Omicron - anyone canceling an upcoming cruise?

[Markanddonna]

1 hour ago, pghflyer said:

I didn't realize the 01/16 itinerary had been OFFICIALLY changed yet?

It hasn't.  I just checked. They of course are referring to what is currently going on now. If you call MSC, they will tell you nothing has changed, which is true. That is what they would have told the folks on the current sailing the day they boarded, but it changed dramatically after they went to Ocean Cay on day 1. 

My guess is that they will off load some of the positive crew members in Miami who will be housed in a a quarantine motel (got this from crew).  The crew who test negative and those who have been in isolation will be brought onboard to replace these folks. That will keep the numbers down for the CDC and port authorities. 

 

BTW, those who aren't aware: forwarding your passenger and crew's health status happens before they reach any port. When they are in port waiting for the okay, the Q solid yellow flag is flown meaning they are still being checked and don't have clearance. It is lowered when cleared. Of course, most of the communication is now done by email and cell calls.

 

The new batch of passengers will dutifully provide their vaccine card, the results of a negative COVID test and a completed health questionnaire with the requisite temperature check.  The passengers will have a jolly old time but all you need is a few whose virus wasn't detected for various results (not really their fault) to start the spread. 

 

Then, on day two, every passenger will go through a mandatory COVID test and some will likely be positive. They will be quarantined essentially for the rest of the cruise. Anyone who is traveling in their group will be put in their own cabin in isolation. I know someone on the Divina right now who is with her preschooler in isolation- both are negative but were traveling with a positive case. They requested a retest a few days later and were refused.

 

Will the next sailing exceed the number or percentage that will cause the rest of the ports to reject the ship? The problem is that all these numbers and percentages are not available to us. I heard that it is 1% of the passengers. So, a sailing with 1,200 would be affected if just twelve people were affected. Then, consider the crew numbers...

 

Knowing the above can give you a clearer view of what might happen. I am not assured by any statement by an MSC rep telling me that everything is a go at this point. Not there fault...  That is the truth and reality. We, as future passengers, need to understand what can happen which is tough without a crystal ball. 

 

 

[styles27]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

It hasn't.  I just checked. They of course are referring to what is currently going on now. If you call MSC, they will tell you nothing has changed, which is true. That is what they would have told the folks on the current sailing the day they boarded, but it changed dramatically after they went to Ocean Cay on day 1. 

My guess is that they will off load some of the positive crew members in Miami who will be housed in a a quarantine motel (got this from crew).  The crew who test negative and those who have been in isolation will be brought onboard to replace these folks. That will keep the numbers down for the CDC and port authorities. 

 

BTW, those who aren't aware: forwarding your passenger and crew's health status happens before they reach any port. When they are in port waiting for the okay, the Q solid yellow flag is flown meaning they are still being checked and don't have clearance. It is lowered when cleared. Of course, most of the communication is now done by email and cell calls.

 

The new batch of passengers will dutifully provide their vaccine card, the results of a negative COVID test and a completed health questionnaire with the requisite temperature check.  The passengers will have a jolly old time but all you need is a few whose virus wasn't detected for various results (not really their fault) to start the spread. 

 

Then, on day two, every passenger will go through a mandatory COVID test and some will likely be positive. They will be quarantined essentially for the rest of the cruise. Anyone who is traveling in their group will be put in their own cabin in isolation. I know someone on the Divina right now who is with her preschooler in isolation- both are negative but were traveling with a positive case. They requested a retest a few days later and were refused.

 

Will the next sailing exceed the number or percentage that will cause the rest of the ports to reject the ship? The problem is that all these numbers and percentages are not available to us. I heard that it is 1% of the passengers. So, a sailing with 1,200 would be affected if just twelve people were affected. Then, consider the crew numbers...

 

Knowing the above can give you a clearer view of what might happen. I am not assured by any statement by an MSC rep telling me that everything is a go at this point. Not there fault...  That is the truth and reality. We, as future passengers, need to understand what can happen which is tough without a crystal ball. 

 

 

You are correct it is 1%.

That is also the cdc’s guideline for elevating the color status and beginning an investigation if 1% of crew tests positive 

It’s .10% for passengers so it’s even worse than the 1%

 

This is the main reason we cancelled our cruise for Jan 8th 😭

.10%  is such a small number  

Add to that, nearly every ship on the chart was in yellow status last time I looked. 
So unfortunate. 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by styles27
To add pics

[Markanddonna]

5 minutes ago, styles27 said:

You are correct it is 1%.

That is also the cdc’s guideline for elevating the color status and beginning an investigation. 
 

This is the main reason we cancelled our cruise for Jan 8th 😭

1% is such a small number  

Add to that, nearly every ship on the chart was in yellow status last time I looked. 
So unfortunate. 

 

Yep, every cruise line is now under investigation. Not their fault, though...

[awhcruiser]

Not cancelling our cruise.  Its not until October 2022

[tkwbear]

I had been on the fence about canceling until this morning. MSC issued me an "upgrade" which is really a downgrade. I was on 13 midship balcony until they "upgraded" me to the 11th floor, closer to the bow, with a connecting room. One thing I really hate is connecting rooms, either on land or at sea. Most are not insulated for sound, so the wall may as well be a sheet. I also hate being near the bow as it is the only place I get motion sickness. Since I was doing back to back cruises, I would have had to move after the first 7 days (I had gone to a lot of trouble to book the same room on each leg).

 

I looked at later Seashore sailings and they were all sky high. So I traded my 2  7 day cruises for a 10 day and a 4 day on Meraviglia. It was a few bucks cheaper, but I lose all the shipboard credit I had on the Seashore cruises. Plus I had to pay them about $400 more to book the 10 day cruise, while they will refund in a couple of months for the $400 credit I got for booking the 4 day cruise. No there was no other way to work it out. I liked the rep, Max, who knew his stuff and tried to do his best for me.

 

So, MAYBE in March we will have a better understanding of where the ships will be allowed to dock.

[styles27]

29 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I had been on the fence about canceling until this morning. MSC issued me an "upgrade" which is really a downgrade. I was on 13 midship balcony until they "upgraded" me to the 11th floor, closer to the bow, with a connecting room. One thing I really hate is connecting rooms, either on land or at sea. Most are not insulated for sound, so the wall may as well be a sheet. I also hate being near the bow as it is the only place I get motion sickness. Since I was doing back to back cruises, I would have had to move after the first 7 days (I had gone to a lot of trouble to book the same room on each leg).

 

I looked at later Seashore sailings and they were all sky high. So I traded my 2  7 day cruises for a 10 day and a 4 day on Meraviglia. It was a few bucks cheaper, but I lose all the shipboard credit I had on the Seashore cruises. Plus I had to pay them about $400 more to book the 10 day cruise, while they will refund in a couple of months for the $400 credit I got for booking the 4 day cruise. No there was no other way to work it out. I liked the rep, Max, who knew his stuff and tried to do his best for me.

 

So, MAYBE in March we will have a better understanding of where the ships will be allowed to dock.

I’m sorry to hear they moved your room. They didn’t by any chance give you our old room on the 11th floor did they? (11079)

In the long run I think you’ll have a better cruise in March. By then Omicron will have hopefully run it’s course. 
 

I keep getting upgrade and reminder emails about our cruise even though we moved the date.
My husband keeps questioning if they really moved it but I have all of the new booking info so I know they did. 
It’s just nuts that the system doesn’t recognize that we are no longer sailing this Saturday. 

[tkwbear]

38 minutes ago, styles27 said:

I’m sorry to hear they moved your room. They didn’t by any chance give you our old room on the 11th floor did they? (11079)

In the long run I think you’ll have a better cruise in March. By then Omicron will have hopefully run it’s course. 
 

I keep getting upgrade and reminder emails about our cruise even though we moved the date.
My husband keeps questioning if they really moved it but I have all of the new booking info so I know they did. 
It’s just nuts that the system doesn’t recognize that we are no longer sailing this Saturday. 

Yeah, that was shocking. I had just talked to them yesterday about Ocean Cay. I had paid extra to get the 13th floor, because that was the only place I could find the same room available. So they moved me to 11051 claiming it was an upgrade. So I didn't even try to find the same room in March. Besides, the agent and I could not see eye to eye on available rooms, so he had to read me a list. It was also a little more than if I had booked it online but I just wanted to get it done!

 

It's funny they can refund some purchases immediately (like the dining package) but the cruise fare has to take months.

[styles27]

13 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

Yeah, that was shocking. I had just talked to them yesterday about Ocean Cay. I had paid extra to get the 13th floor, because that was the only place I could find the same room available. So they moved me to 11051 claiming it was an upgrade. So I didn't even try to find the same room in March. Besides, the agent and I could not see eye to eye on available rooms, so he had to read me a list. It was also a little more than if I had booked it online but I just wanted to get it done!

 

It's funny they can refund some purchases immediately (like the dining package) but the cruise fare has to take months.

That’s crazy. 
The same thing happened to me where the agent didn’t have the same rooms available that I was seeing on my end.

 

It doesn’t even make sense to me. 
 

Are you guys still going to take the vacation time and do a land trip or were you able to change your flights too?
 

 

[tkwbear]

2 minutes ago, styles27 said:

That’s crazy. 
The same thing happened to me where the agent didn’t have the same rooms available that I was seeing on my end.

 

It doesn’t even make sense to me. 
 

Are you guys still going to take the vacation time and do a land trip or were you able to change your flights too?
 

 

It's just me. 

 

I had only paid $205 for the flight, and it's $84 outbound but $250 on the way back as evidently Spring Break is starting the day I get off the ship.

 

You can reach me at ew_t_wade@yahoo.com if you like.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Our cruise leaves January 20th. So if we want to cancel we have to do it by January 18 @ 5 est. I would prefer a refund so will have to wait till the end to see if MSC cancels or close to the end with enough time to get through on the phone.How soon do cruises cancel to the cruise date?a week out?Im really bummed but need to do it..

Any help would be appreciated..

Edited January 4, 2022 by cheeseheads4ever

[madridgirl]

6 hours ago, styles27 said:

I’m sorry to hear they moved your room. They didn’t by any chance give you our old room on the 11th floor did they? (11079)

In the long run I think you’ll have a better cruise in March. By then Omicron will have hopefully run it’s course. 
 

I keep getting upgrade and reminder emails about our cruise even though we moved the date.
My husband keeps questioning if they really moved it but I have all of the new booking info so I know they did. 
It’s just nuts that the system doesn’t recognize that we are no longer sailing this Saturday. 

We had booked cabin 11079 on Seashore for the 15th. Got sent to guarantee, then rebooked to 11093. 
kinda disappointed they didn’t give us our same cabin back. 

[styles27]

7 hours ago, madridgirl said:

We had booked cabin 11079 on Seashore for the 15th. Got sent to guarantee, then rebooked to 11093. 
kinda disappointed they didn’t give us our same cabin back. 

Ugh 11079 has a great balcony that’s why we chose it too!

 

Looking at your name ,  are you from RI also?  

[styles27]

8 hours ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Our cruise leaves January 20th. So if we want to cancel we have to do it by January 18 @ 5 est. I would prefer a refund so will have to wait till the end to see if MSC cancels or close to the end with enough time to get through on the phone.How soon do cruises cancel to the cruise date?a week out?Im really bummed but need to do it..

Any help would be appreciated..

I’d be very surprised if MSC cancels but it’s worth waiting til the 48 hr window 

[cheeseheads4ever]

So moving the cruise I’m assuming the pandemic nothing will be better in 2022. I can’t find any 3 or 4 night Caribbean cruises on MSCs site after Nov 2022? Am I not looking in the right spot?

I’d like to move to 2023 but can’t find any cruises. Can’t you move the cruise twice? Meaning if you flex to October then pandemic is still bad can you move it again?

Thanks in advance.

[ready2cruzagain]

25 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

So moving the cruise I’m assuming the pandemic nothing will be better in 2022. I can’t find any 3 or 4 night Caribbean cruises on MSCs site after Nov 2022? Am I not looking in the right spot?

I’d like to move to 2023 but can’t find any cruises. Can’t you move the cruise twice? Meaning if you flex to October then pandemic is still bad can you move it again?

Thanks in advance.

This is exactly what ticks me off.  We cruise in the winter, not in the summer or fall.  MSC does not have any bookings for sailings out of USA after the first part of Nov.  You have to switch to a booking that they have listed.  Whether or not you can switch again is anyone's guess.  I have not gotten a firm answer.

[cheeseheads4ever]

They also don’t have any spring sailing for 2023….

[ready2cruzagain]

35 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

They also don’t have any spring sailing for 2023….

No sailings at all from US after Nov. 2022

[cheeseheads4ever]

So by not seeing any MSC cruises after November 2022 does this mean MSC won’t be sailing out of US period?I looked all the way to 2025 and nothing.

Hard to move a cruise when there are none to chose from. Plus we don’t sail during hurricane season. Not sure what to do on this?

 

[karmamule]

28 minutes ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

So by not seeing any MSC cruises after November 2022 does this mean MSC won’t be sailing out of US period?I looked all the way to 2025 and nothing.

Hard to move a cruise when there are none to chose from. Plus we don’t sail during hurricane season. Not sure what to do on this?

 

 

The cynic in me says they're not posting their cruise schedule further out because they are getting a lot of rebookings (and expecting a bunch more) and want to force people to rebook in this year rather than the next so they can improve this year's bottom line.

 

They will have end-of-year and beyond cruising, but won't make it available until the crunch of rebookings have passed.

Edited January 4, 2022 by karmamule

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, karmamule said:

 

The cynic in me says they're not posting their cruise schedule further out because they are getting a lot of rebookings (and expecting a bunch more) and want to force people to rebook in this year rather than the next so they can improve this year's bottom line.

 

They will have end-of-year and beyond cruising, but won't make it available until the crunch of rebookings have passed.

Only problem with that is fast forward 6 months.....no bookings on any sailings?

They still have piece of mind thru 3/31/2022 for sailing thru 3/31/2023.

[jamesboat]

Yeah this whole peace of mind thing isnt making me very happy when its so hard to pick a replacement. Why cant I bank the credit?

[floridababa]

We just cancelled our January 8 cruise. We like the shows and if virus travels to entertainment then we would not have a great time. I'm too nervous to be quarantined in a cabin. Not worth the aggravation.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Floridababa,

Did you do an FCC, Flexible Cruise Change or refund? Just curious. I could move our January 20th to September and see what that brings. Not sure if I can do a Flexible Cruise Change again by then they may have cruises out for 2023?

Isn’t there supposed to be a message coming out from CDC on the 14th?

I wonder if I can get a refund?

[jamesboat]

26 minutes ago, floridababa said:

We just cancelled our January 8 cruise. We like the shows and if virus travels to entertainment then we would not have a great time. I'm too nervous to be quarantined in a cabin. Not worth the aggravation.

Also would like to know what options you were given when cancelling

[pghflyer]

when I cancelled last week, the option was "cancel and lose over half your money" or "book another cruise right now"........no mention was made of a credit I could wait to use