Another major screw up by MSC to add to the list.

[mscdivina2016]

Currently on the Splendida in Yacht club.

 

2 days ago we going into Aqaba and the night before I asked for a wake up and I inquired as to what time I can be first off as we have a private tour with 14 others.

I was told 8am is the soonest they will clear the ship even though we arrive a 6am.

 A little while later I get an email from the tour company that the ship will be docking at 6am so get off asap.

 I go back to the concierge and the YC director was there and he personally told me YC gets off first and no sooner than 8am.  In 18 prior stops, never before 8am.

 

 That morning I get escorted off a few minutes before 8 to find my tour and the other 14 already gone?

 I found out they got off at 6:07-6:24.

 

In an effort not to miss Petra, I ended up getting a taxi that costed me $400, payed about $140 for entrance tickets and $60 for food.

My missed tour was $290 so I am another $310 out of pocket and had 4 hours less time there 

 I brought it up to the concierge the YC director and they don't feel they have any responsibility and I am basically being blown off.

 On a side note, they also never honored the wake up call either?

 

I have 2 types of insurance but one is starting it doesn't quite meet the parameters and the other wants a letter from MSC that due to erroneous information provided by the staff/ship representative that it has caused me to loose my tour and suffer additional financial costs. But that will make them admit fault.

 

I have already notified msc that I feel I have received unsatisfactory service. (Amex instructed me to do that)

 

Still have 10 days on board. Original tour company is not charging me. 

 

 

 

 

[jean87510]

Monday morning qb here.  I would have not relied on MSC info and probably the tour company as they do this all the time.  I also would have set my alarm and left ship the normal way as I doubt many people are getting off that early.  And I always leave phone on connected and have WhatsApp downloaded.  We too had a similar situation and chose to believe the tour guide.  We had also been called another time while docking to see if we wanted to go an hour earlier.  

[kernow]

I would have set my own alarm and got up anyway just in case. I've been on ships (multiple lines, not just MSC) that have arrived earlier than planned and let people off, if I had a private excursion I would want to be one of them. That's what the rest of your tour group must have done. 

[JT1962]

Never rely on a wake up call or information from any hotel / cruise line. Always set your own alarm and be up early.

[mackfam]

One time when I wanted to get off the ship as early as possible I also had a butler and YC concierge tell me that YC passengers will be the first off the ship only to discover that was not the case. In my situation it didn’t impact me as negatively as in your case, but I was annoyed at the misinformation. In future I would just go down to the gangway and see for myself. Hope you are able to get some recompense from your insurance.

[mvh]

If you are writing for sympathy, you are not going to get it from most on here. Seems to me you were 100% at fault. How was it that everyone else seemed to make it on time?  Also, it cost you $400 it didn't costed you anything.

[diesel1973]

After all the problems you have had with MSC but you still go back for more. Your excuse is " you love the product". Customer service is part of the product!  Maybe just book another cruise with them and see if they do it right next time.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

5 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

 That morning I get escorted off a few minutes before 8 to find my tour and the other 14 already gone?

 I found out they got off at 6:07-6:24.

why in the world didn't you get together with any one of these 14 people and get off the ship with them?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I'd be a little ticked too - though I've never relied on "wake up calls". Well, I did early on, but they were not 100% (not that anything is). At this point, your MSC radar should be operating at maximum efficiency.

 

Tom

[mscdivina2016]

36 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

why in the world didn't you get together with any one of these 14 people and get off the ship with them?

Because I am the only one in yacht club .

 

On a side note, I did not oversleep. I was merely pointing out something else that happened that morning.

Those that were up were being told not to congregate at reception but to wait in the topsail.

 As soon as we are cleared, we will all walk off together first as YC is first.  Yeah right.

[mscdivina2016]

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

I'd be a little ticked too - though I've never relied on "wake up calls". Well, I did early on, but they were not 100% (not that anything is). At this point, your MSC radar should be operating at maximum efficiency.

 

Tom

It's at maximum.

 

We have a resolution to this after a meeting. Most people would be appalled at the outcome. Shows they truly don't care about crew and passengers.

[GPPhilly]

After several YC trips, we have found that with the MSC excursions that if we are to wait in the topsail lounge and be escorted we are never the first to arrive at the bus.  Normally we are the last.  So now if it is very important we get off we get our butler to escort us off prior to being called.

 

On our last Divina cruise our traveling friends had to get off early as they had a very early flight.  Their butler had them off right away to avoid any delay.  

[Stockjock]

You, of all people, should know better than to rely on *anything* that MSC tells you.

But yeah, not a shocker, unfortunately.

[hamrag]

8 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

why in the world didn't you get together with any one of these 14 people and get off the ship with them?

 

6 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Because I am the only one in yacht club....

There is no chasm! You can exit and reenter the YC area anytime you wish and even engage with those outwith. Alternatively telephones usually work, in our experience. 🤔🙄😴

 

 

[ncklhaus]

I'm a little confused. You say that the original tour company is not charging you. So, what insurance claim would you be filing? 

[travelwide]

Who is the YC director and HD on the ship?

[Morgsmom]

To be fair, there have been multiple times when we've been asked to "wait in Topsail" and had we done that we'd be a good hour behind the "normal folks" getting off for excursions, disembarkation, etc.  I was on the December Meraviglia sailing that had a sad Man Overboard incident.  We were asked to wait in Topsail for disembarkation rather than queue downstairs like the 1000's of other folks who were already 3+ hours late in getting off.  Had I followed that guidance I might have been more comfortable (than standing first in line), but would have definitely added a LOT of time to finally making it off the ship.  So, yes, there are times when YC thinks it's doing people a favor by asking them to "wait" to be escorted off but it's really to their detriment.

[styles27]

I don’t understand. Were you told you couldn’t leave the YC area before 8a.m?

I was only in YC one time but can’t remember…are the ship wide announcements concerning the ship being cleared not heard in the YC area?
 

[mscdivina2016]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:22 AM, ncklhaus said:

I'm a little confused. You say that the original tour company is not charging you. So, what insurance claim would you be filing? 

Sorry in the delay, my phone screen cracked and I finally got it fixed in Athens.

 

No they did not charge in the end. They actually said this is not the 1st time with YC and they will update their instructions going forward.

 

 I talked to my vacation concierge and they have said it's a covered event.

Just for clarification, my insurance policy is custom written and it ended up costing $4,812.00.

 

The policy covered $16,000 + worth of airfare.

2 presidential suites on an African safari to the Masai Mara and Serengeti in Kenya at the Serena resorts, repatriation medical, the cruise and more.

 

[mscdivina2016]

On 4/24/2023 at 12:50 AM, styles27 said:

I don’t understand. Were you told you couldn’t leave the YC area before 8a.m?

I was only in YC one time but can’t remember…are the ship wide announcements concerning the ship being cleared not heard in the YC area?
 

I was told by the YC director the night before to come at 10 minutes to eight and.no earlier.

 

No cleared announcement was made.

[mscdivina2016]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:20 PM, hamrag said:

You be careful and don't mention any connection whatsoever to mscd, your service level may be affected if you do so! 🤣

So true. Where do I start?  I also got the apology letter and OBC as well and a few other things as well.

 They owned up to the issue.

[hamrag]

10 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So true. Where do I start?  I also got the apology letter and OBC as well and a few other things as well.

 They owned up to the issue.

I see nothing in that photo which we do not receive in our stateroom on boarding day in YC, without exception!

[Stockjock]

10 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So true. Where do I start?  I also got the apology letter and OBC as well and a few other things as well.

 They owned up to the issue.

I think we have to be careful about piling criticism on the OP(s) when MSC screws up.  I've been on the other side of this, and it gets annoying. 

When there is a screw up, I would hope that MSC uses the experience in a constructive way.  I'm with a big Wall Street firm, and while I don't especially love critical comments, I do recognize that they sometimes have validity.  I use that feedback to try and improve the service offered to my clients.  If our support staff screws up, I am always polite/courteous, but again, I use criticism or errors as a learning lesson and opportunity to improve in the future.

 

As you may or may not know (or care), I'm an ex-cop.  When one continuously challenges the aggrieved party, it's almost like asking the victim of a crime what he/she/they did to deserve it, or trying to rationalize why it was acceptable for them to be victim of crime.  That's obviously the wrong approach.

 

And if you don't care to read about problems that people have experienced, you can either ignore those remarks or block those individuals.

[diesel1973]

At least he got something for his problems. When I had a problem with them as a good will gesture they gave me and my wife a certificate for a free specialty dinner. When we used it  we were charged for the dinner. When I contested it at GS the woman who gave the certificate to me denied giving it to me !!  So after calling me a liar and stealing my money the only response from her was " There must have been some misunderstanding". That's why I don't deal with those pirates anymore.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

24 minutes ago, diesel1973 said:

At least he got something for his problems. When I had a problem with them as a good will gesture they gave me and my wife a certificate for a free specialty dinner. When we used it  we were charged for the dinner. When I contested it at GS the woman who gave the certificate to me denied giving it to me !!  So after calling me a liar and stealing my money the only response from her was " There must have been some misunderstanding". That's why I don't deal with those pirates anymore.

 

Wowza