alyssamma

No, I think (hope?) the poster was making a joke. The bidding process isn't even handled by MSC...it is done by a third party. No one knows how they determine anything, although starting bids are obviously based on how many cabins they still have available.

It depends...with MSC, all things are simultaneously possible and impossible. It you know physics, it's like a quantum wave state. Until you ask the question (measure it), you won't know the actual answer. If you win the bid, ask the concierge nicely and they may give you OBC. Or, call and speak to a rep (or three) and see if they will refund you. It *never* hurts to ask...

I'll give an opposing viewpoint 🙂 First, I agree with what most people state with respect to not buying insurance from the cruise line. This is the most expensive and most restrictive policy you can buy. Ditto for airline insurance. That being said, a yearly policy can be great if the coverage amount is high enough. If you are taking a $2K sailing several times a year, I think annual is best. However, if you are spending $10K on your cruise (or other trip), it may be difficult (in the US) to find a cost effective annual policy that will cover that. Actually, I'm hoping that someone who uses this can chime in and tell me where you can find that because if it doesn't cost too much I'd like to buy it, lol. But your other alternative is to buy an individual policy via insuremytrip or squaremouth. These are pretty inexpensive for the coverage that you get.

Can you elaborate on why? I'm not sure this is an apt analogy. If I spent 4 days driving through RI, looking at the sights, I think I'd say I'd been there. But, your response here actually helped me come up with an answer to my Q, though. I think a much better example would be, if you took a helicopter to see the Grand Canyon instead of hiking it, would you have still visited it? For me, the answer is a resounding yes. I think others may disagree - as I said, passionate subject - but I think the helicopter/GC is a much better analogy. As for your response to my 3rd Q, I specifically said "further north like Nuuk and higher" That is where I'm interested in the comparison...

Yes, leaving from BA. We were in Paraguay a few years ago and that is the only time we've been to South America. We thought about doing Iguazu, but honestly we fell in love with Paraguay and didn't want to spend the time to make the trip down there. We'll get there eventually 🙂 We've been to Iceland (spend about a week there in the winter) and are going back on our Greenland trip. We are overnighting in Reykjavik and renting a car. When we were there before we did most of the touristy things so this time just driving the coast and stopping at waterfalls. Also doing Norway up to the Arctic Circle in July, so doing all of the "cold" places at once 🙂 Almost everyplace we go we do DIY. Obviously some places we need to do organized trips, but that is rare.

Thanks for the detailed reply. We are going to Greenland in July (up along the western coast - Nuuk and Ilulissat) and will be doing a drive by in Antarctica in Jan 2025. I'd love to be able to set foot on land (just to say I've done it), but the cost is prohibitive for me. We got a great deal on this cruise - 14 days, Ushuaia, Puerto Madryn, Port Stanley, Montevideo, Cape Horn, and 4 days of drive by all for $6700 (balcony, drinks, wifi and tips included). We couldn't pass that up. I know others have said to save and just splurge on an expedition trip, but I figured I would see it first inexpensively and then return if I felt I needed to be on land. I also wanted to be able to get a good comparison to Greenland.

I will bid if it is a reasonable price...but won't bid too much...

LOL, yeah...and I've worked for several insurance companies across different industries. But it isn't just insurance that is like that. It's virtually everything from paying for Starbucks coffee instead of McD's, or like I said before about drink packages (or any type of "all inclusive"). I think as long as you know that's the game, and choose to play, everything's good. The problem is the people who don't understand that's how it works and get preyed on to buy stuff.

Sorry, I misunderstood. You are looking for a hotel, and then transportation from the hotel to the port? In that case, there are dozens of hotels there as it is right by the main rail station (and the cruise port). Taxis/Ubers/whatever will be plentiful to get you from the hotel to the port. I do not believe HAL sets this up. If you want a specific recommendation, go into the Amsterdam port of call forum...but really, there are a bunch of really nice hotels, and some right next to the port.

I think this is something people often overlook. It applies in all aspects of life...not just insurance. For example, you may purchase a drink package on a cruise, even though you "know" it might be cheaper to pay as you go, because now you don't have to worry about it. Insurance is pretty much the same. For most people if you add up premium costs and weigh that against claims made, the premiums are way more. But, the peace of mind is an somewhat invaluable offset to that. I don't buy trip insurance for all of my trips, but do if I'm taking a cruise. Do I need it? Probably not. I've certainly never used it on a cruise (I have once on a non-cruise trip). But I'll keep buying it for peace of mind. It's the same reason I pay more for refundable deposits. I probably don't need to, but do just because I don't want to deal with the hassle...another way of saying peace of mind 🙂

It's about a 15-20min walk...or you can take a taxi I believe. They should. But it's under Travel Planning...

Interesting. Don't doubt that at all, but I've had great luck with them. YMMV 🙂

This. We do the EXACT same thing and $500 seems to be the going price. I was thinking we were getting good deals, but now see they give them out to everyone, lol 🙂 We book with a TA always (for the perks) and have been able to do this without problem. The only thing I'll add is instead of tracking down the director we just go to the concierge...same difference.

Wow....thank you so much for the detailed answer. It is much appreciated..

LOL, good luck with MSC. They probably have the worst problems of any cruise line and their YC product has steadily increased in price and declined in perks/qualities post covid. I used to sail them all the time until I found X. Now they are my line of choice, but YMMV.

Nope, and while I'm not as experienced as others here with X, I've personally never witnessed any of this behavior. Do I believe it exists? Yes. Do I believe it is "common?" Absolutely not. 99% of the people I've encountered on X have been friendly and easy going. Some were drunk, some were sober. None of the drunk ones were like drunks I've seen on Carnival or RCCL. Again, does this exists? Is there anecdotal evidence of it? I have no doubt the answer is yes. But it isn't close to being widespread. If you are nice and treat other people as nice, you'll have ZERO problems...enjoy your cruise!

This makes sense. I guess, ultimately, it is about the economics of the situation. The insurance I get also varies by age (much cheaper for my daughter to get, much more expensive for my mother in law). I just too out a $10K policy for an upcoming trip and it cost $340 for me and my wife. Another $8K trip, $245, and a $2K trip for $80. For reference, I'm 57 and my wife is 59.

I agree 100% with this. However, we do buy trip insurance simply for peace of mind. If I add up what I've paid for insurance over the years it far outweighs what the policies have paid me. I've only had to use it once (and my daughter used it once). The cost for most trips I take is approximately $200, so for not having to stress out about things I just buy it. GeoBlue is health insurance only, right? Or am I missing something? If so, is this supplemental to your normal health insurance? Trying to understand exactly what this does. Also, I see several posts about annual policies. It's my understanding they only cover X amount of dollars, and is usually less than the trip cost. If this is correct, why spend money on this? Again, I think I'm missing something...

From searching this forum I can tell this is a passionate topic. However, I have some questions that I didn't see direct answers to, and hoping some of the more experienced travelers here can help. 1) If nature (and by that I mean the wildlife, *not* the scenic aspects of it) are not a top priority, than is an expedition cruise that much more important than a drive-by? Most posts I see talking about landing mention being next to penguins, etc. If that isn't something important, is a drive-by (almost) just as good? 2) If you've only done a drive-by and never set foot on the land, does it count as being to the continent? Obviously this is subjective, but wondering if there was an overall consensus. 3) Off topic, but ha anyone been to both Greenland and Antarctica? I mean further north like Nuuk and higher. If so, for scenery, which do you prefer? TIA

Thanks for this SUPER detailed response

For my 4th Q about "red shirt", I meant someone else's. If I put my white underwear to be washed, I don't want them coming back pink because someone else put a red shirt in there...

Yeah, see above...I stated that 🙂 But seriously, no sarcasm, thanks for pointing that out because many other people might not know that and then be pissed when they get onboard. For me, it's $10 extra and I have more OBC than I know what to do with so am fine paying that extra. This is a cruise in the middle of a month long trip that involves another cruise too, so was trying to do laundry on the ship. But it seems too complicated (for my purposes) and will just get a hotel on land with laundry facilities. (I'm on land for 2 days after this cruise). Thanks everyone for the quick and detailed answers...

Yes, aware of this, but I just prefer to do it this way anyway...

I've been reading through the posts and have gotten most of my Qs answered, but still have a few outstanding... 1) I'm on a 9 day cruise and want to get the "fill a bag" deal. Right now I can buy it under "manage my cruise", but need to wait until I'm onboard (have OBC from my TA that won't hit until then). I understand it will cost more, but wanted to make sure that, since it's available pre-cruise I should be able to buy it once onboard. Is this correct? 2) Given the above is correct, do I simply talk to my room steward or is there some other process? 3) I've seen others mention writing "cold water only" on the bags...does this work or do they ignore it? 4) Since everything is washed in hot, how do they ensure someone else's red shirt won't bleed all over your stuff? TIA

And once implemented the first 3-6mo will be optional...good chance this won't be a requirement until 2025...