Refundable Deposit

[JamieLogical]

We booked a sailing for September and have decided we want to change rooms. Everything I have read here has told me I am better off just completely cancelling and rebooking rather than trying to call customer service and have them change our room, because we might lose some of our booking perks or dining time preference, or a whole host of other things that could go wrong. My question is, if I call up and just cancel my current booking and then rebook myself, how long does it take to get our refundable deposit back from our original booking?

[MsTabbyKats]

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

We booked a sailing for September and have decided we want to change rooms. Everything I have read here has told me I am better off just completely cancelling and rebooking rather than trying to call customer service and have them change our room, because we might lose some of our booking perks or dining time preference, or a whole host of other things that could go wrong. My question is, if I call up and just cancel my current booking and then rebook myself, how long does it take to get our refundable deposit back from our original booking?

I've gotten refunds within a week....sometimes a little longer.  Other people report longer waits.

[JT1962]

They will tell you to allow two billing cycles for the refund to be posted. My experience from canceling a couple of excursions has been that the refund takes 10-14 days.

[Two Wheels Only]

For returned deposits, my best was 11 days and my worst was 31 days. 

 

Cancelled excursion refund?....5 months. 😩

[JamieLogical]

Well, I pulled the trigger and canceled the original booking over the phone on my lunch break. I then went ahead and did the new booking online for the new room we wanted. Will let you know how long the refund takes to post to my account.

[Robkat]

Oh my goodness!  

Isn't this a sad commentary about MSC's inept (factually and perceived) customer service and back office?  

 

We've cruised with MSC 4 times in YC.  We are considering, for the first time, booking a regular balcony Fantastica, on Meraviglia.  We had asked for a couple of quotes from TA's, and 2 of 3 said that they will not book MSC unless it's YC.  That has us a little nervous.

 

We saw that you've got a couple of cruises on Mera coming up, so we'll be following your Live From posts avidly, to get your impressions and pov.

Saw also that you're doing Aurea and then a Fantastica balcony ... for the cabin move in Sept, did you move within the same category, or was it to move to an entirely different category and experience?  

 

We're hoping that your refund comes quickly, and that nothing else comes up that will force you to have to make any further changes!

[hamrag]

15 minutes ago, Robkat said:

Oh my goodness!  

Isn't this a sad commentary about MSC's inept (factually and perceived) customer service and back office? .....

What is inept about original deposit returning to your card, as reported by posters above, taking between 7 and 31 days? 🤔

[JamieLogical]

23 minutes ago, hamrag said:

What is inept about original deposit returning to your card, as reported by posters above, taking between 7 and 31 days? 🤔

 

I think he meant the fact that in order to change rooms, I felt it would just be easier to completely cancel our first booking and rebook, rather than call up and do the room change in a single transaction like you can do successfully with every other cruise line.

[JamieLogical]

43 minutes ago, Robkat said:

for the cabin move in Sept, did you move within the same category, or was it to move to an entirely different category and experience?  

 

Just moving from one Fantastica Deluxe Balcony to another. Did not change experiences or even sub-categories.

[Robkat]

Oh, I guess I should have been a little more descriptive about what I was referring to ... 

What I meant is that it was sad that MSC's reputation of handling passengers' various requests/changes/calls to CS for info or help, etc. are quite often met with ineptitude or misinformation or, in some extreme cases, actual problems created with the bookings.  

I'm not saying that this is universally the case, but it happens and gets reported upon sufficiently often enough that a first time MSC cruiser, like the OP for example, feels that in order to make a fairly common cabin change, the best way to mitigate potential detrimental changes happening is to outright cancel the booking and start over.  

 

In my opinion, this is a reputation issue that MSC should address.  

[Robkat]

LOL, JL ... You beat me to it!!! 😂😂

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

I cancelled and rebooked a cruise last week and the refund posted within 3 days.

(March 21 > March 24)

[jborchart]

so I just had the exact problem described here yesterday, found this thread looking for answers.

 

The difficulty is that I have this issue with the upcoming world cruise 2024.

 

I wanted to upgrade to a balcony, and there was a sale on 3/28/2023 so I called to get the upgrade, (just like I have done with every other major cruise line for the last 20 years.)

 

Customer Service would not give me the advertised sale price, she would only give me list price, to do the upgrade.  She said the only way I could get the sale price is to cancel and rebook, just like other posters in this topic has described.  HOWEVER there is no refund on world cruise!  It is a non-refundable deposit.  

 

Anyone got a great idea on how I can proceed without losing my deposit?

[JamieLogical]

26 minutes ago, jborchart said:

so I just had the exact problem described here yesterday, found this thread looking for answers.

 

The difficulty is that I have this issue with the upcoming world cruise 2024.

 

I wanted to upgrade to a balcony, and there was a sale on 3/28/2023 so I called to get the upgrade, (just like I have done with every other major cruise line for the last 20 years.)

 

Customer Service would not give me the advertised sale price, she would only give me list price, to do the upgrade.  She said the only way I could get the sale price is to cancel and rebook, just like other posters in this topic has described.  HOWEVER there is no refund on world cruise!  It is a non-refundable deposit.  

 

Anyone got a great idea on how I can proceed without losing my deposit?

 

Which experience do you have booked? Fantastica lists "1 free cruise change" as a perk, but I have no idea what that actually means.

[jborchart]

JamieLogical I do have fantastica and based on my read you are right they should have done it for me.  I contacted mscexistingreservations yesterday and hope they reply today...

[Morgsmom]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Which experience do you have booked? Fantastica lists "1 free cruise change" as a perk, but I have no idea what that actually means.

This means to another booking, not to re-fare the booking.

[phissy]

Here are current MSC USA policies regarding deposits.

 

Main ship deposits are refunded up to final payment

-YC- non refundable

-World Cruise- non refundable 

 

For all cruises (excluding Yacht Club and World Cruise), a deposit equal to: cruises 4 nights or less - $99 per adult; cruises 5-14 nights - $199 per adult; cruises 15 nights or more - $300 per adult, is due and payable by the Passenger at time of Booking.
For Yacht Club, a non-refundable deposit equal to: cruises 4 nights or less - $99 per adult; cruises 5-14 nights - $199 per adult; cruises 15 nights or more - $300 per adult, is due and payable by the Passenger at time of Booking.
For World Cruise, a non-refundable deposit equal to 15% of the price of the Cruise Package is due and payable by the Passenger within 7 calendar days starting from the date of the Booking confirmation.
Children 17 and under sailing as the 3rd or 4th Passenger in a stateroom do not require an additional deposit.

[jborchart]

so this means it is either cost-prohibitive or not allowed for any of us to add nights or upgrade to a better room on a world cruise?  

[MsTabbyKats]

21 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

This means to another booking, not to re-fare the booking.

If there is a re-fare....it's again "cancel and rebook".  They don't adjust prices...like every other cruiseline!

[perakcruiser]

1 minute ago, MsTabbyKats said:

They don't adjust prices...like every other cruiseline!

Practically no European cruise line does adjusting. At least I never heard of one.

 

20 hours ago, phissy said:

For all cruises (excluding Yacht Club and World Cruise), a deposit equal to: cruises 4 nights or less - $99 per adult; cruises 5-14 nights - $199 per adult; cruises 15 nights or more - $300 per adult, is due and payable by the Passenger at time of Booking.

I wonder if this extremly customer friendly conditions are because of US law or because MSC still is in the "entering the US market" mode. 

[MsTabbyKats]

45 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Practically no European cruise line does adjusting. At least I never heard of one.

 

Maybe you never heard the phrase....When in Rome, do as the Romans.

 

If they are operating in the USA and targeting American customers, they should adjust their procedures to fit our customs.  There'd be a lot less complaining!

[Morgsmom]

13 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Maybe you never heard the phrase....When in Rome, do as the Romans.

 

If they are operating in the USA and targeting American customers, they should adjust their procedures to fit our customs.  There'd be a lot less complaining!

Bwhahahahah....."to fit our customs".... bwhahahahaha... So they should be opening up a 12 midnight to 2am burger and wing joint for all of the 3 night booze cruisers to wash down their beer?  Please say it ain't so.

We've gone back and forth about this before.  Re-faring is no longer the case with may other lines - you now can "PAY" a surcharge to have flexibility on Holland and Royal.  There is a huge business cost to re-faring a guest, not alone with the lost revenue but with the labor to jump through hoops to do so.  Airlines do not offer price adjustments when the fares change, which they do every minute, why should cruiselines?  Same with hotels who offer non-refundable fares.  

 

Find a fare and stick with it.  If you've got nothing better do to than re-fare by cancelling, rebooking, etc to save $50 please understand that the costs associated with this to the business will ultimately be passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices or reduced services.    Economics 101.

[Homosassa]

Any one cruising on MSC  should educate themselves by reading the Terms and Conditions and Conditions of Carriage on the MSC website.

 

It is what you have agreed to follow when you put a deposit on a MSC cruise.

 

It would prevent the whining about  what is done by some other cruise lines.  MSC is a European based cruise line that offers international sailing around the world. Those international sailings are also offered from US ports to a passenger base that is international in score.

 

MSC does not need to change to meet the limited expectations of a certain national population. 

 

By the way, there have been some interesting changes to the Conditions of Carriage and Terms and Conditions that reflect the recent experience problems that MSC has had on some sailings.

 

Alcohol consumption is addressed and direct supervision of minors by parents are two of the changes.

[MsTabbyKats]

@JamieLogicalWelcome to the world of MSC....where your expected to read and digest "the terms of service".....instead of making a simple call to make a simple change.

 

@MorgsmomI don't eat meat, I don't eat past 6pm...and I don't drink anything with alcohol.  I also don't do 3 night cruises. So, what you think is my dream cruise...."ain't so"

 

@HomosassaIf MSC is sailing out of the USA, and if they want to be sucessful...they do need to change to meet the limited expectations of a certain national population...by which I assume you mean American. 

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, Morgsmom said:

Bwhahahahah....."to fit our customs".... bwhahahahaha... So they should be opening up a 12 midnight to 2am burger and wing joint for all of the 3 night booze cruisers to wash down their beer?  Please say it ain't so.

We've gone back and forth about this before.  Re-faring is no longer the case with may other lines - you now can "PAY" a surcharge to have flexibility on Holland and Royal.  There is a huge business cost to re-faring a guest, not alone with the lost revenue but with the labor to jump through hoops to do so.  Airlines do not offer price adjustments when the fares change, which they do every minute, why should cruiselines?  Same with hotels who offer non-refundable fares.  

 

Find a fare and stick with it.  If you've got nothing better do to than re-fare by cancelling, rebooking, etc to save $50 please understand that the costs associated with this to the business will ultimately be passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices or reduced services.    Economics 101.

 

This, couldn't word it any better!

👏 👌