AnA4ever

We are doing the MSC Seascape February 12th-19th cruise! This will be our 3rd MSC cruise in less than a year. MSC Meraviglia and MSC Divina this past spring and summer. Looking forward to our first week long cruise. I like new car smell lol.

I had the same issue with the grayed out email step, but 2 days later i just got the E-tickets in my email. No phone calls or hassle. If you haven't gotten it within 10 days of travel then maybe I would start to worry. Unless there is another pressing need for why you need the E-tickets (finalizing airline travel or hotel) 

2 minutes ago, AnA4ever said:

I just seen on another post that someone just got back from an MSC Divina cruise and they used an at home proctored test without issue... so what's the real deal?

20 hours ago, styles27 said:

It seems that they aren’t accepting the at home proctored tests anymore.

 

I don’t see anything about it on their website. It was always clearly listed as an acceptable test.

We used the at home proctored tests for our last 2 cruises. 
 

This would be very inconvenient if they’re no longer allowing us to use them. ugh!

I just seen on another post that someone just got back from an MSC Divina cruise and they used an at home proctored test without issue... so what's the real deal?

17 hours ago, zuzu71 said:

I just cruised on MSC Divina. I did a home test proctored by Rapid Test and Trace. They emailed my results to me, and I presented a printed copy at embarkation. I had no problem. I would imagine it would be just as smooth for you. 

Which home test kit did you use? We have to do this for our trip this weekend on the MSC Divina

21 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

This is absolutely ridiculous!  Carnival just changed their policy today and confirmed no testing required after August 8th. So why is MSC now waiting until August 28th? Ugh. 

I also just realized the Covid testing at Walgreens and CVS is no longer free. Walgreens wants over $180!!! I think I found 1 private test center here in Osceola County but it is still $79 for a Rapid Antigen.  What crap!

Well it looks like MSC has changed the plan on Covid Testing. We leave on the MSC Divina on the 14th and we just got this email.

CURRENT COVID-19 TEST REQUIREMENTS UNTIL AUGUST 28, 2022:
(For U.S. and Puerto Rico residents departing on cruises from U.S. ports)

• All fully COVID-19 vaccinated guests are required to show proof of a negative antigen or RT-PCR test taken no more than 2 days prior to ship embarkation. Guests must bring the valid negative test certificate with them to the terminal. MSC Cruises may provide additional testing, if necessary, at the terminal during embarkation or on board to protect our guests and crew.
  
• All guests not fully vaccinated (based on the above vaccination requirements) are required to show proof of a negative RT-PCR test taken no more than 3 days prior to ship embarkation. Guests must bring the valid negative test certificate with them to the terminal. These guests may undergo an additional COVID-19 test at the terminal prior to embarkation provided by MSC Cruises, free of charge. The only exception is that no pre-embarkation or embarkation testing is required for guests under 2 years of age.

UPDATED POLICY BEGINNING AUGUST 29, 2022 (Pending destination requirements):

• For fully vaccinated guests sailing 5 nights or less from U.S. ports, COVID-19 testing within 3 days of embarkation is recommended, but not required.
  
• Fully vaccinated guests sailing 6 nights or longer from U.S. ports must show proof of a lab-administered negative COVID-19 viral test (NAAT or antigen) taken within 3 days of embarkation. MSC Cruises recommends vaccinated guests to test within 1 day of embarkation, when possible.
  
• Unvaccinated guests 2-11years must show proof of a lab-administered negative COVID-19 viral test (NAAT or antigen) taken within 3 days of embarkation for all cruises from U.S. ports. MSC Cruises recommends unvaccinated guests to test within 1 day of departure, when possible. These guests may undergo an additional COVID-19 test at the terminal prior to embarkation provided by MSC Cruises, free of charge. The only exception is that no pre-embarkation or embarkation testing is required for guests under 2 years of age.

MSC Cruises’ current vaccination requirements will remain in place for sailings from U.S. ports. All guests 12 years and older must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. MSC Cruises recommends that fully vaccinated guests receive booster doses when eligible to do so, per CDC recommendations. MSC Cruises crew are fully vaccinated and regularly tested.

You can sail with confidence knowing that MSC Cruises will operate under its industry-leading health and safety protocols, enabling safe and enjoyable cruising.

We are cruising on the Divina on August14th and staying in room 8147 and we are looking forward to it. We like the semi 2 room design and the longer balcony. We also like how the door opens to the Atrium glass and the glass elevators will be our primary mode of travel between the decks. If we do it again we would go with room 8144 just because the starboard side of the ship is usually facing the MSC Ocean Cay Island when it is berthed. 

So I went on to the MSC Cruise USA website and looked at booking a week long cruise next February. When you get to the Select your Offer" part of the booking it says you can get the free Drinks and Wifi package... but its $250 more per person to select it. The rest of the booking process is exactly the same. I can get the same room number and everything. So in short it is NOT a free drink package, so why even advertise it as such? The cost for room without the free drink package is $1400 and $2200 with it.  

This would be great news. We have no issues showing our vaccination status but really sucks having to take time off work to get a Covid test done just before a short cruise.  We leave on the 14th so hopefully this news stays current.

We are heading out on the Divina on the 26th of May this will be our 2nd trip on MSC in just over 90 days. We took the MSC Meraviglia back in February.

For this trip we are also on Deck 11 on the port side just a few balconies forward of the stern. 

We enjoy the cruise line. It is budget so please keep that in mind. But saying that we enjoyed almost all the food (the Pizzas on the buffet are great!) We plan on doing more cruises and we will try some of the other cruise lines in the future.  Hopefully we can meet up with some other like minded people along the way.