rhiannon35 Posted November 15, 2017 #1 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I'm new to cruising on MSC. We've cruised many other lines and when I look at shore excursions through my account, there's always a drop-down menu where you can see times. But, when I look on MSC, also through my account, there are no times anywhere that I can find. Does anyone know if they're there? We are NOT morning people, and I don't want to book an excursion and then find out it leaves at 8 a.m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOLDENBONNY Posted November 15, 2017 #2 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I'm new to cruising on MSC. We've cruised many other lines and when I look at shore excursions through my account, there's always a drop-down menu where you can see times. But, when I look on MSC, also through my account, there are no times anywhere that I can find. Does anyone know if they're there? We are NOT morning people, and I don't want to book an excursion and then find out it leaves at 8 a.m. Most of excursions start early in morning right after ship is in port . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisnDeb Posted November 15, 2017 #3 Share Posted November 15, 2017 I'm new to cruising on MSC. We've cruised many other lines and when I look at shore excursions through my account, there's always a drop-down menu where you can see times. But, when I look on MSC, also through my account, there are no times anywhere that I can find. Does anyone know if they're there? We are NOT morning people, and I don't want to book an excursion and then find out it leaves at 8 a.m. I thought that was weird too. I would just call them and find out the times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capricruiser Posted November 15, 2017 #4 Share Posted November 15, 2017 The show times for the day's excursions you won't get until the daily bulletin is distributed the evening before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhiannon35 Posted November 15, 2017 Author #5 Share Posted November 15, 2017 The show times for the day's excursions you won't get until the daily bulletin is distributed the evening before. Thank you. That is insane! To not know if you're leaving at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m. until the night before? I guess I'll just wait until we get onboard and see if the excursion desk has the times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sverigecruiser Posted November 16, 2017 #6 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Thank you. That is insane! To not know if you're leaving at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m. until the night before? I guess I'll just wait until we get onboard and see if the excursion desk has the times. I agree with you. I don't like to book excursions when I don't know the time for them but on MSC it seems to be impossible to find out before booking. Maybe they can help you if you wait until you are onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhiannon35 Posted November 16, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted November 16, 2017 I agree with you. I don't like to book excursions when I don't know the time for them but on MSC it seems to be impossible to find out before booking. Maybe they can help you if you wait until you are onboard. I'm not cruising until March, but I will see and report back. I might book the one excursion we really want, and then cancel if I find out it's too early. But again, if you don't find out until the night before is it too late to cancel? I canceled an excursion the night before on NCL due to a bad weather forecast, but not sure of MSC's policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capricruiser Posted November 16, 2017 #8 Share Posted November 16, 2017 From my MSC experience which is substantial, if the ship is scheduled to dock at 8.00, the meeting point times (usually in the theatre) for the morning excursions will be 8.00 or 8.30. The buses will already be lined up and ready to go. If the ship will be in port all day, there may be afternoon excursions as well. To be fair with MSC, it's usually the local tour operators that establish excursion start times based on their knowledge of how long it takes to adequately conduct individual excursions considering known traffic patterns, site opening times, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted November 16, 2017 #9 Share Posted November 16, 2017 We are NOT morning people, and I don't want to book an excursion and then find out it leaves at 8 a.m. Most excursions leave soon after the ship docks: To maximise use of a full day tour - especially if the main tourist sites are a good distance away. E.g. we did a tour where it took 5 hours to return to the ship! For half-day tours, it gives people the opportunity to get back to have lunch onboard and/or explore the port/town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhiannon35 Posted November 16, 2017 Author #10 Share Posted November 16, 2017 From my MSC experience which is substantial, if the ship is scheduled to dock at 8.00, the meeting point times (usually in the theatre) for the morning excursions will be 8.00 or 8.30. The buses will already be lined up and ready to go. If the ship will be in port all day, there may be afternoon excursions as well. To be fair with MSC, it's usually the local tour operators that establish excursion start times based on their knowledge of how long it takes to adequately conduct individual excursions considering known traffic patterns, site opening times, etc. Thanks for the info, Charles. I realize local tour operators set the times, my complaint is not being able to see the time we leave prior to booking. We are usually able to find a good selection of tours that leave around 10 a.m., which is more to our liking, but with MSC I have no idea when I'm looking at the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhiannon35 Posted November 16, 2017 Author #11 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Most excursions leave soon after the ship docks: To maximise use of a full day tour - especially if the main tourist sites are a good distance away. E.g. we did a tour where it took 5 hours to return to the ship! For half-day tours, it gives people the opportunity to get back to have lunch onboard and/or explore the port/town. We have always been able to find tours around 10 a.m. or later on our other cruises, which is much better for us than 8 a.m. I realize that might limit us to shorter tours, which I'm fine with, I just would like to know what time I'm leaving before I decide to book. I'll never get my teenage daughter up for 8 a.m. And my hubby will never get me up that early either :') I'm just stumped as to why MSC can't have times up when we're booking, never encountered this before and we've cruised with four other lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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