Well, this is disconcerting…

[freewilly]

7 hours ago, IsanTom said:

I've been reading the reviews from April, mostly 4 night cruisers, and they are really bad. April cruises were during Spring Break when the ships were packed with lots of children. I'm sure the cruises were at capacity and more. The CDC inspection was also during or after Spring Break which is why the ship wasn't prepared for this being over worked and short of people needed to take care of this over capacity of cruisers. I personally would never take a Spring Break cruise because of this. I have only taken about 6 MSC cruises, but I have not experienced the overcrowding that happened last month, so I feel bad for the first time cruisers who experienced long waits for everything and running out of food. Incredible! I'm looking forward to our Seaside cruise on May 14th and I believe I will enjoy a nice experience, as I have before on MSC Ships. I will write a review after I return. Happy cruising to all!

We will be on this sailing.. Now we are empty nesters no Spring break cruises for us.  Any MSC newbie advice?

Edited May 6, 2023 by freewilly

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

19 minutes ago, freewilly said:

We will be on this sailing.. Now we are empty nesters no Spring break cruises for us.  Any MSC newbie advice?

 

My best advice, if you're not ordering a drink in the YC, is to order another one waaaaay before you normally would. You have to wonder if this isn't part of the MSC master plan - give most people some type of drink package, then make sure guests can't maximize the drink package. Having said that, I'll rarely drink more than a few/several drinks in a day. I've probably never hit double digits.

 

Second MSC newbie advice (funny, again alcohol related 😉 ) don't expect that they'll have their full selection of drinks available... or food in the sports bar (as they advertise).

 

Tom

[IsanTom]

17 minutes ago, freewilly said:

We will be on this sailing.. Now we are empty nesters no Spring break cruises for us.  Any MSC newbie advice?

Go with a positive attitude and you'll have a great time! I'll see you at the bars!

 

[BoundForSea]

I’ve said all along, especially since my last sailing out of PC, that the front line supervisors and managers on these US ships are awful. Systemic problems like this come from lack of leadership and a culture that is lazy and has no accountability or controls from above.  I also believe there is a massive staff shortage, I witnessed it first hand in Feb/Mar out of POC. 
 

if you have employees cutting corners and not doing the job properly then it’s either training or accountability or both. I believe it’s both. 
 

I can’t put my finger on it but my experience is that the 3/4 night cruises out of POC are always the worst. I think it’s a combination of a few things but I think the crew shortage combined with quick turn arounds is a recipe for failure. 
 

Well, yet again MSC despite their efforts to improve has proved to be their own worst enemy       

[vakmom]

I was on the Seaside for the April 19th 4 day cruise. It was bad, really bad the first day. I'd brought a group on this cruise (we had a total of 5 cabins) and I was so worried at what I'd gotten us into. Over 3 hours in line to board, dinner running an hour late (we had to stand outside the door then when they let us in the previous diners were still at the table eating), no room service offered, bars severely understaffed, so many of the staff seemed new and confused. But as the cruise went on things seemed to improve. Everyone ended up having a great time in spite of the rocky start to the cruise. But we were a pretty easy going group. There were some very unhappy passengers onboard. It just didn't seem the staff had their shiza together at the beginning of the cruise. I felt bad for them though, they were doing their best, they were just under staffed. 

[morpheusofthesea]

Just a note. On all our cruises since restart, we found that the problems experienced outside the Yacht Club were not experienced inside the YC. Always adequate staff and great service. While waiting for the YC trolley at Ocean Cay we made small talk with a veteran butler often seen in the Top Sail Lounge and we commented on some of these complaints others outside the YC were having. He admitted there were untrained newbies, but not to ever worry, the best of the best were always on hand to take care of YC guests all the time. 

  On one cruise we witnessed an officer walking around the promenade taking pictures of the ship's structure and brought to his attention the broken lock on deck 19 entrance to the YC, allowing interlopers to sneak into the YC. He was very cordial and concerned. He took our name and cabin number and we did the same. We got a call from this officer saying that this lock has been broken since the ship left Civitavecchia, but he did have it locked, though YC guests could leave but not reenter until the wall key pad outside the entrance was replace. This was on the new Seascape with the lock and the Seashore with the TS butler.

PS Now if they only get the elevator over ride to work for YC guests.... heaven.

Edited May 6, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[kelleherdl]

What happened to the format beginning on page 3.  It’s expanded double wide.  Very annoying.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

12 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

What happened to the format beginning on page 3.  It’s expanded double wide.  Very annoying.

 

It's going to take an admin to come in and fix this. I've seen it a few times  before. My best guess is that it's the odd signature in the first post on this page.

 

Tom

[Elkins45]

On 5/5/2023 at 1:37 PM, mmbcater said:

This will be corrected ASAP as angry execs will enforce actions! I guarantee there will be a new PHS officer on that ship! 

I’m not sure the MSC executives back in the home office really understand the US cruise market just yet.

[mmbcater]

9 minutes ago, Elkins45 said:

I’m not sure the MSC executives back in the home office really understand the US cruise market just yet.

Ohhh they do... They are making huge commitments here, I see a lot of behind the scenes as a TA and knowing a few upper level management. 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Elkins45 said:

I’m not sure the MSC executives back in the home office really understand the US cruise market just yet.

The USPH VSP is not all that different from the EU's ShipSan program, though enforcement is unified in the US, whereas the EU requires each member state to enforce it within their borders, and no central record keeping.  This is just a culture of disregard for public health on MSC's part.

[freewilly]

😀

Edited May 7, 2023 by freewilly

[freewilly]

5 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

My best advice, if you're not ordering a drink in the YC, is to order another one waaaaay before you normally would. You have to wonder if this isn't part of the MSC master plan - give most people some type of drink package, then make sure guests can't maximize the drink package. Having said that, I'll rarely drink more than a few/several drinks in a day. I've probably never hit double digits.

 

Second MSC newbie advice (funny, again alcohol related 😉 ) don't expect that they'll have their full selection of drinks available... or food in the sports bar (as they advertise).

 

Tom

We sailed Feb of 2022…CCL.. the Alchemy was out of all Bourbon the entire cruise. We would pop down to the steak house get  glasses of Blantons and head back to the Alchemy for the alchemist to make us some drinks and participate in the Alchemy shenanigans. 

[IsanTom]

14 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

It's going to take an admin to come in and fix this. I've seen it a few times  before. My best guess is that it's the odd signature in the first post on this page.

 

Tom

I Agree!

[Beaver1975]

The "CDC" report is fake news.  WWW4.CDC.GOV does not exist.

[Cruiser933]

58 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

The "CDC" report is fake news.  WWW4.CDC.GOV does not exist.

Not fake news, but maybe a bad link somewhere. Inspection reports are available here:

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionSearch.aspx

[KennyFla]

On 5/5/2023 at 12:34 PM, DCGuy64 said:

The report is very interesting to read. Some of the issues are bad (melons and chicken being stored at unacceptably high temperatures - both immediately corrected, FYI), while others are kind of silly. (lack of a depth indicator for the pool? Come on!)

 

Those are the only main issues.  Storage temps are restaurant101, and must be followed to prevent people getting sick.

 

A lot of the rest, looks like somebody got on the bad side of the inspector.  Or a new inspector trying to show up.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, KennyFla said:

Those are the only main issues.  Storage temps are restaurant101, and must be followed to prevent people getting sick.

 

A lot of the rest, looks like somebody got on the bad side of the inspector.  Or a new inspector trying to show up.

Yes, that's my feeling, too. Also, for some reason, the same issue seems to get several mentions with separate bullet points. It's the equivalent of saying to a student "you had 10 mistakes on your term paper," when it was just the same word consistently misspelled 10 times. 😆

[kayjaypea42]

My cousin cruised this ship in 2018.  Even then, they reported food being barely edible and cases of food poisoning on board.  When I went on the Divina in '17, I remember being appalled that the room was so dirty.   Yeah, I was almost tempted to try MSC again to see if they changed for the better.  Not happening now.

[KennyFla]

1 minute ago, kayjaypea42 said:

My cousin cruised this ship in 2018.  Even then, they reported food being barely edible and cases of food poisoning on board.  When I went on the Divina in '17, I remember being appalled that the room was so dirty.   Yeah, I was almost tempted to try MSC again to see if they changed for the better.  Not happening now.

There's no mention of the hot buffet items not being held at temp, or the cold kept cold.  You know they were checked.  These are the main culprits.   

[tallyho8]

Just out today:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/large-cruise-ship-gets-shut-down-due-to-digusting-and-dirty-conditions/ar-AA1b0IAe?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=2984ed20534b4d4f858a90db2bc1c44e&ei=61

[Paphillyguy]

58 minutes ago, tallyho8 said:

Just out today:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/large-cruise-ship-gets-shut-down-due-to-digusting-and-dirty-conditions/ar-AA1b0IAe?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=2984ed20534b4d4f858a90db2bc1c44e&ei=61

This article is just plain wrong.  The ship was NOT shut down.  IT is poor journalism and ridiculous that MSN would allow this completely false statement be published.  Also, the person they list as a source is a lawyer that specializes in suing cruise ships. He makes money off issues with cruise ships.  

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

35 minutes ago, Paphillyguy said:

This article is just plain wrong.  The ship was NOT shut down.  IT is poor journalism and ridiculous that MSN would allow this completely false statement be published.  Also, the person they list as a source is a lawyer that specializes in suing cruise ships. He makes money off issues with cruise ships.  

 

Thinking of the song "Dirty Laundry", with a lawyerly twist.

 

Tom

[Homosassa]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:59 AM, DCGuy64 said:

Yes, that's my feeling, too. Also, for some reason, the same issue seems to get several mentions with separate bullet points. It's the equivalent of saying to a student "you had 10 mistakes on your term paper," when it was just the same word consistently misspelled 10 times. 😆

Technically, the listing of the same issue under different bullet points is correct as the issue may correctly fall under each section.

 

However, you are correct when you say it is the same item.

 

That is why the reviewing compliance officer will look at the actual number of problems (will be counted as one issue, not ten).  However, for example, the compliance review will show that there is a problem with inadequate cleaning of food contact surfaces and note the location where the problem occurred.

[Morgsmom]

2 hours ago, Paphillyguy said:

This article is just plain wrong.  The ship was NOT shut down.  IT is poor journalism and ridiculous that MSN would allow this completely false statement be published.  Also, the person they list as a source is a lawyer that specializes in suing cruise ships. He makes money off issues with cruise ships.  

 So true.... That so-called lawyer is an ambulance chasing - er... ship chasing... Hack.  I've read the report and all of these items are common on every single cruise ship.  Too little staff, maybe some training issues, but nothing to grab your pearls about.  The romaine was at 47?  Oh, my.  Do you know how nearly impossible it is to keep lettuce below 42?  I'm happy it's bug free and clean, thank you.  Piled up dishes?  Well maybe if the guests didn't take so much food and waste so much there wouldn't be an issue.  At the end of the day any inspector can walk into any restaurant --- ANY RESTAURANT -- and give them a 100 or a 67.  There's always something to be found. A good inspector will point out issues and ask for immediate correction (when possible), a pissy one will get a pair of tweezers and look for ... well, anything.  Food is (for now at least) produced by humans. 

Ok, off my soapbox. My point is that the inspector seemed to be overstepping and the cruise lawyer is a whack-a-doodle (all respect given for fear he files a slander suit or something equally frivolous)

Edited May 10, 2023 by Morgsmom
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