Virtuoso booking via a travel agent - HELP required please

[Plan B]

Advice required please.  We have booked a 5 night cruise from Malaga to Barcelona via Morocco and Lisbon with a local independent travel agent for a good price with flights, transfers, tips and "Easy" drinks package included, leaving on 31 October 2021.

 

I have the correct confirmation from the travel agent but that is it - nothing from MSC or Vueling 😌  When I queried it, this is the reply I received:   

 

"You will not receive any paperwork from any other source until the tickets are issued between 15 and 30 days prior to departure"

 

This can't be correct, can it?  Also, we have cruised with MSC quite a few times previously so I asked for my discount to be applied only to be told that it wasn't applicable because this is a "group booking" but we haven't actually booked as a group???  I find it all very odd.  I want to double-check my booking with MSC and Vueling - the agent has all our details surely he has passed them on?  Can anyone shed any light onto this for me?   

 

Thanks for any help

[alyssamma]

1 minute ago, Plan B said:

Advice required please.  We have booked a 5 night cruise from Malaga to Barcelona via Morocco and Lisbon with a local independent travel agent for a good price with flights, transfers, tips and "Easy" drinks package included, leaving on 31 October 2021.

 

I have the correct confirmation from the travel agent but that is it - nothing from MSC or Vueling 😌  When I queried it, this is the reply I received:   

 

"You will not receive any paperwork from any other source until the tickets are issued between 15 and 30 days prior to departure"

 

This can't be correct, can it?  Also, we have cruised with MSC quite a few times previously so I asked for my discount to be applied only to be told that it wasn't applicable because this is a "group booking" but we haven't actually booked as a group???  I find it all very odd.  I want to double-check my booking with MSC and Vueling - the agent has all our details surely he has passed them on?  Can anyone shed any light onto this for me?   

 

Thanks for any help

 

Your TA should be able to send you the MSC booking confirmation.

 

As for the group booking, it's possible your TA put you in a group and that's why you got a good deal. The group is *only* as far as the TA is concerned - i.e., these aren't people you know/are traveling with...just you are all on the same cruise on the same date. It gets you a better price than you would have otherwise gotten.

 

Of course, you need to weigh this against your Voyager discount...if it isn't worth it, have the TA remove you from the group.

[shipgeeks]

Our TA has booked us on "Group" rates a number of times.  Good price, no further obligations.

Did you get a confirmation from the TA?  Can you log in on MSC, using your booking number?

[Plan B]

7 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Your TA should be able to send you the MSC booking confirmation.

 

Of course, you need to weigh this against your Voyager discount...if it isn't worth it, have the TA remove you from the group.

Thanks for the info.   No, he hasn't sent the MSC booking confirmation which is one of the things that I'm slightly worried about.   I think we probably have a better deal with the group booking than with our discount, but I was hoping MSC would apply it 🤣🤣

[Plan B]

3 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

Our TA has booked us on "Group" rates a number of times.  Good price, no further obligations.

Did you get a confirmation from the TA?  Can you log in on MSC, using your booking number?

Thanks for the info.   We have the TA's own confirmation but not from MSC - no booking number so I can't access my booking with MSC on their website.   It's the same with the airline.  I'm slightly worried because the balance is due shortly.  

[emmas gran]

If you have sailed MSC before do you have a Voyager Club number and is there any detail if you log into that. As we don't know where you live I am assuming EU your best bet is to ring MSC , rules are different for USA and UK but I would not make final without a booking number from MSC.

We have had to cancel a cruise and I just checked travel agents paperwork it does quote MSC booking reference and shortly after receiving that we got email from MSC confirming booking and did we want to purchase laundry etc prior to cruise.

[kernow]

We booked our Virtuosa cruise in June with a UK TA and they gave us the MSC booking number a couple of days later, have you asked specifically for this? Not giving loyalty discount is quite common for UK TAs when they offer a cheaper price, we've had it with several TAs on several cruise lines. 

 

We are not allowed to name TAs but there is one big UK agent that sells MSC very cheaply, we used them once and had a similar experience to you, nothing until the very last moment. It was all fine in the end but personally I wouldn't use them again, too much stress for me just to save a few pounds.

[8420PR]

Normally Travel Agents want to give you the MSC booking number so you can book excursions, drink packages, spa stuff etc.   The Agent will get a commission from everything you book pre-cruise on the MSC website, so it is in there interest to provide the booking number.