Just got off the phone with MSC regarding cancelled or rescheduled cruises...

[Stockjock]

I currently have 2 fall bookings.  One was an 11 night out of Rome in November and the other was a 10 night out of London in October.  They had changed the November sailing to a 5 night earlier in the month from Venice to the Suez Canal and the October sailing to a 2 night May cruise out of London that has already sailed.

The agent told me that there is a major redeployment of 10 MSC ships.  For those affected, impacted bookings were moved to whatever as a placeholder, so what it says now is meaningless.  In many, or perhaps all cases, MSC will be offering customers several options.

One option for many, or perhaps all, will be a similar cruise on a similar date likely with the same pricing you had.  It's quite possible that some form of accommodation could be offered such as OBC or an cabin upgrade, but that's not guaranteed.

If the "replacement" cruise doesn't work, you may find something else to your liking.  Not sure if they'll do anything price-wise, but some accommodation such as OBC will be offered.

Finally, if none of these options work, customers may cancel and have their deposits refunded.

Best guess as to the timing of all of this is somewhere around May 31, 2021.  Until then, reservations are locked, meaning that they cannot be modified or cancelled.  Sounds like the best response for now is to be patient as an announcement will be coming soon.

Edited May 17, 2021 by Stockjock

[Cruisernat]

Stockjock,

Thank you for the update on NAR reservations.

I am also waiting patiently to hear something about my 2 MSC Cruises - August & September that went to NAR placeholders about 6 weeks ago. Both of those placeholder cruises subsequently "set sail" at the beginning of May & now the reservations have disappeared completely from MSC website.  Honestly, I had given up on calling MSC. Every time I called I was nicely told the same thing, that I should receive some correspondence soon. To date I have received no emails outlining options so I appreciate you sharing your most recent experience. It is nice to know that they are still working on it.

However, I do wonder what will happen when final payment is due. If the reservations are still locked then how can we request a refund of the deposits? By no fault of our own, will MSC deem us to be in the penalty phase?

[Stockjock]

8 minutes ago, Cruisernat said:

Stockjock,

Thank you for the update on NAR reservations.

I am also waiting patiently to hear something about my 2 MSC Cruises - August & September that went to NAR placeholders about 6 weeks ago. Both of those placeholder cruises subsequently "set sail" at the beginning of May & now the reservations have disappeared completely from MSC website.  Honestly, I had given up on calling MSC. Every time I called I was nicely told the same thing, that I should receive some correspondence soon. To date I have received no emails outlining options so I appreciate you sharing your most recent experience. It is nice to know that they are still working on it.

However, I do wonder what will happen when final payment is due. If the reservations are still locked then how can we request a refund of the deposits? By no fault of our own, will MSC deem us to be in the penalty phase?

If MSC moved you up to a "placeholder" cruise, such as some of those whose sail date has come and gone, I'm sure they won't hold you to that penalty since that's not what you booked,

I don't believe you can even request a deposit if your reservation is locked.  Once can argue as to whether that should or should not be the case, but I don't believe those agents can modify those reservations.  It would appear that they want to put their offers on the table first and then let customers sail on what they've laid out, move to a different cruise, or cancel, in an informed way.

[Stockjock]

18 minutes ago, Couple-Somerset said:

No offense but that didnt make much sense and was hard to read. 

 

Suggest you try one item at a time, deal with that and then perhaps raise another issue after. 

 

I know it all makes sense to you but sadly not much to others. 

 

Yes, it makes perfect sense to me.  Maybe I can lay it out differently for you.

1. Much of MSC's fleet is being moved about with changes in schedule and itinerary.  This may impact a great many sailings on as many as 10 of their ships.

2. Guests on impacted sailings will be given several options soon.  There will likely be a sailing that is similar that you can move into (probably) at the same price, or you can move your deposit to a different sailing, likely with some onboard credit.

3. Impacted bookings cannot be cancelled, changed or modified until the new options are announced in a couple of weeks.

4. Many of those cruises have been cancelled, or substantially changed, so rather than simply cancel everyone's booking, MSC has created meaningless "placeholder" cruises to hold your reservation until they modify it.  The placeholder reservation likely has no relation to what your cruise does or will actually look like, in the end.

[medic143]

I have one cruise that vanished into the black hole of an NAR (the revised sailing date has passed without the cruise actually going and the booking has vanished from the account. A query to MSC resulted in a generic "we're working on it" reply). After reading the initial post I checked tonight on the UK, USA and Germany MSC sites. As far as Northern Europe is concerned at the moment its a complete mess and makes no sense. Of the three ships (Seaview, Musica and Preziosa) there were assigned to the Baltic for 2021 on the last reshuffle only the Seaview still appears on the third party sites I use and with the exception of a couple of cruises to Iceland/Greenland all the Baltic sailings are gone from UK/USA/Germany MSC sites. They may just be rearranging stuff (again!) but it's frustrating to be back in limbo waiting on the results of another reshuffle.

[Stockjock]

20 minutes ago, medic143 said:

I have one cruise that vanished into the black hole of an NAR (the revised sailing date has passed without the cruise actually going and the booking has vanished from the account. A query to MSC resulted in a generic "we're working on it" reply). After reading the initial post I checked tonight on the UK, USA and Germany MSC sites. As far as Northern Europe is concerned at the moment its a complete mess and makes no sense. Of the three ships (Seaview, Musica and Preziosa) there were assigned to the Baltic for 2021 on the last reshuffle only the Seaview still appears on the third party sites I use and with the exception of a couple of cruises to Iceland/Greenland all the Baltic sailings are gone from UK/USA/Germany MSC sites. They may just be rearranging stuff (again!) but it's frustrating to be back in limbo waiting on the results of another reshuffle.

This ties in with another post I shared about customer service.  Here's what MSC should have done.

Dear Valued Guest:

The global Covid-19 pandemic has created numerous challenges for individuals, businesses and governments throughout the globe.  Accordingly, those challenges, and MSC's efforts to comply with all governmental health and safety protocols, have created the need for change not only to our onboard procedures, but in some instances, it impacts where we are allowed to sail to and when.

These unprecedented challenges have necessitated changes to portions of our sailing schedule, and one or more of your bookings will be impacted.

MSC is working hard to meet these challenges with as little disruption to our guests as possible.  Soon, you will be contacted with several attractive options, as well as additional onboard credit provided as a courtesy from MSC.

We value our customers and we deeply appreciate your patronage as well as your patience and flexibility.

MSC Cruises

[YVRCruiser]

This is what two out of the three of us received for our upcoming cruise. I am still waiting for my email but I will give them a call tomorrow. Now I need to figure what kind of FCC I get for my C$49 x 2 deposit. We already have a booking for April 2022.

 

Important notice: your upcoming cruise on MSC Musica, September 27th, 2021

Dear,

We hereby want to share with you an important update concerning your upcoming cruise on MSC Musica sailing on September 27th, 2021. Considering the current situation and the specific measures adopted by many countries to face the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are sorry to inform you that your reservation for the above-mentioned cruise had to be cancelled.
You will receive a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) for the amount paid for your cruise package. The Future Cruise Credit does not have any cash value, it can be applied to any cruise fare published on our communication channels and can be redeemed until 30/04/2022 on all departures/canvas open for the sale. As an additional benefit a refundable on-board credit equal to EUR/USD 200 per cabin will be applied to the new reservation; this cannot be combined with any previous voucher-related onboard credit already added to the original reservation, which will be transferred to your new booking.
In addition to the Future Cruise Credit, you will receive full refund of any pre-paid package purchased with credit card on MYMSC AREA. The refund will be processed as soon as possible. However, it may suffer some delays due to the extraordinary circumstances resulting from COVID-19 and the specific credit card circuit. For any own expenses incurred, you should contact your travel agent or directly the provider of the service.
If you have booked through a Canadian tour operator, please contact them directly as their terms and conditions may vary.
Should you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact your Travel Agent or 1.833.253.9978.
We are sorry if you have already received a FCC voucher for a previous cancellation, however we would like to underline that this new FCC voucher will have a longer redemption validity as stated above, granting you a longer period to choose your next cruise with MSC Cruises.
We trust in your understanding of the great efforts we’re making to face the delicate moment tourism is going through and take this occasion to wish, once again, to welcome you back onboard one of our ships.
MSC Cruises Canada Ltd, 2810 Matheson Blvd E, Suite 200, Mississauga, Ontario, L4W 4X7 www.msccruises.ca.
Best regards,

Country Manager, Canada
MSC Cruises.

[DCGuy64]

Our August 29 cruise on the Seaview has now been changed to "NAR" on the website. It appears that it'll be going to Estonia and Sweden, not Denmark and Norway. And it'll only be for Schengen Area residents, and we aren't. So it looks like we'll end up getting FCC and trying to find another MSC cruise.

[Petersnow]

In my case, I was booked on MSC Magnifica on December 19 from Genoa on 12 day /11 nights to Greece and Israel. I read a few weeks later that the Magnifica will be deployed in Saudi Arabia so that move will cancel my cruise for sure.

A few days later, I receive a call from customer service explaining all I mentioned, and they offer a $200 credit per cabin if we re booked to another cruise because of the cancellation.

 

I did it and they apply the credit, now I`m booked on MSC Grandiosa Yatch Club on January 3, hoping everything will be fine and no more changes will take place. Crossing my fingers!!!!.

 

Regards from Puerto Rico!!!!

[shipgeeks]

Our Armonia cruises in September, from Miami, are still showing as on.  

[drsel]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Our August 29 cruise on the Seaview has now been changed to "NAR" on the website. It appears that it'll be going to Estonia and Sweden, not Denmark and Norway. And it'll only be for Schengen Area residents, and we aren't. So it looks like we'll end up getting FCC and trying to find another MSC cruise.

Which MSC cruises upto which date are only for Schengen area residents?

And from which date will MSC Cruises  be open to ALL nationalities?

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, Petersnow said:

In my case, I was booked on MSC Magnifica on December 19 from Genoa on 12 day /11 nights to Greece and Israel. I read a few weeks later that the Magnifica will be deployed in Saudi Arabia so that move will cancel my cruise for sure.

A few days later, I receive a call from customer service explaining all I mentioned, and they offer a $200 credit per cabin if we re booked to another cruise because of the cancellation.

 

I did it and they apply the credit, now I`m booked on MSC Grandiosa Yatch Club on January 3, hoping everything will be fine and no more changes will take place. Crossing my fingers!!!!.

 

Regards from Puerto Rico!!!!

I got the same call and my circumstances are similar to yours (no communication on the other cruise I have that is impacted).  I asked if they could apply the credit to a 2022 booking I recently made.  They said, "No, only to winter 2021 and early 2022 bookings".  I've sat pat for now, as I've been told, correctly or not, that many of those cancelled cruises will be moved into a new booking at the old price with the customer's permission.

My November cancelled cruise was 11 nights and I see there is another 11 night cruise leaving out of "Rome" 1 day later.  But the cost is much higher than what I paid, and I don't get the double MSC Voyagers Club points that I would have with the cancelled sailing.  I'm hoping that they offer to move me into that sailing at the old price (they should).  Time will tell whether they do that or not, but I felt that by killing that cancelled booking, I might be losing out on possible future options once they get things sorted out.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Stockjock

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

Which MSC cruises upto which date are only for Schengen area residents?

And from which date will MSC Cruises  be open to ALL nationalities?

Sorry, I cannot answer those questions. I wish I could. All I know is that from July 3, the Seaview will be sailing Baltic itineraries and that, for now, they're restricted to Schengen Area residents, as well as residents of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. I hope that changes over the course of the summer, but we're not interested in the revised itinerary, anyway. MSC cancelled the whole summer season for the Preziosa and Musica, too. All of the excursions on the Seaview will be in the Bubble, so no on-your-own port trips, at least for now.

[Huntingdon1701]

Customer service seems to have only been partially informed about this. I just rang about my Preziosa cruise and was told that the sailing was still on in August! 

 

It's showing NAR on the website, as well as the press release information, so I highly doubt it. Holding on for a bit longer to see if they put Preziosa on a different itinerary. But may switch to NCL or Hurtigruten becase it's a significant birthday and I want to be cruising for it!

[Stockjock]

I just spoke with MSC again.  Some impacted cruises are just flat-out cancelled while others are being reworked.

My October 2021 10 night cruise was moved to NAR status, date shifted to a 2-night in May and I'm now told that cruise is flat-out done.  I can get a refund or do a new booking and pick up $200 credit.  It will not be reworked.

My November 2021 11 night cruise was moved to LAY status and is being reworked.  They won't tell me what or when, only that it appears they will move the booking to a new sailing and soon.  So I'll have the same options as above, I believe, but I'll also have something similar at the same price as before.  This is preferable to me, as the price has gone up quite a bit.  I had a Voyager's Club sailing w/double VC points, an assigned balcony, drink package for about $500-$600 less than I can get a similar OV GUAR for right now.  If I wanted to get a balcony assigned, the difference is about $1,000 USD more, so I'll be interested to see what they offer in its place.

I think the moral of the story is that if your cruise is not cancelled, then I would not be in a hurry to cancel it yourself or move the deposit to a new sailing.  If it's done, then sure do what you like.

Customer service should know if the cruise is a goner or is being reworked.  They tell me that an announcement may occur as soon as several days but probably not longer than mid-June.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Stockjock

[Wor1dTrave11er]

On 5/28/2021 at 3:47 PM, Stockjock said:

I just spoke with MSC again.  Some impacted cruises are just flat-out cancelled while others are being reworked.

My October 2021 10 night cruise was moved to NAR status, date shifted to a 2-night in May and I'm now told that cruise is flat-out done.  I can get a refund or do a new booking and pick up $200 credit.  It will not be reworked.

My November 2021 11 night cruise was moved to LAY status and is being reworked.  They won't tell me what or when, only that it appears they will move the booking to a new sailing and soon.  So I'll have the same options as above, I believe, but I'll also have something similar at the same price as before.  This is preferable to me, as the price has gone up quite a bit.  I had a Voyager's Club sailing w/double VC points, an assigned balcony, drink package for about $500-$600 less than I can get a similar OV GUAR for right now.  If I wanted to get a balcony assigned, the difference is about $1,000 USD more, so I'll be interested to see what they offer in its place.

I think the moral of the story is that if your cruise is not cancelled, then I would not be in a hurry to cancel it yourself or move the deposit to a new sailing.  If it's done, then sure do what you like.

Customer service should know if the cruise is a goner or is being reworked.  They tell me that an announcement may occur as soon as several days but probably not longer than mid-June.

I spoke with MSC Customer Service today - I am in a similar situation to you, same LAY 11-nighter in November 2021, and a 7 day NAR on November 6, 2021 on Seaview.

 

I got a call re: LAY one in May and was told that it was cancelled, was offered $200 OBC to move the deposit to any cruise up to September 30, 2022.  I moved the deposit to a September 11, 2022 cruise.  After a couple weeks and no OBC showing up on the booking, I called MSC back and was told that the offer was to move to a cruise up to March 30, not September, so I would get nothing because whatever the original rep told me was apparently a mistake.  Funny thing is that the original deposit is from May 2020 cruise that was cancelled more than a year ago, and nope still don't even have an FCC for it, and apparently no OBC either.

 

I called to inquire about the Seaview cruise today because currently it is in NAR status and departing tomorrow June 5.  On the same call that I was offered the now non-existent OBC for the LAY cruise, I was told that the decision will be made re: Seaview cruise by Memorial Day.  It is not the case, or at least the rep I spoke with today said there still was no information, and he has no idea when the information will be available.  Hopefully what I have read here on CC is correct, and there will be an email coming some time in June.  Either way, not having high hopes since my other OBC didn't happen due to the rescheduling agent's error.  Sadly, not really surprised or upset as I was somewhat expecting that something will go wrong based on all other reviews here LOL.

[Stockjock]

56 minutes ago, Wor1dTrave11er said:

I spoke with MSC Customer Service today - I am in a similar situation to you, same LAY 11-nighter in November 2021, and a 7 day NAR on November 6, 2021 on Seaview.

 

I got a call re: LAY one in May and was told that it was cancelled, was offered $200 OBC to move the deposit to any cruise up to September 30, 2022.  I moved the deposit to a September 11, 2022 cruise.  After a couple weeks and no OBC showing up on the booking, I called MSC back and was told that the offer was to move to a cruise up to March 30, not September, so I would get nothing because whatever the original rep told me was apparently a mistake.  Funny thing is that the original deposit is from May 2020 cruise that was cancelled more than a year ago, and nope still don't even have an FCC for it, and apparently no OBC either.

 

I called to inquire about the Seaview cruise today because currently it is in NAR status and departing tomorrow June 5.  On the same call that I was offered the now non-existent OBC for the LAY cruise, I was told that the decision will be made re: Seaview cruise by Memorial Day.  It is not the case, or at least the rep I spoke with today said there still was no information, and he has no idea when the information will be available.  Hopefully what I have read here on CC is correct, and there will be an email coming some time in June.  Either way, not having high hopes since my other OBC didn't happen due to the rescheduling agent's error.  Sadly, not really surprised or upset as I was somewhat expecting that something will go wrong based on all other reviews here LOL.

If you read my "MSC Comedy of Errors" thread, you're getting the exact treatment I got, and unfortunately this is often the norm rather than the exception.

I actually like MSC's ships and onboard experience, but it's the customer service issues that can be maddening.

They told me NAR was sailing, then it might be sailing, then it was definitely cancelled.

They told me LAY wouldn't be changed, then it was changed (going to Saudi Arabia), then it was definitely going to be canceled, then it would probably be cancelled, then it was being "reworked" maybe on another ship, maybe on another date, probably with a different itinerary (or not), or it might just be cancelled.  I should receive notification in April or May or now June or God knows when?

For now, I'm just standing pat on everything to see what happens.  The NAR cruise was shifted to last month, from 10 nights to 2 nights, and that date has come and gone.  I strongly suspect NAR is or will be cancelled.

LAY was moved 3-4 times around from late Nov to mid Nov and now to early Nov.  Ship name was changed a couple of times from Magnifica to Poesia to Magnifica.  Eventually it was shortened from 11 nights to the current 5 nights.  I'm hopeful that they are able to rework this cruise, but as previously mentioned, I may just throw in the towel if they can't get some valid info out there soon.

They really need to get it together.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[neptuno]

I feel your pain.  After sailing MSC since 2011 I totally agree their customer service is lacking.  Let's just hope that someone is listening.

[Stockjock]

1 hour ago, neptuno said:

I feel your pain.  After sailing MSC since 2011 I totally agree their customer service is lacking.  Let's just hope that someone is listening.

You are exactly right.  I share these frustrations in the hope that someone from MSC will read some of these comments and improve the customer experience.  Many of these issues shouldn't be difficult, or expensive, to correct.

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Stockjock