lmcgrail

Be careful. Someone posted a warning on another site that her husband took both their medallions while she stayed in the cabin. She got surprised by her room steward who entered the cabin even though she had do not disturb. The room steward could tell that both the medallions were out of the room.

Does anyone have any experience with 1-800 numbers while on cruise ship? I've added the Cruise Package from AT&T and will need to contact companies from which I only have the 1-800 numbers. 

Thanks,

Lori

Would love to have you join us on this bucket list cruise! One word on caution..... if you make a booking now with another agency to lock in the OBC, you may not be able to keep that OBC if you later switch to the Sip&Sail promotion.

 

The good thing about the 3-day sale is that the deposits are small and refundable. If a better deal can be found during Sip&Sail I will simply rebook.

 

I"ve been to Tahiti once before almost 20 years ago. I've been looking to go back, but the cost today is much much higher than it was then - especially since a flight that long really calls for Business Class airfare. The kicker for me is that the price for a balcony on this cruise is about the same as Business Class airfare alone would cost. Throw in the fact that resort rooms there cost $700/night and up (way up) if you want an over-water bungalow, plus food, etc. and this cruise is a terrific bargain - especially if you enjoy sea days like we do.

Which one are you looking at? We are looking at the Island Princess on 4/11/18.

I booked through one of their franchise operators (I like to support small businesses) rather than online or through their call center. I was not offered any OBC. It's not mentioned as one of the perks so I wasn't expecting it. I believe the website showed two offers.... the 3-Day Sale one was refundable deposit, beverage pkg and gratuities, the other was cheaper but was non-refundable deposit and no perks. Perhaps they booked the 2nd option and got OBC? That kind of OBC along with the 3-day sale perks just sounds too good to be true, but if they got it I want to know more!

We are also looking at the LA-Tahiti-LA cruise. I just got off the phone with one of the franchise operators and there was only a small OBC offered from the agency. I can get a significantly larger OBC from another agency and hopefully the drink package when Princess opens up sip&sail but they do not have the reduced refundable deposit. Decisions...decisions...:confused:

Oh yes, we booked, as did several friends. It's an amazing sale, especially on a longer route. We booked Southeast Asia & Japan, Jan., 2020, 14 days, and received perks in past passenger savings, beverage package, pre-paid grats and OBC of about $1400 pp.

It's for sailings from Summer 2019 to Spring 2020, with a couple of exclusions.

Wow! That is a good deal especially with the OBC. Did the company doing this sale offer that much OBC? I've been on the website and there is no mention of them providing OBC in addition to the other perks.

Thanks,

Lori

MSC has finally listed the Meraviglia, Sept. 2019 Transatlantic, and all suites & YC are shown as sold out: how is this even possible?

We were fortunate to snag one of the YC suites on the TA. This cruise became available on MSC US website on 2/23/18. We booked at 5:00 am CST. I have to get up early for work and was checking every morning. At that time there was only about 8-10 YC rooms available.

I heard that the TA went up for sale in Europe in January; hence the limited availability.

By 8:30 am on 2/23/18, the YC was sold out.

You may want to search the site we can’t discuss on here for that cruise. There is a travel agent who stated she had some YC rooms available.

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You are correct Mafig. Unfortunately, at least in the USA, the cruise lines risk litigation due to privacy concerns to list groups onboard. It's a shame that our society has come to that but it is what it is.

 

 

 

Bret

Bret,

Sounds like you are pretty experienced with MSC. I would like to contact you privately. Can you email me at lmcgrail_1**yahoo.com? Replace ** with @. Apologies for hijacking this thread.

Lori

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So nice to hear from you!!!!

 

Actually, I have two booked... the first was one of three! Sorry ... not on board in November.....

 

I read some of Mark's comments on other threads ... it's interesting that you didn't encounter any smell issues. In the foreseeable future, each sailing will have its own surprises!

That's a shame that you won't be there in November; we would have liked to catch up with you guys again. We haven't been on the Seaside yet - maybe a different Mark or maybe he was talking about the Panama Canal Cruise we did on the Island Princess.

We have the Meraviglia booked for a Baltic and then the TA from Copenhagen to NYC in Sept 2019. We are definitely taking advantage of our discounts from the Hurricane Irma cruise. (y)

Lori

Loved your review. Mark and I enjoyed meeting you on the Hurricane Irma Divina cruise. We both laughed about you going to get your partner so they could smell the odor as well. This is something we would most certainly do.

We are booked in November on Seaside so we have a ways to go; hopefully some of these "features" will be resolved by them. Any chance one of your next 3 Seaside cruises is Nov 10?

Lori

We are thinking about the GV on the Dawn for a December sailing. I was wondering what might be included in the cost. Does everyone get a drink package or just 2 (we are booked on the Breakaway in an H2 and 2 have to purchase a package). Also is the limo service from airport to ship and then ship to airport or just one way? Last, are the speciality restaurants included or are they also an added cost? Thanks for all the info. We are former Star Class on Oasis and are giving the Haven suites a try.

Looking forward to hearing pro's and con's.

The drink packages are just for the first 2 in the cabin. However, with the GV you will get 6 bottles of alcohol free of charge. The limo service was from the ship to the airport - just one way (in our case, from the ship to our hotel). Specialty restaurants are not included unless you select the SDP as a perk - then you will get 3 days of specialty dining for a 7 night cruise. All of the perks are only for the first two passengers in the GV.

You think they will give you a waiter on request? :rolleyes:

Actually they do. :rolleyes:When you meet the Maitre D on embarkation day, you can ask for a specific waiter. We did on Divina last year and was seated in his section for dinner at the same table every evening.

Imcgrail -- are they charging you the Haven price? We were booked on the Gem over Thanksgiving in a non haven 2 bedroom family suite and while I was excited when I saw that they moved us to the same cabin in the Haven, I wasn't happy when I saw they are charging us the Haven prices, 2x as much! Does anyone have any idea if this will change if I call them?

Nope, our price stayed the same.

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I'm now on 12 (14 also has something other than cabins above). It was real easy, since I went through CAS, they just changed it. Here is the number they gave me to call on Monday to straighten out the cost (wish I didn't have to, but fair is fair) and the amenities 1-877-752-9625 extension 51671.

 

I've never sailed on one of the mega ships and haven't been interested in trying them, so this is forcing me to try one and hopefully I fall in love with the BIG ships. Which date are you on, I'm on the 12/6 cruise.

Thanks for the phone number - we'll give them a call on Monday. We will be getting on as you are getting off - we are on the 12/16 cruise. We are still undecided about changing decks. I do love a big balcony. We are looking at 12 as they have the 2nd largest balconies.

I don't like any deck that doesn't have cabins above and below and the restaurants are below. Since I travel solo, the size of the balcony really doesn't matter to me. BTW, it said my balance was due last January LOL!

LOL...our balance says the same thing. What deck did you change to? My husband and I were discussing this morning if we wanted to change.

Does your vacation summary still show the same amenities? All my amenities are gone and my cruise is costing $1,300 less, which means it is only costing $571 for an aft-penthouse (CAS was able to change the cabin, as they had me on deck 9 and I didn't like that deck). Obviously, there is a mistake; I talked with CAS and they gave me a number to call on Monday. I'm really happy with my new cabin and excited to try the Breakaway.

Ours still shows the OBC but I'm not seeing the other amenities at this time. Huh...sounds like a great deal to me! Our pricing stayed the same. We too got moved to Deck 9. What don't you like about that deck? They have the largest balconies of any the deck 9 aft penthouses on Breakaway.

We are booked on that cruise too. I noticed that they removed a port(Honduras) and raised my cruise fare by $100 per person..:eek:(n)

Yes they removed Honduras but added Belize City. Our fare did not change.

If you were booked on the Gem out of New Orleans next year, check you reservation. We saw this morning that our reservation has been moved from the Gem to the Breakaway. We were very happy with what we got :D. We were booked in a non-Haven aft penthouse suite and got moved to a Haven Aft Penthouse suite. Kudos to NCL!

We too were in the YC and I booked another Divina YC cruise on board while on the hurricane cruise. First paper work delivered to cabin had the wrong date for sailing. Went back to consultant to get it changed. Got home and contacted myMSC PVC to apply the 25% discount. His supervisor said it wasn't applicable to my booking. I then asked for an explanation in writing as to which wording in the certificate showed it was not. He came back and said oh, yes, it was applicable and he would send the new price as well as the adjustment on our insurance quote. So I guess it sometimes pays to be a little assertive. Sorry for your experience with the concierges. Some are better than others.

Hmm.. we were told we couldn’t apply it to an existing reservation. Your PVC’s initials don’t happen to be T.D. Guess I’ll be on the phone with him tomorrow.

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Lori, I'm sorry about your experience...and have spoken to others who got off in Cozumel....was a very bad situation. Unbelievable how much bad information was passed or or not passed on at all by their staff. LOL...was thinking they should switch the Butlers and the Concierge staff!

Maybe a switch is in order. The butlers definitely worked a lot harder than the concierges did. We still had a great trip and have the Seaside booked for next year.

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and one immigration officer.

 

 

 

 

 

Hardly the fault of MSC now is it !

Didn’t say it was. But the hundreds of people standing in line with no communication was MSC’s doing.

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Just finished trying the MSC Divina as a first time cruiser of MSC. We have gone on around 50 cruises so we are not novices. We had a Yacht Club Suite and found the on board staff, i.e. Butler, Waiters, etc to be as good as any other cruise line we have gone on. With that being said the rest of the staff from the Front Desk to the Concierge gave inconstant information.

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I had the same experience. We were on the hurricane cruise and the Concierge either did not know what was going on or gave misinformation. We found out from fellow passengers that we were going to have clear immigration/customs on the ship in Cozumel. Then, on the day we were leaving the ship, the Concierge told us we had to meet with Immigration at 6 am; so we got up very early, finished packing as we were told we had to bring all of our luggage including carry-ons. My husband went down to the concierge at 5:45 am who then said no we didn't need to be there until 730am and we did not need to bring carry-ons. We then went at 7:30 am and it was a zoo...hundreds of people in line, mass confusion, and one immigration officer. I knew more about what was going on than the concierge's by going to the daily Captain's talk.

Also, I had a bad experience with the night concierge. I tend to get up early so I went down to Top Sail to get a pastry. I got caught by the night concierge who spent a 1/2 hour telling me how bad MSC was to work and how awful her job was. I know, I should have walked away but I'm just too polite. I got rescued when another guest came up with a question.

The Captain, butlers, and room stewards were all great. Our room steward even wheeled our luggage all the way down the pier in Cozumel.

Lori

We'll, isn't that weird? We've also got a booking during this "mystery" timeframe, so I don't like hearing that anything is out of the norm with it. :o

Does anyone know why this timeframe would have disappeared and not be available to book currently? :confused:

Heard that it is because MSC is delaying the opening of their private island from Nov 2017 to March 2018 (?). They may be updating the itineraries. We too are booked on the Seaside during this timeframe.

We had a choice to either book the Island or the Coral for our Panama Canal cruise this October. We deliberately chose the Island (inset gasps from the anti-Island people) because of the aft suites. Coral was not even considered due to the lack of aft suites. If the Island had not been modified we would not be sailing Princess.

So to the OP, no matter which ship you choose, you will have a great time. Choose the ship that has the best cabin and best itinerary.

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Absolutely not, we've already booked again, another transatlantic next year.

We had Arthur the second week.

Thanks so much. We'll definitely ask for one of his tables.

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Who were your servers the second week? We are going in about 5 weeks and will ask for them.