A full story of a complete disrespect with the consumer! Yes, it's for you MSC!

[Victor Joseph]

My dear friends,

 

first of all i am terrible sorry to make this kind of complaint over here. I feel completely powerless since MSC does not respond my messages, so at least here i will remove a huge weight of my chest.

 

My dad and i are loyal customers of MSC, specially now with the MSC Yacht Club class. We just returned from an Italy-Brazil crossing on MSC Preziosa and then we made a Christmas and New Year's cruise on MSC Divina in the Caribbean and i can say that the product is fair, but with what is happening to us now i maybe change my mind about this company.

 

Since we arrived of our last cruise we decided to make the crossing again this year in the MSC Preziosa, and as i said in another posts, the price was really high compared to the last one. OK, my dad enjoys and he deserves it after a long year working all days.

 

We managed to get a reservation in a YC1 De Luxe Suite for about US$8.300,00 for two adults, in this price is included the MSC Gold Member discount. Yes, i found it very expensive too, but my dad insisted. I should tell you all that this reservation was made with the assist of MSC Cruises of Brasil.

 

Well, imagine my surprise when i was checking in the site *********** and found the same cabin for the price of US$5.900 without the MSC Gold Member Discount!!!!! OMG i almost exploded of rage :mad: since we are already paying the other one! It's almost US$2.500,00 of difference! :eek:

 

I really would like to know the reason of this discrimination with brazilian customers!!! Why should i pay US$2.400,00 more just because i am not american or other nationality???? :confused: I know that in different markets you change your policies but i cannot understand this discrepancy happening with me!

 

I am really considering cancell this cruise and simply don't cruise with MSC again. I am convincing my dad that for this price he can go on Queen Mary II or other top class cruise companies.

 

Well my friends, once more I ask my sincerest apologies for this. I posted here since i know that MSC read this and it's "worried" with her image :confused:, maybe not.

 

Thank you all for the attention.

 

Victor Joseph :mad:

[riclop]

If your story is true than cancel and look elsewhere, its just hard to believe that you cant talk to someone at MSC.

[toes_in_sand]

If you are more than 90 days out, contact your TA and have them cancel your booking without penalty and rebook it at the new price.

 

Happens more than you think with all cruiselines (Princess, Carnival, NCL)

[Alex71]

Prices vary by country. We once booked through an American TA without problems because the US price for our cruise was quite a bit lower. On the other hand, when we checked the American prices for our upcoming Easter cuise, they were twice of what our German TA had quoted us.

 

I don't think there's a clear rule that prices are always lower in one market vs. another. It pays to compare. If anything, prices seem to be lower in the US if you book very far ahead, whereas last minte pricing in Germany seems to be a lot better.

 

There are many TAs that handle international bookings, so just use one in the country that offers the best prices.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Alex71

[Katgoesonholiday]

We have the same problem here in New Zealand. That is why I've booked our upcoming cruise through an American travel agency.

 

And it's not just MSC. I've seen it with other lines too.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

Different markets, different pricing. Very common in the cruiseindustry and airlineindustry as well.

[AmoMondo]

Different markets, different pricing. Very common in the cruiseindustry and airlineindustry as well.

 

Yes very true. Could not believe how much more a KLM flight from UK to Peru was if you bought it starting in Peru rather than the UK. It was almost double.

 

Only way around this is to shop around and book through a US TA if you can.

Edited January 31, 2014 by AmoMondo

[Victor Joseph]

Hello friends,

 

 

thank you all for the answers. I feel really upset with this "policy" used by the cruise companies. It's really unfair, selling the same cabin in the same cruise for so different prices. We (brazilian at least) already have to pay high exchange rates and taxes for the transaction, at least the price in dollars (or Euros) should be the same for everyone...

 

I am almost conviced that i will cancel my booking (since the cruise is only in November) and book again with better prices then. My fear is that it would be my first time buying a cruise online. I found the best price on the "classic" cruise dot com. Is it safe and reliable? Can anyone share some comments about?

 

My only experience with booking online is with hotels and i have never paid in advance, with a cruise it would be a lot of money, that's why i would apreciate some comments about this website. Of course, if someone thrust and its a customer of a certain internet travel agency fell free to recommend. (I don't know if this is permitted by cruisecritic rules :confused:)

 

Thank you all again for the attention :)

 

Victor Joseph

[JuneauWhatIMean]

If you go to the top of this page you'll see a box that reads "Find a Cruise". Any of the travel agencies associated with Cruise Critic are verified and legitimate. It really pays to shop around for the best price. Best of luck! :D

[Waihekean]

Well Victor, we can not recommend any travel agents as according to the rules of Cruise Critic. But they themselves advertise several cruise travel agents. You can go to the cruise reviews site. This is when you have opened Cruise Critic and is situated on left hand side top of page. Become a member of their newsletter and CC will send you regular updates by e-mail of the specials. You will also see little ads occurring of different TA's (travel agents). Tak note of the names and do this for a while as they usually show only a few at the time.

 

Then do some researching on the net of these TA's websites. Have they got a lot of cruise info? Like describing all the cruise lines and the ships themselves. Have they got good search engines? Do they have last minute specials? Have they got a free phone number for a lot of countries in the world? Compare a few TA's and see which one appeals to you and describe to their newsletters as well.

 

The other thing is to check which cruiseline will accept bookings through an American agent. For example just booked thru one on a MSC ship, but at first could not do that, as MSC does not accept bookings from Australians. However, as I'm travelling with my Mum who has a Dutch passport and I live in New Zealand, but also have a passport from the Netherlands (so got nothing to do with Australia) was allowed in the end.

Only restriction is that I cannot book excursions or check in via MSC website:confused: Each cruiseline has certain rules about which nationalities they will accept through an American TA. I.e: I can't go with Princess and HAL, but Celebrity does accept foreign bookings.

 

You should also check out your local and national TA's. What actually happened in your case your cruise had a "Price Drop".

It is up to you to find these price drops or certain promotions. Then you need to contact your TA and see if you are eligible for this change in price. Quite often it is for new bookings only, but as an alternative you might want to upgrade to a higher category.

 

NOTE: My deposits to the American TA, always go to the cruise line directly and not them. This way you know that the booking is secure. So check that out as well.

 

Also keep track for any alerts from other Cruise Criticers when a special comes up. This will be hard here on the MSC forum, but on the Celebrity forum it happens all the time.

 

But I would not feel too mad about that you booked at a higher price. It happened to all of us in the beginning.

If we were not on Cruise Critic, we would not even know that you could change the price after booking and before final payment.

 

The important thing is that when you book that you are happy with the price. I find what works best for me is to book an early saver price and then monitor for any price drops. This way I can book a cabin I want and it feels good when the price goes up instead of down.

This did not work for my next cruise, because decided all of a sudden to take a cruise. So for the first time booked an OV cabin and I'm hoping to see some last minute deals and then upgrade to a balcony.

 

All in all, the monitoring takes a lot of time, so you have to figure out what would work the best for you. But for me, since started cruising this is now a hobby:rolleyes: (or addiction):rolleyes:

[Victor Joseph]

Thank you friends for the tips. Now it will be easier to deal with this "new thing" for me. I already sended a request quote for one TA site. They are having problems with my MSC Club Card, but i think this will be solved, after all they have interest to make a sell.

 

Have a nice day for you all.

 

Victor Joseph:)