Rare Morgsmom Posted October 26, 2021 #1 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Let me preface this by saying that YES, I was in the wrong (technically speaking that is..) and that Customer Service did not even try to help. I'll explain: the same day that DH and I decided to switch a booking that we had for the Grandiosa out of Rome to a YC cabin in the Caribbean, adding the Health Care heroes discount (which was not available for the Med sailing), our TA basically got all huffy and puffy. Yes, it was a bit complicated and if I could have done it myself I would have, but since he made the original booking for us he had to make the changes. TA indicated that he was spending so much time re-faring folks for small drops in prices that he was "over" MSC and no longer was willing to put up with the cruise line. Since he already "owned" this booking we had to let him go through with the current booking. On that same day I wanted to book a short 4 night on Divina for myself (yay me!) and the few pennies a Travel Agent might be able to offer wasn't worth it given the low, low fare (there was no single supplement and it was a Voyager's 15+5%). So I booked myself directly online through the website, picked a cabin and was done with it. Or so I thought. Fast forward to last week. DH was able to arrange the time off (yay!) which was a result of some shuffling and sulking about me going alone 🤪. So I called MSC and was told that I could not change my res to add DH and use the Health Care Hero discount because (drumroll please) I had booked the original booking ONLINE. The fine point is that it has to be booked via a TA or through MSC via phone. But I told them that I did not qualify, DH did, so there was no reason that I would have had to bother them before. Now he'd like to come, I'm talking to you ON THE PHONE, and can we do something. Um. nope. Ultimately after some very frustrated discussion about the lunacy of this I finally relented. I could have cancelled my cruise, taken the penalty, then rebooked with DH and the Health Care discount but the discount would be applied AFTER I PAID IN Full. If the discount was approved, after I sent in the documents again (already accepted on other booking) I would then get the difference in the form of an OBC (which I don't want/need). Only after I asked did rep say that this was refundable, but heavens knows WHEN I might see that $ again after the sailing. Long story short: DH is staying home with fur-babies, I'll be sailing solo as was originally intended, and find a new TA. Oh, and my carefully selected cabin was CHANGED, but since it is same category and "ok" I'm not even going to try to move it back. Someone have the 🍾 chilling for me onboard already. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidari Posted October 26, 2021 #2 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Reminds me of the early cruises in 2012,13 and 14 we did with msc. Me to barman can I have two coffees with Bailey's please, barman No sorry sir it's not allowed! Me ... Can I have two coffees and two Bailey's then ? Barman .. yes of course sir ... 🤔 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 26, 2021 #3 Share Posted October 26, 2021 @Morgsmomdoes it surprise you that I actually followed and understood your post? Yea I speak MSC now 🤣 What dates are you on Divina? We’re on 14-21 so maybe we’ll run into you. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Morgsmom Posted October 26, 2021 Author #4 Share Posted October 26, 2021 8 minutes ago, styles27 said: @Morgsmomdoes it surprise you that I actually followed and understood your post? Yea I speak MSC now 🤣 What dates are you on Divina? We’re on 14-21 so maybe we’ll run into you. BWHAHAHAH, you speak MSC. Maybe we should count that as a foreign language? I'll be on the week before you guys! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fla Mike Posted October 26, 2021 #5 Share Posted October 26, 2021 46 minutes ago, Morgsmom said: Someone have the 🍾 chilling for me onboard already. Thanks. You pick the place, we'll have you covered 🍸 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Morgsmom Posted October 26, 2021 Author #6 Share Posted October 26, 2021 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Fla Mike said: You pick the place, we'll have you covered 🍸 I'll be hanging with Bernard at the adult pool bar. Unfortunately it will be prosecco on this go around since I didn't spring for the Premium Plus Bev Package (or whatever it is called now). But maybe he'll find me some Nicolas Feuillatte (shhhh) Edited October 26, 2021 by Morgsmom . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fla Mike Posted October 26, 2021 #7 Share Posted October 26, 2021 1 minute ago, Morgsmom said: (shhhh) 🤐 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 26, 2021 #8 Share Posted October 26, 2021 23 minutes ago, Morgsmom said: BWHAHAHAH, you speak MSC. Maybe we should count that as a foreign language? I'll be on the week before you guys! Shoot too bad it would have been fun to meet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Beamafar Posted October 27, 2021 #9 Share Posted October 27, 2021 14 hours ago, Morgsmom said: BWHAHAHAH, you speak MSC. Maybe we should count that as a foreign language? It would have to be understandable to be classed as a language! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mscdivina2016 Posted October 27, 2021 #10 Share Posted October 27, 2021 21 hours ago, Morgsmom said: Let me preface this by saying that YES, I was in the wrong (technically speaking that is..) and that Customer Service did not even try to help. I'll explain: the same day that DH and I decided to switch a booking that we had for the Grandiosa out of Rome to a YC cabin in the Caribbean, adding the Health Care heroes discount (which was not available for the Med sailing), our TA basically got all huffy and puffy. Yes, it was a bit complicated and if I could have done it myself I would have, but since he made the original booking for us he had to make the changes. TA indicated that he was spending so much time re-faring folks for small drops in prices that he was "over" MSC and no longer was willing to put up with the cruise line. Since he already "owned" this booking we had to let him go through with the current booking. On that same day I wanted to book a short 4 night on Divina for myself (yay me!) and the few pennies a Travel Agent might be able to offer wasn't worth it given the low, low fare (there was no single supplement and it was a Voyager's 15+5%). So I booked myself directly online through the website, picked a cabin and was done with it. Or so I thought. Fast forward to last week. DH was able to arrange the time off (yay!) which was a result of some shuffling and sulking about me going alone 🤪. So I called MSC and was told that I could not change my res to add DH and use the Health Care Hero discount because (drumroll please) I had booked the original booking ONLINE. The fine point is that it has to be booked via a TA or through MSC via phone. But I told them that I did not qualify, DH did, so there was no reason that I would have had to bother them before. Now he'd like to come, I'm talking to you ON THE PHONE, and can we do something. Um. nope. Ultimately after some very frustrated discussion about the lunacy of this I finally relented. I could have cancelled my cruise, taken the penalty, then rebooked with DH and the Health Care discount but the discount would be applied AFTER I PAID IN Full. If the discount was approved, after I sent in the documents again (already accepted on other booking) I would then get the difference in the form of an OBC (which I don't want/need). Only after I asked did rep say that this was refundable, but heavens knows WHEN I might see that $ again after the sailing. Long story short: DH is staying home with fur-babies, I'll be sailing solo as was originally intended, and find a new TA. Oh, and my carefully selected cabin was CHANGED, but since it is same category and "ok" I'm not even going to try to move it back. Someone have the 🍾 chilling for me onboard already. Thanks. You should complain once you get onboard or before if you want to be on hold. They might offer to stick it to the crew and remove the daily service charge for your troubles. They can even do it for future cruises you have booked. This is not speculation on my part but an actual occurrence that they did with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Morgsmom Posted October 28, 2021 Author #11 Share Posted October 28, 2021 23 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said: This is not speculation on my part but an actual occurrence that they did with me. I know, I've been following the Salsa Cruise fiasco. I was temped to book one of those crazy low YC rates that they had published and would have been mad as heck, too, if they didn't honor it. (And there's no way a Deck 8 Aft would have sufficed) We tried to reach out to a crewmember who is on the ship now to see how the salsa cruise is going but the email bounced. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRH Posted October 28, 2021 #12 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Regarding the infamous salsa cruise. Go to Facebook and search salsa cruise 2021. Videos posted. No masks, lots of crowding and loud music. If you were looking for a wild party cruise, you lucked out if you stumbled onto this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Morgsmom Posted October 28, 2021 Author #13 Share Posted October 28, 2021 oh my stars - one of the videos is from 4AM!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 28, 2021 #14 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I feel so bad for that crew. I hope they all stay healthy after this fiasco. I wonder how many passengers there are 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fla Mike Posted October 28, 2021 #15 Share Posted October 28, 2021 5 hours ago, Morgsmom said: We tried to reach out to a crewmember who is on the ship now to see how the salsa cruise is going but the email bounced. 5 hours ago, styles27 said: I wonder how many passengers there are If you go to the FB page for Nov 7th a crew member has mentioned to someone's inquiry that there is 1600 on board for the Salsa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 28, 2021 #16 Share Posted October 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, Fla Mike said: If you go to the FB page for Nov 7th a crew member has mentioned to someone's inquiry that there is 1600 on board for the Salsa Thank you! Unfortunately (or fortunately lol) I deleted FB in Jan and never looked back 🙂 I appreciate you sharing that. 1600 isn’t so bad, it’s still under 50% so that’s good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted October 28, 2021 #17 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Styles, Please tell me how you deleted FB. I've been trying to do that for several years; posts still keep coming in, even though I registered to un-join. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted October 28, 2021 #18 Share Posted October 28, 2021 On 10/27/2021 at 10:22 AM, mscdivina2016 said: You should complain once you get onboard or before if you want to be on hold. They might offer to stick it to the crew and remove the daily service charge for your troubles. They can even do it for future cruises you have booked. This is not speculation on my part but an actual occurrence that they did with me. I don''t agree that that offer meant the crew would not be paid. It was similar to offering some free specialty restaurant meals or other benefit, as compensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 28, 2021 #19 Share Posted October 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, shipgeeks said: Styles, Please tell me how you deleted FB. I've been trying to do that for several years; posts still keep coming in, even though I registered to un-join. First I went into settings and it wasn’t easy to find but I got to the point where I could “deactivate” my account which I did. Then after a month I decided I wanted to delete it completely so I had to google how to do it because they make it very difficult now to delete. Once I went through the motions of deleting it they still made me wait 20 or 30 days (I can’t remember exactly it’s been a while) and after that time frame they sent me another email to be sure I really wanted it deleted for good. Here’s what I did 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger88 Posted October 28, 2021 #20 Share Posted October 28, 2021 1 hour ago, styles27 said: Thank you! Unfortunately (or fortunately lol) I deleted FB in Jan and never looked back 🙂 I appreciate you sharing that. 1600 isn’t so bad, it’s still under 50% so that’s good. Have you heard the last news? They are going to rename FB into Meta now. I wonder what stands behind it, but in any case, I expect a better interface and search engine in general. FB helps get cruise information faster than anything else out there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare styles27 Posted October 28, 2021 #21 Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Roger88 said: Have you heard the last news? They are going to rename FB into Meta now. I wonder what stands behind it, but in any case, I expect a better interface and search engine in general. FB helps get cruise information faster than anything else out there I hadn’t heard that. I do miss that part of it for sure, all of the travel groups were great. It was the childish family/friends things that drove me away. The “you haven’t “liked” my posts on FB in a while, are you mad at me?” texts from 50 yr olds acting like teenagers. 🤦🏻♀️ edit to add Watching the news and the FB renaming story is coming up. So funny! Edited October 28, 2021 by styles27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaroleC Posted October 28, 2021 #22 Share Posted October 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, styles27 said: It was the childish family/friends things that drove me away. The “you haven’t “liked” my posts on FB in a while, are you mad at me?” texts from 50 yr olds acting like teenagers. 🤦🏻♀️ Yep, and the “so proud of little Billy, he’s just done his first poo in the potty”. Really?? So not interested!! 😬 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mscdivina2016 Posted October 29, 2021 #23 Share Posted October 29, 2021 3 hours ago, shipgeeks said: I don''t agree that that offer meant the crew would not be paid. It was similar to offering some free specialty restaurant meals or other benefit, as compensation. Then why was the offer for removing the DSC versus pre-paid gratuities. I know they offered it at time of booking so I have it on a February sailing. My December and March are not pre paid. It was stated a note would be put in the system under my booking number and if it appeared, to go to the desk and have them read the note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perakcruiser Posted October 29, 2021 #24 Share Posted October 29, 2021 16 hours ago, Roger88 said: Have you heard the last news? They are going to rename FB into Meta now. I wonder what stands behind it, but in any case, I expect a better interface and search engine in general. FB helps get cruise information faster than anything else out there FB will not be renamed Meta. The mother company on the stock market changes its name from FB to Meta. The reason is that investors should see that FB is much more than FB, i.e. Instagram, WhatsApp. The FB product will not change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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