MSC refund policy coronavirus

[niko40]

 i have asked MSC what their policy is with regards being denied boarding at embarkation due to the coronavirus issues, below is their response luckily we have not paid our final payments so will now be looking at going with a cruise line that will offer a full refund.

I dont want the hassle with insurance company.

 

Dear Mr xxxx

 

I hope this finds you well.

 

Currently we are only advising for cruises in March and April.

 

When we get closer to the date, we will reassess the situation.

 

Passengers that are denied boarding due to illness such as fever, are currently offered to postpone the cruise or they can claim the refund to their Travel Insurance, if this may help to answer your query.

 

However, as mentioned, it is actually too early to advise in regards.

 

 

 

 

Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

   

 

Booking Management

 

MSC Cruises Ltd

5 Roundwood Avenue

Stockley Park

Uxbridge

UB11 1AF

United Kingdom

[niko40]

You will need a doctors note to claim off insurance not sure you will get one for a high temperature 

[GOLDENBONNY]

16 minutes ago, niko40 said:

 i have asked MSC what their policy is with regards being denied boarding at embarkation due to the coronavirus issues, below is their response luckily we have not paid our final payments so will now be looking at going with a cruise line that will offer a full refund.

I dont want the hassle with insurance company.

 

Dear Mr xxxx

 

I hope this finds you well.

 

Currently we are only advising for cruises in March and April.

 

When we get closer to the date, we will reassess the situation.

 

Passengers that are denied boarding due to illness such as fever, are currently offered to postpone the cruise or they can claim the refund to their Travel Insurance, if this may help to answer your query.

 

However, as mentioned, it is actually too early to advise in regards.

 

 

 

 

Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

   

 

Booking Management

 

MSC Cruises Ltd

5 Roundwood Avenue

Stockley Park

Uxbridge

UB11 1AF

United Kingdom

no cruise line will offer you full refund if there is no reason for this. No one can tell you now what gonna happen in 24 hours not only in couple month. 

[niko40]

18 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

no cruise line will offer you full refund if there is no reason for this. No one can tell you now what gonna happen in 24 hours not only in couple month. 

Royal Caribbean are offering full refunds to anyone denied boarding for these restrictions check your facts

Edited March 4, 2020 by niko40

[sidari]

Viking are also allowing customers to cancel and get a refund up to 24 hours prior to a booked cruise!

[niko40]

There you go most cruises lines are 

[rattanchair]

3 hours ago, niko40 said:

You will need a doctors note to claim off insurance not sure you will get one for a high temperature 

Dear nik,   We all need more than a doctors note to claim reimbursement.  Your insurance company has to send you a form (I suppose they could e-mail a copy) then take it to your physician to fill out and sign. Then wait to see  if it is denied. Been there and done that.

P.S. The physician has to sign off that you are in no condition to take a cruise.

Edited March 4, 2020 by rattanchair
P.S.

[GOLDENBONNY]

4 hours ago, niko40 said:

Royal Caribbean are offering full refunds to anyone denied boarding for these restrictions check your facts

For any date and any cruise? can I have a link please. 

[GOLDENBONNY]

3 hours ago, sidari said:

Viking are also allowing customers to cancel and get a refund up to 24 hours prior to a booked cruise!

Any date this year? any destination? 

[BermudaBound2014]

5 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

Any date this year? any destination? 

 

Yes, Viking is being AMAZING. The caveat is that you have to use the money on a future Viking sailing, it is not a refund. But this is the most consumer friendly policy I've seen. Any cruise. Any time. 

"Viking is allowing cruisers to postpone any cruise at any time up until 24 hours before departure with all cancellation fees waived. Passengers will receive a voucher for future travel valid for 24 months that can be used on any Viking cruise (river, ocean or expedition). The policy is applicable for any current booking and new reservations made through April 30."

[Homosassa]

For those of you not familiar with Viking booking and payment policy, final payment is one year out from the date of the cruise.  Book within one year of the cruise date and payment is due upon booking.

 

There is no nickel and diming of the cruise fare by passengers; the fare you book at is the fare you pay. Of course, fare drops do not occur for most cruises and the ships sell out a year in advance.

 

So after Viking has had the fare money for a year before the cruise, they will now allow a passenger to receive a voucher that is good for up to another twenty four months, therefore having use of the money for up to three years before a passenger claims service for the money paid.

 

The whole situation is a win/win for Viking financially speaking.

 

FYI, I have cruised Viking and I love the standard of service on their cruises. Their fares are worth every penny paid.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 minute ago, Homosassa said:

FYI, I have cruised Viking and I love the standard of service on their cruises. Their fares are worth every penny paid.

I suspect their fares are part of the reason Viking  has offered the industries most consumer friendly corona virus cancellation policy.  You get what you pay for. 

[Homosassa]

1 minute ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

I suspect their fares are part of the reason Viking  has offered the industries most consumer friendly corona virus cancellation policy.  You get what you pay for. 

Absolutely.

 

Viking also target an entirely different marketing demographic. As a whole their passengers are well traveled, financially secure and sophisticated enough to roll with events when "ship" happens.

[niko40]

6 hours ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

For any date and any cruise? can I have a link please. 

Just look on the rc website if you are denied boarding at embarkation for failing temperature check you will get a full refund.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

[lflav]

13 hours ago, niko40 said:

Just look on the rc website if you are denied boarding at embarkation for failing temperature check you will get a full refund.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

 

The problem with this is that you need to get to the ship with a fever.  So if you fall ill a few days before embarkation, you have to fly to the port and show up with 100.4 fever to get your refund. Now you are potentially  infecting people in your travels, including those in the boarding line.  That can’t go wrong!  S/

[niko40]

3 minutes ago, lflav said:

 

The problem with this is that you need to get to the ship with a fever.  So if you fall ill a few days before embarkation, you have to fly to the port and show up with 100.4 fever to get your refund. Now you are potentially  infecting people in your travels, including those in the boarding line.  That can’t go wrong!  S/

Well i would hope most people would have the sense not to travel if they had a fever and get a doctors note to claim their refund. The point of my post was that if you should be denied at embarkation you would still get a full refund unlike MSC 

[GOLDENBONNY]

22 minutes ago, niko40 said:

Well i would hope most people would have the sense not to travel if they had a fever and get a doctors note to claim their refund. The point of my post was that if you should be denied at embarkation you would still get a full refund unlike MSC 

As much as I know people getting refund now from MSC .But my pint is even if they return money today no one will guarantee you on a week or a month what will happened . Situation changes by minute . 

Edited March 5, 2020 by GOLDENBONNY

[niko40]

Well they havent published anything yet and i called them again today and the said nothing had changed from the email they sent me they would not be offering refunds.

[sidari]

niko ... Still waiting here for a response to my email to them, their only post to my knowledge that I have read has said that any cancellation of a booking that is paid will lose the deposit or be issued with a future cruise credit for a cruise of the same value.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

As much as I know people getting refund now from MSC .But my pint is even if they return money today no one will guarantee you on a week or a month what will happened . Situation changes by minute . 

 

Reference please, this contradicts what is currently published.

[aprilF]

32 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Reference please, this contradicts what is currently published.

My guess is that the pp was referencing the Italian passengers that were prevented from boarding in Miami last week.  It isnt exactly the same because these passengers were denied even though they (presumably) could pass the health screening and were not from any of the restricted areas that MSC published, they were from a different area in Italy.  So basically MSC was denying them even though they should not have because some islands are being very cautious and not allowing ships with any Italians to port.  To me, this is very different from someone from a published restricted area or failing the health screening and being denied boarding.

[Nikita4]

1 hour ago, aprilF said:

My guess is that the pp was referencing the Italian passengers that were prevented from boarding in Miami last week.  It isnt exactly the same because these passengers were denied even though they (presumably) could pass the health screening and were not from any of the restricted areas that MSC published, they were from a different area in Italy.  So basically MSC was denying them even though they should not have because some islands are being very cautious and not allowing ships with any Italians to port.  To me, this is very different from someone from a published restricted area or failing the health screening and being denied boarding.

 

I don't think that's true with the Italians, perhaps they traveled trough Milan Airport or a town how is in quarantine. 
Otherwise MSC will write on the homepage that all Italians citizens can't board a MSC Ship.
And there are a lot of Italien citzens they don't liv in Italy and aren't in Italy for months, they can travel in the moment with no problems.

 

And a lot of the officers on board the MSC Ships are Italians, mostly the Capitan, the Staff Captain, first Officers and other leading Staff.

[rwm01]

MSC Cruises has reneged on their offer to reschedule cruises to Italy!

 

In late February an e-mail was sent out by Ken Muskat, EVP and COO of MSC Cruises USA allowing travel agents to postpone and re-book cruises due to COVID-19. We are now informed by our travel agent that MSC has changed their mind and is not honoring these postponements / re-bookings.

 

After working with our travel agent to reschedule our cruise and then cancelling all our travel arrangements surrounding the original cruise, we are now faced with not even being able to get to the ship if we wanted to!

 

Totally untrustworthy!

[sidari]

23 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

 

I don't think that's true with the Italians, perhaps they traveled trough Milan Airport or a town how is in quarantine. 
Otherwise MSC will write on the homepage that all Italians citizens can't board a MSC Ship.
And there are a lot of Italien citzens they don't liv in Italy and aren't in Italy for months, they can travel in the moment with no problems.

 

And a lot of the officers on board the MSC Ships are Italians, mostly the Capitan, the Staff Captain, first Officers and other leading Staff.

Italian crew members were also barred from boarding!

 

[sidari]

niko ... Saga Cruise line policy as of 1 hour ago UK.

 

Saga Ocean Cruise Updated Price/Cancellation Promise***

☑️Free of charge cancellation up to 14 days before sailing; no questions asked

☑️Applies to cruises sailing from June to December 2020

☑️Valid on new bookings made in March 2020

☑️Also applicable to existing bookings, providing they are sailing June to December 2020

Commission protected and paid in line with our standard cancellation policy – the customer will receive a full refund up to 14 days, but you will still earn the relevant commission amount on the cancellation!
☑️ Backed by Saga’s Price Promise
Book your customers cruise with confidence today!