StolidCruiser

Fascinating story.

Thank you for taking the time to detail your experience with the onboard discount offer.

After getting a response, hopefully one would be asked the same question in return about passengers.

Please substantiate your statement of fact regarding the salary construct of employee contracts do not consider the daily gratuity/ service charge arrangement subscribed to most every mainstream cruise line. (I know your facts to be wrong and look forward to you re-educating me on what I know to be accurate.)

OP, you provided a balanced and fair perspective of what you found disappointing on your cruise that was not what you had experienced on prior cruises. Food: disappointing Internet: disappointing COVID protocols: perplexing Service: Inconsistent / misunderstood All fair opinions to express here. However, by doing so you will encounter those that agree with you and those that will not. My 2 cents that others have mentioned: if this cruise on this line disappointed you so greatly to consider taking your business elsewhere, that is exactly what you should do. Only then will you find out if another line will live up to your expectations. Read about those other lines to see what others are saying about those things you found disappointing here (food, internet, COVID protocols, service) to gain perspective. If you so choose, Happy Sailing!

That’s not correct. The taxpayer completes the W—9 and provides it to the entity who would be disbursing the prize (not the other way around). This is the mechanism for the disbursing entity to collect the taxpayer’s identifying information. The taxpayer will likely receive a 1099-MISC for the value of the prize from the disbursing entity. Right theory, wrong forms. 😀

I have and I don’t.

Strange, I was able to mock book one but there were less than a dozen left (if i got the date/ship/cabin right).

It must have been frustrating to get locked out on the balcony before someone could make repair to the malfunctioning handle you reported and not get an apology from someone. Your choice to only sail on newer ships or other lines is probably a wise choice that will have the right biting impact.

Disappointing your family got sick with COVID on your ocean cruise and were poorly treated as those infected with a highly communicable disease. Hope you all recover on land and the recounting of your experience is a warning to others of what to expect if you become infected/ill when sailing while a pandemic is still in full force.

Thanks for another honest review of your experience. It can be frustrating to be frequently be presented with upsells by staff whose job is to do it, not get table service in the buffet and be accommodated to deviate from your chosen fixed dining choice because of inconveniences caused by your off-ship port activities. MSC is a very different line with practices and clientele diverse from other mainstream companies. You found out the hard way your expectations don’t align. Find another line that suits you better and enjoy many happier days sailing.

The wedding party never noticed? Even in a room of 100, 4 strangers (parents and kids) are pretty hard to miss. Even stranger for them to stick around unnoticed to be fed, eat cake and get caught on camera. I give the Crasher Family credit … that takes skill.

The is also a zero -cost option.

It’s not callous at all. It’s blatantly obvious. 👍🏻

The important word to focus on in your reply is “most”. Check out the age requirements for renting a car (without astronomical insurance adders if even offered). Check out the age requirement to consume alcohol. I could go on but you get my point.

Glad to hear others are still enjoying the Glory. I did as well when I first strayed from my Spirit-class Sisters. It is disappointing to hear good behavior and social graces continue on a downward spiral. Perhaps when the economy strengthens moods will correspondingly improve by attrition.

I’m sure if you volunteered your expert services to restructure their poorly designed website, they’d take you up on it. 😀

unless it is served with farva beans and a nice chianti.

Got suckered into responding before getting to this. Dagnabit!!!

Are you familiar with all foreign jurisdictions or just a narrow US-based understanding?

I am intimately familiar with the subject but a certain minority refuse to believe it because it contradicts their perspective that the intended benefactors will never know what is going on when those few dollars are slipped into staff hands at the end of the cruise by giddy guests who think they are “sticking it to the man”.

You get what you pay for.

This is one of the major roadblocks keeping this normally frequent cruiser on land. Just personally not open to squeezing a round of testing into the myriad of other things that have to happen before heading out to sea. Disappointing personal choice but once things wind down further I plan on churning the waters up. 😀