RMLERL

• Ship:  Silhouette
• Length of Cruise: 14 night Trans Atlantic
• Cruise Sail Date: Oct 20, 2022
• Date email offer received: used website
• Captain’s Club Tier: Elite
• Booked through Celebrity Direct OR via TA: Travel Agent
• Current Cabin:  Inside
• Bid?  Yes/No: Yes

If YES -  Bidding Details:

• Cabin Category: Veranda
• Bid Offer: $250 per person
• Notification Date:  Oct 5 2022
• Accepted / Rejected:  Accepted, Upgraded to Cat 1C
• General Comments (offer details, etc.) Minimum bid was $200 pp 
• We originally received upgrade to a starboard cabin on deck 8 forward.  My TA was successful in moving us to port side deck 8 today. Same category 1C. We prefer port side on a westerly crossing. 

I looked at Walgreens in Seattle for an upcoming cruise at the end of the month.  They are charging $128.99 if you check travel.  I think that's a bit of a price gouge. The tests cost $20 for 2 for the same ones sold in the store that they use to test. So each test is $10 retail.  I would pay $50ish for Walgreens to administer it because their notification system is easy/convenient  to use but $128.99 is a bit over the top for me. I'll just order from eMed instead and take them with us since we are in SEA early for a few days.

5 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I just read your entire blog through 1 whole bottle of wine.. Grab that duck. We are sailing on the Spirit in July to AK and thank you for your humor, thoughtfulness and amazing pictures. 

I just did a search and there seems to be 2 places testing at MIA. 

305   869    1161  is the number that came up. 

looks like its on concourse E ground level door 11

not sure of costs

I was originally scheduled on the Mardi Gras  September 30 repositioning sailing out of NY- I continually looked at the prices to see if I could grab some OBC for Early Saver- and all of a sudden the sailing was showing no  availability and then it disappeared completely. And then it was cancelled.

I am booked on the Horizon for April 18(that I booked after my Mardi Gras was cancelled). My Horizon sailing will be cancelled too.  So I made a list of about 5 sailings that  I could use as a replacement. The March 13, 2021  Mardi Gras was high on my list.

Last Thursday it disappeared as an option.

Pretty sure- based on my what happened before to me- that Carnival does not expect that Mardi Gras will be here before late March 2021.

20 hours ago, Touringmom said:

Always choose the option to make a new booking and you will get through ASAP! 

Touringmom-

We tried every which way.  I'm more of rule player but my DH will push any button to get to someone. No luck on his part yesterday either. 

Today we had success but it took time. 

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

The easiest way to deal with MSC is to book through a decent cruise agency.  And if you carefully choose your cruise agency you will be rewarded with a very generous On Board Credit!  In a sense the cruise agency is paying you not to be on hold :).

 

Hank

Hank-

I agree- I have used several agencies with great success.  However, this is our 1st MSC cruise and I wanted to deal directly with them for questions and concerns. We have 5 cabins booked. Lots of people-some newbies too- and I don't have all the answers as I would normally have when  dealing with NCL, RCCL or CCL. 

UPDATE:  I called again this afternoon at 3:00-  55 minutes on hold and then the agent put me on hold to check something and never came back. Another 1 hour and  15 minutes wasted.  

I called back at 4:00- shorter wait time of 30 minutes, was put on hold again for the CSR to have a supervisor to check something.  Thankfully, she came back but only to tell me that my question has to be pushed up the chain. The question was about their loyalty discount. 

I did make the final payment for the cabin in question. 

So in total about 4 hours between yesterday and today. 

My advice to MSC would to have a dedicated loyalty phone number like RCCL and to hire  more people to man their obvious call center back log. 

21 minutes ago, Skoobdo said:

I was in hold for over an hour.  Hung up and called back thinking that I might be connected sooner.  Not.  I ended up on hold again for about an hour and a half and in the meantime that background music got so stuck in my head, when the representative answered I forgot why I called about for a second.  But, the representative was very professional and took care of my request immediately.

We are still on hold. Waiting patiently through the drudge of their music. I know it is Friday night but the website clearly states that they are open until 9:00pm.  UGH.

It is increasingly frustrating to get a live agent on the phone with MSC.  I have been on hold for over an hour.  My DH has been on hold for 30 minutes.  We are only trying to pay off our cruise. Their website won't accept the Discover CC,(comes back as an error in account #)  so you must call in to pay with Discover. 

Does anyone have a special number to call? ( i.e. the direct C & A number that RCCL has)

This is our 1st cruise with MSC and I really want it to go well but I'm getting frustrated with the lack of customer service.

We are sailing  on Majesty  next week to Havana. After today’s announcements- will we still go?

When do the new restrictions go into effect? 

I've been planning a surprise trip for my husband as a birthday present. I booked the NCL Sun to Cuba for 4 days late August for $1200 inside, which includes drinks and $100 obc.

Trolling today, I stumbled on a 9/2 oasis sailing-7 days ocean view $1400.

Seems like a no brainer right? 7 days vs.4. $200 more.

So now I have 2 bookings))

What do you think? We've sailed Oasis and Allure. It's Cuba that makes me want to keep the later. But the big ship will make the hubby happy.

Should I take the opportunity to see Cuba?

I did Hilton Rose Hall from Falmouth. It was a great day. Food and drinks were good. The beach isn't great, just OK. Resort was very clean. Transportation was very reliable.

I 2nd that, we also went there from Flamouth. Transportation was easy. Ride was quick 20+ minutes, if I remember correctly. Bus driver was informative. Resort was very nice. Good for kids because of the slides and lazy river. Most likely going back in November with our kids.

I'd love to hear how this shuttle has worked for others. We will not be arriving until the evening and my understanding is that we can't sign up for a shuttle time until check in. I am interested in a 11:00ish shuttle time, but am concerned those earlier times may be all taken by the time we arrive.

 

Am also curious how the shuttle has worked following the cruise. How do you arrange to be picked up? I would rather not have to wait around too much since we'll have such a long trip ahead of us and we'll be anxious to get on the road.

 

Thanks for any advice!

We have stayed here twice, Country Inn & Suites, (staying again in May) and they have an excellent system. I believe the 1st shuttle out is usually around 10:30 am. You do sign up at check in but a lot of people will be checking in late also. If you can't get the early shuttle, you can always take a cab for a few bucks. Just be sure not to sign up, so the spaces can be given to someone else and they won't wait for you to go. I am assuming you are staying here for the park and cruise, so spending a little for a cab still saves a lot of money over parking at the port. They give you the return vouchers at check in so if you don't use them to get there, you'll have access for the way back. Coming back, we just call the driver (# is on the voucher) and have never waited more than 10 minutes. They tell you exactly where to stand and wait for the shuttle back to the hotel.

Bid $100 3.5* rejected. Went back $125 plus tax etc. 3.5*. Accepted 4* Renaissance historic district. Web site $259 or so.

Hi Radio

 

Really enjoying your pics!

 

I have searched the internet for a close up pic of the starboard side near the aft of Freedom. We are staying in the last balcony on deck 9 which has a slightly different shaped balcony. If you can get a close up pic of this area of the ship either starboard or port you will make me very happy! It is our first balcony and I am so excited! I am so mad that I was on Mariner last year and we were berthed right next to Freedom. I took pics but they are all of the bow end of the ship like most of the pics on the internet.

We stayed in this room on LOS last December and the balcony itself is the same shape but there is an area underneath the railing that comes out from the ship that you can access by going underneath the railing. Its great for storage, drying clothes, scuba gear or for kids to access. We have 4 children and they would crawl under there and have their room service breakfast. Having that extra space allowed all of us to be on the balcony at the same time. We also had the adjoining inside cabin. It was a nice set up. The cabin itself only has a chair, no sofa, because of the connecting door. I would book that cabin again.

For anyone recently back, does anybody remember who was singing in Hoof & Claw? We had a great singer last November, I cant' remember her name but she was a lot of fun. Was hoping she might still be there.