Should we postpone Med cruises or wait for MSC to cancel?

[drsel]

Upto 31st August, only EU and US residents are allowed to board MSC European Cruises, possibly due to Italian government Covid restrictions.

 

MSC is denying boarding to nearly 150 other countries, after selling them the cruises and collecting full payment also.

 

So should citizens of these 150 countries reschedule/ postpone their Cruises sailing around the Mediterranean in October & November 2021 or wait for MSc to cancel them?

 

There is no option for any refund without penalty for those who have made full payment.

Edited August 22, 2021 by drsel

[Beamafar]

Ireland is an EU country and currently we’re being denied boarding, too.

 

We made final payment last Thursday for our October cruise as we had €500 deposit down so, rather than lose it, or move to another, new booking (no thanks, MSC!) we’ll wait it out.  There’ll be an update on the situation next Wednesday week;  hopefully it’ll be good news. 

[johnnylincoln]

If it were me and you could afford it I would wait for MSC to cancel as has been my way of doing it through the pandemic. 

 

Our most recent October Med Cruise had a huge itinerary change so we took the offered £200 OBC and moved to a short cruise on the MSC Virtuosa. 

 

So far I belive we have had around £4,000 worth of incintives and OBC to move our cruises and have managed to add all manner of drinks packages and cabin upgrades for zero cost. 

 

Infact we have a cruise next May...it originally started life as a 7 night cruise on an inside cabin with no extras in April 2019...it has since become a 7 night cruise in a suite in May 2022 peak time with full drinks package at zero cost to ourselves. 

[drsel]

29 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Ireland is an EU country and currently we’re being denied boarding, too.

 

We made final payment last Thursday for our October cruise as we had €500 deposit down so, rather than lose it, or move to another, new booking (no thanks, MSC!) we’ll wait it out.  There’ll be an update on the situation next Wednesday week;  hopefully it’ll be good news. 

Was your final payment date only 60 days prior to sailing?

for many it is 90 days prior to sailing.

 

I guess MSc will update us about September Cruises only on 31st August.

And October Cruises only on 30th September?

[johnnylincoln]

Just now, drsel said:

I guess MSc will update us about September Cruises only on 31st August.

And October Cruises only on 30th September?

 

Supposedly an update is coming in the next 7/10 days which should answer all question about European cruises for UK and Ireland residents for this year. 

[Beamafar]

It’s 60 days here - actually 9 weeks out, which is really 63 days. 
 

 

[drsel]

Just now, johnnylincoln said:

 

Supposedly an update is coming in the next 7/10 days which should answer all question about European cruises for UK and Ireland residents for this year. 

What about 148 other countries?

Yes they should announce something by 31 August

[drsel]

I guess I will have to wait till 30th September to know anything about my October & November 2021 Med Cruises.

And then maybe have to make use of MSc Cruise flex up to 48 hours prior to sailing to shift the Cruises to 2022,  in case the rules remain the same.

 

But it would be much better if MSC cancels our bookings,  because then they will have to issue us FCCs with an expiry date beyond 30 September 2022, (hopefully)

[drsel]

12 minutes ago, johnnylincoln said:

If it were me and you could afford it I would wait for MSC to cancel as has been my way of doing it through the pandemic. 

 

Our most recent October Med Cruise had a huge itinerary change so we took the offered £200 OBC and moved to a short cruise on the MSC Virtuosa. 

 

So far I belive we have had around £4,000 worth of incintives and OBC to move our cruises and have managed to add all manner of drinks packages and cabin upgrades for zero cost. 

 

Infact we have a cruise next May...it originally started life as a 7 night cruise on an inside cabin with no extras in April 2019...it has since become a 7 night cruise in a suite in May 2022 peak time with full drinks package at zero cost to ourselves. 

How did you manage to get 4000 pounds worth of  freebies and free drinks packages and cabin upgrades?

all we have been getting is only $200 OBC for each and every cancellation till date

[johnnylincoln]

18 minutes ago, drsel said:

How did you manage to get 4000 pounds worth of  freebies and free drinks packages and cabin upgrades?

all we have been getting is only $200 OBC for each and every cancellation till date

 

I mean in total over all our cancelled cruises...not just one one cruise. We had five cancelled when they were offering 125% as FCC. 

[mh123468]

MSC Cruises spanish website states schengen passangers only to September 30th!

[cobber1967]

The restriction to Schengen only residents has been extended to Sept. 30.  We (Canadians) were booked for a Med cruise (Grandiosa) on 15 Sept.  MSC emailed us regarding the cancellation yesterday.

[JPMoore]

I'm beyond frustrated at this point that if they know they delay any communication, completely to the detriment of their customers.

I'm due to be sailing on the repositioning from Southampton to Marseille on 14 September. How soon before are they going to actually let me know? I'm not hopeful being as my previous experience when vaccinated rules temporarily changed post-21 June that I was given only 4 days notice about that.

[stuart2468]

So thats my cruise out now too. Awaits notification from MSC........

[chitown84]

Awaiting notification as well. My parents are traveling from the USA and supposed to do a cruise that leaves on 9/11 out of Italy.

[soloadventurer]

3 hours ago, stuart2468 said:

So thats my cruise out now too. Awaits notification from MSC........

why would your cruise be cancelled?

[HappyInVan]

On 8/22/2021 at 10:53 AM, drsel said:

MSC is denying boarding to nearly 150 other countries, after selling them the cruises and collecting full payment also.

 

 

That's why I cancelled my October cruise before FP. Forfeited my $199 deposit without regrets. 

 

The next cruise I have with MSC is August 2022! 😄

[8420PR]

3 hours ago, chitown84 said:

Awaiting notification as well. My parents are traveling from the USA and supposed to do a cruise that leaves on 9/11 out of Italy.

US residents are allowed to cruise from Europe since at least the beginning of August (and many have) - so your parents will have no problems.  

[DCGuy64]

4 hours ago, chitown84 said:

Awaiting notification as well. My parents are traveling from the USA and supposed to do a cruise that leaves on 9/11 out of Italy.

US passengers have been allowed on MSC European cruises since July 15. We're sailing on Saturday from Trieste. Some of the international MSC sites are incorrectly saying US citizens are not allowed.

[chitown84]

2 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

US passengers have been allowed on MSC European cruises since July 15. We're sailing on Saturday from Trieste. Some of the international MSC sites are incorrectly saying US citizens are not allowed.

Good news then! Thank you. 

[DCGuy64]

6 minutes ago, chitown84 said:

Good news then! Thank you. 

You're welcome. I'd defer to the site you/they booked on. Since we're US citizens, we rely on the information on MSC's US site. If I were German, I'd use the information on the German site, and so on. I wouldn't trust the Spanish, French, Norwegian, etc. sites in order to determine eligibility for US citizens. They might be wrong or out of date.

[stuart2468]

18 hours ago, soloadventurer said:

why would your cruise be cancelled?

 

See post 12

[Wecruise34]

I'm a Canadian and my cruise was cancelled just this week,  it was from Venice , Sept 11th.  The third cruise cancelled on us by MSC this year.  First was understandable, covid,  second the Lirica had a fire and was taken out of service but they never even told us.  I happened to call the contact center a few weeks ahead of that cruise, oh your cruise has been cancelled.  This time just an email, says Covid but we know it is this stupid MSC policy , the countries don't care if we travel there.

 

 Americans are free to travel with MSC and yet covid being 10x as bad as in Canada with far less people vaccinated.  Makes no sense.

 

  Why on earth does MSC have this policy excluding certain citizens  and yet take full payment from us. Canada doesn't even have a covid problem it is 70% vaccinated, higher than most all EU countries.  MSC  even took the money off my credit card for the excursions just 2 days before the cancellation.   Italy has no problem with vaccinated Cdns coming to their country , same with all the other EU countries.  ***** makes MSC institute such an arbitrary rule , without any explanation while they have your money and refuse to refund it.

 

 This is a mass fraud on a country wide scale to pad their cash flows at MSC ! 

[Wecruise34]

Here is the Italian website,  Canadians if fully vaccinated have no issue going to Italy.  This issue is unique to MSC... I checked Croatia same rules , Cdns are welcome,  all of the EU is open to travel from Canadians.   MSC is literally stealing Cdns money under false pretenses when you book and they know they won't refund but they also know they are likely to cancel your right to cruise.

 

http://www.italia.it/en/useful-info/covid-19-updates-information-for-tourists.html

Edited August 26, 2021 by Wecruise34

[Beamafar]

Same with Ireland - and I had an MSC agent lie to me, on behalf of MSC, on the phone yesterday that it was the policies of the countries that the ship was calling to that MSC was following.  We’re so frustrated with this arbitrary approach by MSC;  I’ve never seen DH so mad with them before as he is now.