MSC Port Experiences please!

[earthfaries]

I was wondering if anyone could share their experience on getting on and off in ports of call.

If the itenerary says we'll be in Saint Lucia from 9-5, does that mean you can get off at 9am and you have until 5 to board?

I thought I read somewhere that you have to be back on one hour before sailing away time.

I was wondering because we would love to do the Eli's Eco Tour in Saint Lucia, but they meet at 9:45 and drop back off at 4:10. To me that seems like it's cutting too close.

Any experiences with boarding on and off at ports would be appreciated! Thanks:)

[Wilba]

Port Times in itinerary are always arrival & departure. Having said that most Ships arrive 'early' & mostly disembark on or close to on time. The departure time however is the 'Ships' departure time & All Aboard time is usually 30 minutes before the published time.

[earthfaries]

Port Times in itinerary are always arrival & departure. Having said that most Ships arrive 'early' & mostly disembark on or close to on time. The departure time however is the 'Ships' departure time & All Aboard time is usually 30 minutes before the published time.

 

That's what I was wondering about. So we may have to board at 4:30. I thought I read somewhere that you had to board an hour early on MSC.

Thanks for the info:)

[cruisingtheword]

I was wondering if anyone could share their experience on getting on and off in ports of call.

 

If the itenerary says we'll be in Saint Lucia from 9-5, does that mean you can get off at 9am and you have until 5 to board?

 

I thought I read somewhere that you have to be back on one hour before sailing away time.

 

I was wondering because we would love to do the Eli's Eco Tour in Saint Lucia, but they meet at 9:45 and drop back off at 4:10. To me that seems like it's cutting too close.

 

Any experiences with boarding on and off at ports would be appreciated! Thanks:)

 

MSC's policy is passengers have to return to the ship by 30 minutes prior to sailing. However, we found that the times posted on the itinerary did not always match the times posted in the daily bulletins. Ex: on our pre-trip itinerary it stated we would be in Tortola until noon; however, in the ship's program and in reality, we were in Tortola until 3:00 p.m. and didn't have to board until 2:30. However, the important time is the deadline for boarding. Often the daily program would state, all passengers back on board by 4:30, ship sails at 5:00. If everyone was on board by 4:30, the ship would sail before 5:00.

 

Susan

[earthfaries]

Thanks Susan.

That is good to know. Our Itenerary says 8-5 and now I can assume we need to board by 4:30, the excursion brings us back at 4:10. I know it's cutting it close, but they have delt with thousands of cruise passengers and I'm sure they will get us back in time.

I'm going to go for it, it sounds like such a great excursion:D

Thanks so much to the above posters for the info:)

[vpoopsy]

Be aware that if you do not book your excursions through the cruiseline, you could miss the ship if the tour doesn't get you back in time!

[sea-explorer]

Be aware that if you do not book your excursions through the cruiseline, you could miss the ship if the tour doesn't get you back in time!

 

Lol Poopsy, you would have thought so, but just ask moveup about the lady left behind in Pompeii on what I believe was a ship's excursion.:eek:

[ksmaxey]

Another point that I don't see mentioned. A lot depends upon wether you dock or tender.

 

Our experience with MSC tendering was quite bad. THey took all of their excursions first and it was 3 hours before any regular passengers could tender.

 

They also changed their clocks so they matched the port time.

[moveup]

Yes, as described in my review http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=39512 (skim down to the Naples/Pompei paragraph), even though the ship will wait for the ship's excursion's tour buses, those tour buses won't necessarily wait for a passenger who strays from the group. If you book your own excursion, be sure to take the ship's daily program with you, because it gives the phone number of the MSC agent in that port. (Each person in your group should have that phone number in case you get separated.) If you get separated from your tour, or your non-MSC excursion runs late, call the MSC agent so at least they know how close you are to getting back to the ship. (They might delay the ship's sailing if it's just a few minutes; not if they have no idea where you are.) If you miss the ship, the MSC agent will help you reconnect at the next port of call but as far as I know, that's at your own expense.

[vpoopsy]

What a horrible feeling that would be to see your ship "sailing away!!". That almost happened to us on our last cruise because we missed our flight in houston. We've decided it's best to go the night before and be safe.