jules815

5 minutes ago, Até said:

I wouldn't be uncomfortable except for the fact that I would have to also be wearing a mask, social distancing, get frequently tested, have limited seating at venues and doing only MSC's isolation bubble excursions.  Plus there would be an increased chance of my cruise being halted due to an outbreak.  If MSC went the vaccination required route none* of that would be required and chances of an outbreak are much less. 

 

*Current rules in the US, hopefully EU and other regulators will follow.

All of this 100%!  

Mariner.  That was our first family cruise, and then 3 more times where we had our good friends, who also had teenagers, join us. Those were our most memorable family vacations, so much fun. We even followed her out to LA in 2009 when she was sailing down to Cabo. Good times.

2 minutes ago, Robkat said:

Thanks for the heads up!

You can still book onto a July 3 Meraviglia ... at least for now.

And who knows what that means!

However, it definitely appears that "things" are happening on the website.

Stay tuned!

Oh, PS ... we see that we currently aren't able to log in to the site.  

I hadn't even tried doing that, but you're right! 

3 minutes ago, sandc4e said:

Contact Southwest - they are great to work with and will probably honor the change even with expiration.

 

Good luck.

I second this! Definitely worth the try. 

1 minute ago, jules815 said:

Orange bar is back. Weird!!

The links to canceled cruises is down as well.  And now I just refreshed my page, and it's missing again.

Orange bar is back. Weird!!

Royal Caribbean just announced a bunch of cancellations, so I immediately went to the MSC website to see if anything was new. (I don't have anything currently booked with RC, but they have an active Cruise Critic page, and since they're an industry leader, I go there for info as well.)

Back to the MSC website...The "Health and Safety" tab, which would take you to a page with a "coming soon" link for Caribbean and Bahamas, and then another link for European Cruises, is currently down.  Expect to see an update there soon'ish.  

Also, wasn't there an orange tab at the top of the page with a link to canceled cruises??  Not there now.

Anyone notice anything else?

Another thing, one night on our after dinner walk, we took a walk all the way to the back of the ship, then took the elevator up at the back to do that bridge thing that's aft. We took that then started walking forward and now we were on the big main pool deck. As we were round the corner from the back we heard live music. Turned out there was a really good salsa band on the stage with the big video screen behind them. There were LOTS of people dancing (they were really good!) and we found a little table and watched. Toward the front of the pool, next to the place that has gelato, there's a bar there that was packed with more people dancing. It looked like a good time.

But it is always nice to be able to escape back to the YC. There really is nothing like it, and we've done some pretty high end suites on Celebrity and RC, and most times (mostly on RC) you'd be lucky to find a seat in the concierge lounge. We ended up buying a drink package ($$$) and not bothering. Which is why for us, YC is the better value if you compare to the others. Not to mention the pool deck...nothing like that on RC or X, unless you go with NCL Haven, which I know is quite a bit more. Haven't sailed on NCL though.

1 hour ago, Cmackdaddy said:

We've done the Yacht club on the Seaside twice and seldom left the YC area. Have a YC suite booked on the Meraviglia this October.

So do we. It was supposed to be on Seaside, but canceled 3 times due to COVID and then last October, they moved us to Mera. Loved Seaside, and it seems like some people prefer it to Mera, but we're very excited to try a new ship and finally get away. And now that it looks like it's really going to happen this time, fun to begin the pre-cruise planning. When we switched our flights (again) we decided to go down 2 days early this time. I've got a hotel booked on mid-beach, but been watching reviews closely. 

28 minutes ago, mafig said:

Hardly any reason to leave the Yacht Club😀  We did go to the theater a couple of times and the casino....that's about it!

My husband and I like to go for a walk around the ship after breakfast and dinner, but other than that, we spent most of our time in the YC, it's really that nice. There's no reason to use any of the other pools, etc. We didn't even use our complimentary meal at the steak house. We did go to the Meet and Mingle, which compared to other cruise lines, was the nicest one we've ever been to. This was on Seaside in 2019.

52 minutes ago, Stallion said:

My law firm has asked for vaccination cards for their records

My daughter is going back to the office tomorrow for the first time. Brand new building for her company in Chicago, and if they want to go without a mask on their floor, they had to submit proof of vaccination. Masks required in common areas.

Link under travel requirements and protocols for "Caribbean and Bahamas"  still says "coming soon." I hope that's working soon.

On 5/29/2021 at 8:53 AM, time4u2go said:

I would not enjoy it either in these "public" areas you describe.  Aren't true chef's tables traditionally in the kitchen?

In 2015 on Brilliance we were in a private dining room not anywhere near public spaces.

10 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

and also Harmony's first full 7 day cruise from Florida fall of 2016

 

 

My husband and I were on the transatlantic bringing Harmony to the US.  

9 minutes ago, lovelife said:

Anthem Windjammer cake selection

Is that the pineapple cake to the right of the carrot??  First time I had that was a poolside buffet on Mariner back in the day. Sooo yummy and moist!

On 5/28/2021 at 3:11 PM, John&LaLa said:

Made it back to Chops

 

Lovely filet, sorry that it's sideways

 

Chimichurri sauce. Looks like I had lamb again

 

Look what I found. Mac n Cheese😁

 

They also serve a nice breakfast for Suites, Pins, and D+

 

 

 

Lot's of omelets were ordered. Typically I do egg white. They're smaller

 

LOVE breakfast at Chops. I grew up not liking eggs...my mom hated them, and I went along with her. First time I tried a Denver omelet was in Chops on Freedom of the Seas, now it's a favorite when we go out to breakfast. I love those little yogurt parfaits they'd have too.   

3 hours ago, cruiserking said:

Sure, why not. But, you can certainly tell the Chef before the dinner that you only like chicken and fish. It's a fun night. Give it a shot. 

 

Jonathan

My daughter and I did this a few years ago on Brilliance.  They approached us about signing up for Chef's Table, but we mentioned that neither of us loved seafood, and that maybe the experience would be wasted on us. He informed the chef, and when plates were brought out with seafood, we had something different, and nobody drew attention to us either. They handled it very professionally. Food and wine were wonderful and service was top notch. If you have an opportunity, it really is a very nice evening.

2 hours ago, Junkhouse said:

A lot of stores here are not requiring masks but 80% of the customers still do. Vaccinated people are more protected by their vaccine then a little virtual signaling piece of material over their face,, according to the science.

My husband and I went to a grocery store (Mariano's, parent company is Kroger), and for the first time they had a sign on the door saying that vaccinated customers didn't have to wear a mask. I heard that our Costco also has the same sign now. Most of their employees weren't wearing masks, but I'd say most of the customers still were. (It was a very windy day and we wouldn't have even seen the sign if my husband hadn't physically flipped it back down. It was taped to the door only at the top of the sign, and the wind was keeping it flipped up, so maybe they didn't see it?) We both had our masks on, but I took mine off once we got inside and I saw some without. Gotta admit, it felt really strange, but we're both fully vaxxed and at some point you have to trust the science and we do. If a business requires masks, I have no problem wearing one. We even saw a couple of people wearing their vaccination cards on lanyards.  Talked to one of them in line, and he said he was more worried about people thinking he was an unmasked anti-vaxxer.

There are businesses in Chicago that check for vaccination status.  Our daughter met co-workers in person for the first time on Thursday night at a bar in Wrigleyville and if you were vaxxed you got a wristband.

1 hour ago, bigblue1952 said:

We are in the same situation.  Our TA checked with MSC and was told that the extra fcc could be used for precruise purchases and the remainder will be obc.

Good to hear it from someone else. Really happy they decided to make it available as OBC too.

Spoke to someone with MSC today, and she told me that we should consider booking the Chef's Table for our upcoming cruise on Mera.  Has anyone done one before with MSC and do you remember what the menu was like?  We've done this a couple of times with Royal Caribbean, and it was a nice experience. 

1 hour ago, drsel said:

I am so glad that you got your FCC, which is a huge amount

did the tweet work or was it your email ?

I'm really not sure what worked. Could have just been a coincidence that everything got taken care of after my Tweet. She told me that she had been listening in on calls yesterday, and happened to notice mine, and all the trouble I've been having getting my FCC. She was able to do something with IT to make it happen. So not only did they email me once everything was changed, I had a call from a VP following up and apologizing for my trouble. Super impressive that happened, since up until now, my experience with MSC customer service hasn't been positive. There's a thread out there now about MSC customer service improving, so maybe this is another example of that.

12 minutes ago, drsel said:

The excess amount will go towards the balance payment of the entire new Cruise fare.

It did, but with the 125% FCC, we have a credit of $428 to be used for online purchases before cruise, or non-refundable OBC.

Was told today by someone in management at MSC that any balance I have after my FCC has been applied to my new booking (I have almost $430), can be used as OBC.  In the past I'd been told that it could only be used for purchases online prior to the cruise. 

Can anyone else confirm this?

UPDATE:  Not only did I get an email, but a phone call from a VP of Call Center Operations. She couldn't have been nicer! Apologized and thanked me for my patience. We chatted for quite a while, and she told me she came to MSC after over 25 years with Royal Caribbean. 

One thing she told me, that I really want to double check, because with my luck I'd get onboard and they'd tell me something different, is that the balance I have because of the FCC, which is almost $430.00, CAN BE USED AS ON BOARD CREDIT.  In the past, I was told that any balance from the FCC could only be used for purchases online pre-cruise.  So that's something different, unless it's been mentioned here and I just missed it. She did say that any remaining balance not used on board would be non-refundable.

Anyway, impressed I got a call in addition to the email.  Now I can relax and start planning.

1 minute ago, Até said:

MSC's protocols were developed in a pre-vaccine environment.  I think if MSC can't adapt they will have a more and more difficult time keeping their customers.  In the US the vaccinated are finally seeing an end to the masking and social distance requirements.  If MSC plans to bring back a cruising experience that looks like our lives six months ago they will be in trouble.

 

There's going to be a significant number of vaccinated people that aren't willing to go back to masks, limited occupancy, etc.... just so the un-vaccinated can get on the ship too.  There will be pressure for the lines to go 95% vaccinated, MSC may choose not to but enough other lines have already said they will.  Customers will make their choices.

This!  While agree that MSC has been successful with their protocols in the European markets, it's a different ballgame in the US.