wbingham

Deleted double post.

That is my issue that seems to be vetting out is that if you want a good MSC experience, you have to sail and pay for YC most of the time. With sailings on RCCL, outside of a few Suite level perks on 1 of them, I've never felt I got less service in the common areas when sailing an inside, oceanview, or simple balcony cabin. All cruise lines have dedicated attendants for their Suite or other guests paying to be treated like royalty, but 80% of the ship and experience is the same as for inside cabin. My experience on MSC and conclusion from most pro-MSC posts is that if you have to pay for YC for an equal experience to other cruise lines. Also, as a mostly solo cruiser, MSC doesn't have much. Between that and the non-YC experience, it felt like I was nothing but a cruise fair.

Glad your experience on MSC Divina was a good one. Experiences and preferences vary significantly, as I greatly prefer even my cruises on small RCCL ships to my MSC experience. I can't say that I really noticed much "Mediteranean" tilt to the food, other than the finger sandwiches and pizza style. The rest of the buffet fair was pretty straight forward. Main dining room meals were also pretty standard fair. Getting drinks on island was fine and easy (actually MUCH better than on ship). But the buffet and snack trucks shut down early was awkward. If you had late dinner seating, having to get back on the ship to get a snack sucked. Take some pocket bacon when you disembark in the morning or eat lunch. Growing up in performing arts, maybe my standards for shows is higher. The shows were nowhere near RCCL or even Carnival shows IMO. Not to say they didn't entertain to some extent, but they were very short as well.

Everyone has there preferences and likes. Happy that there are people who enjoy MSC cruises and find YC pricing worth it. Even if my experience with MSC was poor, competition and options in the industry is always good for all of us in the long run.

Be 100% sure before you book anything with them, excursions, packages, etc as getting refunds on things is almost impossible without disputing them through your credit card company. MSC customer service, at least in the US is practically nonexistent. Just returned from sailing on the Divina and they were severely understaffed at the bars. Had to routinely wait 5+ minutes to get service. The cruise ship is nice and the food is about average (not as good as Princess, RC, or even Carnival), but it isn't bad food. Their French fries are great, but that's about it. Their pizza is definitely more Mediterranean vs American flavor. I can't speak to the YC experience, but it sounds like MSC caters to them pretty well and all but ignores their "standard" passengers. The entertainment and shows (at least on the Divina) were high-school or college level productions at best. Clearly armature performers trying to get their feet wet. Private island pretty much closes down by 2pm leaving you to have to return to the ship if you want anything other than drinks for the next 6+ hours you're there.

OK. Returned from my cruise, it's been 90 days since requested refund, and still have not received it. I called MSC yesterday and tried to get their response, but they could not explain why I had not received a refund and that I would have to talk to Customer Service that could tell me more. This is where I learned much more about MSC "Customer Service".... Apparently if you call MSC and choose any option other than to service a future cruise, you end up getting transferred to the "Customer Service" department. Where I sat on hold for 2 hours waiting for a representative. Called back and used the menu to request service on a future cruise (choosing option that I didn't know the booking number), and what do you know, got a rep in less than 30 seconds!!! After talking with them, they did pull up my information for the past cruise and now told me that they "processed the refund on 5/1 and it could take a few weeks to clear". They could not tell me anything more than what "their screen was telling them" and for more details they would have to transfer me to "Customer Service" of which I sat on hold for another 90 minutes before hanging up. Tried again this morning and another 2 hours on-hold on the "Customer Service" line. It seems to me to be pretty clear that they don't actually have anyone working in "Customer Service" and only answer the phone if you have a future cruise with them (clearly hoping you are calling to pay more $$ for a service). At this point I guess I am going to have to try and go through my Credit Card company and see how that goes. Unfortunately I purchased the drink package along with internet, so the charge I'll be disputing will be a different amount than the charge to the card (only need $104 of the $161 refunded). I guess I'll see how that works out. At least I have an email from MSC from 2/13 showing they were refunding the $104. That should hopefully be enough for my CC company to see the $$ never hit the account. As for my experience on the cruise itself... Unfortunately, I have to report that the cruise experience didn't make up for the issues. Maybe it was just the MSC Divina being small and older; and your experience may vary on one of their newer and larger ships. The positives: The ship was VERY clean and most of the staff were very friendly. The culinary and cleaning staff clearly work very hard and do a GREAT job. Unfortunately, you can only do so much with the tools you are given. The food itself was not bad, but it was not as good as other cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Carribean, Princess, Celebrity) nor even as good most All-Inclusive resorts I've been to. Outside of their french fries, which I admit are some of the best ever, the rest of the food was merely average. The room stewards and general service staff around the ship were kind and enjoyed talking to them all. The entertainment staff were up-beat and enjoyable. Unfortunately, that is about where the positives end... Negatives: Bar service was horrendous. Every bar only had 1 or 2 bartenders present and it routinely took 5-15 minutes to get a drink (even just a bottle of water or soda). The bar staff were not very personable or friendly; but that more than likely was due to them being so short staffed. Most of the bars ran out of straws by mid-day and people were stuck trying to drink frozen drinks straight. While their private island was nice, all of the shops and food places closed by 2pm, even though we were docked there until 10:30pm. You were stuck getting back on the ship if you wanted anything to eat. The few bars around the island did serve until at least 5:00 (when I returned to the ship for a snack). The entertainment and shows were on-par with high-school or college shows and were very short (30-45 min). There also just was not enough variety or things to do on the ship spread out through the night. In the evenings, there were a handful of things all crammed into the hours of 7-10pm, but after 10:30 or so, you really only had the casino. Every evening after the pools closed, they collected most of the deck chairs, stacked them in the corner, and locked them. So, if you wanted to sit on the deck and enjoy the weather at night, you had about 8 tables on each side of the main pool with 4 chairs each. One side was for smokers, so really only had 1/2 the deck to work with. There were no chairs at the back of the ship and very few ledges/walls to sit on if you wanted to just sit and relax. No places on the ship without music playing if you wanted to sit and read a book and listen to the ship cut through the water. There were no open-air areas in the front 1/3 of the ship that were available to non Yacht Club members. While that portion of the ship is usually where most cruise lines have their "premier club" areas, there are usually at least one or two decks that people can gather on for sail-away or for some quiet time in the night ocean air. I earned enough casino points to get a free cruise offer, but I honestly don't know if I am willing to give MSC another shot or not. If I do, it will most likely only be to utilize the free cruise and try one of their newer ships. But even then, I do not see myself spending any $ on any extras or add-ons.

If i don't have the refund by the time I'm back from the cruise, I will be telling my credit card company to charge back to MSC. Maybe if they have to pay a penalty, they'll eventually get better.

I booked directly with MSC via their customer service line. I called them to inquire as to why my drink package refund still hadn't been received after about 66 days now and while they were looking into that I booked the transfer. I am assuming that since I booked directly with MSC and they have my flight times, they verified everything will be available. I would expect them to have multiple shuttles going back and forth all day like other cruise lines do, but I guess that's something I'll find out in just over a week.

I went ahead and booked transportation through MSC for this. It was $22 each way. I wanted to get at least the cruise port to airport piece booked beforehand. Using uber/lyft isn't too bad getting to the cruise port, as people are generally arriving throughout the morning/afternoon. But I've found that it can be pretty hectic when trying to get from the cruise port back to the airport as you've got hundreds of passengers all disembarking at once. Based upon prices suggested, $44 round trip seemed like a bargain.

For anyone interested in an update. Contacted MSC this morning as I still have not received my refund for the drink package (Friday was 60 days). They checked and claimed that "because they were super busy, they didn't submit my refund request immediately." They escalated it, but it could take up to another 30 days to receive my refund. So its 50/50 that I'll have my refund prior to my sailing in 14 days (i'm not holding my breath). They wouldn't even just provide it to me as on-board credit instead, which is amazing, since that would essentially be $ in their pockets. I also talked to them about arranging transportation to and from the airport/cruiseport to compare prices to other options. I did end up booking transfers with them, as their pricing was a reasonable $22 each way, from Miami international; but it took the agent 45 minutes to complete the process of booking the transfers. She did apologize and state it was her first time ever booking a transfer, so I was extremely patient with her on the phone. But wow, talk about icing on the cake for this whole experience. I'm not telling anyone what to do in regards to cruising with MSC, everyone must make their own decisions and not every experience will be the same. But I can definitely add another warning to proceed with caution if you are considering trying them out. I've cruised with 3 other cruise lines and over 40 cruises and have had MUCH better experiences. Even on the other lines when there were issues, it has been pretty standard for them to offer me extra on-board credit for my troubles. Unfortunately it seems like MSC only offers a half-hearted apology and more waiting.

I'll be cruising on MSC Devina out of Port of Miami on May 1st and am looking for transfer options to and from MIA international airport. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for shuttle services that are not too expensive. Also, my flight arrives at 12:20 and my check-in time for MSC isn't until 3:30pm....so also looking for any suggestions on something to do to pass the 3 hours vs sitting in the airport.

I have a transport set up with RCL from terminal to George Bush for return flight after the cruise. Was about $36 one way. My incoming flight is to Hobby the day before. So I got a reservation at Marriott right there and prolly just gonna Uber to Glavastan Cruise port from there the next morning. Probably be easier and about same price to just Uber from hotel than trying to coordinate RCL picking me up at Hobby after taking free shuttle back to airport on Sunday.

For anyone interested, still have not received any refund for the drink package from MSC.

Moan on incessantly? I posted a single message, detailing my experience so far. Nothing beyond that. All other comments have been conversations with others that replied, but no more complaints. Matter of fact my responses have all been pretty accepting of the issues and that it is what it is. I'll be posting more details of my first experience with MSC cruises for others who wish to know. So if you don't want honest feedback, feel free to move along.

I kn9w I'm new to these boards but wow. I guess it's no surprise that toxic people are everywhere now days. But i guess your life is sunshine and roses if you've never had a poor experience and wanted to make others that may be thinking of trying something new out aware. You can crawl back under your rock now.

I've taken many sub 1k cruises with RCL, Celebrity, and Princess and gotten exceptional customer service both pre-cruise and on board the ship. So your point is irrelevant. The pre-cruise experience would have been the same had I booked one of MSC's expensive cruise itineraries as well.

Not sure if this is supposed to be sarcasm or not. You are comparing the cost of emergency shelter in the middle of Iowa with the cost of a vacation?

I'm not physically getting angry or anything over the issue at all. The $100 and any credit card stuff that go with it are all small enough that it's not any sort of financial issue for me at all. I simply was expressing my experience as a first time MSC cruiser with their pre-cruise planning process to add to the discussion for others that may be considering trying them out. Everybody's experience is going to be different based upon different criteria, but providing the feedback to the cruise community helps people compile the data and decide if it's worth it or not for them. It's unfortunate because the actual cruise price was really great ($320 total for 4 night cruise, not including drink package), so I honestly can't complain there. I'm not going to find another week long vacation with room, all you can eat food, and drinks for ~ $500 anywhere. It's just sad that the customer service experience outside of the cruise itself has been bad. They started the cancellation process on the first drink package, and I've already bought the upgraded one and paid the remainder of the cruise balance; so, at this point it all is hopefully dealt with and I'll get the $104 back at some point without further issues. Here is to hope that the actual cruise experience itself (embarkation, cruise, and disembarkation) all goes well to make the rest feel worth it. It's definitely going to be an uphill climb for MSC though to convince me to give them another shot.

Don't assume people are using credit cards because they can't afford to pay for the cruise. I typically pay the cruise with a credit card and then pay it off the same month. I use Credit Card for everything that way to build up rewards points. I very rarely ever end up paying any finance charges since I always pay full balance on my card every month. In this scenario I now have to overpay my credit card only to go to a negative balance once MSC gets around to processing the refund or pay everything but the $104 and get charged interest for 1 or 2 cycles. It's not any significant amount of $$, but it shouldn't take 30-60 days in the first place. If the refund is typically processed quickly (within 1-2 weeks) then they need to state that vs saying that it will take one to two billing cycles, which they state is 30-60 days.

I have three Royal Caribbean cruises booked for this year and wanted to find a quick and inexpensive option for a spring cruise and decided to give MSC a try. Booked to sail on the Devina for a 4 day cruise departing May 1st, and I have to say my experience so far hasn't been great. While the booking process through their sight was easy and didn't have any issues there, using their cruise planner to book other things has been a bad experience. The fact that I am not able to cancel any packages I purchase online without calling them to cancel is ridiculous. I purchased the Alcohol Free Beverage package but decided that I would go with the Easy Plus package instead since 3 of the 4 sailing days will be on ship or on their private island, so shouldn't have any problems drinking enough cocktails to make it worth it. However, in order for me to change, I had to call them to cancel the existing package and pay for the new one. I wasn't able to simply upgrade or anything like that. To make it even more ridiculous, the refund will take 30 to 60 days to be refunded. That's absurd that it takes them that long to issue the refund. With Royal Caribbean, refunds on pre-booked packages are done in 7-14 days, so I'm not stuck paying finance charges for 2 months before the charge is refunded. I'm generally a very laid back and relaxed person, but MSC customer service to this point has even my patience tested. There is no excuse for taking 2 months to refund a $100 drinks package charge nor is there any excuse to not be able to cancel a cruise package using the same website you used to book it. If the rest of my experience with MSC and this cruise is the same; I can say with confidence that this will be the first and last cruise I sail with them. To everyone else that doesn't know, keep in mind how long their refund process takes and make sure you are 100% certain what you want before you submit any payments for any bookings or add-ons with them.

Did you mean hotel with transfer to and from cruise port? Right now I have a hotel just outside of Houston booked for Saturday night. A taxi from airport to hotel is only going to run me about $10, so I'm not too worried about that. It's the trip from the Hotel to the cruise port the next day that has me concerned. I would rather not have to pay $80 or more for a taxi/uber from the hotel to port. I never thought to check and see if any of the hotels between airport and cruise port offer shuttles to cruise port. Oh...ok...guess you meant look at taking a shuttle BACK to airport from hotel and then RC provided transport from airport to cruise port Sunday morning. I can check on that as well. Thx.

Booked to sail on Allure of the Seas late this summer (Aug 27th sailing) out of Galveston and trying to make sure I am prepared with my flights and transfers to and from the cruise port as I'll be flying in from Ohio. I have found flights that fly into George Bush International Airport as well as William P Hobby Airport. Both airports seem to be quite a distance away from the cruise terminal, so trying to figure out the best option for transfers. Does anyone know approximate pricing for Uber or other ride share apps from either of these airports? I talked with Royal Caribbean and can book a transfer from the port to George Bush International for my return flight for about $40. Unfortunately they stated they cannot provide transport to the terminal because (as for right now) I'm booked to fly in the day before and stay at a hotel vs take the risk of flight issues on the day of embarkation. If it is going to cost me an arm and a leg to get to the cruise terminal, it may be worth it for me to change my inbound flight to Sunday morning and just pay for RC roundtrip transportation and take the risk of flight delays.

Yes, but you have to itemize and have proof of those losses in the form of casino receipts, loosing tickets, or similar. You cannot simply claim that you lost $2000 through the year on other bets and move on. You have to be able to provide evidence as well a detailed description of the dates, locations, and other people present of all gambling that you did in that year. "The tax office, whether it’s the IRS or some other institution, would expect you to keep an accurate date of when the gambling activity took place and what the outcome was. You also must add the address of the venue as well as the names of the people with whom you gambled." So if you win 2k on a cruise ship casino in June and don't have a record of wins and losses for every time you gambled leading up to then; good luck on trying to claim those losses as deductions. And YES, they most likely will contact people you name.