16 days and counting, well that is what it is telling me on the MSC Website. Fourteen glorious days sailing the Caribbean on the MSC Seascape is in my future. We have once again booked an Aurea experience.
Booking an MSC Cruise? First thing you will notice once you have selected your itinerary and your preferred cabin, you’ll be presented with three cruise ‘experience’ options – Bella, Fantastica and Aurea. Please note if you booked Yacht Club you will not be presented with these three options.
These aren’t optional extra, this is the actual experience you are opting for on your cruise ship. This experience actual impacts which cabin or suite you get, your dining time and so much more.
What Exactly is Aurea on MSC
There are a lot of reasons to choose Aurea as your cruise package, it does cost to upgrade but it the added value worth it?
Before you can determine the worth or value of the upgrade you need to look at the various benefits that come along with the Aurea experience. Then decide whether it’s worth it or if you’d rather save money and book Bella or Fantastica.
It’s worth noting that Aurea is only available when you book a Balcony cabin, or a Suite. You can’t book the Aurea experience with an Inside or Ocean View cabin.
The Aurea experience includes everything that the Bella and Fantastica packages include, but with better options for your cabin and dining times. It also has a ton of extra perks.
Bella, Fantastica and Aurea
Examining each of the experience levels allows you to evaluate the value of Aurea. With Bella and Fantastica, you will get the basics that you would expect which you also get with Aurea:
- Your accommodation, meals in the main dining room and buffet, and live entertainment
- The option to book a discounted drinks package when you book your cruise
- Access to the swimming pools, sports facilities and gym
- Kids clubs
- Earn loyalty points for the MSC Voyagers Club every time you cruise
- The chance to choose your own cabin and location on the ship (this is not for Bella)
- One free change to your cruise (cabin or cruise date)
- Breakfast served in your cabin with free delivery
- 20% discount on a specialty restaurant pre-paid package
But then with the exclusive Aurea experience:
- Pick from the best Balcony cabins and Suites in the most desired locations on the ship
- 24-hour room service – items are charged for, but delivery is free
- My Time Dining – enjoy your dinner whenever you want it
- Free access to the exclusive Solarium deck area, on the Seascape that is Top Deck 19
- Access to the Thermal Spa area (reservations needed) ( my fave perk)
- Bathrobes, slippers and a pillow menu for your room
- 40% discount on a dedicated pre-paid spa package
- 10% discount on all spa treatments purchased on-board
- Priority boarding and luggage drop off
- A welcome package in your cabin or suite, including Prosecco and chocolates
Breaking Down the Aurea Perks
Pick from the best Balcony cabins and Suites in the most desired locations on the ship- this is a nice perk but not one that actually turned the tide for me personally. I love selecting where my cabin is based on the location of other services. But in saying that does it actually change my experience. I would say no;
24-hour room service – items are charged for, but delivery is free- again for me not a big deal as we never once ordered room service on any of our other cruises. Having th option of free delivery is great but would make more sense if there was no charge at all.
My Time Dining – enjoy your dinner whenever you want it- I did not expect this to be a great option at all. Normally we love an assigned seating at the late dinner but I will confess this made our experience very pleasurable.
On the Divina, Aurea was an assigned section but I understand on the Seascape it is an actual set restaurant. One added perk, is your waiter has a special symbol on his name tag which allows him front of line access for your food. This means the food arrives quickly and hot.
Additional Add ons for Aurea
Free access to the exclusive Solarium deck area, on the Seascape that is Top Deck 19- this was a huge value for our money. The exclusive area is reserved for Aurea and Yacht club only. Allowing you better access to loungers on sea days. While there is not a pool there are two spa’s and a private Bar.
Access to the Thermal Spa area (reservations needed) ( my fave perk)- This was the other advantage of Aurea, the thermal spa area was one of our favorite spots on the ship. While a reservation is required we never had an issue with timing. Book your spot each day and relax.
Bathrobes, slippers and a pillow menu for your room- while note really necessary or required it was lovely to have a robe when heading to the spa area.
40% discount on a dedicated pre-paid spa package- we did not take advantage of this option
10% discount on all spa treatments purchased on-board- again we did not take advantage of the option as we are not big ” massage and spa people” usually
Priority boarding and luggage drop off- huge advantage here for getting on and off. although my first MSC Cruise it didn’t really matter as there were huge embarkation issues. Our first cruise followed a party cruise and they couldn’t get the passengers off the ship. This caused a huge backlog and the whole process almost made me want to never book again. We did hear the following week that the process become smooth and seamless so I am all about second chances.
A welcome package in your cabin or suite, including Prosecco and chocolates- This was lovely although word of advice don’t save it for later, open and enjoy. Celebrate the fact you are about to cruise.
What about Wifi and Aurea
Wifi is not included but depending on when you book MSC does offer browsing on one or two devices when you book. As an example both cruises we have booked have included browsing.
FYI Browsing doesn’t work for me as it does not allow use of social media. but you can upgrade to streaming for a fee. Remember though many ports do have a free wife service when you get there so maybe you want to use the cruise as a true vacation from everything.
What drink package is included with the Aurea experience on MSC?
The Aurea experience on MSC Cruises does not include a drinks package. It used to include the Easy drink package, which allowed guests to enjoy a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. This benefit was removed from the Aurea experience in 2022.
Now, the only free drinks that guests get with the Aurea experience is the welcome Prosecco in their cabin and suite on arrival. Guests will need to pay for their own MSC drinks package if they want one. Depending on when you book MSC does often offer the Easy Plus Drink Package upon booking.(which includes drinks up to $10.00 as well as many other inclusions)
While we were worried that we may need to upgrade to Premium, we did find that the Easy
Is Aurea worth it on MSC Cruises?
There’s no simple answer when it comes to deciding whether Aurea is worth it for your MSC cruise. It depends on a number of factors:
- How much the upgrade costs
- your cruise activities
- When you prefer to eat during your cruise
- How much you care about your cabin location
- Thermal Spa
If you were looking for a cheap MSC cruise then it’s not likely to be worth it to you. The Inside or Ocean View cabin option is probably preferred and you can’t get those Aurea. For us the additional cost was about $600.00 for the two weeks and very worth it for the two of us
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