Melandria

I did put it in the after cruise review. Should I write to them outside of that?

I somehow expect that too was a “miscommunication”. That guy. Like I said above I’m not sure if he’s lazy or just makes a game out of how many passengers he can say no to. At the port getting to my car another lady from the YC commented. (My son wasn’t happy and as we exited the YC with our butler for deembarkation he looked him square in the eye and said ‘no one respects someone who lies to cover their backside’. She had heard it). Apparently she had an issue with him as well when she asked if she was allowed to take the big blue pool towels back to the room. (Of course you are. Everyone does it). He told her no also. Maybe it’s just the women? No idea. In any event, I agree. He needs to go.

I wished I’d done that. Honestly I do. I’m not sure if he’s lazy, or just makes a game out of how many times he can tell a passenger no, or just woefully misinformed. Based on the comment above this one, I doubt it’s the latter. MSC would have gotten a 10+++++/10 if it weren’t for him. still hands down the best cruise we have ever taken. But he left a bad taste on the last day.

We boarded on 4-7 I will start with the good, which was overwhelmingly positive. Then I will get into the not so good. The embarkation process was lovely. Smooth and fast. The room was perfect, SO much space. Our butler, Roselyn, introduced herself and while she was rather rushed (she had a lot of rooms to deal with) she was lovely and attentive. Our Junior Butler was Michael. Throughout the entire cruise there was rarely a time we couldn’t locate him if we needed to. He was always at hand and always attentive. The food- 10+/10 We had breakfast and lunches on deck 20 at the YC buffet. The food was simply spectacular. The deck 20 staff was brilliant. I never waited more than 2 minutes for a latte (SO good) or a drink. They were great at helping me find new drinks to try. The deck 20 bartenders were better than the full sail bartenders on deck 16. They didn’t pour as heavy making drinks more enjoyable. (My personal opinion which is why I specified why I liked 20 better!!) We had dinners in the YC MDR. The staff was EXCELLENT. The food was superior. The quality of the food amazed me, especially after all the bad food reviews I heard. I *can* see why Americans complain- there’s not a lot of fried high carb garbage. There was a lot of Mediterranean style cooking and everything was fresh and really very tasty. My 6’7 son (17 years old) was not hungry the entire time because the food was very good and very plentiful (anyone who’s tried to keep a refrigerator stocked for a 17 year old boy who plays football and lacrosse knows how impressive this is) My husband decided he wanted to see why people complained about the food so he went to the main buffet for the ship (NON yacht club). He said the food there was the exact same as what was on deck 20, but with more variety. (Deck 16 main buffet) There was a pizza area there that was unreal. Brick oven pizza in any variety you could ask for. NO ONE does cheese, wine, or pasta like the Italians. They were a highlight. On top of coming home without carb cravings, I actually lost 3 lbs on the cruise. NOT bc the food was bad. But because the protein options were FANTASTIC. There just wasn’t a lot of high carb options Americans are used to. Entertainment on the ship was a 7/10. The comedian was SO funny. He gets a 10/10. The dueling pianos was great- the guy playing could play that piano like a BOSS, but when he sang he was utterly tone deaf (which was in a way its own kind of entertainment 🤣) The casino- 5/10. For the entire cruise they had ONE blackjack table with a 10$ buy in. One. There was never a seat available. There was a 50$ and a 75$ buy in table that never had anyone there. That was a bit of a disappointment. The shopping 8/10 The typical onboard shopping was very average. The pros: At NO point did anyone try to sell me a photo package or a piece of crappy art. I LOVED not having that nonsense pushed every single day. The staff in the YC was overwhelming lovely (with one exception mentioned below). Taking that person out- 10+/10. Leaving him in- 7/10. The ugly: Now I’d like to preface this by saying I’m in a wheelchair. After 10 years of being in it exclusively, I had a surgery last October and I’ve been working VERY hard and I can now walk, with a cane, up to 25 feet on my own. This for me has been a major win. But it caused a complication. As I was previously exclusively in the chair, I have a VERY nice one. It elevates to the height of my husband, and it’s a bit wider than the average chair to maintain stability at height. At our stop in grand cayman, it was a tender deembarkation. (You get off the ship onto a smaller tender boat and that boat takes you to the dock). My husband and son left early in the morning for their excursion and my plan was to meet them for some shopping after their return to port. In the morning I went to the concierge desk to inquire if I needed to make arrangements in advance (accessible tender boat..?). Mr William Singleton advised me that because of the width and weight of my chair, it would “be impossible madam”. That tracked so I didn’t think much of it. “But you’re not bound to the chair” he said. I was a little taken aback but I explained that I simply couldn’t manage walking a port shopping area without it. I hated missing the port but you come to accept some of life’s little inconveniences after so long. He wasn’t rude, but he was firm. It simply couldn’t happen. Other chair were able to because they’re not as large, he explained. It made sense. I enjoyed my day on deck 20 with the staff. It gave me a lot of opportunity to chat with them, and that was lovely. On the last day, I went to the concierge desk and inquired about getting my port fees back for that day. (I had only brought 500 for tips and frankly I wanted to tip a lot more. I wanted to use it as extra tips!! 🤣). First- he tried gaslighting. “Madame you didn’t want to exit at that port” (umm, yes I did. That was my whole purpose of going to the desk). He then flatly refused “it’s not possible Madame”. I am a pretty passive person so I just left. Almost immediately I ran into the YC director Melania. I told her what had happened. She looked shocked. “Of course we could have managed your chair in grand cayman!!!” I was perplexed. He was very clear that I couldn’t. She said she would check with him and get back to me at dinner time. Which she did. She advised that “he never said that. It was a miscommunication”. I assure you it was not. He was very clear, and I did not appreciate being called a liar (or an idiot who can’t understand basic information). She DID refund the port fees so I left it. That night trying to sleep I got angry. How dare he call me a liar. Do you think I’d jeopardize my integrity for a 50$ port fee when I’d just tipped more than 10x’s that? Mr William Singleton was the ONLY part of my cruise that wasn’t spectacular. (From MSCs standpoint. We also had a catastrophe of an excursion that was in no way MSCs fault and we got scammed in Mexico at a duty free shop. Happy to answer any questions about that in the comments) Overall- WOULD 100% do again. Any cruise is what you make of it. This one was particularly fantastic outside of ONE bad employee who is NOT fit for leadership in such a great organization.

That’s my hope- that the card company will call it fraud. I’m going to tell them everything and let them make the decision. It’s Barclays, they’re usually really good about making fair judgements. If I’m to pay 400$, then I will and walk away with an expensive lesson in diligence. I dropped the ball, I should have known the exchange rate and I should have checked the bottle. So if that’s what they decide, I’ll accept it. I’ll update the thread when I get an answer 😌

Oh I appreciate that, but that’s the name of the store, not the tequila he wanted. He wanted one very specific one, and one with a scorpion in it. I’m not a tequila drinker so I can’t tell you what was what lol. Attached is the one he wanted.. that was the one we agreed 2 for 100. (And the one I stg he wrapped in front of us No lie, the sleight of hand would be impressive if I weren’t so mad!)

No there was an open air mall (looked relatively new) attached to that area and the whole place is duty free. (Go up the escalator and over the walkway over the road…) lol I don’t drink tequila either. But I had a specific photo of the bottle he wanted. (He’s in Alaska in the military. His wife will be here in June and she’s going to take it back with her.. no way I’m shipping this to AK haha!) When we bought it I wasn’t 100% sure of the customs laws, I was planning on bringing home 3 bottles from Mexico, one from Jamaica, and another from the ship. Not knowing how many is allowed per person and suspecting I may need to pay taxes on them or declare them at the port, I wrote the amount on the top so I wouldn’t forget how much was paid if I needed to declare it. I used his pen and just wrote it on the top at the time of purchase…. Not sure it will help my case but when I call the card company I’ll let them know that. (It’s still ‘pending’. It has to be posted to dispute) I really think I’m pretty out of luck on this one. But I’m still going to try.

Reposting as a reply

I wish I’d seen your post. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3003603-warning-cozumel/#comment-67253991

Sorry. To answer other questions- yes. YC has a separate entrance. MUCH faster embark/disembark. As YC includes open bars (including gratuities) they don’t care if you have booze (in fact your room includes a full size bottle of your choice with mixers of your choice) we didn’t leave it unattended, we took it after he wrapped them (he had to switch them as he was placing them in the bag below the counter). we let our guard down because it seemed like a VERY safe area. we weren’t vigilant and paid the price. I wish I had seen that other post before we went. Thank you for posting it. (Sorry for the second response. I got so 🤯 over the other post I answered instantly. )

I’m not sure if it’s the exact same store. But that is EXACTLY what happened. it was a brick and mortar store in the area that looked rather like a. Open air mall, with gates that you have to show your cruise card to get back into once you exit. The words DUTY FREE were all over the the place. Receipt attached. (marked out hubbys name)

Completely agree. We are normally hyper vigilant to scams. We let our guard down because it was one of those open air mall type places in the port…. Lots of security and only cruise ship passengers as far as the eye can see. I only posted to remind others of the same. No matter how safe it feels, scammers are everywhere. Be safe and enjoy cruising.

Thank you. I’m posting for others awareness. We were in the YC on MSC, so we were allowed to take the wrapped bottles to our room without any problem. Had we not been in the YC, they’d likely have been taken by the cruise line and delivered on the last night. I’m sure I’d be blaming MSC…. Thinking they’d mixed up peoples bottles. But they were in our possession from the moment of purchase. So it HAD to be him. (And the fact that he overcharged the card is just further evidence he is a scam artist) Stay safe 🙂

We did some shopping in the completely safe “duty free” area in the port. There was a tequila shop and I was looking for a specific bottle requested by my son. I found it, and the guy agreed to 2 bottles for 100. he wrapped them in newspaper and taped them in front of us. As he wrapped them he placed them in a bag below the counter. we signed the cc receipt, it was in pesos not USD, but we were in the safe port duty free area so thought nothing of it. this morning I checked my credit card. He charged me 397$ (TWICE!!!!!!! For a total of almost 800$). Then, I went to take a photo of the bottle for my son, HE SWITCHED THE BOTTLES!!! He had wrapped them in front of us and taped them with masking tape. so we didn’t think twice, we just brought them onboard and didn’t even unwrap til we got home. regardless of how safe a port looks or feels- be vigilant. I should have asked Siri how much 6600 Mexican pesos were in USD…. I didn’t. I signed the slip, thinking we were safe. My options are now VERY limited. I can dispute the second charge. But ultimately I will wind up paying 400$ for 2 20$ bottles of tequila.

Hi all. Wondering if anyone has any insight when MSC may offer scuba diving excursions on their Caribbean cruises. (Hubby and son are already certified padi divers, not looking for lessons) I was going to book them a scuba experience outside the cruise line but hubby says no, bc of something happens they have no obligation to wait for you. (Not 100% sure if they would wait if something went wonky on one of their excursions, but who knows…) Does anyone know if MSC is planning to add any scuba excursions? thanks