***** MSC: US Cruisers ***

[Caledonia Boy]

57 minutes ago, Jamesanr21 said:

Was on the  feb 23 sailing received email that our refunds will arrive before May 20 ! So they coming just behind 

Did you book direct with MSC or through a 3rd party?

I booked through a 3rd party and haven't received any email. 

[Jamesanr21]

No we go thru cruises .com but received email last Wednesday I believe 2nd option is what they offered in the start 100% back and 20% on future 

[chrisgalwv]

On 5/11/2020 at 10:21 AM, rbtcpa said:

I agree completely and have had a very similar experience.

They charged me a cancellation fee of 90% I paid and got no refund or future credit even after the cruise was cancelled by them! - they keep changing the terminology - future cruise credit - cruise assurance program - what does it all mean? Very confusing.

Now they want me to fill out a cruise assurance form, which I have already done at least twice.

I am a senior citizen and would apreciate some advice as to what I should do.

Thanks for your time

At this point, your best bet is to contact your credit card company and fight it that way. I have lost all hope in ever getting the truth from anyone affiliated with this cruise line. I have been told 4 different times frames for refund, and none have been true. Now they say May 20. At midnight that night, my patience runs out. Have already spoken with a lawyer friend who is ready to proceed. Thank goodness I have the letter stating "full refund within 30 days". If I were you, I'd give up on speaking to anyone at MSC. They either don't know the answer, or they will make up one just to get you off the phone. Just go with your credit card company, file a complaint, and eventually they will refund your money. Then let them go after MSC for reimbursement. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

[rbtcpa]

8 hours ago, chrisgalwv said:

At this point, your best bet is to contact your credit card company and fight it that way. I have lost all hope in ever getting the truth from anyone affiliated with this cruise line. I have been told 4 different times frames for refund, and none have been true. Now they say May 20. At midnight that night, my patience runs out. Have already spoken with a lawyer friend who is ready to proceed. Thank goodness I have the letter stating "full refund within 30 days". If I were you, I'd give up on speaking to anyone at MSC. They either don't know the answer, or they will make up one just to get you off the phone. Just go with your credit card company, file a complaint, and eventually they will refund your money. Then let them go after MSC for reimbursement. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

Excellent idea - I don't know why I didn't think of that. I followed your advice. I just rememberd why I pay American Express the fee every year. It was easy to set up a dispute , which put the amout paid in suspense. They said it would be resolved within 4-6 weeks, but maybe in 30 days. In all my frustration, this makes me feel better, at least for now. Thank you very much Chris. My advice to you? Don't wait till May 20 - punch back now..............

[SmitteeB11]

I just called to check on my refund status and MSC told me they had no refund request on file. (I cancelled in Feb and requested a refund then)... So they were basically just holding my money hoping I wouldn't find out/care?

 

Pathetic.

 

My 60 days starts over today she said and there is no way to expedite it. 

[Mingus]

I had two Sept. 2020 sailings on deposit, booked directly with MSC USA, which I wanted to cancel.

When I called the US number (877-665-4655), I was automatically transferred to the Canadian call centre (which has a different #).

Amazingly, they answered within 7 minutes and then able to transfer me to the US call centre (without an additional wait).

It looks like Canadian phone numbers are no longer able to call MSC USA directly.

Anyways, the agent was very helpful and said I should receive the credit card refunds within 20 days.....here's hoping!!

[Jamesanr21]

WELL OUR FEB 23 refund was not issued as promised again!!! 

[Jamesanr21]

WELL OUR FEB 23 refund was not issued as promised again!!! 

[Arabia]

5 hours ago, Jamesanr21 said:

WELL OUR FEB 23 refund was not issued as promised again!!! 

I called MSC and requested a refund on APR 3rd, and was told to expect it in about 7 business days.  I called MSC to check the status after 10 days, and was told that refunds would be issued between 30 and 60 days.  So, on JUN 4th, I am contacting my credit card company if my refund has not been processed by that time.

[SueseaQ]

I have never cruised on MSC before and I am considering doing so in the future.  How does MSC compare to Princess and Celebrity?

[Caledonia Boy]

I have been on most of the major carriers with the exception of Holland America. I find Princess and Celebrity a step up from Royal Caribbean and Carnival. With that said, you pay more for those ships. With the exception of all that is going on, I would put MSC on the level of quality with Carnival. We were on the Meraviglia and it was an amazingly beautiful ship. Everything has its' price. If it weren't for the post cruise experience with waiting to get our refund, I would jump on the ship for that price again. 

Best of luck

Caledonia boy

[shipgeeks]

20 hours ago, SueseaQ said:

I have never cruised on MSC before and I am considering doing so in the future.  How does MSC compare to Princess and Celebrity?

We are regular Celebrity cruisers, and were on Princess a number of years ago.  Our most recent cruise was on MSC Seaside, and MSC is now our favorite line.

I think what we liked most was that it did not feel like any other cruise.  Most of our cruises in recent years had become very similar.  Our favorite part of cruising is just being on a ship at sea; however, more and more elements had become not all that different from being at home, due to the passenger mix -- not very mixed.  On Seaside we were among fewer than 700 American passengers, out of 4400 people.  Nobody talked about the Steelers; the music was more varied, and did not include "Margaritaville" or "Sweet Caroline"; the food was more varied (and mostly very good); the show lounge entertainment was more Cirque du Soleil  than Rock and Broadway.

All of that was a plus for us; for someone else I'm sure it's a negative.

We had read complaints about service and other issues before we went.  We found the service, and the warmth of the crew, outstanding.  

In short, it's absolutely worth considering, as long as you do some research about the style of cruising MSC offers, as well as the different "Experiences", etc.

[Mingus]

6 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

We are regular Celebrity cruisers, and were on Princess a number of years ago.  Our most recent cruise was on MSC Seaside, and MSC is now our favorite line.

I think what we liked most was that it did not feel like any other cruise.  Most of our cruises in recent years had become very similar.  Our favorite part of cruising is just being on a ship at sea; however, more and more elements had become not all that different from being at home, due to the passenger mix -- not very mixed.  On Seaside we were among fewer than 700 American passengers, out of 4400 people.  Nobody talked about the Steelers; the music was more varied, and did not include "Margaritaville" or "Sweet Caroline"; the food was more varied (and mostly very good); the show lounge entertainment was more Cirque du Soleil  than Rock and Broadway.

All of that was a plus for us; for someone else I'm sure it's a negative.

We had read complaints about service and other issues before we went.  We found the service, and the warmth of the crew, outstanding.  

In short, it's absolutely worth considering, as long as you do some research about the style of cruising MSC offers, as well as the different "Experiences", etc.

We're regular Princess cruisers and our first MSC cruise was also on the Seaside......a fantastic ship, especially in the Caribbean.

I agree with everything that was said above. However, one negative is that there was a lot more smoking areas on the Seaside (and probably on the other MSC ships, since more Europeans are smokers) versus Princess.

We were Bella Experience and didn't experience any degraded service.

The Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle was outstanding. The captain and senior staff attended, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were served. Other cruise lines don't offer much, if anything.

[shipgeeks]

Mingus, I agree with you about the CC functions; outstanding.  And when we crossed paths with any of those officers during the week, they treated us warmly again.

Good point about the smoking.

We, too, were Bella.

[frannie]

Our march 29th cruise cancelled due to covid . Asked for full refund through a travel agent . She has checked a few times . Still no refund . They keep saying processed but we never get it . We have cruised 20 times other lines . Will not book msc again 

[Mingus]

On 5/19/2020 at 3:08 PM, Mingus said:

I had two Sept. 2020 sailings on deposit, booked directly with MSC USA, which I wanted to cancel.

When I called the US number (877-665-4655), I was automatically transferred to the Canadian call centre (which has a different #).

Amazingly, they answered within 7 minutes and then able to transfer me to the US call centre (without an additional wait).

It looks like Canadian phone numbers are no longer able to call MSC USA directly.

Anyways, the agent was very helpful and said I should receive the credit card refunds within 20 days.....here's hoping!!

Wow!!!

MSC USA came through and I received my credit card refund on June 19th (23 business days).

MSC Canada is a completely different story. Can't get a straight answer regarding another deposit refund.....only fcc, refund 60 days after sailing date, ok to cancel by phone, cancel only in writing (although no reply to email).

Should be a very simple process......refund to original form of payment, within the free cancellation period.

[shipgeeks]

Several weeks ago we were given some interesting information from our travel agent.

The agency has 800 employees, in one city.  All had to work from home for the duration.  During that time, they were processing 23 cancellations for every one booking.  It was a time-consuming process, and I imagine not very rewarding for them.

For our part, we opted for FCC, which was managed by our agent, and processed within minutes.

Our airline generously gave us FCC, but only good for a year from the date our cruise flights were booked, not the dates they were to be used.

We are still waiting for, and have not heard from, our hotel and our transportation service.

[consulate]

Hi, I am another disappointed and frustrated cruiser, waiting for my refund for a cruise that sailed on March 9.  I must have spent 25 hours on the phone and every single time I have been told I will receive the refund in 14 days.  It have been 4 months! 

 

I thought they are legally obligated to refund Taxes and port fees ASAP, but they have not even done that!

Would anyone tried to escalate this issue at MSC?  Anyone higher up than the phone reps?  In addition to all the phone calls I also received 3 emails from MSC dating from March 21 to June 9th saying the same message and still nothing.

 

I would really appreciate any suggestions and support.

[Bluewake]

When the FCC program was announced in March, I decided to take advantage of it and cancelled a March 13th cruise due to Covid-19 concerns.   Was told to expect the FCC within 2 weeks.  Four months later, I still have not received it nor have the taxes and port fees been refunded to my CC.   I've called several times to attempt to resolve the situation but each rep with whom I've spoken has been unable to do anything beyond telling me that it hasn't yet been processed and to "be patient".  I finally reached the "Resolution Desk" 2 weeks ago and was told I'd receive the FCC within 48 hrs and the CC refund within 7-10 days.  Of course, that did not occur.   I cannot find an email or phone for MSC Headquarters...frankly, not convinced the central office would be any more effective than their staff.  It's too bad. I am a big fan of MSC and have convinced friends to try the cruise line.  However, this experience has been so frustrating that I'd think twice about doing that again.

[dexddd]

26 minutes ago, Bluewake said:

When the FCC program was announced in March, I decided to take advantage of it and cancelled a March 13th cruise due to Covid-19 concerns.   Was told to expect the FCC within 2 weeks.  Four months later, I still have not received it nor have the taxes and port fees been refunded to my CC.   I've called several times to attempt to resolve the situation but each rep with whom I've spoken has been unable to do anything beyond telling me that it hasn't yet been processed and to "be patient".  I finally reached the "Resolution Desk" 2 weeks ago and was told I'd receive the FCC within 48 hrs and the CC refund within 7-10 days.  Of course, that did not occur.   I cannot find an email or phone for MSC Headquarters...frankly, not convinced the central office would be any more effective than their staff.  It's too bad. I am a big fan of MSC and have convinced friends to try the cruise line.  However, this experience has been so frustrating that I'd think twice about doing that again.

We are in the same situation but filed a week later.  Total BS.

[Bluewake]

7 hours ago, dexddd said:

We are in the same situation but filed a week later.  Total BS.

 

Although I don't wish this upon anyone, for some reason, it actually makes me feel a bit better knowing that I'm not the only one!  At least that may be an indication that it's just a messy process and our respective requests haven't been lost or forgotten.  I do feel badly for the reps on the phone.  They are caught between frustrated passengers like me and the supervisors or FCC department staff who seem unwilling to take direct calls. 

[byebyeamericanpie]

Does anyone know if MSC is really cruising out of Venice in August and September?  It is July 13, and MSC has not yet cancelled its August 1 departure from Venice -- even though Italy's borders are still closed, even to Europeans?  

[Maikell]

51 minutes ago, byebyeamericanpie said:

Does anyone know if MSC is really cruising out of Venice in August and September?  It is July 13, and MSC has not yet cancelled its August 1 departure from Venice -- even though Italy's borders are still closed, even to Europeans?  

 

I live in Europe, the Netherlands:

For Europeans the borders are open, we work here with a factsheet made by the Union that shows us where it is save to go for now;

 

Green: Corona free country. No ristrictions or infections for now.

 

Yellow: Save to go by following the ristrictions of that country.

 

Orange: Not save to go or/and border closed by govnerment of that country.

 

Red: Not allowed to go, high risk of infection.

 

For non EU travelers the borders are closed till further notice.

 

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Maikell

[Maikell]

I think it is pretty sure that MSC will resume cruising between the yellow countries of the EU in august 2020.

 

For example they had cancelled all the Northern Europe cruises in 2020 recently. You can see that these countries are orange and Europeans are just not allowed to go there. 

 

For people outside the EU it will be real struggle to come here. I bet this cruises will not be cancelled by MSC, it will be a case for your insurance.

 

It is a European cruiseline that will start the ristriction cruises at home, thats the most easy way. Fair enough they choose for the Europeans first. And lets be clear, it is (still) a real mess in the USA. I will think twice as a cruise company to start cruising there or let this people embark in the EU.

 

Come on! First things first and then think about the holidays, stay safe!

Edited July 14, 2020 by Maikell

[frannie]

we are fed up with MSC cruise cancelled by msc and no refund yet 110 days . all emails i have sent to corporate bounced back not delivered . i think they shut their email system down for the executives . I sent a dispute to BMO mastercard for a chargeback will never deal with MSC again