Sancho_proudfoot

Only done B2B once, on Freedom of the Seas, out of Port Canaveral. First week was Western Caribbean, then back to Port Canaveral, then Eastern Caribbean for the second week. We kept the same stateroom. On turnround day we took a trip to Kennedy Space Centre. We were given our Seapass cards before setting off, so just breezed back on board on arrival back at the terminal.  Would do it again, in an instant, if weeks 1 and 2 were different itineraries.

12 hours ago, gadaboutgal said:

I just checked for my winter MSC reservationa on the MSC Travel

Agent Booking Site and see that it is having problems.I can't access anything and get only: ERROR CODE SYS_005 - No message found under code 'PREPAID_001' for locale 'en_US'.

I have January and February booked on Seaside in an accessible cabin.  On their MSC guest site, only the first cruise shows and it is now on Meraviglia with a guaranteed cabin.

At first I panicked definitely don't want to be on Meraviglia as we have been on it and find that it doesn't compare to our great experiences on Seaside.

But I will wait a couple of days and see if/when they fix their system before I do any cancellations. 

I have a booking on the Seaview for November in the Med. I get the same error message. Hoping it still goes ahead, it's our first MSC cruise and our first Suite cruise!

On 6/20/2020 at 4:24 PM, iancal said:

We go to the UK all the time.  We get tracked by cameras on the high street, cameras on the roads.  We are certainly not paranoid about it.

 

There are many ways to track people.   Credit cards, cell phone stats.  

 

Many of the covid tracking applications delete data that is 14 days or older.  It is of no use.  

 

If tracking can be used to reduce the incidence of covid then I am all for it.  Besides, is it mandatory or voluntary?

And one current suggestion is that when you finally get to visit the pub again, you have to register as you arrive, for tracking purposes.

On 6/20/2020 at 4:19 PM, gerryuk said:

Well the state of emergency in Spain officially ends tomorrow, however the Spanish government have announced that their cruise ports are to remain closed indefinitely. 

As far as Spain are concerned they do have something of a history for changing "indefinite" to "ends tomorrow" overnight.

I can see this actually going the other way, and a third seating being introduced to enable social distancing around the tables.

Well, everyone is entitled to their opinions. I personally like and trust Calder. Others don't. That's fine.

1 hour ago, Beardface said:

Define "normal"

 

If you're asking specifically about quarantines, social distancing, not being allowed to mentally separate yourself from the pandemic going on in the world while on the ship... Yeah, you're going to be seeing this for a while.  Mandatory quarantines will likely be implemented for anyone coming back from a cruise, and you'll likely need a signed note from your doctor stating you are healthy before you'll be allowed on the ship.

 

Most countries are going to be very conservative on allowing people back into their countries, even if those same countries are acting like complete morons within the borders (looking at us, United States).

I disagree with the bits in bold.

I heard Simon Calder, travel editor of "The Independent" on the radio the other day. While accepting he isn't a doctor I do respect his opinion on travel matters.

Amongst other things he said: 

he doesn't believe the 14 day quarantine on arrival in the UK will be in place beyond the end of July

A caller said they had seen an advert for a great holiday to Portugal in mid July at a really bargain price. Calder's advice was "go ahead and grab that bargain, I'm very confident you'll be able to travel".

Good luck sailing from Madrid. It's inland.

I rather think that post Covid-19, Any Time dining will disappear.. they won't want lines of people queueing, and they will want to manage the numbers in the MDR to ensure social distancing.

 I'm also thinking Rotterdam

On 5/9/2020 at 4:56 PM, Spunky946 said:

Well I hate the windjammer, and we eat in the mdr whenever 

possible.  I’d bet that it will be there, but won’t be self service.

I'm with you on this. I haven't paid all that money to queue up to serve myself my dinner into a plastic plate and scramble to find somewhere to sit!

On 5/8/2020 at 12:18 AM, FionaL91 said:

 

Or maybe people have lost their jobs / have severely restricted incomes after saving to go on a cruise and do need the money now. It's not for you to judge how people spend their money. If they can afford it it's not too expensive for them.

 

I wouldn't be leaving money with companies that will potentially go bankrupt for future credit when borders potentially won't open for a year. I know if I was in countries such as Australia and New Zealand I wouldn't allow a load of tourists from the UK or US until there is a vaccine. 

A) I wasn't judging, merely expressing my opinion. Disagree with my opinion by all means, but don't label my opinion with your views

B) as my original post says, we're booked with MSC. As discussed extensively elsewhere on CC , of all cruise lines MSC are probably the least likely to go bankrupt.

C) "potentially won't open (borders) for a year" - in your opinion. I disagree.

On 5/10/2020 at 12:39 AM, GrJ Berkshire said:

Today's news of a 14 day quarantine on arrival in UK for Brits and visitors , as is in place in much of Europe will end European cruises for 2020. You were incorrect to change the punctuation on my earlier post !! This will make crew or passengers unable to reach the ships and no excursions possible, without working out how the ship will adapt to the 'new normal'

One day we will cruise again but not in Europe 2020 !!

I was expressing an opinion, just as you were. I firmly believe cruises WILL restart in Europe this year. You don't, fine, no need to use "!!".

We stayed in Manhattan the night before our ship sailed from New Jersey. Had a big, comfy limo booked to take us from the hotel to the terminal.

Limo was late - after several frantic phone calls, I was about to give up on them (despite having prepaid) and just get the hotel to hail us a cab, when it arrived.

"Don't worry, plenty of time" the driver kept saying. Got through to NJ quite quickly, and were pleased to see the ship at its moorings..... less happy as the limo swept past it at some speed.

"Oh, okay, maybe there's some weird one-way traffic flow that he had to follow" we're thinking.

Nope, he pulls up at *a* cruise terminal, alongside THE WRONG SHIP.

"Oh, is this not the one?"

Frantic return to (eventually) get us to a deserted terminal, where the check-in staff are busy packing up.

Did make it on board, though!!

Travelled to Rome from Civitavecchia for the day. The blurb promised "several hours at the enchanting Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps".

We got there, and the Trevi Fountain was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. It was empty of water, and they had rigged up a plastic bowl with a photo of the Fountain in better days behind it for tourists to throw a coin in.

True to the blurb, the guide disappeared and left us for at least 90 minutes.

I found some details online that the works had started 4 months previously, during which time the ship had been in Civitavecchia at least EIGHT times. 

Back on board, the Excursions Desk tried to say they were unaware of the refurbishment of the fountain. When l showed them the internet article about how long it had been closed, they gave up and refunded half the trip cost.

So here's my take on the cancellation refund/ credit note stuff:

We have a 21 night cruise booked, departing Barcelona on 14 November. We have paid deposits ( of course) and a further sum to secure our flights both outbound to Spain and inbound from Dubai.

We haven't yet reached 'final balance due' date ( mid August). We have the full balance sitting in a savings account ( on which we now earn a paltry 0.01% pa interest).

If the due date comes and MSC haven't cancelled, we'll pay up. If having paid up, it is then cancelled, we'll take the credit certificate, and hopefully book the same cruise ( or a very similar one) for 2021.

If it's cancelled before final balance due then again we'll take the FCC to rebook for 2021.

If the cruise does go ahead, whooppeee. If it doesn't, we'll pick up a non- cruise holiday in the winter, somewhere hot and all-inclusive to tide us over until the 2021 cruise comes around.

I'm slightly concerned with folk who want the refund immediately, saying " we need the money now". If it's not being used to book a replacement cruise or holiday, but needed for day to day life, then maybe it was too expensive to begin with.

Basically, As far as I'm concerned, if my already booked cruise departs as scheduled I'll be on board.

I did read that a lot of North European ports are open (or due to open shortly).

Difficulty is actually getting to the departure port.

Greece has stated today that the Greek Islands will reopen to tourists this summer, probably in July.

There are reports in today's British press that a plan to reopen European countries for tourism is being worked up by the EU.

Spain appear to be easing their lockdown in stages, each one two weeks apart.

13 hours ago, clo said:

Well, Italy has closed their borders to tourism for the remainder of 2020.

Not so. There are already EU-wide plans being put into place to reopen tourist areas in Spain, Portugal, Canaries, Balearics and Italy over the next few weeks/months. Spain are reopening in phases of two weeks each, to be reopened in the main in 6 to 8 weeks.

18 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Royal could not care less about sleeping arrangements or cabin swaps.  As soon as you board go to guest services to get new keys. This thing happens all the time.  Every time we cruise with our adult kids my wife and our adult son book into one cabin and I am in another to take advantage of the Diamond balcony discount being applied to both cabins, we just go to GS to get new sea pass cards to make sure cabin purchases are going to the right cabin account.  happens a lot.  happy cruising

Just what we did on our last cruise to get 2 X balcony discounts then rearranged once on board.

On 4/20/2020 at 11:57 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

Not a myth for me -- when I am drinking and gambling then I want a cigarette.      Just like I am allergic to most perfumes and colognes and my throat closes up when I get on an elevator with someone overloaded on perfume.    Not a good conversation either.

Oh, the irony,................

13 hours ago, GrJ Berkshire said:

No, European cruises in 2020 will happen.

Added the missing punctuation for you.