Off Seaside Saturday, Just my humble opinion

[sidari]

Although the best food ever on a cruise was on Queen Victoria the cruise itself rates near the bottom of all those we have been on so far.

[Beamafar]

14 hours ago, thecruisers6 said:

I looked through someone’s previous posts a few weeks back. The particular poster keeps saying that their next cruise with MSC had better be better than their last etc...

They have several thousand posts on the NCL board. I got the feeling that it’s all show, as that poster would not look ‘cool’ in front of their mates on that forum if they told the truth. Funnily that poster has 2 MSC Cruises booked but not a mentioned of that on The NCL board lol. Would anyone that didn’t enjoy an MSC cruise book another 2.... I think not!!!!!! 

You really should have reviews verified before appearing on here. Fortunately I have the common sense to know what to believe 😀

 

I've just seen another thread started in the same vein - complaining bitterly about MSC, but booked again, anyway (though it was due to having a wonderful cruise). The thread title is "Can't believe I've booked again", but, at the end says "This company makes my blood boil...not sure I'll ever do another after this I'm so mad."  This forum seems to be a virtual wailing wall for some.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

31 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

I've just seen another thread started in the same vein - complaining bitterly about MSC, but booked again, anyway (though it was due to having a wonderful cruise). The thread title is "Can't believe I've booked again", but, at the end says "This company makes my blood boil...not sure I'll ever do another after this I'm so mad."  This forum seems to be a virtual wailing wall for some.

Good morning,

You are right Bea.  The fact that this thread has gone on for 5 pages is testimony in itself.  It’s a pity that we don’t hear from the other 4,000 who had a great cruise on the same week as this one.  My condolences to Evil Queen but clearly it’s time for her to move on and, as I told her before, go back to a cruise line where you will be happy.  I have stated many times that “MSC is a work in progress”.  It will probably be two more years before the personnel are up to speed and able to deliver good customer service.  The good part of this story is that tens of thousands of pax are having a good to great experience on MSC every week.  

Edited May 26, 2019 by CGTNORMANDIE

[sidari]

MSC have in some circumstances made a rod for their own back, one being taking embarkation photos which are then delivered to guests rooms and the cost added to the final bill, but it is then up to the guest if they don't want the photo to take it back to GS in order to get the charge removed! This custom is stupidity in itself and creates large numbers at GS.

Another one is under crewing their ships placing a bigger workload that is not sustainable on their staff.

Managers not being allowed to manage without going up the chain of command and sometimes having to refer issues to Geneva for an onboard answer to a simple issue.

I.T systems both on land and onboard ship that do not speak to each other which piles more work on GS 

Ship staff change on a fairly regular basis and one week you may have bar staff who know most of not all the drinks, then the following week there can be new staff who have never sailed on a ship before! Regardless of job title even we had to start somewhere to learn our respective trades and other jobs where patience was required from those doing the teaching.

Being on holiday anywhere does not give people the right to abuse staff in anyway and cruise lines should adopt the policy we have in the UK where you can and will be removed from a Hospital, Doctor's surgery and other places for doing so to the point of being arrested if you persist.

We do like traveling in steerage and have met some very nice people from around the world like a couple from the USA who owned their own thriving business but who were very down to earth, we have also met nice people who sail in YC on MSC and will be sailing with some of them again this year for the third year running.

Why is it that some people who sail in the YC think they are better than others on the same ship ? Yes they may have more wealth but these people can also be morally bankrupt compared to those who sail in the YC and accept it for what it is.

 

[ready2cruzagain]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

 

I've just seen another thread started in the same vein - complaining bitterly about MSC, but booked again, anyway (though it was due to having a wonderful cruise). The thread title is "Can't believe I've booked again", but, at the end says "This company makes my blood boil...not sure I'll ever do another after this I'm so mad."  This forum seems to be a virtual wailing wall for some.

 

I agree!  I could state a thousand times how much we fell in love with MSC and no one listens but one person can state how much they hate MSC and it is an awful cruise line in "their" opinion and every one believes them. 😕

[ready2cruzagain]

18 minutes ago, sidari said:

MSC have in some circumstances made a rod for their own back, one being taking embarkation photos which are then delivered to guests rooms and the cost added to the final bill, but it is then up to the guest if they don't want the photo to take it back to GS in order to get the charge removed! This custom is stupidity in itself and creates large numbers at GS.

Another one is under crewing their ships placing a bigger workload that is not sustainable on their staff.

Managers not being allowed to manage without going up the chain of command and sometimes having to refer issues to Geneva for an onboard answer to a simple issue.

I.T systems both on land and onboard ship that do not speak to each other which piles more work on GS 

Ship staff change on a fairly regular basis and one week you may have bar staff who know most of not all the drinks, then the following week there can be new staff who have never sailed on a ship before! Regardless of job title even we had to start somewhere to learn our respective trades and other jobs where patience was required from those doing the teaching.

Being on holiday anywhere does not give people the right to abuse staff in anyway and cruise lines should adopt the policy we have in the UK where you can and will be removed from a Hospital, Doctor's surgery and other places for doing so to the point of being arrested if you persist.

We do like traveling in steerage and have met some very nice people from around the world like a couple from the USA who owned their own thriving business but who were very down to earth, we have also met nice people who sail in YC on MSC and will be sailing with some of them again this year for the third year running.

Why is it that some people who sail in the YC think they are better than others on the same ship ? Yes they may have more wealth but these people can also be morally bankrupt compared to those who sail in the YC and accept it for what it is.

 

 

That is a good question.  We always sail inside (or last year in a balcony due to the price) and not YC.  We are not poor but prefer to sail this way so that we can spend a month on the ship instead of 7 days.  For the price of a YC cabin I will happily sail steerage for a month instead of spending a fortune on a 7 day cruise.  Does it make me a poor person, no definitely not, it does make me a happy person though to be on a cruise for a month.😁😁

 

[sidari]

47 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

 

That is a good question.  We always sail inside (or last year in a balcony due to the price) and not YC.  We are not poor but prefer to sail this way so that we can spend a month on the ship instead of 7 days.  For the price of a YC cabin I will happily sail steerage for a month instead of spending a fortune on a 7 day cruise.  Does it make me a poor person, no definitely not, it does make me a happy person though to be on a cruise for a month.😁😁

 

I like your thinking and get why you do it though, we struggle with Insides being so dark so prefer to have some daylight coming in.

[vtgumby]

On 5/26/2019 at 6:18 AM, sidari said:

Why is it that some people who sail in the YC think they are better than others on the same ship ? Yes they may have more wealth but these people can also be morally bankrupt compared to those who sail in the YC and accept it for what it is.

 

Wow, we sailed in YC and don't feel like we're above anyone just because of YC, lots of OTHER things maybe but not because of YC.

🙂

I think your generalized statement applies to humanity in general but in regards to a few of your posts you sorta made the case in your first paragraphs for why people are railing on MSC followed with they should be up to snuff in 2-3 years...maybe after the 2-3 yrs it takes them to get up to snuff there will be less complaints?

I can only speak for ourselves and we see crappy entitled behavior on every cruise line, period.

Make that on every flight we fly also, where the worse behavior is often in the front of the plane so if your point is rich people suck then maybe, it would be a fun conversation to have with a drink in hand.

🙂

If people don't bother to write those good reviews (and I do often) and only write the bad ones then of course all you have is the negative and everyone should understand this from their own behavior. Search your own soul and see if you've written the good comments, I know that I do but I also understand the general feel on these boards and the anonymous internet all around and take them with the appropriate level of trust BUT again, if there is this much smoke there IS some fire folks.

Would I let any of this ruin my vay-kay, nope. This thinking goes with EVERYTHING, I could be dead soon and why freak on the stupid stuff? Deal with it and then move along and luckily I've learned it, I can't imagine letting it all wreck me BUT some people do and that's their stroke or heart attack, not mine!

Also, something all the dedicated cruisers forget...let those disgruntled folk leave your beloved cruiseline, it leaves MORE space for you!

🙂

I love when people say they won't be sailing so and so again, I always think yay, less poundage in my way! I don't want someone who is determined to be unhappy around me and we all know plenty of people who are determined to have a crappy life, period. We all make our choices on how to spend our $$ so if MSC doesn't work there are plenty of others eager to take their $$ and that goes for every other cruiseline cuz they almost all have their complainers, some more than others and I will say MSC has been the most negative but again, there must be some reason and after our cruise we could see the reasons.

We had a great time on our singular MSC cruise and from our observation it seemed like chaos more than our other lines and the general feeling is folks should get their ordered drinks without total screwups or 15 min waits, we got a few of those screwups including the rum and coke with the rum on the side, thats just funny and for me it was a LARGE hit of rum to coke ratio when I mixed, just saying.

Nor should there EVER be poor behavior of yelling at someone, etc and frankly, if I see that I DO say something to the offender, it takes the damn village sometimes and someone has to stand up to the poorly behaved anywhere you see it happening, hint hint village.

🙂

So this is one YC passenger who didn't look down on the rest of the ship, I felt grateful and appreciative for where I was, how I chose to spend our cruise dollar, and the fun I was having in comparison to the snarls of displeasure I heard. I appreciate wanting to cheerlead for a certain line, we feel this way about Azamara (wow) but I also feel there are many issues that need to be addressed with MSC and we hope for them to succeed.

 

[flag fan]

I am sure many people have had bad experiences on MSC but a quick check of any of the other cruise boards will show people have had bad experiences on all the cruise lines--including the luxury lines.  I have been on a lot of the cruise lines (Carnival, Celebrity, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, NCL, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Silversea) as well as MSC and have found MSC to be as good as the main stream lines--better in some areas and not as good in others.  I have been on two MSC cruises so far (Divina and Poesia), neither in Yacht Club, and enjoyed both.  I am scheduled for a YC cabin on Seaside and am looking forward to the great experience I read about on these boards, but I like every cruise I have been on and my cruise next year will be on Princess (regular cabin--I cannot afford a suite).  

 

If you don't want to sail on MSC, there are a lot of other choices, but I think you will find the cruise lines largely the same--the main difference are in the passengers.  More kids and young people on Carnival, NCL, and Royal Caribbean; more experienced cruisers on Cunard and Crystal; more non-Americans on MSC.  I like the passenger mix on MSC and the slight differences from the American cruise lines as a nice change of pace.  

[GOLDENBONNY]

On 5/25/2019 at 5:29 PM, Beamafar said:

Same here.  We did one Celebrity cruise and said "Never again".  I didn't bother writing a lengthy diatribe on how or why on the Celebrity board;  I just went back to booking MSC.  My parents disembarked a Celebrity cruise last week where they had a nightmare cruise due to the lack of medical care when my mother took ill.  She ended up in a high-intensity ward in hospital when they got home.  They may yet have a medical negligence claim.

Wow sorry to hear about your mother. Was no doctor on board ? I am not a fun of Celebrity as well , I would probably cruise with them again but not very first option. 

[Beamafar]

34 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

Wow sorry to hear about your mother. Was no doctor on board ? I am not a fun of Celebrity as well , I would probably cruise with them again but not very first option. 

 

Thanks, GB.

 

My mother was too ill to get out of bed and my (79 year old) father pleaded with the medical centre and Guest Services to send a medical person to the cabin to assess her and assist.  He didn't insist on a doctor;  he said even a nurse would do - just someone with medical training.  They point-blank refused and told him he needed to get her into a wheelchair and bring her down to the medical centre!

He eventually managed to do this with the aid of the room steward.  They put her on a drip for a couple of hours, before sending her back to the cabin, but didn't take any blood samples which would have shown immediately what was wrong - her sodium levels were so low to be at near-fatal levels by the time she was admitted to hospital when they got home.  Had they done a blood test, they would have discovered that early on and treated it before it became a near-death experience for her.

[GOLDENBONNY]

2 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Thanks, GB.

 

My mother was too ill to get out of bed and my (79 year old) father pleaded with the medical centre and Guest Services to send a medical person to the cabin to assess her and assist.  He didn't insist on a doctor;  he said even a nurse would do - just someone with medical training.  They point-blank refused and told him he needed to get her into a wheelchair and bring her down to the medical centre!

He eventually managed to do this with the aid of the room steward.  They put her on a drip for a couple of hours, before sending her back to the cabin, but didn't take any blood samples which would have shown immediately what was wrong - her sodium levels were so low to be at near-fatal levels by the time she was admitted to hospital when they got home.  Had they done a blood test, they would have discovered that early on and treated it before it became a near-death experience for her.

omg 😟 I hope she will be ok soon. Do they generally have the ability to do blood test onboard? 

[Beamafar]

They should be able to do simple blood tests!  Remember, the medical centre should be a floating mini-hospital.  Anyway, thankfully, my mother is out of danger, now, and on the road to recovery.

 

Celebrity offered them a discount off a future cruise - I needn't tell you of their response to that!

Edited May 27, 2019 by Beamafar

[Jossie1960]

Medical facilities on a cruise ship approximate at best to a normal doctor’s surgery. All to my knowledge are not employed by the cruise line but are a contracted out service with independent insurance cover. Even the simplest of alignments are off loaded to land based medical facilities. Maybe things have changed but I would always be cautious if anything serious occurred.

[dznymom]

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 

Thanks, GB.

 

My mother was too ill to get out of bed and my (79 year old) father pleaded with the medical centre and Guest Services to send a medical person to the cabin to assess her and assist.  He didn't insist on a doctor;  he said even a nurse would do - just someone with medical training.  They point-blank refused and told him he needed to get her into a wheelchair and bring her down to the medical centre!

He eventually managed to do this with the aid of the room steward.  They put her on a drip for a couple of hours, before sending her back to the cabin, but didn't take any blood samples which would have shown immediately what was wrong - her sodium levels were so low to be at near-fatal levels by the time she was admitted to hospital when they got home.  Had they done a blood test, they would have discovered that early on and treated it before it became a near-death experience for her.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your mother's dreadful experience on Celebrity.  I hope she has a swift and complete recovery!

 

We had a similar experience with a medical issue on a Celebrity cruise (although not quite as serious as your Mom's), and were appalled by the lack of care, followup, compassion and basic common sense.   We abandoned the cruise at the first port.  I thought ours might have been a one off, but it seems that the staff is not properly trained to handle medical emergencies.  We were also offered a healthy discount on a future cruise, but that will not be happening.  

 

I don't hang around the Celebrity forum posting about this.  I simply moved on to the forums of the cruise lines I will be cruising.

[GOLDENBONNY]

42 minutes ago, dznymom said:

 

I am so sorry to hear about your mother's dreadful experience on Celebrity.  I hope she has a swift and complete recovery!

 

We had a similar experience with a medical issue on a Celebrity cruise (although not quite as serious as your Mom's), and were appalled by the lack of care, followup, compassion and basic common sense.   We abandoned the cruise at the first port.  I thought ours might have been a one off, but it seems that the staff is not properly trained to handle medical emergencies.  We were also offered a healthy discount on a future cruise, but that will not be happening.  

 

I don't hang around the Celebrity forum posting about this.  I simply moved on to the forums of the cruise lines I will be cruising.

I was always sure that cruise ship better option than a caribbean resort ,if something happens health wise. It would be really interesting to know what they can really do or not on cruise ships. What we can expect and demand if anything happens. 

[ldlewis45]

15 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

I was always sure that cruise ship better option than a caribbean resort ,if something happens health wise. It would be really interesting to know what they can really do or not on cruise ships. What we can expect and demand if anything happens. 

From "behind the scenes" tours I've taken, and from having to board ships for work, the medical centers onboard aren't meant for much beyond basic first aid.  I mean, CPR, attempts at resuscitation if someone stops breathing, attempting to keep someone alive long enough for transport to shore, sure.  But extended care or diagnostics, nope.  It's like a triage center.  Can something be fixed by a bandage or some anti-emetics, or is it something that needs to be taken to shore?

[gmbhardy]

1 hour ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

I was always sure that cruise ship better option than a caribbean resort ,if something happens health wise. It would be really interesting to know what they can really do or not on cruise ships. What we can expect and demand if anything happens. 

Has Cruise Critic ever done a feature article on what you can expect regarding medical facilities on a cruise ship? Are some better than others etc. 

[daisy-mae]

On 5/26/2019 at 6:18 AM, sidari said:

MSC have in some circumstances made a rod for their own back, one being taking embarkation photos which are then delivered to guests rooms and the cost added to the final bill, but it is then up to the guest if they don't want the photo to take it back to GS in order to get the charge removed! This custom is stupidity in itself and creates large numbers at GS.

 

 

I'm just curious if the practice applies to all MSC sailings? If that is the case I will make every effort to avoid the cameras when embarking. (Here in Canada there is actually a law against billing for services that are not explicitly requested.)

[Beamafar]

I wasn't aware that this practice takes place - I always refuse to have the embarkation photo taken.

[GOLDENBONNY]

1 hour ago, daisy-mae said:

 

I'm just curious if the practice applies to all MSC sailings? If that is the case I will make every effort to avoid the cameras when embarking. (Here in Canada there is actually a law against billing for services that are not explicitly requested.)

No one force you to buy anything. People love to make a big deal out of nothing . They do brind photo to your cabin  , but  there is a letter saying that if you don't want them just leave it in your cabin and your room steward will take it back. no need even to go to GS. 

[daisy-mae]

15 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

No one force you to buy anything. People love to make a big deal out of nothing . They do brind photo to your cabin  , but  there is a letter saying that if you don't want them just leave it in your cabin and your room steward will take it back. no need even to go to GS. 

 

I'm not sure that is a reasonable solution; the cabin stewards already have enough work to do without asking them to keep track of who keeps the photo and who leaves it behind. And if it is overlooked - either accidentally or on purpose - how would I prove that I did not take it once I have returned home and find that I have been charged?

[eroller]

7 minutes ago, daisy-mae said:

 

I'm not sure that is a reasonable solution; the cabin stewards already have enough work to do without asking them to keep track of who keeps the photo and who leaves it behind. And if it is overlooked - either accidentally or on purpose - how would I prove that I did not take it once I have returned home and find that I have been charged?

 

 

I would tend to agree.  I think it’s a bad practice. It’s more work for the crew, could create additional stress for Guest Services, creates additional waste developing all those unwanted photos, and has the potential to increase the hassle factor for the guest which you are trying to avoid on vacation.  Also in this age of digital photography and facial recognition it’s a bit archaic. 

 

Sometimes MSC seems to be its own worst enemy, but apparently someone in the head office sitting at a comfy desk saw dollar signs and thought it would be a great idea.  

 

I’ve sailed on 3 MSC cruises and thankfully never had this happen.  Perhaps it’s a more recent “enhancement”?  

[GOLDENBONNY]

15 minutes ago, daisy-mae said:

 

I'm not sure that is a reasonable solution; the cabin stewards already have enough work to do without asking them to keep track of who keeps the photo and who leaves it behind. And if it is overlooked - either accidentally or on purpose - how would I prove that I did not take it once I have returned home and find that I have been charged?

you don't need to ask him ,you don't even need to see him, just leave it as they ask. you get your final bill on last day of cruise no one will charge you anything after. 

[quickrate]

On 5/14/2019 at 4:33 PM, jean87510 said:

Omg. Thank God I canceled. Thank you for posting your review. I feel still that for the steerage class, it still doesn't look like MSC is ready in the US market yet. Yacht club appears ok. It may the reason why the yacht club was sold out on my cruise.

I must jump in here as I had close to the same experience on Divina in December. Not as bad, but very similar in issues. Gave husband wrong card at check in, he was suppose to have black, same run around. guest services was frustrating, spent hours of my cruise trying to get the things I had been promised when booking. I had brought print outs of everything from emails MSC had sent me. we were both suppose to get $50 OBC but they weren't there. Even though I produced an email sent to me by MSC verifying it, they kept denying it. It took a guy at guest services, that use to work for Carnival, 30 minutes on his computer to find a "valid" verification. He was very frustrated and would not give up until he got it added to our account. He said it happens all the time with MSC. I'm not saying I would never book them again but my first experience was pretty lame.

Pat