Av8tor

We're booked on the Mera a week before you and NOTHING is available for booking "excursions" on OC for this cruise.  I seriously doubt that it's all sold out, so I assume it's a website problem or they just haven't been able to load anything yet due to theww recent itinerary schuffle.  Keep checking and as a last resort, try again once onboard.

My TA has been having BIG problems getting the 5+5 and the OBC added to my booking for Halloween (originally on Seaside, now on Mera).  Got the VC 5%, but not the VS 5% or the OBC.  This has been going on for weeks and MSC tells her they'll take care of it, but it never gets done.  I hate to tell her how to do her job, but maybe I should insist she stay on the phone with them until she gets the proper confirmation invoice...

Anyone else see that in one place the OBC for 5+5 is now only $50 and in another banner it's still $100?

Paul

I know it's not fair, but this is how the cruise lines view it:

Their business plan is based on two cruisers (or sometimes more) in each cabin.  Two cruisers means two paid fares.  If they sell a cabin to a solo traveller, that means one less cabin to sell to 2 cruisers.  So to make up the "lost" paid fare, they charge the solo person more.  Sometimes its just a percentage of the normal fare and other times its an amount equal to a "normal" full fare.  They don't view it as the solo not getting twice as many drinks, massages or sunbeds, but rather making up for the lost opportunity to get two fares.

That business plan is based on the old paradigm of ships sailing full almost all the time.  We'll have to see how things work out post COVID.  If people don't flock back to cruising and the ships have lots of open cabins, MAYBE they'll get smart and start to lower or drop the single supplements and just charge a regular fare to solos to get at least that one fare instead of having an empty cabin and no fare at all!

MSC sure needs to have better or more IT folks working for it.  Their website is FULL of bad links and conflicting information.

The 5%+5% Voyages Selection link that doesn't work has been just one example...

Another is the Cruise Assurance page where the top banner says it valid for cruises through September 30, 2020, but further down the page it says that it's valid for all cruises sailing on or before Oct. 31, 2020.

They change stuff so often and fail to update previously posted info that I'm taking photo shots of various web pages, including the date & time on my screen, to have some proof of what they were advertising and when just in case I get in a dispute with them later.

Anybody know where Seaside will be sailing from after she leaves PC in March 2021?

I just checked and got no results except for a message that an error occured.

I also can't get any info on my upcoming booked cruise, just a different error message...

I'd say the MSC website is having multiple problems!

On 6/11/2020 at 12:06 PM, Roberto256 said:

 

Thank you for posting.    I wonder if the 14-day quarantine will be ongoing for new crew joining, once the ships resume sailing...

I'm sure crew will hate it, and I don't think princess has enough room to house idle crew.

 

Once sailings resume, I don't THINK the CDC would require quarantine for just boarding crew and not boarding passengers also.  That wouldn't make sense, but then again many things the government does doesn't make sense!

I wouldn't sail as a passenger if I had to quarantine for the entire cruise 🥺

Tried with my e-mail & password, but nothing but basic info.  My TA has been trying to get MSC to post my fare at the 5%+%5 rate with the $100pp OBC for about 2 weeks and for some reason MSC has yet to do it.  So far all they've done is the 5%VC discount.  From what I've read here about MSC, efficient & gracious customer service can be hit or miss...

I've booked my first MSC cruise through a TA.  The booking is showing on my account at the MSC website with just the very basic info such as dates, cabin category and options to purchase upgrades & excursions.  However, I can't find any way to see what the fare is or any OBC.  

For all you MSC "experienced experts" out there, is there a way for me to view more detailed info on-line or since it was booked through a TA, is that restricted for some reason?

Thanks

What?  No Frutti de Mar Pizza???

Thanks so much for posting the menu

40 minutes ago, drsel said:

A large online US travel agent would give you a discount more than $621

OR...try speaking to an agent at the online agency and see if they can give you a discount on top of the 5%+5% that you are entitled to anyway!

Just a thought

19 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

...  On our later independent trips, we took an excursion to see the "Road to Hana" on the Big Island, a whale-watching cruise out of Lahaina (which was better than watching them in the distance from where we were staying <g>)...

 Hana is on Maui, not the "big island."  If you took an excursion to see the road to Hana on the Big Island you must have gotten pretty wet   😲 !

To the OP, you can also research tours for each stop on the Trip Advisor website.

Is it really a fee to just change the sail date or could it be an increase in the cruise fare for the later date?

44 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I’m on a cruise to Hawaii & am looking for independent tours for the following cities. Any help/suggestions appreciated.
 

Hilo, Hawaii....

 

 

Honolulu, Hawaii...

 

 

Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii

 

 

 

Tom😀

 

 

Tou might get more & better responses if you posted your question in the Ports Of Call - Hawaii forum

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

The whole thread is a moot point since MSC will not be sailing late summer/ early fall.

Late summer or early fall cruises MAY still sail - the jury is still out on those.  

Anyway, you missed the point.  The OP is well aware that their new cruise may not go and they were asking if it'd be better to have a TA deal with the booking and possible cancellation/refund or do it themselves by dealing with MSC directly...

11 hours ago, little britain said:

Thanks; I managed to see it but only Caribbean cruises showing as having 5+5 offers on the USA site? Is that right?! The wording says “all departures “ but all 151 sailings are Caribbean?!

Sorry, zi don't know about cruises to other areas.  I've only looked for Caribbean cruises since I'm not interested in going any farther away from home for a while...

2 hours ago, Couple-Somerset said:

One trick to try when you do get the 5+5 sailings to appear ......

 

Look at the end of the https page title in your browser and you'll see it ends with "....msc-club-pax-type-55" ------ simply change it to 510 or 515 and press enter ----- if any extra discount cruises are available they will show up.

 

MSC website is notoriously bad so it's worth checking that way just in case they havent updated the actual page.

 

One thing I do like about the MSC website now though - is the ability to do a search for Yacht Club cabins. Before, you had to go several steps into each search result to find that info.

 

 

Thanks for that info...

On the US site:

When I tried entering 515 instead of the 55 in the address bar I got the message "oops, that page must be cruising" LOL...  When I tried entering 510 instead of the 55 it took me to a page for 5% + 15%, but there were no cruises showing.  

And while there are certainly some substancial problem with the MSC website, the option to filter results for just YC availability is very handy!

12 minutes ago, little britain said:

Can you explain how to find it please?  Thanks 🙏 

I’ve logged in and there is nothing under the VC section.

On the US site, I found it by clicking on "Manage Booking" then "MSC Voyagers Club" and scrolling down the page to the "VOYAGES SELECTION DEPARTURES" section.  Unfortunately, that's as far as I get before an error occurs and I can't get any info on available cruises...

On 5/16/2020 at 8:41 AM, Couple-Somerset said:

OOPS lol - I just decided to pop in to the UK website and the 5%+10% and 5%+15% deals are back on there lol

Worth checking every few weeks as the deals do change quite a lot - new sail dates added/removed all the time.

I havent always found the US website cheapest though - Ive booked cruises on French and Italian websites before to get some great deals ---- thank heaven for google translate though.

It's now 2 weeks later and the only Voyager Selection discounts shown on the US website that I can find are 5%+5%.  The 5+10 and 5+15 are no longer showing...HOWEVER, when trying to click on the 5%+5% banner, it asks for me to log in with my VC info then tries to take me to the UK website but an error message says to try again later...

Paul

39 minutes ago, mamaneedsavacay said:

That link worked for me the other day, but  not anymore. Currently using the "all deals" page on their website, but nothing specifically comes up as voyager's club discount. 

Try clearing your computer's cache and then use the provided link to reload the web page.  If that doesn't get you there, go to the MSC web site and hover your cursor over manage booking and an option for MSC Voyagers Club should appear.  Select that and then scroll down towards the bottom of that new page and you should find VOYAGES SELECTION DEPARTURES.  Just a bit further down should be a link to select 5%+5% discount and depending on your level & what they have available maybe 5%+10% and 5%+15% discounts.

Not a computer geek but I hope this helps 

Never mind.  I finally found it on the website that the military discount cannot be combined with other discounts including the VC discount.

5 hours ago, capriccio said:

We are elite on Princess and did our first MSC sailing on the Meraviglia in the Yacht Club last January (same cruise as rkacruiser) and would do it again in a heartbeat post covid-19. 

 

If you are active or retired military or civil service (local, state or federal) make sure you apply for your 10% discount!

Can you get the 10% military discount in addition to the 5% Voyagers Club discount?

Thanks

We've got a booking a month later than yours and while we're still hoping it will go, there's no way to know that yet.  Things are just much to fluid now to predict out 4-5 months.  Even if Florida is "open," we don't know what restrictions will still be imposed on the cruise industry or which countries/islands will allow cruise ship port calls.  

We've been on many Caribbean cruises so the ports are that important to us but this will be our first MSC cruise (in Yacht Club to boot) so the on-board experience is what we are interested in discovering.  If we just sail for seven days in hopefully warm & sunny weather will be OK by us (perhaps with a day in Ocean Cay?).

Anyway - Hope it works out for you.

This is my latest LIVE report - from my family room COUCH 😁...

Thanks for the replies! 🍻