Hi Matt. We were on the same cruise and totally agree with you 100% about this employee as he barged myself and my wife out of the way as well and treated us like we were steerage passengers. Couldn't fault the rest of the staff onboard but this one guy needs some sort of refresher course on treating / dealing with customers. Super vlog as always and hope your Mum is ok.
Thanks Joe. Mum is OK - there's usually a week of "never again" after every cruise - this time it probably lasted 2 weeks because of that experience, but she's back planning the next one so no lasting damage! Quite staggered that I've heard nothing back from MSC about this...
Glad that you posted this. I'd read reports of disembarkation chaos on this cruise, but the Facebook fan pages were blaming the passengers, rather than looking at the real cause. Embarkation and disembarkation are essential parts of the travel experience, and the cruise lines shouldn't be able to excuse themselves of responsibility for this.
Thanks Paul. The passengers were certainly grumpy - I didn't include the worst bits of the passenger behaviour as I don't think that's helpful... But the cause was certainly Border Force's go slow... Most passengers were very respectful and patient
I'm very happy for you!!! I've gathered since making this video that the scrutiny came about because of our stops in the Canary Islands - a well known destination for people who tend to forget cigarette allowances.... Although industrial action certainly compounded the issues
Hi I have watched a few of your videos so far and good to see your perspective on things. As luck would have it I was on the same cruise along with five friends. The disembarkation process issue I believe was definitely caused by border force in the main. You may recall the captain making announcements that border force was suspending disembarkation and then there would be a gap of 15-20 minutes before calling out the next group. Last year I travelled as a Yacht Club member and one of the negatives was that priority embarkation and disembarkation where they were pushing past people caused a lot of friction and to be honest you felt a bit threatened and when leaving back at Southampton people were deliberately moving their hand luggage to try and stop people getting past. Whilst it is a perk of having paid twice to three times the price dependant on cabin and as you say and as I suggested last year, either have a separate time or a separate level after all there are generally only 250 in yacht club. This time I was in the main part of the ship and when we were getting off, after your time so even worse possibly, part of the issue was there was also a lot of crew getting off as well which made a bad situation worse. The luggage area was complete mayhem with no one taking charge in any way with people jumping the queue etc MSC may not have authority to be in that area though.. Given that they were trying to get 4200 people off the ship and because of the delays people were also trying to embark along with I believe 3 other ships going through the same process. You can self disembark if you take your own suitcases off early which two of our party did and were back home before we had even got out of the car park. We took, similar to you, 3 hours from leaving the cabin to leaving the car park and google maps sent us all over the place to avoid the gridlock. This is potentially going to have a knock on effect as certainly the people in my group have vowed not to use Southampton again as it soured what had been an excellent holiday and I would think others may feel the same way. A bit long winded this comment all the best keep up the good work and kind regards.
Thanks so much for that! Interesting point about how you feel when you "benefit" from the priority disembarkation when in the yacht club - I would have felt very uncomfortable to have been behind that oaf pushing through a dense crowd of elderly people.... And your final point is probably the most important one - people will avoid MSC (and Southampton) because of this when it really wasn't MSC (or Southampton's) fault...
Well done for standing up to the employee. Nobody has the right to barge past anyone its extremely rude. I have been in this situation with someone who thought they had the right to barge me out the way at 6ft2 and 19 stone they didnt succeed in barging me very far
This is shocking behaviour by an MSC employee and such a shame, as everyone always says how good the MSC employees are. He really appears to have let the side down for them. I hope MSC take your video seriously. I hope your mum didn't suffer too badly.❤
Thanks Elizabeth-Anne. I am in contact with MSC - I would have liked to get a response from them before releasing this video but nothing yet.... Mum is ok but she slept really well after we eventually got home!
Just returned from msc virtuosa yesterday. The disembarkation was excellent. The issue we had is that the boat was fully booked with Iver 6000 guests but they didn't seem to have enough staff to cope with this amount of people.
Hi there. I've seen some stuff online about that cruise... A disaster in Ireland and a missed port straight after!! Some people say "it was full and it was brilliant" and some say "it was full and it was a disaster"... Glad to hear Border Force decided against obstructing you all this week!
@MattsOceans hi yes the pool equipment had a failure and flooded the game zone area. Falmouth was cancelled due to the swells being to high to safely use tender boats so it was a day at sea.
I've given MSC two chances to prove they were worth cruising with instead of my regular cruises on Royal and Norwegian. I will never cruise on MSC again. I had a major issue on embark out of Cape Canaveral and then three months later had a horrible disembark problem. If MSC ever wants to pull customers from other cruise lines they really need to clean up their act.
Thanks for that - I'm 1-1 on good and bad disembarkations so far... Getting on or off is only a couple of hours out of the 168 hours in a week but it makes such a difference to the overall perception of the trip...
We couldn't see what had been happening before we got there... When we did walk through there was one group being inspected who had a large pile of cigarettes on the customs bench. We'd been to the Canary islands and ciggies are particularly cheap there so that may be what they were trying to find... But I think this may have been part of a wider protest over pay that's been dragging on between Border Force and the government for months.
I think this was a bit of a one off... I'm still in a few Virtuosa groups online and I've not heard of any disembarkation this bad since.... MSC will give you assisted disembarkation if you ask before the cruise which may at least allow your hubby to wait in a wheelchair if things get rough again...
@@MattsOceans it's the busy body attitude of border control that gets me, not as unsafe as that but causes unsafeness/ tempers, when at Heathrow with electronic makes life a breeze and if an issue get directed to border force. I m a big fan of automation if people are wasting people's time just for the sake of it
Don't hold your breath waiting for MSC (Mediocre Shipping Company) to ask you for the video of the crew member thug. Their customer service is non-existent.
That is nothing next to what we had in 2014 in Italy, after the ferry from Greece arrived at Ancona, 3 hour wait on our bus with italian border guards with Machine guns, looking for illegal immigrants from Africa who had climbed under the undercarriage of the bus - a African American guy on tour was harassed by the guards until the tour operators speaking frantic Italian speakers had to convince 'Frontieri" that he was a Black American and not a Nigerian overstayer. Turned out our friend was Portorican and could only speak Spanish hence the suspicion. I got a couple of looks because of my brown Maori skin and big Maori lips - but was left alone. - Racism pure and simple. I was penalised for TWB = Travelling while Black or Brown.
Thanks for sharing that... Must have been a very difficult experience.... But as in so many cases, the authorities are in charge and are immune to criticism.... Would anything happen if you formally complained? No.... Will the border force people in Southampton that caused this face any consequences? No....
Hi Matt. Hope you mum is OK after this ordeal👍 Absolutely absurdly ridicoulous behaviour by an absolute idiot and thug. You were restrained, I would have decked the clown🥵. This is just not on and based on this behaviour, even one rotten apple, I probably won't ever cruise on them. Please keep your honest and valuable reviews coming. I for one appreciate them💪🇿🇦
Wow, what a horrendous experience. As for the butler, you should report him to the police for assault. He'd have been flat on his back if he had done that to me. I hope your mum was ok after this. It will be interesting to see MSC's response. frankly you should have included the edited out footage.
Thanks - I did get some advice from a friend that what the butler did (sounds like a whodunnit!) would qualify as assault, but I'm happy to be taking a more conservative approach. Waiting for MSC to respond... Mum was ok but she slept very well when we finally got home
Hi Matt. We were on the same cruise and totally agree with you 100% about this employee as he barged myself and my wife out of the way as well and treated us like we were steerage passengers. Couldn't fault the rest of the staff onboard but this one guy needs some sort of refresher course on treating / dealing with customers. Super vlog as always and hope your Mum is ok.
Thanks Joe. Mum is OK - there's usually a week of "never again" after every cruise - this time it probably lasted 2 weeks because of that experience, but she's back planning the next one so no lasting damage! Quite staggered that I've heard nothing back from MSC about this...
Glad that you posted this. I'd read reports of disembarkation chaos on this cruise, but the Facebook fan pages were blaming the passengers, rather than looking at the real cause. Embarkation and disembarkation are essential parts of the travel experience, and the cruise lines shouldn't be able to excuse themselves of responsibility for this.
Thanks Paul. The passengers were certainly grumpy - I didn't include the worst bits of the passenger behaviour as I don't think that's helpful... But the cause was certainly Border Force's go slow... Most passengers were very respectful and patient
Had our first cruise September this year. 6000 passengers. Our disembarkation time was 8.45, we were in our car at 9.00. Had the best time ever d
I'm very happy for you!!! I've gathered since making this video that the scrutiny came about because of our stops in the Canary Islands - a well known destination for people who tend to forget cigarette allowances.... Although industrial action certainly compounded the issues
Hi I have watched a few of your videos so far and good to see your perspective on things.
As luck would have it I was on the same cruise along with five friends.
The disembarkation process issue I believe was definitely caused by border force in the main.
You may recall the captain making announcements that border force was suspending disembarkation and then there would be a gap of 15-20 minutes before calling out the next group.
Last year I travelled as a Yacht Club member and one of the negatives was that priority embarkation and disembarkation where they were pushing past people caused a lot of friction and to be honest you felt a bit threatened and when leaving back at Southampton people were deliberately moving their hand luggage to try and stop people getting past.
Whilst it is a perk of having paid twice to three times the price dependant on cabin and as you say and as I suggested last year, either have a separate time or a separate level after all there are generally only 250 in yacht club.
This time I was in the main part of the ship and when we were getting off, after your time so even worse possibly, part of the issue was there was also a lot of crew getting off as well which made a bad situation worse.
The luggage area was complete mayhem with no one taking charge in any way with people jumping the queue etc MSC may not have authority to be in that area though..
Given that they were trying to get 4200 people off the ship and because of the delays people were also trying to embark along with I believe 3 other ships going through the same process.
You can self disembark if you take your own suitcases off early which two of our party did and were back home before we had even got out of the car park.
We took, similar to you, 3 hours from leaving the cabin to leaving the car park and google maps sent us all over the place to avoid the gridlock.
This is potentially going to have a knock on effect as certainly the people in my group have vowed not to use Southampton again as it soured what had been an excellent holiday and I would think others may feel the same way.
A bit long winded this comment all the best keep up the good work and kind regards.
Thanks so much for that! Interesting point about how you feel when you "benefit" from the priority disembarkation when in the yacht club - I would have felt very uncomfortable to have been behind that oaf pushing through a dense crowd of elderly people.... And your final point is probably the most important one - people will avoid MSC (and Southampton) because of this when it really wasn't MSC (or Southampton's) fault...
Well done for standing up to the employee. Nobody has the right to barge past anyone its extremely rude. I have been in this situation with someone who thought they had the right to barge me out the way at 6ft2 and 19 stone they didnt succeed in barging me very far
Never heard anything back from MSC, which is disappointing...
Disembarkation 2 weeks ago on Virtuosa in Southampton was fast and very well organised.
Excellent. Pleased our experience was not typical for Southampton these days
This is shocking behaviour by an MSC employee and such a shame, as everyone always says how good the MSC employees are.
He really appears to have let the side down for them.
I hope MSC take your video seriously. I hope your mum didn't suffer too badly.❤
Thanks Elizabeth-Anne. I am in contact with MSC - I would have liked to get a response from them before releasing this video but nothing yet.... Mum is ok but she slept really well after we eventually got home!
Why because they are an Italian company what’s the surprise
Just returned from msc virtuosa yesterday. The disembarkation was excellent. The issue we had is that the boat was fully booked with Iver 6000 guests but they didn't seem to have enough staff to cope with this amount of people.
Hi there. I've seen some stuff online about that cruise... A disaster in Ireland and a missed port straight after!! Some people say "it was full and it was brilliant" and some say "it was full and it was a disaster"... Glad to hear Border Force decided against obstructing you all this week!
@MattsOceans hi yes the pool equipment had a failure and flooded the game zone area. Falmouth was cancelled due to the swells being to high to safely use tender boats so it was a day at sea.
Thug is a perfect description for this....thug.
I didn't enjoy making this video... But I think I needed to do it...
I've given MSC two chances to prove they were worth cruising with instead of my regular cruises on Royal and Norwegian. I will never cruise on MSC again. I had a major issue on embark out of Cape Canaveral and then three months later had a horrible disembark problem. If MSC ever wants to pull customers from other cruise lines they really need to clean up their act.
Thanks for that - I'm 1-1 on good and bad disembarkations so far... Getting on or off is only a couple of hours out of the 168 hours in a week but it makes such a difference to the overall perception of the trip...
Does anyone know: What did these impromptu security checks by Border Control amount to? How many passengers were searched and what were the results?
We couldn't see what had been happening before we got there... When we did walk through there was one group being inspected who had a large pile of cigarettes on the customs bench. We'd been to the Canary islands and ciggies are particularly cheap there so that may be what they were trying to find... But I think this may have been part of a wider protest over pay that's been dragging on between Border Force and the government for months.
Bit worried now going on our first cruise next year with a disabled husband who can’t stand up for long periods of time.
I think this was a bit of a one off... I'm still in a few Virtuosa groups online and I've not heard of any disembarkation this bad since.... MSC will give you assisted disembarkation if you ask before the cruise which may at least allow your hubby to wait in a wheelchair if things get rough again...
Like CPH airport border control
I really hope not - this was truly awful and genuinely unsafe
@@MattsOceans it's the busy body attitude of border control that gets me, not as unsafe as that but causes unsafeness/ tempers, when at Heathrow with electronic makes life a breeze and if an issue get directed to border force. I m a big fan of automation if people are wasting people's time just for the sake of it
Don't hold your breath waiting for MSC (Mediocre Shipping Company) to ask you for the video of the crew member thug. Their customer service is non-existent.
Silence so far... Although I know its been watched by someone on their team... I will update you all as and when!
That is nothing next to what we had in 2014 in Italy, after the ferry from Greece arrived at Ancona, 3 hour wait on our bus with italian border guards with Machine guns, looking for illegal immigrants from Africa who had climbed under the undercarriage of the bus - a African American guy on tour was harassed by the guards until the tour operators speaking frantic Italian speakers had to convince 'Frontieri" that he was a Black American and not a Nigerian overstayer. Turned out our friend was Portorican and could only speak Spanish hence the suspicion. I got a couple of looks because of my brown Maori skin and big Maori lips - but was left alone. - Racism pure and simple. I was penalised for TWB = Travelling while Black or Brown.
Thanks for sharing that... Must have been a very difficult experience.... But as in so many cases, the authorities are in charge and are immune to criticism.... Would anything happen if you formally complained? No.... Will the border force people in Southampton that caused this face any consequences? No....
Terrible behaviour by MSC. Hopefully a swfit resolution will help the situation. By the way... Route 66 booked for end of April 2024 :)
Still waiting for a response from MSC! April 2024 probably feels a long way off still!
@@MattsOceans Thailand and Rome to look forward to before the USA! First time to both places, so new experiences this year.
@@visions1970 Thailand is amazing... Have a great time...
Hi Matt. Hope you mum is OK after this ordeal👍 Absolutely absurdly ridicoulous behaviour by an absolute idiot and thug. You were restrained, I would have decked the clown🥵. This is just not on and based on this behaviour, even one rotten apple, I probably won't ever cruise on them. Please keep your honest and valuable reviews coming. I for one appreciate them💪🇿🇦
Hi Peet. She's fine, thanks for asking. Might take a bit of convincing to go from Southampton on MSC again though!
I think I would of pushed and swore at that violent tyrant!.
I knew my camera was rolling so was a little more cautious about retaliating than I might have been otherwise!!!
Wow, what a horrendous experience. As for the butler, you should report him to the police for assault. He'd have been flat on his back if he had done that to me. I hope your mum was ok after this. It will be interesting to see MSC's response. frankly you should have included the edited out footage.
Thanks - I did get some advice from a friend that what the butler did (sounds like a whodunnit!) would qualify as assault, but I'm happy to be taking a more conservative approach. Waiting for MSC to respond... Mum was ok but she slept very well when we finally got home