WH_Cruise

3 minutes ago, sidari said:

I agree, but I am sure I read recently that they will refund the cruise cost, in effect no different from denying boarding to Italian citizens basically for being Italian and from just one country with an outbreak.

Who knows, when speaking to them by phone earlier (whilst really friendly, helpful and clearly stressed out) they said their would be no refunds in the event of being denied boarding.

Time will tell as this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. 

7 minutes ago, sidari said:

WH ... If you are denied boarding you cannot be quarantined on the ship.

What do they do just leave you there by the dock side and sail off into the sunset with your luggage still onboard?

The level of poor exposure that will give them is absolutely insane.

24 minutes ago, resistk said:

 

Thermal scan won't reveal someone's travel history or if they have been in contact with someone sick or other symptoms, just temperature?

Tbf that is true and your temperature can be artifically lowered with 2 paracetamol.

16 minutes ago, resistk said:

 

Then they are endangering everyone's health as a common carrier by creating an incentive for passengers to lie.  This is not a normal situation but an emerging epidemic, safety and health come first, not corporate profits.  A common carrier has a responsibility to ensure passenger safety over profits.

To be fair they are performing thermal temperature checks so you wont really have a choice of concealing any illnesses. if you are above 38 you aint getting on.

Well i have bitten the bullet and paid my balance just now :)

Lets see what happens.............

2 minutes ago, dexddd said:

I've been out of touch past few days but asked question about refunds.  If they deny you due to temp then they need to refund you.  No way they know real reason for high temp.

 

If that is how they are operating you are going to see people bail before final payment.

This is one of many statements that appear almost daily on their website:

MSC Cruises has conducted and continues to conduct pre-boarding screening by thermal cameras to exclude persons who may be at risk, and passengers with signs or symptoms of illness such as fever (≥38 C°/100.4 F°) or feverishness, chills, cough or difficulty breathing will be denied embarkation. The same rules apply to their travel companions and will also result in a denial of boarding;

The list of places that apply to guests being denied boarding also grows each day. Started off with China and now covers HK, Macau, Iran, South Korea and pretty much all of northern europe. By the end of this week i expect this list to double given the number of infections occuring where an individual has come into contact with an infected person in their own country.

24 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

With the new Corona policies in place has anyone been denied boarding or seen anyone denied boarding due to a fever, coughing, sneezing, etc?  What happens? Does MSC refund your money if denied?  Your luggage has already been taken by the porters, is it time consuming for them to get it back to you?

 

is there anyone with first hand knowledge?  There is no possible way on a ship of 4,500 passengers that no one shows up with the sniffles, cough or fever.  Impossible.

I have to pay a balance today for a cruise to northern europe in may and i am based in the UK.

MSC told me that if embarkation temperature checks are failed then there will be no refund given. I asked what happens to ourselves as passengers and they simply did not have a statement for that which i thought was horrific.

The lady i spoke to went running around asking her colleagues and said we would be quarantined on the boat. Nothing in writing though.

18 minutes ago, LAOkie said:

I thought that was strange as well. I’ve heard murmurs that they may have different policies for UK vs. US travelers, which doesn’t make sense. 🤷🏼‍♂️ 

Consumer law and therefore consumer rights are completely different from country to country.

1 hour ago, teddyd33 said:

 

I agree about how MSC is not business as usual.

 

I was due to embark in Genoa (Northern Italy) yesterday, with a flight to Milan. Based on the based outbreak there was last week, we decided it was going to be very hard to want to travel through those areas to reach the port. Plus, the thought of the ship doing the same route every week (which may have picked up guests from those regions the previous week), and people leaving, departing all the time made this a very risky situation for us.

 

Sadly, although I have cruised many times before, this was due to be my first time on MSC with the newest ship, MSC Grandiosa. We had been looking forward to the trips for months, but sadly it just wasn't meant to be. MSC were not forthcoming in offering a credit to move at all, so I doubt I would sail with them given how inflexible they were given this situation. We will be massively out of pocket for this one. 

That is disgraceful of MSC and literally putting profit over peoples lives here.

Assuming your insurance wont cover it either if MSC are still willing to sail?

You are definitely not the only one. Given the statements on MSC's website i think all of their customers have a large cause for concern.

First time poster here so hello everyone 🙂

As its my 40th coming up in May me and the wife thought a cruise would be something different and are booked on to the MSC Meraviglia in May for a north european cruise over 7 nights departing from Kiel and travelling to Denmark, Finland, Russia and Estonia - genuinely cannot wait.

The balance for this is due this coming monday, at present we have only paid a deposit.

The guidance on the MSC website whilst understandable is beyond vague regarding the denial of boarding. I rang them earlier (in the UK) and asked the following questions in relation to being denied embarkation: