baz48

We got this upsell offer as well for our B2B cruises in November and we took it. $700 for both of us for each week seemed like it was worth it.

For those that use a TA, does the upsell email come to you, the TA, or both? My concern is that a large online TA may not pass the message on. The only upsell offer we ever got is when we booked direct with Princess.

Once we booked through an agent and she forwarded the upsell offer to us. Another time I booked through a large warehouse store that also has a travel agency and they told me that the email from Princess would go to an administrative email and that it could be a while, if ever, before anyone at the agency saw and acted on it. We ended up cancelling that cruise and haven't booked with them again.

I called Princess myself and did a "fake" booking and it said that I am eligible, but both gave me the high Princess-price. My TA gives a 15% discount off the Princess rate so that's why I use her. If I book with Princess at the highest fare, then the deal doesn't give me anything better.

 

What would you suggest??

Does your agent give the 15% discount instead of any deals that Princess offers? Our last agent gave us a discounted price AND the specials that Princess was offering. That made it quite easy to book with the agent.

I'll go back and look again. Does the not combinable OBC mean no military or loyalty or shareholder OBC allowed.

We just rebooked on this promotion and our account still shows the military credit as well as the onboard sales credit along with this promo credit. We've always received the shareholder credit as well with any other promotion.

I tried a test booking of a suite on my cruise and it qualified for the sale. I didn't complete the booking, of course, but I got to the Select a Suite page and they were on sale.

Thanks so much to the OP for posting this! We were just able to save $1,240 each (lower fare), and get the free grats and $300 credit for our 14 day minisuite to the Baltics next July. That more than made up for losing the beverage package, especially since we don't drink $55 worth every day anyway. We kept our original cabin because the upgraded cabins were already gone. We could have paid $300 each more for the Club Class but that doesn't really seem worth it to us.

Ok so even if the "bank in France" part isn't true, will I have foreign transaction fees? Which cards don't have them?

Our Capital One Visa charge was from MSC Cruises USA for $400 (USD) deposit. No mention of foreign currency.

Thanks for the tip on Wells Fargo. We looked into it, but Michael says we'll just hit the cash machine in Papeete. I don't think we'll need that much cash since all our transfers and hotels are pre-paid. Mostly for trinkets on the islands, I'm thinking. No, we've never been to these islands before but have heard nothing but good things about them.

I'm adding to my list of things to remember to pack! Woo hoo!

We're a few decks below you :) in 3621. It's really getting close now. Are you getting local currency beforehand? We're planning to get it in Papeete before boarding the ship since we arrive the night before.

Caroline and Michael

Anyone else joining us on the June 10th cruise?? 7 weeks from tomorrow.

We're on this June 10 cruise also. We have an ocean view since the balconies were sold out. :( But it will still be fun. First time on a freighter, but I've read all the blogs I can find, so I think we know what to expect.

Yes, we all have different views of things. Several years ago we sailed on Costa where we registered our credit card on board at one of several kiosks. We thought that was a good idea. I don't believe it had to be done the first day, but regardless, we had no line when we registered ours. We also liked that you could check excursions and book them at various kiosks throughout the ship.

There were several problems with Costa which prevents us from sailing with them again, but we DID like those two options.

I'm sorry to hear of all of these problems. We have had absolutely no problems with the website or with booking the cruise over the phone. I have not yet booked specialty dining or drink packages, but the cruise isn't until November so that will come later. I DID notice that the regular login was "under maintenance" or something, so I just logged in using the booking number and name and had no problem getting in and seeing everything I wanted to.

We would love to do South America but my husband is worried it would be rough and he would have trouble with sea sickness. Did you find this to be the case. He has only cruised the Caribbean Thanks for the information. I think we will leave the coffee pot at home

We did the 49 day around South America in Jan - March 2015 and it wasn't rough at all. The only time was at Cape Horn for about 15 minutes. The weather and sea conditions prevented us from going all the way "around the Horn" so we hung out between the mainland the the Horn for a couple of hours. Then when we turned around we were sideways to the strong winds for a short time and that's when we really felt it. It was kind of exciting actually. :-)

Remember that these big ships have very good stabilizers and the captain doesn't hesitate to use them if warranted.

Thanks. Based on this, it only makes sense to book the $100 spa massage deal which includes unlimited access to the sauna.

Is that unlimitd access for the entire cruise or only for the day of the massage?

I'm having second thoughts because with the BOGO I am getting my first B2B cruise, my first aft balcony, my first bump out balcony, my first MSC experience, my first visit to Jamaica.

 

My second thought is why it took ten cruises before I booked the Divina! :)

We also did the 2 for 1, B2B, aft balcony, first time with MSC after 15 cruises. No second thoughts here. If we don't care for it, we won't book again. But you never find new fun things if you always do the same old thing, right? ;)

We are new to MSC. Must admit I hesitated to book after reading all of the posts here about mistakes on reservations, etc. However, I called last Saturday to book B-to-B on the Divina in November taking advantage of the 2-for-1 balcony offer. Maria did everything perfectly, even finding us the same cabin on both cruises.

I submitted our Loyalty Match program info online also on Saturday.

Maria told me to email her with the proof of my husband's military service, which I did as soon as I got her welcoming email.

Today (Wednesday) I see we are in the Voyagers Club at the proper level. I called and checked on the military status and had the discount applied to our cruises.

Everything is correct on the website.

So far, so good with MSC and I am one Happy Camper!

Our trip won't be until June 11, 2016.

We're booked on this trip also. Did you book through the American or Canadian travel agent?

You might have better luck posting this at the Roll Call site for the cruise.

Thanks for all of the advice and experiences. Sounds like it's all a gamble no matter which way you book. I think I'll stick with C***** and monitor the roll call. The upfront OBC is worth it.

Upsell offers are sent to TAs by Princess

I understand that the TA gets the offer first. I'm wondering if this large travel agency will then pass the offer along to us, or will it get lost in their office. Anyone have any experience getting the upsell offers through this large travel agency?

We have booked our cruise through a large warehouse store that also has a travel agency (can't say the name apparently). I'm wondering if anyone has experience with an upsell offer coming to them through one of these large agencies? Or does the email from Princess just get lost in the shuffle since you don't have one particular agent, but anyone from the agency can help with your booking?

"For your own safety and all others on board, it is forbidden to smoke inside the ship."

Perfect. Thanks for the quick response.

Does anyone know about the smoking policy on this cruise? With so many French passengers, I'm worried that it may be smoke everywhere. Or perhaps they have designated areas? How about in the cabins or on the balconies?

We've booked the cruise through a TA and booked the EZAir portion ourselves and have had no trouble getting the seat assignments and FF numbers carried over, so it may depend on the airline. I do always double check directly on the airline website.

I often check for lower airfares and if there's been a change, the EZAir site will tell you that you have to call them before you can check for different airfares, but that's the only way I've found out about the change.

We've had our flights changed (by minutes usually) and had no trouble getting the info updated onto the EZAir site or getting flights changed if necessary by calling Princess.

The way the math worked out was that the estimated S&S daily credit was much larger than the total of the gratuity savings, specialty dining voucher, cat upgrade and fare reduction combined. This was quite a deal considering those two voyages were a combined 25 days.

 

I didn't realize that the S&S goes on your folio as a credit each day?? :eek: Are you sure that's how it works? If so, I think our TA"s should have informed us of that! Of course an $1100/pp (S&S)credit is better than a $241 (gratuity) credit!!!!

I also didn't think you got a credit for the daily cost of the package. If that were the case, why would they offer the alternative of an OBC of $200 per person?