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Newleno

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Everything posted by Newleno

  1. I got on board in Rome and observed that there was no "free" cold drinks except for water, notta, nothing, so I got off the ship and went to the "carefore? Grocery" and picked up 3 big bottles of Diet Pepsi for about 4 euros, walked right thru security. Dont know if I got away with something or not. Then took out contents of mini fridge and kept the Pepsi cold.
  2. Yep MSC did it to me, from 7:15pm to 9:15 since I am usually in bed by 9 I was not able to eat in the dining room, not even once. They would not give me back my early dining time. (P.s. they only had one show time at 8:15)
  3. Nope it was right in the ticket contract, you had to have the visa, then it was checked during embarkation and then 2 other times during the 8 day cruise that never was scheduled to port in Egypt. This applied to all passengers. Nope the testing was not standard operating procedure the MSC web page said no testing for Mediterranean or Red Sea cruises. Then at embarkation surprise, 55 euro for test (I even checked web page before I walked to the ship) All us passengers were protesting/complaining to management on board, the test was a complete surprise. I would have never booked a cruise/flight and flown to Rome knowing I could be turned away. Seasoned cruiser here: Disney, Celebrity, Holland, Carnival, NCL, Royal, Windstar, Princess. MSC is a whole different animal. What I mentioned was just the tip of the iceberg, guess I should probably do a mini review of my experience.
  4. Hmm since you asked, as a seasoned cruiser my experience on MSC was like no other (three weeks before I was on a Princess cruise and they had their act together, no excuses due to "that" virus). I expect to get what I pay for where with MSC their attitude was "good enough", Good enough that their information was consistently wrong which caused additional expenses and unneeded anxiety. I would have never booked a cruise from Rome if I knew I had to pass "that" virus test before embarkation. Ludicrous if I failed I would have been stuck in Rome. I am still trying to figure out why they insisted I had to pay for an Egypt Visa even though the ship did not and was not ever scheduled to port in Egypt?
  5. Yeppers and here I thought someone finally got the Holy grail golden ticket, the highly sought after SA transit visa for $50.
  6. So you were able to get the transit visa for $50 instead of the real visa for $142?
  7. Long story, look up my previous posts, I applied for transit visa three weeks before embarkation, nothing happened so I got a real visa because MSC customer service told me I needed a visa to board and that it was my responsibility to know the visa requirements. I am still waiting for someone to post if they ever were able to get the transit visa. It has been over 3 weeks since my cruise ended. I still dont know of one person that received a transit visa. Maybe you will be on the cruise in which MSC and Saudi gets their act together. Good Luck.
  8. Yeah but i already took a cruise on msc after match but i guess i never had an account, (guess i lost 5% as well) probably does not matter much doubt i would ever get to diamond. I always go for the best deal not cruise line, so even though i have cruised well over 365 days, the points/days are spread out over many cruiselines.
  9. Yes in treacherous Antarctica very common for meals to be thrown to the floor, of course the chairs and tables are chained. Sometimes even the sticky type place mats did not help the plates and utensils from flying in that deadly area of the world.
  10. Thanks, I guess I dont have an account, Im afraid if I open an account it just will be one big cluster and my current voyagers number will never be transferred correctly. I am Gold due to match, you dont get much for gold except for priority tender. I just took a cruise and wanted to check if I got any points.
  11. How do I check my points and past cruises. Every time I go to log in, the site wants my confirmation number for my next cruise, I dont have a next cruise at the present time.
  12. As a first eye witness of the treacherous waters of Antarctica, I can assure you penguins "porpoise" all the time, predator or not.
  13. A little confused here, are you saying the windows in question on the Polaris, a person would be able to open and close them? If so that would explain a lot.
  14. Yes same thing with my ship got the tour, they said they could make anything they needed, so comforting the experience. Experience of ship personnel matters, I know some prefer certifications (which can be political). I like good old fashioned experience.
  15. Hmm having internet access and it being free are 2 different things, ( I think if it was free I would have known) I am very cheap, my last cruise on MSC was the very first time I bought internet on a cruise $45. The internet worked great I was able to call and text the usa with no problem, I don't have a sim so I needed the internet.
  16. The promises were in my cruise ticket, it spelled out exactly what was needed to get done, where, and for what cost, the promises were given to us on the cruise after it was mandatory to meet with MSC officials another two times in addition to embarkation. If anyone does not want to believe my first hand account, that is cool with me. I have took over 50 cruises, never was part of such a fiasco.
  17. My understanding was that you could stay on the ship if you did not have a saudi visa for my particular voyage, dont know about future voyages
  18. I hope for you guys that Saudi and MSC got their act together, we were given the same exact promises that never materialized, disembarking passengers in the customs terminal were in line getting the visa on arrival that took a lot of time, some of us basically got the same visa on line, the cost was over $140. I embarked in Rome. MSC consistently gave us wrong or no information on our journey.
  19. I applied and received both visas online, before I boarded, egypt took over a day, Saudi took a few minutes but for Saudi just dont get off the ship and save the $148 for the visa
  20. MSC aint going to help, best they would do is perhaps give wrong information. Quote from MSC rep when asked if I needed the visa, if I would be denied boarding: "it's your responsibility to know the visa requirements" then they checked my visa before boarding, and during the cruise all the passengers were summoned to appear another 2 times.
  21. Just got off the splendida in Jeddah, I dont know of one person that was able to obtain the transit visa for $50, Although we all tried
  22. My understanding is that the cruise port is within the Jeddah Islamic Seaport complex in Jeddah about 19 miles from JED airport. (At least for my cruise ending on Nov 23)
  23. Hello any information about this port/immigration to get to/thru the airport as quickly as possible would be most appreciated. Ship scheduled to get in at 7am on Nov 23, trying to catch the first flight to Europe to catch another flight to USA to be home for Thanksgiving. Any info, cost of transportation would be most appreciated. Thanks
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