MSC refund policy coronavirus

[Seanocelt]

7 minutes ago, Intergalactic Cruiser said:

They're pretty useless at communication. The recorded phone messages include an instruction to enter your membership number and then press the £ (pound) key.  Which phone keyboards have such a key! Told them about it months ago, given up, who cares, they don't. 🤑

in American English the pound key is what the UK  call  "# "     UK =  hash 

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

Yes realised that, thanks, as we do use the 'hash' key word here in the UK. No-one apart from MSC, apparently, would ever call it a 'pound' key (or in the States 'dollar' key). Was a trivial point I made but just indicated the communication skills of MSC🙂

[Lewy the expert]

Thanks for the reply weejasser ,have you a email link to cruise 1st ?

[aprilF]

9 hours ago, Intergalactic Cruiser said:

Yes realised that, thanks, as we do use the 'hash' key word here in the UK. No-one apart from MSC, apparently, would ever call it a 'pound' key (or in the States 'dollar' key). Was a trivial point I made but just indicated the communication skills of MSC🙂

 

Its very common to call the "hashtag" symbol the pound sign for US phone menus.  Its a common way to abbreviate pounds when referencing weight like in recipes if something calls for a pound of butter it would likely be written as 1# butter.  If you were calling the UK line then they should have used local dialect.

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

12 hours ago, aprilF said:

 

Its very common to call the "hashtag" symbol the pound sign for US phone menus.  Its a common way to abbreviate pounds when referencing weight like in recipes if something calls for a pound of butter it would likely be written as 1# butter.  If you were calling the UK line then they should have used local dialect.

Thanks for the explanation. Didn't know that.

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

Good news for us and hopefully encouragement for others in the UK. Cruise from Dubai booked for 4th April cancelled and claim for refund made 17th March. Various promises broken but our refund from MSC - not Section 75 - has arrived on our credit card account today! Whoopee

We had to cancel our planned Preziosa cruise 2nd September from Southampton as we weren't prepared to pay the balance a month ago whilst they owed us so much money - £4,400. Just out of interest I asked them if they would reinstate the booking. They said the cruise would be sailing (at the moment) but they weren't encouraging anyone to book it as the capacity would be reduced for distancing. However if we insisted on going they wouldn't stop us...... We won't be going and in any case the price has gone up by £1,000 for the two of us!

Bye Bye MSC may see you again but not this or next year

Hope things work out for all you other sufferers 

[sidari]

September cruises in Northern Europe are cancelled, so you will be happy you did not rebook.

[harz99]

22 minutes ago, sidari said:

September cruises in Northern Europe are cancelled, so you will be happy you did not rebook.

Not what it said on the UK website 2 hours ago, why do you say that?

[sidari]

Read a few of the other threads where those booked have had emails from MSC informing them their cruises are cancelled. The new date is now October 18th that cancellations go up to, don't expect to see anything on the UK website so soon.

[harz99]

36 minutes ago, sidari said:

Read a few of the other threads where those booked have had emails from MSC informing them their cruises are cancelled. The new date is now October 18th that cancellations go up to, don't expect to see anything on the UK website so soon.

Thanks, I just read some of the posts. My situation is I have a November 7 day ex Miami booked through a UK travel agent, I found from another site that MSC were redeploying ships in the Caribbean, sure enough ship changed, cabin changed and extra OBC given, no word from MSC to me or the agent about the changes. My return flight with Norwegian was cancelled and just refunded, and the deposit for my Celebrity Apex cruise prior to my MSC cruise has had the deposit moved to 2021. Final payment for the MSC cruise is first week in August, I'm not going and will not make final payment but would rather get a refund or credit than just give the money to MSC. Hence my question.

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

10 minutes ago, harz99 said:

Thanks, I just read some of the posts. My situation is I have a November 7 day ex Miami booked through a UK travel agent, I found from another site that MSC were redeploying ships in the Caribbean, sure enough ship changed, cabin changed and extra OBC given, no word from MSC to me or the agent about the changes. My return flight with Norwegian was cancelled and just refunded, and the deposit for my Celebrity Apex cruise prior to my MSC cruise has had the deposit moved to 2021. Final payment for the MSC cruise is first week in August, I'm not going and will not make final payment but would rather get a refund or credit than just give the money to MSC. Hence my question.

This is typical MSC misinfo if what sidari says is true. I have been told by MSC twice and Cruise1st that the September Southampton to Genoa has NOT been cancelled and if I want to book I can though they are not recommending people to do so. There is no mention of cancellations past July on the MSC website in Europe. It is different for the USA as ports won't accept cruise ships. In Europe the position is still unclear with Spanish ports closed. MSC clearly hoping the ports will be open before they have to make their arrangements to return to their home port. 

[sidari]

1 hour ago, harz99 said:

Thanks, I just read some of the posts. My situation is I have a November 7 day ex Miami booked through a UK travel agent, I found from another site that MSC were redeploying ships in the Caribbean, sure enough ship changed, cabin changed and extra OBC given, no word from MSC to me or the agent about the changes. My return flight with Norwegian was cancelled and just refunded, and the deposit for my Celebrity Apex cruise prior to my MSC cruise has had the deposit moved to 2021. Final payment for the MSC cruise is first week in August, I'm not going and will not make final payment but would rather get a refund or credit than just give the money to MSC. Hence my question.

You can move your deposit with MSC to next year, a friend who received an email from them yesterday saying the September cruise is cancelled moved theirs today to November next year.

[sidari]

54 minutes ago, Intergalactic Cruiser said:

This is typical MSC misinfo if what sidari says is true. I have been told by MSC twice and Cruise1st that the September Southampton to Genoa has NOT been cancelled and if I want to book I can though they are not recommending people to do so. There is no mention of cancellations past July on the MSC website in Europe. It is different for the USA as ports won't accept cruise ships. In Europe the position is still unclear with Spanish ports closed. MSC clearly hoping the ports will be open before they have to make their arrangements to return to their home port. 

IC ... open the link and scroll down to the Grey coloured bar - Northern Europe. The fact that you are being told it is not recommended to book is a clue that it is cancelled.

 

 

https://mscfans.blog/2020/03/12/msc-updates-ships-itineraries/?fbclid=IwAR1LSSF6MfcOmn-ndKvUW7xRoAFPITJsWsGaB1dLN6k0FFQUohe_omL62Bo

Edited July 7, 2020 by sidari

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

15 minutes ago, sidari said:

IC ... open the link and scroll down to the Grey coloured bar - Northern Europe. The fact that you are being told it is not recommended to book is a clue that it is cancelled.

 

 

https://mscfans.blog/2020/03/12/msc-updates-ships-itineraries/?fbclid=IwAR1LSSF6MfcOmn-ndKvUW7xRoAFPITJsWsGaB1dLN6k0FFQUohe_omL62Bo

Thanks for sending that. It was a new policy updated yesterday the 6th of July and clearly cancels our September cruise. The MSC staff member I spoke with this morning obviously wasn't up to date. How typical. And to think he told us we could still book a cabin on that cruise

Will now hunt down refund of deposit even though we cancelled by default before MSC did. 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Intergalactic Cruiser
added text

[harz99]

15 minutes ago, sidari said:

You can move your deposit with MSC to next year, a friend who received an email from them yesterday saying the September cruise is cancelled moved theirs today to November next year.

No, I can't because the charge would be the same cost as the deposit due to it being non returnable, plus I haven't had any emails and my cruise technically isn't cancelled, they've "just" changed the ship and cabin as per their Caribbean redeployments. 

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

Hoorah!

Patience is a virtue but admit I was losing mine 4 mths ago with £4,400 refund promised then but has now just arrived. £3,700 ten days ago and the £750 deposit that we paid 18 mths ago received last night. Pleased to have that off my list of worries.

Am I happy with the broken promises, the lack of info and the delay - NO! Would I sail with MSC again - YES. However this won't be in 2021 as there isn't a no fly from the UK that attracts us. There never was, which was a consideration in not accepting FFCs. It's better to have our cash back than live with the worry that a FCC would not be retrieved and eventually not honoured by the travel industry insurers. The 25% bonus would have been worthless in rising prices or insolvency and would last past 2021 anyway. Not supposed to be a lottery

Thanks to all who have provided encouragement and advice along the way.

Cheerio and I hope you're eventually satisfactorily recompensed and can move on with your lives

[GatorMomInNC]

Holy Cow!  Finally!!! I called my TA today (3rd time in 3 weeks).  She said she remembered me as the one I talked to 3 weeks ago and she would "escalate" it.  Just logged onto my Chase account and all my sweet beautiful points and my $400 deposit are back!!  Yeah!

 

4 months and 2 weeks from when I requested my refund!

 

Now I can book a new cruise for next year (but not MSC after this fiasco...)

 

Editing to say, my $400  is NOT actually credited to my account, but my points, worth about $4k, are credited..

Edited July 17, 2020 by GatorMomInNC

[Intergalactic Cruiser]

7 hours ago, GatorMomInNC said:

Holy Cow!  Finally!!! I called my TA today (3rd time in 3 weeks).  She said she remembered me as the one I talked to 3 weeks ago and she would "escalate" it.  Just logged onto my Chase account and all my sweet beautiful points and my $400 deposit are back!!  Yeah!

 

4 months and 2 weeks from when I requested my refund!

 

Now I can book a new cruise for next year (but not MSC after this fiasco...)

 

Editing to say, my $400  is NOT actually credited to my account, but my points, worth about $4k, are credited..

Fairly common comment about booking again with MSC. With my refunds we have now booked Princess and P&O cruises plus a river cruise for next summer - all with very low deposits. MSC have lessons to learn!

TBH we won't be going on any cruise/holiday if wearing face masks is obligatory. What is the point if you can't enjoy the trips. Of course we'll comply in our new norm lives where necessary.

[aprilF]

On 7/17/2020 at 7:29 PM, GatorMomInNC said:

Holy Cow!  Finally!!! I called my TA today (3rd time in 3 weeks).  She said she remembered me as the one I talked to 3 weeks ago and she would "escalate" it.  Just logged onto my Chase account and all my sweet beautiful points and my $400 deposit are back!!  Yeah!

 

4 months and 2 weeks from when I requested my refund!

 

Now I can book a new cruise for next year (but not MSC after this fiasco...)

 

Editing to say, my $400  is NOT actually credited to my account, but my points, worth about $4k, are credited..

Yay! Glad you got your points back.  🙂

[GatorMomInNC]

yes, and a couple days later my $400 showed up.  Took four and half months to get it all back....

 

My Disney Cruise for Labor Day was cancelled, I chose a FCC for that one.   I changed it to a January Star Wars cruise, but I feel like it is pretty unlikely to happen.   My final payment date (to pay the difference as I went from a 3 day to a weeklong) is due mid-September and I will have to decide then if I want to throw more money after the cruise.  Disney allows you to cancel up to 15 days before the cruise, but then I will just get a bigger "credit" not my money back (I think, but honestly it is very confusing). 

 

I have a 2nd OBB with Disney and their Fall 2021 itineraries are ready to book on Monday.  I think I will book a 3 day cruise - hopefully by Fall of 2021 I can actually cruise again...

[sidari]

50 days after making our request via our T.A for a refund was told today that it should be received in the next few days.

[alpha whiskey]

9 hours ago, sidari said:

50 days after making our request via our T.A for a refund was told today that it should be received in the next few days.

Received a call from my TA last Friday. Confirmed they had received the refund from MSC and it will be back on the card within 10 days. Currently 7 days and counting, but a huge leap forward in terms of hopefulness!

 

 

[lizinvan]

Been following and note some have had some success.   We have been waiting since April 14 for refunds of Poesia Baltic and Preziosa Western Europe.  TA escalated a few weeks ago after we hit 90 days.  Stay safe everyone!

[alpha whiskey]

On 8/1/2020 at 8:38 AM, alpha whiskey said:

Received a call from my TA last Friday. Confirmed they had received the refund from MSC and it will be back on the card within 10 days. Currently 7 days and counting, but a huge leap forward in terms of hopefulness!

 

 

Cruise refund from cancelled 22/4 Preziosa  received today. Good luck to everyone else who is still waiting.

 

 

[GatorMomInNC]

My sister and brother-in-law had an around the world cruise booked for next year.  They put down a $3k deposit and had been trying to get it back for a few months.  They found out the cruise company (UK based) has filed bankruptcy.   So I am feeling pretty lucky that I got my cruise money back at this point, even though it took 4 mos.