magnifica not coming to miami

[rkacruiser]

On 11/9/2022 at 5:40 PM, Nunagoras said:

The Armonia is becoming somewhat out of standards these days

 

She is among at least one of the others that had been built for First Festival Cruises.  In their day, they were "state of the art" of cruising and, as I recall, were well considered.  Then, financial issues began and First Festival went belly-up.  

[UPNYGuy]

On 11/9/2022 at 11:09 AM, sidari said:

Latest rumour is that Bellissima will be the replacement.

 

For Magnifica? Out of Miami?

[sidari]

15 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Many thanks to the nice insider info! I can't locate the itineraries anywhere. Can you give us a glimpse of it, Sid, please?

***NEW MSC WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN - SUMMER 2023***

MSC never runs out with news.

MSC Magnifica will be the seventh ship in the fleet to propose cruises from the Western Mediterranean for summer 2023, with an all-new itinerary!

Starting from Genoa, Livorno and Civitavecchia, MSC Magnifica will go towards Valencia (with a long stop until 21), Tarragona and Tolone.

These cruises, already on sale on the MSC Cruises website, will be offered for the entire 2023 summer season, through October.

[sidari]

9 hours ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

For Magnifica? Out of Miami?

That's the rumour so far.

[sealynx]

26 minutes ago, sidari said:

***NEW MSC WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN - SUMMER 2023***

MSC never runs out with news.

MSC Magnifica will be the seventh ship in the fleet to propose cruises from the Western Mediterranean for summer 2023, with an all-new itinerary!

Starting from Genoa, Livorno and Civitavecchia, MSC Magnifica will go towards Valencia (with a long stop until 21), Tarragona and Tolone.

These cruises, already on sale on the MSC Cruises website, will be offered for the entire 2023 summer season, through October.

I can only find them oktober '23 and onwards, and other cruises up to may '23, though nothing in between. Not to keen on the itinerary either, but could be worse. Many second best cities if you ask me. Also Tarragona on a sunday, with everything closed, is not much fun. I've once had the same experience in Toulon, which at least had a little local market, but not much else. It's a good thing though they do 12-hour stops in Civitavecchia. Gives you time to visit Rome (including the 1 hour+ bus trip).

[Nunagoras]

3 hours ago, sidari said:

***NEW MSC WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN - SUMMER 2023***

MSC never runs out with news.

MSC Magnifica will be the seventh ship in the fleet to propose cruises from the Western Mediterranean for summer 2023, with an all-new itinerary!

Starting from Genoa, Livorno and Civitavecchia, MSC Magnifica will go towards Valencia (with a long stop until 21), Tarragona and Tolone.

These cruises, already on sale on the MSC Cruises website, will be offered for the entire 2023 summer season, through October.

Many thanks! Very odd itinerary to be sure! They'll change it as far as they can on the next months I suppose...

[CruisinMaterial]

On 11/9/2022 at 11:09 AM, sidari said:

Latest rumour is that Bellissima will be the replacement.

Sid - Where did this come from? Any updates on it?

[sidari]

1 hour ago, CruisinMaterial said:

Sid - Where did this come from? Any updates on it?

Not heard anything else yet.

[UPNYGuy]

On 11/11/2022 at 6:29 AM, sidari said:

That's the rumour so far.

 

so they are going to use a Meraviglia class ship for 3 and 4 day sailings (assumption here)? If so, they are trying to have the newest and largest ship in the short market, and go straight after Royal.

Edited November 16, 2022 by UPNYGuy

[sidari]

58 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

so they are going to use a Meraviglia class ship for 3 and 4 day sailings (assumption here)? If so, they are trying to have the newest and largest ship in the short market, and go straight after Royal.

That may well be the plan.

[Nunagoras]

23 minutes ago, sidari said:

That may well be the plan.

...And that would be a huge mistake. MSC is unable to fill their current 3 or 4 ships they have there, let alone adding a new one. Deploying the Magnifica to the short market was a mistake by itself, now, sending one of their most valuable assets to the short market is just a waste of time and money. Oh, well... At least they must know what they're doing...

[quattrohead]

But their 3/4 day cruises seem to be busy so maybe they are onto something.

[Nunagoras]

36 minutes ago, quattrohead said:

But their 3/4 day cruises seem to be busy so maybe they are onto something.

Maybe: if they can fill those 3-4 days cruises at a more profitable way, so be it. I believe MSC needs to concentrate themselves on where they can fill their ships at a premium: Continental Europe, from where CCL is reducing Costa and Aida's presence; the UK where ships are 150% full (well, I'm actually exaggerating a little!); Brazil where the ships are also fully booked, even if with specialty cruises with popular singers and the likes onboard and elsewhere they could really to do business. By reading CC reviews it seems clear that MSC in the US is running on the 2000-3000 guests per week on the larger ships, what means some 50-75% capacity. Not bad, but not profitable enough. Their land services and part of the cruise experience seems to not suffix for the US market, even though, I find MSC to be a superior product to the likes of RCI here in Europe. This is my humble opinion. And I'd suggest them that, if bringing the WA is really what they want to serve the US market, so they should to make a partnership with an US hotel chain interested on providing place for the cruise industry with no ship ownership... Better that than the current challenges they're really facing.

[sidari]

2 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Maybe: if they can fill those 3-4 days cruises at a more profitable way, so be it. I believe MSC needs to concentrate themselves on where they can fill their ships at a premium: Continental Europe, from where CCL is reducing Costa and Aida's presence; the UK where ships are 150% full (well, I'm actually exaggerating a little!); Brazil where the ships are also fully booked, even if with specialty cruises with popular singers and the likes onboard and elsewhere they could really to do business. By reading CC reviews it seems clear that MSC in the US is running on the 2000-3000 guests per week on the larger ships, what means some 50-75% capacity. Not bad, but not profitable enough. Their land services and part of the cruise experience seems to not suffix for the US market, even though, I find MSC to be a superior product to the likes of RCI here in Europe. This is my humble opinion. And I'd suggest them that, if bringing the WA is really what they want to serve the US market, so they should to make a partnership with an US hotel chain interested on providing place for the cruise industry with no ship ownership... Better that than the current challenges they're really facing.

MSC has seven ships in the Med in 2023 not counting those in Northern Europe, I would say the demand is not there due to Europa and why they have Magnifica as the seventh ship 

[Nunagoras]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

MSC has seven ships in the Med in 2023 not counting those in Northern Europe, I would say the demand is not there due to Europa and why they have Magnifica as the seventh ship 

Yeah! That's it. Cruise demand for MSC relies mostly on Europe for summer and South America when it is winter here. This is how their market strategy should to grow with. I believe that by summer, even a Lisbon to Lisbon weeklong cruise with Funchal and Vigo as cruise ports should to work perfectly on a Musica/Fantasia ship class if they so wanted and the Portuguese authorities would support; that would to be an 8th ship here!... They've alternatives. For the US they need to create a different trademark in partnership with a local hospitality provider if they want to succeed. No 2nd or 3rd choice in the current cruise environment. Rumors are on them to purchase that formerly Genting Capital behemoth that is 80% built in Germany. It would to be the best fit for MSC to try such a venture like that on the US with a local partner... But, I'm not Mr. Vago...

[Nunagoras]

4 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Yeah! That's it. Cruise demand for MSC relies mostly on Europe for summer and South America when it is winter here. This is how their market strategy should to grow with. I believe that by summer, even a Lisbon to Lisbon weeklong cruise with Funchal and Vigo as cruise ports should to work perfectly on a Musica/Fantasia ship class if they so wanted and the Portuguese authorities would support; that would to be an 8th ship here!... They've alternatives. For the US they need to create a different trademark in partnership with a local hospitality provider if they want to succeed. No 2nd or 3rd choice in the current cruise environment. Rumors are on them to purchase that formerly Genting Capital behemoth that is 80% built in Germany. It would to be the best fit for MSC to try such a venture like that on the US with a local partner... But, I'm not Mr. Vago...

...Surprising breaking news... The formerly Global Dream from defunct Genting Capital was actually purchased by... Oh, well!... Disney Cruise Lines!... What the heck does a Premium line have in mind to just purchase un unfinished baseline mass market behemoth of that caliber is out of me. But MSC has lost a chance to "quickly" grow on some markets with the right partnerships... From Cruise Industry News:

 

Disney Cruise Line Acquires Unfinished 6,000-Guest Global Dream Cruise Ship - Cruise Industry News

Edited November 16, 2022 by Nunagoras

[sidari]

Nuna ... Looks like Disney have bought the Mega ship that is 80% complete, the ship will be Disneyfied by Meyer-Werft who have built previous Disney ships.

[Nunagoras]

5 minutes ago, sidari said:

Nuna ... Looks like Disney have bought the Mega ship that is 80% complete, the ship will be Disneyfied by Meyer-Werft who have built previous Disney ships.

The Germans are wonderful on doing so, no doubts. But DCL is Premium line, not those 6000 aboard mass market line thing. They'll either to reduce capacity or to bring her as she is for the short 3-4 nights getaway cruises elsewhere with a DCL twist to itself. Time will tell!... The MSC rumors were false and that was my idea on bringing the news here.

[8420PR]

It looks like MSC Magnifica is now scheduled to come to US in November 2023 - the first bookable cruise from Miami is 20th November 2023.  

 

MSC Bellissima is still only scheduled through to the end of March 2023.  Personally I think it will stay in Europe - just based on the prices MSC charge I think there is more revenue to be made during European summer (compared to the Caribbean).

 

[njsonja]

On 11/9/2022 at 10:39 AM, Langoustine said:

Yes, I was booked on the Magnifica from Barcelona to Miami. leaving Barcelona May 3rd. That has now been cancelled, with MSC promising a full refund.

 

On 11/9/2022 at 10:39 AM, Langoustine said:

and I had a b2b with a celebrity going to barcelona and sleeping over one night...it would have been perfect for my friend who can't stay in an airplane anymore for that length of time due to  his back issues...so...

 

[Stockjock]

One of my gripes isn't just changing the ships, but the lack of information and lack of making things right when they do so.

Last year, I had several ships changed, and ultimately cancelled, but MSC didn't inform me for months.  I hate to use such harsh words, but I'm not sure if they were lying or merely incompetent.  But they were telling me that the ships booked would sail, or I'd be moved to another ship for no cost, when it's clear that they knew, or should have known, that what they told me was not going to happen.

For 2023, I had a cruise booked on Euribia and they moved it to Fantasia.  Promised us $50 per person OBC (woopie!) to go from a sparkling new state-of-the-art ship, to a ship built in 2008.  Then, after they knew that Euribia wasn't going to be sailing out of Barcelona, they continued to take reservations on that sailing for weeks.

They moved me to a GUAR cabin and later moved me to what I consider to be an obstructed cabin at the front of the ship with the encased steel balcony (on Euribia it was mid-ship, unobstructed).  I asked if they could move my cabin to a better location without the steel balcony and they did not reply.  I asked a 2nd time and they did not reply.  I asked twice for my OBC and on the 2nd request it was added.

I told them there was a sailing on another new ship (World Europa) out of Barcelona one day prior and asked if they could do a price match to my Euribia sailing, they said no.  I asked if they could at least move my whopping $50 pp OBC to World Europa and they said no.

When they inconvenience a customer, I don't think any of us expect the moon and the stars, but I do think they should do more to make things right and keep the customer happy and informed.  And in my case, I think they should have price matched World Europa to my Euribia booking, as the ships are similar (i.e. new), cabin booked similar, itinerary similar, number of days the same, departure and arrival ports the same, and only one day difference in terms of the sail date.  But nope, they just couldn't do a thing for me.  Take it or leave it, basically.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Stockjock