Rob-Bob

I applied for my refund yesterday.  I am in the USA.  Went through very quickly and I received an e-mail an hour later that said my request had been processed and it may take up to 60 days for our refund to appear on our credit card.

I would really love to see a full refund and some sort of FCC.  If they do give you a FCC they are really securing a future customer.  If not used MSC is out nothing.  If it is used they have a return customer.

Pretty good but way short of Princess.  We get our money back for the cruise but are out hotel and airfare funds.  I am not sure if our travel insurance will cover this but I don't think so.

7 minutes ago, mickey89 said:

 

Princess are offering their cancelled passengers the choice of 175% FCC or Full refund plus 50% FCC.

Maybe MSC will offer similar............????

That would be great.  At least it will help from a financial standpoint and be very generous. I just added up my out of pocket costs that will not be covered and it is $736.  I have recovered $538 of refundable charges.  This does not include anything for the cruise itself.

I have insurance but I do not think any of the costs will be covered? 

If they do shut down do you think MSC will give full refunds to passengers with cancelled cruises?  What if you cancelled for a FCC before your cruise was officially cancelled? 

2 hours ago, Homosassa said:

I do know how MSC has kept us up to date on our sailing this Monday and I am impressed at the amount of information I have received.

I am booked on a cruise leaving 3/22/20 and I have not heard one thing from MSC.

On 2/28/2020 at 11:25 AM, awhcruiser said:

HAL has pickleball available on all of their ships.  Hubby most recently played on the NA last October.

Not true.  I was on the Oosterdam last year and there was no pickleball court or area to play.

Was it business as usual for the 3/1/2020 Meraviglia sailing.  Did everyone get off on time from the previous sailing and everyone get on smoothly with no delays?  Board really went quiet in this!!!!!

With the new Corona policies in place has anyone been denied boarding or seen anyone denied boarding due to a fever, coughing, sneezing, etc?  What happens? Does MSC refund your money if denied?  Your luggage has already been taken by the porters, is it time consuming for them to get it back to you?

is there anyone with first hand knowledge?  There is no possible way on a ship of 4,500 passengers that no one shows up with the sniffles, cough or fever.  Impossible.

Big hit financially for MSC.  If they are giving back say $1,000 per passenger (100% refund + $200 on board credit) and there is 4,000 guests that is $4,000,000 refunded.  Excursion refunds are probably another $500,000.  Additional food and drinks consumed while guests were not off ship etc.  This has to be a $5-8M hit to bottom line by the time it all said and done (if things go smoothly from here on out).

Anyone on board the Meraviglia now that can report on what is happening on the ship.  What is the mood, are passengers beginning to get worried?  Someone reported people at guest services with all of their luggage, what is that all about?  Has there been any new announcements.

Folks that are scheduled to board on Sunday must want to know what is happening.  I know I am not scheduled to board for 3 weeks and I am getting restless.

Starting to rethink cruising right now.  I am booked on a Celebrity cruise in June 2020 as well.  If ports are starting to panic or be over cautious this may lead to a less than positive experience or even a horrible experience (quarantine).

There must be something pointing toward Coronavirus.  It will be very interesting to see what happens when they get back to Miami.

1 hour ago, allyfrizzle said:

Update: We've been offered $200 refundable credit per state room and the captain just announced a 30% refund of the cost of this cruise and 20% discount on a future cruise. Very thick Italian accent but I'm pretty sure that's what he said. Will update as I know more. 

 

I couldn't understand if he said we're cleared to stop at Cozumel or not. Ugh. 

Wow, I would take that for missing Jamaica.  We don't get off the ship there anyhow.

I am on the Meraviglia 3/22 sailing.  I am monitoring the situation closely.  I am more concerned with being quarantined than actually getting sick.  It would be very bad to be quarantined for 14 days somewhere and then return home for another 14 day quarantined period.  That would cause many problems for me and my family that are avoidable.

What to do, What to do...……….

Thanks for the review.  I am on her 4 weeks from now.  For some reason I thought the casino was non-smoking.  I am disappointed to hear about the smoke.

I hope we make the stop at Ocean Cay.  We are really looking forward to the island.  Our current worry is the ship being denied docking in Jamaica today due to sickness.  

We have been on the Seaside and Divina and loved both of those cruises.  We are looking forward to the Meraviglia.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being on a President's Cruise (Summit 6/16/20)?    

"The day we were on Ocean Cay, every cabana except one was rented, at least they all had the reserved signs on them. The one furthest from the YC restaurant was the only one that didn't have a reserved sign on it and was clearly being used by the staff to stash stuff during the day LOL. All the others were reserved, but they weren't all actually being used, not sure why people weren't in them after they paid for them, but they were set up to be used."

Maybe the reserved sign was there so no one used them that had not paid for them.  Maybe they were available (unbooked).  Seems crazy that someone would have paid for the cabana and not used it.

I booked a cruise yesterday for an inside guarantee.  I looked today and I am already assigned a room.  Seems really quick.  On a previous cruise I called and they gave me a new room with no hassle.  All I had to do was ask (same category).  

Does Celebrity still move you if you ask with a guaranteed assignment?  What is the best way to do this?

Thanks.

How do you know they are all booked?  Do they not show up on the excursion list any longer?

Well there has been almost zero feedback on the cabanas on OC.  From the videos I am seeing the cabanas appear to be used very little.  Most of them seem empty.  I am guessing that for the money almost everyone does not feel that they are worth it.

I have one booked but am considering cancelling and just renting a couple umbrellas to assure shade.   This will be a lot more economical and more flexible where to set up.  I am wondering if one side or area is better depending on how the wind is blowing.  

It looks like if you don't have a cabana booked you could just sit very near one that isn't booked (to at least get shade and shelter from wind).

Any feedback from folks that have been there?  

On 1/11/2020 at 5:31 PM, jimbo5544 said:

So it was a pretty good sea day,  sunny and really windy, really windy.  Saw a couple gusts top 40.   By mid afternoon the ship was rocking pretty good.   Later the tell tale signs of the barf bags by the elevators.  More later.  

I sailed on the Legend out of Tampa in September 2010.  While returning we were on the outskirts of a hurricane and wind was hitting 60mph+.  All decks were closed.  Wind died slightly and they were letting people out.  Wind was probably 40+ and I went for a jog on the track.  Running with the wind it was taking me about 30 seconds to go half way and against the wind about 4 minutes to complete the lap.  Fellow watching me run against the wind was laughing his butt off.

Does anyone know if the cabanas at Ocean Cay are being filled up? Are people renting them?  The initial thoughts are they are not worth the money. 

For anyone who has been there do the cabanas seem full or empty?

Thanks.

Best review ever.  We are on in March and I will keep reading your review to get prepared.  Thank you for taking the time to write, photograph and post this.

Really wonderful drone footage in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYEiQvMFWk.

Great job filming this.

How would you know what to choose if there was a choice.  Seems like cabana numbers and locations are a mystery.  Here are some questions and a few answers but still pretty cloudy:

________________________________________________________________________

This seems like it should be a very straight forward question but I can not find this information anywhere.  Maybe someone visiting OC can answer some or all of the following:

1. $249 - OCEAN CAY BEACH CABANA (max. 6 pax) - ALL DAY RENTAL

2. $349 - DELUXE OCEAN CAY BEACH CABANA (max 6 pax) - ALL DAY RENTAL

3. $399 - OCEAN VIEW YACHT CLUB CABANA (max 6 pax) - ALL DAY RENTAL (YC GUESTS EXCLUSIVE)

4. $449 - BEACHFRONT YACHT CLUB CABANA (max 6 pax) - ALL DAY RENTAL (YC GUESTS EXCLUSIVE)

The above info are the options on OC for cabanas.  Can someone provide the cabana numbers and beach location for each of the categories?  I looked at some videos and the highest cabana number that I saw was 29.  Does anyone know how many there are in total?  Also is there any difference in the cabana structure/size for any of the classes or is it only location and number of rafts/snorkel gear etc.?

For guests who have visited how did you get a cabana number - was it simply assigned to you by MSC and when and how did you learn which one you were assigned to?  The whole cabana issue seems unaddressed anywhere. 

1  Beach name, starting number, ending number

2 Beach name, starting number, ending number

3 Beach name, starting number, ending number

4 Beach name, starting number, ending number

Anyone????

__________________________________________________________________________

Answer to the question on Beachfront Cabanas in YC. They start furthest from the YC Restaurant at #1. they go along the beach to #6 which is right next to the Restaurant. Then # 7 is on other side of the restaurant and then they wrap around north side of the island from there going up in numbers. So my friend who asked which one should you shoot for? I’d say go with #5 or better #6. Then on other side of the restaurany #7 then #8. Up from there is further as you increase in numbers. 

Important: 1-6 are your premium beach front Cabanas, 7-13 are your Oceanview Cananas for leas cost with a rocky shore. 

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It looks like maybe the deluxe beach cabanas are along Bimini Beach and the regular beach cabanas are on the North Beach?

Maybe all of the cabanas (all 4 classes) are after you cross over the bridge to the YC.