The Admiral

There is one question above all you find is not answered on Cruise websites, which if answered would help Cruise lines bring back bookings rocket fast! And that is:

what new process have you worked out with US Authorities so the entire ship doesn’t get quarantined upon return to its home port because of COVID-19?

A major issue I and many others have is, that very few, if any people can afford to be out of work 14 or more days on top of their vacation time and that is keeping a lot of people from taking a risk and going on a cruise anytime soon. Passengers cannot be stuck in limbo because one person gets sick and then when you return to home port it causes the ship to not be allowed to disembark passengers for days or weeks at a time. The odds of one person out of 5,000 (crew and passengers) getting some type of flu like symptoms COVID-19 or not is an almost certainty and If cruise lines cannot work out a new protocol with CDC and Local US authorities they will not recover anytime soon.

If they haven’t ready done so they need to get on this and figure it out before they resume cruising in may or June...passengers need certainty that they can go on cruise without the worry the won’t be able to get back home once the Cruise is over. Thoughts?

If you have a special needs dinning request,  other than the online form which sometimes doesn’t go through is there an an email or number anyone out there has that works?

Website doesnt have have that info and I called the reservations number and they said that other than the online form there’s no other way to send a request for dinning for our upcoming cruise, which doesn’t sound right to me.

thanks 

Is any WiFi package included in the for MSC Yacht Club Members?

2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Are you going to sue American Airlines for dropping you off in Chicago?

Well there’s no federal warning about Chicago 🙂

and when you are on notice of a potential for higher than average risks you have a higher duty as a business than when you’re not on notice.

i bet if enough incidents or negative publicity occurs they would drop riskier ports - they’re not going to adopt your approach of - I just drop you off and it’s your problem if something happens to you. I believe The reason why riskier ports  haven’t been dropped is probably because it hasn’t cost the lines enough yet, when it it does they will drop those ports like hot potatoes!

Agree I think Nassau Is not a nice port and I skip it unless you want to go and pay to use Atlantis pools or go to their casino which you can do safer and at not cost on the ship. Nassau beach is no big deal Bahamas has other prettier beaches I’d rather go to.

heres my issue: RCI says they care about guest safety yet after continuing rise in tourist crimes to the point they even have US State department warnings they insist on stopping there. I know there’s no safe travel place, there’s crime all over the world but some places are worse than others and they should not be stopping in ports on state department’s warnings list if they really care about passenger safety.

but that won’t happen unfortunately until someone gets killed then when their families sue alleging RCI should have not put them in dangerous places where they are exposed to greater than normal crime risk, if the jury punitive damages award is large enough then maybe they will change.

i don’t know if it’s cheaper port fees, fuel savings or too much already invested in port infrastructure, but right now cruise lines have too much of an incentive to stick with Nassau and other less than ideal ports vs the potential human injury that can occur. COzumel is another port that been in the news re crime and the same stubbornness to stick with it prevails there too.

When I went in March on the Seaside they had a few seatings for specific dining rooms like 6pm was the seashore restaurant...I’m wondering what the current seating times for specific dining rooms are as I need to make a table request for a large family and would like to request the specific time and dining room for their consideration. Thanks!

Since NCL stopped picking up the 'gratuity' on the drink package when booking a suite, we never select it anymore. Don't drink nearly enough to even cover the $150/week 'gratuity'. If booze is your thing, go for it. Just know free isn't really free.

Exactly and to those that say just choose another package- you don’t get as good a deal.

For example the have a pick 5 deal going on now if you drink a lot you can pick all 5 packages including the drink package but if you don’t drink a lot you either get charged the $249 or you pick only 4 packages while the others get 5 perks instead of 4

Bait and switch is how I feel about it...

The package is free.

 

The gratuity is not.

 

I like it. I’ve already tipped the bartender with the prepaid gratuity, and I’ve already tipped the server who brings it to me with the prepaid DSC.

Yeah but how do they know I’m having so many drinks that my tip needs to be $249, for example if My wife and I have 3 drinks a day each at $14 a drink I should tip 18% or 20% which is $2.80 approx. per drink per person per day that’s $117.60 in tips for the both of us for the 7 day cruise not $249.

Where I get aggravated is that they are basing the amount of tips to be charged based on how much they think I may spend in drinks not actual cost.

What if a restaurant charged you a $25 tip for your waiter the moment you walk in the door regardless of how much your actual meal was? Then if you have a $1,000 meal you really stuck it to your waiter and short changed them but If all you had was a sandwich you way over tipped them...just saying

I was going to book the Encore online and the computer wanted to add $249.20 to my unlimited drinks package as a service charge. there is no way in my wife and I are going to drink enough drinks that we would spend $249.00 in tips for drinks alone!

In my personal opinion They are being totally unreasonable, assuming I spend $12 per drink which is not the case as soft drinks and house drinks are much cheaper at 18% tip that’s $2.16 tip per drink that means that based on their $249.00 drinks service charge I would have to have 115 drinks.....not gonna happen they should stop with this free at sea promotion it’s really not free in my opinion! FREE DRINKS WOULD BE FREE DRINKS AND THEY PICK UP THE SERVICE CHARGE AS WELL - that’s what free means.

Reminds me of the old TV commercials where some salesperson offers you a free product and say it’s FREE!!! Plus $11.95 shipping and handling lol... and that’s probably what the item is worth to begin with

I know I don’t have to choose the unlimited drinks package if I don’t drink a lot but it’s the way they stick the service charge based on their estimate of what I’ll drink that aggravated me.

So buyer beware - calculate on average what you actuallly drink on vacation it’s probably cheaper to pay for your drinks and tip as you go if you only drink a glass of wine with dinner or lunch for example.

Also what do they do with the left over tips if you don’t drink as much as they Estimated? do they refund it because they overestimated the tip??? Lol I’m sure they don’t. Remember the proposed in the online summary in my case of $249 was not for the package (if it was theN Yes it would be a good deal if you’re a heavy drinker) the drinks package was free the $249 was to tip the bar staff that’s why it doesn’t add up in my mind.

I also called NCL to clarify and the booking agent confirmed that the $249.20 service charge I was seeing is in addition to the regular service charge for waiter room attendant etc...they tried to reason with me that if I just had 4 drinks per day without the package I’d spend more than the $249.20 service charge, that may be true, don’t know, but then say it’s a reduced savings drink package it’s not really free! Maybe I’m in the minority in my feeling in this but thought I’d share my thoughts.

It's the same gratuity as if you were buying drinks. It went up from 15% to 18%. It is paid all at once based on the cost of the UDP. You can give them an additional tip if you feel the service warrants it, but you do not have to since it is already paid for.

Just my opinion butthey lost me I specifically opted for another cruise line because of this idiocy by NCL I don’t mind tipping staff and always do but I was going to book the Encore online and the computer wanted to add $249.20 to my unlimited drinks package there is no way in hell my wife and I are going to drink enough drinks that we would spend $249.00 in tips for drinks alone!

They are being totally unreasonable, assuming I spend $12 per drink which is not the case as soft drinks and house drinks are much cheaper at 18% tip that’s $2.16 tip per drink that means that based on their $249.00 drinks service charge I would have to have 115 drinks.....not gonna happen they should stop with this free at sea crap promotion it’s really not free! FREE DRINKS WOULD BE FREE DRINKS AND THEY PICK UP THE SERVICE CHARGE AS WELL - that’s what free means.

Reminds me of the old commercials where they offer you a free product and say it’s FREE!!! Plus $11.95 shipping and handling lol... and that’s probably what the item is worth to begin with

I know I don’t have to choose the unlimited drinks package if I don’t drink a lot but it’s the way they stick the service charge based on their estimate of what I’ll drink that aggravated me.

So buyer beware - calculate on average what you actuallly drink on vacation it’s probably much cheaper to pay for your drinks as you go.

Also what do they do with the left over tips if you don’t drink as much as they Estimated? do they refund it because they overestimated the tip??? Lol I’m sure they don’t.

NCL and RCL have been jacking up their prices to the point that they are becoming unaffordable for the average middle class family of 3 or 4 especially since I think they don’t have reduced kids and teen rates either.

Have you tried ringing MSC instead of just accepting what the website says ?

In process of doing so they have a great itinerary I want to get onboard with

So I was wondering if this could be right?

I was looking to book Meraviglia Class ships for 2019 and 2020 and I kept noticing I can’t get a Yacht Club Room as they are all supposedly booked for the sailings I wanted but I could get a YC room for two so I went and looked at the deck plans and on the Meraviglia class ships there’s only 6 YC cabins listed which also happen to be ones with connecting doors, that can hold a 3rd person via a sofa bed; yet on the Seaside class there’s 50+ cabins that can hold 3 or 4 passengers - almost all the YC cabins!

This is a real issue for families wanting to book the YC, could this be accurate that on Meraviglia class ships cruising in the YC for a family of three is almost impossible possible unless you’re very lucky on booking before the 6 elusive cabins are gone?

Doesn’t make sense but online inventory says it is sold out....could the deckplans be wrong and they have more cabins for three or four that They hold back and don’t list for sale?

This doesn’t make sense but I also noticed on seaside the have no balcony H- disabled cabins on the entire ship. If this is true I hope the disables reduced mobility issue gets fixed on all new build ships and the YC issue gets fixed on Meraviglia class by switching couch for sofa bed couch...makes no sense.:confused:

I have recently come around to liking MSC and changing my opinion on them but now they can’t get my business for the 2019 and 2020 seasonsbecause I can’t get the cabin I want :( bummer

I do think they need to do better market ressearch as they build the new Seaside EXO and WorldClass ships -it’s these little issues where I feel they would benefit from a focus group and where I think they do not think ahead.

Hey!

Are you able to tell me what the internet was like, and was it accessible via your room?

I had a WiFi signal everywhere including in the room

Internet is easy you go to their Internet website link and create an account using the Internet ID number printed on your cruise card and buy a package.

Does anyone know if the aqua park and pools on the Bliss will be heated for Alaska? Seems like a large waste of space for half the year if they’re not given the weather....just wondering thanks

Also doesn’t seem to have an indoor pool? Or did I miss one on the deck Plans?

Yes, Admiral. When was your cruise?

Family went three weeks ago and we compared notes on changes

Yes, Admiral. When was your cruise?

Three weeks ago

:cool::DSo I have received a lot of grief for my criticisms of the Seaside based on my 12/30/17 sailing and I always said I dId not have a hidden agenda just giving the honest good and bad things review. But when circumstances change I think it’s fair to provide an update; so I have some revisions to my opinions based on recent sailing information.

IN A NUTSHELL MSC SEEMS TO HAVE WORKED HARD AND FIXED A LOT OF THE ISSUES PEOPLE WERE UPSET ABOUT AND I WOULD RECOMMEND GIVING THEM A TRY, SO HERE I GO:

1) Sewege smell: didn’t experience it anywhere on the ship not even in areas others previously said they smelled it.

2) entertainment still very good, descriptive story on the cruise program doesn’t always match what I see on stage (lost in translation I guess) lol, but still great shows and the non sequitur dinosaur in one of their shows is kind of endearing.

3) dinning room service still a little slow but it has improved and the dinning staff really work hard to accommodate you and dining needs of special diets. The dinning team going the extra mile and their hard work make up for the slow service but MSC should still try and speed up the experience a bit, the fastest service was still an hour and a half.

4) This is perhaps the most positive fix MSC made! Alternative Dinner option finally fixed- whereas before you only had a very limited selection on the very small Biscayne bay buffet as your alternative dinner; now for dinner MSC has opened the large and beautifully appointed MarketPlace buffet area on deck 8 As an alternative dinner venue.

On one side is the overflow third main dining room separated so the 3rd dinning room passengers dont have buffet guest intruding into their area. Other side is a full buffet on the entire length of that side of the ship with plenty of options for every palette we ate there 2 of the 7 nights. GREAT JOB MSC!

There is enough space separating the buffet side from the more formal dinning side, so it works, but MSC needs to just add a 3rd dinning room if they are going to crowd their ships, it’s just more comfortable to the passenger experience to have a smaller third dinning room. Maybe on other Seaside class ships turn the biscayne bay buffet space into a formal small third dinning room, I really don’t think kids care where they get their chicken nuggets - Biscayne bay didn’t do it for us.

I BEG YOU MSC, PLEASE KEEP THE TRUE ALTERNATIVE DINNER BUFFET OFFERED EVERY NIGHT INCLUDING ON ELEGANT NIGHT AT THE LARGE MARKET PLACE BUFFET ON DECK 8 GOING! THIS WAS THE PASSENGERS BIGGEST COMPLIANT BEFORE IT WAS FIXED AND BY FIXING THIS YOU HAVE WON CONVERTS TO MSC!

Because the Seaside does not have a lot of the various alternative free dinning venues like Royal has on the Oasis class ships a true alternative dinner buffet in the market place is crucial to getting and keeping customers in the North American market. Even on elegant night, folks on vacation may want to skip dressing up and a 1.5 hour dinner service and they need a large selection dinner buffet as an option.

SOME AREAS MSC SHOULD STILL WORK ON:

1) ...I encourage MSC to offer the classics menu every night even on Italian night. In the formal dinner menu it’s hard to please everyone but having the classics available on all 7 nights helps a lot. On elegant and Italian nights you could not order from the classics menu (grilled chicken or my strip steak) and that is still an issue I encourage you to reconsider.

2) staff still seems overwhelmed in all areas (dinning, housekeeping, reception) of the ship and it noticeably slows down service. I think you should consider staffing ratios, if staff is always overwhelmed your turnover rate is going to be through the roof and having to train new staff all the time is going to substantially drag down your service and repeat customer rates. This issue Long term is actually going to cost you money.

3) follow up is important to the customer service experience: I’m still waiting for my 12/30/17 sailing survey I took the time to opt into receiving. Just one example.

4) because the Seaside and probably the whole seaside class of ships are very crowded ( at times it’s a nightmare to simply walk around or get an elevator - YES IT IS THAT OVERWHELMING)- you often feel like canned sardines so it’s important to keep the maintenance on the ship high so the rugs, public area and cabin furniture don’t look worn and bad.

Also, keep eyes regularly on the safety of the water slides- the bolts holding those things together are already rusting from salt. And ensure the water park always works- it’s a big draw for families and not having all the bells and whistles you have there working optimally can ruin a family’s vacation experience.

On the upcoming Word Class ships and other Seaside ships please consider my comments and that of other customers as you build them, no excuse for Making the same mistakes twice. (I wish I could help design the public areas lol)

BOTTOM LINE: Based on MSCs efforts to improve the experience as I have described above, I would highly recommend you give the Seaside a try. MSC is trying hard and it shows in the positive changes they have made. If they continue to take past passenger advice and not revert back to past practices they will succeed.

Oh one more thing... Royal and NCL are pricing cruises on their new ships beyond most families means for standard balcony cabins, if MSC DOES NOT follow their competitors pricing strategy and MSC continues to keep prices much lower and affordable through the next Seaside Class and also in the World Class ship launches and they also keep up their good faith efforts to improve on passenger experience and dinning I can now finally see how they can break into the North American Market, take market share and keep a loyal and growing customer base.

Godspeed MSC I’m rooting for you!

Ciao

Folks you really need to lighten up....if I didn’t know MSC was privately held I would swear your entire life’s savings in MSC stock.

No cruise line including MSC is perfect and my review a few months ago which I’m still bashed for, was based on my experience in the 12/31 sailing which I don’t believe any of those that don’t like my criticisms were on.

The north American based MSC staff and management have real problems with quality and training it’s that simple some other examples:

1) my entire group took the time to fill out the request for a comment card they made a big deal about and gave use because they wanted passengers opinions. We dropped it off in various different places: with our waiter, the room and guest services to date, almost 3 months later no one has received the promised survey!

2) one of the members in the group cruising this month submitted a special needs request and was told their request could only be accommodated if they were in a handicap cabin - which they didn’t have available. Obviously given disability laws this has to be wrong, so I told my friend to call again and they would likely get a different answer, hopefully from someone with a clue....just another example of great training and customer service

3) when I first cruised MSC 8 years ago it took me over a year of calls and emails to get a voyagers club number which is one of the reasons I said never again till I believed the seaside hype.

But that’s ok everyone is entitled to their opinions, that’s what this forum thrives on and I welcome it. But When you see thousands of ratings from cruisers and see that MSC is consistently rated lower than other cruise lines like Carnival, RCL and NCL I guess I’m in good company - there’s a lot of us out there making things up just for giggles I guess lol

for those who have cruised the seaside in the past few weeks I was wondering if the following issues I noted in my review have improved:

1) has alternate dinner buffet selection improved at all? When I went it was bad so you really had no alternative dinning in effect

2) oversold overcrowded ship with bad elevator availability still the feeling on the ship.....

3) is the classics menu still limited to only 3-4 days ie: if you don’t like the regular menu you have no choice as they will not make a steak or chicken for you on any night you don’t like menu.

4) has sewage smell been resolved?

I have family cruising seaside next week based on my recommendations and when I returned from 12/31 sailing to warn them to cancel they were stuck and it was too late to cancel.

Thanks for your feedback...

Not dressing formally to sit in a section of the buffet. Not what I had bargained for.

What!! You mean you don’t enjoy the beautiful ocean view on one side and to the other side the breathtaking view of the buffet line, plates and clutter? Just kidding couldn’t agree more, this has been one of my main issues on the seaside.

And still msc keeps advertising a 20 hour buffet with large selections but in reality the large buffet is only for lunch and breakfast. The dinner one is a small and repetitive in the small area upstairs

So I wonder if the OP will return to tell us what their problem was that caused the cruise to be ruined.

Yes I’m curious as well. I can say based on my experience on seaside their guest relations line seems longer than usual at times line went all the way back to the hallway you turn into when you get off the elevator. Seemed like there were a lot of issues requiring guests to go to guest relations, I felt sorry for that staff they worked really hard and were very friendly but you could just see between the blaring music and guests having to scream to be heard over the music they were very overwhelmed.

And speaking of service and consistency both my wife and I filled out a form they give you to opt into receiving a survey to help them improve and since our 12/30/17 sailing have not received anything...seems like they don’t give a crap.

Reminds me of having to hound them for over a year to get my Voyagers Club number after my first sailing I should have given up then and not given them a second chance. And now based on my pre seaside sailing recommendation I have family going on Seaside (too late to cancel) that will have to deal with possible no meaningful dinner buffet or maybe being assigned to buffet for dinner :o

One of the threads has pictures of how it is set up for the evening, it looks like a very contemporary restaurant and you have the bonus of panoramic windows. As others have said it is a shame MSC didn't call it the Market Place restaurant and stated it was a 3rd MDR in the evening which would've prevented the understandable misconception that you were going to be having an evening meal in the middle of a buffet area....or in the corner catching the food thrown at you ;)

You are having a meal in the middle of the buffet area right next to the buffet line with stacked plates and stuff. Putting a table cloth and having a waiter improves service but there’s not much “transforming” it’s still dinner in the middle of the buffet set up...you can’t get around that

So are they giving you a Kida menu every night including on elegant night?

Thank you. Hopefully there will be more options for kids...but this doesn't sound great. I will have to stash some cereal and milk in the room!

Sorry can’t stash cereal lol when we went they put cereal in a large brown with a regular table spoon fro you to pour yourself ...needless to say that bowl was a germ factory in my opinion :o