Sancho_proudfoot

We watched ep 1; to be Frank, I didn't see much that would encourage me to cruise with virgin, and I did see a few things that  would actively discourage me!

(The "Foodie" guy greeting 'sailors' as they boarded would turn me right off!)

We've used Assured Screening on the past, especially when we needed  PCR tests before travel.

Just looked at their website for LFTs ahead of our cruise in September.   £11.99 each. Order inside 30 days of departure.  They post the kit(s) out. When you're ready,  do the test   then email  a photo of the test cassette alongside your passport ID page. 

Certificate emailed back within 12 hours ( or minutes  if it's in office hours).

On 6/4/2022 at 3:07 AM, broadwaybaby123 said:

You may not have a choice.  A guaranteed cabin only means that you will be guaranteed to be on the ship, but you won't find out what cabin you're in until you arrive on the ship. 

Not necessarily.  We're  booked in a guarantee cabin sailing on 11 September,  and we already have the cabin number!

We live in the North East  so its a 7 hour drive to Southampton for us, so we always travel the day before sailing.

We use the Premier Inn in Eastleigh fir overnighting.  Easy to find, off the motorway, clean comfortable  room, decent bar/ restaurant for dinner and breakfast.   ( they use dynamic pricing, so keep checking).

We book parking with ABP (as has been mentioned  above). Right alongside the terminal  and retain your keys.

These arrangements may cost a tad more, but it works for us.

I'd say Yes, a good CD can impact positively on a cruise. On our first ever cruise, 14 years ago, on the brand new Indy, we had Ken Rush. I know he's loved and hated equally on CC  but we loved everything he did.

We've had a few good 'uns since - Marc Walker,  Joff Eaton, who have helped make our cruises memorable,  and of course we've had a few instantly forgettable CDs.

2 minutes ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

You can tell is it's forecast to be rough - sick-bags are put out on all the stair landings.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Thankfully, I have yet to be seasick - ever.

We find that cruises in Europe (or the Far East) garner much more formal attire among passengers than cruises in the US or Caribbean.   We're  on the Anthem in September ( out of the UK) and I fully expect a significant  percentage to be in tuxes/gowns/etc. I'm certainly  taking mine!

2 hours ago, eastender said:

Never been out of Southampton before and hear stories of rough seas in the Bay of Biscay. How was is for you?

We've sailed out of Southampton  many times.   With a few exceptions  we find the Bay of Biscay to be rough/windy/cool.  We plan ahead for  inboard things to do on those days.

We are (finally ) getting back to cruising for the first time in over 3 years, sailing on Anthem of the Seas in September. 

I gather that in addition  to our vaccination  certificates we need a negative  covid test, no more than 2 (3?) Days before sailing.

Do we need a full PCR test or can we book a Lateral Flow Test ( both Boots and Lloyds locally are offering these).?

(I've had a read of the Royal caribbean pages, and got confused by our American  cousins  talking about NAAT)

Thanks

MSC have cancelled all sailings (bar the 2 ships currently sailing) throughout November.

We are booked to sail on 14 November; booked in May LAST year, so covered by the insurance at the time.

Whether we actually sail remains to be seen!

Our final payment date to the TA was, strictly speaking, 1 August. The TA has been quite helpful in delaying demanding payment while they haggle with MSC, since our booking on the Seaview was arbitrarily changed to the Fantasia.

Ultimately, MSC doubled their compensation offer to OBC of €400. However they needed payment by this Friday, or they would cancel due to non-payment (so a forfeiture by us).  

MSC admit there is only a 50/50 chance of us sailing. The 'Schengen only' policy may still apply the FCO are still saying"don't cruise" and "don't go to Spain" ( departure is from Barcelona).

They did offer a no fee ' lift and shift' to next year, but we would lose the money on our already booked, paid for and now ticketed flights, which is c£1100.

In the end, we paid up last night, a shade under £6000. Our TA says if MSC cancel, we will get a total refund, flights and all, but warned it may take until the end of March 2021 to actually get the money back.

For caution, we paid by credit card ( as soon as the sum appeared on the cc account we cleared it from the savings a/c).

We really were caught between a rock and a hard place here, so now we sit and wait.

If we knew we could "lift and shift" or we knew MSC will cancel we'll happily pay up now and sail sometime in 2021. If WE cancel now it would not only be the deposit we'd lose but (probably) our flight costs. ( The TA arranged the whole package, including flights to Barcelona and back from Dubai. These have now been ticketed. We have also arranged (and prepaid) a hotel in Barcelona (we never fly out on the day of the cruise departure).)

We booked in May 2019 for departure 14 November 2020. We are in the UK, so not Schengen area. Currently the FCO say we cannot fly to Barcelona to join the ship. 

MSC are, so far, ignoring our TAs requests for more information, and they won't speak to me as we booked through a TA.

Although technically past our final payment date our TA is kindly extending the date until we get clarity from MSC. 

In the interim, though, we're in limbo. If we aren't going, we would book a land based vacation instead, just to get a break. We can't do that until we know what's happening with the cruise.

The latest amendment to the FCO advice narrows it down to "sea-going" ships, so would appear to allow river cruising, which seems a tad illogical.

I'm now going around in circles trying to find out some accurate details. We booked through a large UK TA. MSC have changed the booking from the Seaview to the Fantasia. We gather we get €200 OBC by way of "compensation".

My view is that as we have been moved from Seaview, in an Aurea suite with a whirlpool on the balcony to the Fantasia (older, smaller, less "wow"ship) to a cabin somewhere on board ( haven't been told where, or what cabin, or what it has to offer) we are, effectively being downgraded. As such, l believe the whole cruise should be repriced downwards, as we are getting a lesser offering.

I cannot talk to the TA, as their phone lines for existing bookings is "temporarily" switched off.

MSC won't talk to me as we booked through the TA.

Final balance due date is looming.  I am reluctant to hand over £000s without being 100% sure of what I'm getting.

Frustration City!

On 6/21/2020 at 6:02 PM, marcoigna said:

Our Seaview cruise Rome to Dubai this year is now on fantasia.   Hmmmm. Decisions 

We're also wondering whether to stick with it or bale out. A lot depends on MSC repricing the cruise.

On 6/21/2020 at 6:51 PM, cruiser man 60 said:

We're on this and just noticed that change , not happy as had an Aurea cabin with large balcony and Fantasia a lot older ship.

Me too, were joining at Barcelona, in Aurea whirlpool suite, now switched to Fantasia. As yet no details on what cabin, or whether there will be a price adjustment to allow for the downgrading of the ship. Compensation is a meagre €200 OBC.

14 hours ago, stuart2468 said:

Bagged a cracking deal on a 7 night cruise from Valencia to Barcelona. But it appears the sailing has been cancelled. I cant access the booking on the website, and looking at new bookings, there are no other sailings on Fantasia during November once the 07/11/20 departure has commenced from Genoa. 

 

Am i right in thinking the ship will then commences its repo to dubai? Might i be lucky enough to get a place on the repo instead? 

On 14 November Fantasia departs Barcelona for Dubai, arriving 4 December. This was originally scheduled to be Seaview, but they're keeping her in S America and using Fantasia instead ( only know this for sure as we were booked on this itinerary on Seaview and have been switched to Fantasia)

15 hours ago, emmas gran said:

 

I have that's how I could tell you where to find it!!

Sorry I meant that l had now read it!

1 hour ago, emmas gran said:

The announcement is on MSC uk home page scroll down to news and the CEO announcement is there

 

Thank you, now read it.

17 hours ago, cruiser man 60 said:

The compensation amounts are in announcements, 200euros OBC for balcony cabin and above for 7 days or more don't think that will buy a YC upgrade

Thanks for that. Do you have a link to the formal announcement from MSC? All I seem to be able to find is a paraphrasing by others.

29 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

I just tried to get into my booking for March 13th 2021 on Seaview and it shows Fantasia but no cabin -should be YC

more worrying is the date of the cruise shows as 10th to 29th April which doesn't help us as we have booked flights and have other arrangements in April

I can't get on through "manage my booking" but I can get in via "web login". Like you, it shows Fantasia; the dates are the same, but, like you, no cabin number, just "G0000" which is slightly disturbing.

After all the discussion on here, I rang MSC UK offices. I was on hold for 35 minutes, before speaking to an agent. The reason I was on hold for so long was that all the staff were in briefings about the upcoming changes.

I was, of course, only interested in my booking, originally on MSC Seaview, from Barcelona to Dubai through the Suez canal, 21 nights, on 14 November.

MSC confirmed that Seaview is NOT going to be in the Med this Autumn. Our booking has been transferred to MSC Fantasia, same dates, times and itinerary.

This has all been actioned in the last hour.

They are writing to our TA, confirming the changes, and revised pricing and offering compensation, although this early after the change was made, no indication as to how much.

So, I don't know now. We had an Aurea suite with a whirlpool on the balcony

 We will still have an Aurea suite, but no whirlpool. Maybe if the compensation is enough, we could upgrade to YC.

I don't know what to do........

31 minutes ago, cruiser man 60 said:

Seaview is not operating in Med now , Fantasia is taking over Dubai sailings and Grandiosa taking over Virtuosa sailings as well as other changes to ships/itineraries. Check your account online and see what changes you have !!

I would check online if I could, but I get the above-quoted error message currently. Getting decidedly twitchy now!