Cuba.....uh, oh.

[EngIceDave]

An weekend/overnight in St Maartin might be cool

[CTurtlelvr]

3 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

An weekend/overnight in St Maartin might be cool

 

That would be nice, I'm just afraid that would be too far east for the Cuba itineraries.

[EngIceDave]

If they reversed it, it might work

[sanbixby]

1 hour ago, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

Depends on what's offered. I've been to Nassau counless times and wouldn't care for that.

True. 

[thecruisers6]

46 minutes ago, welwyngirl said:

It's almost impossible for us to cancel as we would lose all our monies. Flights from the UK,  booked accommodation prior and following, car hire etc.   The UK have just forked out 40 million quid of taxpayers' hard-earned cash to host the Donald and now this!  Gutted. 

 

Sorry to hear this and I’ve not seen anything,  anywhere, warning non-US citizens that it would be a case of ‘go to Cuba and the cruise line would be banned from the US’. 

I wonder if in the future MSC will pull out of the US completely. There must be a cut-off point especially if China is next in line for restrictions  after Cuba, with the escalating trade war. 

 

[Beamafar]

3 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Sorry to hear this and I’ve not seen anything,  anywhere, warning non-US citizens that it would be a case of ‘go to Cuba and the cruise line would be banned from the US’. 

I wonder if in the future MSC will pull out of the US completely. There must be a cut-off point especially if China is next in line for restrictions  after Cuba, with the escalating trade war. 

 

 

Hi Mark ... I wonder if CruisingFox has heard about this.   She booked Armonia for the week after she disembarks our cruise on Meraviglia (mainly for the Havana stop).  I know she's on a Baltics cruise at the moment and has been incommunicado.

[sidari]

6 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

Sorry to hear this and I’ve not seen anything,  anywhere, warning non-US citizens that it would be a case of ‘go to Cuba and the cruise line would be banned from the US’. 

I wonder if in the future MSC will pull out of the US completely. There must be a cut-off point especially if China is next in line for restrictions  after Cuba, with the escalating trade war. 

 

MSC could choose to go to Cuba from a different base but I believe pressure has been put on them not to go at all because of their sailings out of Miami, coupled with a new terminal. You scratch our back and we scratch yours.

[thecruisers6]

9 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Hi Mark ... I wonder if CruisingFox has heard about this.   She booked Armonia for the week after she disembarks our cruise on Meraviglia (mainly for the Havana stop).  I know she's on a Baltics cruise at the moment and has been incommunicado.

Hi Bea, 

After just reading your post I just messaged CF on social media. Hopefully they will have enough time to decide etc. 

[thecruisers6]

13 minutes ago, sidari said:

MSC could choose to go to Cuba from a different base but I believe pressure has been put on them not to go at all because of their sailings out of Miami, coupled with a new terminal. You scratch our back and we scratch yours.

I think you are exactly right. Will be interesting to see if Virgin roll over as well!

[sidari]

I doubt Virgin have a choice.

[CruisingFox27]

31 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Hi Mark ... I wonder if CruisingFox has heard about this.   She booked Armonia for the week after she disembarks our cruise on Meraviglia (mainly for the Havana stop).  I know she's on a Baltics cruise at the moment and has been incommunicado.

We've not had any wifi or phone signal in Norway but we disembarked today, just picking up all of the details now. Very disappointing but at least we hadn't actually booked any flights etc. We'll just have to come home after NYC. 

 

This hasn't helped my post cruise depression 😥😥

[Beamafar]

3 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

We've not had any wifi or phone signal in Norway but we disembarked today, just picking up all of the details now. Very disappointing but at least we hadn't actually booked any flights etc. We'll just have to come home after NYC. 

 

This hasn't helped my post cruise depression 😥😥

 

So glad you didn't hear it beforehand, CF, so it didn't impact on your last day onboard, at least.

 

Hopefully MSC will see fit to re-imburse your deposit (or cruise-move you to something else you may be interested in).

 

Looking forward to hearing how your cruise went.  Enjoy what's left of your trip and safe travels home!

[CruisingFox27]

We'll review once home, I'm not sure we'd line to redo some of the Caribbean as we'd only added this on as we were already stateside and wanted to do Cuba. Will see what the position is next week. 

We'll enjoy the sights of Hamburg first 😎

Delightfully warm after last week 😁

[Captain-John]

4 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

We'll review once home, I'm not sure we'd line to redo some of the Caribbean as we'd only added this on as we were already stateside and wanted to do Cuba. Will see what the position is next week. 

We'll enjoy the sights of Hamburg first 😎

Delightfully warm after last week 😁

 

Hamburg is gorgeous! Do enjoy, and I look forward to your review. 😄

[Beamafar]

You didn't miss anything at home, weather-wise, either, CF!

 

You were right to hold off on flights and accommodation.  Plenty of other itineraries to consider at your leisure, for sure, though I can understand the disappointment around not seeing Havana.  IMHO there are plenty of places much nicer to visit;  we felt that Havana has been over-hyped and over-romanticised.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Beamafar

[floridian1]

1 hour ago, thecruisers6 said:

Sorry to hear this and I’ve not seen anything,  anywhere, warning non-US citizens that it would be a case of ‘go to Cuba and the cruise line would be banned from the US’. 

I wonder if in the future MSC will pull out of the US completely. There must be a cut-off point especially if China is next in line for restrictions  after Cuba, with the escalating trade war. 

 

That wont happen 

[sanbixby]

4 hours ago, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

Depends on what's offered. I've been to Nassau counless times and wouldn't care for that.

I would love it if MSC were as generous as Royal Caribbean

"“We have secured alternative ports and we are in the process of communicating the new itineraries to our guests and travel partners,” the company said. “For these guests, they will have the option of remaining on their sailing with the new itinerary and receiving a 50 percent refund or they may cancel their cruise and receive a full refund.” (taken from the Cruise Industry News website).  One can hope...

 

[abbeytravelstheworld]

It would make my day if they offer a full refund. We are thinking of this happens we will take our flights to Miami as planned, take a few days in the Bahamas and then fly to Cuba from there for a land based holiday. I would need to know ASAP though to sort a Cuba visa before we leave New Zealand on the 15th.

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

If you are following the other thread that's live on Armonia they are getting 200 OBC, extending stay in Cozumel, added sea day and added 7am to 6pm stop in Key West... 

[DCGuy64]

10 minutes ago, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

If you are following the other thread that's live on Armonia they are getting 200 OBC, extending stay in Cozumel, added sea day and added 7am to 6pm stop in Key West... 

From what I understand, that is correct but is only for current passengers actually on board. RCI's offer of 50% refund to ALL passengers booked through 2019 on the two ships destined for Cuba seems awfully generous and it would be lovely if MSC followed suit.

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Just now, DCGuy64 said:

From what I understand, that is correct but is only for current passengers actually on board. RCI's offer of 50% refund to ALL passengers booked through 2019 on the two ships destined for Cuba seems awfully generous and it would be lovely if MSC followed suit.

Yes, I said that. I doubt MSC is gonna be as generous as RCCL. Even Carnival isn't. If rather then offer any OBC per person than by cabin as some ppl have different accounts but we shall see. I don't expect any money back. I do expect some options though and hopefully at least those long distance ppl that had to do flights are offered full refund.

[EngIceDave]

RCCL's Empress of the Seas (Bahamian flagged) was the last ship from a US port to leave Havana

[abbeytravelstheworld]

6 hours ago, AerynSun_JohnCrighton said:

Yes, I said that. I doubt MSC is gonna be as generous as RCCL. Even Carnival isn't. If rather then offer any OBC per person than by cabin as some ppl have different accounts but we shall see. I don't expect any money back. I do expect some options though and hopefully at least those long distance ppl that had to do flights are offered full refund.

You're right about that. Just got off the phone with them and talk about rude. She said "you won't be getting anything back. We can do whatever we want with the ports" I said that's a bit of a shame since other cruise lines are offering more and her reply was "we are not other cruise lines" Lovely! And no eta for new ports either

[Midnightsuncruiser]

2 hours ago, abbeytravelstheworld said:

You're right about that. Just got off the phone with them and talk about rude. She said "you won't be getting anything back. We can do whatever we want with the ports" I said that's a bit of a shame since other cruise lines are offering more and her reply was "we are not other cruise lines" Lovely! And no eta for new ports either

 

I'm not happy about the news either - we have already paid flights, hotels, and cruise in full for Armonia 24 June sailing. However, from what I have learned of MSC in this forum, I don't really expect a big compensation from them. Of course it would be welcome, especially because we have too selected the ship and cruise line based on the itinerary. 

 

I just checked my booking and it still shows Cuba and Havana on the itinerary. I'm interested to see when MSC or our TA plans to inform us. 

[Domen]

12 hours ago, sidari said:

MSC could choose to go to Cuba from a different base but I believe pressure has been put on them not to go at all because of their sailings out of Miami, coupled with a new terminal. You scratch our back and we scratch yours.

 

That is probably the case in my opinion too. But on the other hand we could see a whole new line (subsidiary of other major line) which would specialize on Cuba cruises. Base ports would just be out of Mexico or Dominican Republic. I believe there is a market for that kind of cruises. Maybe not with 10+ ships, but a few ships would definitely sell out. As they say: "Forbidden apple is the sweetest"

Edited June 6, 2019 by Domen
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