MSC Voyagers Club and "customer service"

[wgeddings]

When we cruised on Divina in 2021, I had an absolutely awful time with what MSC calls "customer service".   I was told many things that were simply not true, received promises that were later denied, had problems with neighbors smoking awful smelling cigars/cigarettes on the balcony that made our cabin stink like a smoking room in an airport while the crew would do nothing about enforcing the "no smoking" rule and the list goes on and on.  I decided I would avoid MSC in the future.  

 

Here it is 2023 and there is a perfect cruise for us for my wife's spring break 2024 and a great price so I decided maybe it was unfair to judge MSC by the 2021 cruise since it was toward the end of the COVID issues.  We booked it.  ANNDD the problems start back up.  There is no record in the Voyagers Club of us taking the 2021 cruise so we did not get points for it.  I tried to call and after 3 attempts of being on hold for more than 30 minutes before giving up, finally took advice I saw here and made a point to call first thing in the morning.  I actually go through to a person (Chris).  He seemed helpful and said he would have it added and update the Voyagers Club information.  I was happy because despite the inability to get through the other times, at least someone was being helpful.  He said it would be updated in a couple of days.  Now, 2 weeks later and nothing has changed so I called back (again first thing in the morning) and got through to someone again.  This person told me that they cannot change or affect the Voyagers Club so she had no idea why Chris would tell me that he could or did take care of it.  She gave me an e-mail address and said the only way to resolve any issue with the Voyagers Club is by sending an e-mail to mscvoyagersclub@msccruisesusa.com.  I have done so.   I did that before in 2021 and it lead to absolutely no help and my outlook now is not very good but I will let everyone know if MSC has actually changed their ways and is providing customer support.  The lie from Chris is not improving my opinion of MSC.  

 

In addition, I completed their form for "status match" using my HHonors status.   I did that (3 different times) for the 2021 cruise and they denied every receiving it.  I am anxious to see if they lost this one too.   It is great to have a status match program like they have but it is far less great if it doesn't work.   I have read many other gripes about MSC and their "customer service" and it is shame because the Divina was a beautiful ship.  

 

Let's see if MSC has improved since COVID. 

[JamieLogical]

MSC's shoreside customer service definitely leaves a LOT to be desired. I had a sailing booked with them back in 2019 and the pre-cruise customer service issues (including with Voyager's Club status match) drove me to cancel altogether and swear off MSC.

 

Fast forward to this year when one of my good solo cruise friends persuaded me to give MSC another shot. I just went in with VERY low expectations for the shore-side customer service and avoided dealing with them altogether. Onboard I had a fantastic time and will be sailing with them again this month, in October, and in February. We are even eying a sailing for April or May now as well.

 

I know the Voyager's Club issue is frustrating. My advice would be to be prepared to just let it go.  I was actually able to get an issue resolved through the email address you listed after returning from my April sailing and having an issue where the cruise I booked onboard where not showing up on my Voyager's Club account. So be persistent, but also be prepared for the worst.

[GPPhilly]

I would recommend emailing them.  I have found email has been the best way to get a valid response and issues fixed.  We had a sailing missing and I emailed and they asked for me to send an onboard statement or cruise card copy to verify and my issue was quickly corrected.  

[wgeddings]

On 9/1/2023 at 9:58 AM, JamieLogical said:

MSC's shoreside customer service definitely leaves a LOT to be desired. I had a sailing booked with them back in 2019 and the pre-cruise customer service issues (including with Voyager's Club status match) drove me to cancel altogether and swear off MSC.

 

Fast forward to this year when one of my good solo cruise friends persuaded me to give MSC another shot. I just went in with VERY low expectations for the shore-side customer service and avoided dealing with them altogether. Onboard I had a fantastic time and will be sailing with them again this month, in October, and in February. We are even eying a sailing for April or May now as well.

 

I know the Voyager's Club issue is frustrating. My advice would be to be prepared to just let it go.  I was actually able to get an issue resolved through the email address you listed after returning from my April sailing and having an issue where the cruise I booked onboard where not showing up on my Voyager's Club account. So be persistent, but also be prepared for the worst.

Be prepared to let it go? 😒.  If only I could but sadly I am not too good at that.   I wish I was and in my head I see the wisdom in your advice but I know it will eat at me.   At least I have several months to “encourage” them to get it straight.   😃.   Last time I only had a few weeks then was onboard the ship where “costumer service” would mysteriously lose thei ability to speak or understand English when it suited them and I was faced with the choice of pressing it and losing relaxation time while they played “we will check and contact your cabin” (and of course did not and the person I dealt with would disappear later).  
 

I’ve emailed and will wait a week or 2 but I will keep following up.  I will update when something happens though.  
 

 

[wgeddings]

Update - 9-5-23

Call from MSC Cruise Concierge and left voice mail at my office and on my cell phone.  Hoping it was a response to my e-mail, I tried to return the call and after waiting on hold and hearing how much they appreciated me calling,  several times, I heard a click then the line went dead.  Called back and same thing.  Guess they are shortening the line by just picking up and then immediately hanging up.  Finally chose the option to get a call back.  He called me back later and after going around in circles, he was trying to book me on a new cruise.  I told him I am waiting for my Voyager Club points to be corrected and he said he had nothing to do with that.   He suggested I send an e-mail.  I said I already did and when I said I sent one, he said I should probably send another.  I asked how many it normally takes and he stammered a bit.  Bottom line, they have managed to frustrate me yet again.  

[JamieLogical]

4 minutes ago, wgeddings said:

Update - 9-5-23

Call from MSC Cruise Concierge and left voice mail at my office and on my cell phone.  Hoping it was a response to my e-mail, I tried to return the call and after waiting on hold and hearing how much they appreciated me calling,  several times, I heard a click then the line went dead.  Called back and same thing.  Guess they are shortening the line by just picking up and then immediately hanging up.  Finally chose the option to get a call back.  He called me back later and after going around in circles, he was trying to book me on a new cruise.  I told him I am waiting for my Voyager Club points to be corrected and he said he had nothing to do with that.   He suggested I send an e-mail.  I said I already did and when I said I sent one, he said I should probably send another.  I asked how many it normally takes and he stammered a bit.  Bottom line, they have managed to frustrate me yet again.  

 

I am so sorry you are dealing with so much frustration. It should not be this hard!

[Essiesmom]

Were you already a member of the. voyagers Club when you took your first cruise?  I knew nothing about it when we went on the first one, Divina Sept. 2013.  Joined before the second cruise and got status match, but because I was not a member at the time of the first one, it does not show on my list of cruises nor do I have points for it, and it can’t be counted.  EM

[peteandpris]

I have never Cruised on MSC but looking at a ship out of Port Canaveral. I was told that they would honor my Platinum status. Which I think I woud be Gold Card with Voyagers Club, has anyone tried this.

[Essiesmom]

There is a form you have to submit to status match.  Have you looked at the pinned topic at the top of the page?  EM

[wgeddings]

@Essiesmom yes I was supposed to be a member of the Voyager Club on my first cruise but they had things all jumbled up and messed up.  Tried to fix it ahead of time and was told I had to do it at the port.  Port said I had to do it onboard.  Onboard they could not access the records so round and round I went.  After cruise, never could reach a person and they would not reply to e-mail.  My full review of the fiasco on Divina is on my review at 

so I should be getting credit but then again, it should have been done correctly back in 2021 and it was not.  

 

@peteandpris The status match thing was part of the original problem back in 2021.   There is a great link to a chart showing how MSC matches with other cruise lines and hotel program's for the status match.  For me the best was HHonors where my gold status matched gold status for MSC.  Submitted the form and information several times back in 2021 but they kept claiming they never received it.  Started the process again with submitting the form and information and still waiting.  Some said they heard back pretty quickly but that has not been my experience!   Good luck to you with yours.  To view that chart, a google search or search here will find it for you. 

 

@JamieLogical ain't that the truth!!   

 

 

[Two Wheels Only]

For the OP.....

 

Do you have a MSC account?

If yes, have you tried logging in and on the "My Cruise" page, click the "All My Cruises" link. 

From there, click "Link a Booking Number to your account" and add your former cruise.

 

 

Recently, a friend of mine returned from her first cruise and wanted my help with booking another. I created a MSC account for her, added her former cruise, and she was able to book the new cruise with the Voyagers Club membership number. 

 

My guess is that the status match is clashing with the new membership application and neither is going through. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Two Wheels Only

[wgeddings]

@Two Wheels Only yes, I have an account and did try that.  The 2021 cruise is apparently linked but does not show up.  However, when i try to link it using the booking number, it says it is already linked and when I called, the person confirmed it shows linked on their system but they cannot access anything to do with Voyager Club (but happy to book me on another cruise...).   The ol' "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"😃

[wgeddings]

Quick follow up - I have sent 2 more e-mails (total of 3 about 10 days apart) to the address specified (mscvoyagersclub@msccruiseusa.com) and received no response other than an auto-response acknowledgement that they received it. Of course, they are "experiencing higher than usual volume" (they do not understand that if it is ALWAYS that many, it is NOT higher than usual).   If I try to call and work my way through the "press 1" maze and get to a person that person will either claim that they are going to take care of it and actually do nothing or they say that you can only get it solved by sending an e-mail.  Either way, same result with the bottom line being that I think MSC has the worst customer service I have ever seen.   

 

My guess is that they only hire customer service specialists from the cable companies.  This is ridiculous!

 

 

[DaKahuna]

 What number are you calling?  I received an email from them in response to my issue with not being able to access the Voyager Club website and they gave me 877.665.4655.  I plan on calling later today as the issue still does not appear to be resolved. 

[DaKahuna]

Follow-up.  I called the number above and after working with the young lady on the other end of the call for about 10 minutes, most of which was spend with her waiting for another group to respond, I was informed that the only way to resolve  my issue, was via email.  

 

I forwarded my previous email the MSCVoyagerClub@msccruisesusa.com ask for an updated status. 

This morning I received this reply:

 

  

Thank you for contacting Msc Voyagers Club.
We submitted a ticket to have your voyagers
account linked to your web account. Please
allow 5-7 days for the update to reflect
your account.

 

So apparently my issue was that my Voyagers Account was not linked to my MSC Web account,  I am not sure why this was not an automatic thing when I created my MSC Voyagers account but there it is. I guess I'll know if 5-7 days. 

 

[Sailor75]

The Divina was nice as has all the other 4 I've been on, but unfortunately their customer service isn't nice. They're very hard to deal with and they always lie to you and say they'll take care of it and nothing ever happens. I've also been told they would have a supervisor call me back, they never called. Every time you call and they don't lie, they just say you have to email; that's the only way to communicate with the Voyagers Club. Funny thing, the confirmation email you receive letting you know they received your email always says you can call when you can't. I went round and round with them for about 6 months trying to get points for onboard purchases before I finally got them.

[wgeddings]

A happy ending finally!!!   I found a blog online that mentioned how to handle problems with MSC and Voyager Club.   After multiple calls and e-mails that were ignored other than the conflicting and incorrect information discussed above, I did what it said and it worked. The blog suggested sending an e-mail to J.Lopez@msccruisesusa.com (Julio Lopez the VP of Contact Center),  A.Varricchio@msccruisesusa.com (Angel Varricchio, Director of Pre & Post Cruise Customer Service), R.Rodriguez@msccruisesusa.com (Rubén Rodríguez, CEO of MSC America) as well as MSCCustomerService@msccruisesusa.com.   The blog (or post) is https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/msc-cruises/

 

I sent the e-mail with all the prior ignored e-mails to all those addresses at once.  Within 24 hours, I got an actual response from customer service!  Of course it was wrong and showed they did not actually read the message but it was a start.  For example, they tried to claim that they could not go back and give me points for a prior cruise (I had to remind them I had tried repeated pre and post that cruise to get information and was always told it was done but it never was) and that they could not status match my Marriott status (I never mentioned Marriott, only HHonors) and could not give me status match since I had already taken a cruise (a cruise they had no record of and refused to give credit for so how could they claim I took it and at the same time claim that I did not).  I went back and forth about those things a couple of times then silence again.   After a week of silence, I sent a follow up e-mail to all the addresses again which quoted the e-mails with their mistakes and, lo and behold, got a response within 24 hours that I had not submitted the status match form and asking me to go fill that out.  I explained I had filled it out about 4 times in 2021 when they kept claiming not to have received it and this time had already done it several times again since they kept claiming not to have it (apparently their default claim) so please give me an e-mail address where I can fill it out, print it out and directly e-mail it to ensure they received it.  Wow, suddenly they had it but did not have the supporting proof of my status with HHonors (although I had submitted it each time they claimed to never receive it).  So I replied with 3 different photos of my HHonors status and just got an e-mail from customer service that it was all straight.  I logged into my account and confirmed that I now have the correct status and credit for the prior cruise.  FINALLY..

 

So, although their "customer service" relies on misdirection and just claiming they never received whatever you sent although they confirm receipt of it, they can and do fix things.  It is a shame that we have to bother the higher ups with such petty issues but perhaps at some point the higher ups will force the workers to actually do their jobs.  On the other hand, it could be like that pizza customer service commercial where they had a room full of ringing phones and the boss was telling them not to answer any so they could claim they had no customer complaints.  Maybe the higher ups encouraged the workers to engage in such tactics to avoid actually doing something but I really hope that is not the case and, based on my experience, I do not think that the higher ups want that.  

 

A quick final piece of advice whenever you are dealing with customer service in anything.  Be clear and concise with the problem and suggest specific solutions.  

 

In any event, I hope this helps anyone else having problems.  Good luck!