Help, MSC separated young family's cabins with no notification

[AmiSwe]

Here comes an unhappy update. We talked to MSC again.   The agent said they would be able to have a supervisor call us "very shortly" and asked for our contact information.  We explained that we are in Sweden but they said it would not be an issue and got our phone number inluding country code. (NOTE: the supervisor we later talked to said they couldn't contact us because they can't call international numbers....)

 

Nobody called for 45 minutes so we called back and after a lengthy hold time got a supervisor on the line.

 

Now we received yet another explanation as to why we were moved.  Apparently inventory decided that due to the "life vest situation" they needed to shuffle people around.  And, due to the very same "life vest situation" they were also unable to change our cabins at this point.  We pointed out that e.g. swapping three people in a three person cabin for three other people in another three person cabin ought logically not to affect the distribution of life vests, but they seemed unable or unwilling to accept this.  (Notably, a different agent had said the change was because we had two people in a room that could hold four). We also learned that MSC policy is that they do not need to inform passengers if they do decide to change their cabin numbers.  This was such an surprise that we asked several times to confirm it, and according to the supervisor that is indeed the case.  So we were moved from two adjacent rooms (which when booked were chosen specifically so we could stay together as a family) to two completely different rooms on separate decks without them letting anyone in our group know.  This is of course extremely disappointing as the adjoining cabins were the sole reason we chose to book this cruise initially (something MSC was made aware of).

 

The booking agent who handled the initial booking apparently no longer works for the company and also did not do the booking correctly as the web logins were unavailable as well.  MSC were unwilling and unable to provide any comments as to why (or in what way) the initial booking was done incorrectly or how bookings should be done to avoid separating families (he said our booking in fact did indicate we were a family group, contradictory to other agents). 

 

We pointed out to them that at this point MSC has managed to split up a  family with small children and forcing an elderly lady carrying  an oxygen tank to wander across half the ship to see parts of said family.  This does not seem to have any bearing on their decisionmaking.  We also informed them that we would accept a cabin downgrade as long as we can get cabins closer together and that unless they are willing to work with us on this we have no choice but to ask neighboring cabins if they would consider changing rooms, explaining the reason why.  They said this was acceptable. They are now putting in another ticket to "inventory" to see if they can do something but we do not have very high hopes at this point. 

 

Needless to say we are extremely disappointed.  We've been on multiple cruises with Norwegian before and with A-Rosa and feel their customer service is light years beyond MSC, who only seem to care about how many tickets they can sell.

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by AmiSwe

[sidari]

What you were told about Lifeboats rather than vests is correct, each Lifeboat station covers a certain number of cabins and Lifeboats, when the number of people exceeds the available seats on lifeboats is when cruise lines have to juggle people around.

Sadly your cabins appear to be in that scenario and at this late stage they would find it difficult to move people around, as for swapping cabins with others direct that could cause even more issues should there be an emergency and your family could well end up having different lifeboat stations

I also doubt that guest services would be willing to make any changes onboard, I hope that MSC are able to help out with your issue.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, AmiSwe said:

We also learned that MSC policy is that they do not need to inform passengers if they do decide to change their cabin numbers.  T

 

 We pointed out to them that at this point MSC has managed to split up a  family with small children and forcing an elderly lady carrying  an oxygen tank to wander across half the ship to see parts of said family.  This does not seem to have any bearing on their decisionmaking.  We also informed them that we would accept a cabin downgrade as long as we can get cabins closer together and that unless they are willing to work with us on this we have no choice but to ask neighboring cabins if they would consider changing rooms, explaining the reason why.  They said this was acceptable. They are now putting in another ticket to "inventory" to see if they can do something but we do not have very high hopes at this point. 

 

Needless to say we are extremely disappointed.  We've been on multiple cruises with Norwegian before and with A-Rosa and feel their customer service is light years beyond MSC, who only seem to care about how many tickets they can sell.

 

 

 

 

Oh no, how unfortunate 😞

 

MSC does appear to move people's cabins more often than other lines. I would not bother asking for any changes once on-board the ship. Those will probably cause your family less hassle than you would have to just accept cabins far apart. If this doesn't get handles shoreside, I would not get your hopes up that something can be done on-board.

 

This is a good example for people considering MSC to be aware of. US mainstream lines often take the 'customer is always right' approach.  You can't count on that same attitude when dealing with MSC.

 

 

[Momken]

 
Oh no, how unfortunate [emoji20]
 
MSC does appear to move people's cabins more often than other lines. I would not bother asking for any changes once on-board the ship. Those will probably cause your family less hassle than you would have to just accept cabins far apart. If this doesn't get handles shoreside, I would not get your hopes up that something can be done on-board.
 
This is a good example for people considering MSC to be aware of. US mainstream lines often take the 'customer is always right' approach.  You can't count on that same attitude when dealing with MSC.
 
 

Frown upon just all share the room for the three a bit compact but at least your family is together

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[TampaGambler]

Did the OP book guaranteed or did they select a cabin during booking?

[BermudaBound2014]

11 minutes ago, TampaGambler said:

Did the OP book guaranteed or did they select a cabin during booking?

 

OP selected very specific cabins. Unfortunately, this happens periodically with MSC. They reserve the right to change any cabin and they don't have to inform you either :(.

[Fogfog]

This is very disappointing. The cabins should have been linked and noted as family/young children and elderly (medical) etc

Feel very badly for them as this will impact everything including meals etc

Being all together in the same muster should the need arise is important.