Current Seaside Has Cancelled Two Port Stops Due to Tech Issue

[SeaHunt]

crew-center article about current cruise (article also has video of passengers complaining in theater):

 

"Due to technical issues, MSC Seaside has made adjustments to the current transatlantic voyage to Europe from Brazil, canceling two ports in the Canary Islands. The cruise ship canceled the arrivals to Santa Cruz de la Palma on March 28 and Santa Cruz de Tenerife on March 30, replacing them with an overnight stay in Las Palmas Gran Canaria.

 

The Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense reports that some guests expressed their disappointment and anger in the ship’s theater interrupting the performance of the South African singer Vick Vicus demanding explanation. The atmosphere became tense and Captain Lauro Maresca was called to explain the reason for the canceled port stops. The newspaper released the following video of guests protesting in the ship's theatre.

 

One guest said that “the ship has not stopped in any port since Rio de Janeiro. There was a protest in the theater because they cut two ports. The ship is sailing very slowly. The first information we received is because of a fuel shortage. Now the latest information we have is that there is a problem with the engine and will travel to one of the Canary Islands and stay overnight there to carry out the repair.”

 

 

MSC Cruises released the following statement:

“We confirm that it was necessary to make an adjustment to the itinerary of the MSC Seaside due to urgent operational reasons beyond our control.

We had to cancel the stops in Santa Cruz de La Palma and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, heading straight to Las Palmas and staying in the city for an overnight, before heading to Funchal.

We regret the change of itinerary and apologize for the inconvenience. We are doing our best to compensate our guests with onboard credit and ferry tickets from Las Palmas to Tenerife, so that they could visit the city if they wish. We emphasize that the health and safety of our guests and crew were never at risk during this itinerary adjustment."

 

https://crew-center.com/msc-seaside-cancels-two-port-stops-due-technical-issue

Edited March 30, 2022 by SeaHunt

[cruzeluver]

Protesting? What a bunch of idiots.

[morpheusofthesea]

Wow ! Thanks for posting. I do not understand Italian, nor Portuguese. Noticed the captain thought he could explain in English to the crowd and had to switch to Italian with interpreter to Portuguese. This crowd may be in for more shocking news. Hope they are not marooned in the Canaries.

Edited March 30, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[wdowns9]

Luckily the technical issues didnt have floating adrift in the middle of the Atlantic. What good is protesting going to do? The situation will work its way out and I'm sure they will get some form of compensation.

[styles27]

I just don’t understand the ignorance of the passengers who protested.

When you go on a cruise things happen and if you’re not mature enough to handle that it says a lot about you. 

 

Maybe they should give them all a trophy to make them feel better 🙄

[JT1962]

9 minutes ago, styles27 said:

I just don’t understand the ignorance of the passengers who protested.

When you go on a cruise things happen and if you’re not mature enough to handle that it says a lot about you. 

 

Maybe they should give them all a trophy to make them feel better 🙄

 

The Captain should have said what my dad would have - “Don’t make me turn this ship around. If you don’t stop misbehaving right now, I will turn around and go back and none of you will be going anywhere.”

[styles27]

3 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

 

The Captain should have said what my dad would have - “Don’t make me turn this ship around. If you don’t stop misbehaving right now, I will turn around and go back and none of you will be going anywhere.”

Hahaha so true! 😂

[8420PR]

I believe the original itinerary that many booked was Santos -> Rio -> Salvador -> Maceio -> Tenerife -> Funchal.   I think the 3 Brazilian ports were replaced (weeks ago) by Tenerife, La Palma and Gran Canarias due to Brazilian restrictions, which is already quite disappointing for European passengers so I can understand further anger at missing ports.   Not a lot that can be done about it though...

[Germancruiser]

Of course one has to have a little empathy- within reason. If they ( passengers) feel imprissoned on board a ship- and a doing a Transatlantic - they should know that a lot of sea days are ahead of them.

Even though I can understand that they wanted to know the reason a slight mutiniy is a bit to much.

MSC should have informed them - no question about it.

 

[morpheusofthesea]

They are lucky if they get to the Canaries. The engines could quit , no propulsion, maybe even no electric generation for air conditioning or lights. Thoughts of having to spend all night, sleeping in deck chairs (in the rain). Happened to us on a Caribbean cruise in the 80's. Some passengers panicked and fought over available deck lounge chairs preparing before sun down. No cell phones with flashlights to make it back to ones cabins. Some that were able to get to their cabins came back wearing their life vests. What quelled the passenger anxiety was the appearance of a freighter off to one side of our cruise ship. Apparently the captain put out an SOS that brought the freighter along side. The CD and his staff passed word around for passengers to prepare to abandon ship to the freighter should the captain give the command. Fortunately, after what seemed an eternity, the captain and his crew were able to get things going again and the freighter slowly drifted away from us, the lights came back on and dinner was late and no one complained.

Edited April 1, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[quattrohead]

12 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Of course one has to have a little empathy- within reason.

MSC should have informed them - no question about it.

 

I would be disappointed  missing a stop after a few days across the pond but I can't imagine having a roll around the floor in reception type strop.

MSC inform customers, now that is funny.

[Love2Snorkle]

Similar incident happened in US cruising.  They canceled stop at the last minute.

 

I have been on Royal more than 2 x compared to MSC and never happened in Royal C.  I think it is cruise line.  MSC ships are awesome but management and how they are running the company is definitely not good as other cruise companies.

[heidikay]

4 hours ago, Funsince1983 said:

 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by heidikay
post in wrong forum, don't know how to delete

[sidari]

One passenger onboard posted on a FB MSC group that the Captain had told them that the ship was short on fuel hence the slow speed. No idea how true the story was but could explain why the ship was traveling at reduced speed.

[neptuno]

"Short on fuel"?  Wow, glad MSC is not running an airline.  One way to implement a fuel surcharge.

[RedgeToo]

Posters commenting on the protest weren't on the ship.

 

I was on this ship, so I know first hand what happened.

 

It was my first time with MSC. I've cruised with 5 other companies over the last 30 years.

 

For me this was bucket list stuff: fly to Brazil, a couple of stops around Brazil then across the Atlantic, the Equator, the Prime Meridian and sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar.

 

We were informed about the cancelling of the Brazilian ports 10 days before and were offered a future cruise credit. Losing flights, accommodation, transport etc wasn't an option as my insurance wouldn't have covered what was effectively a voluntary cancellation.

 

MSC stated we were cruising the Canaries instead.

 

There was a lot of disappointment over the missing Brazilian stops.

 

When the Canary Island stops were cancelled many more people were getting angry. We were simply not getting the cruise we had booked or any where near we were promised.

 

Compensation was given in the form of on-board credit and a 10 % future cruise credit. I received $100.

 

Apart from the disappointment at the changes in the itinerary, for me I thought it ridiculous I was more informed about the changes than the excursions staff who continued to sell excursions in Las Palmas and Tenerife long after I found out the itinerary had changed again.

 

The bar and dining staff were fantastic on MSC Seaside, but communication from the MSC Seaside management was disappointingly poor, and I think the lack of communication was the thing most people, including me, were angry about.

 

Yes, there was little point in protesting, it's not as though we could get off, but those people needed to express there anger at the management and had every right to do so.