medic143

All five of my Armonia booking (Nov 21 to March 22) remain alive in my account but the earliest you seem to be able to book the Armonia is now April 22 out of Venice.

26 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

I've never tried it but maybe the Contact Us section can do it. One of the drop-downs for "Type of Request" is Booking Changes so maybe with the booking number and sail date, you could cancel that way. 

I used that recently to cancel one. They responded by email to try and talk me out of it but when I confirmed what I wanted to do they accepted it by email as well. Ive dealt with MSC UK on this occasion and they were fairly fast. I've used the same form with MSC USA and sometimes never got a reply, if I do the time frame is usually weeks, and on one occasion 2 months.

14 hours ago, mskitty22 said:

Hi.  This will be my second Norwegian Cruise.  Baltic May 2022.  Was not aware of bidding for upgrade til I read this thread.  Apologize for my ignorance. Gather that som folks get offered an opportunity to bid to upgrade their stateroom. When you receive the opportunity does it specify an upgrade to a particular cabin or just to a higher category please.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

 

Depending on the original cabin booked you are limited in what you can bid on. I was in an inside room so Balconys was as high an ugrade as I could go. If you are offered the chance to bid I think you should be able to offer up to Haven. There is a slider and you move this between a a minimum (varies with class of cabin) and a maximum. Bear in mind this is per person not the total bid so the figure displayed will translate into x2 the amount bid. I booked 3 cruises with NCL in Sept/Oct and got invited to bid on all three cruises. I think that reflects the lower than usual occupancy levels. I did notice on some other cruises in this period on dates Im not sailing, you could book a balcony direct for less than the cost of an inside room + a minimum bid, the later of course not being even guaranteed of success.

Bid €5 over the minimum to upgrade from Inside to Balcony on the Getaway. It was accepted 3 days before embarkation. I was able to print the new documents by clicking the link in the top right hand corner of my NCL account.

5 hours ago, chocolabmom said:

I am on Vision out of San Juan on September 12.  I have serious doubts it will happen, and I also would like Royal to make some sort of announcement so we can make other arrangements.  I already have airfare booked - so if Royal keeps dragging their feet this will become a big problem for us.

I'm watching this as well since I'm due her in December. The CDC currently lists the ship status as "crew only", so the inference there is that it hasn't done its simulation stuff yet. RC's own site lists it as suspended until 31 August. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates .

We are/were booked on the Musica on July 11 out of Warnedmunde, effectively the same cruise as you to Iceland/Greenland. We have heard nothing from MSC but our cruise is currently showing as NAR. The Musica has vanished from the MSC sites at least in the short term around the same time it went NAR and here is where it gets really weird. About a week ago the Poesia was added on MSC sites as sailing from Warnemunde on 10 July on an identical itinerary to the Musica as well as Baltic cruises after that. Today all those cruises have vanished as the UK/USA/German sites show its first sailing as Oct 21 in the Med.

We were booked on the Splendida in Sept 21 but this booking has completely vanished (not even NAR'd) from my account and enquires to MSC have been met with a generic "corporate is thinking about things". Given they are selling cruises on it in the Med in Sept 21 it definitely seems to have been redeployed.

I currently do the same northern European search daily on the MSC sites as things are changing almost that frequently and often there are slight differences between the offerings on the same ship between the various MSC country sites.

I have one cruise that vanished into the black hole of an NAR (the revised sailing date has passed without the cruise actually going and the booking has vanished from the account. A query to MSC resulted in a generic "we're working on it" reply). After reading the initial post I checked tonight on the UK, USA and Germany MSC sites. As far as Northern Europe is concerned at the moment its a complete mess and makes no sense. Of the three ships (Seaview, Musica and Preziosa) there were assigned to the Baltic for 2021 on the last reshuffle only the Seaview still appears on the third party sites I use and with the exception of a couple of cruises to Iceland/Greenland all the Baltic sailings are gone from UK/USA/Germany MSC sites. They may just be rearranging stuff (again!) but it's frustrating to be back in limbo waiting on the results of another reshuffle.

Its looks like the summer season has been cancelled for the Splendida. My 21 night September cruise is now showing as an 11 night NAR in May! Both USA/UK sites have no sailings for the Splendida before October. Unsurprisingly no email from MSC yet telling me any of this.

The Irish Government wont allow it to call to Cobh or Dun Laoghaire. So even if it was to sail it wont be calling there.

Given the UK Government is still restricting foreign travel for its own citizens I can't see it allowing a cruise ship to call to any of the other ports either. May 17th is currently the earliest date that International travel may take place and that it subject to an expert report due on the 12th April.

The ship itself is floating about around Naples and based on current movements doesn't look like she is getting ready to resume cruising but that's only a guess.

On 3/22/2021 at 7:51 AM, 8420PR said:

It looks unlikely that non British and Irish residents will be able to easily visit the UK or take a cruise from the UK this summer. 

Can't speak to whether MSC will allow Irish Residents onto these sailings but it is possible to  travel to the UK from Ireland. Ireland has a Common Travel Area with the UK and we have freedom of movement in both directions. While the Irish Government has curtailed this somewhat due to general port/airport restrictions for travel from the South, practically speaking once an Irish Resident crosses into Northern Ireland they would be free to take a ferry or plane to England/Scotland/Wales.

Weirdly if MSC do ban us from the UK cruises then we will be the only country in Europe who can't cruise as we are also currently banned from european cruises along with UK residents because we are not part of the Schengen Area .

14 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

This is the only Magnifica ref I could find :-

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/5964/

 

Thanks for that. The best I could find was

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/msc-cruises-weighs-uk-ship-deployment-for-summer

and even then I couldn't tell if the CEO was saying the "big ship" was going to do the UK only stuff instead of Magnifica or as well as the Magnifica. Even then with his reference to 21 June it would still be technically possible for the Magnifica to sail her original itinerary, but Norway has a say in that and Ive seen a reference to that fact it doesn't decide that until May.

On 3/19/2021 at 10:10 AM, myplumbersmate said:

MSC UK announced yesterday (18th March) that short UK cruises on the Magnifica would start in May with full details available on 7th April.

Ive been trying to find where the Magnifica was specified as the ship that will be used and can't.

Their own site mentions that they will be doing short sailings but not which ship.

https://www.msccruises.co.uk/news/msc-cruises-uk-summer-sailings

Have you got a link to where the specified the magnifica as I have 2 cruises booked on her in June/July

On 2/1/2021 at 1:10 AM, Sunshine3601 said:

I personally feel my 3 layer cloth mask is better than the skimpy blue surgical masks.   

The blue masks to which you refer are a lower standard than the N95/FFP2s referred to earlier. The FFP2s are fitted and seal around the mouth and nose unlike the surgical masks that are commonly worn. I have to wear a mix of masks (I work as a paramedic on a COVID testing team) to reflect the role at the time. The FFP2s are much safer but prolonged use is honestly unpleasant.

On 9/25/2020 at 10:11 PM, stefndoug said:

 

We are on the Transpacific in April (Japan to Vancouver) on the Millennium...this is what I am thinking will happen too.  I am guessing the Millennium will do coastals (or Mexico) instead before heading to Vancouver in May.   We have had this cruise booked since May 2019 and got such a great deal...oh well...such is life.  

We are booked on the same cruise. I checked the celebrity site today and every room on the Millennium bar the retreat from Nov 20 until the TP in April we're booked on now shows "The Retreat" as the only room available. It could be a capacity issue but with Japan still closed to non essential travel I'm inclined to think the ship wont be heading over at all. I did try and lift and shift the cruise to 2022 but next years ship is a different class and it wont let me - at least I guess thats the reason as the link returns the message that there are no valid options to shift to.

I disputed mine after more than 90 days waiting. Payment was through a credit card issued by an Irish Bank. The money was refunded within 10 days of sending in the documentation.

I booked through a Germany based internet TA for a April 5th cruise. It was cancelled in March. Like so many other cruisers, initial promises of 60 days were followed with silence. At 90 days I gave them 5 working days to refund or I'd escalate it with my credit card company - Irish Based Bank. 8 working days after submitting the required documents the money was back in my account.

I didnt receive any communication from either my credit card company or MSC, the money just arrived back in the account.

Just to echo the previous posts, I too have a cruise for 2021 booked through an american TA at a substantial saving to the UK/Germany prices. I thing to note on the pricing is the MSC UK includes gratuities while the USA headline price doesnt and taxes and fees are listed in addition to the headline price.

I have a MSC USA account as a result of my booking so I tried to add another spoof booking while logged into my account and once you get to the passenger information screen it only gives you USA/PR as options in a mandatory address field. This is despite Ireland coming in by default if I go to the web check in page on the existing cruise.

According to a search on msccruiseusa.com this morning the seaside will be operating out of Cape Canaveral. Sample attached showing December for the seaside. I am watching this like a hawk because I am booked on this ship out of Miami on the 27th March and it now appears according to the MSC For Me app its going out of Cape on the 28th. At least Im still on the same ship.

I am booked aboard the Virtuosa on Dec 11, through the MSC UK website. I have asked them to confirm the sailing was taking place as I wanted to book flights. I got this reply.

"Hi Eric. Under the current circumstances, it is very likely that there will be delays in the delivery of newbuilds in connection with the temporary halt of works at all shipyards where we have placed orders for new ships. If there are any changes to your planned cruise you will be notified in due course and all details of your options will be shared with you."

A canadian who booked through the US web site is reporting the following.

"Six days ago MSC started sending out cancellation letters to Canadian customers for Virtuosa cruises for 2020. For those who have been told it is still a go, follow this... So we booked with Vituosa before they had a Canadian booking site. It just started in 2019. So we'd booked via the US site. Today we called the US number but the it transferred us to the Canadian booking office due to our number being from Canada. We asked about the status of our December VIrtuosa cruise and the MSC agent asked if we had gotten ourletter yet. When we asked what letter, she said letters to all Canadian clients were mailed out six days ago telling them the ship will not be sailing in 2020 and giving options they had going forward. 125% cruise credit. We mentioned we might not have gotten it because we booked on the US site. She checked and saw that our reservation was listed in the US system. We asked if the cancellation was just for Canadian customers and she said no, "the ship won't sail in 2020 according to head office." She also said moving us to a new ship was not an option but then said we should talk to the US agents. She put us through to the US office. The agent there said the cruise was still a go. We mentioned the ship yard said it won't be ready for 2020. The agent said she had no information on that. We asked her why Canadian customers were being told by MSC letter that there would be no cruise on the Virtuosa in 2020. She put us on hold then came back and literally said, "I'm not allowed to comment on that." This, coupled with the ship builders own admission that the ship won't be ready in 2020, clearly shows some MSC regional agents are lying about the status of the cruise. Either the Canadian agents are lying about it being cancelled or others are lying about it being a go. either way, they are all MSC official agents therefore MSC is lying to customers."

There are rumours that MSC are considering using the Grandiosa to cover the Virtuosa if she is delayed. This might make operational sense as G is due to transfer to the South American market at the same time V is supposed to sail, however if true it would not make sense to cancel Canadian cruisers. I am not asserting that this story is true, but I really want it to be.