aprilmay15

https://tourcliftonheritage.com/tour/beach-day/

Has anyone done this tour?

I booked my 'free' cruise 13 days ago, but declined the Carnival insurance at the time. Can I call back and get it at this point or just have to go with private insurance? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Where are you getting these free cruise offers?

good day - I am a travel agent and take great pride in my job - and when i see these posts it totally upsets me....

 

With MSC every booking country is different - the air department for this sailing is re-directed to Global Marine Travel for USA bookings - a travel agency who works with a series of cruise lines - it is NOT MSC Cruise / Air as 1 package - air is still a separate entity.

 

i am working very closely with MSC, who inturn is working with Global Marine Travel and the airlines - as they have all of our booking numbers, to try to resolve our many issues for your GROUP!!! ....

 

So, as i say - each booking is done differently, so please dont give bad advise to DITCH THE TRAVEL AGENT -

 

IMO, they changed the itinerary / sailing dates etc without thinking about the penalties on all these air tickets -

 

I know the ship needed to arrive prior to its scheduled date, and am hoping that either MSC has some insurance to cover this, or perhaps it is going to be billed back to the Charter Company who needed the ship there in advance (if this is indeed the case) - - - -

 

Will try to keep posted on events - - - hoping over the weekend, that meetings have taken place to figure out this recovery mode they are in.

 

BTW, I am still very excited to be sailing aboard MSC and the Divina, nothing with change that -

Thanks for the info! Please keep us informed if you hear anything.

AprilMay - I would ditch the Travel Agent & get MSC to make the change, after all they are the ones in control here.

And to both you & Marcoigno - send all your invoices for your out of pocket expenses to MSC and demand reimbursement.

My experience so far from the Australian office is that they are in serious 'damage control', and will be compliant with your requests.

Still a disgraceful move & I feel sorry for their customer service agents having to deal with angry passengers.

I'm up to about $1300 AUD out of pocket expenses so far with flight changes, extra accommodation & even going to claim daily expenses for the extra 5 days - I'll keep you all posted how I go.

Also - what an awful itinerary it is now - 8 consecutive port days (yes, they are lovely stops but really, how many Caribbean ports do you need to visit on one cruise? Only one Brazil stop, and 5 straight days at sea! We'll be mutinous by the time we get to the next port lol!

Yes Marco - what were they thinking? Not about their passengers - that's obvious.

Yes, MSC told me to speak with my TA. I told them I needed answers ASAP(so i can book flights before they are gone since I used points)and not getting them fast enough from TA.(not in office, not returning emails) Asked them if this is the norm for MSC as I recently became a travel agent. I have seen other changes on other bookings. Wish I could take over my own booking as I am getting some answers but not the same as my TA.

Can u believe this.

We booked the Divina in June of 2013 - to sail to Brazil for the World Cup departing Miami on the 24th of May

 

This past Tuesday we were notified that for "Technical Reasons" - the ship is now departing 5 days earlier from Miami - on the 19th of May - and arriving into Santos 5 days earlier on the 7th of June instead of the schedule arrival of the 12th of June.

 

Did I mention they cancelled the 17th of May departure as well

 

They have also altered the Itinerary as well with more Caribbean ports and less Brazilian Ports

 

Personally - my out of pocket expense is currently close to 950.00 to change our outbound tickets to Florida and return back from São Paulo

 

Okay they offered a usd 300.00 pp ship board credit but still does not cover the expense or the headaches involved

 

What were they thinking

 

Am I still going - u bet but really disappointed.....

 

Still working out with cruise line on the airline change fee issues.

 

Wish us luck

I am on the same sailing and can not get a confirmed day of when I get off the ship. I was booked to get off in Rio on the 18 day cruise. Since the change that would allowed me 1/2 day in Rio and then to get to the airport. The change of flight would be $950 Rio airport.

I call MSC myself yesterday about staying on to Santos and they told me no problem no extra charge. The flight change was only $100 to fly out from Sao Paulo.

Today I was told by my TA I was still getting off in Rio. I already changed my flight and would like to spend a full day in RIO.

What to do?? If I had not spent $400 on visas I would not be going.

Msc moved our cruise up 5 days and changed the ports of calls. I am not sure what is going on with this company and all the changes. This is my first MSc cruise and possibly my last. I call the company to check on details and so does my TA and we get 2 different answers. If I had not already spent $400 on visas I would cancel. They need to get their act together.

On cruisedeckplans 9009 is shown as a Cat 3 Junior Suite with all the other balconies directly behind shown as B2 Balconies.Yacht club are shown as being on Decks 15 and 16.

Thanks! Crazy thing they were all the same price 9001-9010. Corner balcony and panoramic window.

Aurea suites were suites which included a package of spa treatments in the cruise price, but I believe they have stopped that arrangement now.

 

The balcony is only just a little narrower than a YC 1 balcony, it's just it's made of steel and has those stanchions and an inward curve. It's definitely longer count the fake decking planks and you'll see there are about the same number!!

 

 

YC 1 Balcony

 

 

 

 

 

Pete

Thanks again!

Pete's the man.

 

Better information about MSC than MSC has!

He sure is!!! MSC is not much help. I think I may have not chosen the room I wanted. The balcony looks so narrow :(

According to an earlier version of the deck plans,2011 version when 9009 was a Aurea Suite, it has a balcony (2 side by side rectangles symbol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this thread for more info and a picture of a similar cabin's balcony (i've copied the image for you)

 

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1909577

 

 

 

 

 

Pete

Thanks again! What is a Aurea Suite? Is it no longer this as well.. Not sure what it was to begin with..lol

FRom an old deck plan (2011)

 

 

RECTANGLE WITH A DOT = PANORAMIC WINDOW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YC suites are on deck 12 ( 3 x YC 2), deck 15 ( 32 x YC 1) and deck 16 ( 32 x YC 1 and 2 x YC 3 )

 

 

9009 is NOT Yacht Club (It's been non-YC for couple of years now)

 

 

Pete

Thanks for the info!

These threads also say no balcony in front and a small one on the side. The front is sealed windows.

Not sure I made a good decision on cabin :confused:

I meant to say those spa cabins do not currently get yc access. There are several threads that talk about the differences but my phone wont let me link them. Do a search for aurea spa vs yc1.

 

The only yc cabins are on deck 12, 15 and 16. Only 3 on 12. That is what I understand.

I looked on the grid and the middle cabins have a rectangle with a dot inside and that says YC and the end ones do not. Trying to figure this out from the grid and it does not make sense. Something changes after April 12th.

Does anyone know if this cabin(Divina cabin 9009) has an open balcony in the front and the side? Does it come with lounger chairs? It looks like it changes after April 12th from Aurea balcony/MSC Yacht club to no club? I wonder why?

Thanks!

Aaccording to the UK site it's a panoramic window not a balcony. There is a 360 photo.

 

Can't comment on whether it's worth it, but would say when I did have a balcony in that position, it could not be used unless we were in port because of the wind when we were sailing.

What about the cabin 9009? It has part of the cabin on the side of the ship. Can it be used on sea days?