Beardface

The most dangerous thing about cruising isn't the confined space of the ships, but the behavior of the passengers.  No matter what policies are put in place, and no matter what standards they announce, these new procedures are only as effective as the people following them.

People are ignorant, careless, and think they are invincible.  You put a policy in place, there are going to be a significant portion of the population that just simply ignores it.  The majority?  No, and probably not even close to the majority, but as we are seeing with COVID-19, it doesn't take a majority for it to become a MAJOR problem, especially when you are talking about diseases.  Unfortunately, a lot of these same people end up on cruises where they don't wash their hands, they don't use hand sanitizer they don't cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze, etc.  Heck, even in a time where there is legitimately a global emergency over a deadly pandemic, there are daily reports over huge crowds gathering on beaches, parks, parties, etc.

The thing is, unless your goal is to isolate yourself from society for the rest of your life, you will always have to deal with these people.  Be it in the office, in public spaces, on vacation, in public transportation, its inevitable.  So if your goal is to try and only stick to those kinds of events, trips, and vacations where a concern over cleanliness is a major priority, there aren't many options available.  Not because of the cruise lines, resorts, parks, airlines, etc, but because of the other people who also use them.

13 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Once you get the hang of it and know which elevators work better with it than others, it's really no big deal. I wouldn't mind if there was an Express elevator that went up to YC decks automatically 24/7.

No disagreement, but I would prefer them to be additional YC exclusive elevators that don't take away from the capacity that the general public already has.

9 minutes ago, Muushka said:

 

Wait....I thought they didn't allow smoking on balconies.  If they do allow it, is it only on starboard?  I will be switching if yes.  We were on a RCI cruise before the no smoking on balcony was allowed rule and our next door neighbor rendered our balcony useless.  And there was nothing we could do about it, she wasn't breaking any rules.

Thanks!

They don't allow it, and I never noticed it.

But that doesn't mean it won't happen.  I've seen it happen on ships with far more stringent rules than MSC.

6 minutes ago, Muushka said:

Thank you Beardface, for your fair and balanced reporting.

 

I have a few questions. 

 

About that smoke.  We will be starboard on the 15th deck (YC1).  Can I assume the smoke won't make it all the way up there?

 

One of the reasons we love suites is because of the special treatment.  In real life we do not get any special treatment, we are pretty frugal.  But on a cruise, once a year, we love it.  We typically cruise with Celebrity where they have Luminae for the suite restaurant.  The attention they give is amazing and they always remember your name.  We wonder about MSC, dining room, do they have awesome staff that gives excellent service?  Or butlers who often open your door with a smile?

We look forward to the Yacht Club experience (providing that this "C" mess will be over by October).

We were a starboard YC1 on the Seaside on Deck 16 and the smoke never made it to us.  It really dissipates quickly, unless your neighbor is smoking on theirs.

Its just really noticeable at the South Beach Pool.  The air kind of swirls in that space given the design of the ship, so the smoke lingers a bit more than other places.  The rest of the ship is so open and airy that you really don't notice it too much.

And the YC in general is really just a different experience.  They really do make you feel like you're being taken care of on the ship.  The only thing I could do without is the priority elevator access.  We never used it.  First, because we never really felt like we needed to, and second, because the times where we did, there was enough of a crowd who also needed elevators that we didn't want to be a-holes by using it.  Everything else, on the other hand, feels like how cruising used to be before the lines started nickel and diming passengers to death in order to squeeze every penny out of them.

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

So true. Thank you,  Beardface that you made it perfectly clear you were in the Yacht Club. The reviews from for the ships with the Yacht Club should be clearly labeled. Inside cabins are still a great value, but the public area experience is where things can fall apart.

I will say, though... I didn't have much of a problem with the public spaces of this ship.  If anything, the Seaside is a beautiful ship, with so much chrome and so many mirrors that its impressive.  And more impressive, these mirrors and that chrome were always spotless, so you could tell that the cleaning staff was all over keeping the ship in good order during the full week.  And the public space events were genuinely fun.

It felt like a very similar cruise to that of Royal in that regard.  Now, I didn't experience the MDR or any specialty dining, so I cannot compare experiences there, but from what I have seen from some vlogs, the MDR has a similar issue than I noticed on the pool deck.  That is, this ship has a tendency to try and cram too many people into small spaces.  Tables in the MDR look to be spaced only inches apart, and up on the pool deck there were times that, as I said before, passengers would cram in loungers so tightly it was difficult to walk through them.  Getting from the main pool area to the Bridge of Sighs on Sea Days was a damn near impossible task with how tightly they were packed in, which is kind of crazy given how much deck space there is on this ship.  And when you factor the ship sailed with only 3,500 passengers, I do wonder how bad it would have been with a full ship.

Another thing that was a little eye opening to me was how much smoking they allowed on deck.  On every other ship I've been on, there would be a small smoker's area on one side of the ship.  With the Seaside, it was literally the starboard side of the ship.  The entire South Beach pool deck at the backside of the ship eventually became a huge smoker's lounge.  I'm not necessarily complaining about this, its just that it was noticeable how different they treat smokers on this ship than your typical American lines.

Oh hey, did you hear, there's a virus going on around the planet that is bringing the world economy to a crawl.  I know, I know, this topic has become so buries on all the forums that its pretty tough to read about it right now.  Just thought I'd make sure you were aware.

😉

Anyway, with great inconvenience comes great opportunity.  This virus will go away.  The travel industry will open back up.  Cruising will resume.  And for those of you willing to jump now there are some really good deals out there for the 2020 Fall/Winter and 2021 Winter/Spring seasons.  After taxes/fees I've seen MSC cruises for as low as $500 per person for a week in Fantastica.  I've seen Disney cruises where you can get a family of 3 on a 5 day cruise for less than $2k total.  I've seen 5 day Carnival cruises for less than $300 a person.

So, my friends.  How are you looking to help this industry rebound once this is all behind us?  Anyone else planning to jump on some "too good to pass up" deals?  And hey, the good news here is, if everything collapses and you still can't make a December 2020 or March 2021 sailing, we're all either dead or missing that trip will be the bottom of our priorities list, so who cares, right?

55 minutes ago, sidari said:

As I have already stated! They are not ship crew as one poster seems to think.

A lot of them were ship crew as of a couple months ago.  I met a couple last week who were on the Seaside before getting reassigned just before the island opened.

They aren't ship crew anymore, but part of the grand plan is to rotate them onto and off of ships periodically, just like they do with shifting crew between ships.  Keeps things from getting stale.

6 minutes ago, FLHugh said:

And who knows what the price of that Future cruise will be?

Judging by the current prices out there?

Cheap.  Really Cheap

Disney Cruises just parked their fleet through the end of the month

Probably

Beyond public opinion after the other lines likely cancel, they also have to consider the operational loss over sailing with basically empty ships, they probably stand to lose less money by mothballing the fleet with a skeleton staff until the hysteria dies down than sailing and paying a full crew complement on a <50% full ship.

2 minutes ago, mickey89 said:

 

..........except it will take MSC another week to decide to follow suit.

While they sail with what passengers?

No travel between the US and Europe effective tomorrow.  Italian ports are completely closed to travel.  Other European countries are quickly closing their borders.  Middle East countries are actively denying entry.

Even if announcements aren't made official, its not like these sailings are realistically going to happen anyway.  Between the restrictions on who can sail, where a given person can travel to, and what ports are closed, their entire market has pretty much been shut down over the past 48 hours.  Even if they don't make an announcement, at best their ships are going to be sailing at 25% capacity, losing money hand over fist for operating purposes only.  The better financial decision at this point is to close it up until this hysteria withers away.  Put a skeleton crew on each ship for operating purposes only, and send everyone else home.

3 hours ago, mickey89 said:

I believe that it is only a matter of weeks before all cruising is cancelled worldwide.  We in the Uk are just 13 days behind Italy according to the contagion graphs and it is sensible that people aged 70+ limit their exposure and definitely avoid cruising at the moment, be safe not sorry.

Weeks?

I'd go so far as to say we'll see one of the big ones (Carnival, Royal, Norwegian) cancel all sailings for the next 60 days by the end of the day today.  And by the end of the week, the rest will have followed.

10 hours ago, MasterNotCommander said:

This is going to be a tough time for MSC, they are going through a massive new build and fleet expansion and with the Miraviglia and Seaside class of ship build programs ongoing I suspect cash flow will become a big issue. Honestly, it will be interesting to see whether MSC will weather this storm, I suspect some other cruise lines may be having similar concerns. 
 We will see cruise ships in lay up with skeleton crews and older ships sent for scrap very soon. 
 Whilst I’m disappointed that I’ve lost my cruises and uncertain whether I will see my money back, I feel more sorry for the crews of these ships who are probably wondering whether they will still have jobs next month. 

They're probably in a better spot to weather this than some of the others just because they are a private company.  They don't have shareholders to appease and they haven't seen their value gutted over the past few weeks due to the Coronavirus overreaction in the markets.  RCCL has already announced they are laying off their entire contractor staff and it's expected that Carnival and NCL aren't too far behind.  Being private, MSC is positioned to insulate itself to come out better on the other side whereas those others are likely going to have to see major shifts to appease investors who are going to be out for blood.

Would not be surprised if MSC comes out of this and quickly establishes itself as a legitimate top line in the industry.

All things considered, given where things have gone globally over the past 24 hours, it seems pretty misguided to be this upset over an auto-generated email that uses a built-in algorithm to set upgrade offers.  First of all, the fact it's so cheap now is that the class you want to upgrade to is probably empty based on cancellations.  Secondly, with the US restrictions on European travel combined with the lockdown in Italy, it's highly unlikely that MSC continues sailings after this week, and will likely park it's fleet.  We were operating in a whole different world 14 days ago, and literally everything has changed.

So yeah, to be so upset that you're lashing out at the line at this time seems highly misguided right now

If it was an easy drive to the port and it was a round trip?  Absolutely.

I've done the long weekend in Vegas before, which is a 5 hour flight for me.  I'd gladly do the same for a cruise.  But if I could drive there instead of paying for a flight and hotel?  That's a no-brainer.

When it comes to your drink plan, and any 'experience' you have (YC, etc) the island is considered an extension of the ship.  If you have it on the ship, you have it on the island.

1 hour ago, Tara619 said:

I’m planning on calling today to postpone my 3/21 cruise but I was waiting until later today so that hopefully the CS reps have a better idea of what they’re doing.


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You have 11 days to cancel.  I'd give it until at least later this week to call.  I imagine their lines are going to be swamped the next couple days.  By Friday and certainly next Monday things should start to clear up a bit.

19 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

The virus is anything but unprecedented. In fact, every year in the USA there is a much more deadly virus - the flu. It's already killed 20,000+ people this year in the USA alone. CV has killed less than 100 in the USA.

 

China did not "wallow" secretly for "months". The first case there (depending on which source you take) was either the beginning or the end of December. Taking the earliest date of December, it was only a month until January 7th when the WHO identified the new virus.

 

Lastly, you have encountered something like this before...you do every year...the flu.

 

None of this is to say you should ignore CV. You should absolutely practice good hygiene, washing hands frequently and correctly, not touching face, etc.

 

The only thing we haven't encountered before is the blind panic - for no reason - that the virus has produced. 

The blind panic happened because its an election year and the US media pounced on it to drive an election year narrative.  Notice how quickly they pounced on the administration for cuts to the CDC over the last few years (which may or may not have actually happened, depending on what source you listen to).  The WHO saw an opportunity to make a name for themselves by playing into that hysteria, and caused the rest of the world to absolutely melt down over it all.  Now we are at the point where an major European country will quarantine it entire population because 0.015% of its citizens have tested positive.

And this paranoia is now getting to the point where I'm reading articles and listening to news stories that are trying to tell people that even if they show no symptoms at all, that they should still be concerned they could be a carrier of the disease and should still seclude themselves from society, even if they've already tested negative for it.  Logic and reason have long since gone out the window here.

Honestly, having just got off the Seaside, I'm looking at some of the deals that are being announced right now to get people back onto a ship, and some of them are incredibly tempting for later this year

9 hours ago, nednrom said:

We sailed in the Meraviglia YC as first time MSC cruisers in December and feel the same way. We were so blown away that we booked the Seaside YC later this year.  My husband and I both agree that the suite value of MSC compared to Royal and NCL is not even comparable.  We will still cruise with Royal and NCL but MSC YC will also be a consideration when researching for cruises.

 

Value per dollar spent in the YC is probably the best in the cruise industry.  Its truly remarkable what they are able to provide for the price they are able to charge.  If they are able to keep this going long term, its a complete game changing disruption of the cruise industry. NCL especially needs to be careful here, because when you compare the Haven to the Yacht Club, the experiences are similar while MSC undercuts them in price by nearly half.  As soon as that segment becomes more comfortable going with a foreign line, their bottom line is going to take a significant hit unless they adjust.

42 minutes ago, Vinegarjoe10 said:

beardface, 

 

Nice review. And it was nice to meet you and the Mrs. We were on the Cozumel excursion together and at Ocean Cay when the shark swam by. Joe and Erin. 

 

There is a quick way to the buffet on deck 16. Walk through the Butcher's Cut restaurant and cut through the crew only door, it empties out into the back of the main buffet. Our butler showed us this, and I guess it is allowed because no one ever said anything to us. 

 

We are looking at the Seaside eastern itinerary next winter or the Meraviglia, but definitely going to sail YC again, 100% concur with your overall assessment. 

 

Regards, 

 

Vinegarjoe 

Oh no, my identity has been compromised, abort mission!  Haha.  Great to meet you two as well.  Glad to hear you had a good trip as well, hope you had a safe travel home.

Yeah we were shown the cut through as well, but there was no way we were going to use that during meal times.  Just didn't seem right to literally have to cut through a paid dining experience like that, and if that really is their path, they desperately need a better solution.

Oh and yeah, you bring up a good point.  There are sharks at Ocean Cay.  Swim accordingly.  And there's enough dead coral and Heineken glass shards in the wading area that it is highly advisable to bring swim shoes.

Oh, and you better believe the first things we got when we arrived home was a Reidel tequila glass 2 piece set from Amazon and a large bottle of 1800 Reposado.  Have to put our teachings to the test!

13 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

^^^^

This. More than 90,000 people worldwide have died of the regular flu, https://www.worldometers.info/#flu and it gets next to no media coverage. Also, tellingly, the media is quick to point out the number of new cases and deaths, but virtually never mention the number of patients who've RECOVERED from Covid-19 (94% according to Worldometers). Their coverage is borderline reckless and is, in my opinion, clearly designed to maximize clicks on websites and TV ratings in order to help their sponsors.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/

Just look what it has done to the markets.  Now I'm not saying that there is any kind of market manipulation going on by some very rich people who run some major media conglomerations, but if you were in the market to purchase some stock, you're going to be getting some incredible bargains in the coming months, especially in the travel industry.

37 minutes ago, dorts said:

Finally something not Corona related! Thanks for the great review - leaving Thursday for Saturday boarding and trying my best to keep positive and excited for my two weeks onboard regardless of what may or may not happen!

No worries.  It really is a great ship with a great crew.

I will say, however, there are some drawbacks here and there, just so that it doesn't look like I'm completely toting the company line.

First of all, the public restrooms on this ship are disgusting.  Horrible smell of sewage the closer you get to them.  Not terrible, but bad enough that you tended to turn around when you got close.  Apparently, there were enough people on this sailing that had troubles with aim on both #1 and #2 that... yeah.

Secondly, even though this ship is 2-3 years old, there were places where it did look a little run down.  A lot of the hand rails were constantly covered in soot, to the point where the lacquer looked like it was eroding.  This was especially noticeable on your stateroom balcony.  The water temperature in the showers was anything but consistent, and would fluctuate at random between ice cold and scalding hot on a whim.  Heard multiple others that had a similar experience there, so we knew it wasn't just us.  The floors up on deck were not teak, but painted rubber.  This isn't necessarily a problem, but did cause them to get extremely hot in the sun, and noticed they were starting to crack badly on the pool deck.

The layout, while largely excellent, did have a few drawbacks.  First, its not easy to find your way around this ship.  In a few cases there is no way to get from the front of the boat to the rear on the same deck, especially in the top few decks.  They really needed to have a corridor on Deck 16 so you could walk from the buffet to the YC area without going up to 18 or down to 15.  And while the mirrors everywhere were nice, there were a couple places (like walking past the Sports Bar and before you went up the stairs after the picture lobby to the casino) where we saw numerous people literally run into their reflections because it looked like the walkway continued.  And most annoyingly, up on the pool deck its nearly impossible to get from the main pool to the Bridge of Sighs because people would cram deck chairs so tightly that it completely closed up all walkways.  Made it difficult to even want to explore the ship on a Sea Day.

And there were some entertainment options that were just a miss.  The one musical they had was just terrible.  We didn't catch it, thankfully, but were able to see it on rebroadcast in the stateroom later.  Just a complete dud of a show where at any given time there would be 15 people on stage where 13 of them were motionless for an entire song.  And the Improv Group was... Look, they tried, but they were the kind of people who really thought that being able to say the 'f-word' would be all the real comedy they would need, and it pretty much stunk.  about 1/4 of the people who showed up to watch ended up leaving before the half hour was up.  They were just bad.  My wife commented that it was clear they had jokes already prepared and tried to shoehorn them into whatever suggestions were made rather than actually think for themselves.  Hard to argue.

15 minutes ago, lastchamp64 said:

Personally I have no problem with how MSC handled this and I get people’s caution about this Coronavirus, but I’m also of the opinion it is a whole lot more media hype and ratings driven sensationalism . I’m far more worried about influenza than this.  I will not criticize or fault anyone cancelling who is sailing in the next few weeks. I sail on May 30th and I’m just going to wait this thing out and see what happens. My hunch, the media frenzy disappears and this virus sails off into the sunset with the rest of the overhyped viruses over the last decade or so. I may be proven wrong in the long run, but fortunately I have some time before May 30th. Best wishes and best of luck to all of you who have to make a decision in the next few weeks. 

Same.  This has caused everyone to go completely insane with hysteria.  Thing is, regular influenza is every bit as bad as COVID-19.  If you actually looked into what influenza is, how many people it infects every year, how many people it kills every year, and see how much the flu shot you get every year actually protects you vs these simple steps that we are being stressed now (wash hands, stay away from high density situations, wash hands) we should have this similar kind of insanity every year.  But I'm going to just go ahead and bet that this time next year it will all be a thing of the distant past.

1 hour ago, KennyFla said:

 

Someone recommended to us to start taking Airborne one week before getting on the boat. Seems like a good idea

 

 

 

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Airborne is only marginally more effective than a placebo.  Just load up on vitamin C, it generally costs less, and has a similar benefit.