Ocean Cay Opening Delayed Until October 2018

[SNJCruisers]

I still excited about my cruise on the seaside no.matter where it goes

 

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You're the exact type of customer that MSC is trying to lure. Many people like myself were excited about the new ship offerings, but it also included their private island with ground breaking amenities such as a 1000 seat amphitheater and not leaving till midnight. And don't forget the private area for those that are staying in the Yacht Club. Once the 2019 window opens, we will be flipping our reservation, contingent on the same promotion and pricing being honored.

 

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[jerseyaxn]

I was also excited about the private island and the staying all day until midnight.plus iam syaying in the yachrclub .IM not going to cancel because the island isnt ready.I also wont let it ruin my vacation.If they want to give us compensation thats fine but i dont expect or demand it.

 

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[All-ready2cruise]

I still excited about my cruise on the seaside no.matter where it goes

 

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I was also excited about the private island and the staying all day until midnight.plus iam syaying in the yachrclub .IM not going to cancel because the island isnt ready.I also wont let it ruin my vacation.If they want to give us compensation thats fine but i dont expect or demand it.

 

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I agree that the idea of a new island with some great perks and the idea of being able to luxuriate in a secluded spot is wonderful and worth dreaming about but consider those who don't have the same options as we do. We can cancel and receive out deposit back with no problem... others can't.

 

What if we, as North Americans, were travelling to Europe... for us it would be after final payment when we would lose our deposit and much more but still... consider... the cruise line notifies us that a port or couple of ports have been cancelled... how would we feel? Duped? Mislead? Made fools of because we didn't know they'd changed the itin. ?.... Put yourself in the shoes of others and try imagine how you'd feel. I have no horse in this race but I sure do understand that if I sign up something and someone turns around and changes the rules.... I'd be upset.

 

I feel badly for you Dave and Markus and all those in Europe/UK who can't just cancel and rebook their cruise due to MSC's lack of timely notification in the intinerary change.

 

I sure hope they correct this soon so that all tho,se involved will be able to rebook or cancel with full refund if necessary.

 

Good luck to all,

Cheers,

[jerseyaxn]

I dont think this cruise line is for me I will schedule a princess cruise where i think im a better match with the rest of the cruisers

 

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[All-ready2cruise]

I dont think this cruise line is for me I will schedule a princess cruise where i think im a better match with the rest of the cruisers

 

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Wow, sorry if I offended you:eek:

 

Have a good cruise which ever line you choose.

 

Cheers,

[jerseyaxn]

You didnt offend me it is not you .just listening to people on here i dont think im a fit

 

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[SNJCruisers]

You didnt offend me it is not you .just listening to people on here i dont think im a fit

 

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The difference with MSC from what I have inferred since I have not cruised with them yet is that they are more European oriented, but the Seaside will be their first ship to specifically cater to an American audience. There will be many differences compared to the main stream cruise lines that most Americans utilize such as NCL, Carnival, RCI, Celebrity and Princess. And depending on your point of view, that could be a good thing.

 

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[jerseyaxn]

Yes i understand i dont think its for me .i will cancel and book with princess tom

 

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[Cuervosar]

You're the exact type of customer that MSC is trying to lure. Many people like myself were excited about the new ship offerings, but it also included their private island with ground breaking amenities such as a 1000 seat amphitheater and not leaving till midnight. And don't forget the private area for those that are staying in the Yacht Club. Once the 2019 window opens, we will be flipping our reservation, contingent on the same promotion and pricing being honored.

 

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Contingent on the same pricing and promotions a year later?

 

How would you like your disappointment served today?

[sidari]

MSC have a lot to answer for but you try getting anything close to a decent answer out of them, let`s face it they announced that the Island would not be ready until 2018 before they even considered writing to people already booked in order to give them the opportunity to either stay with the programme, cancel and re book or cancel and walk away.

 

It is quite clear that they did not have a plan "B" in place ready to quell the problems they were going to cause by making the announcement to the media first.

 

We all know that you cannot just roll up at a port with a cruise ship and expect to moor it up, but MSC really do not appear to understand customer relations either land based or sometimes on ship. The Left hand really does not know what the Right hand is doing anywhere in the organisation.

 

MSC have a history of making changes as they did with the first Divina T.A crossing when they decided in the July for the November crossing that the ship would not be going to Nassau but would instead go into Miami a day early because there were no other ships in the port so that they could have their press day with Fiat 500 car bodies sailing around near the ship. Not such a big deal for North Americans maybe but for those from Europe and further afield it was.

 

We met an Australian family onboard who had been on holiday in Europe prior to the sailing who did not find out about the change until almost a week onboard the ship! nothing was offered for this change not even cancellation without losing all your money!

Once in Miami over 1,000 people got off the ship that day rather than spend another night onboard, most of them were from the USA.

 

As for people expecting to pay the same price either on Seaside or Seaview in 2019 that they have paid now, well good luck with that one.

 

There was a few people on one of our other sailings who were from North America who we were talking to and what they said still rings true today, and that is that MSC need to stop treating their passengers as cargo.

 

What makes it worse is that we both love the onboard experience of the ships but what goes on off them leaves a sour taste in the mouth and this is one reason if they continue as they are they will never get the numbers of North Americans to sail with them.

 

They appear to believe that by having an office in Miami or wherever it is that everything in the garden will look rosey, but it is being run just like the rest around the world.

 

As the saying goes you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

[jerseyaxn]

I hope they refund your money for those who cant get a refund.I will stick with American cruise lines .Im not suited for the european experience i guess.Good luck to all of you i hope you get a solution you are happy with.

[sidari]

Today`s latest from MSC ....

 

HI Dave,

 

Yes, this is correct, I believe the cruise will be staying overnight in Nassau, however,. The official communication should come soon, I am not sure on whether this will be sent by the end of this year or beginning of next year.

 

I would say to wait until the official communication comes, but if you wish to cancel on this occasion, we could cancel free of charge for you.

 

They did go on to say about leaving the booking in place with a note that we may cancel if the announcement when it comes does not improve the port stops.

 

It does make you wonder just how much they do or don`t know at this stage !

[All-ready2cruise]

Good for you Dave!! :D Glad you got some reasonable answers instead the mixed up responses you got earlier.

 

I do think it a bit funny what they consider "soon", end of this year or beginning of next year, but at least you have some time to consider what's right for you. Well done.

 

Cheers,

[jerseyaxn]

In the us they are not saying anything about staying over i nassau.I guess we will know when he left and right hand get together .This is frustrating.

[Dr. Cocktail]

I felt like wading into this discussion solely based on the fact that I'm on my second cocktail of the morning .....

 

I am looking extremely forward (with a little bid of trepidation thrown in!) to my first MSC cruises on Divina and Seaside in the Yacht Club in the next 18 months.

 

The funny thing about this forum is that you could take the brand "MSC" and substitute it for ANY of the other cruise line's behaviour toward their passengers. I should know .... except for Crystal, Regent, Silverseas and Seabourn, I have sailed them all!

 

You all have to realize that, as negative and strangely inappropriate it is in describing a cruise, it's a race to the bottom for each and every cruise line. Every cruise line looks at what the others are offering, or removing, and sees what they can get away with.

 

Just read the NCL boards and the anger raised by all of the changes brought on by the "new regime" of Frank Del Rio. It makes your complaints look like a fluffy bunny convention!

 

I left Celebrity after 32 cruises and 245 days on board (looooooooooooong story ....) when it became extremely clear after an extremely disturbing incident that loyalty really meant nothing.

 

All cruise line contracts clearly state that the line can (and will and does) change itineraries at will.

 

So .... if you like or love MSC, stick with your personal winner. Changing to another line will only cost you a lot more money with likely no additional satisfaction. If you have never sailed with them and the loss of Ocean Cay is a deal-breaker, vote with your wallet.

 

Onto the third .....

[deliver42]

I have sailed with MSC, and will probably again . I was booked on the Seaside, and cancelled when the delay was announced. I plan on the Seaside in 2019, but by then they should be on their 4th delay. This company has no clue as to what to do. They were well aware the delay was coming, yet did nothing about it. No plan B. No alternate island. No e-mail to booked passengers. No nothing. I loved the Divina and its crew, but as far as I'm concerned, the company stinks at the corporate level.

[sidari]

Connie ... End of the year or next year in Italian circles is soon :eek:

 

Dr C ... I doubt that they have been on the " How to win friends and Influence people" course.

 

Hopefully the Island will be ready for Seaview.

[Cuervosar]

So, based on latest rumors, Is this what we are looking at?

 

Was: Becomes:

 

• Miami /

  Miami
  

• Sea Day /

  Sea Day
  

• Ocho Rios /

  Ocho Rios
  

• Georgetown /

  Georgetown
  

• Cozumel /

  Cozumel
  

• Sea Day /

  Sea Day
  

• Ocean Cay /

  Nassau
  

• Miami /

  Miami
  

• Sea Day /

  Sea Day
  

• Sea Day /

  Sea Day
  

• Charlotte Amalie /

  Charlotte Amalie
  

• Sea Day /

  Sea Day
  

• Nassau /

  Nassau
  

• Ocean Cay /

  Nassau
  

• Miami /

  Miami
  

??

 

I'm guessing one of two things happened at the corporate level. First, either a marketing guy or a project manager took one too many hits off the crack pipe and said "sure, we can get that done by then..."

 

Or more likely somebody very high up declared; "We will have the ship and the island done at the same time!" At which point the rest of the company took a collective deuce in their Armani pants and tried to make the impossible possible until reality hit everybody in the face and they had to confront the big boss with their failure.

 

I also wonder just how important this issue is company wide. They are running 12 cruise ships right now, mostly in Europe, building another 2, with two more in the pipe I believe, building 2 islands, while trying to create an expansion into two foreign markets and co-running an international shipping conglomerate with over 400 ships that is the second largest on the planet.

 

So at the monthly operations meetings, I'm guessing Ocean Cay is probably agenda item #20 something and gets about 30 seconds of coverage.

 

"Anything new to report on Ocean Cay?"

"Still Delayed"

"Have we finished the workaround?"

"Not at this time sir."

"When can we expect it?"

"Q1 2017 sir"

"Ok, keep marketing up to date. Next agenda item....."

[All-ready2cruise]

Close but, in my opinion, I doubt that it's all the fault of MSC but hey, that's just me.

 

From what I've read here, if the Nassau is already included, they will attempt to find an alternative so that the overnight situation doesn't happen.

 

If it was me, which it's not of course, I'd be trying to make an arrangement with one of the other cruise lines to rent their island until Ocean Cay is completed. NCL has Great Stirrup Caye, very nice island, lots to do, RCI has one too (Coco Cay) and Princess (Princess Cay) as well.

 

We'll see what happens and also see who it really matters to... not me but others, yes.

[jerseyaxn]

Where did you read that about the overnight in nassau because ive heard its going to san juan

 

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[sfaaa]

 

If it was me, which it's not of course, I'd be trying to make an arrangement with one of the other cruise lines to rent their island until Ocean Cay is completed. NCL has Great Stirrup Caye, very nice island, lots to do, RCI has one too (Coco Cay) and Princess (Princess Cay) as well.

 

.

 

Not likely. Why would any business want to assist a direct competitor who is out to steal its existing customers? The other cruise lines are probably too happy to see MSC screwing up and tripping itself over this self inflicted problem.

[suzyed]

Has anyone received notice from MSC about the delay and port substitution? I have not and would not have even known if not for CC. Not impressed with the lack of communication.

 

I have not either. Same here...if it wasn't for CC I wouldn't know either! Their website is awful and apparently their communication with their customers is too.

:mad::(:confused:

[suzyed]

No not yet they did hold a press conference.They said nassau will replace ocean cay and for ships already stopping at nassau they are finding another island

 

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We are doing a B2B with two stops at Ocean Cay. One week we are doing Nassau and one week we are not. I really really hope we don't get additional days in Nassau. We don't even get off the ship in Nassau.

[suzyed]

I'm sure you've all read your T&C but being our first cruise is coming up, I decided I'd better refresh myself. I found this portion interesting and wonder if it differs on the UK/EU site.

 

I understand it doesn't speak to this particular issue of knowing that the private island won't be ready yet still advertising it as a port but wondering if it overrides the issue itself since they clearly have the right to change a port of call when necessary.

 

Cheers,

 

It also doesn't mean, we can't cancel before final payment...which we are all at.

I'm not thinking I will cancel, even though I will not be happy with another Nassau stop if that is what they decide to do. We booked because we wanted to join our friends and cruise on a new ship.

Anyway, we are doing a "trial run" of MSC in November to see if we even like the product. Then we will figure out what to do. ;)

[All-ready2cruise]

Not likely. Why would any business want to assist a direct competitor who is out to steal its existing customers? The other cruise lines are probably too happy to see MSC screwing up and tripping itself over this self inflicted problem.

 

They already did it in March 2014:

 

http://cruisebuzz.net/2014/03/msc-divina-great-stirrup-cay/