Wouldn't you think MSC would be a bit more accommodating?

[Stockjock]

I've had a number of cruises cancelled, mostly not related to covid.  We had a fall sailing on Magnifica to the Greek Isles and Israel overnight that we were really looking forward to.  I'm half Greek and have only visited one Greek island, so it was meaningful to me to visit the home of my ancestors.  MSC strung me along for the better part of a year, telling me it wasn't cancelled, before cancelling it.

I found a cruise leaving out of the same port one day later and arriving one day later.  I didn't like the itinerary as much, but the GF already had approved time off so I booked that one.  Only problem is that an unobstructed balcony, which we had before, was about $1,000 more.

Booked a Bella OV GUAR (about $400 more) which was fortunately upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony.

We had to rearrange our flights and that probably cost us about $500.  In order not to disrupt our hotel reservations, we added another night and that's $150 plus.

So $400 more for an inferior cabin, $500 more for flights, $150 more for hotel and MSC's change cost me a bit north of $1,000 USD).

Found a Bella balcony that I prefer and it doesn't have a lifeboat in front of it. Price would be exactly the same as my lifeboat cabin.  Asked if they would consider moving me to it in light of the circumstances and they wouldn't consider that.

I don't expect them to give me a free cruise, but when passengers are greatly inconvenienced, pay a lot more, and still stay with the cruise line as a loyal customer, one would think that a relatively minor accommodation, such as switching to a different cabin within the same category, shouldn't be too much of a stretch in the name of good customer service, wouldn't you?

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[phissy]

One would think they (MSC) would want to try and accommodate their passengers. 
But, we found they really do not. We were booked on Meraviglia, Nov 13, 15 day cruise.

MSC cancelled that cruise and tried to move us to cruise with different ship and sail date 8 days later.

1 week later “another” 15 day appeared on schedule. Same dates and same ship. MSC refused to put us back to our original date and ship at the rate we paid for cruise.

we paid $2,000 more to get our cruise back (YC). We should have known the great deal we booked last year would not “hold”.

[orangemini]

2 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Booked a Bella OV GUAR (about $400 more) which was fortunately upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony.

One phrase comes to mind when I book a cruise: "Set it and forget it." I get what I get and I don't get upset. Oh, okay, two phrases. Point is, you'll never be happy if you're always trying to go one better. You booked an OV GUAR and were fortunate enough to be upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony. Where does it stop? I hope you have a fantastic time. Post some photos please, so we can all travel along with you. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by orangemini

[diesel1973]

I have been following some of your problems with MSC. Why on earth do you continue to do business with them??? I did  one cruise with them and had so many problems during the cruise that I am one and done.  Granted the new ships are beautiful but it ends there.  Have done many cruise with Royal  and Celebrity and never have any major problems. If I do have a small problem they remedy it. Might not be the lowest price but well worth the small price .Good luck with your problems with them!!! 

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, diesel1973 said:

I have been following some of your problems with MSC. Why on earth do you continue to do business with them??? I did  one cruise with them and had so many problems during the cruise that I am one and done.  Granted the new ships are beautiful but it ends there.  Have done many cruise with Royal  and Celebrity and never have any major problems. If I do have a small problem they remedy it. Might not be the lowest price but well worth the small price .Good luck with your problems with them!!! 

I still do some bookings with MSC, but I have spread things out a bit.  After this upcoming fall cruise (maybe), my next 2 bookings are with Celebrity.

Celebrity is certainly imperfect, but just to share some differences...

Celebrity cancelled one of my cruises.  Immediately moved our booking to a new ship to take its place.  Gave me a better ship, better itinerary, longer itinerary, same cabin number on the new ship, did it quickly and seamlessly with no difference in price.

MSC moved my booking to some code that made no sense.  Said it would be sailing for about 9 months even though they knew it was cancelled.  Finally cancelled the cruise officially.  Made no effort to accommodate.  Raised prices considerably on everything similar.  Essentially told me to buzz off with respect to a request for some low level accommodation, such as moving to a different cabin within the same category on the new "replacement" cruise.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

Here's one more example of an experience with Celebrity vs. MSC, and before I offer it, let me address the simplistic response, "If Celebrity is so great, why don't you just book Celebrity"?  That's because MSC's prices are much less and the onboard experience with MSC is pretty good.  It's what comes before one is onboard MSC that things get sketchy.

Back to the story.  

Maybe 4 years ago, I booked an awesome huge corner Family Veranda at a great price.  But Celebrity later decided to charter the ship out for a rock and roll cruise.

My phone rang and it was Celebrity (which never happens with MSC).

They told me what happened.  They apologized.  They took the liberty of reserving the same cabin on a similar sailing and said if the timing worked, there would be no price difference, even though the new sailing was more expensive.  They gave me the name of the person accountable to help me and his direct phone number.

Sadly, the timing didn't work.  But I later found another sailing in a standard balcony cabin that did work.  I think they gave me $300 OBC, one comped specialty restaurant visit and a minor upgrade on my cabin.  

Just a difference in service and mentality.  If you go to the Celebrity boards, you'll find plenty of gripes, but things are definitely done differently versus MSC.

In fact, here's a video from the comped dinner:

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[Huntingdon1701]

It depends on who you get through to. I've had bad experiences, but also great ones where they exceeded my expectations. Worth ringing again and asking, if you can bear it.

[ziggyuk]

The free upgrade from a OV to Balcony sounds pretty accommodating to me 🙄

 

Taking a chance and booking flights and hotel rooms so early is of course a risk and not one I'm taking right now.

[Rotterdam]

It's called covid...the op seems to have a lot of complaining time on his hands & his game is to beat out a low balled priced cruise...no matter the line.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Rotterdam
Spell

[DCGuy64]

9 hours ago, diesel1973 said:

I have been following some of your problems with MSC. Why on earth do you continue to do business with them??? I did  one cruise with them and had so many problems during the cruise that I am one and done.  Granted the new ships are beautiful but it ends there.  Have done many cruise with Royal  and Celebrity and never have any major problems. If I do have a small problem they remedy it. Might not be the lowest price but well worth the small price .Good luck with your problems with them!!! 

It's simple, he likes MSC's low prices but then expects service on a level associated with Celebrity or other lines. In short: champagne taste on a beer budget. It's like paying for Motel 6 and expecting the Ritz-Carlton. Not gonna happen. I like getting good value for my money and there's nothing wrong with wanting a cruise line to step it up (on this point I agree with the OP, MSC could improve, for sure!), but it's one thing to hope the cruise line gets better, it's another to demand/expect it, and at what cost? MSC's pricing would surely increase if they did as he asked, but I'm not a stockbroker like he is and Celebrity is too expensive for us. I like having lower-priced choices and we think MSC, while not perfect, is good value for us.

[mscdivina2016]

13 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Booked a Bella OV GUAR (about $400 more) which was fortunately upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony.

 

You were given an upgrade to a crappy Balcony. That's why you were upgraded, its a crappy Balcony!

I would be happy because you could have paid for a balcony guarantee and still got that balcony.

STeve

[Homosassa]

14 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Booked a Bella OV GUAR (about $400 more) which was fortunately upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony.


Found a Bella balcony that I prefer and it doesn't have a lifeboat in front of it. Price would be exactly the same as my lifeboat cabin.  Asked if they would consider moving me to it in light of the circumstances and they wouldn't consider that.

I don't expect them to give me a free cruise, but when passengers are greatly inconvenienced, pay a lot more, and still stay with the cruise line as a loyal customer, one would think that a relatively minor accommodation, such as switching to a different cabin within the same category, shouldn't be too much of a stretch in the name of good customer service, wouldn't you?

Key words: Booked a Bella O

 

V Guar and was upgraded to a partially obstructed balcony.

 

You are already ahead of the game as you were given a balcony for the lowest priced ocean view booking ("guaranteed" is always the lowest priced booking in any category.

 

While in your mind, the new cabin is the same price as the cabin that you have been given a FREE upgrade to, the new cabin is not the same price as the cabin you originally booked.

 

If you wanted that Bella unobstructed balcony, perhaps offer to pay the difference between the cost of your original cabin class booking and the higher category cabin.

 

MSC has no reason to give away a second upgrade to you.

 

The additional money you have paid, by choice, in order to travel is on you, not MSC.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Homosassa

[Stockjock]

I think some of you guys may be missing the point. The point isn’t whether or not it’s a good thing that I bought a Bella ocean view and got upgraded to an obstructed balcony. I agree that that is a positive. The issue is that they canceled my cruise, not because of Covid, and those changes cost me $1000 or more.  
 

And another part of the point is that they knew it was canceled but lied about it, apparently since October of last year, according to one agent.  I don’t think I received official notification until June of this year, so that means that they strung passengers along for eight months..

 

Imagine if you have a flight and the airline cancels it and then simply told you “tough luck, book another flight”.  But the new flights will cost you over $1000 additional.  I think we know that’s not normally how they do it, if they have inconvenienced their passenger due to cancellation, they will try to make it right.
 

Even if I was upgraded to a cabin in the same category, I’m still spending more than $1000 than what I originally booked with an inferior itinerary.  I think that those that have the same “pound sand” mentality as MSC are mistaken, because I think they should be reasonably accommodative of passengers who have been previously inconvenienced. I don’t think they need to give them the moon and the stars, but take care of your customers, within reason.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[ziggyuk]

9 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I think some of you guys may be missing the point. The point isn’t whether or not it’s a good thing that I bought a Bella ocean view and got upgraded to an obstructed balcony. I agree that that is a positive. The issue is that they canceled my cruise, not because of Covid, and those changes cost me $1000 or more.

 

I don't think anyone is missing the point, as all have said you chose to book flights and hotels early during a pandemic, it was a huge gamble and a gamble you lost.

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, Rotterdam said:

It's called covid...the op seems to have a lot of complaining time on his hands & his game is to beat out a low balled priced cruise...no matter the line.

You are mistaken, the ship was not changed due to Covid, the schedule was changed because they moved the ship to Saudi Arabia.  But as I’ve mentioned, MSC has told me that the sailing was canceled in October 2020, but customers not informed until June 2021.
 

Seriously, you think that’s OK?  And do you think that the cruise line owes customers absolutely nothing after stringing them along for at least eight months without informing them what was really going on?  

In terms of the comments about a “lowballed cruise”, I don’t know where that comes from. They offered a cruise and I booked it.  How is that something to be criticized for?

 

I think they should try to do something or other for inconvenienced customers within reason, even absent those circumstances. As an example, if they had let me know a little bit earlier, I might’ve been able to get a better price on a replacement cruise and I probably could’ve saved some money on my flights, as the prices went up.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[mscdivina2016]

22 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I think some of you guys may be missing the point. The point isn’t whether or not it’s a good thing that I bought a Bella ocean view and got upgraded to an obstructed balcony. I agree that that is a positive. The issue is that they canceled my cruise, not because of Covid, and those changes cost me $1000 or more.  
 

And another part of the point is that they knew it was canceled but lied about it, apparently since October of last year, according to one agent.  I don’t think I received official notification until June of this year, so that means that they strung passengers along for eight months..

 

Imagine if you have a flight and the airline cancels it and then simply told you “tough luck, book another flight”.  But the new flights will cost you over $1000 additional.  I think we know that’s not normally how they do it, if they have inconvenienced their passenger due to cancellation, they will try to make it right.
 

Even if I was upgraded to a cabin in the same category, I’m still spending more than $1000 than what I originally booked with an inferior itinerary.  I think that those that have the same “pound sand” mentality as MSC are mistaken, because I think they should be reasonably accommodative of passengers who have been previously inconvenienced. I don’t think they need to give them the moon and the stars, but take care of your customers, within reason.

Was your cruise paid in full? I thought fully paid passengers were/are fully protected?

I as a rule pay everything off right away including thru the end of 2023 cruises for me.

When an issue arises I have more clout.

Did have a recent FCC hickup but overall I fair well.

Steve

[DCGuy64]

9 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I don't think anyone is missing the point, as all have said you chose to book flights and hotels early during a pandemic, it was a huge gamble and a gamble you lost.

Exactly, there are so many assumptions in his analysis (they "knew" a year ago it was cancelled-no way that's true, there's no way the cruiseline "knows" ahead of time it's going to cancel a cruise that's a year away), and "essentially told me to buzz off," seriously? I'd love to know what actually transpired during that phone call. I *highly* doubt anyone told him to buzz off. Anyway, good luck to our friend @Stockjock, I think and hope he's learned a good lesson about booking airline flights and hotels when Covid-19 is still very much in the picture and cruise lines are making adjustments on the fly. We have 2 upcoming cruises and even now, I'm not 100% sure they'll go ahead. Good luck to everyone out there, including the OP.

[Stockjock]

14 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Was your cruise paid in full? I thought fully paid passengers were/are fully protected?

I as a rule pay everything off right away including thru the end of 2023 cruises for me.

When an issue arises I have more clout.

Did have a recent FCC hickup but overall I fair well.

Steve

The cruise was paid in full and we had excursions booked in most of the stops.  They offered 100% future cruise credit on the deposit (no premium) and $200 in shipboard credit for a new booking.

 

However, at the time I booked the replacement cruise, they had not yet told me my original cruise was canceled, even though I had a strong suspicion that that would be the case.  So based on these suspicions, I booked a replacement cruise before the official notification had been made, and as I mentioned, this was a oceanview guarantee category cabin. Once the official notification was made, that Oceanview GUAR category had gone away and I could not have an opportunity for an upgrade had I rebooked.  Only specific individual Ocean view cabins were available at that point, and booking a balcony cabin would cost at least $1000 more than what I had previously.
 

So it would not have made sense to move my deposit to a new sailing just to pick up the measly $200 OBC because I could not get the category that I want it, plus in my estimation, getting $200 and potentially making my deposit nonrefundable was not a great trade off anyway.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

Even though I'm using my personal situation as an example, the bigger picture here isn't about me or where I choose to book.  It's about how you treat your customers when you cancel their scheduled vacations.

Again, using Celebrity as an example on these cancelled cruises.

Celebrity called me to tell me what was going on.
MSC did not call or e-mail.

Celebrity actually moved me into a similar cabin on a similar sailing at the same price without me asking, MSC did not and would not.

Celebrity's notification was timely.  MSC apparently lied about the status of the cruise for 8 months, insisting that it was still sailing, even though they apparently knew it was cancelled.

Celebrity offered an accommodation on one of the cruises, OBC a low-level upgrade, and specialty dining.  No accommodation from MSC.

I think that it's safe to say that a business should strive for mostly happy customers.  While it's not possible to make everyone happy all of the time, if your company is the one making these changes, inconveniencing customers and costing them money, in some cases a lot, in my view it's only reasonable to try to provide some level of accommodation to those customers.

You want customers raving about your business in a good way, not constantly frustrated.  The goal should be fostering customer loyalty, not jacking up inconvenienced customers for even more money.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Stockjock

[ziggyuk]

40 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Exactly, there are so many assumptions in his analysis (they "knew" a year ago it was cancelled-no way that's true, there's no way the cruiseline "knows" ahead of time it's going to cancel a cruise that's a year away), and "essentially told me to buzz off," seriously? I'd love to know what actually transpired during that phone call. I *highly* doubt anyone told him to buzz off. Anyway, good luck to our friend @Stockjock, I think and hope he's learned a good lesson about booking airline flights and hotels when Covid-19 is still very much in the picture and cruise lines are making adjustments on the fly. We have 2 upcoming cruises and even now, I'm not 100% sure they'll go ahead. Good luck to everyone out there, including the OP.

 

Exactly, I lost both my first UK staycation cruises as MSC changed ship to Virtuosa, you dust off and start again, mine also cost more to rebook but that's the way it goes, everything is changing constantly.
Wish I had gotten a free balcony upgrade (even with a lifeboat), I would have been chuffed as nuts!

 

I'm supposed to be on the NCL Encore in October, no way have I bought flights yet, I can't even fly to the US right now. I was thinking of staying in Mexico for 2 weeks then fly to the US but today Mexico was put on our red list. Canada will open to the UK in September, maybe I will spend 2 weeks there.
 

The point being with this constant changing world it's just mad and will cost $$££ buying early and that is what happened to the OP.

Edited August 5, 2021 by ziggyuk

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Exactly, I lost both my first UK staycation cruises as MSC changed ship to Virtuosa, you dust off and start again, mine also cost more to rebook but that's the way it goes, everything is changing constantly.
Wish I had gotten a free balcony upgrade (even with a lifeboat), I would have been chuffed as nuts!

 

I supposed to be on the NCL Encore in October, no way have i bought flights yet, I can't even fly to the US right now. I was thinking of staying in Mexico for 2 weeks then fly to the US but today Mexico was put on our red list. Canada will open to the UK in September, maybe I will spend 2 weeks there.
 

The point being with this constant changing world it's just mad and will cost $$££ buying early and that is what happened to the OP.

Well said, @ziggyuk. Our situation was similar to yours: booked on the Virtuosa for July 2021, decided to change to August 2021 due to uncertainty over borders/Covid, MSC then took Virtuosa to UK and changed us to Seaview, then changed the itinerary, we had the dreaded "NAR" twice, then we chose to switch to the Splendida for 28 August. We booked a one-night pre-cruise hotel in Copenhagen for the Virtuosa/Seaview, then cancelled (no fee, I made sure before I booked) after moving to the Splendida. We didn't even think of buying airfare until we knew we were sailing. Even so, they could still cancel our cruise, but our airfare can be rebooked until April 2023 with no change fees. My point? Given these uncertain times, it's unwise to make bookings that can't be changed or cancelled without a fee. I do have sympathy for the OP but some of his plight is down to his personal decisions that have, unfortunately, ended up costing him. Now more than ever, we all have to be flexible and not commit money until we're 100% sure, and even then, have a backup plan or two. We plan to visit Italy even if MSC cancels.

[Homosassa]

1 hour ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I would have been chuffed as nuts!

 

 

LOL!  Would you mind giving a translation for this statement?

 

It's a case of the US and UK being separated by a common language.

[ziggyuk]

34 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

LOL!  Would you mind giving a translation for this statement?

 

It's a case of the US and UK being separated by a common language.

 

Haha yes, it's just a slang term to say very happy, bit like "pleased as punch" 😆

[shipgeeks]

7 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Haha yes, it's just a slang term to say very happy, bit like "pleased as punch" 😆

I'm glad you translated!  My initial thought was just the opposite, maybe like "mad as a wet hen".

[ziggyuk]

4 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

I'm glad you translated!  My initial thought was just the opposite, maybe like "mad as a wet hen".

 

I like that one I might use that 😃

 

Chuffed is just really happy, I might say "I'm chuffed to bits with my new car".