compman9

Thanks for that. I have looked everywhere on the internet, spoken to half a dozen RCI employees at head office, asked a random immigration official, and no one can answer my question

8 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

The CEO is Gianni Onorato, I would assume his email address is:

 

 gianni.onorato@msccruises.com

 

 I was able to find this which would be the US Contact..

 

 Chief Executive
Richard Sasso
Chairman, MSC Cruises USA
6750 N. Andrews Avenue
Suite 100
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309
richard.sasso@msccruisesusa.com

Many thanks

I hope someone can help with this.

DW and I were on a cruise on the Opera in January. We had an issue that we immediately reported to Guest Services, who failed to deal with it. I attempted to discuss the issue with Customer Services after the cruise was complete, but they have not replied. Despite their promise to do so within 28 days. 

I am hoping someone has the email address of the CEO. I would like to try there first before I move in to ABTA

Many thanks

Love the Diamond Lounge.

Regular coffees, any help we might need, and afternoon canapes. Often have a couple of my drinks in there as well. What's not to like?

Very tacky

Shame, the previous ones were worth collecting

5 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Once you depart the final Schengen Zone port, you should not have to count any further days. That is the system I use to count my days.

Even though there's no stamp to prove it?

My concern is when I return to Alicante airport and the immigration official sees an entry stamp to Schengen, but not a departure stamp (and the next stamp by date, the US, some 100 days later), I would have to explain in pidgin Spanish that I went on a cruise to leave Schengen !!!

3 hours ago, twangster said:

I'll reserve judgement of the blocks until I see them.

 

The way I see is the company is a financial wreck right now.  Sorry, but it's a disaster from any money perspective.  The free blocks from the free loyalty program have a cost to them.  They tried to get rid of them and they could have held that position but they relented.  Now they are trying to save money.  Completely understandable.  It's a free gift in a free loyalty program.  Nothing more.  It's not a birth right of cruising.  

 

With nearly a complete set of v1 blocks the v2 blocks just create a whole new reason to book more cruises.

I used to order laser-printed blocks from China in quantities of 100 at a time as trophies. The unit cost was around $2.50

I would guess RCI's quantities would bring that down to a buck

If it's a cost saving measure they must be working on unsustainable margins for a viable business

Have just read the updated list of perks, what is:

"Priority waitlist seating request in Main Dining Room"

On 2/26/2023 at 12:16 AM, PhillyFan33579 said:

You are screwing over a lot of people who work behind the scenes when you don’t pay gratuities.

I am not defending the post, because I agree it screws the behind the scenes staff.

But blaming the passenger does not help. It is the cruiseline, who should accept cruising is not just for Americans, it is a worldwide holiday option, and they should rid us of this stupid payment system.

On 2/27/2023 at 6:14 AM, Heidi13 said:

 

I find that I am increasingly not getting stamps in my passports, which makes it tougher to track days.

 

May I suggest using a spreadsheet, similar to what I do for managing our days in the USA. I track every visit to the US, notating date/time and border station for entry and departure. I then calculate the number of days and create a running total.

 

If I still lived in UK and made frequent trips to Europe, this is how I would manage my Schengen Zone days.

Thank you, but I am perfectly capable of tracking my Schengen days

Are you able to answer my question:

Do the days at sea when we leave Schengen before we get to the US count as Schengen days, given there will be no exit stamp until we arrive in the US?

13 hours ago, terry&mike said:

When we last sailed in Southeast Asia by large cruise ship (Princess, January 2020), our passports were collected and we did get some stamps. In January of this year, we were on a river cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia, and also received passport stamps. I'm not sure if it's the same in England, but in the US you can send your passport in and have pages added - if you have the time, this might be a thought.

 

And in other interesting news, before we joined the river cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia, we started the trip with 2 weeks in Thailand. When we arrived in Bangkok airport, we were given quite a bit of grief from the Immigration officer for 3 stamps in each of our passports that he did not like. They were not legal country entry stamps, but the souvenier type stamps you can get sometimes (Charles Darwin Research Center in Galapagos, Ecuador with a turtle; Gateway to Antarctica, Ushuaia, Argentina, with a penguin; and Antarctica, with an iceberg). We endured a stern lecture on not having anything put in the passport that was not official as it invalidates the passport, and so on. We apologised, and were let through. He was quite gruff. We chalked it up to him having a bad day, because we've been to more than 110 countries and no one has ever even mentioned this. Also, surprised at how quickly he found all 3 of them, given our passports are each 51 pages and pretty stamped up. Oh well, we got in, but we will not be getting anymore "fun" stamps in the future.

Very grateful for the reply. Unfortunately, my query is fairly specific about Thailand because I have just spent 30 days there and I know there are rules about multi entry, etc. 

Thanks for the reply, Heidi.

This is very interesting. I have asked lots of people, and no one seems to know the answer. I know I am considered within the EU while visiting Schengen countries (the last is five days in), what I don't know is how immigration control, with their moody looking army type guys sitting in their little booth at Alicante airport (on my return), will know 24 hours after I left Lanzarote without an EU passport stamp, I did not leave the EU without a stamp and arrive in the US some 104 days after I arrived in Spain (without ever knowing I was on a cruise, because no stamps were provided until I got to the US)

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

RCI has discontinued downline embarkations with the COVID shutdown.

That's a shame, it would have been useful and saved a flight cost

You can get off early, thought, right?

It starts in Barcelona, but the first stop is Alicante, which is right near my house. Will they let me get on there instead?

Thanks 😀

Auto gratuities are enough for me.

Occasionally I tip extra to a staff member if they do something out of their normal workload for me.

I hope someone can help with this.

DW and I are UK citizens, but spend our allowed 90 days in Spain twice a year.

We are planning on a transatlantic out of Barcelona to Florida later this year. What I need to know is will Spanish immigration stamp our passport, or will it count that we are in Europe even after we leave Schengen waters, until our passports are stamped in the US?

Thanks

I hope someone can help with this.

We are sailing from Singapore to Malaysia (Penang) and Thailand (Phuket), can anyone tell me if immigration collects passports on board to stamp?

The reason I ask is because DW needs two clear pages for the end of our trip (otherwise she won't be allowed in a Schengen country), and she's fast running out.

On 12/13/2022 at 4:27 PM, Nunagoras said:

The UAE cruises have some different T&C's applied to them. You can disembark from the time the ship docks till next day way up on the day, or way early if your flight demands. You'll need to empty your cabin but you'll be given plenty of time to leave the ship. Either way the Dubai authorities don't want people wandering inside either way port buildings or the airport. Please contact guest services during the cruise and they'll guide you. They'll have a pretty much permanent buffet set up from the time the ship docks to next sailing's sail away time.

Thank you for the advice.

The problem is, I cannot leave this until I get on the ship. If they refuse my request to leave on arrival day, I won't be able to change flights to accommodate this.

I have spoken to MSC, and they have said in a very hard to understand accent, "it might be possible."

Appreciate some help with this, not getting anywhere with MSC.

Our cruise ends with two days in Dubai, and our airline's ticketing options only have availability on a half past ten at night flight. This would mean a full day with suitcases after disembarkation.

Can we leave the day before at around 7pm?

Thanks

59 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

Based on…?

Celebrity, Oceania, MSC Yacht Club (around 100 cruises)

They have been on one short cruise out of Southampton on Royal with us, and it was a bit basic

We have promised friends they will enjoy the Odyssey (they are a bit sneery about Royal, LOL), but they have learned they have to book Coastal Kitchen and could miss out because we're [only] in Junior Suites.

Can I ask, whether we can miss out (not had access before), and, or whether we can do that before the cruise?

I don't see any changes, except, perhaps they might make 340 points an official tier, rather than a virtually uncredited semi-tier

Then, there may be additional changes

For now, I think they probably got away with what reductions to benefits they could with the Covid excuse

Can anyone tell me if they stamp your passport before you board to leave Italy?

Or, what do Royal do about passports on board between Italy and Israel, and between Israel and Greece?

Our first stop is Israel, so we don't officially return to Europe's Schengen zone until we hit Greece. This is important to us, because as Brits, our Schengen days are precious these days (we are only allowed 90 in 180, and the five or six would be helpful from our Odyssey trip)

Hello everyone,

We are British, and spend much of our time in Schengen countries. We are fully aware of the 90 day allowance.

We board in Italy, but our first stop is two days later in Israel. Where we remain until returning to Greece three days later. 

My question is - Are we considered transit passengers throughout, or does immigration stamp our passports when we leave Italy?

An update for anyone following. Royal put a stop to my musings, by giving me my RoyalUp before I wrote to them querying the post final price drop 😀