Upgrade bid email - booked through agent - will I get one?

[shepardo01]

Hopefully fairly straightforward - as per title;

Booked cruise through agent.

Will I still receive an upgrade bid email?

If yes, will this be through the agent, or direct from MSC/upgrade provider?

 

Thanks as always folks.

[alyssamma]

17 minutes ago, shepardo01 said:

Hopefully fairly straightforward - as per title;

Booked cruise through agent.

Will I still receive an upgrade bid email?

If yes, will this be through the agent, or direct from MSC/upgrade provider?

 

Thanks as always folks.

Direct to you. Make sure you've set your profile to alow marketing emails 

[shepardo01]

17 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Direct to you. Make sure you've set your profile to alow marketing emails 

Thanks alyssamma!

[kernow]

If you are going to get one you will whether booked direct or with a TA but be aware that not everyone gets one for every cruise. 

This week I had a bid accepted for a cruise(booked with TA) in 3 weeks time but many in our FB group are saying that they never received an email at all even though profile is correctly set.

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, shepardo01 said:

Hopefully fairly straightforward - as per title;

Booked cruise through agent.

Will I still receive an upgrade bid email?

If yes, will this be through the agent, or direct from MSC/upgrade provider?

 

Thanks as always folks.

Also depends on whether TA will allow it.

[alyssamma]

25 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Also depends on whether TA will allow it.

Nothing to do.with the TA...in fact, the TA won't even know if you get it or not.

 

Completely handled by 3rd party independent of everyone else.

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

Nothing to do.with the TA...in fact, the TA won't even know if you get it or not.

 

Completely handled by 3rd party independent of everyone else.

You sure?

My unfortunate family reunion on MSC next May has 3 cabins in YC and 5 not in YC. TA has been informed not to allow any of the 5 to upgrade or bid into YC . TA said that can be done. He will do something with the reservation to not allow it 

3 out of the 5 would think nothing of upgrading.

[alyssamma]

13 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

You sure?

My unfortunate family reunion on MSC next May has 3 cabins in YC and 5 not in YC. TA has been informed not to allow any of the 5 to upgrade or bid into YC . TA said that can be done. He will do something with the reservation to not allow it 

3 out of the 5 would think nothing of upgrading.

I am 100% sure EXCEPT where you are involved 😀

 

Nothing personal but you know you are the extreme outlier for MSC.

 

But TAs don't know about upgrades...and the cruise companies want it that way. Otherwise they would have to pay them a commission.

[mscdivina2016]

Just now, alyssamma said:

I am 100% sure EXCEPT where you are involved 😀

 

Nothing personal but you know you are the extreme outlier for MSC.

 

But TAs don't know about upgrades...and the cruise companies want it that way. Otherwise they would have to pay them a commission.

So how are they blocking the 5? We have it in writing. 

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

I am 100% sure EXCEPT where you are involved 😀

 

Nothing personal but you know you are the extreme outlier for MSC.

 

But TAs don't know about upgrades...and the cruise companies want it that way. Otherwise they would have to pay them a commission.

Ok, you scared me.  So I contacted TA.

 He said 100% sure he can make sure it won't happen.  Simple answer......its 8 cabins, its booked as a group.  3 YC are linked together and the other 5 non YC are linked. But all 8 are linked as a group.

[alyssamma]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So how are they blocking the 5? We have it in writing. 

Lol, again you are an exception. But honestly, I do not think it is possible for them to block the upgrade. It's done by a 3rd party...which is why you need to allow marketing...MSC doesn't have anything to do with it and the TA wouldn't know.

[alyssamma]

2 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Ok, you scared me.  So I contacted TA.

 He said 100% sure he can make sure it won't happen.  Simple answer......its 8 cabins, its booked as a group.  3 YC are linked together and the other 5 non YC are linked. But all 8 are linked as a group.

Group or not doesn't matter.

[kernow]

Are you thinking of 'hiding away' from the others in YC?😆

[mscdivina2016]

22 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Group or not doesn't matter.

How?

The email for the booking is the TAs on all of them.

  So there is no chance that they would even get an upgrade offer. The TA will handle getting docs and such for all.

Second, they could not call up the cruise line and pay to upgrade as this is a TA booking and as a group we got some perks outside regular offers.

[alyssamma]

8 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

How?

The email for the booking is the TAs on all of them.

  So there is no chance that they would even get an upgrade offer. The TA will handle getting docs and such for all.

Second, they could not call up the cruise line and pay to upgrade as this is a TA booking and as a group we got some perks outside regular offers.

The upgrades are handled independent of MSC and any TA.

[Nunagoras]

23 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

How?

The email for the booking is the TAs on all of them.

  So there is no chance that they would even get an upgrade offer. The TA will handle getting docs and such for all.

Second, they could not call up the cruise line and pay to upgrade as this is a TA booking and as a group we got some perks outside regular offers.

Yes, for the underlined part of your post? So; you're technically speaking part of a charter! If you purchase a group of cabins in a ship under certain conditions accepted between you and the company apart from the rest of the ship, it is like if you become the "owner" of said part of the ship for the stated time in the contract. You can also to charter a full whip for a wedding ceremony, for example, at those very same conditions to yourself, if that is your sort of thing and you have the money for that!... Charters are charters and those are managed outside of the rest of the inventory. Any cabin linked to a charter will to be put outside of any inventory that exists at any time. And, no, chartered guests cannot receive upgrades, if that is on the contract, and generally it is for such contracts for a reason.. Chartered guests used to be non electable to purchase drinks packages and the likes, unless stated differently in the contracts, and only very recently they started to be a bit more flexible on that one... Yeah, I know this because I usually travel with them as part of a charter group...

 

Oh, and all of that is not an MSC sort of thing. It is industry wise.

 

Hope to have helped a little bit and have a nice day!...

Edited April 24, 2022 by Nunagoras

[alyssamma]

3 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Yes, for the underlined part of your post? So; you're technically speaking part of a charter! If you purchase a group of cabins in a ship under certain conditions accepted between you and the company apart from the rest of the ship, it is like if you become the "owner" of said part of the ship. You can also to rent a full whip for a wedding ceremony, for example, at those very same conditions to yourself, if that is your sort of thing and you have the money for that!... Charters are charters and those are managed outside of the rest of the inventory. Any cabin linked to a charter will to be put outside of any inventory that exists at any time. And, no, chartered guests cannot receive upgrades, if that is on the contract, and generally it is for such contracts for a reason.. Chartered guests used to be non electable to purchase drinks packages and the likes, unless stated differently in the contracts, and only very recently they started to be a bit more flexible on that one... Yeah, I know this because I usually travel with them as part of a charter group...

 

Oh, and all of that is not an MSC sort of thing. It is industry wise.

 

Hope to have helped a little bit and have a nice day!...

So,I took this to mean a group booking from a TA and not a charter. For example, I just got off RCCL Symphony as part of a group and got a greatly discounted rate, free specialty dinner and some OBC. But these were just perks from the group booking the TA did...I was still eligible to upgrade (I know, different  company, but I did bid on a better stateroom...didn't get it tho). 

 

And to be clear, this is a group through my TA...I didn't know or have contact with anyone else she booked in that group. She does this all the time for me and has nothing to do with a charter.

 

 

[Nunagoras]

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

So,I took this to mean a group booking from a TA and not a charter. For example, I just got off RCCL Symphony as part of a group and got a greatly discounted rate, free specialty dinner and some OBC. But these were just perks from the group booking the TA did...I was still eligible to upgrade (I know, different  company, but I did bid on a better stateroom...didn't get it tho). 

 

And to be clear, this is a group through my TA...I didn't know or have contact with anyone else she booked in that group. She does this all the time for me and has nothing to do with a charter.

 

 

Different situations:

 

You were on a TA's cabin block. That said you were on a regular cruise line's cabin that had a TA as an intermediate between you and the said company. In this scenario you're a regular cruise line's guest with full same rights and obligations. If your cabin was not booked from anyone else till a certain day before sailing the TA would to send that cabin to general cruise line's inventory with no penalty.

 

So now: @mscdivina2016tells a story of an 8 cabins "private group" that has been privately booked at specific terms and conditions signed on to said group. Then; they're on what is industry wise known as a partial charter, like us it or not, with or without its commercial name. If anyone decided to go away of said group there would to be 3 situations: Go ahead with an empty cabin paid in full, find another guests to occupy said cabin (that can to be done generally till a certain number of days prior to sailing), or to have a generally very high penalty to remove a cabin from said group. This is why, generally here in Europe there is a minimum number of cabins to start a "private group". In the whole mainstream hotel and cruise industry that number used to be 10 to 15 rooms/cabins to make such a group. After the covid those numbers have been reduced to things around the 6-8 rooms/cabins, what goes in line with "mscdina2016 statement. Usually they have different and earlier payment dates and higher deposit payments at booking day. Post covid that might to be more relaxed than what was the normal.

 

All of my MSC cruises have been to date on similar arrangements with the addition of a tour leader and a shore excursion per port of call for the whole group, and we know beforehand what the whole experience would be. In a nutshell on my case: Cabin number only known at check-in desk, not electable to purchase drinks package unless included on the group's booking contract, a shore excursion per port of call, not electable for upgrades, among others. MSC used to live out of so many of those schemes. That's not a surprise! It is even quite common to find at this side of the pond, but it makes difference on whether you'll have full or only partial rights compared with the other guests. On one thing this is clear. If you're not electable to full rights ship wide, there will to be a huge discount on the company's part. That is how things work.

 

Hope to have helped a bit, because it's not easy to understand...

 

And have a nice day!...

Edited April 24, 2022 by Nunagoras

[alyssamma]

7 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Different situations:

 

You were on a TA's cabin block. That said you were on a regular cruise line's cabin that had a TA as an intermediate between you and the said company. In this scenario you're a regular cruise line's guest with full same rights and obligations. If your cabin was not booked from anyone else till a certain day before sailing the TA would to send that cabin to general cruise line's inventory with no penalty.

 

So now: @mscdivina2016tells a story of an 8 cabins "private group" that has been privately booked at specific terms and conditions signed on to said group. Then; they're on what is industry wise known as a partial charter, like us it or not, with or without its commercial name. If anyone decided to go away of said group there would to be 3 situations: Go ahead with an empty cabin paid in full, find another guests to occupy said cabin (that can to be done generally till a certain number of days prior to sailing), or to have a generally very high penalty to remove a cabin from said group. This is why, generally here in Europe there is a minimum number of cabins to start a "private group". In the whole mainstream hotel and cruise industry that number used to be 10 to 15 rooms/cabins to make such a group. After the covid those numbers have been reduced to things around the 6-8 rooms/cabins, what goes in line with "mscdina2016 statement. Usually they have different and earlier payment dates and higher deposit payments at booking day. Post covid that might to be more relaxed than what was the normal.

 

All of my MSC cruises have been to date on similar arrangements with the addition of a tour leader and a shore excursion per port of call for the whole group, and we know beforehand what the whole experience would be. In a nutshell on my case: Cabin number only known at check-in desk, not electable to purchase drinks package unless included on the group's booking contract, a shore excursion per port of call, not electable for upgrades, among others. MSC used to live out of so many of those schemes. That's not a surprise! It is even quite common to find at this side of the pond, but it makes difference on whether you'll have full or only partial rights compared with the other guests. On one thing this is clear. If you're not electable to full rights ship wide, there will to be a huge discount on the company's part. That is how things work.

 

Hope to have helped a bit, because it's not easy to understand...

 

And have a nice day!...

Lol, it's very easy to understand. Not rocket science at all. However, until mscdivina comes back with more info there is no way to tell.

 

You said what you thought it was. I said I didn't take it that way. You might be right, you might be wrong. Mscdivina can give additional info to clarify.

[Nunagoras]

14 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Lol, it's very easy to understand. Not rocket science at all. However, until mscdivina comes back with more info there is no way to tell.

 

You said what you thought it was. I said I didn't take it that way. You might be right, you might be wrong. Mscdivina can give additional info to clarify.

Yeah... I understand your statement. Problem is: Most of the times TA's won't tell you if they're chartering you or just intermediate you and the companies. To turn things a bit worse, in certain markets like mine for instance, the single word "charter" has such a bad taste to many of us, because of some incidentals that weren't properly solved on our society when said schemes started to gain popularity here back from the mid 90's to mid 2000's. Then, by the most part, when a TA wants to charter you, they'll just to make a wording like: "Cruise xxx + flights + stay + shore excursions + drinks package + gratuities all-in-one package". When I see one of those "packs" for whatever else tourism industry like (from cruises to land hotels, or even flights) I immediately know what the thing is about, and what the benefits and the odds that come together with the deal. And by and large: If I ask my TA for a specific big group booking, I know beforehand what the scheme will likely to be: With that or any other commercial name it will end up to be a partial charter of some sort. Local terms and conditions may vary largely across the board, but that doesn't turn things any different in practical day-to-day business.

 

Hope to have helped a bit. Oh! And just fyi: I'm a retired market analyst on the financial industry. Those are terms with which we're very well acquainted with on a day-to-day business work. Sadly they aren't as simple to understand as that, and even sadder, they're very prone to those misunderstandings like the one between you and Mscdivina, and I was just trying to disambiguate them as far as possible.

 

Have a nice day!...

Edited April 25, 2022 by Nunagoras

[alyssamma]

1 hour ago, Nunagoras said:

Yeah... I understand your statement. Problem is: Most of the times TA's won't tell you if they're chartering you or just intermediate you and the companies. To turn things a bit worse, in certain markets like mine for instance, the single word "charter" has such a bad taste to many of us, because of some incidentals that weren't properly solved on our society when said schemes started to gain popularity here back from the mid 90's to mid 2000's. Then, by the most part, when a TA wants to charter you, they'll just to make a wording like: "Cruise xxx + flights + stay + shore excursions + drinks package + gratuities all-in-one package". When I see one of those "packs" for whatever else tourism industry like (from cruises to land hotels, or even flights) I immediately know what the thing is about, and what the benefits and the odds that come together with the deal. And by and large: If I ask my TA for a specific big group booking, I know beforehand what the scheme will likely to be: With that or any other commercial name it will end up to be a partial charter of some sort. Local terms and conditions may vary largely across the board, but that doesn't turn things any different in practical day-to-day business.

 

Hope to have helped a bit. Oh! And just fyi: I'm a retired market analyst on the financial industry. Those are terms with which we're very well acquainted with on a day-to-day business work. Sadly they aren't as simple to understand as that, and even sadder, they're very prone to those misunderstandings like the one between you and Mscdivina, and I was just trying to disambiguate them as far as possible.

 

Have a nice day!...

Lol, no clue why you think this is hard to understand or think that by writing so many words you've helped. But hey, go crazy.

 

Again, super simple. Zero misunderstanding...except maybe on your end. And ive never had a TA confuse those terms...maybe you need a better TA.

 

Hope I'VE been able to help MORE than a bit.

 

Have a super day.

[Paphillyguy]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:42 AM, mscdivina2016 said:

You sure?

My unfortunate family reunion on MSC next May has 3 cabins in YC and 5 not in YC. TA has been informed not to allow any of the 5 to upgrade or bid into YC . TA said that can be done. He will do something with the reservation to not allow it 

3 out of the 5 would think nothing of upgrading.

I am truly curious since I have read on here the many issues you have with MSC and your possible lawsuit why on earth would you book another cruise on MSC? 

[Nunagoras]

1 hour ago, alyssamma said:

Lol, no clue why you think this is hard to understand or think that by writing so many words you've helped. But hey, go crazy.

 

Again, super simple. Zero misunderstanding...except maybe on your end. And ive never had a TA confuse those terms...maybe you need a better TA.

 

Hope I'VE been able to help MORE than a bit.

 

Have a super day.

Have a super nice day, sir!...

[Nunagoras]

1 hour ago, Paphillyguy said:

I am truly curious since I have read on here the many issues you have with MSC and your possible lawsuit why on earth would you book another cruise on MSC? 

...Er... With due respect to Mscdivina... Please forget!... At least, it is sometimes entertaining to see his and other similar posters posts... The problem is that some of them don't realize many of us actually know how to analise a product from an objective point of view. Tastes are subjective, surely, but general sense of quality is not, and that is incredibly easy to understand! Or do you think if MSC was so far below the general mainstream (European 4*) cruising industry standards, they'd to be well and alive filling ships and ordering several newer and larger ones? Not even on an imaginary world where they would to decide just to do so for charity reasons!...

 

Have a nice day!...

[Paphillyguy]

1 minute ago, Nunagoras said:

...Er... With due respect to Mscdivina... Please forget!... At least, it is sometimes entertaining to see his and other similar posters posts... The problem is that some of them don't realize many of us actually know how to analise a product from an objective point of view. Tastes are subjective, surely, but general sense of quality is not, and that is incredibly easy to understand! Or do you think if MSC was so far below the general mainstream (European 4*) cruising industry standards, they'd to be well and alive filling ships and ordering several newer and larger ones? Not even on an imaginary world where they would to decide just to do so for charity reasons!...

 

Have a nice day!...

I am not even sure what you are saying.  I am a fan of MSC.