southwestie

On 4/18/2023 at 3:11 PM, Miaminice said:

I just got off the phone with Celebrity and had the usuall freaky experience.

I asked about our 10/24 Southern Japan cruise and if our booking is one of the cancelled bookings.

 

Rep: Cruise is cancelled
Me: Booking or cruise?
Rep: That is the same.

Me: No, it´s not the same. Cruise is oversold and only certain bookings are cancelled...
Rep: Please hold .... 5 minutes later...

Rep: I reread the information, only certain bookings

Me: Mine?
Rep: No
Me: When will I know for sure?
Rep: Well, your booking is red. So you are cancelled. We can offer bla bla bla
Me: I am not willing to do anything before I receive an official information that my booking is cancelled. And I did not!
Rep: Please hold... 10 minutes ...
Rep: I spoke to a supervisor. Your booking is not cancelled.
Me: (confused) And which info is correct? I am about to book excursions etc.
Rep: Go ahead and book but keep checking your emails...

 

I spoke several times. I was that overbooked is wrong only oversold on verander. Inside and retreat. They are trying to move people around. 

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

I wonder how comparable the ships and cruise lines are. 

 

Since Virgin Voyages is a brand new cruise line, can you please provide a comparison of the ships:

• the size,
• the number of passengers at full capacity and the number on board,
• the number of crew at full capacity and the number on board,
• the fare, and
• the perks included in the fares you paid.

 

Then we can see if you are comparing apples to apples or apples to oranges.  Plus we can learn more about Virgin Voyages.

 

Thanks.

This is nothing to do with compassion. but service or lack of. You can compare it to others ships or truck stops lol. This is the experience and service just on this ship 

3 hours ago, desire882x said:

Hi Folks,

 

I've just got back from a 7 night cruise on MSC Virtuosa and wanted to share my experience. I've been on 4 cruises (a mixture of Royal Caribbean (Symphony of the seas etc. and Virgin Voyages) and I'm in my 30's.  I want to share my experience as I noticed there are very few reviews of this ship.  I've written some quick bullet points of my overall experience, I'll write a few review and post it on the review section of this website.

 

I was on the 4th Sept - 11th Sept Cruise around the UK (Portland / Liverpool / Greenock / Southampton). I will be comparing my experience with Virgin Voyages as I was on Scarlet Lady a few weeks ago.

 

Initial Embarkation Procedure

I arrived at Southampton at my allocated time, I was met with long queues all the way around the building with limited social distancing and hardly any people wearing masks. After around an 1hr 15 mins my temperature was taken and I was let inside the terminal. After another 30 minutes we were asked to show our cruise ticket...we then queued again and another desk asked to show our proof of vaccine. We then joined another queue to have our tests, after this we were then told to go to the security check. At this point we were asked to show our passports, we were then were advised to go upstairs and queue at another desk and were asked to show all our documents (Insurance / Proof of Vaccine / Passport / Boarding Pass etc.) At this point we were given a 'Watch' which we were told was for contact tracing. We then waited for our results and finally could board. Total time was just under 3 hours.

 

I felt the process was quite complex compared to Virgin in terms of showing different documentation at each desk. With Virgin I found the process much more simpler.

 

1) Stage 1 Show Tickets / Proof of Vaccine and Passports

2) Stage 2 take Covid Test

3) Stage 3 - Get Results

4) Stage 4 - Show Boarding Pass and get on board.

 

Positives

Room was a good size and house keeping did a good job tidying up

 

The Main Dinning Room is impressive and the service is great here

 

Food was very average in the buffet but did the job...

 

Shows were pretty okay

 

F1 Simulator was good

 

Negatives

 

Serious Lack of Staff in all areas

 

Staff are really worn out and unhappy (Spoke to 5 members of staff who openly told me they can't wait to get off the ship)

 

Ship is running a 'skeleton service' buffet restaurant was only ever 50% open at lunch time, there are only two places to go for breakfast with the one restaurant

closing at 9:30am!

 

Massive Massive Massive Queues for Breakfast (on some days) often wait times of 40 minutes+ to get it

 

Really BAD Processes in place...e.g some stuff you can only book in person such as tickets for shows / restaurants and F1 Simulator / Golf ETC, some stuff you book on your TV/ Phone app ..so it can be confusing having pieces of paper with Spa Bookings and Restaurant Reservations as a lot of stuff does not sync with the App!

 

A lot of processes don't make sense for example to make reservations for the restaurants you have to go to the Bar?

We had numerous issues such as the sensor / lock on our door not working, we queued a total of 8 hours over 2/3 days just to resolve this simple issue. 

 

House keeping staff unfriendly for example we needed more toilet paper was told we had to request this via guest services as apparently house keeping staff are not allowed to give toilet paper to guests directly....

 

Lots and lots of noise at night...we were in a balcony cabin on the 13th floor and every night there were lots of banging which we believe was from the staff as it happened every night at 11:45pm - 3:30am. I am guessing this was the staff performing some sort of maintenance?

 

Lack of Drinks on board - Despite having the drinks package, a lot of drinks were unavailable for example there were no fruit juices. After 24 hours on board some restaurants had ran out of Coca Cola Cans and resorted to providing a 'water downed version' of diet coke to guests.

 

Food not labelled on board in terms of allergens or diet (Vegan etc.) Staff unsure of what was in food.

 

A lot of machines in the Arcade are not working and the guy who runs this is the most rude unfriendly person you could meet in your life! I lost around 16 credits on broken machines and was told by the guy 'not my problem speak to guest services'.

Way too many people on board I felt like the ship was 85% capacity I was told it was around 60%+

I felt the slot machines were set to a real 'low win rate' could just be my experience but I didn't win anything...

 

There were confirmed covid cases on board, a lot of people were not wearing masks and no one was enforcing this. After covid began spreading on board more announcements were played on the ships speaker to social distance etc. 

 

Music Lounge / Piano Player - opposite guest services so its very hard to even speak to guest services when you have music blaring in the background!!

 

Queues to get drinks....why not have soft drinks such as water etc in a vending machine to allow guests to get drinks themselves ?

 

Confusing Processes- Guests are allowed to get cold drinks in the buffet but are not allowed to get hot drinks...?

 

Arcade - Very very old games stuff that you would expect to find a carboot sale!

 

Confusing Advice - Guest Services saying don't use your watch for any payments its only for contact tracing and all restaurants asking to you to show your watch to order drinks....

 

Strange Disembarkation Process - Guests are removed from their rooms at 8am, and again ques to disembark.

 

Conclusion

 

A very very different experience compared to my cruise with Virgin Voyages in Covid Times...

 

I had multiple issues on board mainly not being able to get into my room, which resulted in my card being reprogrammed which resulted in my fun pass not working, the wifi not working and generally not being able to use my card with anything.

 

I spent in total 14 hours of my holiday at guest services...when I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told I would have to wait in my room most of the day for them to ring. Apparently the supervisors don't see anyone face to face!

 

When I did speak to a supervisor they just said 'sorry we can't do anything complain to MSC when you get back on land' they would not give any compensation, no restaurant vouchers, no spa vouchers, nothing.

Overall this is a cruise I would not recommend you go on...even when more staff are made available the processes on board are just confusing and don't make sense! For a brand new ship the processes are outdated....

 

P.S - I can confirm the stories posted online regarding this cruise are true with the high number of covid cases being present on board. MSC should of really not allowed more passengers to board at Liverpool and Greenock the ship needs a full decontamination. This morning I saw another several hundred guests queuing to get on board....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well after 64 cruises this was the worst ever. We were on the ship and lunch by 12 30.  Staff and room steward perfect. No noise. But I was on deck 10.

 

Lines were long as you said. I went to reception  .got nowhere. I stood and demanded the manager and was given access to the dining rooms for breakfast and lunch by using his name. Not good. But needs must. 

 

Got drinks ok but seating was shocking. No nibbles with drinks. Shows poor.  Whole experienced was poor.  Very poor. Nothing will get me back on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hi.

Has anyone booked via Iglu orPlanet cruise.

we are going on the 14th december 5 days in India then dubai and a cruise for one week and then fly home.

any help or ideas .

looks like eating in hotels and bottled water etc it the way to go

We are doing this in December 2018' I booked and get 5 das Delhi.Agra and jaipur. Then fly to Dubai. I thought I could vet my visa online. Visa no visit too london. I can't figure out who h jabs to have if any and how to get them to save cost. How was twilight.airports.hotels Tec tours time on buses toilets on them. I have million question s

My e m ai l

Rob Rogers 25 at Yahoo. Co . Uk

Please help

did you hear anything from the deck below, I know they are well sound proofed these days:)

many thanks, as I expected and not too bad:)

Hi.

We have been given cabin Number G322, Has anyone stayed in the cabin or near, I wanted to know how obstucted it was, I think maybe a tender is underneath us.

we dont use the balcony too much, but always nice breakfast in the morning and fresh air in the evening.

can any noise be heard from under us ?

thanks:)

it worked for me

6

7

8

9

10

11

Departure

Silk

Spectra's Cabaret

1

Southampton, England 14 Apr 2016

5:00 PM

Departure

7:45 PM

-

8:15 PM

Silk

• details
  

10:15 PM

-

11:10 PM

Spectra's Cabaret

somehow I did it, I have dinner at chic at 7.45/8.15 it said conflict but theret did just that, try againwas a box on the left that said agree to book both and i

Yes it has been charged to that credit card but we want to get rid of that card. I guess just wondering if Celebrity will let us move the charge to another card and credit that one.

I have done this many times, all they do is use the new card, after all, they cant get money from the discontinued one, so they will ask if you have another card and just use, I have the same with a hotel even a flight, we have all lost a card or changed card providers

what ever happens it will be fun, we have joining us now and that will make it even better, once the shows open for booking I will be happy:)

Loved the maiden voyage on Quantum, loved my short cruise on Anthem and looking forward to getting on Ovation.

 

17 days till her first sailing......

Cannot print bag tags

Cannot print set sail

You can book a North Star etc though

Spectras is showing but the booking system does not let you pick a date or time, so that could be an IT thing.

No othe entertainment is showing.

Drinks prices still far more expensive than on comparable cruises.

 

No, I'm not stressed, I know everything will be perfect on board, I'm just telling it how it is, before anyone starts.

 

 

Sent from my iPad mini 4 using Tapatalk

I agree with all you say, I am surprised at the cost of the new drinks package, but other ships either remove them or charge more on a 3 night.

All will be good, but I think far from from perfect on the day, a new ship, first sailing will have a good few problems too iron out, these ships love people willing to travel on the first few cruises, I will be happy, enjoy all it offers if it perfect thats great if not it will be an experience and no doubt compensated by RCL is not perfect.

but we are on all is getting booked for shows entertainment, so the fun starts soon

Got this answer from RCI today

 

You will only be able to book entertainment after embarkation through the IQ app.

thats worth knowing, but does it mean early boards get in first , we board early so its ok but many wont be able to use the app until later and indeed many wont have an app at all,

And some that only SOME humans eat for breakfast................like baked beans, or whatever the Brits call them, and broiled tomatoes, and other English peculiarities.

 

:D :D :D :D :D

We are British and not Brits

I have my meal times and venues all sorted but what happens to people just booking, seems the Grade and a few other are not there now, do they booked up ? and if they what happens to newbies

we had all the above, we had the ship at a special party inc a photo, the strwberries and champers does come, but phone and request it when yoiu board the ship and the day and time and it will arrive then.

you get around 25% or 505 off most things you buy on the ship.

Check the whole list on MSC website, and just request things when on the ship.

Fruit was nice to be honest, sometimes you get back and go too the cabin and hey its there and you can top it up from room service

Back from the Preziosa, Great cruise, as always they dont know how to book flight seats, if you sit together you will be lucky, there is a trick lol,

Black card, they will nothing about it on the ship, typical ship / shore thing,if you know someon eon the ship it will help, dont expect too much , it was nice if you reallt chock strawberries and fruit and cheap champers, meeting , we were the only 2 from the UK we knew the bar waitress so it helped, mr Bing was there :eek:

Its our second cruise, yes it more relaxed than RCL which is already laid back compared too cunard, No one had a Tux this trip, all jeans and casual inc the women, its what MSC is all about though, the cruise not the showing off.

I did take advantage of the $200 voucher for the next cruise though

Thanks. What did you use as proof? Sorry if you have already posted this but I did look through the last three pages and couldn't find it. Also is the upgrade only for a period of time or for a particular cruise or is it for keeps? We don't have any MSC cruises booked at the moment.

Whatever card is your highest status from a ship or hotel, phone them and they will guide you through it

Most of the negative reviews seem to come from Carnival loyalist. MSC is a beautiful ship but a completely different experience then Carnival. MSC is more laid back, staff are really in the background not all over you to get another drink, and you might not see your cabin steward that much but know they were there. Prices are great, drink packages are incredible BUT it is very European. The food is real Italian (they do have burgers and fries to) and portions are Italian also. There is no constant Caribbean band playing. They do have great shows, they have plenty of music variations and I loved the Galaxy Club Disco. There are some other quirky things about MSC. I am not a real fan of Carnival, I have been on NCL & Celebrity and think MSC is somewhere between NCL and Celebrity. The one thing that tops other lines is the Yacht Club - nothing compares to that experience.

I was willing to try this line and ended up loving it but I threw the negatives aside to make up my own mind. I'm glad there is a choice and sometimes price is only a small part of the consideration.

I think you summed it up perectly, I gave sailed Cunard mostly, ncl and rcl , I wont really wont sail carnival:), MSC seem fine to me

We had ours changed from Classic to Black

we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black,

 

How can you be Black card if you have only sailed once? unless of course it is via the stupidity of the new scheme!

Yes it is, they gave us black as we are Diamond on Cunard, makes no sense to me, cant workk out why they did it either

Dobt forget if you buy before you pay the price, if you buy on the ship they add 15% on to every drink

Ditto.

 

At one stage I had 3 forward MSC bookings - now none. I also don't envisage booking with them in the next 2 years.

 

Loyalty is a 2 way street.

 

Annie

Let me know , if you find a cruise for the same money duration and loyalty perks though, we booked 1 cruise, and now booked 3 more and already we are black, i can it it would get o you as you worked hard for it, but can you get the same from any other line ????

I hope so, I not snobbish in any way, but when I go out I dress up, maybe a pair of nice trousers and a shirt, and I just dislike people who are there in Jeans and T shirts.

you will have a great cruise and you will enjoy dressing up a little at night for dinner, I think you will most people do and only a few wont