How many passengers were on your MSC Cruise?

[FrostyJoe]

3 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

40 minutes from arrival to topsail lounge for drinks

Did they do antigen testing or NAAT/RT-PCR testing?  Just wondering how fast the testing process is.  Antigen they can do everyone at same time an wait 15 min for result for everyone.  VS one of those NAAT/RT-PCR machines that does one test at a time sequentially...even though it's fast I can imagine the lines can get super long with that method...

[FrostyJoe]

5 hours ago, sidari said:

How much longer can MSC continue to sail with those numbers, they have to be making a loss now.

Forever 😄  Remember MSC is privately held predominantly a shipping company that's been around for a century or longer.  I can imagine the cruise line is a "pet project" of one of the Italian owner family's kiddos just doing it for $hi7s, giggles and fun...

 

In all seriousness though, I think MSC is well positioned to last indefinitely for the very reason that I'm sure they made BUCK during covid for shipping....

[gadaboutgal]

I can only assume the test we took at the terminal entrance was the antigen not pcr test as it was reported so quickly.  As I said it was as quickly as I went through security check and up the elevator.  I did not even have time to have a seat in my waiting area when the results were ready.  Then off to registration.  I don't think under any circumstances have I ever been in a terminal and on the ship in such a short time.

Edited January 10, 2022 by gadaboutgal

[FrostyJoe]

1 hour ago, gadaboutgal said:

I can only assume the test we took at the terminal entrance was the antigen not pcr test as it was reported so quickly.  As I said it was as quickly as I went through security check and up the elevator.  I did not even have time to have a seat in my waiting area when the results were ready.  Then off to registration.  I don't think under any circumstances have I ever been in a terminal and on the ship in such a short time.

Wow that's amazing.  Watch, with our luck next week's sailing will have 3k people....with all the RCL/NCL/Carnival cancelled sailing last min refugees.....

[Explorer525]

I noticed the fare for the 1/22/2022 Seashore has gone up in price for a balcony.  In fact its higher in price than the 1/15, 1/29, 2/5 sailings of the Seashore.  Should I infer that there is some demand for those cabins, and that the 1/22/2022 sailing will be a little less of a ghost ship with more than 642 passengers?  In December they were running 1800+ on the Seashore, given that its the newest to the fleet.

[FrostyJoe]

16 minutes ago, Explorer525 said:

I noticed the fare for the 1/22/2022 Seashore has gone up in price for a balcony.  In fact its higher in price than the 1/15, 1/29, 2/5 sailings of the Seashore.  Should I infer that there is some demand for those cabins, and that the 1/22/2022 sailing will be a little less of a ghost ship with more than 642 passengers?  In December they were running 1800+ on the Seashore, given that its the newest to the fleet.

Oh man....we need some intel from people on the ship!!!  what's 1/16 sailing prediction look like???

 

My inference can go both ways:  1. MSC doesn't want more people so they figure they might as raise the price.........or 2. Cancellation refugees are booking........

[blueslily]

Wondering how any people are on the current Seashore sailing as well. 

[tweakes]

Wait a minute... this thread shows how low numbers are, often times with more staff than passengers. I haven't seen prices go up much, but (for all cruise lines):

 

1) supply and demand. The demand for cruises is going to increase soon, particularly by next year. 

 

2) they're losing money like I cannot even fathom. They have to try to get it back.

 

Based on what I can see, MSC is still offering better deals than anyone else.

 

We were just on the Grandiosa with less than 1,000 people on board. We paid $888 pp for the Yacht Club. We drank that much by the third day (don't judge!). This is a company in a capitistic society - they have to make money to continue cruising. They also have more new ships and more new ships on order compared to other cruise lines. If they continue business as usual, they will fail. I don't know what you people expect from them. It's not about you. In this case it's not even about one company; we are talking about an entire industry that is barely making ends meet. Haters gonna hate. Would prefer you not be on my cruise anyway. 

[Fogfog]

53 minutes ago, tweakes said:

Wait a minute... this thread shows how low numbers are, often times with more staff than passengers. I haven't seen prices go up much, but (for all cruise lines):

 

1) supply and demand. The demand for cruises is going to increase soon, particularly by next year. 

 

2) they're losing money like I cannot even fathom. They have to try to get it back.

 

Based on what I can see, MSC is still offering better deals than anyone else.

 

We were just on the Grandiosa with less than 1,000 people on board. We paid $888 pp for the Yacht Club. We drank that much by the third day (don't judge!). This is a company in a capitistic society - they have to make money to continue cruising. They also have more new ships and more new ships on order compared to other cruise lines. If they continue business as usual, they will fail. I don't know what you people expect from them. It's not about you. In this case it's not even about one company; we are talking about an entire industry that is barely making ends meet. Haters gonna hate. Would prefer you not be on my cruise anyway. 

That was a really low price. Good job!

We have B2B2bs....and none of our legs in YC was that low. 

We like the YC product so willing to be all in for it--though a few sailings at that rate would have been easier on the budget.

Was that 3 days interior?

[cruiseillinois2007]

We just booked for our April 15 cruise departing Barcelona, and got the last available YC suite. Perhaps demand is picking up? Or they are only allowing a percentage of available time to be booked. 

Edited January 23, 2022 by cruiseillinois2007

[tweakes]

3 hours ago, cruiseillinois2007 said:

We just booked for our April 15 cruise departing Barcelona, and got the last available YC suite. Perhaps demand is picking up? Or they are only allowing a percentage of available time to be booked. 

I think they have a lot blocked off. I was checking availability days before we departed, and it showed only like 6 balcony suites available and no interior. On our deck (14), I swear we only encountered passengers in two cabins (one balcony, one interior)... I'm not exaggerating! It was very odd. I never got the occupancy numbers for the YC, but after 11pm, there were usually only 2-6 people in Top Sail, including us. 

[gimletgal]

On 1/22/2022 at 11:19 PM, blueslily said:

Wondering how any people are on the current Seashore sailing as well. 

We had 3,200 on the December 18th sailing. Ship not crowded at all!

[blueslily]

12 hours ago, gimletgal said:

We had 3,200 on the December 18th sailing. Ship not crowded at all!

 

Thanks. Sounds like that was an increase in passengers for the holidays. January sailings seem to have fewer passengers based on what some have shared on here so far. 

[gimletgal]

Will be sailing on the Seashore again on February 5th. I will report back on the passenger load for that cruise.

[sealynx]

On 1/10/2022 at 5:44 PM, FrostyJoe said:

I can imagine the cruise line is a "pet project" of one of the Italian owner family's kiddos just doing it for $hi7s, giggles and fun...

 Funny, because its true. I believe one of the daughters asked 'daddy, can I have a cruise ship?'.

(sorry for this hardly on topic reply, but I thought it would be interesting to know).

[blueslily]

Has anyone heard or asked what the number of passengers will be on the Jan 29 sailing on the Seashore? Thx

[JT1962]

I just got off the Meraviglia this morning. The reported number of passengers I heard was 591 on a ship that holds 4,500. It was definitely in the top 3 of my 20 cruises in the last 35 years. The ship, food, service, entertainment and private island matched or exceeded my experience on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Holland America Princess or Norwegian. 
 

I felt safer on the ship than anywhere I have been since Covid began.  Everyone over 12 onboard was required to be vaccinated. We all had to have a Covid test no more than 2 days prior to boarding and again at the pier. Everyone had a temperature check each day (most were taken entering the buffet at Breakfast.  Masks were required indoors when not seated to eat or drink, but it was not a big inconvenience. 
 

If you are debating whether to cruise currently  or not, I say take the cruise if you are not in a high risk category. You will probably never find better prices or fewer passengers on ships than over the next couple of months. No lines anywhere, no wait for an elevator, usually the only person on the elevator, no problem getting a lounger, a hot tub, seat at the theater, etc. 

[At Sea At Peace]

35 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

I just got off the Meraviglia this morning. The reported number of passengers I heard was 591 on a ship that holds 4,500. It was definitely in the top 3 of my 20 cruises in the last 35 years. The ship, food, service, entertainment and private island matched or exceeded my experience on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Holland America Princess or Norwegian. 
 

I felt safer on the ship than anywhere I have been since Covid began.  Everyone over 12 onboard was required to be vaccinated. We all had to have a Covid test no more than 2 days prior to boarding and again at the pier. Everyone had a temperature check each day (most were taken entering the buffet at Breakfast.  Masks were required indoors when not seated to eat or drink, but it was not a big inconvenience. 
 

If you are debating whether to cruise currently  or not, I say take the cruise if you are not in a high risk category. You will probably never find better prices or fewer passengers on ships than over the next couple of months. No lines anywhere, no wait for an elevator, usually the only person on the elevator, no problem getting a lounger, a hot tub, seat at the theater, etc. 

 

Sounds fabulous.  Enjoyed Meraviglia on a couple of B2B's in the YC (any passenger count in there?).

 

At this point, if it's only Omicron, I am back and forth, after double Pfizer vaccine and booster, if it's worth the chance.  It seems I run into more risk every other week at the packed grocery stores than on the Meraviglia.

[M2ice]

502 on todays sailing

[blueslily]

I'm on a big floating "private yacht" right now called the Seashore, lol, that left Miami yesterday, Sat, Jan 29. That was the joke from the CD last night. I've heard two numbers for passenger count from staff working in different areas of the ship, but want to get an official number from GS before sharing. Plenty of space out here on this empty outdoor deck right now. Mainly due to chilly weather I guess. Or, folks dont realize that this deck area exists. Its overcast, windy  and chilly so most people are exploring indoors. This is our first Sea Day. But, even in the buffet, if you walk down from the first group of tables where most people sit, there is plenty space to sit in a section all by yourself. I'm always in a socially distanced when eating in the buffet.  I was too tired to go to a restaurant for dinner last night so I dont know what dinner looked like in specialty restaurants or the MDR last night. I will check it out tonight. And with other people being tired from traveling, some might have missed dinner as well. So today might be a better estimate of what it truly looks like in those venues.  Seating at the 8pm show last night was good. People really can socially distance on this sailing if they want to. I am often the only person in an elevator. And, Seashore has the elevators that get assigned when you press the deck number you want outside the elevator. To me, that makes it even better. 

 

Easy peasy so far. I definitely feel safe. But, again, that is this sailing. Plus, I am sailing solo so I only have to make space for me, not a family or friends group. Everyone has their own unique  experience sailing right now. I'm happy to be here while everyone else has cancelled, lol. More space for me 🤗

 

[RAC630]

Boarded the Meraviglia today 1/30 and about 400 passengers total. Yacht Club seems more crowded than the rest of the Shiite, but still only about 75 passengers.

[PhotoFlo]

16 minutes ago, RAC630 said:

Boarded the Meraviglia today 1/30 and about 400 passengers total. Yacht Club seems more crowded than the rest of the Shiite, but still only about 75 passengers.

We are boarding this ship in a couple os weeks,can you possibly post the menus for The specialty restaurants?  I already have Butcher Cut but can not find the others. Thank you. 

[blueslily]

2 hours ago, RAC630 said:

Boarded the Meraviglia today 1/30 and about 400 passengers total. Yacht Club seems more crowded than the rest of the Shiite, but still only about 75 passengers.

 

Interesting. I wonder why the passenger count for that ship has been so low the past couple weeks. I mean I totally understand that people are concerned about COVID, but that is a really low count.

 

Anyone know if there something specific about MSC or that ship that might be playing a role in the count being that low? 

 

I'm on the Seashore right now, embarked Sat.Jan 29 and the count keeps being different from different staff but it's around 1,050ish. I was told 1034, 1067, and 1054. So, somewhere around 1050ish, lol. Who knows what's really accurate, lol? 

[Fogfog]

CD on Merv said we are 452 last night.

We r in YC.. 62 here.

 

ship is as lovely as ever

super clean

wonderful crew

 

YC Embarkation was smooth.

Have papers copies of your vax, health forms and contract etc.

Testing at terminal goes smoothly.

 

Opening night show was mix of dance, instrumental and voice

Band in back bar got good reviews from those who went 

 

Embarkation lunch was delicious..rockfish was prepared to perfection

Dinner..the cannelloni and veal chop were outstanding 

 

OC today…great food. Sunny, breezy.

[Tincup66]

Seashore Jan 29 - 1,100