jules815

1 hour ago, Shippy said:

  We booked our fights from San Francisco to Miami on United along time ago. At random, my husband checked the fights. Both ways totally changed & THEY DID NOT NOTIFY US !

 Our nonstop to Miami changed to a flight to New York with a 3 hour layover. The return changed to a time to early to make it from the ship.

   My husband was so mad he totally cancelled & rebooked with American.

At random he checked today....again, no notice from the airlines....both flights totally changed.

On the way out, not only the flight changed, but our seats. First class but now we are split up on opposites side of the plane

   MORAL OF THE STORY.....do not just worry about what the cruise lines are going to do....

Read an article yesterday about American canceling lots of flights due to labor issues. Hope it all works out for you. 

3 hours ago, little britain said:

Just checked: mine says the same for April! 

That's my plan as well for our YC sailing in October. The way they've worded it, it seems that "anything" would be available, and there would be no need to purchase the Premium Plus or whatever the top tier package is.

15 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

And if it doesn’t, my lounge chair at Pool One will be visited often by the Asst Butler. 😏

Same!  That's one of the reasons my husband wanted to move forward with our cruise. He's never been a big fan of pools on cruise ships, but he LOVED the YC pool set up with the buffet and bar. Don't care which ports we stop at, we just want to get back to the YC. 😊

39 minutes ago, kilkoyne said:

 

A lot can change between now and my cruise. 🙂

That's what we're thinking too, which is why we decided to go ahead with our October booking. 

6 minutes ago, sidari said:

Not happened with the Italian or UK sailings where everyone is tested prior to boarding and checked onboard , why would it happen in Florida ? 

I thought it was happening because some people had mentioned that when they called in to get room assignments (after their room had been switched to a GTY) they were told by reps that certain rooms were blocked off because of limited capacity. This is on Mera for 7-day sailing beginning in September.

Do we know how long ships will be sailing at limited capacity?  And exactly what are the numbers for that?  Are they sailing 75% occupancy or less?

5 hours ago, kidless said:

I found this on MSC website under FAQ. Interesting, sounds like non vaccinated will be required to wear mask even while seated in doors but vaccinated will not. I’m sure exception is if you are actively eating or drinking. 

Royal Caribbean announced their protocols recently too. Vaccinated guests will have a wristband or a special punch on their sea pass card, and it sounds like they'll have venues for vaccinated only passengers. Also, in their main dining room, non-vaccinated guests won't be able to participate in My Time Dining. Specified time only. Vaccinated parents traveling with unvaccinated children will sit in the un-vaxxed dining area with their children.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out once cruising finally starts.

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Hope someone has video's of this..........Nice $136 charge before stepping on the ship and then all the restrictions start. Better opting out looking for a land vacation.

 

I'm sure that is what Royal  is hoping for?

 

So is it like a game of chicken at the pier, to see who goes first.........Royal can not ask you if you had a vaccine.........what do you do just walk up to check in and show that you got vaccinated before anyone says anything to each other?

 

What a joke ! all because of Desantis.

We're sailing on MSC in October. They just released their protocols yesterday, which sound very much like RC. Vaccinated guests will be uploading a copy of their vaccination certificate, and required again to show it at the pier at check-in. They didn't say anything about a wristband or hole punch like RC has though. Been watching protocols on RC and Celebrity. 

27 minutes ago, phissy said:

Yes, this is totally dependent on agent at the other end.

We were told we were GTY because our cabin was for 4 and we were only 2 people.

I pressed her on that fact as we were able to get our cabin selection at time of booking.

(Did not mention that all cabins suddenly became available for sale when they changed itinerary)

As this was a YC stateroom, most will be couples rather than families of 4. 

Asked that we just get our previous cabin reassigned.  Finally, she agreed and send email with confirmation.  

We are also B2B and worked hard to make sure we had same cabin for both weeks.

Interesting. I never got an email confirmation. I think I'm going to have to call and request one.

7 minutes ago, kidless said:

Our cruise is not till October and much can change. Debating whether to make final payment. I’m going want to see what happens in next few weeks. Also what exactly wearing mask indoors means. 

 

We took the FCC for our canceled April 2020 cruise and have been canceled and rescheduled 3 times since then. Same with flights, which luckily American has been good about letting us reschedule. Probably should have gotten a refund at some point, but looked at it as a paid for vacation that we knew would eventually happen. Who knew it would take this long? My husband still thinks some protocols might change between now and October. 

As far as final payment, I'd probably do the same thing and just keep an eye on things for the next couple of week and decide then. 

Hopefully mask indoors will mean until you get to your table or seat. I've been watching how things are being handled on MSC ships in Europe, and I always see people seated without masks.

Not happy either about having to wear a mask while fully vaccinated. Things are loosening up here in Chicago, and I don't think I've worn a mask in a store for the past 2 weeks. 

We're scheduled to sail on Meraviglia in October. So sick of having to rebook flights, hotels, etc.  As my husband pointed out, a lot can happen between now and then, so we're going to take a chance and cruise.

2 minutes ago, geoatl said:

(Sep 18 MSC Meraviglia) I'm on hold with MSC waiting to talk with someone. The on hold message referenced at the top of this thread has been changed to "we're open for sales" and it mentions that they updated their health protocols on the MSCCruisesUSA website. I was worried the web update was going to be more cancellations. Looks like Sep 18 will still happen. Now I just have to get my room "guarantee" switched back to the cabin I selected.  

Just read their Health and Safety Protocols. Masks for everyone!!

4 hours ago, phissy said:

Thank you for the heads up on the stateroom assignments disappearing. 

We did call this morning to have ours reinstated. At first agent claimed we went to guarantee because it was a YC cabin for 4 and we were only 2... Ahhhhh. NO, we already had that cabin before

It was fixed and Yes, ours was showing available for booking and I did notice what you described above.

Next few weeks will be interesting.....patience?

Glad you were able to get your stateroom reinstated.

Next few weeks should be interesting. Wouldn't be surprised if we see another itinerary change, but honestly don't care anymore where we sail to. Bummed we lost San Juan and St. Thomas to Ocho Rios 🙄, but these are different times so we'll just go with the flow and are happy to be on a cruise ship again.

On 6/10/2021 at 1:21 PM, ArthurUSCG said:

MSC requires testing prior to boarding, another before boarding and then a 3rd during the cruise.

Still not sure if this will be part of their protocol for US sailings. I'm supposed to be sailing with them in mid-October, and they've yet to update their website with health and safety protocols for cruises to the Caribbean and Bahamas.

They also just changed our itinerary (eastern Caribbean) without notifying us. We were supposed to have stops in St. Thomas, San Juan (with a late departure), Nassau, 2 sea days, and then their private island, Ocean Cay on our last day. They've scrubbed St. Thomas and San Juan and replaced it with Ocho Rios 🙄 and an extra day at Ocean Cay. We're still going to Nassau 🙄.

Have any of you had changes to your RC itineraries that included St. Thomas and San Juan? 

2 minutes ago, phissy said:

For YC3 onboard, there are cabanas for those cabins on Top Sail that are reserved for those guests.

On OC, I think they are now charging YC3 passengers to use those on shore....guessing it might be  up to YC Concierge for each ship?  (It was some outrageous amount like $400/day)

Almost $500 for the beach front cabanas, and I think $399 for the ones that are set farther back from the water. 

5 hours ago, korpo024 said:

We have a lot OBC during the cruise this summer. Can we use this to buy shore excursions?

Is it OBC, a credit received from your FCC, or a combination of both?

We currently are sitting on $400 OBC ($200 per person) for our October sailing. We also have $428 in a credit from our FCC. 

Was told a few weeks ago that the FCC credit could now be used as OBC. (In the past, they'd been telling us it could only be used for online purchases pre-cruise.) It can also be used for online booking pre-cruise, but then any balance would transfer to OBC. Any OBC is non-refundable. 

Yesterday I called MSC to manage our stateroom (it had changed to a guarantee), and while I was chatting with the rep, I wanted to confirm that she was still showing our FCC credit for over $400. She did, and I mentioned that I'd been told that it could be used as OBC. She said it could, but I would have to notify them to transfer FCC into OBC, it didn't happen automatically. First time I'd heard that.

She also mentioned that I should tell them ahead of time if we wanted to use the FCC for gratuities. But if we had the entire amount moved to OBC, wouldn't they pull grats from that? 

Are beach umbrellas and floating mats included at the YC beach?  Was just checking out our cruise planner and see on Ocean Cay those are available for rental. 

What's amazing to me is how everyone's bookings went to guarantee stateroom assignments. I'm looking at an online booking source now that shows real time room availability, and for our week, ALL ROOMS in YC, (except for ours and one other YC1, and for some reason, the 4 sets of connecting rooms), are showing as available, including the 2 Royal Suites. Those are usually the first to book, and I know until this change, they weren't available. Hopefully the people in those suites know about what's going on and won't lose them. If I do a mock booking of our cruise on the MSC website, it's definitely showing the 2 RS as available. 

Maybe this is some type of glitch and everyone will be switched back into their original room assignment.

18 minutes ago, Chrisfromco said:

We are on the October 2nd sailing on Meraviglia. My cruise planner shows the new itinerary, which is not very compelling!! Two stops at their private island, Nassau, and Ocho Rios doesn't give much variety. Original itinerary was San Juan, St. Thomas, Nassau, and Private Island. Oh well, we are desperate to get back on the ocean so we will stick with it.

 

Update... Now our cabins only list as guarantees, so we'll see what happens??

You can call MSC and have the assign your cabin number. Mine was showing as a guarantee too, and we really wanted the one we had originally selected. I called and they took care of it.

8 minutes ago, optimusprime82 said:

What a mess lol. Was on the phone for nearly an hour, now we're booked for two seven night sailings instead of one fourteen night sailing. Pricing is all screwed up so I have to email the dreaded "ExistingReservations" department (again) to try and get that fixed. We also no longer have our cabin assigned for the first leg of the journey but we were able to get our original cabin for the second portion, I'm including that issue in my email about fixing the pricing. I don't want to switch cabins midway through the cruise.

 

The itinerary shakeup lost us all the stops we were looking forward to, including the brief stop in San Juan which is where we got married and this is our anniversary cruise. We now have four stops in OC scheduled plus a day in Miami (aka bonus "sea day.")

 

What was once a great itinerary from NYC to Miami on the Divina has turned into an uninspiring trip on the Meraviglia. Still looking forward to enjoying the ship and relaxing in our balcony whirlpool (if MSC doesn't screw us out of it) but this is quickly turning into a glorified cruise to nowhere. 

Sorry to hear that you'll be missing San Juan on your anniversary cruise. We were also looking forward to going back, and although we've been to St. Thomas many times, there's a little cafe there downtown that we always go to for lunch (Glady's). Sort of a cruise tradition for us there, since we've done "all the things" in these ports. Nassau and Ocho Rios? Meh. Really is like a cruise to nowhere, but like you, we were really looking forward to relaxing on board and getting back to the Yacht Club. And who knows whether or not the itineraries will change again. Right now on the MSC website, it's showing Meraviglia only sailing every other week in October. I wonder what's up with that?

2 minutes ago, lovemycruisetoo said:

Hope it’s wasn’t mine I’m trying to get back. 🤦‍♀️ 😉

No, it was the one we originally had.  16001.

1 hour ago, optimusprime82 said:

We "were" booked on a 14 night cruise sailing on 10/23/21. Now it's listed as a seven night with a new itinerary versus the old first week (now with two stops in OC). Trying not to freak out since I know they're moving things around but I'm hoping they don't completely screw up our booking. Right now our balance owed still reflects the 14 night itinerary in a whirlpool suite but the cabin number has been removed. Not sure if I should call now or give it a few days to sort itself out. 

If you did your own booking, not with a TA, call now. I did the same and they reassigned the room we had.

1 hour ago, miataman19 said:

Did a mock booking and noticed that my room in The Yacht Club was available to book. Called and got it taken care of. Rep told me they are doing alot of shuffling of itineraries and everything should settle down over the next 2 days. 

Mine is too!  Just went to a website that shows real time room availability. The room I really wanted in YC was available. Called MSC and had them reassign it to us. All taken care of. 

Wow! Mine is changed too. Gone are St. Thomas and San Juan. 

Ocean Cay, Nassau, Sea Day, Ocho Rios, Sea Day, Ocean Cay.

Wonder if these new itineraries are carved in stone or could change again?

On the bright side, we go to Ocean Cay twice, so I'll get a day there without packing on my mind. 😄

17 minutes ago, Geobugs said:

On Nov. 13th MSC Meraviglia would prefer the change from Nassau to Ocean Cay.  Been to Nassau too many times.

Same. Don't leave the ship.