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I had an interesting conversation with an MSC rep this morning. I phoned to cancel an excursion on our upcoming 12/30 Divina cruise and she was really awesome. She did everything I asked and emailed everything to me while I waited on the phone and kept me on the call until I received it. Really she was the best rep I’ve ever gotten on the phone. So to make small talk while we waited I mentioned to her that Divina looks pretty full for our sailing with a lot of categories showing as “sold out” on the MSC site. She told me that MSC has blocked a large number of staterooms because they don’t have the staff to service any of their US ships at full capacity. I found that interesting because someone on another social media site who boarded Divina yesterday was told there were 2700 passengers on this sailing and that they were “at capacity.” we all know Divina holds more than 2700 pax so that isn’t really at capacity. So the rep’s information seems to correspond with what this person was told on board Divina yesterday. What are you all seeing on your recent departures from the US? Was the ship at full capacity or close to it?

I had a deposit refund back on my card in 28 days from the date we cancelled.

Did you have luck sending an email to that address? It looks like a website with the .com ending

It depends on your itinerary. For example Caribbean itineraries going to Columbia still require a negative test for unvaccinated guests. https://www.msccruisesusa.com/health-and-safety-measures/caribbean-cruises

Hi I spent some time on the “ports of call” board for this port but most of the threads are old. Someone recommended I start a new thread so I thought I’d come here. Has anyone recently purchased the “hop on/off” bus tour in Cartagena from MSC? I read about a ferry from the ship to the Old city area but that was a post from a couple of years ago. Does that still exist? Is there still a zoo area near the ship? Any other shops etc within walking distance if we don’t do the bus tour? Any tips or recommendations appreciated.

Yikes will be visiting Cartagena on our 12/30 cruise and not liking what I’m reading on these boards. We were thinking of booking the hop on hop off bus.

Considering this for our 12/30/2022 cruise, purchasing the tickets through our cruise line (MSC) Appreciate any tips or recommendations from anyone who has recently done this. TIA

Saw on another social media site that there was a medical emergency. Was it your cruise that had to stop in Freeport for some reason?

Did the hold drop off? Usually once you see it on your card you’ve won the upgrade. At least that’s how it’s been for us.

As a former hairstylist I greatly appreciated receiving a gratuity. We reward good service with gratuities. That’s just how “we” do it. I’ve never been insulted when someone tipped me and I’ve travelled to many countries and never had the receiver of our gratuity been insulted. In fact in countries where tipping is supposedly frowned upon we have been graciously thanked. It’s subjective. Do what makes you feel is the right thing to do not what everyone else is doing. We have always tipped our MDR crew and room stewards extra and will continue to do so because we always receive exemplary service (for the most part)

With 800 people testing positive for Covid on one cruise ship I’m thinking this would have made the news… Just checked and it did. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/11/13/australia/australia-covid-majestic-princess-cruise-passengers-intl-hnk/index.html I really hope this isn’t the beginning of more restrictions again. That’s a high percentage of positives.

Agree it should be optional for everyone.

What exactly about the booking process concerns you? I always book direct and have complete control of my booking no matter who we cruise with. I agree with JT1962…if you decide to book and you care about your room location, pay extra and book the room you want. I have my 3rd cruise on MSC booked for 12/30 without any issue. Been cruising 40+ yrs and have yet to find one line that we’re loyal to. We like and dislike things about every one of them.

Is that for a 120 day type grand voyage itinerary?

I hope everything will be ok at your house! Wishing you calm seas also! Have fun!

Perfect! Thanks so much!

You need to get an airline credit card or one that gives you points for flights. We’ve flown 4 round trips this year so far and paid less than $100 total for both of us for all of those flights. We put everything on that card and it pays off. (Just don’t carry a balance because that defeats the purpose) 😉

That’s great! How do they know who is B2B? Do we keep the same keycard or will we be given a new one for the second leg of the trip?

It’s awful. I think the longer Carnival cruises are probably okay but now that we’re “older”🥴 we tend to shy away from them. It’s the same at All inclusive resorts. We loved them but unless you book the 5+star more expensive resorts it’s the same clientele as the 3 day cruisers. Actually witnessed a middle aged man open his bathing suit to pee in the pool. That was the last time at that resort. Some people shouldn’t consume alcohol they clearly can’t handle it. I expect that behavior from young adults but for some reason when a 50 something and older does it I have zero tolerance.

We’re doing the same itinerary 12/30/22 however it wasn’t sold as a B2B it was sold as a 14 day I wasn’t thrilled when I realized this and even considered ending it when we got back to Miami but we really love the overnight in OC. Hopefully by the time we all go they’ll have the process ironed out and it won’t be so disruptive. At least we don’t have to pack our bags and take them off with us.

Completely agree. In our experience with 3 day cruises it was clear many were there for the “all you can drink” booze and it wasn’t pleasant to see adults puking by the pool and hottubs or so drunk they couldn’t walk back to their rooms. One idiot was knocking on every door on our floor at 2 a.m looking for his friends. It’s a very different (bad) cruise experience on the short 3/4 day itineraries. As I’ve mentioned on other threads, we will never sail for less than 7 days now. I support this decision by MSC but agree advance notice should have been given to those booked already.

My passport has my full middle name written out. My cruise docs never do. I always just use first and last name and it’s never been a problem.

We’ve never cruised less than 7 day itineraries on Divina, so maybe that’s why…but we always had plenty of tissues and wash cloths without having to ask for them. Strange you didn’t have them

Yes it includes the people on her booking, in her stateroom. We booked our last cruise and our upcoming December cruise using that offer Both of us had WiFi browsing, we used it on our phones. (You cannot use it on more than one device per person) Easyplus is also a good package. It satisfied our drink needs (cocktails up to $9 including frozen drinks, specialty coffees and smoothies etc)

LOL I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that you get bumped up! To confuse things even more…the MSC reps show entirely different available rooms on their computers when you call. When booking this last cruise for December I originally had a partial view balcony room on deck 8. I wasn’t happy with it and noticed an aft facing balcony on deck 10 became available and for about $275 less than our original. It was before final payment so I phoned MSC and the lady told me she would change it if she could but the room I was showing as available wasn’t showing on her screen. The room numbers she rambled off to me as being available on her end were showing as being taken on my screen. At the very same time!! So I cancelled the original booking and booked the aft balcony I wanted that she claimed wasn’t available. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So as someone said, it’s MSC so nothing makes sense. lol