Beware of "Princess Promotions" sold on Princess Cruises' ships.

 

While on the ship during our Norwegian Fjord cruise, my partner and I decided on taking an Alaskan cruise next year out of San Francisco, purchasing a package ("Concierge Service") which gave us a $3000 credit to be used in booking a cruise, plus other credits to be used in a hotel stay.  Since I knew that the package details weren't that clear from what information I was given onboard the ship, I decided to contact Princess Promotions to find out the specifics on how to use this deal - and I was underwhelmed.

But first...

It's easy to get confused as we did.  We thought that Princess Promotions' "Concierge Service" was being offered through a special department of Princess Cruises.  This is not the case.  They are two separate entities, with Princess Promotions having gained the privilege of having its product sold on Princess Cruises' ships.

When books a pre-cruise hotel stay through Princess Cruises, one can get all needed transfers from airport to hotel, from hotel to cruise ship, from cruise ship back to the airport, and get one of the hotels below as part of the booking:

All three hotels are very good deals, and Princess has negotiated good prices for their cruisers to stay at these hotels.  These were the choices I was expecting when I bought the package from Princess Promotions.  However, when I called the "Concierge Service" at the number listed in another email, it appeared that the service was something other than expected.

Looking at the list of hotels available, one isn't getting that much of a discount when booking rooms through this service.  When I looked at rates presented through the plan for the two hotels below, I would still end up spending more money than might be expected for a 5-night stay.

With the promotional discount, I got these rates:

As you can tell, the 5-night certificate is worth roughly $500 (at most) no matter where you use it.  Have I gained that much by taking advantage of this promotion?  That's the $64,000 Question. Given that I've been to San Francisco enough to know how to get around the city and to have stayed at a few clean, safe, and inexpensive hotels, I found one hotel on this list that meets my requirements.  So I can make use of this credit and have a relatively hassle free time before the cruise.  But for those who have never been to San Francisco, this deal might not be worth it.

From what I can tell, cruisers are not getting a discount on the hotels in which Princess Cruises would book for them.  So this leads me to wonder - who is behind the promotion?   The way I see it, the operator behind the scenes might be a online booking site such as Priceline, Expedia or Orbitz.  But, according to my slipshod research, I found out that the vendor is an operator called Open Network Exchange (ONE). According to a Reddit post, 

They (ONE) are a contractor that staffs Princess on board future sales department and well as doing other direct sales functions. The owners of ONE inc used to own a company that would allow time share owners to trade weeks for cruises.  They sold that business and started ONE.  Their previous business gave them good contacts in the cruise industry and led to their current business arrangement with Princess.

But why has Princess Cruises partnered with such an organization?  In my opinion, I think short term decision making has caused Princess to make a big mistake that will hurt their reputation for the long term.  Although I'm effectively out $500, I can afford to lose a few dollars from my bank account - I was lucky enough to be able to save for an unknown future.  Unfortunately, it sours my opinion on the services provided by Princess Cruises, as I would have spent my money differently had I known what the deal was up front.  

Since it looks like we can use the promotional hotel stay anywhere and not connect the stay to a cruise, I got to thinking - why not use this package for a stay in a city where we've enjoyed traveling more than once?  Washington, DC comes to mind, as we can book Amtrak by ourselves and book the hotel stay through the promotional service.  This leaves us with the option to use Princess Cruises' EZAIR deal for our next cruise on Princess, and to keep things simple by use of Princess' EZAIR, Hotels chosen by Princess Cruises, along with transfers supplied by Princess Cruises by using our travel agent.

In the end, we decided to book both hotel, air and all transfers via our travel agent and Princess Cruises.  I'll try to find a decent discount on an East Coast hotel stay from Princess Promotions for another trip my partner and I will be taking.  Hopefully, our experience will be a warning for those who want to book a cruise via the future cruise desk, so that they do not buy a package from Princess Promotions and waste their money doing so.

PS: Every time I have compared a Princess Promotions price against one from Booking.com, Hotels.com, and Orbitz.com, I always found the latter 3 sites gave better hotel prices than Princess Promotions.  In all cases, stay away from anything that has to do with Princess Promotions, and only deal with a reputable travel agent for booking your travel. Don't fall for the line that their bundles will save you money.  Princess Promotions will only give you false savings and cost you money in the long term. 

Discovery Princess - California Coastal Cruise Review (04/20/24 - 04/27/24)

 

The Discovery Princess is a new ship in Princess Cruises' fleet, having been put into service in 2022.  It often sails the California Coastal and Mexican Riviera routes in cooler weather, then moves North to sail Alaska routes during warmer weather.  This is the first time I've had to sail on a Princess ship this new, and I felt it would be an interesting experience to compare this trip with other ships and cruises I have taken.

If it weren't for my uncle, I wouldn't have planned this trip.  Last year, my partner and I took an almost identical cruise as an excuse to see my uncle,  Sadly, his health problems didn't allow for a visit at that time.  So I scheduled this cruise as another excuse to drop by and see him in the nursing home.  And again, I missed the chance to see my uncle, as he passed away 2 weeks before my arrival in California.

This time, I traveled solo to Los Angeles.  This effectively doubled the price I paid for the cruise.  These were my invoiced expenses:

Inside Cabin:             $1,957  (Note: Princess Premier fare - $80/day extra included)
Port fees & Taxes:       $250

Airfare (JFK-LAX):       $757

Hotel (LAX Marriott):    $448
Taxes:                            $49

Post-cruise transfer:      $34

---------------------------------------

Total:                         $3,495

All of this was spent to have a last chance to see my uncle while he was alive, coupling a family visit with a vacation.

- - - - - -

Transit

Princess Cruises outsources its land logistics to a third party.  The last time my partner and I took this cruise, we were not able to find the person who would guide us to the hotel shuttle.  This year, things were different, as I found the fellow at the luggage carousel waiting for me, and he took care of bringing my luggage to she shuttle.  This made things much easier, as I didn't have to think of where to go and how to get there.

The cruise line has a letter waiting for all people who avail of its agency service, telling people staying at the hotel when to be ready, and to do with bags going to the ship.  Although I could have left my luggage in the room for the bellman to bring to the bus, I brought it to the lobby, from where it was transported to the bus going to the cruise terminal.

- - -

Post cruise transportation is a little simpler.  If one buys the post cruise airport transfer package, one's luggage tags are associated with the transfer.  Once a person and bags clear the disembarkation process, the cruiser will take his/her bags to the first available airport transfer bus, and they will be made available at the appropriate airport terminal.

Hotel

Princess uses the Los Angeles Airport Marriott for pre-cruise hotel stays.  The first time I stayed at the hotel, I had no complaints except for the long walk from the hotel entrance to my room.  This year, I had a much shorter walk, but my experience was not as good. 

First, the fire alarm went off sometime late at night and I really didn't want to get dressed again unless absolutely necessary.  Luckily, this was a false alarm, and I was able to get back to sleep.  Next was the TV shorting out on me while I was watching a East Coast based morning news show.  Although I reported the problem at 8 am (when I went out for the day), I had to make a second call to get this fixed at 4:30 pm.  Lastly, there was a problem which could not be fixed, and not worth reporting - the "cold" water was coming out of the bathroom sink as warm water.  (This is a building design issue whose best workaround was to have ice available to have cold water nearby.) 

Embarkation

Last year, I had misplaced my Princess Medallion, and it took us at least 30 more minutes to deal with this on land, and another hour to deal with this once upon the ship.  This year, embarkation was a breeze.  All I had to do was go on the "Green Line" and show my passport - the Medallion had all the other information needed for the ship to identify me when needed.

Once aboard the ship, I encountered the usual embarkation day problems - overly warm temperatures in some public areas due to crowding, an overly busy buffet (as expected), and people not knowing how to navigate the cruise ship to reach their cabins.  However, I found that the Discovery Princess did not have enough signage on "public" cabin levels to identify both forward/aft and port/starboard directions.  I always had to go to one side of the ship to find out whether I was port or starboard, and then often had to go to the other side of the ship to find my way to my cabin.  Contrast this to many NCL ships where signage near the elevators clearly identify port and starboard sides of the ship, and the carpeting provides a clue (fishes swimming) to where for and aft parts of the ship are located.

Stateroom

Unlike the last stateroom I stayed in on another cruise line, I chose a full sized interior cabin which easily holds two people.  There is more than enough storage space for two people to place their belongings.  

As much as I was very happy with this cabin, I didn't like having to string an extension cord across my path to the bathroom so that I can use my CPAP machine.  Ideally, there would be 110v/220v A/C power outlets on each side of the bed (if configured as a king, or in the middle if configured as separate beds).  Considering that this ship was built in 2022, I was pleasantly surprised that a USB port is found in the base of the lamps found on the night tables.

Itinerary

This is a typical 7-day California Coastal run from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then South to Monterrey (or Catalina Island in my case), San Diego and Ensenada (Mexico) before returning to Los Angeles.  More than enough time is given to enjoy each port.  

The selections of shore excursions for San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada are reasonable for single day port stops.  However, the shore excursions available for Catalina Island is a little bit lacking.  On this cruise, only two excursions were available: The Fantastic Catalina race and the Seal Rocks Safari Cruise.  The former is a "treasure hunt" to lead tourists around the island to visit assorted venues.  The latter is a cruise around Catalina Island, enjoying views of the wildlife near the island's shores.  Many cruisers simply choose to visit the town of Avalon and enjoy the sights there.

Entertainment

The first main theater show I attended was a production called "Rock Opera".  Like most big cruise ship theater productions, I found it lacking.  No, it wasn't a bad production. The singers were very good, but over-amplified, and it often was hard to make out what they were singing.  The dancing was very good, but distracted from the singers on stage.  And their selection of tunes was good, but could never justify calling this 45 minute show an opera, as they did not provide any plot narrative.

A couple of days later, I saw Elliot Hunter, the Illusionist on the big stage.  Although I had a good idea of how some of the acts were done, I enjoyed his show.  (I'm not usually into "Magicians", as I try too hard to figure out how an illusion is done and have caught a few magicians making dumb mistakes that most of the crowd wouldn't notice.)  His act was visually entertaining without a lot of the distractions which get in the way of enjoying the show.

The next time I was in the main theater, I saw Tommy McPhee sing the songs of Neil Sedaka, Elton John, Barry Manilow and others.  He sang the songs well, and I wouldn't mind seeing him again.  However, I found that he danced around too much on some tunes, distracting the audience from the music.

The lounge singers and atrium performers were something else altogether.  On embarkation day, there was an excellent Mariachi group singing classic Mexican tunes.  In the Crooners lounge, the performers all did a great job of entertaining without playing loud enough to interfere with any conversations which may be going on nearby.  On the final night of the cruise, they had an entertainer in the atrium showing off his skills with a pair of whips.  There was a little something for everyone, if one looked for it.

Food Venues and Availability

Buffet:

I ate almost all of my breakfasts in the buffet, since I like to wake up late.  The selections were adequate.  However, it was not easy to find a seat during busy times.

Main Dining Rooms (Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan)

The one time I had lunch in one of the main dining rooms, the food met my expectations - tasty and plentiful.  There was a special theme for the day, and one of the people at my table was able to get a piece of prime rib which made me wish I had ordered that instead of the salad I had chosen.

Skagway Restaurant (MDR - Complimentary) 

Both the service and food was very good.  The portions were plentiful, and I was able to get an extra main to sample without problems.  On the day that surf and turf was on the menu, I was able to order a second main (for a nominal price) so that I could have the extra seafood.  This was the one time I was underwhelmed by the "turf" portion, as it didn't have that much flavor.

Ketchikan Restaurant (MDR - Complimentary)

I ate at this restaurant several times during my cruise.  The first night I was placed at a shared table as the 7th diner in a table of 8 diners. Plating (dishes, utensils, etc.) had been already removed from the table, and we had to ask for them to be replaced. Once our orders were taken, we experienced very slow service, as it took 90 minutes before our main courses were delivered to the table.   The second night, things were much better, as the restaurant was less crowded and the staff better able to respond to the needs of the diners.

Gigi's Pizzeria (Casual Restaurant - Complimentary w. Princess Premier Fare)

I only ate at this restaurant once, as I tended to go to the buffet for lunch if I was on the ship for this meal.  The personal pizza was very good.  However, this restaurant does not provide the variety of pizza options as can be found in a typical Metropolitan New York City pizzaria.

Ocean Terrace (Casual Restaurant - Complimentary w. Princess Premier Fare)

This is the Discovery Princess' sushi restaurant.  I ate there on the last night of the cruise.  Sadly, the restaurant was very busy, and it took more time than expected for my meal to be delivered to my table.  Seating at this restaurant would be more than appropriate for a lounge. However, the tables and chairs were inappropriate for a restaurant, as they were at an awkward height for dining.  (Seating at the sushi bar itself appeared to be more comfortable, and if available when I was there, I would have sat there and watched the itamae (Sushi Chef) work his magic on the fish I was about to eat.)

Crown Grill (Specialty Restaurant - Extra Charge)

I had the veal chop dinner.  My first course was a wonderful onion soup au gratin (not pictured here), followed by the veal chop.  The Crown Grill serves its meats with a choice of salts: Himalayan Sea Salt, Hawaii Black Salt, and a Whiskey Bourbon Salt.  None of these added much to the flavor of the meat.  The chop itself was a little bit stringy, and I wouldn't order it again.  (This might be the nature of the cut, so I will try this at another restaurant when I have the chance to do so.)  If you take this ship in the near future, look for Darwin in this restaurant.  This waiter is a true professional, and I would love to have him serve me when I am next on the ship. 

The Catch by Rudi (Specialty Restaurant - Extra Charge)

I had the "Three S" dinner: Sea Scallops, Scotch Salmon and Shrimp.  The presentation was impressive, as one shrimp the size of a tiny lobster was the focal point of the dish.  (The above picture does not do the dish justice, nor can it give any indication of how good everything tasted.)  My only complaint would be that I would have liked one or two more of these hanging Langostinos with the meal.

Disembarkation

This process was relatively straight forward.  Both "self-assist" and porter service was available. If one chooses porter service, one would use the luggage tags provided by the cabin attendant and place their suitcases in the hallway the night before disembarkation.  On the night before disembarkation, one is expected to have their porter service bags in the hallway by 8 pm.  However, this seemed more of a guideline, as I saw many bags in the hallways around 10 pm.  

The morning that the ship arrived back in Los Angeles, self-assist passengers may leave the ship as soon as the ship is cleared by US Customs.  All other passengers are expected to go to the assembly points associated with their luggage tags by 7:30 am to wait until they are told they can leave the ship.  Once called, passengers leave the ship one last time and proceed on the long walk from the ship to the baggage claim area on the pier.  In my case, my group was called at 8:20 am (as scheduled), and I was through customs with my bag before 9 am.  From there, it was another long walk to the airport transfer bus.

Miscellaneous

It wasn't easy to find one's account status with the Princess app.  I had to go to guest services to be shown where to find this option (look for "Folio" under personal account status).  From there, one sees a print format version of the debits and credits being applied to one's cruise account.

Although the Princess Medallion usually worked as advertised, there were enough cases where I found myself giving my room number to people for service - such as when I was in a restaurant ordering alcoholic beverages. Many times during the cruise, the cellphone sized medallion readers used to log people on and off the ship needed several attempts to scan my medallion before it was recognized.  Even worse, one time the RFID sensor for my stateroom didn't identify me as the cabin resident until I held the medallion next to the sensor.  

Those people who choose the Princess Premier fare have a nice perk - they can download all of their Princess photos for free, and get up to 3 8"X10" prints for free.  However, when I went to pick up my prints, the gentleman in the photo store tried to up sell me to buy a Princess frame for an extra $15 - and he had to be told NO twice before he backed off on the sale.  

Word of warning for those choosing this option: Princess uses facial recognition to associate a photo with a cruiser.  If one doesn't see their photos available for download, one must go to the photo store to get one's face rescanned, so that they can associate one's pictures with one's account.

Conclusions

This vacation was good value for the money.  Yes, I paid the solo traveler supplement. But I didn't feel nickel-dimed while on the cruise.  All of the drinks I ordered were covered by the beverage package, alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages (sodas, hot chocolates, specialty coffees, etc.), and I never got charged extra for any of my choices.

Transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to shop, and ship to airport were organized well, albeit that the first transfer had a Princess representative assist me to the Hotel's airport shuttle.  If I do this (or a similar) cruise again, I will let Princess handle the logistics, as it is way too easy to make costly errors with transit in Los Angeles.

Although Princess promotes the "Princess Plus" fare as having great value, I prefer spending the extra $20/day for the "Princess Premier" fare, as it gives me a larger variety of included alcoholic beverages AND up to 4 devices connecting to the internet via the ship's wi-fi network.

Comparing 3 cruise lines' 7-day cruises

In the past year, I have taken 3 separate 7-day cruises to 3 separate destinations on ships that I feel best exemplify both the best and worst of these cruise lines have to offer.   Given that we see what we want to see and disregard the rest (as Paul Simon might put it), I can't say that readers of this post will feel as I do about these 3 lines. Yet, I feel that by comparing 3 different types of experiences, my comparison should help a person in choosing a cruise that best delivers the desired experience that the person wants.

Comparing 3 cruise lines, 3 ships, and 3 itineraries is like comparing apples to oranges to pears.  However, the way 7-day cruises are handled by each cruise line can be compared, as one can discuss both the value and quality of staterooms, itineraries, service, food, entertainment, cruise line apps and embarkation/muster/debarkation procedures on each line.  Each line has a lot to offer, as well as a lot to be criticized about.  One should not expect these lines to be perfect.  Instead, one should recognize that each line makes trade-offs to deliver value to its customers, and that the targeted demographics of cruisers vary from cruise line to cruise line.

Ships Compared:

1. Emerald Princess - year built: 2007.
2. NCL Getaway       - year built: 2014.
3. MSC Meraviglia   - year built: 2017.

Each of these ships have been broken in for 7+ years.  As a result, the kinks should have been worked out of all service related problems, and the experiences described here should reflect an average cruiser's experience on these ships.  However, I selected different cabin types on each of these ships, and one may have a different opinion about the cabins than I had.

Stateroom/Cabins:

1. Emerald Princess - Balcony.
   
   The balcony cabin was well designed for use by two people.  It was easy to find enough storage space for a party of 2.  However, there was an issue with the light sensor over the area separating the closet area and the bathroom.  We did not know how to turn on the light, and with the help of the room attendant found out that a prior cruiser had damaged the motion sensor that controlled the light.  Once this was repaired, we had no problem with the cabin. 
   
   Unlike many of the newer ships I've cruised on, the shower area was separated from the rest of the bathroom by a shower curtain.  This is something I've noticed on older ships, such as NCL's Pride of America, that I would want to see upgraded when the ship next goes in for a major updating.
   
   
2. NCL Getaway - Balcony.
   
   The balcony cabin was well designed for use by two people. Like the Emerald Princess, the Getaway provides adequate storage for a party of 2.  However, some storage nooks will be found in places where they might not be expected, such as under the sofa.  Unlike my experience on the Emerald Princess, all lights, etc. were in working order upon entering the room.
   
   
3. MSC Meraviglia - Solo Cabin.
   
   The solo cabin's basic design is flawed, as it is meant to serve two purposes: (a) as a solo cabin meant to be occupied by a single traveler, and (b) as a cabin meant to be connected to one of the adjoining balcony cabins.  Although the cabin is listed as using 129 sq.ft., this space is used inefficiently.  The cabin's bed is a fold out sofa whose mattress is held to the bed by a railing.  Due to this railing, both getting out of the bed and sitting on the bed while getting dressed can be quite awkward and uncomfortable.  Additionally, when the bed is set up for sleeping, one cannot open the closet doors fully.  This prevents easy access to the cabin's safe and makes it more difficult to use the closet for storage of one's clothes.  I wondered: Why didn't MSC retrofit these closet doors with accordion doors, so that the closets could be used in all configurations of this room?
   
   

Itineraries:

1. Emerald Princess - California Coast / Mexico (June 2023)
   
   - Embarkation: Los Angeles
   - Sea Day #1
   - Port Day #1 & 2: San Francisco  
   - Sea Day #2
   - Port Day #3: San Diego
   - Port Day #4: Ensenada, Mexico
   - Debarkation: Los Angeles
   
   The embarkation/debarkation city was chosen for personal reasons (I wanted to visit a relative).  , I wanted a cruise that would spend most of its time in American waters and visit American cities.  Princess was the one line I found that did a roundtrip sailing out of Los Angeles that made port in San Francisco and San Diego.  (Monterrey, California was a common stop on this route until recently.  Now, ships are making port at Catalina Island and in Santa Barbara in its place.)  Other cruise lines tend to have cruises sailing out of Los Angeles do the "Mexican Riviera" route and not the California Coast.  
   
   As one would expect in California, the weather was sunny and dry.  However, it was surprisingly cool for June, and I was glad to have my windbreaker and sweater with me.  (San Francisco is notorious for its cool weather during the summer.)
   
   
2. NCL Getaway - Bermuda (November 2023)
   
   - Embarkation: New York (Manhattan)
   - Sea Day #1
   - Port Day #1, 2, & 3: Bermuda (King's Wharf)
   - Sea Day #2 & 3
   - Debarkation: New York (Manhattan)
   
   The embarkation/debarkation city was chosen because I live in the Northern NYC suburbs, and that I could reach the cruise terminal via mass transit (Metro North Railroad) and a short cab ride from Grand Central Terminal.  We chose this cruise because neither of us had ever been to Bermuda and that we wanted to explore a place where we would be comfortable exploring on our own.  Although there may have been another line sailing a similar itinerary, no other cruise gave us as much Bermuda time for our money as the NCL cruise did, as we had 3 full days in Bermuda on this trip.
   
   For 2 out of the 3 days we were in Bermuda, the weather wasn't that nice.  There was a storm that brought cool, damp, and drizzling weather to the island.  As a result, we needed sweaters and windbreakers while on the island, and didn't do any exploring until the last day there.
   
   
3. MSC Meraviglia - Florida / Bahamas (December 2023)
   
   - Embarkation: New York (Brooklyn)
   - Sea Day #1
   - Port Day #1: Port Canaveral, Florida
   - Port Day #2: Nassau, Bahamas
   - Port Day #3: Ocean Cay, Bahamas (Scheduled)  / Miami, Florida (Actual)
   - Sea Day #2 & 3
   - Debarkation: New York (Brooklyn)
   
   The embarkation/debarkation city was suboptimal for me, it was chosen because I could reach it without depending on an expensive cab service, or by spending even more money to travel out of town for the cruise.  I was able to reach the Brooklyn cruise terminal by a cab ride from Grand Central Terminal to Pier 11, from where I would catch the ferry to the Brooklyn cruise terminal. 
   
   Although other cruise lines sail similar routes, I chose to take this cruise because it provided a solo cabin for a price lower than the other cruise lines.  Most lines doing 7-day cruises out of New York (any terminal) during the winter tend to make 3 stops.  The first stop is usually in Port Canaveral, where cruise ships tend to provision themselves and sell the stop as a way to visit Orlando's theme parks for a day.  After that, there is a stop in Nassau or Freeport in the Bahamas, where people can visit a resort, explore the island, or do some shopping.  And then comes the cruise line's private island, where tourists can swim and sun themselves for a day.  This cruise was marred by bad weather from the time we left Port Canaveral to the day before we returned to New York.  That's a risk of sailing at this time of year.
   
   

Service & Food:

1. Emerald Princess.
   
   Room service was provided once per day.  It was professional, as would be expected.  Given that one almost always has their Princess Medallion on one's person when outside the cabin, we rarely had any direct interaction with our room attendant. Even if one turns on the light that says "please make up room", the room attendant will not enter the room unless the wearer is in some other area of the ship.
   
   Dining service tended to be slow in starting, and then was the best of all 3 cruise lines being compared.  The specialty restaurant we ate in (the steak house) would be one we'd enjoy on land.  However, the quality of the steaks we had were slightly below that of NCL's steak house.  The main dining room had better service than I had on either of the two other lines, and the staff was quick to anticipate our needs before we did.
   
   
2. NCL Getaway.
   
   Room service was provided once per day.  It was just as professional as that on Princess.  However, without a tool such as the Princess medallion, we ended up having more interactions with our room attendant.  Although this doesn't bother me, it can bother people who want absolute privacy while in their cabin.
   
   Dining service differed greatly between the main dining room (MDR) and that in the specialty restaurants.  While dining in the MDR, we occasionally had to flag down our waiter to get drink refills, among other minor services.  However, in the Steak House, the French Bistro, and in the Brazilian Churrascaria, both the food and service was top notch and the best of all 3 ships.  
   
   
3. MSC Meraviglia.
   
   Room service was provided twice per day.  It was professional, as one would expect on a cruise ship.  However, I did come into contact with my room attendant several times, once because I forgot my keycard in the room.  It was obvious that English was not his native language, as I could not communicate my request to have distilled water for my CPAP machine be brought to my room.
   
   Dining service was a unique experience on this ship.  MSC uses fixed seating/fixed dining times on their cruises for most experiences (see Cruise Packages - Add-ons in a later part of this entry), and I had requested late seating for the main dining room.  However, I was assigned an early seating, and had to request a change on the first night there.  Once this was  taken care of, I had to wait an extra hour to be seated, as the delay caused by showing early seating people to their tables on the first night of the cruise caused my seating to be delayed.  Service in the main dining room was both friendly and professional without mistakes, but felt like one was eating in a catering hall instead of in a restaurant.  Food portions were small, and not as tasty as I would have liked.  At least, both my wine glass and water glass were always being topped off.  The 3 specialty restaurants I visited were hit and miss.  I loved the Taco joint on the ship, as its quality as equal to some of the best places I've visited on shore.  The steak house was good, but the service and food quality was a notch below both Princess and NCL.  The seafood restaurant was good, but the service was a notch below both Princess and NCL. Yet, I must say that their linguini in clam sauce was one of the best pasta dishes I've had on a ship.
   
   

Cruise Line Apps:

1. Princess. 
   
   The cruise line is pushing people to use their app from the time one makes their cruise reservation to the day one leaves the ship.  One can enter almost everything into the app, then use it (as they say) to expedite boarding, make dining reservations, book shore excursions, chat with Guest Services, order food and drink (OceanNow®) delivery.  I found the app to be a bit buggy, and I expect that the issues I encountered have been resolved in the new version of the app.  
   
   
2. NCL.
   
   This cruise line doesn't seem to be pushing people to use their app.  I found that it can do most of the things the Princess app can do.  However, chatting to other cruisers via the app is an extra charge.  Yet, it seems to be the most polished of the apps at the time I used it, as I encountered fewer glitches while on my cruise.
   
   
3. MSC.
   
   The MSC app was the least useful of the apps.  It felt like it was cobbled together in a hurry, and does not provide as much functionality as either of the Princess or NCL apps.  Unlike Princess and NCL, MSC's app did not allow me to make reservations for specialty dining restaurants.  This is a notable flaw, as the lack of such ability made me spend extra time trying to find the restaurant where my reservations could be made.

Embarkation/Muster/Debarkation Procedures:

1. Princess.
   
   Embarkation.
   
   This cruise line uses its medallion as a universal replacement for a card key on the ship.  Most cruisers can pre-enter all of their pertinent data into Princess's system, upload photo ID, and be able to board the ship with minimal hassles.  Both my travel partner and I were assigned to the "Green Line", and we'd normally expect to show up with our medallions and our passports, then quickly proceed to board the ship.
   
   However, the above  was not our experience.  Unfortunately, I was the cause of our problems as  I had misplaced my medallion the day before my cruise.  I called Princess to see if this would be a problem.  They said "No", just talk to the people at the pier, and they would get you on the ship.  Although this was true, they didn't say how much of a pain this would be when we got to the pier.
   
   When one gets to the pier, Princess has cruisers go to either the Green Line (Minimal Paperwork - Mostly US Citizens and Residents) or the Blue Line (All others).  Although we were assigned Green Lane processing, we were stuck as if we were in the Blue Lane.  Reaching the check-in personnel, I explained my problem.  And then the "fun" began, because they had to (1) make sure I was sailing on the ship, (2) Print up an old fashioned key card, so that we could get onboard the ship, and (3) Tell me to go to guest services to have a new medallion made up for me.
   
   Once on the ship, we surrendered our keycards and my partner checked out her medallion (it worked), so we could drop off our bags before going to guest services.  And then we had to wait in a hot, humid area until I got to the desk.  And it then took a while for ship personnel to create a new medallion for me.  In the process of doing this, they screwed up my partner's medallion, so it was back to guest services to get this fixed once and for all.  After a few minutes, the problem was fixed, and we were free to enjoy the ship.
   
   Muster:
   
   This was a painless process.  One simply watches the muster video and then checks in at the muster station.  Ship personnel didn't care if one used stairs or elevators to reach the muster station, even though one would be using the stairs in case of a real emergency.
   
   Debarkation:
   
   This was also a painless process.  Facial recognition was used in the cruise terminal to verify that all passengers were accounted for.  Luggage was easy to find on the pier, and airport transfer buses left for the airport as soon as the buses were filled.
   
   
2. NCL.
   
   Embarkation:
   
   Like Princess, NCL has embarkation down to a science.  However, they don't separate cruisers into Green Land and Blue Lane.  With the exception of small number of cruisers staying in Haven Suites, everyone else is steered to one of two sets of check-in stations where cruisers' paperwork and passports are presented before cruise cards are given to the cruiser.  Occasionally, one will need to have a new ID photo taken, but this doesn't add much to the time it takes to get on the ship.  Once the cruise card is in hand, one simply walks to the assigned embarkation point and boards the ship.
   
   Muster:
   
   The muster process used on this ship is similar to that used by princess, save that NCL encouraged people to watch the safety video at home before the cruise (as we did) instead of waiting until we boarded the ship.  (I'm pretty sure that they had used some webpage trickery to check who watched videos.)  And then, all one has to do is check in at the muster station.  We got very lucky, as our muster station was 20 feet from where we got on the ship, and we completed our muster responsibilities before taking the elevator to reach our cabin floor.
   
   Debarkation:
   
   Having had problems with finding my bag in the Manhattan Cruise Terminal after prior cruises, I made sure to have Tile Trackers on each of our bags.  This time, our bags were delivered to the correct zone, but we could see them on the path we had to walk before picking them up.  Our only problem was that in the confusion at the terminal, I left the secured area while my partner was still in the area looking for me.  I'm glad we had our cell phones with us on this trip!
   
   
3. MSC.
   
   Embarkation:
   
   Having most recently cruised on Princess and NCL, I expected to see a streamlined embarkation process used by MSC.  For the most part, this is true, save that the lines are much longer than that on Princess and NCL due to the size of the ship, and that they seemed to move slower through the terminal.  Unlike my 2 most recent cruises, I found the check-in line extending outside the terminal   (I've seen this happen with NCL, but that's an exception, and not a rule.)  Once in the terminal, it's easy to see why this is the case - there are not enough security stations to process the volume of passengers carried by a ship the size of the Meraviglia.  Luckily, after going through this gauntlet, the check-in lines moved reasonably fast, and one would board the ship relatively quickly.
   
   Muster:
   
   The muster process for this ship is the worst of any ship I've sailed on in the post-covid era.  Although it is similar to that used by Princess and NCL, it adds a needless extra step: One has to call a special phone number from the cabin to register one's viewing of the safety video before proceeding to the muster station to check-in.  In addition to this, one can't use the elevators during muster check-in.  This means that some minor mobility challenged people will be forced to use the stairs when they should be using the elevators.
   
   US Customs / Reentry to US Waters (Unexpected process due to itinerary change):
   
   This process only occurs when ships reenter US waters before reaching their final destination ports.  For this comparison, I'm comparing MSC to a trip taken on NCL before the pandemic.
   
   Due to bad weather, our cruise changed its 3rd port call from Ocean Cay (Bahamas) to Miami, FL.  This meant that we would have to clear customs.  The last time I had to do this, my cruise ship (NCL Breakaway) made port in Portland, ME.  Customs personnel boarded the ship, and each passenger had to check in (at an assigned time) at a station set up in the main dining room.  Once checked in (as I recall things), we could go ashore, or stay on the ship.
   
   Contrast NCL's process to that used by MSC in Miami, and one could get quite frustrated.  First, we were told that it would take about 5 hours for US Customs to clear the ship and that ALL passengers must leave the ship and not return until the ship had been cleared.  The cruise line recommended that we take a shore excursion to kill time (on a rainy day - aargh!) and come back in a few hours.  The rest of us were herded off the ship in groups, and not given any idea of what to expect when outside the terminal.  At least, MSC has the "kindness" to provide us with disposable ponchos for the weather outside.
   
   Like the debarkation process in New York and Los Angeles, facial recognition was used to verify the cruiser's ID as we left the ship to find no guidance on how to reenter the terminal to wait in its waiting area.  There was a line outside, but it wasn't moving.  (I later found out that these people were just as clueless as I was.)  Luckily, I found a path into the terminal where I was assigned a boarding group card.
   
   Once in the terminal, there were not enough seats for all of us to sit comfortably, as I found many people sitting on the floor.  When they started calling boarding groups, almost everyone started to move towards the terminal exit to the ship gangway.  After they called group #4, they stopped checking whether a person belonged to the selected group and just collected boarding group tickets.
   
   In short, the process at the Miami cruise terminal was a hot mess, and I don't know whether US Customs, the Miami cruise terminal, or MSC should take the blame for this mess.
   
   Debarkation:
   
   As bad as the Miami customs process was, debarkation was good.  Although tMSC's debarkation process is not geared to making it easy for people with air connections to make tight flight connections, debarkation went smoothly.  Once a debarkation group was called, one would walk the long line off the ship and easily find their bags in the cruise terminal.  Given that we had already cleared customs in Miami, we didn't have to take the time to show any ID to a customs agent.  The only time I had a quicker (and easier) debarkation process was in Hawaii, where it took less time to debark a ship carrying fewer passengers.
   
   

Entertainment:

1. Princess.
   
   The only time we went to see Princess's entertainment was when the comedians were performing, both on the main stage and in one of the lounges.  And each time, we were underwhelmed.  This was made up for by the piano player at the Crooners lounge who did a great job with the songs he sang.  The one flaw with Crooners was that the music was overamplified, and we couldn't hear each other speak.
   
   
2. NCL
   
   NCL has been known for the quality of shows in its main theater.  We have seen "Broadway Quality" performances of "Six" and "Footloose" on other ships, and we looked forward to seeing "Million Dollar Quartet" on this cruise - and we weren't disappointed.  This performance was as good as when I saw the show in NYC.  The one thing that disappointed me about almost all of NCL's main stage performances is that they cut the shows down, so that they can be performed in a one hour time window.
   
   
3. MSC.
   
   MSC's entertainment is a mixed collection.  On the whole, I found the lounge performers to be very good entertainers.  However, the stage shows leave something to be desired.  For example, the "Houdini" show in the Carousel theater was a jumbled mess, mixing mediocre musical performances with a poorly executed magic trick or two.  It was not worth the money they would have charged me for the show, save maybe for the Gin and Tonic served upon entry to the theater.
   
   Shows in the main theater varied in quality, and were disappointingly short, being only 45 minutes long.  The show featuring 4 magicians was very good.  The singer (forgot his name) was very good.  And the comedian, Dave Konig, was also very good.  But when MSC put on a variety show featuring the talents of ship employees, I had to walk out after half the show was over.  
   

Miscellaneous items of note:

1. Cruise Packages - Add-ons.
   
   Princess Premier.
   
   This package is the more expensive of the two "all inclusive" packages offered by Princess (Princess Plus and Princess Premier).  To me, it gives the cruiser the best value is one is a moderate drinker and one is a heavy computer user, as it includes all drinks (soda, beer, wine, spirits and mixed drinks) under $15, 4 devices of unlimited Wi-Fi, 2 specialty restaurant dinners, unlimited exercise classes, photo downloads (with 3 prints), and unlimited specialty desserts. Best of all - Princess takes care of the gratuities, something that the other two lines do not do with their packages.
   
   NCL Free at Sea.
   
   There is one big advantage to NCL's Free at Sea package - one gets to choose one's own cabin.  The other advantages are important, but are effectively add-ons, as they can be deselected to avoid paying gratuities on a drink package and a specialty dining package.  Yet, the gratuities are a cheap price to pay for a drink package that includes all drinks (soda, beer, wine, spirits and mixed drinks) under $15.  However, this package does not cover the mandated daily "staff service" gratuity fee, which is approximately $20/day/pp.  Yet, it does provide the cruiser with 150 minutes of free wi-fi.
   
   MSC Best Value + Fantastica.
   
   When I now think of MSC, I think of this cruise line as one where prices are kept low by making things optional.  In my case, I had to couple the Best Value option with the Fantastica package to get values equivalent to the range set by Princess's Premier and NCL's Free at Sea package.  Yet, there are some interesting differences that I must note.
   
   MSC offers two booking types: Best Price and Best Value.  Best Price is similar to the Guaranteed Cabin option types on NCL and Princess.  Best Value allows the cruiser to choose one's cabin within a category range (displayed on a later reservation screen) and includes the "Easy Drinks Plus" package, including all drinks under $10.  This is not as bad as it might look, as MSC's Easy Drinks Plus package includes canned sodas, sparkling waters, beers, selected wines, and selected mixed drinks (made with bottom shelf spirits).  Being a moderate drinker while on a ship, I found that I never had to pay extra for any of the libations I ordered.
   
   There are three experience types on MSC ships: Bella, Fantastica, and Aurea. The Bella experience is a basic package without specialty dining and spa options.  The Aurea experience is a high end package, where the cruiser gets a specialty dining package, anytime dining in one of the ship's restaurants, a Balinese massage, and access to the ship's solarium.  It is not offered to all cruisers.  I chose the Fantastica option, which included meals at 3 of the specialty restaurants on the ship.
   
   I feel that Best Value plus Fantastica options can bring MSC's total experience into the range set by NCL and Princess.  But it doesn't meet the same bar set by the other two cruise lines.
   
   
   
2. Photography (Packages & Studio).
   
   Princess.
   
   The Princess Premier package includes 3 printouts and unlimited downloads per person.  For most people, everything works fine.  In our case, it didn't because Princess didn't automatically associate any of my partner's photos as belonging to our cabin, because of glitches with Princess's facial recognition technology, or that they didn't scan her medallion prior to taking her solo pictures.  By the time this was detected on the last day of the cruise, it was impossible to deal with waiting on line at the photography station, as well as working with Princess to retrieve these photos after the cruise.
   
   On this ship, Princess places all photos for cruisers into slots associated with the day's sessions (port name, sea day number, etc.).  This means that all cruisers' pictures are available to anyone on the cruise and are subject to being misfiled when the cruiser chooses not to purchase the photo.  By the time the cruise ends, it becomes very hard to find one's pictures for purchase, as they have been completely shuffled by other cruisers.  If one's pictures are properly associated with a cabin, this isn't that much of a problem - one can download the photos and print them on land for a nominal price.  But, when the photos aren't associated with the cabin, they are lost forever.
   
   While browsing our photos, we met with a photographer who suggested we try the professional photo studio, which we did.  The fellow took 40 monochrome photos of us in various poses, individually and as a couple.  A few days later, we reviewed the photos and the photographer did some mumbo-jumbo with a spreadsheet showing old and new package photo prices.  He was trying to show great value for buying a 10 photo package for $1,500 - something which we would never do.  Instead, we ended up getting 3 nice photos for our walls for $300.  Yes, it was pricey, but I feel that the price was worth it for us.
   
   NCL.
   
   The NCL photo experience was the best of all three experiences, as they made sure that a cabin number was associated with each group of photos taken by scanning one's cruise card.  (Why Princess didn't do this was a mystery.)  Once the photos were taken, they are uploaded to a server onboard the ship so that they can be viewed at screens in the photo shop.  This way, no one had access to someone else's photos, and no photos could get lost in a shuffle. I don't recall buying any pictures on this trip, but I remember that they were reasonably priced for cruise ship photos.
   
   Please note that there is a professional portrait studio on this ship that we did not use on this cruise.
   
   MSC.
   
   This cruise line encourages people to have lots of photos taken.  Unlike Princess, they file each cabin's photos separately, so that they are isolated from other cabins' photos.  This way, they avoid the mess we experienced on our Princess cruise.  Unlike the other two lines, they include some 11"x14" photos in each folder as a way to get the cruiser to spend more on photos.  Their photo prices for 8"x10" photos are reasonable.  However, these process drop significantly if even a small photo package is bought.
   
   
3. Other items of note.
   
   Princess Cruise Demographics.
   
   Although there were some children on this cruise, we noticed that most of the cruisers came from an older, European, English speaking segment of our population.  In short, the people we encountered on this cruise would likely be found in any typical middle class community in the United States.
   
   NCL Cruise Demographics.
   
   The demographics of NCL cruisers are similar to that found on Princess cruisers, save that more children will be found on NCL cruises.  Given that our Bermuda cruise took place in Late October and Early November, we didn't see that many children on this cruise.
   
   MSC Public Areas.
   
   Although most cruise line ships are meant to impress, MSC tends to be over the top in glitz.  Nor only are the grand staircases embedded with Swarovski crystals, but the whole ship can seem "over the top" in its own way,  The pathway between two of the main dining rooms is bordered with highly reflective walls inset with wine bottles.  There is so much light being reflected, that people with certain visual impairments might have trouble navigating this section of the ship.
   
   A common trend in many cruise ships is to reduce the size of reading libraries.  Fewer people are seeking this kind of quiet place on cruise ships, and MSC has taken this to an extreme by making the ships' library a 2-3 meter long path of empty magazine racks off of the grand atrium.  
   
   MSC Cruise Demographics.
   
   My cruise may have been an outlier.  But many people have commented that there was a very large number of people from one ethnic and language group on this ship.  No, I am not talking of a language highly associated with South America.  Instead, I am talking about one highly associated with Asia.  Several bloggers who were on my cruise were offended by the cultural norms of this group and noted this in their blogs. As for me, I found it awkward, as it inhibited my ability to have the quick chats one might have with people at neighboring tables in the main dining room.
   

Conclusion:

If I had to rank these cruise lines, I'd have to call it a tie between Princess and NCL, as I have repeat cruises already scheduled on these lines.  Both of these lines sail itineraries I want to sail, and both have dining experiences that stand out from the norm.  MSC would come in third, as its USA division does not sail to places I want to visit as often as I'd like, and that its food underwhelmed me when not eating at the specialty restaurants.

You get what you pay for on each of these lines. Yet, I was a little put off by MSC's attempt to up-sell me once onboard the ship.  If one wants good entertainment, one should cruise on NCL (and maybe, MSC for shorter theater shows).  If one wants good food, I'd choose NCL and Princess. And, if I wanted low cost, I'd choose MSC.  All three cruise lines have their merits, and I would sail on each of these lines again, given the right conditions.