Seaview changed to Fantasia

[Sancho_proudfoot]

After all the discussion on here, I rang MSC UK offices. I was on hold for 35 minutes, before speaking to an agent. The reason I was on hold for so long was that all the staff were in briefings about the upcoming changes.

 

I was, of course, only interested in my booking, originally on MSC Seaview, from Barcelona to Dubai through the Suez canal, 21 nights, on 14 November.

 

MSC confirmed that Seaview is NOT going to be in the Med this Autumn. Our booking has been transferred to MSC Fantasia, same dates, times and itinerary.

 

This has all been actioned in the last hour.

 

They are writing to our TA, confirming the changes, and revised pricing and offering compensation, although this early after the change was made, no indication as to how much.

 

So, I don't know now. We had an Aurea suite with a whirlpool on the balcony

 We will still have an Aurea suite, but no whirlpool. Maybe if the compensation is enough, we could upgrade to YC.

 

I don't know what to do........

[SeagullsTravels]

Curious to know where the Seaview will be (if sailing at all). I was looking at some of the itineraries for her in 2021 and part of 2022. Will need to keep checking to see if that changes at all. Hopefully the compensation is worthwhile enough for you to upgrade!

 

Edited to Add: Upon looking at the website, it shows absolutely no itineraries available from approximately mid-November until the tail end of March 2021. Keeping my eyes on it to see if anything appears.

Edited June 22, 2020 by SeagullsTravels

[aprilF]

Thats a tough call because the price difference between a whirlpool balcony and just a regular balcony is big.  I know when I first started looking at my cruise, I could have payed slightly less for YC than a whirlpool balcony.  If they are giving you the difference in OBC we would certainly have a tough time spending that much OBC.

 

Just in case youve only been interested in rebooking and not really looking at the refund threads, MSC trails just about every other cruise line in giving timely refunds.  There are very few people (talking a handful maybe) that have actually been refunding out of all the cruises affected starting in March.  We requested our refund on 3/17 and are still unpaid at current time.  All I am trying to say is do NOT expect MSC to do right by you without a lot of prodding.  Be prepared to be an advocate for yourself.

[Até]

36 minutes ago, SeagullsTravels said:

Curious to know where the Seaview will be (if sailing at all).

This late Fall/Winter into 2021 Seaview is supposed to be replacing the Grandiosa sailing in South America.  Strange shell game.

[cruiser man 60]

3 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

After all the discussion on here, I rang MSC UK offices. I was on hold for 35 minutes, before speaking to an agent. The reason I was on hold for so long was that all the staff were in briefings about the upcoming changes.

 

I was, of course, only interested in my booking, originally on MSC Seaview, from Barcelona to Dubai through the Suez canal, 21 nights, on 14 November.

 

MSC confirmed that Seaview is NOT going to be in the Med this Autumn. Our booking has been transferred to MSC Fantasia, same dates, times and itinerary.

 

This has all been actioned in the last hour.

 

They are writing to our TA, confirming the changes, and revised pricing and offering compensation, although this early after the change was made, no indication as to how much.

 

So, I don't know now. We had an Aurea suite with a whirlpool on the balcony

 We will still have an Aurea suite, but no whirlpool. Maybe if the compensation is enough, we could upgrade to YC.

 

I don't know what to do........

The compensation amounts are in announcements, 200euros OBC for balcony cabin and above for 7 days or more don't think that will buy a YC upgrade!!

[SeagullsTravels]

4 hours ago, Até said:

This late Fall/Winter into 2021 Seaview is supposed to be replacing the Grandiosa sailing in South America.  Strange shell game.

Thank you for that information!

[CruisingFox27]

4 hours ago, Até said:

This late Fall/Winter into 2021 Seaview is supposed to be replacing the Grandiosa sailing in South America.  Strange shell game.

I wonder how realistic this is, for cruises in South America to commence at all this year? The WHO published the highest daily increase in cases today, the countries with the highest cases were USA, Brazil and India. 

[emmas gran]

I just tried to get into my booking for March 13th 2021 on Seaview and it shows Fantasia but no cabin -should be YC

more worrying is the date of the cruise shows as 10th to 29th April which doesn't help us as we have booked flights and have other arrangements in April

[Sancho_proudfoot]

29 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

I just tried to get into my booking for March 13th 2021 on Seaview and it shows Fantasia but no cabin -should be YC

more worrying is the date of the cruise shows as 10th to 29th April which doesn't help us as we have booked flights and have other arrangements in April

 

I can't get on through "manage my booking" but I can get in via "web login". Like you, it shows Fantasia; the dates are the same, but, like you, no cabin number, just "G0000" which is slightly disturbing.

[Megtheblackbelt]

21 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

 

I can't get on through "manage my booking" but I can get in via "web login". Like you, it shows Fantasia; the dates are the same, but, like you, no cabin number, just "G0000" which is slightly disturbing.

 

Everyone whose ship changed now shows the “G0000”. This is normal/to be expected. 🙂 

 

Hopefully they can assign new rooms soon!

[CruisingFox27]

We had significant changes to our itinerary in February, embarkation port and ports of call, whilst they updated the itinerary we had GTY001 shown as the cabin No. Once they had finished the changes our selected cabin reappeared.

[Sancho_proudfoot]

17 hours ago, cruiser man 60 said:

The compensation amounts are in announcements, 200euros OBC for balcony cabin and above for 7 days or more don't think that will buy a YC upgrade

 

Thanks for that. Do you have a link to the formal announcement from MSC? All I seem to be able to find is a paraphrasing by others.

[emmas gran]

The announcement is on MSC uk home page scroll down to news and the CEO announcement is there

 

[Sancho_proudfoot]

1 hour ago, emmas gran said:

The announcement is on MSC uk home page scroll down to news and the CEO announcement is there

 

 

Thank you, now read it.

[emmas gran]

1 hour ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

 

Thank you, now read it.

 

I have that's how I could tell you where to find it!!

[8420PR]

On 6/22/2020 at 7:44 PM, Até said:

This late Fall/Winter into 2021 Seaview is supposed to be replacing the Grandiosa sailing in South America.  Strange shell game.

I think the logic is keeping ships where they currently are.  Looks like MSC is writing off the summer season and trying to avoid further repositioning cruises for the start of the winter season.

[dritan]

We're booked on a short Preziosa cruise from Hamburg to Southampton at the end of August. I think this is getting less and less likely to happen as the Preziosa has been at Ocean Cay for well over a month now.  

I'm not missing anything am I?  No news on the Preziosa?

[stuart2468]

58 minutes ago, dritan said:

We're booked on a short Preziosa cruise from Hamburg to Southampton at the end of August. I think this is getting less and less likely to happen as the Preziosa has been at Ocean Cay for well over a month now.  

I'm not missing anything am I?  No news on the Preziosa?

 

I too am on this short cruise. One of 3 i booked over the last coupe of weeks and starting to see them dropping one by one. My fantasia cruise has been cancelled due to its requirement in Dubai. I don't yet know what my options are as a replacement, only that its been cancelled.  

[Sancho_proudfoot]

15 hours ago, emmas gran said:

 

I have that's how I could tell you where to find it!!

 

Sorry I meant that l had now read it!

[emmas gran]

2 hours ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

 

Sorry I meant that l had now read it!

 

No worries! Just confirmed with MSC our 13th March Dubai to Genoa is now 10th April and we /Travel agents will be notified early July. As I have already booked flights to Dubai and have another holiday booked in April (cancelled this year due to virus) it isn't much use to us.

Edited June 24, 2020 by emmas gran
addition

[marcoigna]

15 hours ago, stuart2468 said:

 

I too am on this short cruise. One of 3 i booked over the last coupe of weeks and starting to see them dropping one by one. My fantasia cruise has been cancelled due to its requirement in Dubai. I don't yet know what my options are as a replacement, only that its been cancelled.  

Curious - did you cancel the Fantasia Cruise or did MSC, as literally they just changed ships from Seaview to Fantasia for these sailings to the UAE

[ken98230]

5 hours ago, emmas gran said:

 

No worries! Just confirmed with MSC our 13th March Dubai to Genoa is now 10th April and we /Travel agents will be notified early July. As I have already booked flights to Dubai and have another holiday booked in April (cancelled this year due to virus) it isn't much use to us.

 

We were to take this cruise as well.  Flights already purchased with at least $600US in cancellation fees.

 

We can’t travel in April so not sure what is going to happen.  Still have not been reimbursed for last March sailing from Dubai.

 

Hope you are able to go in April as it looks like a much better itinerary.

  

[stuart2468]

1 hour ago, marcoigna said:

Curious - did you cancel the Fantasia Cruise or did MSC, as literally they just changed ships from Seaview to Fantasia for these sailings to the UAE

 

No, I called MSC, when I couldn't access my booking through the website, to find out why. The guy said the sailing had been cancelled but couldn't see why and that he would need to speak with a supervisor and he'd call back. So far no call. 

 

I can see why it's cancelled, because the ship is repositioning to dubai, but I don't yet know what they are doing with my booking. Am I cancelled and refunded? Am I moved to another Med sailing on another ship? Am I being sent on the repo cruise to dubai? 

 

I'm hoping for the repo, but sadly I think my expectations may be too high 🤔

[marcoigna]

2 hours ago, stuart2468 said:

 

No, I called MSC, when I couldn't access my booking through the website, to find out why. The guy said the sailing had been cancelled but couldn't see why and that he would need to speak with a supervisor and he'd call back. So far no call. 

 

I can see why it's cancelled, because the ship is repositioning to dubai, but I don't yet know what they are doing with my booking. Am I cancelled and refunded? Am I moved to another Med sailing on another ship? Am I being sent on the repo cruise to dubai? 

 

I'm hoping for the repo, but sadly I think my expectations may be too high 🤔

We are currently on that repo cruise - but likely we are going to cancel.  No comparison from Seaview to Fantasia.  

[stuart2468]

55 minutes ago, marcoigna said:

We are currently on that repo cruise - but likely we are going to cancel.  No comparison from Seaview to Fantasia.  

 

Can understand that. I only paid £227pp for the cruise so I can't grumble too much with what I get. But the repo would be a steal of I got that. 

 

I just noticed Grandiosa departs Barcelona on the 20th I'd happily take that for the price I paid. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by stuart2468