jkgourmet

Sea days.  Not required unless you want to dress up - and a surprising number of people did.  Mostly Europeans.

Not able to dock.  😞

You've already read of our unpleasant experience with the cabin attendant.  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2736217-what-our-cabin-attendant-did-and-its-not-good/

The ship also had 1.5 days without hot water ($50 OBC).

There was a cancellation of the Cirque show scheduled one night for "technical difficulties.  It was rescheduled for our sea day at 3pm - exactly the same time as the cruise director (Gene) show, forcing us to make an unhappy choice.

At Costa Maya, Guest relations told us there were no shuttles from the ship to the port.  The long walk was too much so we remained on board (and enjoyed the quiet ship and FINALLY getting a chaise lounge).  We learned later that there were shuttles.

Our luggage remained undelivered until 6:30pm.

/end of rant.

2 hours ago, Cruisergal1208 said:

You could hang out at the lighthouse bar or maybe around the Seekers food buffet. 

great advice!  Thank you.

1 hour ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Thinking that MSC is keeping all the DSC is totally idiotic.  A thing like that would not stay secret for long with 1500 crew members...think about it.  That would be a huge scandal for MSC that smacks of fraud and would put billions of dollars in ships and tens of thousands of jobs at risk.  
 

No...the cabin steward was trying a cunning ploy.  He has probably been successful at it before.  The facts are that the CS has found a method to rob his fellow crew members using the same rumors we see here when tips are discussed.  He probably reads Cruise Critics.  
 

I would handle this situation as follows:  The CS is clearly out of line and stealing money from the crew he works with.  If the crew ever found out about this the CS would be listed as missing at sea.  I would call for a private meeting with the Hotel Director.  You have to ask yourself...Is this an act by an individual or are there others involved with this?  I suspect your CS is not the only one who is using this ploy.  In any case, for the benefit of the crew, you should deal with this.  The crew is being robbed your CS is a thief and you are remaining silent?  Believe me...if this ploy becomes known to the Hotel Director it will cease.  Let the Hotel Director deal with this.  

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not the police, attorney general, prosecutor, et al.  Nor am I the jury.

IF I WERE, I would need considerably more facts than I currently have.  

So - I'm not going to play judge AND jury in this.  I'm going home with a bad taste in my mouth about THIS episode.  And the knowledge that because I did not KNOW the facts, I caused no harm

18 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Imagine if a waitress told you "..I have to share my tips with the bartender, the dishwasher, the washroom attendant, etc. You should not add a tip to the bill and meet me out back to tip me directly..." At the end of the night, the tips are pooled and split as per usual and the waitress takes her share of the pool.

 

The room steward wants to double dip. He wants his contracted pay, whatever amount (if any) of the DSC he gets just like the other stewards plus whatever cash you give. In other words, if the steward next door doesn't give the same speech to his guests, does your steward deserve more?

Two Wheels:  Thank you.  You've stated this situation better than I did.  You're SPOT ON.

And thanks to everyone who responded in a way that was consistent with my original request that this thread not get into a discussion about eliminating or keeping the DSC.  

For my part, I will try VERY hard to eliminate this experience from my final review of this cruise.

Ironically, we're happier with the auto gratuity system.  No guilt or concern over how much to tip.  No cash to bring with us.  No running around on the last day to find the people who have served us.

Cost of umbrella?  (Wish they would rent them by the hour.)

6 minutes ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

Definitely an awkward situation. Is the CS telling the truth? The DSC is supposed to get divided between the service staff so how much did he expect to receive from you in USD? 

 

 

 

 

EXACTLY my reason for not reporting (see above).  And EXACTLY our reason for reevaluating our intended extra tip.

I appreciate both of your comments.

Under nearly any other situation, I would definitely have reported this.  In this case, my hesitation is because I honestly don't KNOW exactly what MSC (or any cruise line) does with those DSC charges.  Or the guartuity's automatically added to drinks in the lounge.  

So maybe it's true and MSC and other cruise lines is keeping this money and not distributing it as we are led to believe.  Maybe It's just another income source like the basic cruise fare  from which salaries are paid.

Because of this lack of transparency, I don't want the bad karma of reporting him.  

I DO NOT WANT YO TURN THIS INTO A BATTLE ABOUT DSC OR DIRECT TIPPING.  There is another current thread well established for that - "DIY Tips."  THIS is about the conduct of our cabin steward.

25+ cruises on 7 different mass market cruise lines.  We've never experienced ANYTHING like this.

Our cabin attendant has been one of the best we've ever had - but we're very low maintenance.

Last night as we were about to leave for dinner, he asked if he could come in for a minute to speak with us.  We thought that was odd, but certainly agreed.  He partially closed the door and asked us if we had ever sailed MSC before?  Yes, once about 5 years ago.  He then told us that MSC kept the DSC themselves and he wouldn't get any of it.  He directly asked us to tip him ourselves if we wanted him to get any of it. He LITERALLY told us how to remove the DSC from our bill (and he knew the EXACT amount in USD).  He told us the deadline for having it removed.  He told us the best times to go to guest relations to avoid the lines.  He said he tried to give this information to the guests in his cabins, but was "sad" that he couldn't always find them

We were shocked at this behaviour.  We resented being put in this situation. At the least, it's pretty ballsy and rude.  If reported, I'm pretty sure he'd be booted and on his way home.  It's completely inappropriate IMP.

We won't report it, of course.  But the additional tip we intended to leave is up in the air.

We won't stay on the beach for more than a couple of hours, so it seems foolish to rent an umbrella for the entire day.

So - is there an area on the beach that has some shade?

We won't stay on the beach for more than a couple of hours, so it seems foolish to rent an umbrella for the entire day.

So - is there an area on the beach that has some shade?

Certainly, guest relations should have known that there WERE shuttles.  

As for "short walk" - not everyone considers that walk a short one.

6 hours ago, Homosassa said:

What happened to the tram shuttle that has always been running when I have been to this port? And contrary to statements in a previous post, if there are numerous ships in port, there are more trams running that are designated for the various areas of the pier.

 

Have the trams been deleted?

We were told by multiple sources (ship staff, info offered here on CC, FB message to the specific port page) that when there were "multiple" ships, there was no shuttle.

At dinner tonight we found out that was incorrect. On This Date.  No idea what goes on other dates.

5 hours ago, island lady said:

I already answered both of you on the Empress question, total crap.  Someone has lead you astray.  🙄

It was announced over the PA system on our MSC ship.  INTO THE CABINS.  I heard it

A few people we spoke with who went into town found that there was no power.  Other areas of the island had no problems.

BTW your sarcasm was entirely unnecessary.  

It was announced over the PA system on our MSC ship.  INTO THE CABINS.  A few people we spoke with who went into town found that there was no power.  Other areas had no problems.

6 hours ago, TheSoccerCoach said:

I was a crew. For four years. We DID enjoy gifts, chocolates, etc. We give cash AND gifts. 

Okay - maybe entertainment crew.  Maybe the activity crew.  The folks cleaning the toilets, changing the sheets, serving the booze, etc.  Nope, NOT buying it.  

7 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

The crew are never going to act anything other than pleased when given something by a pax. But your 'cute' $2 bills are actually a royal pain for them as they are much more difficult to exchange and they get a worse exchange rate.  They take them because something is better than nothing, but you aren't doing them any favors by doing this, compared to just giving them 2 singles.

Thumbs Up 10X.  Same goes for those who insist on giving them little gifts, candy, a souvenir from your hometown, etc.  They don't want it.  They haven't room for trinkets in their cabin or luggage when they finally get to go home. They have PLENTY to eat.  They don't care about YOUR hometown.  All that may make YOU feel good, but its crap to them (no matter how grateful YOU think they are.)

They care about taking care of their families.  Be kind and thoughtful - give cash.   

In ourrollcall There's a very unhappy group that I believe has this same scenario.

Mera departure Feb 16 2020.

I've no idea.  Yes, the port area (a fake village) does have power, AFAIK.  It is a long walk for those with bad hips and knees and no shuttle buses or transport.  Which meant we couldn't even leave the ship.

5 hours ago, Cruisncharlie said:

I know that they will give us a daily one. But is there a preview so that we know what to pack? 

Not unless another passenger has posted one here.  And that would be from a prior cruise - no guarantee that the schedule remains the same.

Three day cruise?  Pack two casual outfits and (if YOU want to) one dressier outfit.  

How did your ship handle the strike problems in Costa Maya?  What time did they make any announcements?

How did your ship handle the strike problems in Costa Maya?  What time did they make any announcement?

How did your ship handle the strike problems in Costa Maya?  What time did they make any announcer?

On the MSC Meraviglia which arrived at Costa Maya at 8am today.  At 9:30am they made an announcement that due to the strike, the downtown area has no electric power.  Everyone should plan their day accordingly.  

I find it nearly impossible to believe that they weren't aware of this earlier.  I'll be curious how other ships handled this.

Doesn't really matter to us as we hadn't planned on getting off.  But I cannot I imagine there are plenty of peeved passengers on what has already been a cruise with several technical glitches.