Problem with prepaid items through website

I know from past experience that they do not make e-tickets available until close to sailing date.

MSC is a very strange company.

My first MSC Cruise was booked through a Portuguese online agent and even though I had already paid my reservation months before sailing I was never able to get into my online account on the MSC website but got the e-tickets 2 months before sailing.

My second MSC Cruise was booked through a British online agent and even before I made final payment I was able to get on my account on MSC UK and check everything but only got e-tickets 1 week before sailing and after a couple of e-mails exchange with the agent... everything went fine but it was a little worrying.

This next cruise with MSC was booked again with our Portuguese online agent. Never could get into MSC account and a month away from our sailing there are still no e-tickets. On the onlilne agent everything checks, even a last week tour booking through MSC. Let's see how it goes...

At least we love their cruises ;)

MSC is a very strange company.

 

My first MSC Cruise was booked through a Portuguese online agent and even though I had already paid my reservation months before sailing I was never able to get into my online account on the MSC website but got the e-tickets 2 months before sailing.

 

My second MSC Cruise was booked through a British online agent and even before I made final payment I was able to get on my account on MSC UK and check everything but only got e-tickets 1 week before sailing and after a couple of e-mails exchange with the agent... everything went fine but it was a little worrying.

 

This next cruise with MSC was booked again with our Portuguese online agent. Never could get into MSC account and a month away from our sailing there are still no e-tickets. On the onlilne agent everything checks, even a last week tour booking through MSC. Let's see how it goes...

 

At least we love their cruises ;)

Yes, it's a love/hate relationship. I do enjoy my MSC cruises. I just hate the "before I get on the ship" part.:D

MSC is a very strange company.

Indeed! I would have to think they'd be much more profitable (or able to provide an even better level of onboard service) if the land side operations weren't so bad. I love the phone agents, and they are good at what they do, but it shouldn't be necessary to call for every little thing. Surely many prospective clients are scared off by how poorly things appear to be run on the booking side of things.

Indeed! I would have to think they'd be much more profitable (or able to provide an even better level of onboard service) if the land side operations weren't so bad. I love the phone agents, and they are good at what they do, but it shouldn't be necessary to call for every little thing. Surely many prospective clients are scared off by how poorly things appear to be run on the booking side of things.

That is why there are many travel agents who cannot and will not recommend MSC to their clients. It's a huge problem. If not for all these booking issues, MSC couldn't keep enough ships sailing here. I believe they would be in high demand. The downside of course is that all these good prices would disappear.

That aligns with my experience. Two packages booked online and neither show up on the boarding docs (which were issued weeks after the purchase.) They both show up online with green dots.

 

I only got one email for each package, titled "Online booking successfully completed." The sender is "cruiseinfo@msccruises.com" which is different from any other email I've gotten from MSC, be it an ad or a booking confirmation.

 

Looking at the charges on Mint, it shows up as "Cruises" rather than something easily identifiable. It also says "appears on your statement as MSC CRUISES USA", though I don't know why it wouldn't always show up that way. FYI for those of you who may be using an aggregator like Mint to check for the transaction.

 

Boarding Saturday, so I'll try to post my results if I know before we leave port. If you don't hear from me: the line was too long, all went well... or I'm in the brig. ;)

No problem with the drink package. Took five minutes just now (3:30). Nice little booklet. Photo package needs to be picked up there, and it's not open yet.

Thank you for getting back to us. I am happy to hear you had no issue getting your drink package onboard and I'm sure the photo package will work the same way. Have a wonderful cruise. I'm next!:D

Yes, it's a love/hate relationship. I do enjoy my MSC cruises. I just hate the "before I get on the ship" part.:D

Ditto here! My DH will NOT deal with MSC anymore after what they put him through...gave him a Dutch name, nationality and e-mail address not to mention inaccessibility to the website, etc.

I had to get the cruise consultant while I was on board on a solo cruise to straighten out the mess of the second cruise.

Then 2 days ago they changed our room without any reason and gave it back when I complained. No telling where we will wind up.

That is why there are many travel agents who cannot and will not recommend MSC to their clients. It's a huge problem. If not for all these booking issues, MSC couldn't keep enough ships sailing here. I believe they would be in high demand. The downside of course is that all these good prices would disappear.

Our T.A. is wonderful but out of Toronto and says that they don't work with MSC due to demand. I wonder now if that's the real reason.

Thank you for getting back to us. I am happy to hear you had no issue getting your drink package onboard and I'm sure the photo package will work the same way. Have a wonderful cruise. I'm next!:D

We never did get a book for the photos, but redeemed them all at once. I don't believe there was a book, but the staff knew what we were talking about and had some sort of record so we had no problems. We did get 8x10 photos, rather than the 25x35cm stated on the offer. That was as expected, but I wanted to report back in case someone thinks they'll get 11x14 or such. I suppose it might be argued, but we were happy to get 8x10s to match all our other cruise photos.

They were 'redeemed' by writing it out on a piece of paper with no apparent electronic transaction. It was probably quicker than doing it the regular way, and no attempt to sell us a package.

No problems with the drink coupons, either with the drinks available or the service when using them. Our table mates did run into the "Oh, I needed to have the coupon when you made the order" scenario on the first night in the MDR. They do ring it up then discount it by the full price, or presumably by the max amount if you order something higher than that.

We did use a few coupons for Gelato which was a large at $3.50 plus 15%. That is not a good value, but they'd have gone to waste otherwise. Just wanted to confirm that we did get a large rather than something lesser.

Bon Voyage!