optimusprime82

This will be a work in progress. I prefer working from my Ipad but I’ll only have internet on that device when in port. Lots of photos from our three days in NYC before the cruise, we’ve been trying to remember to take photos of food (sometimes we forget), some arrival and sail away timelapse videos, etc. Getting ready to leave the ship for explore Boston. Arrived a few hours late due to fog this morning. Tendering in Newport, RI was a disaster yesterday, lots of frayed nerves and some tempers flaired.

The dissipating fog in Newport, RI.

The evening sunset approaches in Newport, RI.

More to come, I’ll try to answer any questions the best I can.

MSC hasn't mastered verbal communication yet. They need to learn how to walk before they start running with an online chat option.

Anyone have any MSC experience with Boston? Will they be using Flynn Cruise Terminal this fall when docking for the day? We're trying to determine the viability of just walking off the ship to explore.

Kind of surprised that there isn't anything on the news. If a crime or a suicide occurred the local authorities would need to be notified.

2 hours ago, Até said:

I assume you don't see a credit balance when looking at your booking online. 

 

The best option is to send an email to mscexistingreservations@msccruisesusa.com

 

Put in your booking number and a concise account of what happened.  I'd ask that a credit balance be put on the sailing,  it might be easier than getting a refund and dealing with the dispute issue.

 

When I had a credit balance it was refunded at the end of my sailing.

 

Nope, no credit balance. I believe she's been emailing MSCexistingreservations but I'll double check.

2 hours ago, oceans.calling said:

Try sending an email to mscexistingreservations@msccruisesusa.com. They might be able to help. Make sure you put booking number, cruise date and ship in the email. 

Thanks, I've emailed them before regarding a past sailing. It's still pretty hit or miss, like so many things with MSC lol.

45 minutes ago, mmbcater said:

Typically any refund will take 1-2 billing cycles-

Thanks. It would be nice if we knew what card/account they were going to refund - they haven't even told us that yet.

45 minutes ago, Tierun said:

Similar situation, but smaller dollar amount. We overpaid by $60 on a booking last month. The overage is now being credited as obc. 

If it was a smaller amount I wouldn't mind the OBC but as it is we already have several hundred dollars, the Easy Plus drink package, and Wi-FI. I'm sure we could find a way to spend $500 more but I'd rather not feel like I have to spend it. Like Até said, anything unused would be refunded back but we sometimes find it a little too easy to spend money when we'd rather be responsible lol.

Hello everyone!

Long story short version since I'm not intending on writing a novel.

My wife made our final payment online for our 10/04/23 NYC sailing on the Meraviglia a few days before the early July due date. For the next few days when we'd log into the MSC website it still showed a balance being due. My wife called her bank and MSC to confirm that everything had gone through correctly. During the call with her bank, who is somewhat overcautious about fraud based on the amount of calls she gets to verify transactions, they misunderstood the purpose of her call and opened a dispute on the charge with MSC.

Fast forward a month and my wife receives a call from MSC stating that unless we pay $500, the amount of the final charge, our booking will be cancelled because of the dispute (which my wife knew nothing about). We put the $500on my credit card to make sure our booking wasn't lost. My wife contacted her bank, who cancelled the dispute with MSC. For about a week my wife was able to chat with the MSC rep about the issue - she said that either the money would be sent back to her bank account or my credit card would be credited back the money. That was nearly six weeks ago, my wife hasn't been able to get that rep back on the phone, and I'm worried that if we sail without this issue being resolved that it's going to be even harder to fix.

Every time she calls she gets a different rep who doesn't understand what's going on and her emails don't get replied to. For the most part, aside from making the second final payment, I've stayed out this since I didn't want to confuse the situation further. Does anyone have any suggestions on who my wife can reach to that can give her a straight answer. I'm not super worried about the money, it's just $500, but I doubt MSC is going to be easier to deal with once the sailing is done.

Thanks you!

As a heavier cruiser I do get some of the frustration, but I also get why MSC is doing this. There's so much waste on board it's ridiculous. With that said, I don't know if I've ever ordered a second entrée. I think I've inquired about a recommendation between two entrée options and have been given two by a kindly waiter or waitress, or have been offered an appetizer portion of an entrée. 

Most dinners in the MDR for me involve two apps (a Caesar salad or soup and one nightly app), one entrée from the list that changes daily, and one dessert. If the menu has two entrees that really interest me, I'd probably just express interest in both, ask for a recommendation, and see what happens. If I really need to try both, I guess I'm just out an extra $5 which over the course of a cruise isn't a big expense since I don't intend to pig out at every MDR dinner.  

A better website would be nice, but at this point it's almost endearing how bad it is.

More port of call. I'm not really sure what my wife and I book next with MSC after our NE/Canada trip in October on the Meraviglia. We've done the Caribbean with them twice, both were fun. Most of their current itineraries in the region are pretty basic, bordering on dull. They need to start sailing from the west coast and they should start sailing further south in the Caribbean (from PR). 

We like sailing with MSC but going to Bahamas every time isn't moving the needle for us at this point. 

17 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But you can't really move on if the way is blocked.

Next time you should probably take a picture of the obstruction because this sounds like an exaggeration to me. From my experience on MSC, they'll have a decent number of photographers and backdrops but they don't hinder guests from getting around the ship.

I've never found it to be that big of deal to say, "No thank you" and move on. There's a lot of people that don't get to cruise often that enjoy getting a nice photo taken - if that's you, enjoy it. If you don't need photos - smile, politely decline, and enjoy the rest of your evening. 

Can I assume that you commute to Brooklyn the day of the cruise from South Jersey? We've sailed from the Manhattan cruise terminal several times staying in a few different areas in and around Manhattan. We're sailing on the Meraviglia in October again but haven't decided where to stay yet. We're probably flying in on Sunday for a Wednesday sailing. Right now we're leaning towards Chinatown or the Financial District since it seems like an easier Uber ride to Brooklyn versus staying further north.

Negative people have a convenient way of having a miserable time, it's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. All the things the OP described seemed fine but could be, "the worst cruise ever" to others because they're a bit disconnected to reality.

Like almost everyone here, we've had some cruises that weren't quite as good as others but I've never had one that I would describe as "bad" because of something that the ship or its crew are responsible for.

7 hours ago, mcoler181 said:

We have only been on 4 cruises, all RC and on each have dressed up on the formal night, me in a tux, wife and girls in evening dresses, we did plan to do the same on our upcoming MSC Seascape cruise for the gala night but after reading on here I don't think we will bother, we have enjoyed getting dressed up in the past on Royal but I think we may look a bit out of place on MSC as I get the impression we might be the only ones 😂

You definitely won't be the only ones. In my experience there's a lot of variety amongst cruisers that encompasses everyone from those that can't be bothered to change out of their pool clothes to people wearing suits and gowns. Personally, we like to dress smartly for dinner, that's not a hardship for us. As it is, the MDR is one of the last spots on a cruise ship that still has that classic cruise ship "feel" anymore. 

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

You forget how many people are in driving distance easily of the port in Texas...I agree on the itineraries. 

I'm not forgetting about them, TX just doesn't move the needle for me. I'm sure if I lived in central or eastern Texas I'd be thrilled. With all that said, there's plenty of people that live within easy driving distance of several CA cities that have cruise ports too. 

For my wife and I, we really like MSC, but after this fall's trip to NE/Canada there won't be anything left for us to do with MSC in the US until they go out west. We love the Caribbean but we can only do that so many times when there's other ports and destinations that MSC doesn't serve yet.

I'd rather MSC skip going to TX and just head straight to the west coast. The TX itineraries would be just as dull as most of the FL sailings are these days.  

On 4/4/2023 at 2:25 PM, KennyFla said:

Sadly, there generally seems to be  a noticeable lack of manners and increase of rudeness in a lot of the twenty somethings.  Goes along with the degradation of culture.  There is definitely an entitlement attitude now, "I want what you have, and I'm not going to pay for it."

What are you talking about? It's not like throughout history young people have been the most even-keeled groups in a society. Most people in their twenties act pretty similarly to the previous generation of twenty something people. For every incident I've seen on vacation of a person in their twenties throwing a fit, I've seen at least one another where a senior citizen acts absolutely horribly to the staff of a ship/hotel/restaurant.

Do I think that all seniors are like that? No. Does it represent the "Degradation of culture?" No. It just represents that some people are rude. Rudeness isn't generational - you can have polite teenagers and you can have jerk teenagers, same thing goes for senior citizens and all the ages in-between. 

On 3/26/2023 at 8:26 AM, GatorSF said:

Hi all,

We're taking our first MSC cruise this May (2023) in the Caribbean. Checking to see if men can wear jeans to dinner and on deck during elegant nights / formal nights? Husband is a very casual guy and will not wear slacks, let alone a suit. What happens if you're not properly dress? Are we forced to stay in our cabin and order room service on elegant nights ?

I don't want to sound rude, please keep that in mind. Why would you want to attend an elegant dinner if your party isn't willing to dress appropriately for the occasion? There are plenty of other venues to dine at onboard that are casual, why not just go there instead? 

Will the MSC dining staff say anything to your party if everyone isn't dressed up? Probably not. With that said, someone not being able to wear pants other than jeans to dinner might diminish the atmosphere for the other guests that enjoy the additional ambience 

The Butler prints off your Google search results, asks how you'd like to react to social media posts, and clears your browser history without judgment.

4 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

Its about time. Hope that MSC cruises soon out of the west coast.

That's what I've been hoping to hear as well. Like almost everyone- we love the Caribbean, but we want to go other places than the basic quick Caribbean getaway. The World America sailings are pretty dull.

I'd much rather see MSC sailing from SF, LA, or SD just to give us another option other than FL or NYC.

I also wasn't thrilled about the comedy club on World America. I'm not anti-comedy club, I just don't want MSC to become too "Americanized." 

5 hours ago, smokeykat said:

Those are the same prices for my May 21st cruise. We purchased the 3 specialty dining package.

This shows up in the cruise planner about 60 days before you leave.

It's already visible our sailing on the Meraviglia on 10/04/23.

No.

I need to look at our booking on the Meraviglia to see what it says about the drinks package in the specialty restaurants.

It definitely seems like a cheap move by MSC. You've already paid for a drinks package, then you're paying extra for specialty dining (possibly a package of dinners), and then they want you to pay even more for your drinks... pass. I'll just visit the bar before heading to dinner/ I'm not paying extra for a glass of white wine in the specialty seafood restaurant that I'm already paying extra for when I have a drink package. You can only pick my pocket so many times lol.

From the article I found on Google it doesn't sound like MSC will start sailing from Brooklyn until April 2023. MSC would likely try to have a similar setup in Brooklyn to what they had in Manhattan.

3 hours ago, tscoffey said:

As someone who has worked in IT for 40 years, I can tell you that the MSC website is by far the worst of any of the cruise lines. And by "worst", I mean it wouldn't even get past the initial 5 minutes of a usability review. 

 

It needs a total revamp from top to bottom. 

 

 

I don't have any IT experience but since I started cruising with MSC in 2017 I've marveled at how out of date their website is. It seems so bizarre that you still can't go onto their website to make a partial payment. Virgin Voyages is almost a brand new cruise line and they have that ability. I have no idea about costs, but I have a hard time believing that MSC can't afford to poach some IT talent from other cruise lines to get themselves caught up with the likes of Carnival, RC, and NCL. 

5 hours ago, Homosassa said:

MSC is not for you.

 

By the way, loss of satellite feed for the cabin TVs is common on different cruise itineraries due to the path of the satellites and blockage of the signatures due to the earth's curvature  or the surrounding geological features.

 

Some itineraries that satellite fee can be expected include parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean  or blockage by the mountains in Alaska or other  sailings through mountainous terrain.

Signal drops can be annoying but I don't go on a cruise to watch TV. I don't mind watching it before bed but these days if they took the TV out of the room it wouldn't devastate me.