Book new cruise before cancelling existing booking?

[Magnelasagne]

I have a booking for Bellissima in oct, and I can now get an inside fantastica cabin for just a little more than inside studio Bella that I got booked. 

My question is if I can do a new booking before I cancel the existing booking?  I’m afraid to get burned if I cancel before booking the new one, and might not get the deal I’m seeing now. 

[Até]

Most cruise lines have a system to prevent the same person from having two cabin assignments on the same cruise.  I have no idea how fast MSC would pick up on a double booking, their IT can be painfully slow on some aspects then surprisingly fast in others.  Since this would be considered an upgrade why not just call and make the change to the existing booking?  That would save the hassle of making a second deposit, waiting for a refund of the first deposit and getting another booking number.

 

ETA: I'm also unsure where you booked and your cancellation deposit policy.

Edited April 13, 2019 by Até

[Magnelasagne]

My booking is directly with msc, and I have called cs and was told since this is another promotion than my original booking the only way to do it is to cancel and rebook.  

I would lose 50€ deposit, but it would still be worth it. 

But maybe I should try calling again. As I understand the outcome of different requests may be different from one agent to the next when it comes to MSC...

[Até]

In the US you cannot change to a new promotion without canceling and re-booking so what MSC told you makes sense.  As a protection measure I would try to make the second booking before canceling the first booking.

[Magnelasagne]

Will try calling again and see if there is a way to do it to make sure I get the new booking secured befor canceling. If not I’ll just keep my original booking. 

 

[sptrout]

I do not know about MSC, but I did exactly what you are asking about on Celebrity a couple of years ago. We had an Aqua Class booked and paid for (what I am describing was about 10 days before sailing). I saw that an aft facing Suite Suite (SS) was open for just $600 more for the two of us, so I booked it to make sure that someone else didn't get it first. I then called Celebrity's Captain's Club and the agent saw what I had done so she changed my original booking to the SS and canceled my new booking. Ended up in the SS with the same original booking number for a total cost of $600, which was a steal for a 10-day cruise.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, Até said:

In the US you cannot change to a new promotion without canceling and re-booking so what MSC told you makes sense.  As a protection measure I would try to make the second booking before canceling the first booking.

Hi Ate'

That is exactly what I did and it worked out quite well. I was lucky to get a very good CS rep, who worked me through all the steps, added the discounts, perks, etc.  First person I have ever experienced at MSC CS who really knows his stuff and how to do it.

[Até]

12 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Hi Ate'

That is exactly what I did and it worked out quite well. I was lucky to get a very good CS rep, who worked me through all the steps, added the discounts, perks, etc.

Hi Arzeena.  As with all thinks MSC and as you and Magnelasagne state it's true you can get different answers from different reps.  But I feel some of this reported inconsistency is because of the difference between what MSC considers a promotional rate and a discount.  I will just say in most cases if you make a booking, say with the 2-for-1 promotion/rate then later tried to change to the All-In promotion/rate while trying to keep the old prices, it is not going to happen.  One specific exemption was MSC did allow people to change from Fantastica vouchers to DOU if they were before final payment.  The other side is that you can add discounts like Voyagers Selection discounts and perks to an existing booking.  But in general if you try to change promotional rates MSC will want you to cancel and re-book.  I've never been successful, but perhaps you will find someone who can get around this and change the existing booking but I'm sure it will be at the new booking rate.

[Arzeena]

On 4/13/2019 at 2:50 PM, Até said:

Hi Arzeena.  As with all thinks MSC and as you and Magnelasagne state it's true you can get different answers from different reps.  But I feel some of this reported inconsistency is because of the difference between what MSC considers a promotional rate and a discount.  I will just say in most cases if you make a booking, say with the 2-for-1 promotion/rate then later tried to change to the All-In promotion/rate while trying to keep the old prices, it is not going to happen.  One specific exemption was MSC did allow people to change from Fantastica vouchers to DOU if they were before final payment.  The other side is that you can add discounts like Voyagers Selection discounts and perks to an existing booking.  But in general if you try to change promotional rates MSC will want you to cancel and re-book.  I've never been successful, but perhaps you will find someone who can get around this and change the existing booking but I'm sure it will be at the new booking rate.

Yes, it was confusion galore! can do cannot do, yes no, but it worked out.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Arzeena