement looks like?

Google the ship and cabin number. YouTube is full of videos and photos of various cabins.

[dbrown84]

On 2/20/2024 at 9:23 AM, noshoobie said:

3 months before our 2/4/24 sailing on the Seashore we booked a gty bella oceanview cabin with a casino offer. The next day we received an email that we were upgraded to a deluxe balcony. The same thing happened to us on our Meraviglia cruise in May 2023. 

I'm looking to do my first MSC cruise.  I also have a casino offer.  So are the casino bookings booked as gty bella cabins?

[noshoobie]

2 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

I'm looking to do my first MSC cruise.  I also have a casino offer.  So are the casino bookings booked as gty bella cabins?

Yes. If you are a Prime Card holder it is booked as a bella gty oceanview. If you are a Preferred Card holder it is booked as a bella gty inside cabin. As I said in my previous post - both times we booked bella oceanview we were upgraded to a balcony. Last week, we booked a bella gty inside cabin with my account (Preferred) for a cruise in April and have not yet been upgraded. But I'm not complaining. For a free cruise you can stick me in the engine room and I'd be happy. 

[Stockjock]

Let me add a 2nd question to go with the main question.

Has anyone booked Bella and received a cabin assignment prior to final payment.  Again, when did that happen, what did you book, and what did you get?

It seems as if most, or all assignments, occur after final payment.  I wonder if they ever do Bella assignments earlier?

Edited February 26 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

On 2/25/2024 at 4:27 PM, Stockjock said:

Let me add a 2nd question to go with the main question.

Has anyone booked Bella and received a cabin assignment prior to final payment.  Again, when did that happen, what did you book, and what did you get?

It seems as if most, or all assignments, occur after final payment.  I wonder if they ever do Bella assignments earlier?

Guess not.  I'd hate to book Bella inside and end up with Bella inside.