Next Years Holistic Holiday at Sea Dates

Thanks you for your suggesting but I don't use Facebook and I never will!

I just have to say I dont ise FB for keeping up with any friends or family (I have zero friends lol Im not even friends with my kids) but I do use FB for all my Disney, cruise and This is Us groups. You can do the same and not be connected to anyone or friends with anyone. I find a wealth of information on those groups and many things that some may not want to post on CC will post questions and answers on those groups. I would give it a try and if you get any friend request just tell people you only use for groups. If you end up not liking it, just dismiss the account.

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I just have to say I dont ise FB for keeping up with any friends or family (I have zero friends lol Im not even friends with my kids) but I do use FB for all my Disney, cruise and This is Us groups. You can do the same and not be connected to anyone or friends with anyone. I find a wealth of information on those groups and many things that some may not want to post on CC will post questions and answers on those groups. I would give it a try and if you get any friend request just tell people you only use for groups. If you end up not liking it, just dismiss the account.

 

 

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Think I may do this!

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It's very interesting to read the perspectives of the non-vegan passengers. I feel bad for them. I was one of the vegan passengers that sailed on the MSC Divina. From my perspective, there were a lot of failures to both sides. I think that the regular passengers should have been informed that there was such a large booking that would impact so many public areas of the ship.

I really feel like the vegan cruise should be a private sailing where the entire ship is vegan. That way, non-vegan passengers won't have a less than positive experience with limited events, options for dining times, etc. At the same time, this would benefit the vegan passengers greatly. We only had 1 section of the buffet...with 65% of the passengers being vegan. The line-ups were MASSIVE. And the hours were limited for this...only 2 hours at breakfast and 2 hours at lunch. We only had the option of having dinner for the early seating, where I would have preferred a later seating.

For those who felt like there was vegan food everywhere....there really wasn't. It was confined to a small section that didn't match the amount of passengers that were vegan. The majority of food available on the ship was the regular menu. At one point, there was a lady walking around yelling "WHERE'S THE MEAT?" Uhh....everywhere!

My recommendation to MSC - make the 2019 sailing date an entirely vegan cruise and let the passengers know when they book. That way, you can choose to participate in the group sailing (it's a lot of fun and you don't have to be vegan to join - just interested in a healthy lifestyle!). If not, you'll know ahead of time to book other dates. It's only fair!

I wrote a blog post about my experiences if you're interested in taking a look: https://justinpluslauren.com/vegan-cruise-caribbean/

SC ... I've just emailed MSC expressing my displeasure at not being informed of this situation. I'm very much leaning toward cancelling this cruise. We're booked for 31 nights. If the first 11 nights are ruined, I can't imagine facing 20 more nights onboard trying to get over it. This trip was costing more than I was comfortable with, so there's no way I'm going to invest that much for what may be a crock!

 

If it's true that the MDRs aren't open to us that's a deal-breaker. We ALWAYS have breakfast and lunch in the MDRs. If we were paying half-price things would be different, but to pay full-price and have most of venues closed off most of the time - no way!

 

I'm now considering using this opportunity to see what other cruise lines have to offer. I've been tempted for some time to try something different and the budget I'd planned on this trip will certainly be enough to pay for a cruise on one of the more expensive lines.

Try Oceania’s, Riviera. It is fabulous!!! We cruised the Caribbean in Feb. for our first cruise aboard ‘her’ and it was close to perfect! The food was to die for (ranked #1) and the stateroom was lovely! Never met any staff member that didn’t have a smile and a “hello” when we passed them anywhere on the ship.

We’d love to cruise again on the Riviera and if the price is right...we’ll do it!!

wow! How do you know whether you're on a holistic cruise? I don't mind vegan food (tried it myself for a while in the past) but my son would be unhappy and I definitely do NOT want my vacation defined by some vegan theme. I am expecting lots of meat.

So, how do you know?

If you had been onboard, you & your son still could've eaten all the meat you wanted... the fact that there are vegans onboard on a HHatS sailing (one per year) does not stop meat & other animal products getting served. A section in the buffet is marked vegan and the MDRs have a set vegan dining time, but rest of the ship dining operates as normal. If you want to avoid their one annual cruise, keep note of the dates on their website and don't book that ship.

I can understand why some folk wouldn't want to book this sailing if venues were out of use/reserved for groups but that does happen pretty much every sailing I have ever been on... whether it is family groups, weddings or other hobby/interest groups. This happens to be a big group, though, as plant-based eating and all that holistic stuff is getting more popular each year.

If you had been onboard, you & your son still could've eaten all the meat you wanted... the fact that there are vegans onboard on a HHatS sailing (one per year) does not stop meat & other animal products getting served. A section in the buffet is marked vegan and the MDRs have a set vegan dining time, but rest of the ship dining operates as normal. If you want to avoid their one annual cruise, keep note of the dates on their website and don't book that ship.

 

I can understand why some folk wouldn't want to book this sailing if venues were out of use/reserved for groups but that does happen pretty much every sailing I have ever been on... whether it is family groups, weddings or other hobby/interest groups. This happens to be a big group, though, as plant-based eating and all that holistic stuff is getting more popular each year.

The ship does NOT operate as normal. Just search the MSC board for threads concerning this year's HHatS cruise and you'll see why. Those people were obnoxious, rude and felt as though they owned the ship.

The ship does NOT operate as normal. Just search the MSC board for threads concerning this year's HHatS cruise and you'll see why. Those people were obnoxious, rude and felt as though they owned the ship.

We were given the chance to cancel which we did!

We would have been peed off not having access to half the ship. MSC are at fault not informing regular clients that over half the ship is a charter!

Funnily enough we were informed about the vegan cruise by vegan family members and even they said if they were us they would cancel!

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The ship does NOT operate as normal. Just search the MSC board for threads concerning this year's HHatS cruise and you'll see why. Those people were obnoxious, rude and felt as though they owned the ship.

I did not claim the ship operated as normal as it wouldn't, with any large group/event onboard. I said that the dining did operate as normal - and by that I meant that non-vegan food was available for those who wanted it. Regular MSC menu in the MDR (wasn't it the early sitting that was the vegan one?) and most of the buffet was regular MSC menu.. as the poster I was replying to was saying their son wouldn't be happy about dietary restriction being imposed on him. As that wouldn't be the case.

But like I said, any large group is going to affect how a cruise runs and feels. I can think of a various number of large group cruise events I would prefer not to sail on... ;)

I did not claim the ship operated as normal as it wouldn't, with any large group/event onboard. I said that the dining did operate as normal - and by that I meant that non-vegan food was available for those who wanted it. Regular MSC menu in the MDR (wasn't it the early sitting that was the vegan one?) and most of the buffet was regular MSC menu.. as the poster I was replying to was saying their son wouldn't be happy about dietary restriction being imposed on him. As that wouldn't be the case.

 

But like I said, any large group is going to affect how a cruise runs and feels. I can think of a various number of large group cruise events I would prefer not to sail on... ;)

The dining don't operate as normal if the early sitting is reserved for a special group. If someone else want early sitting they can't!

Yes, any large group will affect a cruise but there is a BIG difference with maybe 50-200 persons and 2000 persons!

Shame on MSC for not informing their other customers about it.

The ship does NOT operate as normal. Just search the MSC board for threads concerning this year's HHatS cruise and you'll see why. Those people were obnoxious, rude and felt as though they owned the ship.

I didn't come across any obnoxious people, not any more or less obnoxious than a regular cruise. In what way did someone act like they "owned" the ship? Like...using the facilities? Making use of the space that was part of the group sailing? I don't get it. Everyone I met was super lovely!

Yes, some areas were set aside for the group sailing but it didn't affect the regular 80% of the buffet for the rest of the passengers, the whole late seating of dining was set aside for those not with the group sailing. In fact, when most of the cruise passengers were attending sessions all afternoon, you had the entire pool area mostly to yourselves! The deck chairs were way more empty than any regular cruise I'd been on during the sea days. There were lots of positive aspects to sailing with a group that were preoccupied with other activities.

I often think that a vacation is what you make of it. If something you don't like happens, it's up to you to put a positive spin on it as much as you can, especially since this was out of your control. I've had cruises with ports cancelled, bad weather, overly crowded, gotten sick, and I've still made the best of it all. I've been on a cruise where so many things went wrong over and over again. I look back on it now as an experience and can laugh at some of the stories. If a group sailing on your cruise ruined your vacation, I'm sorry to say, but a lot of that is your own fault.

I didn't come across any obnoxious people, not any more or less obnoxious than a regular cruise. In what way did someone act like they "owned" the ship? Like...using the facilities? Making use of the space that was part of the group sailing? I don't get it. Everyone I met was super lovely!

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, some areas were set aside for the group sailing but it didn't affect the regular 80% of the buffet for the rest of the passengers, the whole late seating of dining was set aside for those not with the group sailing. In fact, when most of the cruise passengers were attending sessions all afternoon, you had the entire pool area mostly to yourselves! The deck chairs were way more empty than any regular cruise I'd been on during the sea days. There were lots of positive aspects to sailing with a group that were preoccupied with other activities.

 

 

 

 

 

I often think that a vacation is what you make of it. If something you don't like happens, it's up to you to put a positive spin on it as much as you can, especially since this was out of your control. I've had cruises with ports cancelled, bad weather, overly crowded, gotten sick, and I've still made the best of it all. I've been on a cruise where so many things went wrong over and over again. I look back on it now as an experience and can laugh at some of the stories. If a group sailing on your cruise ruined your vacation, I'm sorry to say, but a lot of that is your own fault.

Can I assume you were part of the Vegan group?

For a lot of people not having access to early dining was a big negative and caused people to cancel.

And the large group was over 2000 people...

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Sounds like its going to be pretty big???? Over 150 lectures offered?? Normally cruise lines inform you when your booking that there is a special event or big charter group. Surprised this wasn't mentioned to you. While I realize its still a year away...Some passengers , like you, reserve early....so they should be contacting you so you can make alternative cruise plans...if you want to

Celebrity's done this to us twice, booking huge groups and not telling us. It's not right.

That doesn't make sense, as all these cruises have to be advertised for sale. You won't sell many charters if you keep them secret.

 

What I'd like to see, and it applies to all lines, is an announcement thread with the dates of planned charter cruises, the group concerned and the size of the charter. If the cruise lines don't make the information public the group's offering the charter certainly will.

This is actually a great idea -- any way to make it a sticky or at least a thread?

Can I assume you were part of the Vegan group?

For a lot of people not having access to early dining was a big negative and caused people to cancel.

And the large group was over 2000 people...

 

 

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I have just seen your review and realised that you were part of the vegan cruise so I am afraid that you are seeing things through Vegan coloured spectacles!

And we cancelled the cruise on advice of Vegan family members who had friends going on the cruise.

We saw the Holistic Holidays itineraries and large areas of the ship had been reserved for your group which would impact us “regular” passengers.

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I would only add that the cruise line should put the large group booking dates on their websites. When I complained to Celebrity about our experience, they just said they couldn't tell us prior to the cruise due to "privacy". Huh?

Can I assume you were part of the Vegan group?

For a lot of people not having access to early dining was a big negative and caused people to cancel.

And the large group was over 2000 people...

 

 

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I totally understand that! I was a part of that group. I prefer late seating myself and was forced into early seating. I ended up going to the buffet on some nights. Sometimes you've gotta adapt to the situation - or like others, cancel and book a different date.

I personally think that the vegan cruise has such large numbers that they should charter an entire sailing so it's pretty obvious it's a vegan cruise.... But, not up to me!

I totally understand that! I was a part of that group. I prefer late seating myself and was forced into early seating. I ended up going to the buffet on some nights. Sometimes you've gotta adapt to the situation - or like others, cancel and book a different date.

 

 

 

 

 

I personally think that the vegan cruise has such large numbers that they should charter an entire sailing so it's pretty obvious it's a vegan cruise.... But, not up to me!

We did not know when we booked that it was a vegan cruise!

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Just got this email...REALLY disappointed.

That's a dramatic blow to the itinerary. The industrialization of Aruba has devastated the ocean surrounding the island. What was once magnificent snorkeling and diving now looks like a coral graveyard. If you want to shop and lay out on the beach, Oranjestad is fine...if you do not mind the view of factories from the beach.

Whereas Puerto Limon is a gateway to much of the rain forests of Costa Rica. I feel for the people who have never been there before.

Also, why the switch? Puerto Cristobal in Panama will offer much the same access to the interior of Panama as does Puerto Colon. So, this change makes little sense from an itinerary standpoint...unless better souvenir shopping is the goal for these changes. I hope that is not the case. If the goal is to see beautiful parts of Central America and the islands, this is a big misstep...and may be MSC's doing because they have dropped Puerto Limon from many itineraries.

We're booked on that cruise and we haven't even been informed by MSC of the change of itinerary! Mind you, we were never notified that the week had been chartered, either and only found out here.

We're booked on that cruise and we haven't even been informed by MSC of the change of itinerary! Mind you, we were never notified that the week had been chartered, either and only found out here.

So you are still booked?

Our February 10 cruise also has the changed itinerary. We like to go to Aruba so it's okay to us but Costa Rica had been nice. The itinerary change is okay but why don't they inform us about it?

As I said after my first MSC cruise, they are not good at information!!!

Only because I haven't got 'round to cancelling, yet, SC. I was exploring our options; then our 28 night Splendida cruise was imminent, so I wanted to wait 'til we got home before making any decisions. We were thinking of re-booking just the TA section - which was acceptable to MSC, but there were no Aurea cabins available (despite the fact that we already had one booked!); we were going to wait 'til later in the year to see if one became available as final payment date is not 'til the end of December.

As I've just booked Armonia for an earlier date, it looks like I'll be forfeiting the deposit now and not cruise-moving.