MSC Dubai Cruises

Hey,

Wondering if anyone has been on a MSC Dubai Cruise and used their flights from the UK?

I have one booked for Jan 2017 on MSC Fantasia and have booked MSC flights with the cruise.

They issued the timings for the flights yesterday and its showing the evening departure from Manchester that arrives in Dubai at 07:30AM.

Does anyone know with us arriving that early if we will be sat around all morning waiting to board the ship? I would rather if that’s the case fly out on a earlier flight and stay the night in a hotel in Dubai.

Secondly, when we return from Dubai they have allocated a 07:20AM departure from Dubai back to the UK on the Saturday.

Does anyone know exactly what time they will transfer us from the ship to the airport? I understand why its so early but it will ruin the last night of the cruise with us having to go to bed early and up very early.

Never had a cruise which such strange flight times.

Any experience anyones had with this would be great

Thanks

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You will be taken straight to the ship and boarded by breakfast time . Cabin will probably not be available so remember to take shorts etc in your hand luggage . On the return leg you will probably leave the ship around 3 am :/

You may land in Dubai at 07:30am, but you wont be at the ship much before 10:00am I wouldn't have thought. Dubai airport is massive, and the queues through passport control were horrendous when we passed through them.

As for the return leg, i agree that is not pleasant, but I don't think you'll be able to do much about it. We booked our flights with MSC a few years back, and from memory, we weren't able to change to a different flight. Maybe this has changed now? But wasn't available back then.

Enjoy though. Its a lovely cruise to do!

We did it in January but boarded in Abu Dhabi. We landed at 7.30 and were on the ship around 9.30, we were told the cabins would be ready by midday. We went up to the buffet for breakfast and checked the cabin when we had finished around 10 and it was ready for us. The cabin steward told us he did the arriving guests first and to go on in.

Our flight back was around lunch time and we were off the ship by 8am, so they do take you to the airport early. We thought it was probably so that they could have cabins ready for the new guests which seemed fair.

When the ship is overnighting in Dubai there are passengers coming and going at all hours.

Julie

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm not too fussed now about arriving at 07:30am knowing we will be able to get straight on the ship for breakfast! Can start the day then after a nap.

As for the return I'm going to speak with my TA to see if MSC will change, failing that need to find out if I can remove the flight supplement from my booking and then ask the TA to book the flights and package together.

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In reality you are probably only missing a few hours sleep as you would probably have to be out of your cabin by about 7.00am and off the boat by around 9.30 anyway . We did this cruise last year with our own flights but going this December and chose the fly/cruise as it was far cheaper than we could have booked ourselves.

In reality you are probably only missing a few hours sleep as you would probably have to be out of your cabin by about 7.00am and off the boat by around 9.30 anyway . We did this cruise last year with our own flights but going this December and chose the fly/cruise as it was far cheaper than we could have booked ourselves.

Yeah I suppose your right in what you say, I guess they will want us off the ship early regardless.

Did you sail MSC? Was it worth it? This is my first Dubai cruise and haven't sailed with MSC for a few years

I sailed with MSC 4 times now including out of Dubai in the Orchestra - have booked Fantasia from Dubai in December and Divina in Caribbean next Feb . They are good value cruises in lovely boats

I agree that MSC seem to do a really good deal with the flights on these cruises, much cheaper than we could have done ourselves.

Are they using Abu Dhabi as an embarkation port again this year, as the ship does not overnight there you would get a daytime flight, could you switch to this instead of Dubai?

We did a similar cruise with Costa a few years ago (also very enjoyable)and our return flight home then was at 3am:eek:. The thing with Dubai is that unlike many other airports, it is open for 24 hours so you do get a lot of flights at strange times.

Julie

Hi... I was looking at this too from Glasgow and was quoted similarly timed flights... have queried it and instead of the return flight being 0730 hours we have managed to change it to 1445 hours... the UK flights are operated by Emirates so if you check their website you will see alternative flight times which are generally the same price with Emirates... hope you get it sorted...

Hey,

 

Wondering if anyone has been on a MSC Dubai Cruise and used their flights from the UK?

 

I have one booked for Jan 2017 on MSC Fantasia and have booked MSC flights with the cruise.

 

They issued the timings for the flights yesterday and its showing the evening departure from Manchester that arrives in Dubai at 07:30AM.

 

Does anyone know with us arriving that early if we will be sat around all morning waiting to board the ship? I would rather if that’s the case fly out on a earlier flight and stay the night in a hotel in Dubai.

 

Secondly, when we return from Dubai they have allocated a 07:20AM departure from Dubai back to the UK on the Saturday.

 

Does anyone know exactly what time they will transfer us from the ship to the airport? I understand why its so early but it will ruin the last night of the cruise with us having to go to bed early and up very early.

 

Never had a cruise which such strange flight times.

 

Any experience anyones had with this would be great

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Enjoy your cruise.

Did you manage to change the flights after you booked or at the time of booking . I might try ringing this morning at a later flight would be much better

No such luck on the gatwick flight on 7.30 am . And the staff member was really rude :/

Haven't sailed MSC in Dubai but Costa 4 times but it is pretty much the same approach because of the timings of the flights coming into Dubai. You have passengers coming in on the evening of the last night of the previous cruise, then arriving the next morning and through the night. You have people leaving at various times just about ranging of a full 24 hour period. It is a bit weird but it does work - just a bit confusing compared to your usual 7 night cruise where people tend to arrive within a 3-5 hour window and are disembarked within about 2 hours or less.

You have to watch with the early morning flights, some are the day before, so although the ship has already arrived, they may not let people on until around 3pm (although luggage is whipped away right away) as there may still be too many onboard from the cruise just finishing.

If that happens to you, the terminal is not great for hanging around in. Options are to take one of the free shuttles to a shopping mall, or just grab one of the many, cheap and reliable taxis and go and do some touristy stuff in Dubai or if you think you will be too tired to wander around sights or shops, get a day pass to a beach club or a hotel with great beach and pool facilities.

Hey,

 

Wondering if anyone has been on a MSC Dubai Cruise and used their flights from the UK?

 

I have one booked for Jan 2017 on MSC Fantasia and have booked MSC flights with the cruise.

 

They issued the timings for the flights yesterday and its showing the evening departure from Manchester that arrives in Dubai at 07:30AM.

 

Does anyone know with us arriving that early if we will be sat around all morning waiting to board the ship? I would rather if that’s the case fly out on a earlier flight and stay the night in a hotel in Dubai.

 

Secondly, when we return from Dubai they have allocated a 07:20AM departure from Dubai back to the UK on the Saturday.

 

Does anyone know exactly what time they will transfer us from the ship to the airport? I understand why its so early but it will ruin the last night of the cruise with us having to go to bed early and up very early.

 

Never had a cruise which such strange flight times.

 

Any experience anyones had with this would be great

 

Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have you considered staying on in Dubai when the cruise ends. It might be worth asking MSC if they can arrange this for you. You could then have more time to explore Dubai itself and more options for return flights.

I have done the cruise around the Emirates twice already with MSC and once with RCI and will be on MSC Fantasia on 17th Dec. I just love the UAE and have son and his family based there so it is a favourite destination for me.

I am sure you will enjoy exploring this part of the world and good luck with your plans.

Suzanne