First time Cruiser, Honeymoon Cruise on MSC Meraviglia!

[FrostyJoe]

5 minutes ago, slei15 said:

The negative balance will not carry over to on board.  You need to use it to pre-purchase something prior to leaving. You can purchase OBC with it, which will then in effect allow you to spend it on slots. 

Omg that’s crazy!! Do u have a link on where MSC says this??? This is crazy!!!!

 

im so glad I asked and thanks for your help. How do we purchase on board credit 

[slei15]

17 minutes ago, FrostyJoe said:

Omg that’s crazy!! Do u have a link on where MSC says this??? This is crazy!!!!

 

im so glad I asked and thanks for your help. How do we purchase on board credit 

No link as to where they say it...Just know from experience!  Call your TA or MSC to purchase OBC (or any other pre-sailing item like excursion or drinks) and make sure that negative balance gets applied against it.

[FrostyJoe]

3 minutes ago, slei15 said:

No link as to where they say it...Just know from experience!  Call your TA or MSC to purchase OBC (or any other pre-sailing item like excursion or drinks) and make sure that negative balance gets applied against it.

Wow. So MSC lied to me. Twice over the phone they told me I’ll get a refund on the CC after the cruise…..

 

I better call them soon thank you!

[slei15]

16 minutes ago, FrostyJoe said:

Wow. So MSC lied to me. Twice over the phone they told me I’ll get a refund on the CC after the cruise…..

 

I better call them soon thank you!

Ok so there may be a possibility of that....It depends on the reason for the negative balance.

 

99% of the time a negative balance is the result of a late discount being added (post final payment) or an FCC being applied and not being fully used.  In these cases, they generally do not refund it (unless they have changed their policies very recently, but I have always been told my clients need to use it all pre-trip).  If there was an actual overpayment, that would be refunded post cruise.  I know they haven't changed policy on the FCC side, but possibly on the late discounts? I always advise clients to just use it pre-cruise for the avoidance of any doubt.

[FrostyJoe]

1 hour ago, slei15 said:

Ok so there may be a possibility of that....It depends on the reason for the negative balance.

 

99% of the time a negative balance is the result of a late discount being added (post final payment) or an FCC being applied and not being fully used.  In these cases, they generally do not refund it (unless they have changed their policies very recently, but I have always been told my clients need to use it all pre-trip).  If there was an actual overpayment, that would be refunded post cruise.  I know they haven't changed policy on the FCC side, but possibly on the late discounts? I always advise clients to just use it pre-cruise for the avoidance of any doubt.

Oh wow....our credit was due to 5/15 discount and the government employee discount applied after final payment.  We booked our cruise after final payment though.  Sounds like it's best if I just use it before going on board...

 

Do you know if I can pre-pay gratuities also using the negative balance?  Thanks again for your help!

[slei15]

8 minutes ago, FrostyJoe said:

Oh wow....our credit was due to 5/15 discount and the government employee discount applied after final payment.  We booked our cruise after final payment though.  Sounds like it's best if I just use it before going on board...

 

Do you know if I can pre-pay gratuities also using the negative balance?  Thanks again for your help!

Absolutely…they call them service charges and they can be prebooked with the balance. 

[FrostyJoe]

On 12/13/2021 at 5:56 PM, slei15 said:

Absolutely…they call them service charges and they can be prebooked with the balance. 

Sorry to bother you seli15 again but did you get burnt before by MSC?  I just called again and they told me they'll refund me back on CC within "one to two billing cycles"....

[slei15]

30 minutes ago, FrostyJoe said:

Sorry to bother you seli15 again but did you get burnt before by MSC?  I just called again and they told me they'll refund me back on CC within "one to two billing cycles"....

Never ended up losing anything, but went through many many many hassles and hours upon hours on the phone getting things corrected.

[FrostyJoe]

13 hours ago, slei15 said:

Never ended up losing anything, but went through many many many hassles and hours upon hours on the phone getting things corrected.

Thank you again!! I did go ahead and went through with your suggestion.  Now I see the shipboard credit and the 3 bottles of wines from the negative balance :).  Better to risk the $4 and change of negative balance vs hundreds 🙂

[gpcruiser25]

On 12/7/2021 at 1:51 PM, buckeye25osu said:

 

Couple questions for anyone still following-  I got upgraded to balcony by bidding the minimum (90 pp).  They assigned it automatically.  Can I get the room switched by calling if another is available?  There's nothing wrong with my room, but a very nice youtuber pointed out some balconies that have some extra room.

 

Also, I was able to apply the 5+15% discount!  My account now shows a negative.  Where is this money?  It has not been refunded to my CC so is it ship credit or is it something i can get refunded?

 

Thanks again all!  Cruise in 5 days!

 

I'm sailing soon and was looking at potentially doing a bid. How did you get the discount applied? Would like to know so if I do bid, I can do that too!

[FrostyJoe]

26 minutes ago, gpcruiser25 said:

 

I'm sailing soon and was looking at potentially doing a bid. How did you get the discount applied? Would like to know so if I do bid, I can do that too!

You have to have some sort of voyager club status (I forget which level triggers the discount). And just call to ensure your reservation shows your status. And once I got a confirmation showing my correct status I just called back to apply the discount. You won’t have to wait until bidding etc, so long as you have some voyagers clubs status. 

[buckeye25osu]

Hello All-  Back of course from our cruise and just have to say it was amazing.  With the holidays and now a closing and move into a new house things have been a whilrwind but I will come back here an post a longer update.  In short, we had only 600 or so passengers.  We had a great time and could not be happier with our first cruise.  The staff was amazing and we both thought the food rocked.  I do have a pending negative balance (due to the 5+15% retroactively applied) that @FrostyJoe  and @slei15 were discussing above.  I was told 2x it would be refunded to my CC after the cruise.  We'll see about that.  But anyways, amazing trip and we will definitely cruise MSC again!

[FrostyJoe]

Just now, buckeye25osu said:

Hello All-  Back of course from our cruise and just have to say it was amazing.  With the holidays and now a closing and move into a new house things have been a whilrwind but I will come back here an post a longer update.  In short, we had only 600 or so passengers.  We had a great time and could not be happier with our first cruise.  The staff was amazing and we both thought the food rocked.  I do have a pending negative balance (due to the 5+15% retroactively applied) that @FrostyJoe  and @slei15 were discussing above.  I was told 2x it would be refunded to my CC after the cruise.  We'll see about that.  But anyways, amazing trip and we will definitely cruise MSC again!

Welcome back!! And glad ya'll had a good honeymoon!!! Hope ya'll didn't rock the boat TOO much 😄