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Can anyone who has recently tendered to Grand Cayman on the escape give me an update on how long it took without being in the Yacht club or a MSC booked excursion? We anchor at 8:00 and we have a 10:00am excursion booked. Will I make it? Also, has anyone recently been able to book an excursion to GC? I am now less than 50 days out and it still shows nothing. Thx

Having the same issue with Grand Cayman. I have also heard it has taken over 3 hours to get everyone tendered as well.

Tried to book an excursion from the ship, but of course MSC's tremendous website has no excursions for Grand Cayman. They disappeared about a month or two ago and no one can help when I called. Plus when you book with the ship it is usually jammed packed with over 100 people. The same tour off the ship is only 15 people. I have sailed MSC 3 times (once in yacht club) and they have all been fine with no complaints. However, there is no doubt they are by far the worst run company at sea.

Yeah, that makes sense. Spend 3 times as much so I can get an extra few ours on an island that I've been to 15 times. I've done yacht club, even though it is nice it in no way is 3 times as nice. I go for some warm weather and to party with some cocktails. We still end up at the same crappy islands no matter what class we are in. To each there own, I can afford it, I just can't justify it.

Are you saying some people only got 3 hours at port? What a joke. How can a company be so disorganized? We were on shore in less than an hour on the Oasis. So, gold status does nothing even though it states priority tender boarding?

Also, our arrival is 8:00am ship time. Isn't that actually 7:00 in GC? If so, we'll be fine.

What time can I expect to be on the island if it says 8:00am arrival. I am looking to book my own excursion that starts at 9:00am from the cruise port. We are gold status and supposedly we get priority tender (whatever that's worth). Do they hand out tender tickets the prior day?

Very strange, they had a bunch for my sailing about a month ago, they they magically disappeared.

We are Fantastica and still can't pre-book specialty dining and we are less than 60 days out. Also, there are no excursions available for Grand Cayman. I find it hard to believe every singe excursion is sold out. Not a big deal since we never book the excursions on the ship, just odd.

This is not hard to figure out. Of course it doesn't make sense to the consumer because they want the best deal. If you only had to pay the difference, no one would buy the Easy Plus. By not including beer, MSC gets more people to purchase the Easy Plus. Very smart on their end whether the customer thinks so or not. Yes, I hate it too, but there is no way I can drink Heineken for a week, nor can most beer drinkers.

Who cares? It a terminal that you're in for 20 minutes?

So they get you to buy the Easy Plus Pkg. They are not stupid and it worked on me. Well worth the upgrade if you are a beer drinker and they have a Sports bar with a decent selection.

People should not cruise if they expect excellent dining experiences. The main dining rooms are equivalent to Applebee's. Specialty dining is not much better. This is not just MSC, this is all 6 lines I have been on. (MSC, RCL, Carnival, NCL, Princess, Holland) Again, subjective, but no way is anything excellent.

Wow, 5 of you that all need that extra entree? Go to the buffet, or Golden Corral.

What's funny is you will spend $1000s on a cruise but won't spend $35 for a whole week of an extra dinner. People need to except times are a changing and MSC is not the only company with increases. The $5 footlong at subway is now $10. Sad, but true.

If you know about the $250 fee and the extra $5 charge and don't like it, don't go. Otherwise don't complain about it. Very simple choice. Why whine about crap you can't change? Complaining just to complain doesn't help, it's just going to make you more miserable. Yes, the website sucks, but it doesn't effect a week on vacation, nor should any of these petty issues.

I'm sure you will have a great time with that attitude. MSC in my opinion is more the same than they are different to any other cruise line. I have been on over 25 cruises on 6 lines and have always looked forward to it. I have yet to be disappointed because I knew I would make the best of it. I am not going to write a bad review about the elevators being slow or rude passengers. I am especially not going to write a review about food since it is 100% subjective. You are spot on about some of the ridiculous bad reviews. Have a great cruise in February as I will in January. I will be sure to give you my honest opinion if you want it.

Careful. All these cruise lines are in cahoots, and once your name is out these as the soda smuggler you will probably be banned for life.

You're probably right. It is actually comical how bad it is. I don't know of anyone who has not had some sort of issue, regardless of how small.

Any one else having this issue? All of the excursions are gone from Grand Cayman on Jan 16 on the Seascape. All other ports have plenty to choose from, so there is no way EVERY excursion is sold out. They were there a few weeks ago and I have been checking every day for about a week or so and still nothing. Of course when I called they said they were sold out. Anyone else able to book on that day? I am not too concerned since we will probably book on our own, but the prices were pretty comparable and we know we would get off the ship on time.

No need to buy soda and wine if you are going on MSC. Can't bring it. Cheapest hotel by the port is probably the Holiday Inn by Bayside which will be about $300.

NCL has the best bands by far. MSC has the worst by far. IMO

I'm under 90 days out with Fantastica experience and I cannot book Specialty dining, so I don't think it a timing issue.. Is it really that hard to create a website that works. I mean this is so ridiculous, half the time I can't even log in without getting an error. I have never seen anything like it, extremally frustrating. I have to believe they have lost customers just from their inferior website.

Yes you can make it. We took a train on our own and spent a quick 6 hours there with no problem. Don't take an MSC excursion, they are an absolute waste of money and over crowded. Don't worry about missing the ship, you have plenty of time. Just do a little research on how to get to the train station and which station to get off. This was extremely easy. I would rather pay to get to the next port if I missed the ship than to pay for a crappy excursion and see nothing.

Two years ago there were buses right by the port that ran back and forth to Bruges. Can't remember how much, but I believe it was around $5 ea. It was perfect.