First time Sailing with MSC, Can't wait

[sidekick180]

Only 20 days left before we set off on Virtuosa, and seriously can't wait.

I have read so many raving reviews on other platforms, that it's just adding more to the excitement.

If our cruise is even half as good as others have been saying I think it will be amazing.

We would have loved the itinerary to have been heading towards Spain or Portugal, rather than Northern Europe, but only because we may have had warmer weather. However, we won't let it spoil our experience.

I feel quietly confident that MSC will be the future cruise line for us, so much so, that we have already booked on Euribia for the New Year cruise. Please don't let us regret that booking MSC!!

 

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, sidekick180 said:

Only 20 days left before we set off on Virtuosa, and seriously can't wait.

I have read so many raving reviews on other platforms, that it's just adding more to the excitement.

If our cruise is even half as good as others have been saying I think it will be amazing.

We would have loved the itinerary to have been heading towards Spain or Portugal, rather than Northern Europe, but only because we may have had warmer weather. However, we won't let it spoil our experience.

I feel quietly confident that MSC will be the future cruise line for us, so much so, that we have already booked on Euribia for the New Year cruise. Please don't let us regret that booking MSC!!

 

Always use a travel agent.

 

I would be cautious of a New Year cruise. Tons of kids, long lines, and 110% capacity.

We just did a spring break cruise 2 weeks ago in yacht club and I probably won't do that again.

Go the next week and it will be allot less people.

[blueslily]

Have a wonderful cruise! I live cruising and have enjoyed MSC! Make it a great experience! Dont let other people away you into negativity at all. 🤗🌞🙋‍♀️🛳

[teecee89]

12 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Always use a travel agent.

 

I would be cautious of a New Year cruise. Tons of kids, long lines, and 110% capacity.

We just did a spring break cruise 2 weeks ago in yacht club and I probably won't do that again.

Go the next week and it will be allot less people.

Maybe they did use an agent, maybe they didn’t. Why do you post this all the time? I see you tell people this all the time. Your opinion is to use an agent, maybe people like to work directly with the cruise line. 

[heatherb1958]

15 hours ago, sidekick180 said:

Only 20 days left before we set off on Virtuosa, and seriously can't wait.

I have read so many raving reviews on other platforms, that it's just adding more to the excitement.

If our cruise is even half as good as others have been saying I think it will be amazing.

We would have loved the itinerary to have been heading towards Spain or Portugal, rather than Northern Europe, but only because we may have had warmer weather. However, we won't let it spoil our experience.

I feel quietly confident that MSC will be the future cruise line for us, so much so, that we have already booked on Euribia for the New Year cruise. Please don't let us regret that booking MSC!!

 

 

 

Have a wonderful time . We love MSC  and rarely cruise with RCI now which I think we may have met each other on .  We have been on Virtuosa twice already out of the UK and doing the 5 nighter  before a Celebrity cruise at the end of May. 

I hope you did the Status match to get some perks , we did back in 2017 and no longer feel guilty about doing our first MSC cruise as a Diamond/Black member as we have done so many cruises with them now we more than qualify 😎.  

As everyone says , go with an open mind and enjoy, MSC ships are beautiful , well maintained , the food is different , we enjoy it and the crew are lovely.  

[mscdivina2016]

3 hours ago, teecee89 said:

Maybe they did use an agent, maybe they didn’t. Why do you post this all the time? I see you tell people this all the time. Your opinion is to use an agent, maybe people like to work directly with the cruise line. 

Because trying to deal with MSC direct has always been a disaster.

 When you use a TA, your price is locked in, there is no chance it could change.

There have been many posts of people's prices changing for no reason.

Sending emails to existing reservations at MSC is a joke.

When you call they seem to reprice your cruise at current rates.

The agents for the most part make me wonder if they even have a GED. A rare few are great.

As you probably have read, I have had nothing but a gigantic cluster all the time.

I love the product,hate the CS and IT.  So using a TA is once and done for me.

 

Trying to deal with them when they downgraded me from a Yacht club GS to a regular balcony on a lower deck for no reduction in fare and no access to YC was a disaster that I even hired an attorney to get involved. 

[blueslily]

8 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Because trying to deal with MSC direct has always been a disaster.

 When you use a TA, your price is locked in, there is no chance it could change.

There have been many posts of people's prices changing for no reason.

Sending emails to existing reservations at MSC is a joke.

When you call they seem to reprice your cruise at current rates.

The agents for the most part make me wonder if they even have a GED. A rare few are great.

As you probably have read, I have had nothing but a gigantic cluster all the time.

I love the product,hate the CS and IT.  So using a TA is once and done for me.

 

Trying to deal with them when they downgraded me from a Yacht club GS to a regular balcony on a lower deck for no reduction in fare and no access to YC was a disaster that I even hired an attorney to get involved. 

 

Oh my. I enjoy MSC, and I haven't had any experience like that or what some other posters on here report. I guess I am one of the lucky folks. I'm booking another cruise with them now and again, no issues. I don't even have to wait long for a CS person to answer the phone whenever I call. And, for my bookings, I don't have to call frequently. I book what I want or need usually within just a couple calls and then enjoy the count down to sailing.  I book direct with all cruise lines that I sail with. No issues with any of them actually. 

 

Well, happy sailing to you and everyone else out there. I love cruising! 

[teecee89]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Because trying to deal with MSC direct has always been a disaster.

 When you use a TA, your price is locked in, there is no chance it could change.

There have been many posts of people's prices changing for no reason.

Sending emails to existing reservations at MSC is a joke.

When you call they seem to reprice your cruise at current rates.

The agents for the most part make me wonder if they even have a GED. A rare few are great.

As you probably have read, I have had nothing but a gigantic cluster all the time.

I love the product,hate the CS and IT.  So using a TA is once and done for me.

 

Trying to deal with them when they downgraded me from a Yacht club GS to a regular balcony on a lower deck for no reduction in fare and no access to YC was a disaster that I even hired an attorney to get involved. 

By booking with a TA doesn't lock your price in. I am a TA and we have the same problems as people who book directly with MSC. I agree their phone staff is horrible. 

[mscdivina2016]

19 minutes ago, teecee89 said:

By booking with a TA doesn't lock your price in. I am a TA and we have the same problems as people who book directly with MSC. I agree their phone staff is horrible. 

Once I book with a TA and get my confirmation from the TA. We have established my price . We also established my cabin number.

 

I am the type to pay it off the next day even a year and a half ahead .

 

So you are telling me that my price is not locked in? You are going to come back to me 3 months before sailing and say I owe more? 

 I can assure you that you will not get another nickel out me.

 

Thus I go back to my downgrade. I always understood fully paid passengers are protected .

If I am in error please correct me.

 

Another good thing about a TA is my Saudi Arabia cruise next month.

 

This cruise coming was a little disaster from the start.

Booked a 14 night, they changed embarkation port and sailing date on me and added 3 nights.

Changed flight's.

Next they added another night at the end and made it 18 nights so return hotel and flights messed up.

 

TAs issue

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by mscdivina2016

[teecee89]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Once I book with a TA and get my confirmation from the TA. We have established my price . We also established my cabin number.

 

I am the type to pay it off the next day even a year and a half ahead .

 

So you are telling me that my price is not locked in? You are going to come back to me 3 months before sailing and say I owe more? 

 I can assure you that you will not get another nickel out me.

 

Thus I go back to my downgrade. I always understood fully paid passengers are protected .

If I am in error please correct me.

 

Another good thing about a TA is my Saudi Arabia cruise next month.

 

This cruise coming was a little disaster from the start.

Booked a 14 night, they changed embarkation port and sailing date on me and added 3 nights.

Changed flight's.

Next they added another night at the end and made it 18 nights so return hotel and flights messed up.

 

TAs issue

 

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

We can go into a booking and see a price change, it’s not common for it to happen but it does. We as agents fight with MSC. They also change cabin numbers. Most times we can get the cabin back but there are many times we can’t. Overall they are not an easy cruise line to work with. I am only going on a short cruise to try them out and see if all the customer service issues are worth it. 
 

so yes it is worth booking with an agent for the reason as we deal with the MSC runaround but going back to my original point…..you are always pushing an agent rather than answering the posters question. They are not asking should I book with a TA or not. The person was talking about going for New Years

 

[BillieJeanKaraokeKing]

1 hour ago, mscdivina2016 said:

...

I'm the type to pay it off the next day even a year and a half ahead. 

... 

 I can assure you that you will not get another nickel out me.

Someone's getting an extra nickel or two to be fair, earning interest off your early paid up cruise money instead of you. Just sayin' 🤣

[perakcruiser]

Actually the point is not to touch a booking again if it is fine. Sometimes you cannot follow that advice, I also had to touch my last booking again (via call with the hotline) and it certainly produced a disaster, price exploded, crazy fees were added. Then you need to be lucky and get a person on the hotline who can fix ist. I was told "I will fix it and call you tomorrow at 10 am if I made it". And he called and he fixed it. I now have to pay EUR 54 more than expected, but this is for two cabins and it was my fault that the first booking was not "perfect". 

 

So my advice for all beginners is FIRST THINK, then THINK AGAIN, then BOOK. Then never touch it again. But as my example shows, it is not impossible that the MSC hotline solves a problem fast and efficient.  

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, teecee89 said:

 

 

Fair enough, so what was the posters question?

[Morecruisesplz]

10 hours ago, teecee89 said:

Maybe they did use an agent, maybe they didn’t. Why do you post this all the time? I see you tell people this all the time. Your opinion is to use an agent, maybe people like to work directly with the cruise line. 

You can do both. Book direct and then transfer to a TA for extra free OBC.

The poster probably suggested booking with a TA from the get go because they can see cabins you can not see online.

[go.without.you]

I called and tried to get it transferred to an agent. I was transferred 3x and then hung up on.

[Morecruisesplz]

15 hours ago, go.without.you said:

I called and tried to get it transferred to an agent. I was transferred 3x and then hung up on.

Print the form online. Google 'transfer Royal cruise to a travel agent.'

[go.without.you]

7 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Print the form online. Google 'transfer Royal cruise to a travel agent.'

Ok, I found the form but it doesn't say where to send it. No fax number or email address is given.

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

On 3/26/2023 at 12:21 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

Trying to deal with them when they downgraded me from a Yacht club GS to a regular balcony on a lower deck for no reduction in fare and no access to YC was a disaster that I even hired an attorney to get involved. 

Wow. Was that after final payment? 

[Ottawa_Cruiser]

We are booked for our first MSC cruise too, but on Meraviglia. Can't wait. I hope you have a great cruise!

[mscdivina2016]

3 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

Wow. Was that after final payment? 

I actually paid the cruise off a year and a half in advance. They did this 1 month before sailing.

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

11 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

I actually paid the cruise off a year and a half in advance. They did this 1 month before sailing.

That's absolutely bonkers. That's one of the few instances when a credit card dispute would be in order. 

 

What type of excuse/runaround did they give you before you got a lawyer involved? I'm booked in the YC in May, but now you've got me worried. 

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

That's absolutely bonkers. That's one of the few instances when a credit card dispute would be in order. 

 

What type of excuse/runaround did they give you before you got a lawyer involved? I'm booked in the YC in May, but now you've got me worried. 

They gave me the option to cancel without penalty.  This was an out of the ordinary situation so I would not be really concerned. They gave the ship to a Salsa cruise.

 

What I wanted was them to follow the T&C.  In the event of a full charter they must give me the right to choose another similar sailing of my choice and a 1 category upgrade .

 They outright said they are ignoring the T&C.  Reason was I was in a Grand suite, 1 category upgrade is a royal.

I can go ahead and sue them and I will win. Triple damages actually. But what are my damages?   This is the math that makes me angry.   Take the cost of my YC GS cabin subtract the "Published Brochure rate" of that balcony cabin. (No one pays the brochure rate, but now we know why its there) and then add in a premium booze package as YC gets and a multiple device internet package like YC and you get a $300 difference. Triple that and my damages are $900.  The T&C state no lawyers fees for either party. So T&C is no good when it suits them, but they apply to me if I go after them.