How long until your next MSC cruise??

19 days to go. Orchestra - Genoa to Caribbean. Packing stated

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on as I'll be doing the reverse sailing back to Europe in April

42 days to our first MSC cruise over Christmas on Fantasia.

Then we stay onboard for the New Year.

A new experience for us but one we are looking forward to.

My loyalty to MSC has pretty much disappeared though.

 

Mine went when they devalued loyal customers and the Black card and then added insult to injury by offering Black card and other benefits to people who had never sailed with them .... :mad:

Ditto.

At one stage I had 3 forward MSC bookings - now none. I also don't envisage booking with them in the next 2 years.

Loyalty is a 2 way street.

Annie

Ditto.

 

At one stage I had 3 forward MSC bookings - now none. I also don't envisage booking with them in the next 2 years.

 

Loyalty is a 2 way street.

 

Annie

Let me know , if you find a cruise for the same money duration and loyalty perks though, we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black, i can it it would get o you as you worked hard for it, but can you get the same from any other line ????

Let me know , if you find a cruise for the same money duration and loyalty perks though, we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black, i can it it would get o you as you worked hard for it, but can you get the same from any other line ????

As a UK Solo cruiser, MSC often won't sell us a cabin.

Annie

PS What loyalty perks BtW??

we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black,

How can you be Black card if you have only sailed once? unless of course it is via the stupidity of the new scheme!

we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black,

 

How can you be Black card if you have only sailed once? unless of course it is via the stupidity of the new scheme!

Yes it is, they gave us black as we are Diamond on Cunard, makes no sense to me, cant workk out why they did it either

I'll be very interested to hear how you get on as I'll be doing the reverse sailing back to Europe in April

Will do. Really looking forward to it

6 days :)...First MSC, first "not summer weather" cruise, first balcony :);):)

My first MSC cruise late May 2016. Been on most other lines so looking forward to it, but I have two NCL cruises first !!

The May cruise is from Venice on the Magnifica, 7 nights after a 2 night stay on the island in Venice and after the cruise, by train to Lake Garda for a further 3 nights, a treat for my 70th birthday.

As a UK Solo cruiser, MSC often won't sell us a cabin.

 

Annxie

 

PS What loyalty perks BtW??

Exactly!

If you can find on they will deign to allow us to book, the price is astronomical.

Black card status earned from spending tens of thousands with them - pretty much worthless now.

Costa re still reasonable often only charging 30% solo supplement.

I cannot envisage booking another cruise with MSc unless they change strategy once more.

In the meantime, plenty of other options to spend my holiday budget on.

Will be taking my 3 cruise on MSC June 11,2016. Grandson and I have cruised Poesia and Divina. This will be DH first MSC cruise.Not going for itinerary love the ship and want to share with DH.

First MSC cruise on the Musica in January from Dubai ... excited :D

Yes it is, they gave us black as we are Diamond on Cunard, makes no sense to me, cant workk out why they did it either

It's really quite simple and brilliant. They are trying to steal loyal customers away from the other cruiselines. And succeeding very well, it would appear. ;);)

And I've also heard that cruiselines much prefer new customers, who tend to spend more onboard, over 'loyal to the brand' customers who know more about how to save money and get the best deal and/or cabin for their money.

Maybe it's just an American thing.....it happens all the time on this side of the pond. :cool:

Cheers,

Alison

While they may be "stealing" customers from other cruise lines I doubt that many will sail on anything other than what sails out of Miami! this will not keep them afloat in years to come without retaining their now no longer loyal customers.

While they may be "stealing" customers from other cruise lines I doubt that many will sail on anything other than what sails out of Miami! this will not keep them afloat in years to come without retaining their now no longer loyal customers.

So right and the customers they steal will write negative reviews because they are really NOT loyal to MSC and it's probably a very different experience then what they are use to. Carnival loyalist all most always dislike MSC but they love cheap prices, bargains and deals. I don't think MSC has quite realized yet the importance of CC. Many take the reviews posted here seriously and definately into consideration when choosing a cruise.

The Caribbean looks ok for us as a next cruise.

While they may be "stealing" customers from other cruise lines I doubt that many will sail on anything other than what sails out of Miami! this will not keep them afloat in years to come without retaining their now no longer loyal customers.

Couldn't agree more! I can't wait for the reviews from the new Black Card holders who've never sailed MSC before :rolleyes:

Bea ... I wonder how many will mention that fact if they write a review ?

Bea ... I wonder how many will mention that fact if they write a review ?

I suppose I'd be expecting them to write their reviews from that very perspective, Dave, comparing and contrasting the benefits of MSC top tier "loyalty" benefits to what they've received elsewhere. Methinks MSC is going to fall very short of expectations.

On topic, my next MSC cruise is in 5 months time. I've 3 booked in total with MSC which were booked with the 20% discount (before the new Voyager's Club came into being). I doubt I would have booked them otherwise. I'm just off Divina's TA to Miami - there were so many onboard who said "Never again!" and I totally agree with their reasons for saying it!

Bea ... What were the issues on the TA ? One reason we never booked any future cruises before the 20% ended was down to the watering down of the club and booking in advance would in no way change any of that.

Bea ... What were the issues on the TA ? One reason we never booked any future cruises before the 20% ended was down to the watering down of the club and booking in advance would in no way change any of that.

I had the cruises booked before the new "benefits" and reduction of discounts were announced, Dave. In other words, I'd chosen them as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction to the discount reduction.

In regards to the TA - Embarkation at Barcelona was beyond chaotic. I've never seen such disorganisation in 10 cruises with MSC! I heard that Genoa the previous day was as bad if not worse!

There were very many complaints about the food. Those in YC were very unhappy, I believe. For my part, I was very disappointed with how cold the food was. My previous cruises in the last couple of years had improved immensely in that regard.

The reduction in the number of crew was very noticeable and service was extremely slow at mealtimes. To add insult to injury, the maitreD' came to our tables on several nights to usher us out so they could prepare for the next seating. On one night, he arrived just as I was getting my cruisecard back from our waiter! My father was blowing fuses as sometimes we didn't receive our first course 'til 7pm at a 6pm seating. So for the mD' to come along at 8pm was a bit rich!

The immigration process, which took place on the day we arrived in St Thomas, was a disgrace. I believe that was the US Immigration's fault. Some of the crew had to stand in a queue for 5 hours (I'm not kidding!!). They were exhausted for the rest of the cruise as a result. Some passengers weren't called 'til 3.30pm or later which meant they couldn't leave the ship to visit the port! The process began at 8am and nobody knew how long we'd be waiting 'til we were cleared. Fortunately we were done and dusted by 11am but it felt like longer. Information was (as usual) non-existant. People queued for ages before discovering that the green card had to be filled in prior to access to the theatre where the process was taking place. Nobody had mentioned green cards - it was just luck that a smoking buddy of my DH gave him a couple in the smoking room and told him we'd have to fill them in. When we were called to attend, there was chaos and mayhem at the entrance to the theatre.

The shows were below par. There was a whole new group of entertainers who hadn't worked together beforehand. The Pirates show was cancelled 2 evenings running - once as a result of the immigration process being held in the theatre which took all day so the company couldn't rehearse. This meant that for 2 nights they had to hastily come up with something else. In fairness, they did a Beatles tribute with a woman and man sitting singing while a collage of Beatles images displayed in the background. That took a heck of a lot of work to put together at short notice!

Priority disembarkation was a joke! After waiting in the lounge for nearly 2 hours to disembark, we stood for an hour at the carousel waiting for our bags to appear. Others, with later colour codes, could be seen leaving the terminal before us. There were no seats anywhere for those who aren't able to stand for long periods (including my mother). It was after 11am before we finally left the terminal. Luckily, we didn't have a plane to catch so our stress levels weren't quite as bad as others'.

Having said all that, we had a fantastic time. There were more English speakers onboard - many of them from Ireland! - than I've ever experienced and we met some terrific people.

Bea ... We sailed on Poesia to FLL from Barcelona and there were no problems then for us, sailing Divina to Miami from Venice was another matter!

You have to wonder how they can get things so wrong? I mean having food that is supposed to be hot, delivered hot cannot be that difficult unless the food is not being collected when it should have been.

St Thomas and US immigration? what a total joke, the usual Left hand does not know what the Right hand is doing farce having suffered it on two occasions, between them they could not organise a walk around the ship!

We though were lucky on both occasions in getting off the ship before 11 am.

The issues with the shows sounds somewhat like our trip when they changed all the wines and other drinks in Venice and the bar tenders were having to make cocktails from their own hand written notes!

The same shambles happened when we left the ship in Miami, people we knew who left an hour before we did were still at the carousel waiting for their luggage when we got there! the excuse was that they were not used to having so many passengers there? so what was the excuse this time I wonder.

Based on the customer service and mis-representation of the services/amenities offered for the price we paid on a cruise in December, 2014, we will never book with MSC again. The horrible customer service and highly questionable business practices are cited in the ranking of MSC by the US Better Business Bureau (an "F") and by complaints files with the Federal Maritime Commission.

I'm cruising the Divina for the first time in May,2016, and can't wait. I totally disregard the negatives and will make up my own mind. I do agree about their practices however. When I booked online, I charged the DEPOSIT to my card. I later learned they charged the whole cruise in full. It took several calls to customer service, who had to contact Italy, and it was finally resolved. I will never pay anything on line with them. I'll call, and get conformation. I never had this problem with NCL, Carnival, or RCCL.