Booking cruise from Europe

[patrice1]

We're Americans, currently residents of Portugal and experienced cruisers, although all have been in the US until now. I am trying to book a Med cruise with MSC -our first with them, and am having trouble. When I try from here, the internet sends me to a UK MSC booking website, but you have to live in the UK to use the site. I could book with Expedia, etc., but want to actually speak with an agent as we have questions, being first timers on MSC. Any suggestions from experienced cruisers? TIA

[Epos Man]

https://www.msccruzeiros.pt/pt-pt/Homepage.aspx

 

Use google chrome to translate unless you know portugese

 

or you could still phone the uk customer support number but that will cost from prtugal

 

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by ikea logistics

[patrice1]

Thanks, but there's still no option to book, it only lets you look at the cruises available.I did email them a contact request, but have yet to hear.

Edited April 4, 2019 by patrice1

[Beamafar]

10 minutes ago, patrice1 said:

Thanks, but there's still no option to book, it only lets you look at the cruises available.I did email them a contact request, but have yet to hear.

 

We in Ireland can't book thru' the website, either;  we have to phone the UK office (it's a freephone number).  We pay in Euros, though.

 

I'll tag @Nunagoras in the hope that he gets an alert - he's based in Portugal and posts here regularly.

Edited April 4, 2019 by Beamafar

[patrice1]

Thank you!

1 minute ago, Beamafar said:

 

We in Ireland can't book thru' the website, either;  we have to phone the UK office (it's a freephone number).  We pay in Euros, though.

 

I'll tag @Nunagoras in the hope that he gets an alert - he's based in Portugal and posts here regularly.

Thank you!

[slaine29]

We live in Mallorca, if you want to book through UK site you need a UK address, but don't worry as its just for a reference on their system. You get all your documents online. Luckily we have parents still in the uk so we use their address. Do you have any friends in UK ? But surely if your USA you could book through US site and get price drop stuff (sorry dont know right name...lol) Uk is not elegible for this.

[stp_mmh5]

We are also Americans, but living in Italy right now. We are still able to access the MSC Cruises USA website to book direct through there. Might be worth giving a try. We've booked all 4 of your cruises direct through there while living over here.

 

Macon and Shane

[framboesa]

Hello, I'm Portuguese, living in Portugal. We normally cruise with Royal Caribbean and Carnival and we can book directly with them, specially carnival (and we are used to do it). But when we cruise with MSC we must contact one travel agency to do it for us.Maybe we are wrong but we were never able to do it online. If you want to do it online you must use one foreign address.I believe there is no problem because everything is made through e-mail. 

[patrice1]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice. We have a billing address in the states, so I was able to book through Expedia. The price was exactly the same, but the cabin choices were much better.

[Beamafar]

Great to hear!  Hope you have a wonderful cruise.  😊

[vluvski]

Patrice, for the future, you can also try cruise compete.  Get rid of the space and type it in your browser, because cruisecritic blocks links.  It is a GREAT site, and I am able to use it as an American living in Germany, paying in US$ at the usually lower American rates, and also get American benefits.  For example, US bookings receive some Kind of badge or flag on their account to get complimentary water in the Dining room, while no one else does.  While I find the Situation a bit distasteful, I would have been more dismayed to discover I had to pay for water in the Dining room when I arrived!

 

Basically, it is a Quote request sent to participating travel agents.  They give you their best offer for cabin Price, OBC, etc...  mine was $200 less and included OBC!

Edited April 11, 2019 by vluvski
clarify resource

[IrishComet]

I was unable to book on the Irish site, so I called them. I got through to the UK office and they were able to book it for me.

As I wanted to book connecting cabins, the agent was unable to do this on the Irish site, so she suggested booking on the UK site, but I would have to pay in sterling. Great, I thought. Everything was going perfect till she needed my address that my credit card was registered to, which is in Ireland. The system wouldn't let her continue, so she suggested that she can book it all and give me the booking number, and I then give it to a UK based travel agent. So I then got in contact with a travel agent in Northern Ireland, and gave them the booking details, paid them, and booking done. In the past I have booked RCI cruises on the UK site as it is normally cheaper than the Irish site, and never had a problem.

[Beamafar]

My experience with MSC UK is if they can access cabin numbers for a UK citizen, they can certainly offer them to us in Ireland.  (The Ireland website isn't set up to allow bookings to be made online, hence MSC offers a freephone number to call).

[thetaro]

Use a VPN and book on US site.