Thanks anyway MSC (06/25 - 07-02)

[insidecabin]

2 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

So, honestly...if I flew in from somewhere to go on a cruise and this happened....I'd never fly in for a cruise again.  I can guarantee....DH would have said "Let's just check into a hotel for the week" after sitting around without food for a couple of hours.

I'm not even gonna ask about "the bathroom situation".

Its worse when the flight get delayed and you miss the ship.

 

If I knew by the time we landed there were issues would have research how bad before leaving the airport and adjusted. 

 

 

[xcell]

52 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

You weren't there that day to see how poorly MSC handled it, so you don't get to whitewash it. 

True...

 

But judging an entire cruise company by one incident seems to be over generalizing things....op might miss out on a potentially good vacation.

 

I'm not a msc fan and things have happened but unless the entire cruise was a bust, I disappointed on how cruisers will be "one and done".

 

 

[LMaxwell]

2 hours ago, xcell said:

True...

 

But judging an entire cruise company by one incident seems to be over generalizing things....op might miss out on a potentially good vacation.

 

I'm not a msc fan and things have happened but unless the entire cruise was a bust, I disappointed on how cruisers will be "one and done".

 

 

Several thousand dollars is a gamble to hope for a different/better experience. 

 

MSC consistently is crowded with not great customer service outside of yacht club, and more and more complaints of Yacht Club lacking service and outsides sneaking in unabated. 

 

They might miss out on a good vacation elsewhere also.  

 

I've been on Divina several times, and Seaside. There's something wrong with the way Seascape is ran. It's so subpar. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, LMaxwell said:

I've been on Divina several times, and Seaside. There's something wrong with the way Seascape is ran. It's so subpar. 

Did you like Seaside?  We embark on her in 3 weeks.  I sailed on her with my mother back in June.  We mostly gambled and it was only 4 days so we didn't explore the ship much at all.  It was her first MSC in the YC and she wasn't impressed.  Not sure why but I just think she likes the Haven experience better.  Maybe it was the inside room where she enjoys a balcony.  She didn't really care for the food as much of it was served lukewarm and our butler was crickets until we disembarked, at which point he walked us to the front of the departure line.  For the money, I prefer YC over Haven and will continue to sail MSC if the price is right.

[LMaxwell]

5 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Did you like Seaside?  We embark on her in 3 weeks.  I sailed on her with my mother back in June.  We mostly gambled and it was only 4 days so we didn't explore the ship much at all.  It was her first MSC in the YC and she wasn't impressed.  Not sure why but I just think she likes the Haven experience better.  Maybe it was the inside room where she enjoys a balcony.  She didn't really care for the food as much of it was served lukewarm and our butler was crickets until we disembarked, at which point he walked us to the front of the departure line.  For the money, I prefer YC over Haven and will continue to sail MSC if the price is right.

I don't remember Seaside feeling as crowded as Seascape, but that was pre-covid.  

 

It seems like 2023 is the year the cruise lines are packing ships to max-max capacity; probably 120% of double occupancy; and it shows. 

[CruisingWalter]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:57 PM, new_cruiser_75 said:

The staff we interacted with was pretty great, but nothing about the ship (nor our disastrous experience before getting to board) was even at a Carnival level.  We will probably never sail with them again. 

 

So if I get this straight, you're upset with MSC for an accident that happened at 3:30am resulting in one person being killed and the Port channel being closed until about 3:30pm. You're upset because MSC did not provide good service during an unexpected event that kept the ships out of the port beyond their control.  

 

I have friends who were sailing NCL that same day. They were waiting in the terminal as well, with very few updates from NCL but it was incredibly easy to keep up with what was happening on their phones. Social Media, local news, etc... so incredibly easy to know and understand why the ships are out there. Heck the Port of Miami has a live webcam that was showing the salvage operation in the pier in real time to retrieve the yacht where one person died. THAT's why the ships were not permitted into the channel, there was a salvage barge raising the yacht to clear the channel. You would have known this by simply scanning social media or the local news with your phone. My friends were watching the port webcam along with many other passengers around them. 

 

NCL did not offer any food beyond the vending machines so you know what my friends did? Ordered pizza themselves for them and a bunch of others hanging around them. Yes, they ordered their own food and made the best of the situation rather than wait and complain that NCL wasn't taking care of them. What else could they do, there was literally nothing any cruise line could do to make the salvage operation or police investigation go any faster. 

 

Judging any cruise line by this very unique situation and then blaming them for lack of whatever is misguided. We've sailed 9 cruise lines so far and all of them are awesome and all of them are annoying. But I would never discount any cruise line because they didn't appease me during a very difficult terminal situation. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[lcpagejr]

On 7/15/2023 at 10:16 AM, MsTabbyKats said:

So, honestly...if I flew in from somewhere to go on a cruise and this happened....I'd never fly in for a cruise again.  I can guarantee....DH would have said "Let's just check into a hotel for the week" after sitting around without food for a couple of hours.

I'm not even gonna ask about "the bathroom situation".

So... When airlines have the "hiccups" due to reservation system snafus , weather...etc... Do you also decide never to fly that airline again?? Its unfortunate people were inconveniened due to the boating tragedy but like any major delay there will always be better ways it could have been handled. Hopefully MSC learned from it as it likely has never happened since they have been departing from FL. Its so easy to play armchair QB

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 minutes ago, lcpagejr said:

So... When airlines have the "hiccups" due to reservation system snafus , weather...etc... Do you also decide never to fly that airline again??

For me, the answer is yes!  We almost missed our embarkation in San Pedro because American Airlines couldn’t get their act together after a thunder storm blew through Atlanta. It’s a long story but suffice it to say that flying across the country a day ahead of time wasn’t enough lead time to make the ship and we could have booked other airlines at the airport if they had been upfront about when the actual flight would depart. Instead of cancelling because they couldn’t get a flight crew until the next day, they kept calling the flight severely delayed….saving themselves in cancellations. Fortunately, we booked a southwest flight the next morning (day of embarkation) and made the cruise within minutes of closing check in. So yes, American Airlines is a one and done for us…and it wasn’t the weather…it was how they handled the aftermath. To that end, I certainly understand where the OP is coming from. 

[MsTabbyKats]

3 minutes ago, lcpagejr said:

So... When airlines have the "hiccups" due to reservation system snafus , weather...etc... Do you also decide never to fly that airline again?? Its unfortunate people were inconveniened due to the boating tragedy but like any major delay there will always be better ways it could have been handled. DHHopefully MSC learned from it as it likely has never happened since they have been departing from FL. Its so easy to play armchair QB

Not playing armchair QB at all.  I was talking about personal preferences.......

 

I live in NYC and only cruise out of NYC.  That's my choice...and I said what DH and I would have done if it happened to us.  We choose to avoid potential problems...like traffic delays to the airport and flight cancellations.

 

If this had been a NYC deparature...we would have gone home and then back later on.  If we had flown down for that sailing....we would have realized how stupid we were to fly to a port when we can take a cab and be to a port in about 15 minutes.

 

As a matter of fact, when we were on the Meraviglia in April, it was only their 2nd sailing out of NYC and the weather was absoulutely awful.  When our cab finally arrived...we went into the YC entrance, and it was bliss.  The main terminal....and 99% of the passengers.....were in chaos.  If we had been "with everyone else"  I probably would have turned off.

 

I like to make life easy...........

[lcpagejr]

7 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

For me, the answer is yes!  We almost missed our embarkation in San Pedro because American Airlines couldn’t get their act together after a thunder storm blew through Atlanta. It’s a long story but suffice it to say that flying across the country a day ahead of time wasn’t enough lead time to make the ship and we could have booked other airlines at the airport if they had been upfront about when the actual flight would depart. Instead of cancelling because they couldn’t get a flight crew until the next day, they kept calling the flight severely delayed….saving themselves in cancellations. Fortunately, we booked a southwest flight the next morning (day of embarkation) and made the cruise within minutes of closing check in. So yes, American Airlines is a one and done for us…and it wasn’t the weather…it was how they handled the aftermath. To that end, I certainly understand where the OP is coming from. 

If we all took this approach and never gave a service provider another chance…we will soon be out of options. But I understand it hits home more when your personally impacted! 

[Stockjock]

I've had more than my share of frustrations with MSC shoreside customer service, but I probably wouldn't fault them too much for this one.  

This was an extraordinary situation involving a death, a serious injury and a port closure.  Occurrences like this are extremely rare, but certainly it's not MSC's fault, and I don't see what they could have done a whole lot differently, under the circumstances.  I'm sure it was frustrating, and most us would also be frustrated, but again, an isolated incident outside of MSC's control.

I've cruised MSC and Carnival Cruise Lines, the preferred cruise line of violent thugs, imo, many times.  I'd take MSC without a 2nd thought, without exception.  But if you want to hold this against MSC, that's your prerogative.  I find that to be unreasonable, but I suppose it doesn't matter what I think.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Stockjock