Inaugural voyage on MSC Grandiosa - storm ahead

[CCRuz2019]

but shouldn't i be informed by my travel agency? How can i cancel some that is not officially canceled!

Edited November 13, 2019 by CCRuz2019

[citizenfrank]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

From what I have read on FB the ship will sail Friday at 2 pm and head to Barcelona and there will be no stop in Lisbon and will arrive on the 19th with another stop before BCN. Some people due to sail today and return on the 18th have now cancelled due to the ship arriving a day late to BCN, they received emails around midnight last night informing them! 

Been following on FB too this morning whilst travelling! It's not ideal and I get the frustration, but some of them slating MSC got my goat and I couldn't hold back! It's the weather,  you can't buy it,  change it or communicate with It!  

Safety must come first

Massive new investment by the line that to date has generated no revenue

But you're talking about a sailing from a UK container port (still don't understand why lines use UK ports) in November with two days sailing in notorious waters even in Summer! 

Why not be expecting the worse, why book flights home the dame day!

It's opinionated but I think some took a punt on a cheap sailing to discover a new ship and now want glitz glamour and A-Grade weather to complete the picture.

Why sail in mid-November from Southampton 😠

[sidari]

Frank ... People accept that we cannot do anything about the weather, what they cannot accept is that MSC knew on Monday that the ship would not sail today but chose to leave letting people know until the last minute or Midnight last night!

It is nice to have the luxury of adding another day to any holiday but sadly there are people who don't and some were booked on this cruise.

Not everyone has the luxury of being able to fly to other ports in various countries or want to and are happy to sail from Southampton, with regard to Container ports MSC uses quite a number of them.

With regard to sailing from the UK in November the same can be said of the Med which can be equally as bad at this time of year depending on the course of any given weather system.

[citizenfrank]

2 minutes ago, sidari said:

Frank ... People accept that we cannot do anything about the weather, what they cannot accept is that MSC knew on Monday that the ship would not sail today but chose to leave letting people know until the last minute or Midnight last night!

It is nice to have the luxury of adding another day to any holiday but sadly there are people who don't and some were booked on this cruise.

Not everyone has the luxury of being able to fly to other ports in various countries or want to and are happy to sail from Southampton, with regard to Container ports MSC uses quite a number of them.

With regard to sailing from the UK in November the same can be said of the Med which can be equally as bad at this time of year depending on the course of any given weather system.

Agreed. And this region should be avoided too in November ...unless you are not going to moan about the weather after the event!

[Lilsquirl]

3 hours ago, CCRuz2019 said:

but shouldn't i be informed by my travel agency? How can i cancel some that is not officially canceled!

Yes they should but I rang my agent and they said MSC have not communicated yet about refunds. I direct rang MSC and they said a full refund will be made. Seems the agents are not aware of it. 

 

We were told on Tues Eve that the itinerary was changed and the ship would leave Southampton Fri at 9.30 arriving in Barcelona Tues at 9.30 but this has now shifted further to leaving Fri at 2pm and arriving Tues at 2pm. Glad we asked for a refund instead of booking more flights which is what the agent suggested since we would have ended up with more useless flights.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Lilsquirl

[sidari]

Seems the agents are not aware of it. 

 

Communication is not one of the MSC strong points sadly.

[CruisingFox27]

5 hours ago, sidari said:

Seems the agents are not aware of it. 

 

Communication is not one of the MSC strong points sadly.

Someone in Italy will have waved their arms a bit and consider the communication complete 😂

[Lilsquirl]

Is it sailing today as planned? Still seeing a massive storm on the shipping forecast

[Cruising89143]

12 minutes ago, Lilsquirl said:

Is it sailing today as planned? Still seeing a massive storm on the shipping forecast

I read on a social media site this morning that she was under way. 
 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5933259/mmsi:215325000/imo:9803613/vessel:MSC_GRANDIOSA

[perakcruiser]

On 11/14/2019 at 1:50 AM, sidari said:

 

Communication is not one of the MSC strong points sadly.

 

Never was. Remember their Tunis policy. Weeks (!) after it was changed they informed the passengers.

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Lilsquirl said:

Is it sailing today as planned? Still seeing a massive storm on the shipping forecast

The ship left at 10 am.

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

The ship left at 10 am.

 

Yikes....gonna be rocking!

[Preziosa]

I left the ship Yesterday morning 3.30 before the sailing started for Barcelona.

we should have disembarqued in Lisbon the 16. Th of november. We started the Cruise in Hamburg after a wonderful christening evening in Hamburg. It was so fantastic to see from the MSC Village. The ship was so close to us.

We stayed as long as We could on the ship. The ship is wonderful. The Crew is fantastic and food Better than before on other MSC ships.

More people were leaving thar morning before sailing.

[Preziosa]

We Saw the message about the change of ports tuesday evening on a screen. It was running on every screen with the picture of the storm in the Biscay thursday. First We were told, that the ship would leave Southampton Friday 2 o clock in the afternoon but They change it later to 7 o clock in the morning Friday. We arrenge new flights with Our insurrance Company. We couldn t get a correct answer if MSC would pay new tickets because We did not book the Cruise through MSC

[tnt10]

On 11/13/2019 at 4:14 AM, welshy74 said:

Yes you can.. as long as this is done before 1500

Trust me, as one who has done it in the past, you do not want to enter/exit the port of Lisbon with inclement weather/storms.

The cruise we were on with the horrible weather out of SH (on the Independence of the Seas) proceeded onto Lisbon-big mistake!  When we finally did leave Lisbon port, the seas were so rough, the pilot was almost kept onboard, the seas were so rough!

Usually, the Captain can navigate the best weather options around the bad weather... all the best to everyone-try and enjoy the ride if possible!!