cruiseguyinorl

As of this morning, 2355 booked for 3/17 Meraviglia.

Bret

At the moment, I am at 59,300 though I depart 3/17 on the Meraviglia. Also, this is not a status match. All earned. First MSC Cruise was on the Orchestra January of 2009.

Would also be interested to hear from people if they were to make a new top tier membership level, what additional benefits would you think appropriate?

Bret

Been there 3 times (Jan '20, Oct '21, Nov '21). Haven't noticed any unpleasant odors.

Bret

Most of my clients have been getting their cabin assignments two days prior to sailing. In fact, I leave Thursday on the Meraviglia and don't have mine yet. There are exceptions of course as one just got theirs yesterday for a sailing next month.

Bret

Deck 8 is open in October. Not sure when it changes.

Bret

4 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Prior to covid the reps were not this bad. 

Prior to COVID they were actually MSC employees. Now MSC has hired 3rd party "call centers" and the agents aren't familiar with cruises in general - all script based. There are still some true MSC agents that answer the phones and you might get lucky with one of those.

MSC Cruises today announced that it will base one of its ships in New York City. The MSC Meraviglia will operate year-round sailings from the homeport starting in April 2023.  

The ship’s program will include six- to 11-night cruises to the Caribbean, Bermuda, New England and Canada, with many of the itineraries visiting Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve - the company’s private island destination in The Bahamas. 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/26964-msc-cruises-to-operate-year-round-from-new-york-city.html

I find it interesting that they are doing a whole season there, not just Canada/New England.

Bret

Their offices are not at the port. They are in an office building in northwest Ft Lauderdale. You can get into the reception area but don't know what good it would do as I don't know if anyone would speak with you. There's a nice ship model to look at though. Lol.

If you just got this email today, most of their Health Care Heroes discounts changed as of today. There are no more discounts for health care workers on Yacht Club Cabins. Guess they don't deserve something too nice. And I no longer see any 50% discounts, only 30%. Not saying they aren't there, I just know that sailings that had 50% yesterday are now at 30% today. And I imagine some have gone from 30% to 0%. 

All that being said, since you booked before today, the old discount should apply. This situation may not apply to your particular case, but thought everyone should know they have watered down the program.
 

6 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Here is what can happen to you and these are all from personal experience.

You can be booted out of YC and stuck in a regular balcony cabin with no reduction in fare less than 4 weeks from sailing.

You can have your room taken away.

You can have them mysteriously charge you 30% more less than 4 weeks from sailing for cruise paid in full last July, which in my case is over $1800 for a B2b in two weeks. 

Just pay it they say and they will fix it later.

They still have not fixed stuff from last year yet.

 

If you like refinement, then you probably won't like the circus.

 

Stay as far away as you can!

Or none of this can happen which has been the case with my 25 cruises with MSC. Just sayin'.

Bret

Been on the Divina 11 times. Never had an issue with standing room only or overcrowding in general. If you happen to like old school jazz, there is a group on the Divina at the end of October that are mostly seniors. Think you can find their website by searching for jazzfest at sea.

Bret

Currently 1118 guests booked for this Sunday's 02/27 Meraviglia.

Bret

I'm guessing that since MSC uses a 3rd party contractor for most of their call center work, it's somehow tied to availability of their workers. It was rather amusing one time in the not to distant past, when I heard the person next to my "MSC" agent trying to sell a necklace for QVC. It's always refreshing when I actually get an MSC employee as they usually are pretty "with it".

Bret

Majority of eDocs seem to be saying 10:00. Expect a text a couple of days prior with an updated time. At least that is how it has been working. Honestly can't remember about the hair dryers.

Bret

You can't apply the 5+15 as their system won't allow it. But you can get the regular 5% VC discount to combine with the HEAL30. If it's not already, have them add MSCCLUB5 in the discount field.

Bret

The talk of non-refundable deposits started many years ago during a discussion that I and several other large volume TA's for MSC had with their VP of Global Sales who was in town from Geneva. He presented his concern that a large number of people would book YC a year or two out then go to cancel at final payment time. This caused two problems. One for TA's being that clients who wanted to book a YC now were seeing them sold out for sailings far in the future. And obviously for MSC, a loss of revenue if those cabins that canceled did not resell as they generate a large amount of revenue even with the limited number cabins. Plus, they couldn't put those cabins on sale as it would devalue the YC product.

So the question became, how do you not tie up the inventory because of a small deposit that can be refunded. He had two answers. One was the non-refundable deposits that we are now seeing today. That effectively reduces that cancellation rate to a negligible amount. His second was to charge an exorbitantly high amount for YC deposits because typically speaking, the more money someone has invested, the less likely they are to cancel.

Now please don't take any of this as defense of the policy. Just trying to help out in understanding how it came about.  From the business side, it is a good idea. From the consumer side, it remains to be seen. As a consumer, I guess it helps that more YC inventory will theoretically be available. Obviously those that wish to cancel for a covered reason and have travel insurance, will get their money back. Those that are cancelling for non-covered reasons are the exact ones this new policy is targeting anyway.

Technically, the wording of non-refundable YC deposits has appeared on confirmations for a long time. Only recently did it become enforced. Still not saying I agree with it, though I understand why it has finally happened.

Bret

I also have been told directly they do not supply distilled water. So @ready2cruzagain it isn't just you.

Bret

4 hours ago, FrostyJoe said:

  I would highly recommend travel insurance that covers the cruise/state side. 

Travel insurance is required for non-US citizens or boarding will be denied. It must be purchased from country of residence and specifically state that coverage for COVID-19 is included.

Another issue I have run into for my non-US guests is the vaccination certificate. The COVID-19 vaccination certificate must contain: personal identification (at a minimum, full name and date of birth) that match the passport, name of official source issuing the record, vaccine manufacturer and date(s) of vaccination. Must be in English, Italian, German, French or Spanish. Also, this must be in paper form, not electronic.

Generally speaking, though not always, the points are awarded to whichever passenger is listed first or as passenger one on the reservation.

3 hours ago, mushroom said:

I printed out my e-docs but am unable to print out the boarding pass.

Not sure what you printed out exactly as your eDocs are your boarding pass. If you have something in the packet that says Embarkation Form and a Health Questionaire (one for each passenger) and luggage tags, that is all there is.

3 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Definitely no need to worry, we sail in 23 days and still can't print out our edocs.  Says they will be ready at 20 days.

Usually they can be done way before then. Go back in and check that the passport issue and expiration dates were retained when you saved the information. That has been the issue for all my clients over the past couple of months. Could always be something up with that sailing though. It is MSC after all. 🤪

Bret

Make sure you call early. When you speak to CS, ask them to make sure the SR was routed to Inventory not just Special Needs. Also asked if it has been "actioned" at all. If not, request they send a follow up. They are the ones that have to reassign the cabin. And, of course, that department is across the pond so their work day is done around noon east coast US time.

Don't know what type of HC you booked but if you are on the Seashore on the 26th, there is only one balcony HC open. A few interiors and some YC's also. Hence the urgency. And although it's not a bad idea, the threat of or an actual ADA complaint won't get them to do it any faster, if at all.

This page lists some contacts that may help. https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/msc-cruises/

I can tell you Sarah and Albino are not the right ones to go to, but an email to Massimo or Rick may get something accomplished. Good luck.

Bret

Yes, oxygen concentrators are allowed.

Bret

3 hours ago, Stockjock said:

How far from the sail date were they assigned?  Far enough out to possibly cancel and rebook if they didn't like the assignment?

Occasionally I'll see some sooner but most are no more than 30 days out and a majority about two weeks prior to sailing.

Bret

7 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Now, you can usually chose your specific cabin if Fantastica, but all Bella cabins are now initially unassigned.  The question is, does a good chance remain for an upgrade with a non-assigned Bella cabin?  Or are things now different, so if you book Bella it's now more likely you'll get exactly what you booked?

Two out of three clients were upgraded to balconies this week from non-balcony guarantees. The other poor person was assigned an interior that they paid for.

Bret

The once a day cabin service was technically part of the US restart plan to minimize crew contact with guests. However, as mentioned, some seem to be doing it twice a day and others not.

Bret