Do grand voyages commonly sell out?

[Gig103]

Hi all,

 

DW and I booked our first MSC cruise and it's a 20night Grand Voyage. Today I logged on to see if there were price drops, but instead I see the cruise is SOLD OUT in every category, with final payment not until August and sailing in November.

 

Is it likely that it's actually sold out (or at least booked because of the $100 Wave deposit promo)? My wife pointed out that, due to the unrest in the Middle East, MSC might have put it on lockdown while they consider cancelling it? Based on a Celebrity experience a few years ago I guess it isn't impossible that it was chartered either.

 

Thoughts?

[AmoMondo]

I've done 6 and none were sold out. It could be the US allocation is sold out. Have you tried checking other countries' websites?

[Skier52]

Hi all,

 

DW and I booked our first MSC cruise and it's a 20night Grand Voyage. Today I logged on to see if there were price drops, but instead I see the cruise is SOLD OUT in every category, with final payment not until August and sailing in November.

 

Is it likely that it's actually sold out (or at least booked because of the $100 Wave deposit promo)? My wife pointed out that, due to the unrest in the Middle East, MSC might have put it on lockdown while they consider cancelling it? Based on a Celebrity experience a few years ago I guess it isn't impossible that it was chartered either.

 

Thoughts?

It says "SOLD OUT" on the UK web site as well.

 

THere's something going on as it will not have sold out so far out from the departure date.

 

Pete

[Gig103]

I've done 6 and none were sold out. It could be the US allocation is sold out. Have you tried checking other countries' websites?

 

I tried the French website too, since Skier tried from the UK. Also sold out.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Gig103

[Plan B]

Still showing all the categories on sale on the Spanish website :)

[Skipper Tim]

Yes, probably undersold and MSC are considering cancelling. If repos sold out, cruise lines would offer nothing but. As they are, repos are a logistical necessity but financial inconvenience.

 

This is one of my irritations with MSC UK at the moment. Everyone knows those repositioning cruises are going to sail with empty cabins but in many cases MSC UK won't allow sole-occupancy at any price. I don't even want to sail on a cruise line that is predjudist against solo travellers. How quickly things can be changed, pointlessly, for the worse.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Skipper Tim

[Gig103]

I have received the following from MSC this morning (I booked direct). I'm still not confident, but hopeful.

 

 

I hope you had a great weekend!

I do see that your sailing is sold out. The trip is not being cancelled.

We have 42 offices around the world that can sell any departure that we have available. This is a very popular itinerary that is why it sold out so early in advance.

The safety and security of our travellers and crew remains our top priority at all times. MSC Cruises continuously monitors events in all the countries we visit, and we are currently satisfied that all our schedule ports of calls can proceed as planned. In addition, it’s important to note that we do not sail in countries that are at risk.

[juttawdw]

I just tried the dutch website almost every catergory available.

[Gig103]

Interesting, some categories have become available again - not just the Dutch website, but the US also. Thanks for chiming in everyone.

[sidari]

If this is the Orchestra sailing we have friends who are booked on it and they were told they got the last two cabins! they are booked in Aurea balconies so it may be that they got the last two of those.

 

The UK website will not let you put in more than one Adult after you have searched for a cruise ?

[Beamafar]

If this is the Orchestra sailing we have friends who are booked on it and they were told they got the last two cabins! they are booked in Aurea balconies so it may be that they got the last two of those.

 

The UK website will not let you put in more than one Adult after you have searched for a cruise ?

 

I don't think it's the Orchestra, Sid - the OP mentioned the Middle East. I think it may be the Musica as it's itinerary is Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates which would pose a concern for some travellers.

[Skier52]

I don't think it's the Orchestra, Sid - the OP mentioned the Middle East. I think it may be the Musica as it's itinerary is Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates which would pose a concern for some travellers.

It is the Musica

 

 

It is apparently available to book

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUT when you look at what is availbale only the Aurea sites are not SOLD OUT

 

 

until you see the words

 

"We're Sorrry !! This itinerary cannot be booked at this time"

 

Something fishy is going on IMHO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete

[Beamafar]

It is the Musica

It is apparently available to book

Pete

 

 

It's not even up on the .ie website so it hasn't opened for sale here, yet. I had to go to the .co.uk website to see the itinerary - it's very attractive. If I weren't booked with X for January next I'd be watching for it going on sale here.

 

Perhaps MSC are expecting it to sell so aren't making it fully available until after they get a reasonable take-up on other repos :confused:

[sidari]

We did that cruise in November last year on the Orchestra although Port said was only an Anchor stop waiting to go down the canal and Ashdod was not a stop either.

 

That cruise was available to book from January 2014, there seems to be some odd things going on with MSC just now because the Divina return to Miami in October is only available as cruise only but the trip over to Europe in April was available a few days back with air!

 

It looks like once again UK cruisers are being treated as second class by MSC with regard to when bookings are available for certain cruises.

[Skier52]

It's not even up on the .ie website so it hasn't opened for sale here, yet. I had to go to the .co.uk website to see the itinerary - it's very attractive. If I weren't booked with X for January next I'd be watching for it going on sale here.

 

Perhaps MSC are expecting it to sell so aren't making it fully available until after they get a reasonable take-up on other repos :confused:

12HOURS LATER and it is apparently SOLD OUT AGAIN

 

What are they playing at?

 

 

 

 

 

Pete

[Beamafar]

We did that cruise in November last year on the Orchestra although Port Said was only an Anchor stop waiting to go down the canal and Ashdod was not a stop either.

 

It seems a bit disingenuous to show these as stops on the itinerary - although maybe if you look at the itinerary listing for times at each of the ports of call it would show there. But still, when I'm browsing for a cruise and see the map (like the one Pete has in the above post) I automatically assume the ship is going to visit that port! Silly me :o I ought to know better at this stage!

[sidari]

Bea ... I think you may have misunderstood my previous post, the Orchestra cruise did not have a stop at Port Said we only anchored there and Ashdod was not on our itinerary.

 

Both those places are actual stops on the Musica cruise as it is 2 days longer than ours was.

[Beamafar]

Bea ... I think you may have misunderstood my previous post, the Orchestra cruise did not have a stop at Port Said we only anchored there and Ashdod was not on our itinerary.

 

Both those places are actual stops on the Musica cruise as it is 2 days longer than ours was.

 

Ah, thanks for clearing that up, Dave - I was wondering, alright and couldn't go back to see the itinerary you did (obviously, as that ship has sailed!) to see what it was LOL

[Gig103]

Pete is right that we're talking about the Musica. We are also in Aurea which is still sold out, but when I posted last weekend the entire ship was sold out, and that's also what the rep told me.

 

It's even weirder that it keeps on toggling back and forth!

 

(Oh and I wish I could book in Pounds; it's cheaper even with the currency exchange for Aurea!)

Edited March 13, 2015 by Gig103

[Gig103]

Bea ... I think you may have misunderstood my previous post, the Orchestra cruise did not have a stop at Port Said we only anchored there and Ashdod was not on our itinerary.

 

Both those places are actual stops on the Musica cruise as it is 2 days longer than ours was.

 

Sidari, I'd love to hear some of your thoughts of how MSC handled shore excursions where you did stop - since these repositioning cruises are not the "norm" I do hesitate a bit about the quality (compared to a regular port of call that does more business).

[sidari]

We only did two ship booked tours which was to Petra in Jordan because it is a 2 hour drive out and back and did not want to trust others with getting us back in time for sailing, and the other was on Rhodes.

 

The Petra tour was handled very well using local guides who traveled with us from the dock and back and also did the tour around Petra.

 

The second tour was on Rhodes due to a last minute change of mind that took us to Lindos and once again we had a local guide who was very knowledgeable, because it was November/December as you would expect not a lot was open but a few of the locals opened their shops due to the ship being there.

 

Bari you can do on your own although there is a Ho Ho bus which we used but realised later we could have walked to most places, there is also a small road train both of which are about a five minute walk from the dock.

 

Piraeus/Athens we had been twice before, there are Ho Ho buses again a 5 minute walk from the port that take you into Athens and start across the road from an Irish pub called O`Connells.

 

Heraklion, just outside the port gate is the local bus stop where you can get the bus into town for around 2 Euros, the ticket machine is just inside the gate near the bus stop.

 

Aqaba ... Went to Petra.

 

Salahla ... Not a great deal here and the small town is some way from the port, a great beach though usually with no one on it. There is a shopping mall some way farther on but we did not go there.

Be warned that the taxi drivers will do their best to rip you off, the price for a one way trip to town in 25 to 30 Euros, they will tell you it is a lot more so make sure before you get in the car that the price is for Euros! I spoke to four German people who had been charged 110 Euros one way.

 

Muscat was a great place, 8 of us hired a minivan for 4 hours and saw quite a lot of the place, we also had a very good guide/Driver. Be sure to see the palace.

 

Khor Fakkan, again not a lot to see here on your own apart from the Mosque and the town is a good 20 minutes walk, reasonable beach and if you follow the walkway away from the port there are shops at the far end as opposed to the main town. Where you get dropped off by the free bus shuttle is the fish market.

 

Dubai, Again we hired a Taxi with 4 others for about 4 hours which worked out at a reasonable price, the driver took us out to the Burge Al Arab which is quite some way out and onto the Palm island, later we had ourselves dropped off at the old Gold Souk. If you walk down through the main part and at the end turn left it takes you to the river and past the spice market where you can hire a Dow for a one hour trip which is certainly worth while.

The shops do not open until around 2pm if you arrive on a Friday but beware everyone wants to sell you a watch, from there we got a taxi to the Dubai Mall which was also great but did not have enough time to see all of it, at 6pm the water fountain show begins and is every half hour beside the Burge Al Kalifa. We then took a taxi back to the ship with two others that we had spent the day with.

[Gig103]

Thank you so much!

[Gig103]

I am bumping my old thread... My fears were confirmed today when I was contacted to inform me that MSC is suspending Egyptian ports of call, and that my itinerary is on hold.

 

I don't think it will be cancelled since the Musica needs to be repositioned, and I will wait until the new itinerary is sent to me, but we're almost definitely cancelling as a result. The only good thing is that I don't have to keep worrying about the Musica's 40% Cruise Critic approval rating.

[RammsteinNicCage]

That's a shame - I assume they canceled the Egyptian port for safety concerns?

[Gig103]

That's a shame - I assume they canceled the Egyptian port for safety concerns?

 

Correct; Egyptian and Ukranian ports of call are being replaced with additional Mediterranean ports. We were surprised to see an Egyptian port on a cruise which is why we booked it, and now we wish we had not gotten our hopes up. At least airfare wasn't booked yet!