MSC customer service issues have to be costing them business.

[dexddd]

Just hit 14 months waiting for FCC.  Good customer service?

[DCGuy64]

9 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Respectfully, I think there's a danger and a fallacy in this view.  That is, "If things might get better, then the cruises must become more expensive".  "Don't strive for improvement, because that will only make us all pay more!".  That notion is absolutely false.  

The problem isn't bad front-line customer service agents (with a few rare exceptions).  But rather, the agents are not empowered by the parent company in Italy and they are not given accurate information.  In fact, I've been told as much by some of these front line agents directly.  I sense that some of them are frustrated, as they are not provided with the tools and information they need to properly do their jobs. 

I mentioned that I had a 4 night Barcelona cruise moved to a 20 night Brazil cruise on a different date and I was never contacted in any way.  Is that acceptable?  Of course not.

I made a change to a reservation that customer service felt would be in my interest.  They assured me that I'd keep the same cabin.  Instead I was moved to one of the worst cabins on the ship with an obstruction and it took months and months to resolve.  Acceptable?  Of course not.

They knowingly had an inaccurate deck plan up for at least 4-6 months.  It showed inside cabins as balcony cabins and vice-versa.  Acceptable?  I don't think so.  How hard would it be to post an accurate deck plan?

I've had several cruises apparently cancelled months ago with no official word.  Acceptable?  No.

I've had the dates change on multiple cruises with no information or communication whatsoever.  Is that okay?  Of course not.

I recently booked a cruise and cancelled the next day (GF nixed it).  Now I have to wait 3 months or so for a return of my deposit, if I'm lucky.  Is that reasonable?  I don't feel it is.

So this notion that there are all of these unreasonable, needy people making outrageous demands simply is untrue and does not pass the sniff test.  There is no reason why keeping passengers informed as to changes and providing frontline staff with good information should cause prices to go up.

A better attitude would be to want to see improvement in these areas, rather than suggesting that such requests were somehow wildly unreasonable made by unreasonable customer when in reality these suggestions are more than reasonable.

And if you're running a cruise line and travel agents are begging their clients not to book MSC, they've got to be concerned about that and try hard to change this perspective.

 

Good luck to you, sir.

[At Sea At Peace]

On 5/15/2021 at 5:53 PM, Stockjock said:

I think MSC’s customer service issues are costing them business. I do like the product and I will continue to sail on MSC, but I do have to say that the last two cruises I’ve booked are with Celebrity, and that is in large part due to prior MSC customer service issues.

 

 

We've sailed extensively, since 2008, on new ships from Disney, RCCL (Oasis and Quantum Classes), NCL (Breakaway and + Classes) and Celebrity (Solstice Class) and have experienced issues on the cruises which would occasion the need for Customer Service assistance.

 

We find MSC no different from Disney, RCCL and NCL.

 

We would not sail Celebrity again, although the ships were beautiful, because of our last experience where Customer Service was inexcusable on a 12N Southern Caribbean cruise.

[crazyank]

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

Just hit 14 months waiting for FCC.  Good customer service?

welcome to dealing with MSC.  Getting a refund takes even longer.

[DCGuy64]

10 minutes ago, crazyank said:

welcome to dealing with MSC.  Getting a refund takes even longer.

Our May 2020 was canceled and we had our FCC in 2 weeks. YMMV.

[nyk24]

I think a couple of posters have hit the nail on the head. The front line customer service at MSC is good I would say but half the time their hands are tied in what they can and can't do due to the way communication filters down from the top and the problems with the back end of their website dont help either.

 

To me it is like poaching the best salesperson in your industry to get your company more sales, if the product or the service isn't top notch you won't come across top notch.

 

Hopefully MSC will learn over the next few years particularly in the american market which can be brutal as standards are expected to be much higher than the UK or EU.

[sidari]

44 minutes ago, nyk24 said:

I think a couple of posters have hit the nail on the head. The front line customer service at MSC is good I would say but half the time their hands are tied in what they can and can't do due to the way communication filters down from the top and the problems with the back end of their website dont help either.

 

To me it is like poaching the best salesperson in your industry to get your company more sales, if the product or the service isn't top notch you won't come across top notch.

 

Hopefully MSC will learn over the next few years particularly in the american market which can be brutal as standards are expected to be much higher than the UK or EU.

Part of the problem is when you call MSC you are sometimes telling the person you are speaking to about changes that they have not been made aware of from above, there have been a number of threads on CC where this issue has been mentioned. 

[nyk24]

I reckon if MSC read these boards or hired some us as mystery shoppers they might  find they got to the root of these issues a lot quicker and in time win over a lot of the potential customers that never book woth them because they get scared off by the reviews and comments they read on this forum and elsewhere.

[sverigecruiser]

1 hour ago, nyk24 said:

 

Hopefully MSC will learn over the next few years particularly in the american market which can be brutal as standards are expected to be much higher than the UK or EU.

 

Standard on what?

 

I agree that the standard of their customer service in the US seem very low.

 

The standard of MSCs pizza and pasta is probably much higher than the standard on every US cruiseline. Much better coffee too.

 

MSCs ships are gorgeous so the hardware has a very high standard too. 

 

The service level is also very high on MSCs ships. Some people are bothered because on MSC they don't ask if everything is okay every second but for me that is a good thing. I hate when they ask if everything is okay all the time. If something isn't okay I will let them know.

[nyk24]

@sverigecruiser

The standard of customer service in general I was referring to whether thats with customer be in board or pre trip.

 

What I am about to say is a generalisation rather than fact but a lot of Americans (not all) are generally more vocal about the service they receive and if something wrong they will complain and rightly so.

 

The UK and I think the EU we do not complain so vocally if at all. Instead we moan about things that happened but usually only to our family and friends long after the event.

 

Im from the UK and if something is not right I will complain and I have to say on each occasion I have on board MSC have been great but most of my fellow Brits just won't do that. It's a cultural thing at the end of the day and MSC either has to panda to all those cultural differences when it comes to service or we have to adapt as passengers. Personally I don't think the latter will happen as money talks as they say lol.

 

I think in time MSC will learn and maybe they will have a two pronged approach to the North American and european market when it comes to customer service.

[MotownVoice]

1 hour ago, nyk24 said:

I reckon if MSC read these boards or hired some us as mystery shoppers they might  find they got to the root of these issues a lot quicker and in time win over a lot of the potential customers that never book woth them because they get scared off by the reviews and comments they read on this forum and elsewhere.

I've found that the most efficient way to affect the movement of a company is to call them.

It's fun to log in to message boards and complain in the comments sections of news websites.

But guess what.  No one you need to know about your gripe is going to read it.

Pick up that two ton phone.  Wait the 20 minutes on hold that we all have to wait.  Make sure you're talking to the right person and if not asked to be forwarded.  Then you can just wretch your guts out until you're certain the company has heard your concerns.

They care more about what you think if you have a recent purchase on their balance sheet than if you're someone moaning about the general condition of customer service, or worse using words like boycott or phrases like "I bet if we all write in and complain at once time."
 

[Stockjock]

7 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Good luck to you, sir.

Thanks.  I work for one of the big Wall Street firms.  I've had clients give me constructive feedback usually in a nice way and sometimes in a less than nice way.  Almost without exception, I pass their feedback along to corporate.  They have a process called "We Hear You" and they do take this feedback seriously and periodically make changes because of it.  I know firsthand, because I have had personal involvement in some of the changes.  I would say that I am contacted about the feedback that I submit by a department head almost 100% of the time.

When I've been criticized (seldom), my first reaction is usually the normal defensiveness, but then I try to take a step back and understand the customer's position.  More often than not, it's reasonable, and I'm glad they spoke up, rather than keeping that annoyance/frustration to themselves.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Stockjock

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, nyk24 said:

 

 

What I am about to say is a generalisation rather than fact but a lot of Americans (not all) are generally more vocal about the service they receive and if something wrong they will complain and rightly so.

 

 

I agree that people shall complain if something is wrong.

 

The problem is that some people complain even when nothing wrong has happened! Some people complain that they never saw their butler! A good butler shall be invisible! Some people complain that noone asked them in the restaurant if everything was okay and that is not something done wrong, just another kind of service. Some people also complain that they serve too much pasta on a Italien cruiseline! Or that they serve Italien pizza instead of American pizza!

 

The complains on MSCs American customer service absolutely seems to be correct. (But other cruiselines aren't necessary any better!)

[DCGuy64]

15 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Thanks.  I work for one of the big Wall Street firms.  I've had clients give me constructive feedback usually in a nice way and sometimes in a less than nice way.  Almost without exception, I pass their feedback along to corporate.  They have a process called "We Hear You" and they do take this feedback seriously and periodically make changes because of it.  I know firsthand, because I have had personal involvement in some of the changes.  I would say that I am contacted about the feedback that I submit by a department head almost 100% of the time.

When I've been criticized (seldom), my first reaction is usually the normal defensiveness, but then I try to take a step back and understand the customer's position.  More often than not, it's reasonable, and I'm glad they spoke up, rather than keeping that annoyance/frustration to themselves.

I decided to keep my earlier reply to you on the terse side for two reasons:

1. I don't think I'll ever be able to change your mind about MSC. I could point out that you seem to be a bit impatient with regard to getting things resolved for your upcoming reservations, since (IIRC correctly) you aren't sailing until this fall, and it seems like you're upset with MSC for not having a resolution right now to something that won't happen until October or November.

2. I am exhausted from all of the arguing on Cruise Critic and so I will just leave you be and wish you the best of luck (and I sincerely mean that). Thanks. 😃

 

[DCGuy64]

6 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I agree that people shall complain if something is wrong.

 

The problem is that some people complain even when nothing wrong has happened! Some people complain that they never saw their butler! A good butler shall be invisible! Some people complain that no one asked them in the restaurant if everything was okay and that is not something done wrong, just another kind of service. Some people also complain that they serve too much pasta on a Italian cruiseline! Or that they serve Italian pizza instead of American pizza!

 

The complains on MSCs American customer service absolutely seems to be correct. (But other cruiselines aren't necessary any better!)

I agree with this 100% and I know I've made similar comments to the ones I'm about to make, but the standard of service in Europe is different than the US. Not better, not worse, just different. I cannot tell you the number of horror stories I've been treated to by Americans who went to Europe and complained of waiters who didn't come by the table enough, of the lack of ice for soft drinks, or that they didn't have Starbuck's or Coffeemate in the cafés, or a heated swimming pool at their pensione, etc. The list goes on and on. Europe isn't America. MSC isn't America. Which I love. And I hope MSC never tries to be American. If I want an American style cruise, there are plenty of choices. I like MSC because MSC is different.

[Stockjock]

34 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I decided to keep my earlier reply to you on the terse side for two reasons:

1. I don't think I'll ever be able to change your mind about MSC. I could point out that you seem to be a bit impatient with regard to getting things resolved for your upcoming reservations, since (IIRC correctly) you aren't sailing until this fall, and it seems like you're upset with MSC for not having a resolution right now to something that won't happen until October or November.

2. I am exhausted from all of the arguing on Cruise Critic and so I will just leave you be and wish you the best of luck (and I sincerely mean that). Thanks. 😃

 

Well, I don't personally think terse is usually polite or helpful, but that's just me.

With respect to patience, in terms of my current bookings, they've changed the dates multiple times without notification, told me the cruises were still sailing, changed the status, further drastically changed the dates, again no contact or notification and the agents seem clueless.  This has occurred over a period of months.

Meanwhile, I have flights and hotels booked and it's kind of frustrating not to be contacted or get good information.

As I mentioned, Celebrity redeployed a ship I have a December booking on.  They immediately moved me into the same cabin number on a better ship, added one day to the sailing, told me what was going on and slightly modified the itinerary (it's slightly better).  It was done in a very efficient way.  One day my booking was on the old ship and the next day it showed up on the new ship.  

Plus, their agents knew exactly what was going on.  None of this NAR and LAY and constantly changing dates for months.  Maybe the ship is sailing, maybe it is not.  Who knows? 

I got a confirmation from MSC that showed one sailing had been moved to Poesia.  Apparently Poesia is not and was not involved.  I've had cabins assigned, assignments revoked.  I got a copy of one booking that shows a cruise in about 30 years from now in 2049 (shown).

Also with respect to the recent cruises, we booked 4-5 tours but the website showed that the charges didn't go through.  Called back and they booked them manually.  We later saw that the tours were double booked.  We did get it sorted out, but it took several phone calls.

These are the sort of issues, and more, that need to be fixed.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by Stockjock

[At Sea At Peace]

19 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Which I love. And I hope MSC never tries to be American. If I want an American style cruise, there are plenty of choices. I like MSC because MSC is different.

 

Right on. 

 

That dates me.  😌

 

I'm as American (USA) culture loving as there can be, and we totally enjoy our cruises on DIS, RCCL and NCL. 

 

MSC is different, in a good way.  It's a good different.  New experiences.  A different passenger mix.   Longer and later more spaced out meal times, smaller portions but seemingly more courses, shorter shows, etc.  We've liked it since we sample (an older) Divina YC, it was great.  Moved on to Seaside and Meraviglia for weeks and weeks of B2B's.  Again, a really different experience, and we like it that way.

 

Ocean Cay Marine Reserve is 2DF.

 

The YC butlers, including those not even assigned to us, we know by name, family etc., the best @ sea for us.  

[Stockjock]

1 minute ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Right on. 

 

That dates me.  😌

 

I'm as American (USA) culture loving as there can be, and we totally enjoy our cruises on DIS, RCCL and NCL. 

 

MSC is different, in a good way.  It's a good different.  New experiences.  A different passenger mix.   Longer and later more spaced out meal times, smaller portions but seemingly more courses, shorter shows, etc.  We've liked it since we sample (an older) Divina YC, it was great.  Moved on to Seaside and Meraviglia for weeks and weeks of B2B's.  Again, a really different experience, and we like it that way.

 

Ocean Cay Marine Reserve is 2DF.

 

The YC butlers, including those not even assigned to us, we know by name, family etc., the best @ sea for us.  

For the most part, I agree with this.  Not trying to turn MSC into an American cruise line.  Just want them to improve customer service and top-down communications.

It's important that some of these concerns are not misinterpreted.

[At Sea At Peace]

4 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

For the most part, I agree with this.  Not trying to turn MSC into an American cruise line.  Just want them to improve customer service and top-down communications.

It's important that some of these concerns are not misinterpreted.

 

Oh I hear you and agree.  I've had some times where I was on hold for almost 2 hours, but I'm determined.  Other times, get a pick up immediately.  Sometimes get a suggestion to rebook a cruise to get the same stateroom that opened up for a B2B separately for a better price that what I had had.  Other times, not so lucky.

 

IMO, customer service at the cruise lines and travel agencies are going to have quite a bit of rust as the ships saunter back into revenue cruising.  After a year+ of C19 lifestyle adjustments, it is understandable.

 

Take care.

 

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Well, I don't personally think terse is usually polite or helpful, but that's just me.

 

Perhaps, but sometimes it's necessary! 😉

[Stockjock]

13 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

Perhaps, but sometimes it's necessary! 😉

Not typically.  Usually it's just rude.

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Not typically.  Usually it's just rude.

It was not meant to be rude, not at all. Just the opposite. I realized that I could either go into a long explication of why I thought you were mistaken and why I think some (not all, certainly) of your expectations are unrealistic, or I could just wish you good luck and be done with it. I am sorry you took it the wrong way. I don't know about you, but I've occasionally started to write an email that was long and maybe rude, and at the end I just held down the Backspace key, deleted everything and said "no problem" or "have a nice day." That's what I was doing.

FWIW I don't tend to compare lines by saying "well Celebrity does it this way." Good for them. I have a colleague at work who only sails with Celebrity and they cost 2x what MSC does. Apples to oranges.

Similarly, I'm mystified why you seem bothered by a placeholder reservation. You used the example of a cruise that's not sailing until 2049. No kidding, it isn't a real reservation but they have to put something in there. You really don't understand that part? I don't expect the cruise line to phone me up the very second they decide to change itineraries. Circumstances right now are beyond their control because of borders, vaccination rates, Covid variants, etc. That's why, when MSC changed our reservation a couple of days ago, I knew that's what was up. Our cruise isn't until August 29. I think you just need to be patient. It seems you want definite answers in a hurry, and MSC can't give you that, not because they're incompetent, but because they're still working things out. As I said, I do wish you luck and I don't wish to belabor this. I'm happy with MSC and you aren't. Life goes on. This is really very much a 1st world problem, BTW. I have other concerns that are more important and more pressing than a luxury European cruise in 3 months. Have a good evening.

PS I'm having fun watching some of the 1st videos coming from the Virtuosa!

[Stockjock]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

It was not meant to be rude, not at all. Just the opposite. I realized that I could either go into a long explication of why I thought you were mistaken and why I think some (not all, certainly) of your expectations are unrealistic, or I could just wish you good luck and be done with it. I am sorry you took it the wrong way. I don't know about you, but I've occasionally started to write an email that was long and maybe rude, and at the end I just held down the Backspace key, deleted everything and said "no problem" or "have a nice day." That's what I was doing.

FWIW I don't tend to compare lines by saying "well Celebrity does it this way." Good for them. I have a colleague at work who only sails with Celebrity and they cost 2x what MSC does. Apples to oranges.

Similarly, I'm mystified why you seem bothered by a placeholder reservation. You used the example of a cruise that's not sailing until 2049. No kidding, it isn't a real reservation but they have to put something in there. You really don't understand that part? I don't expect the cruise line to phone me up the very second they decide to change itineraries. Circumstances right now are beyond their control because of borders, vaccination rates, Covid variants, etc. That's why, when MSC changed our reservation a couple of days ago, I knew that's what was up. Our cruise isn't until August 29. I think you just need to be patient. It seems you want definite answers in a hurry, and MSC can't give you that, not because they're incompetent, but because they're still working things out. As I said, I do wish you luck and I don't wish to belabor this. I'm happy with MSC and you aren't. Life goes on. This is really very much a 1st world problem, BTW. I have other concerns that are more important and more pressing than a luxury European cruise in 3 months. Have a good evening.

PS I'm having fun watching some of the 1st videos coming from the Virtuosa!

I will agree that it's great to see Virtuosa sailing again.

The biggest issues involve communications and fixing problems.  Sometimes people say, "If you don't like the way (whoever) does things, use a different company".  I'd rather try to help them to improve.

Booked a 10 night on Grandiosa for 2022.  Still trying to see how things get sorted out for 2021, so I actually have 4 bookings on MSC, although I know several will be cancelled.  2 original 2021 bookings (likely cancelled), a backup 2021 booking that was a lot more expensive, and then one for next year.

Fully vaxed now, as is my GF, and we are ready to have some fun.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Stockjock

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, Stockjock said:

The biggest issues involve communications and fixing problems.  Sometimes people say, "If you don't like the way (whoever) does things, use a different company".  I'd rather try to help them to improve.

Yep, I agree with this.

1 minute ago, Stockjock said:

Fully vaxed now, as is my GF, and we are ready to have some fun.

Same here, fully vaxed and looking forward to sailing again.

Things in the DC area are starting to relax, I was at a wine shop and a grocery earlier and both places said "no masks if you're fully vaccinated." Yay!

[dexddd]

Can we all agree the pizza is best?

 

In regards to them watching these boards, there was speculation one of the CDs was reading.

 

Plus they have the best parties at sea for CC members.