~ Cruising (travel by Waterways) megathread ~

davesweets · 23-07-2013 8:24pm

Thanks a million for that.
We were hoping to go to ballinasloe on the first nigh but follow the same route roughly as yourself. looking forward to it now

RocknRollDoggy · 12-08-2013 12:41am

just back from a week on the MSC Prezisoa, with my wife and two kids both 15, best holiday ever. First time on a cruise. Alot of Italians, German and French. Ship was amazing, food 10/10, the entertainment was 5/10 at best. Had a balcony cabin well worth it. would reccomend MSC Prezisoa to everyone, already looking to book for next year, cant wait

finbarrk · 16-08-2013 10:52am

The ship indeed is amazing. I agree with you re the food also. Although some people thought the portions in the main dining room were small. Thay were fine for us anyway.

Magf · 16-10-2013 7:51pm

Hi
Booked on MSC Fantasia for next Easter and have paid for the AI drinks package. However, hearing conflicting reports that there is also a 15% service charge applied to all drinks? Is this the case, and also what is the quality of the drinks like?

Thanks!

Pablo Sanchez · 16-10-2013 8:14pm

Magf wrote: »

Hi
Booked on MSC Fantasia for next Easter and have paid for the AI drinks package. However, hearing conflicting reports that there is also a 15% service charge applied to all drinks? Is this the case, and also what is the quality of the drinks like?

Thanks!

Drinks quality was excellent, and no, you dont pay the 15% service charge when you have signed up to a package.

maebee · 16-10-2013 8:53pm

Magf wrote: »

Hi
Booked on MSC Fantasia for next Easter and have paid for the AI drinks package. However, hearing conflicting reports that there is also a 15% service charge applied to all drinks? Is this the case, and also what is the quality of the drinks like?

Thanks!

A few notes on the drinks package:- We're not long back from a Baltic cruise on MSC Poesia and had some problems with the package, even though I booked it online weeks before departure. We presented our cards for our first drink and were told we had exceeded our credit limit!! It took an hour to sort out. We should have been asked to produce our credit cards on check-in but we weren't. Many times, my vodka & sprite was just Sprite

and hubby's whiskey & sprite was very watery. We spent our evenings in the Zebra bar and after 2 nights, we learned to go to the bar and watch them pour our drinks. Service was also very slow and our group of 6 ordered doubles every time.

The drinks package is well worth the price as MSC charge for coffee, tea & water. You don't pay the 15% when you have bought the drinks package.
BTW, Jameson & Smirnoff are included in the basic package

Hope this info is of some help to you.

finbarrk · 17-10-2013 1:58pm

Magf wrote: »

Hi
Booked on MSC Fantasia for next Easter and have paid for the AI drinks package. However, hearing conflicting reports that there is also a 15% service charge applied to all drinks? Is this the case, and also what is the quality of the drinks like?

Thanks!

As the others have said, there is no service charge with the drinks package. You did the right thing to book it. It takes the guesswork out of how much you will owe at the end of the holiday.
The liquor quality was fine also. Plenty top brands and loads of cocktails. Draught Heineken as far as I remember!

Poulgorm · 17-10-2013 9:53pm

We went on a Baltic cruise 2 years ago - Fred Olsen - The Braemer. Left Dover, through the Kiel Canal, our final destination was St Petersburg. Several stops in Baltic cities on the way over & back.

Great food, almost all English people, but hardly anyone there under the age of 60. Still, a good crowd. The only thing you should know about is the shore excursions - an absolute rip-off.

We damn near spent as much on the excursions as we did on the fare.

maebee · 17-10-2013 10:11pm

We damn near spent as much on the excursions as we did on the fare.

Indeed. It cost us €120 each for the excursion to St. Petersburg. There is no way out of this. If you don't buy the ship's excursion (with the Russian visa), you can't get off in St. Petersburg. It was a fabulous city and well worth a visit. Hermitage museum was amazing.

finbarrk · 18-10-2013 11:16am

Poulgorm wrote: »

We went on a Baltic cruise 2 years ago - Fred Olsen - The Braemer. Left Dover, through the Kiel Canal, our final destination was St Petersburg. Several stops in Baltic cities on the way over & back.

Great food, almost all English people, but hardly anyone there under the age of 60. Still, a good crowd. The only thing you should know about is the shore excursions - an absolute rip-off.

We damn near spent as much on the excursions as we did on the fare.

The MSC Mediterranean Cruise had a good mixture of people on board. From kids to OAP's. Loads of families and young couples.
We didn't do any of the official shore excursions. We just did our own thing when on shore and it worked out fine.

hdowney · 10-11-2013 3:23pm

I'm looking into cruise ships at the moment. Compare and contrast and the like. Looking at a round trip from Southampton next Oct doing the Western Med with P&O on their Oriana ship. It is an adults only vessel so no kids.

coylemj · 11-11-2013 12:28am

hdowney wrote: »

I'm looking into cruise ships at the moment. Compare and contrast and the like. Looking at a round trip from Southampton next Oct doing the Western Med with P&O on their Oriana ship. It is an adults only vessel so no kids.

You wouldn't expect many kids on a cruise in October anyway so I wouldn't be limiting my search based on only looking at 'no kids' cruises.

Some of the UK lines like Cunard, Fred Olsen and P&O might be a bit too homogeneous (in terms of both food and passengers) for some tastes. A travel writer for the Daily Telegraph of all papers reported a couple of years ago that a Fred Olsen cruise was 'too British' for her liking. If you want some continental cuisine and a mix of nationalities on board, I'd steer clear of the UK lines, a lot of their passengers travel on UK lines purely because they don't want to go on holidays with 'foreigners' or have to eat 'foreign' food.

maebee · 11-11-2013 1:01am

hdowney wrote: »

I'm looking into cruise ships at the moment. Compare and contrast and the like. Looking at a round trip from Southampton next Oct doing the Western Med with P&O on their Oriana ship. It is an adults only vessel so no kids.

We've cruised with a few different companies - RCI, Norwegian and Msc. Royal Caribbean are the best, imo.

hdowney · 11-11-2013 2:23pm

coylemj wrote: »

You wouldn't expect many kids on a cruise in October anyway so I wouldn't be limiting my search based on only looking at 'no kids' cruises.

Some of the UK lines like Cunard, Fred Olsen and P&O might be a bit too homogeneous (in terms of both food and passengers) for some tastes. A travel writer for the Daily Telegraph of all papers reported a couple of years ago that a Fred Olsen cruise was 'too British' for her liking. If you want some continental cuisine and a mix of nationalities on board, I'd steer clear of the UK lines, a lot of their passengers travel on UK lines purely because they don't want to go on holidays with 'foreigners' or have to eat 'foreign' food.

maebee wrote: »

We've cruised with a few different companies - RCI, Norwegian and Msc. Royal Caribbean are the best, imo.

There is an epic looking 16 day Med cruise in Sept next year with RC that I really like the look of. I did up a complete comparison yokey between that and the P&O one and read it all out to the mammy. Telling her which ones I found plus points on RC and which on P&O. The RC one is a little dearer (works out that for the two extra days we are paying €153 per day for the two of us compared to the P&O one) but I think she is stuck on the no kids on the P&O. Like I get the impression when I am doing plus and minus points on other bits, like whats included, drinks packages etc she is not really listening cos she just doesn't want to entertain anything other than the adults only P&O ship. She says just cos there wouldn't be school age children on the RC doesn't mean there wouldn't be pre-schoolers. I am concerned about the P&O a, being a very British ship. Now I am British, but I am not one of them 'no forigners' folk by any means and I like international foods. I am also concerned that due to it being adult only that may push the median age up somewhat into fuddy duddy only territory. Now I get on great with older folks, but I don't want to be stuck on a floating tin can for two weeks with only older folks. I am REALLY leaning towards the RC cruise and working hard to convince her of same, cos I wanna lash the deposit down. Spech since if we get it down before Dec 8th we get $300 on board credit (not sure if that is per person or per stateroom, gonna email on that point)

coylemj · 11-11-2013 4:03pm

hdowney wrote: »

I am concerned about the P&O a, being a very British ship. Now I am British, but I am not one of them 'no forigners' folk by any means and I like international foods. I am also concerned that due to it being adult only that may push the median age up somewhat into fuddy duddy only territory. Now I get on great with older folks, but I don't want to be stuck on a floating tin can for two weeks with only older folks. I am REALLY leaning towards the RC cruise and working hard to convince her of same, cos I wanna lash the deposit down. Spech since if we get it down before Dec 8th we get $300 on board credit (not sure if that is per person or per stateroom, gonna email on that point)

There is an earlier post (#60) above from a poster who was on a Fred Olsen cruise where he/she said that almost everyone was English and 'hardly anyone' was under 60. I think the profile of UK travellers on non-UK cruise lines is likely to be younger since like you they tend to be the more adventurous types who are prepared to muck in with different nationalities and try out different cuisines. Everything I read about those UK lines sounds like a giant floating bingo hall!

I think people who insist on going on 'no kids' cruises seem to overlook the fact that cruises in the main aren't suitable for kids because ships can't provide the range of activities that you'd get in a holiday camp. We went on an MSC cruise in July a couple of years ago and there was a small number of kids onboard but very few and they did not interfere in any way with our enjoyment. I think they all dined in the early sitting, were probably at a teenage disco while we were eating dinner at the late sitting and they were all packed off to bed by the time we hit the bar after dinner, we hardly ever saw them in the evenings when we came back from shore trips.

hdowney · 11-11-2013 7:25pm

I 'think' I may have convinced her to go with the RC one which makes me happy. I got a call from a rep today to answer a couple queries I had and I think that made her think logically about it as an option

coylemj · 11-11-2013 8:14pm

hdowney wrote: »

I 'think' I may have convinced her to go with the RC one which makes me happy. I got a call from a rep today to answer a couple queries I had and I think that made her think logically about it as an option

Try to aim for the second sitting for dinner, that means you won't have to rush to your cabin to get ready for dinner when you come back from a shore trip and if you see my post above, it also means that you'll have minimal exposure to young children in the evenings.

maebee · 11-11-2013 8:48pm

coylemj wrote: »

Try to aim for the second sitting for dinner, that means you won't have to rush to your cabin to get ready for dinner when you come back from a shore trip and if you see my post above, it also means that you'll have minimal exposure to young children in the evenings.

Good tip. On the last cruise we did with RCI we had "My Time" Dining. Very handy as you can change between early & late to suit your daytime activities

.jacksparrow. · 11-11-2013 8:52pm

Royal Caribbean are by far the best to go with.

Try get a balcony too it makes the trip ten times better.

efc67 · 11-11-2013 9:15pm

maebee wrote: »

Good tip. On the last cruise we did with RCI we had "My Time" Dining. Very handy as you can change between early & late to suit your daytime activities

We had that my time dining, was on a 10 night cruise, and only used it once, thought the food in the Windjammer was superb, so ate there most of the time

hdowney · 11-11-2013 11:51pm

coylemj wrote: »

Try to aim for the second sitting for dinner, that means you won't have to rush to your cabin to get ready for dinner when you come back from a shore trip and if you see my post above, it also means that you'll have minimal exposure to young children in the evenings.

Yea deffo going for second sitting, cos we are late eaters as it is, the early sitting seems too early and we don't want to be rushing back after a day ashore to change for dinner.

maebee wrote: »

Good tip. On the last cruise we did with RCI we had "My Time" Dining. Very handy as you can change between early & late to suit your daytime activities

Was contemplating that, but the possibility of having to wait for a table, different waiters etc we prefer the idea of set dining.

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Royal Caribbean are by far the best to go with.

Try get a balcony too it makes the trip ten times better.

I wish!!! Don't think we can stretch to a balcony cabin. We can prolly just about do an outside one. I'd rather spend the money in ports doing things than on a balcony tbh

.jacksparrow. · 12-11-2013 4:44pm

hdowney wrote: »

Yea deffo going for second sitting, cos we are late eaters as it is, the early sitting seems too early and we don't want to be rushing back after a day ashore to change for dinner.

Was contemplating that, but the possibility of having to wait for a table, different waiters etc we prefer the idea of set dining.

I wish!!! Don't think we can stretch to a balcony cabin. We can prolly just about do an outside one. I'd rather spend the money in ports doing things than on a balcony tbh

That's fair enough, was just suggesting it because it cost us an extra 250 for the week to get a balcony, it was great been out on it when the boat is docking or pulling off, and nothing beats sitting out having a cold bottle of beer listening to the ipod as the sun sets!

But obviously if you have a budget it's a no go.

hdowney · 12-11-2013 6:57pm

If they offer me the upgrade for a decent price then perhaps. I am looking at a 16 night Central Med cruise. at the moment (to my calculations using xe and the like so they are just base figures) the outside stateroom (no balcony) would cost me approx €815 more than an inside, so assuming a balcony would cost more again

gaillimh · 12-11-2013 7:30pm

I've noticed a few people on here saying that Royal Caribbean are the best to go on a cruise with.
Just wondering why this is?
How do they compare favourably with other operators?
Considering a Caribbean cruise next year so would be interested to hear opinions on that.
Thanks

Layinghen · 12-11-2013 8:17pm

Has anybody done a river cruise with Riviera Travel? Or could anybody give some details of river cruising. We have never done a cruise and are thinking about a five day river cruise with Riviera called "Amsterdam, Volendam and the Dutch Bulbfields. Would be grateful for anyone's thoughts or advice.

pfannkuchen · 13-11-2013 4:38pm

gaillimh wrote: »

I've noticed a few people on here saying that Royal Caribbean are the best to go on a cruise with.
Just wondering why this is?
How do they compare favourably with other operators?
Considering a Caribbean cruise next year so would be interested to hear opinions on that.
Thanks

Have never been on cruise with anyone but Royal Caribbean, but had such an incredible time that I would not consider any other company. Did Labadee in Haiti, Montego Bay, Cartagena in Colombia, Panama Canal and Puerto Limón in Costa Rica a few years back, sailed out of and back to Miami on Jewel of the Seas. Shore excursions were top notch, food was fantastic, staff went out of their way and in terms of activities, I have to echo what others are saying: floating city. It was the most relaxing holiday, but we still saw so much. Highly recommended, would go with RC again in a heartbeat.

Cape Clear · 06-01-2014 10:48pm

Very informative thread. I am looking to book with an MSC cruise from Barcelona in July but am wondering what is the best website to go with also when can you book the drinks package? Am I correct in assuming that meals are included but drinks are extra unless you avail of the drinks package?

coylemj · 06-01-2014 11:02pm

Cape Clear wrote: »

Very informative thread. I am looking to book with an MSC cruise from Barcelona in July but am wondering what is the best website to go with also when can you book the drinks package? Am I correct in assuming that meals are included but drinks are extra unless you avail of the drinks package?

Yes, on most cruises the meals are all included but you pay for alcoholic drinks unless you buy into one of the drinks packages and note that all of the adults in your party typically have to book the same drinks package, that is certainly the rule with MSC and I suspect all of the cruise lines as well.

Most ships have additional speciality restaurants that are a cut above the ordinary and in those you have to pay. I was on a cruise on MSC Poesia and they had a Japanese restaurant onboard.

Zimmerframe · 06-01-2014 11:41pm

Been on a Med cruise with RC last year, loved it, will do again.
Just wondering when do the "seasoned cruisers" book their cruises.
eg. if planning a cruise say anytime in May/June/July.
Is it better to book early i.e now, or hang on for nearer the sail date, or does it matter ?
Is booking direct with RC best, or through brokers, or whats the best way to "get a deal", given flexible dates/destinations.

maebee · 06-01-2014 11:45pm

We've done 6 cruises through here: http://www.e-travel.ie/. Got great deals with them.

finbarrk · 08-01-2014 10:28am

Cape Clear wrote: »

Very informative thread. I am looking to book with an MSC cruise from Barcelona in July but am wondering what is the best website to go with also when can you book the drinks package? Am I correct in assuming that meals are included but drinks are extra unless you avail of the drinks package?

We booked our MSC Barcelona cruise last year directly with MSC. No problems. Also booked the drinks package with them, but you don't pay for that until you are checking out of the ship. It's a good package if you are prone to having a few cocktails, beers, etc.

leana55 · 08-01-2014 3:17pm

Hi, check out http://www.cruises.ie - Irish company with information/ pricing on all cruise lines. Also just looking at an MSC cruise for May and they have free upgrades to balcony cabins!! I travelled with Royal Caribbean two years ago on a Med cruise it was fab, didn't book the drinks package but it I was to cruise with them again think I will pre-book package. Looking at cruise deals at the min for Caribbean! Any suggestions

pink100 · 13-01-2014 12:21pm

this is great thread as my head has been buzzing last few days looking for a cruise for July. First time to book one so confused.

going with 2 kids, 13 and 10, what is the situation with sleeping arrangements for a family does anyone know.

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

leana55 · 13-01-2014 1:43pm

Hi,

Shore excurions are extra and at every port you have a choice of organised trips or just head off on your own. I think the sleeping arrangements vary depending on which type of cabin you book. MSC currently have a kids offer of Eur130 per child plus flights - just got the pricing for myself!

So much choice!

nudger · 13-01-2014 2:32pm

pink100 wrote: »

this is great thread as my head has been buzzing last few days looking for a cruise for July. First time to book one so confused.
going with 2 kids, 13 and 10, what is the situation with sleeping arrangements for a family does anyone know.

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

Give etravel.ie a shout, there very helpful, also MSC let 2 kids under 16 travel free, per couple (used to).

coylemj · 13-01-2014 6:52pm

pink100 wrote: »

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

Shore excursions are a source of revenue for the cruise lines, there will be something on offer at every port but we found them a bit expensive and didn't fancy being cooped up on a coach for several hours. There's also something that infuriates me which is the ripoff whereby the coach will only stop at some poor to average out of town diner where you have no choice as to where to go for a snack, all because the driver and/or courier get a kickback from the premises. Their excuse invariably is that the local town has no coach park close to any eateries which is probably complete BS.

We did a Baltic cruise with MSC, the only port where we docked and were not beside a public street was either Bergen or Stavanger but they provided a free shuttle bus from the port to a spot downtown from where we were able to explore on foot. In most other cities we moored practically in the city centre, it's a weird experience, like a cruise ship tying up at Liberty Hall!

Zane97 · 15-01-2014 12:20am

What's the best way to do it? Book straight through Royal Caribbean or through e bookers and get flights seperate?

We are thinking if going in September for our honeymoon

maebee · 15-01-2014 12:46am

Latest deals:

http://www.e-travel.ie/

.jacksparrow. · 15-01-2014 12:48am

Getting off the boat is free, its only excursions that cost money, nothing to stop you doing your
exploring free of charge in each port town!

Thoie · 15-01-2014 1:03am

coylemj wrote: »

Yes, on most cruises the meals are all included but you pay for alcoholic drinks unless you buy into one of the drinks packages and note that all of the adults in your party typically have to book the same drinks package, that is certainly the rule with MSC and I suspect all of the cruise lines as well.

Most ships have additional speciality restaurants that are a cut above the ordinary and in those you have to pay. I was on a cruise on MSC Poesia and they had a Japanese restaurant onboard.

Royal Caribbean's new drink packages don't have to be bought by all adults in the room, though I feel they're pricier than the MSC equivalents, to the extent that I don't think I'm going to get an alcoholic drinks package this year. RC have started a new "Replenish" package for $20 a day which includes all non-alcoholic drinks (water, soft drinks, speciality coffees (lattes, etc), fresh squeezed orange juice and "virgin" cocktails). I think I'll take that, and just buy drinks as I want. The cocktails aren't included in the cheaper alcoholic packages, so I'd have to pay $65 a day, and I'm going for 14 days, so that's $910! I'm traveling alone, and not inclined to drink all day, so I'll take the free water/coffees/OJ, and buy a cocktail/glass of wine as I feel like it.

The MSC Allegrissimo package at €25 is much better value for the alcohol.

I've used http://www.cruiseescapes.com/ for the last few years, and am very happy with them.

This year I "foolishly" decided to go through the travel agent, and also let Royal Caribbean manage all the flights/hotel/transfers and cruise. I won't do that again. The cruise and transfers are grand, but you get no choice of hotel, and they keep messing around with the flights. If I'd just taken the cruise and transfers, I'd have got my choice of hotel and flights for the same price.

They've changed the flights twice already, and can keep changing them up to 10 days before departure.

finbarrk · 15-01-2014 9:08am

pink100 wrote: »

this is great thread as my head has been buzzing last few days looking for a cruise for July. First time to book one so confused.
going with 2 kids, 13 and 10, what is the situation with sleeping arrangements for a family does anyone know.

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

Our cabin on the MSC cruise slept the 4 of us comfortably. A double bed for us and a pull out one for the kids. Wouldn't have been comfortable with the kids in a separate cabin.

Thoie · 15-01-2014 11:20am

pink100 wrote: »

this is great thread as my head has been buzzing last few days looking for a cruise for July. First time to book one so confused.
going with 2 kids, 13 and 10, what is the situation with sleeping arrangements for a family does anyone know.

so if you are going off the boat all the trips cost extra?????

finbarrk wrote: »

Our cabin on the MSC cruise slept the 4 of us comfortably. A double bed for us and a pull out one for the kids. Wouldn't have been comfortable with the kids in a separate cabin.

There are a variety of sleeping arrangements possible - the pull out bed, as finbarrk mentioned (essentially a sofa bed), or some ships/cabins have fold down bunks in the ceiling (during the day your cabin steward will make them up and fold them away).

Another alternative that I'd probably go for if I had kids of that age (and the money/choice) is to get two adjoining cabins. Double bed in one for parents, twin beds in the other for kids. The advantage is that you have 2 bathrooms (as the bathrooms usually aren't large enough for 2 people at once).

You can keep the connecting door open most of the time, but you can close it if the kids are asleep and parents want to watch some television.

A tip if this is your first time cruising: your room cards also act as a wallet of sorts, so the kids can charge things to the room just by swiping their cards. I've heard of problems in the past with kids running up huge bills on the video arcades. By going to customer services it's possible to limit the kids' cards to a daily spending limit. Or you can pre-load their cards with cash, so they can never spend more than that amount, or you can set a limit on their cards for the entire cruise.

If the kids have been saving for holiday spending money, you could load their spending money onto the card at the beginning (with maybe a top up if you feel generous

). If it's not spent you can get it back at the end of the trip. You can also monitor spending on each card from the tv in your stateroom.

pink100 · 15-01-2014 10:13pm

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

Thoie · 15-01-2014 11:42pm

pink100 wrote: »

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

I did a transatlantic on MSC last year, and will see if I can dig out the drink prices. The Allegrissimo package wasn't available out of the US, but I remember it would have been worth it for me if it had. I generally had a few soft drinks (water/coke/OJ) during the day, a cocktail in the afternoon, and a glass of wine with dinner, with the odd drink after dinner depending on what was going on.

MSC also offered vouchers which were 12 drinks for the price of 10 - I think they were cans of soft drinks, or cocktails. You could share the vouchers with people (unlike the drinks package). I think they had something similar for beers as well, which were obviously cheaper than the cocktails.

nudger · 16-01-2014 12:54am

pink100 wrote: »

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

I did that cruise on the Splendida from Barcelona 2 years ago and had a great time.

Great ship, it's huge, we went in August.

I bought soft drink packages on board like already said 12 for 10.

We would normally have 1 or 2 bottles of wine with our meal (7pm sitting with kids, 9-930pm the other sitting) after that one or two cocktails would do, (€7-€9)

You are not allowed to bring alcohol onto the ship from shore, all bags are x rayed coming on board, ours were never checked but always had large bottles of soft drinks in them.:cool:

If you go for it, and I would, just to know that in our week we meet 5 other Irish people out of over 3500, apart from the 4 that we meet each night at our table.

Vast majority are Italian, Spanish, French so you have a real feel of being on a european holiday, other lines can be full of British and Americans, nothing wrong with that but not for me.

If you do book PM me for a few other tips.;)

As Thoie mentioned drinks price list, have one as a souvenir.

just as a guide,

Long neck beer €4.50-€5
Spirits, Gin , Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, etc €4.90-€6.50. (40ml, compared to Irish 35.5ml)
Can of Coke etc €2.70.
Bottles of house wine from €16, Prosecco €22.

Anything you want the price of give me a shout.

finbarrk · 16-01-2014 9:04am

pink100 wrote: »

got a price today for the MSC Splendida, seems good, kids free apart from taxes in a balcony room.
unsure about drinks package as we don't drink a lot but yet if the drink is expensive it might be worth it.
good tip re card swipe for kids.
Barcelona is the port going from

The allegrissimo drinks offer will cost you €70 per day. That 2 adults and 2 kids. You wouldn't feel spending that over the day if you didn't have it, so I think it's worth getting it so you know the bill can't be over €490 at at the end of the cruise.

faulty · 17-01-2014 12:04am

Hey,
It is possible to disembark the ship at an earlier port than the final destination?
Eg, a 7 night cruise with MSC from Venice and returning to Venice, can we disembark in Dubrovnik (on the 6th day) and tour Croatia for a few days.

Cheers

Thoie · 17-01-2014 1:43am

faulty wrote: »

Hey,
It is possible to disembark the ship at an earlier port than the final destination?
Eg, a 7 night cruise with MSC from Venice and returning to Venice, can we disembark in Dubrovnik (on the 6th day) and tour Croatia for a few days.

Cheers

The answer is "sometimes" - you need to agree it with the cruiseline well in advance. The main reason why you couldn't is that certain ports aren't set up for passenger customs and immigration. As well as that, the cruiseline needs to prepare your final bill separately (and manually) rather than as part of their bulk run on the final night.

If the customs and immigration piece is in place (which depends on the country and port), then the cruiseline will generally oblige, but they can't force the country to accept you. I think the lines get fined if the passenger manifest is incorrect (ie, you just jump ship), and if you don't tell them in advance it's a huge inconvenience for the entire ship.

faulty · 19-01-2014 11:10am

Hi Thoie,
Cheers for your reply, that is very helpful.
One last question, in terms of notifying the cruise ship, would we want to notify them as we are booking the cruise or when we board the cruiser. Suppose when we book?

Thanks

finbarrk · 20-01-2014 8:38pm

I would imagine an email to the company should make it work out for you.

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