Pauliepaul

2 hours ago, mickey89 said:

 

I just phoned MSC Customer Services and they confirmed that NO CASH REFUND would be given for cruises that MSC CANCEL. When I mention their T&C she said it was an extraordinary situation.  On a well known social media site people are getting together to issue a Class Action legal claim against MSC.  People who are directly concern would be advised to check it out.  

MSC can't be allowed to run roughshod against the T&C of their contract.

We are also based in the UK. After they finally cancelled the Fantasia sailing on the 4th April we had yet another phone conversation with them. Interestingly today (after numerous phone calls over the last week) they are saying they have permission to retrospectively change their conditions due to the circumstances and this is being back by ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents). They literally reeled off a statement. We checked ABTA out and they confirmed. https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak. 😞

No cash refunds, only FCC. We will still continue to dispute this as we fairly signed up to the original T&Cs so they should be honoured. We totally get their position, but equally we are all in difficult positions now too. Their beligerance over the last couple of weeks, especially in comparison to other cruise lines we have dealt with in last few weeks, has just been stress-inducing. We love MSC ships but their head office is shocking. 

We are also exploring a Section 75 claim through our credit card to see whether that expedites anything...but we doubt it. Travel insurance not interested as some form of refund is being offered--even though it isn't actually a refund!

Hi everyone. Does anyone know what the cocktail prices are like on board? We know wine and beer is included, plus sip and sail, but we do like a good cocktail in the evening and wondering what the prices are like. Have searched for the bar menus but to no avail--only found a version from around 4 years ago and guessing those prices are no longer true! Thanks to anyone who has the answers :). 

No worries..... I was just wondering where everyone had gone....and I imagine most people are in the same position, i.e. trying to get everything cleared up to have a work free vacation..... Though my other half is threatening to get an Internet package so she can check in now and again....grrrrrr

 

Just 1 week for you to go...... [emoji2] vintages is a nice venue, though if there is a large group, it might be a little too quiet [emoji848] could be a starting point though and then relocate to somewhere else.

Yeah, just a few days left for us...can't believe it! So excited but have sooo much work still to do...panicking a little bit. Think I may have to work over the weekend to get everything finished before we head to Southampton on Monday! We shall make sure we take good care of her through to Barcelona ;). I resent paying for their internet packages and just use the free days as DP!

Shall we say Vintages on day 1 at around 10pm as a saying hello time for everyone? Nice quieter place for everyone meeting for the first time and as you say go from there. Music Hall is always good as it gets later :).

We are just taking it easy in Gibraltar Tim and pretty much doing what Mick has said...walking over to the cable car, heading up, get the views, etc.

Hope you can get on to the tour you want. Let's hope the weather is nice :)

Out of interest, anyone doing much in Gijon or Vigo?

Paul

It's gone very quiet in here....Must all be busy packing and getting ready to go on Cruises! Lol

Sorry for the quietness! Too busy working hard so I can take the month off...cannot believe it has creeped up soo fast! Exciting :D. Still so much work to do though.

We are meeting in Vintages for the first leg of the cruise for the LGBT get together so will see how that works out. Worried it might be a little bit too quiet though...we shall see :).

Hey guys

Will add 10pm on day 2 to our calendar! Anyone else going to be in the Concierge Lounge or Diamond Lounge for a few evening tipples?!

Hey all

This thread has been a little quiet so thought I would wake us all up with a 2 week alarm call :)!! Can't believe it is coming around so quick now--must start thinking about packing.

Is everyone just doing the 7 nighter, or staying on board so some of the other legs? We are lucky enough to get to do the next BCN-DXB leg, which looks like it will have quite an LGBT gathering on board.

Hope everyone is as excited as we are...just hope we finally get allocated a cabin soon. Still awaiting our guarantee allocation..agggh!!

The Pandas are just too cute. Well chosen animal...worth the wait and anticipation!

I think the Diamond Lounge is going to be super busy on this one so guess they will spill over into the Music Hall as has been the case on previous Quantum class cruises. You are right though that those who aren't are penalised. The Pool Bar in the indoor pool is always a nice space in the evening, which is usually underused. We all met there on Quantum and the Pool Bar staff loved it as they used to get so bored in the evenings! Or Michaels Genuine Pub is good as has lots of seating together, or Boleros of course as it has the big area around the back area of the bar with funky seating. Choices choices!

Will try and speak with the Cruise Director staff on the Southampton to Barcelona leg to see if something can be put into the Cruise Compass for the 16 nighter. They usually do if you speak nicely to them :).

Just days away really!!!!

Anybody else excited by the fact that the ship has been handed over to RCI today and that she will be arriving in Southampton soon, where rumour has it that the animal will be getting onboard?

 

Wish it was May already [emoji2]

Hey Karen and others!

I saw the Tweet about something being added in Southampton...seems to be from a fairly reliable source (an official cruise news reporter who was at the handing over ceremony and has been quoted by Royal in the past) so fingers crossed. Love how art get people on both sides of the coin talking about it :)!

I saw the live tweet from Nick Weir with the handover handshake...she will be underway to Southampton very soon now. Will be so close to Southampton tomorrow but have to get to Gatwick airport Sunday morning otherwise would have popped down and watch her sail in for the first time.

Eeek....excited...me...never ;). Thankfully we have one week less to wait...eeek!

Hey John and Wayne, and Tom and Vinni!! Welcome to our quite busy roll call for this journey, which is nice!

Re formal wear, if you want to eat in The Grande restaurant then you will have to have a jacket with you. Up to you whether it is a formal dinner jacket or just a suit jacket (or sports jacket as Americans call them!) as they will let you in with either. Have seen a good mix of people in The Grande in full formal dinner jacket and bowtie through to slightly more casual shirt and jacket.

Jack and I will be bringing both so we have options for the length of time we are on board.

There is likely to be a "Dress your Best" style night to appease those traditionalists who were not happy about the Quantum class having no official formal nights. My guess this will be on the second night at the very least with it being the Captain's welcome aboard party.

Don't worry about not being Diamond Tom and Vinni, reckon there is potential for quite a nice gathering of LGBT folk onboard and plenty of bars for us all to get together. We love the Robo bar, even though the drinks are in plastic cups, and is fun renaming your own drinks on the screen ;).

Really excited for this one. Love it when a good group of people form on a cruise. Have made some amazing friends through cruising....of the sea variety I might add ;)!

As we are up to 13 now I thought I would compile a little list of who we are and where we are from....we have a good mix of nationalities if not genders ...lol

 

Saffikins - Karen (me) & Antoinette (Irish but living in the UK)

Jmallmann - Michael & Partner? (German)

PauliePaul - Paul & Jack. (UK)

DenvCruiser - Greg & 3 others (1 UK, 1 Canadian, 2 US)

Mike2611 - Mike (Canadian)

DPA - David & Matthew (Australian but living in Canada)

 

Actually, I take it back about a good mix as Canada seems to feature strongly [emoji2]

 

Looking forward to meeting you all onboard

 

Karen

Thanks for doing this Karen!

We also have two friends joining us on this second leg but aren't on here. Andy and his nephew (not gay!) Chris.

Guessing most of us will be at least Diamond and using the lounge (and likely Music Hall spill out as they did on Quantum both times we were on)?

Hello to everyone who has also been posting recently :)! It really is getting within spitting distance now...bring it on!

You succumbed then Karen...and for the Ultimate package I deduce...we just went for the Premium as just use the coffee machine in the Diamond/Concierge lounges in the mornings and never could tell the difference between the "standard" bottled water you can get on the Premium package compared to the Evian on the Ultimate. Water is water to me, especially when we primarily use it to ensure we don't go to bed too tipsy ;).

Re your question about online check in. I think the change they made was to do with adding the photo during the process. Some people checked in a long time ago and they hadn't sorted it for the online photo process so believe they have emailed everyone to make sure we all do it.

Also, did you notice that they talk about the need to bring along visa for Dubai, which is wrong information for us Brits as we can get a visa on arrival.

Hi, does anyone know if there are still formal nights on the ovation ? Is a formal wear just necessary at specific restaurants on the ship? Do not really understand this as we are used to the formal nights at Celebrity or Holland America....

 

We booked a tour to Delphi instead of staying in Athens, where we have been several times in the past and will be joining a private tour to Petra with ten other people from the ship. Really looking forward to this.

 

I am really counting the days and can not wait for the cruise....

 

greetings from Germany

Michael

Hey Michael

Quantum class was designed to have no official formal nights! It has instead The Grande restaurant where every night is formal night. You must wear a jacket to get in (we have seen some funny moments of people not turning up with one and then they bring out a vile "house" jacket for men to wear en route to their table--you can remove the jacket once sat!!). So effectively it is up to you to decide when your formal night is.

We did notice on the last Quantum cruise we did that the second night of the cruise was designated as "dress to impress" throughout the whole ship. Partly because it was the Captain's welcome aboard party I suppose and people would traditionally be smarter for this. Who knows if they will do this for ours!

We are also joining one of the tours to Petra and Wadi Rum--so looking forward to that day in particular.

Those days are getting lower in number....exciting :D

Thanks for sharing the video...very cool! Always strange to see empty insides of a ship...even from a distance. Nice to see her a little closer than other photos have shown.

...and Saffikins...those fruity cocktails totally add to the 5 a day count. Just think of how much fruit you could consume over 16 nights ;)!

Did everyone see that iFly and North Star are also open for bookings now?

Hey guys--welcome!

Saffikins, even if you are the only girls am sure we will all get on. That Diamond lounge will make sure of that :D! So nice when a group gathers and grows throughout a cruise. After 16 nights we could be a very big group.

I keep looking at the online reservation and willing the days to go down quicker...it still seems so far away, although 7 weeks today Barcelona beckons...hoorah.

How's everyone getting on with tour bookings? We have done all ports bar Aqaba so trying to do something a little different in each of them but struggling with Piraeus. Although we did find escape rooms which look amazing there.

Did anyone else take advantage of the drinks package offer in the end?

Hi there

 

Just a little bit envious of the fact that you are on board for the Southampton to Barcelona leg too, we did talk about it, but opted for staying in Dubai for 4 days at the end instead.

 

Do you remember if there was an organised LGBT get together on Quantum, as I don't recall seeing anything advertised whilst we were on Anthem, though it does tend to vary from ship to ship?

Hey

Yeah, feeling very lucky being able to do both legs. Joys of Bank Holidays falling perfectly for this! We were in Dubai in December on Splendour so did the opposite and sacrificed a few days there this time.

Sadly no access to concierge with Junior Suite. This is our first Diamond Plus cruise so be interesting to see how busy the Concierge lounge gets. Diamond lounge is so much more accessible on the Quantum class ships anyway. Love it being able to spill over into the Music Hall. Am sure you will see us there!

We spotted the 20% discount too this morning and have succumbed already! We know with 23 days on board that we will want a fair few drinks and we love our cocktails (no stereotypes here ;)!) so drink three of the expensive ones a day on Quantum prices and the reduced price has paid for itself. Plus, we love making the Bionic Bar go wrong so it means we can play around with that again! We used to grab food from the Cafe and take it up there to establish the Bionic Bar Buffet! We will take full advantage of the free drinks on the 7 nighter and then use the package on the longer leg.

I don't remember there being an organised LGBT get together on the two times we were on Quantum, but then we were with others both times so kinda created our own and by end of the cruise the Diamond Lounge was effectively the FoD gathering :cool:!

I want it to be May already!!

Hey guys!

My partner Jack and I will also be on this leg, and really lucky that we get to stay on for the Barcelona to Dubai leg too--uber excited!

Look forward to meeting everyone :)

Hey guys

My partner Jack and I will also be onboard for this one. We are really lucky and doing the leg before so get to sail all the way from Southampton right through to Dubai. Very excited for this one I cannot tell you! We did the maiden voyage of Quantum and then its transatlantic crossing as it went to China and we love Quantum class. We are intrigued to see what Ovation is like in comparison, especially as this one has been designed specifically for the Chinese market!

As long as the Concierge lounge is still there we will be happy ;)!

We also have some friends joining us on the Barcelona to Dubai leg.

Have you all got much planned for the ports?

Thanks Roger and Martin :). Have joined the group and will look up the Oasis event on there.

Tick tick went the clock, cannot wait for this one to come around!

:D

Hey everyone

My partner Jack and I have just booked onto this cruise--the discount on offer to Diamond members was just too good to pass by. Thank goodness for airmiles so we could get the one way airfare cheap!

Looking forward to this cruise as a warm up to the Quantum of the Seas maiden voyage across the Atlantic in November!

We have found that on the last few cruises Smoosh. If in doubt, you tend to find them in the Diamond or Concierge lounges instead! You will certainly find us in the Diamond Lounge during cocktail hour ;)...nearly at Diamond Plus but not nearly enough!!

Hey guys

My partner Jack and I have just booked this Maiden voyage too...very excited! The Crown and Anchor discounts were just too good to pass up. Look forward to chatting more as we get closer :).

Paul :D