Next Years Holistic Holiday at Sea Dates

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Does that affect other guests much? Shall we cancel, and lose our deposit?

Does that affect other guests much? Shall we cancel, and lose our deposit?

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

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

We found out our Divina this year was The Holistic one!.

We had the chance to change ours When we received an unexpected email in December. There was no mention of it being because half the ship had been chartered but because of the itinerary change!

This year 2400 vegans on board.

They didn’t contact us that is why I posted this now.

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Oil-free? Vegans are now against olive oil? Might not be the best idea for an Italian cruise line.

Does that affect other guests much? Shall we cancel, and lose our deposit?

Yes you will not have a choice of dining times, I don’t think yacht club is available, and lots of areas will be utilised for lectures private parties etc.

I also do not think you will be able to have breakfast or lunch in the MDR.

Maybe someone who didn’t cancel this year will see this thread and can confirm.

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I don’t think yacht club is available

 

What do you mean with this?

They didn’t contact us that is why I posted this now.

 

I really appreciate that!

Maybe our time as MSC-cruisers ended after only one cruise!

What do you mean with this?

I don’t think they were available this year. But I could be wrong.

The group take on their own vegan chefs.

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I don’t think they were available this year. But I could be wrong.

The group take on their own vegan chefs.

 

 

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Do you mean that it wasn't possible to book the Yacht Club? Since we are booked in the Yacht Club, can we assume that MSC will cancel our cruise?

Do you mean that it wasn't possible to book the Yacht Club? Since we are booked in the Yacht Club, can we assume that MSC will cancel our cruise?

I really don’t know the answer to that.

If you are already in the yacht club you may be ok.

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Do you mean that it wasn't possible to book the Yacht Club? Since we are booked in the Yacht Club, can we assume that MSC will cancel our cruise?

Check comments on fb

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There are some horror stories associated with this cruise. Not because the people are bad, but because the rest of the ship is very limited. I would not assume that you are ok just because you are already booked in YC. Like Nikki said, check out the other social media sites. Wishing you lots of luck with this, the good news is that you are aware so you are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest.

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Check comments on fb

 

 

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

There are some horror stories associated with this cruise. Not because the people are bad, but because the rest of the ship is very limited. I would not assume that you are ok just because you are already booked in YC. Like Nikki said, check out the other social media sites. Wishing you lots of luck with this, the good news is that you are aware so you are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest.

 

 

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I could try to change to the February 10 cruise instead but I assume that the Yacht Club is sold out for that cruise.

We also prefer to cruise in March because the risk of flightcancellations because of snow is lower then. (Now it has been snowing here for some days so there are no guarantees!)

Wow. It's 11 days too. I've never seen a group cruise more than 7 days.

Wow. It's 11 days too. I've never seen a group cruise more than 7 days.

This year was also 11 days.

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Does that affect other guests much? Shall we cancel, and lose our deposit?

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.

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.

Bea

Have a look at post 113 in the roll call for February 15 2018 Divina Cruise , there is a link to the schedule for this years Cruise.

It is the one we cancelled.

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Thanks, Nikki - and thanks, too, for the heads-up on this. I hadn't gotten 'round to reading this thread 'til now. SverigeCruiser quoted me on another thread (so I got an email alert) to call my attention to it. Otherwise, I might have missed it.

We've decided to cancel and spend the money elsewhere. Sorry, SC, we'll have to make a date for some other time to share that bottle of champagne. :(

Thanks, Nikki - and thanks, too, for the heads-up on this. I hadn't gotten 'round to reading this thread 'til now. SverigeCruiser quoted me on another thread (so I got an email alert) to call my attention to it. Otherwise, I might have missed it.

 

 

 

We've decided to cancel and spend the money elsewhere. Sorry, SC, we'll have to make a date for some other time to share that bottle of champagne. :(

As with us this year it is best to know I think.

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Absolutely!

I've just seen the schedule in your link - WOW! I also noticed that there's activity on the March 3rd roll call. I'll have to have a look at what's being said there, too. Though it's all the same, now that the decision's been made.

For all who are interested in MSC and the 'Holistic Cruise charters'.....my wife and I were on this year's cruise 15-25 Feb. We are not vegans. We will never knowingly travel with this group again. We were in the Yacht Club. No big changes in there that we could see, but there were a lot of vegans staying in the yacht club, as the ship was sold out.

In Le Muse, we didn't even see the sommelier for the first 2 nights, he explained that he spent both evenings with the vegans in the main dining rooms, making wine recommendations. (? what wine goes with a pureed kale?) Yum. FYI the main dining rooms were closed for the early seatings for all but the vegans. We also noticed groups of about 8 or 10 people hosted by Yacht Club members having dinner in Le Muse or socializing after dinner in the Top Sail lounge....not exactly sure how THAT works!

The vegans were absolutely everywhere. As I understand it, the ship hold @3500 people and the vegans had @2200 on board. On some days, you could hardly walk in the area of the smoothie bar and future cruise consultant as this area was set up for sales of all manner of vegan paraphernalia like books and pots & pans...they even had a palm reader, the Peta people were there and a guy touting the benefits of marijuana. I didn't appreciate all of these causes, issues, whatever so "in my face" on MY vacation!

I fault MSC for not being more upfront with folks who were impacted by this group. Many on our Roll Call changed their plans when it was learned that the vegans would be on board...we should have. MSC made it seem like there would be no disruption to regular cruisers. There were areas blocked off in the buffet for vegans and many of the shore excursions featured vegan themes. This was our first cruise with MSC and we were disappointed with the experience.

Thank you so much for reporting on your experience. If I'd had any reservations about cancelling our cruise next March, you have convinced me otherwise.

For all who are interested in MSC and the 'Holistic Cruise charters'.....my wife and I were on this year's cruise 15-25 Feb. We are not vegans. We will never knowingly travel with this group again. We were in the Yacht Club. No big changes in there that we could see, but there were a lot of vegans staying in the yacht club, as the ship was sold out.

 

In Le Muse, we didn't even see the sommelier for the first 2 nights, he explained that he spent both evenings with the vegans in the main dining rooms, making wine recommendations. (? what wine goes with a pureed kale?) Yum. FYI the main dining rooms were closed for the early seatings for all but the vegans. We also noticed groups of about 8 or 10 people hosted by Yacht Club members having dinner in Le Muse or socializing after dinner in the Top Sail lounge....not exactly sure how THAT works!

 

The vegans were absolutely everywhere. As I understand it, the ship hold @3500 people and the vegans had @2200 on board. On some days, you could hardly walk in the area of the smoothie bar and future cruise consultant as this area was set up for sales of all manner of vegan paraphernalia like books and pots & pans...they even had a palm reader, the Peta people were there and a guy touting the benefits of marijuana. I didn't appreciate all of these causes, issues, whatever so "in my face" on MY vacation!

 

I fault MSC for not being more upfront with folks who were impacted by this group. Many on our Roll Call changed their plans when it was learned that the vegans would be on board...we should have. MSC made it seem like there would be no disruption to regular cruisers. There were areas blocked off in the buffet for vegans and many of the shore excursions featured vegan themes. This was our first cruise with MSC and we were disappointed with the experience.

I really appreciate this information.

I'm still waiting for a second response from MSC.

Do you mind if I quote you in my coming contacts with MSC? I'm not sure that MSC in Sweden realize now big this is.