MSC refund policy coronavirus

[BermudaBound2014]

There are other cruise lines are doing a better job with refunds. It's undeniable.

 

My 60 days were up last Thursday. Nothing. Nodda. Zip. Meanwhile, multiple Carnival cruisers have received their cash refunds for the same Easter Sailing weeks ago. Why can Carnival process the Easter Week refunds so much quicker? Simple answer, customer service.

 

It's also undeniable that there are many people still waiting for refunds across the industry (HAL and Princess are certainly lagging behind); However there is substantial progress being made based on reports here on CC and social media with multiple lines. 

 

From my reading,  RCL and Celebrity are leading the pack with customer service. This is from a RCL guest ~ can you imagine getting a full cash refund from MSC in ADVANCE of the sailing date? 

 

From another CC Member on the RCL forum: "I had four cruises cancelled by Royal Caribbean.  I waited until RC cancelled them, then applied for cash refunds. The four cruises were scheduled for May 4, May 11, May 18 & June 7.  (Yes, I should be in Bermuda right now.) All four were refunded to my credit card, accurate to the exact penny, as of today, May 12.  Each cruise had four separate amounts posted to my CC."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by BermudaBound2014

[Rob-Bob]

Day 62 and no refund.  I agree with Tampagambler, sheer volume does not justify zero refunds after 2 months.  It may justify not everyone receiving a refund.

[skiierx131]

6 hours ago, TampaGambler said:

MSC's excuse that it will take 60 days to complete refunds is garbage and can be debunked with one simple example.

 

Currently, MSC's sole excuse is the shear volume of refunds, however, if that were the case then we would've already seen at-least some early passengers receive their refunds. I would be way more understanding if you could see they were processing refunds and were on only through some date in April. However, they haven't even processed any refunds for the famous Puerto Rico cruise that was supposed to get refunds. They are basically saying, "We need 60 days to process refunds, but within the 60 day period we haven't processed any refunds." Do they really expect me to believe they haven't processed any refunds "due to volume" and then they are going to process months worth of refunds overnight?????

 

I've been waiting on the hope that MSC would do the right thing. We really enjoyed our cruise on the Seaside in the Yacht Club, so are reluctant to dispute with my CC for fear they will say we cannot cruise in the future. However, the time is quickly approaching the point where I'll say screw it, dispute with my CC and cruise in the Haven again if they block me. 

Exactly how I feel too. I understand MSC has a backlog of probably hundreds of thousands of cash refunds to process and it will take some time for some people. But how have they not started to process any of the early Mid March requests? Why do they keep sitting and letting that pile grow and grow. Patience is running short.

Edited May 17, 2020 by skiierx131

[GatorMomInNC]

15 hours ago, skiierx131 said:

Exactly how I feel too. I understand MSC has a backlog of probably hundreds of thousands of cash refunds to process and it will take some time for some people. But how have they not started to process any of the early Mid March requests? Why do they keep sitting and letting that pile grow and grow. Patience is running short.

My request was on MARCH 2ND and not only have I not received it, but they are now saying they won't even START processing it UNTIL JUNE despite having told me several times it was being processed.  And then I will have to wait at least another 2 months from then. 

 

MSC is so full of crap.  

[sidari]

You do know that the US office furloughed 128 staff ? Likely therein lies the cause of refunds taking so long.

[Até]

45 minutes ago, sidari said:

You do know that the US office furloughed 128 staff ? Likely therein lies the cause of refunds taking so long.

But that was mostly sales jobs and didn't happen until mid May.  Plus, what's been going on for the last two months when they had a full staff?

[sidari]

Office based staff could have been used on the refund side but who knows why it is taking so long and not just in the USA 

[sfaaa]

It's mostly a cash flow issue, not a staffing issue.

[lovetoholiday]

14 hours ago, sfaaa said:

It's mostly a cash flow issue, not a staffing issue.

Then why is it taking so long to issue the FCC's?

 

 

[Rob-Bob]

I have some good news.  I have a pending credit showing on my CC account.  The credit is for my final payment on my 3/22/20 cruise that was cancelled.  The credit is for the correct amount of my final payment that was made in early January.  I did make my initial payment 14 months ago on a different credit card.  That credit has not shown up ($198).

 

This certainly is a step in the right direction and hopefully those with cruises cancelled in mid-late March will start seeing refunds.

[BermudaBound2014]

14 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

I have some good news.  I have a pending credit showing on my CC account.  The credit is for my final payment on my 3/22/20 cruise that was cancelled.  The credit is for the correct amount of my final payment that was made in early January.  I did make my initial payment 14 months ago on a different credit card.  That credit has not shown up ($198).

 

This certainly is a step in the right direction and hopefully those with cruises cancelled in mid-late March will start seeing refunds.

 

What day did you dispute?

[Rob-Bob]

I applied for the cash refund with MSC on 3/15/20.  I did not dispute with CC.  I have been waiting and it is day 65 since applying for the refund.  I am feeling pretty good right now.

 

I would have rather been on the cruise.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, Rob-Bob said:

I applied for the cash refund with MSC on 3/15/20.  I did not dispute with CC.  I have been waiting and it is day 65 since applying for the refund.  I am feeling pretty good right now.

 

I would have rather been on the cruise.

 

OMG that is fantastic! I've been waiting to dispute hoping MSC will do the right thing. Congrats!

[DerTobi75]

Got an E-Mail today from MSC, they confirmed, that we get a Refund instead of FCCs!

 

They asked that we wait another 60 days before the money might back on our CC. Let see, if this is really gonna happen.

[nyk24]

A cruise passenger asked the captain of one of the MSC ships how many times can a ship sink?

 

Captain says just the once and the passenger then says how many times do.you have to ask MSC for a refund?

 

Captain says sorry have to dash now looks like the ship is sinking.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 5/17/2020 at 11:11 AM, TampaGambler said:

Currently, MSC's sole excuse is the sheer volume of refunds, however, if that were the case then we would've already seen at-least some early passengers receive their refunds

yeap, just got a reply to my inquiry:

 

MSC is working diligently to process refund disbursements. Due to the unprecedented volume it is taking longer than anticipated. It is our intention to issue refunds as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience. Thank you.

 

Right, working diligently to process them. I replied that I will be disputing it with my credit card. Don't know if saying it makes any difference to them, but I need my money back. It doesn't take 60+ days to get a refund EVER. It takes about 5 minutes to process one.

[psmarkle]

Posted this on another thread, but finally see some good news from MSC.  My cc account now shows a "pending" credit from MSC for my final payment amount ($6K+).  Requested a refund on March 14th for an April 11th sailing.  65 days.

 

My initial deposit was on a different cc and that one is still showing nada as far as that refund, but this finally shows progress, right?!

 

Guess I can start looking at future cruises for next year now 🙂

Edited May 20, 2020 by psmarkle

[GatorMomInNC]

28 minutes ago, psmarkle said:

Posted this on another thread, but finally see some good news from MSC.  My cc account now shows a "pending" credit from MSC for my final payment amount ($6K+).  Requested a refund on March 14th for an April 11th sailing.  65 days.

 

My initial deposit was on a different cc and that one is still showing nada as far as that refund, but this finally shows progress, right?!

 

Guess I can start looking at future cruises for next year now 🙂

I am happy for you but confused as to why I was told that my requested refund from March 2nd will now be given 60 days after my cruise date of June 20th - while you apparently asked for yours 12 days later and got it less than 60 days from your cruise date.  So WHAT IS the policy and why not being applied to everyone evenly???

[psmarkle]

Gator,

 

Wish I had some insight for you, not sure why it appears I'm getting the bulk of my $$ back.  Is it because I e-mailed the sales service section saying it'd been 60 days already and I would be refuting the charges with my cc company?  Don't know as I'm sure others have said that and probably don't have their money yet, either.

 

Frustrating process with not much clarity coming from MSC.

 

BTW, next door in Holly Springs!

[djhstevens]

Day 66 and still no refund. Last week I was told it was refunded on 5/12, today I am told it was done on 4/18, when I tell them there is nothing on my credit card they say that’s when they processed it and I need to wait 60 days. I said you told me 5/12 last week, then it’s 60 days from then they say. The other party that was cruising with us got their deposit back, still waiting for the balance to refund from TA.

i have asked for a manager to call me or I am calling my credit card company to dispute the charges. The guy told me they have let all but three people in the accounting department so they are behind. Urgh! 

[danielbanks]

Uk based 15 March sailing and only just got my extras back i.e excursions and drinks. Still waiting for the actual cruise fare from the agent, it's a start, Ironically i booked it to the exact day i started getting the money back and almost bang on the 60 days refund promise. 

[lovetoholiday]

70 days since my cancelled March 12th cruise. Still nothing!

[lovetoholiday]

I decided I would try emailing them again as it's almost a month since they replied to my last email saying the FCC's would be sent out imminently!  For the first time I received an instant confirmation of receipt of the email - see below.  Looks like my imminently has just moved to 120 days from now!!!    

 

Thank you for contacting MSC Cruises Operations team.

Should your email be concerning a request for a refund of your cancelled booking, please accept this as acknowledgement of your request and no further action is required from yourself at this point.  All refunds will be processed within and up to 120 days of the date of this request. Please note no reply will be sent by us at this stage.

If your email is regarding redeeming your Refund Credit Note, please revert to the link given on the voucher where you can confidently request your move.  Please make sure you have included all information required to avoid further delays and include the ship and sail date.

 Should your booking be with a travel agent, they will receive the credit note on your behalf and will discuss all your options with you.

Should you have a booking directly with MSC Cruises, the voucher will be sent to yourselves via the contact details you provided us at the time of booking.

Due to the high volume of requests we are working as quickly as possible to answer your queries if the above is not applicable to you, however due to the circumstances delays in response are possible.  

We appreciate your patience during these unprecedented times and we ask that you do not resubmit your request which may cause further delays in our response times,

Thank you again,

[chrisgalwv]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:46 PM, GatorMomInNC said:

I just called my TA again but I didn't ask her to call MSC again yet - I will wait until Monday or Tuesday.  She said they are seeing things take up to 3 mos.   It is very frustrating because I want to book a new cruise for next year - I am holding off on rebooking all of my flights and everything until I book the cruise.

 

To give you a DIFFERENT customer service experience, Southwest Airlines just called ME to find out if I still intend to travel over Memorial Day weekend since my flight was changed.  I told them that I as going to visit relatives who are self quarantining because they are in their 60s and I'm pretty sure they don't want us to come up there after a plane trip.  They refunded me the money I had paid for early bird; rebanked my points I had used on my son's flight; issued me a travel voucher for my flight (I had used a travel voucher that would have expired in September, they extended it for 2 years).  Also, they have extended my companion pass for another 6 mos.  

Because SWA is a stand up company, who knows what they're doing, who values and treats customers as they should, UNLIKE this train wreck of a cruise line. Refund promised in 30 days, then 60, then absolutely by May 20 (via email).

Today is the 81st day I've been off that boat and still NOTHING. 

[mamaneedsavacay]

Also posted this in the Americans' refund thread, but we got our refund today. Booked USA to sail Mar 15, which was canceled by MSC. Requested FCC on Mar 30 through online form. Pre-paid items and port fees, etc. were credited to our credit card today in the correct amounts. Have not received official FCC certificate, but it may have gone to my TA. Previous emails from MSC state that the 125% FCC is already in my account and they will apply it when I am ready to book. 

 

It was a nerve-wracking two months, but in all, they are officially within 60 days of when I submitted my online form. I'll be ready to sail with them again.