MSC US new Terms and Conditions enacted Feb 5, 2020

[Até]

 I only now noticed there is a new booking terms and conditions document MSC has put on their US website. 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Assets/TERMS_AND_CONDITIONS_Master02.05.2020.pdf

 

It's sort of a mash up of the terms and conditions of carriage web page drop down versions that still exist. 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Terms-Conditions.aspx

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Conditions-Of-Carriage.aspx

 

You can see in the new document where certain sections were copied from other documents and pasted in.  I think I recognize some wording from other cruise line's Terms.  Some sections are now much more precise, some are gone and some are new.  Things I found interesting:

 

- Prices and Guarantee section 3 seems to state anytime you make full payment MSC cannot make price changes due to typical reasons like fuel surcharges, changes in taxes, etc....  Otherwise they can make surcharges up a 20 day pre-departure limit.  It seems a little conflicting as most people are in full payment by day 89 so why even mention the 20 day limit.  The old Terms document still on the website says you can cancel without penalty if they make surcharges after day 76 but that doesn't appear in new document.  No idea.

 

- Fitness to Travel section 6 gives a pregnancy after booking the right to cancel without penalty if the pregnancy results in being >24 weeks during the cruise time.

 

- Added a section 8 for health questionnaire, but mentions H1N1?

 

- Added/expanded sections on food allergies, medical conditions and disabilities.  Interesting Medical Equipment section 11 addition: "Passengers must be able to operate all equipment independently" probably aimed at CPAPs but covers everything.

 

- Booking Changes Effected by the Company section 13 and Cancellation by the Company section14 take parts of both older FAQs.  While with section 13 it seems little changed I find the section 14 wording a little weird, but feel (a) means full refund and cancellation dates don't matter.  Any other interpretations?

"The Company reserves the right to cancel any Cruise Package at any time by giving written notice to the Passenger. In such cases the Company will offer the Passenger the choice of(a) receiving a full refund of all money paid outside of cancellation penalties; (b) booking another Cruise Package of equivalent or superior quality at no extra cost, if available, from the Company’s brochure and/or from the Official Website; or (c) booking another Cruise Package from the Company’s brochure and/or from the Official Website of lower quality, if available, with a refund of the difference in price."

 

- Greatly expanded, conglomerated and detailed Limits on Liability section 15 goes on and on.

 

- Smoking Policy section 24 has a lot of wording changes but is still kind of vague.  Went from "The Carrier highly recommends Passengers avoid smoking in the staterooms" to "Smoking (including e-cigarettes) is not permitted at any time in staterooms, on stateroom balconies and anywhere else not indicated by clear signage and ashtrays." and specifies a $250 fine for violations.

 

As always MSC includes in end of section 27 that these Booking Terms and Conditions can be modified at any time without notice.  Those with older bookings will have a hard time knowing what was in effect at that time.  It does seem that MSC has changed the wording on some of the website FAQ type Terms and Conditions pages I linked to, I need to go back and try to figure out what else may have been changed from the earlier version.  Wayback machine only has 2017 versions of the web pages, I have certain sections from 2018/19 copied but not all.  I guess the new PDF format will help in that regard.  On some subjects I'm confused, but nothing I see in the new document truly concerns me.  Anyone find on any significant customer unfriendly or hidden changes?

TERMS_AND_CONDITIONS_Master02.05.2020(1).pdf

Edited April 4, 2020 by Até
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[Até]

Just a quick information update in case someone comes across this thread: 

 

Section One, Booking Procedures and Deposit, has an error/discrepancy stating the YC deposits are non-refundable.  Section twelve shows the currently enforced policy of YC deposits refundable up to 120 days.  Even though the US version states it's valid for US and Canada bookings the Canadian Section one web page version is even worse stating all deposits are non-refundable.

 

The MSC website link to the Feb 2nd PDF Terms document and all within site links to the old Booking Terms and Conditions and Conditions of Carriage FAQ type web pages to which I linked to above have all been removed.  The links I posted still work but MSC seems to have eliminated all internal ways to get there.  MSC still has working links at the bottom of every page that take you to another PDF Terms document and another PDF Conditions of Carriage document I haven't seen before but looks to be just a PDF version of the most recent FAQ type web page version.

 

This current Terms and Conditions document still contains the same error, vagueness and lack of continuity.  I actually think it(they) was an earlier version they forgot to remove from the website or reverted back to until a more clear document can be made.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Assets/Termsandconditions2020.pdf

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Assets/conditionsofcarriage2020.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

Termsandconditions2020.pdf conditionsofcarriage2020.pdf