Just cancelled my first MSC cruise due to misleading ad

Do your homework on **********, and look at price histories, and you'll find plenty!

Current balcony prices on the Regal are slightly over $700, but still priced better than MSC.

Somehow I new its going to be an answer ) :p

You are wrong and your agent is not very good because the + means that you will get more OBC when you book a higher category. You are not going to get the top OBC with an inside room. How would you feel if you book the YC and got $150 OBC and the person with an inside room got the same amount????

It's the same on any cruise line .I don't know why op is surprised :rolleyes:

It's the same on any cruise line .I don't know why op is surprised :rolleyes:

Not only are you missing the point, but, you personally say about MSC,

"NEVER, ever trust what they say or promise to you"

and "I don't trust MSC"

PS Princess doesn't ignore legitimate complaints.

The use of the plus sign in the attached ad graphic is entirely misleading.

MSC claims the the words "up to" pertains to the entire boxed text, not the amount of OBC, even though a plus sign indicates "in addition to".

Even the $49 deposit has a plus sign, so their argument is weak at best.

So no, my inside only comes with $50 OBC and a $49 deposit...forget the plus signs.

I've cancelled and am sticking with Princess.

The purpose of any ad, especially on the inter-webs is to attract attention and elicit further action. So, not a bad ad.

What surprises me is that anybody would expect the entire terms and conditions of a fairly large investment to be spelled out in an ad like this. An unsophisticated expectation at best.

Your agent could not figure it out yet is "excellent?" How so? it takes about 2 minutes of clicking and further research to suss out the different offers, if my agent could not be bothered to do this research and report back to me with the different levels of the promotion I would fire him for incompetence at best, negligence at worst.

Here is some help for the future, ads are meant to entice, it is up to the consumer to determine the actual value and make a purchasing decision.

Congratulations however on what appears to be an excellent bargain with Princess. I suggest a thorough briefing of everything your purchase will include / exclude lest you spend too much time at the complaint desk post boarding.

Not only are you missing the point, but, you personally say about MSC,

"NEVER, ever trust what they say or promise to you"

and "I don't trust MSC"

 

PS Princess doesn't ignore legitimate complaints.

I am not missing the point ,all cruise lines do the same AD. They promise you a lot but then you figure out what you get with your cabin .

PS I had problem with Princess and they did not answer me as well . I got auto email but never any solution for my problem. ;)

I can only repeat -never trust phone conversation with promises , have a proof .

The purpose of any ad, especially on the inter-webs is to attract attention and elicit further action. So, not a bad ad.

 

What surprises me is that anybody would expect the entire terms and conditions of a fairly large investment to be spelled out in an ad like this. An unsophisticated expectation at best.

 

Your agent could not figure it out yet is "excellent?" How so? it takes about 2 minutes of clicking and further research to suss out the different offers, if my agent could not be bothered to do this research and report back to me with the different levels of the promotion I would fire him for incompetence at best, negligence at worst.

 

Here is some help for the future, ads are meant to entice, it is up to the consumer to determine the actual value and make a purchasing decision.

 

Congratulations however on what appears to be an excellent bargain with Princess. I suggest a thorough briefing of everything your purchase will include / exclude lest you spend too much time at the complaint desk post boarding.

I won't bother to defend the misconceptions you have of my thought process or spell out the ethics of advertising, but I will defend my excellent travel agent.

He always gets me a much lower price than posted by the lines.

This past December he saved me over $700 on my Panama Canal sailing, plus gave me extra OBC.

He's also responsible for the $539 fares on the Regal.

He only booked the MSC for me, based on the info I showed him in the ad just as he was closing shop for the night.

I was booked in 5 minutes or less.....pretty damn good service.

He also cancelled everything for me and didn't charge a cancellation fee.

If that's not "excellent", I don't know what is.

PS...I have much better things to do than complain at guest services, that must be an MSC thing.

It's been weird and fun. Enjoy life in MSC land, I'll stick with Princess, where there ads are clear, and you get what they promise....and at a better price.

Ciao!

I won't bother to defend the misconceptions you have of my thought process or spell out the ethics of advertising, but I will defend my excellent travel agent.

He always gets me a much lower price than posted by the lines.

This past December he saved me over $700 on my Panama Canal sailing, plus gave me extra OBC.

He's also responsible for the $539 fares on the Regal.

He only booked the MSC for me, based on the info I showed him in the ad just as he was closing shop for the night.

I was booked in 5 minutes or less.....pretty damn good service.

He also cancelled everything for me and didn't charge a cancellation fee.

If that's not "excellent", I don't know what is.

 

PS...I have much better things to do than complain at guest services, that must be an MSC thing.

It's been weird and fun. Enjoy life in MSC land, I'll stick with Princess, where there ads are clear, and you get what they promise....and at a better price.

Ciao!

Hey, if you're good defining excellence as somebody who binds you into a contract without doing due diligence because he wanted to book a sale at the end of the day I'm good with it too.

Enjoy the trip.

The use of the plus sign in the attached ad graphic is entirely misleading.

MSC claims the the words "up to" pertains to the entire boxed text, not the amount of OBC, even though a plus sign indicates "in addition to".

Even the $49 deposit has a plus sign, so their argument is weak at best.

So no, my inside only comes with $50 OBC and a $49 deposit...forget the plus signs.

I've cancelled and am sticking with Princess.

That is the best thing you can do is stick with Princess, every one needs to read the fine print on anything. Stick with your travel agent sound like he takes care of you. I have been extremely happy with the agent I deal with at MSC she is wonderful and have never had a problem, I prefer dealing directly with MSC rather than a travel agency if something is wrong I can come back on them. Happy sailing

That is the best thing you can do is stick with Princess, every one needs to read the fine print on anything. Stick with your travel agent sound like he takes care of you. I have been extremely happy with the agent I deal with at MSC she is wonderful and have never had a problem, I prefer dealing directly with MSC rather than a travel agency if something is wrong I can come back on them. Happy sailing

Do you mind letting me know who you contact at MSC (extension, etc)? I would prefer to deal directly with them as well. Thanks!

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Hey, if you're good defining excellence as somebody who binds you into a contract without doing due diligence because he wanted to book a sale at the end of the day I'm good with it too.

 

Enjoy the trip.

He also cancelled everything for me and didn't charge a cancellation fee.

Hardly sounds like a binding contract.

BTW for those who want to talk about fraudulent advertising, they currently have this line on https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Cruise-Ships/Our-Fleet/MSC-Seaside.aspx

From $539* pp PLUS up to $400 shipboard

But that is an old promotion, it's currently up to $150 (but with the drinks (for some) and internet (for some)

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He booked this at the end of the business day, without reading the fine print. .

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If the detail info was there and it definitely was but the person chose not to read or understand it, whose fault is it?

BTW for those who want to talk about fraudulent advertising, they currently have this line on https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Cruise-Ships/Our-Fleet/MSC-Seaside.aspx

 

From $539* pp PLUS up to $400 shipboard

 

But that is an old promotion, it's currently up to $150 (but with the drinks (for some) and internet (for some)

In my opinion that's a perfectly legitimate add with absolutely nothing to complain about. It shows lowest possible price (presumably quad in lowest class cabin) and the highest OBC (highest grade cabin). The ad the OP complained about clearly indicated both of these but inferred that everyone got wifi, free drinks and reduced deposit.

The problem in your example comes when you click through and the $400 OBC evaporates to $150. I consider this click bait and unethical.

However when comparing issues with the OP's add, when you drill down on your example you see;

WITH UPTO $150 ONBOARD CREDIT, FREE WIFI & FREE DRINKS PACKAGE*

The comma used here clearly ties the wifi and drinks to the UPTO qualification. Plus it includes an asterisk meaning there is further clarification in the fine print.

The original add used + signs which indicated that these extras were included.

Do you mind letting me know who you contact at MSC (extension' date=' etc)? I would prefer to deal directly with them as well. Thanks!

 

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I deal with Luna her number is 954 958-1026 she is the best agent at MSC I have ever dealt with. This will be our first cruise on Divina next week and I told her the first time I talk with her I would be a PIA she just chuckled. I call her with any questions or concerns and she has assured me we will be treated like Royalty. Tell her Bob said hi if anyone calls her. I just talked with her and she wants my feed back when we get back on the 28th. We also have booked the Seaside for next January all through Luna. Bob

In my opinion that's a perfectly legitimate add with absolutely nothing to complain about. It shows lowest possible price (presumably quad in lowest class cabin) and the highest OBC (highest grade cabin). The ad the OP complained about clearly indicated both of these but inferred that everyone got wifi, free drinks and reduced deposit.

 

The problem in your example comes when you click through and the $400 OBC evaporates to $150. I consider this click bait and unethical.

 

However when comparing issues with the OP's add, when you drill down on your example you see;

WITH UPTO $150 ONBOARD CREDIT, FREE WIFI & FREE DRINKS PACKAGE*

 

The comma used here clearly ties the wifi and drinks to the UPTO qualification. Plus it includes an asterisk meaning there is further clarification in the fine print.

 

The original add used + signs which indicated that these extras were included.

It may be click bait but like I said before, it's likely ""Never attribute to malice...".

And I disagree on the current ad. The "Up to" simply attaches to the dollar figure. But at least on the page you're referring to they have an asterisk and you only have to scroll down a bit to see what each category actually gets. So I don't think that page has an issue.

Somehow I new its going to be an answer ) :p

I'm calling BS on Princess being cheaper than MSC....

The purpose of any ad, especially on the inter-webs is to attract attention and elicit further action. So, not a bad ad.

 

What surprises me is that anybody would expect the entire terms and conditions of a fairly large investment to be spelled out in an ad like this. An unsophisticated expectation at best.

 

Your agent could not figure it out yet is "excellent?" How so? it takes about 2 minutes of clicking and further research to suss out the different offers, if my agent could not be bothered to do this research and report back to me with the different levels of the promotion I would fire him for incompetence at best, negligence at worst.

 

Here is some help for the future, ads are meant to entice, it is up to the consumer to determine the actual value and make a purchasing decision.

 

Congratulations however on what appears to be an excellent bargain with Princess. I suggest a thorough briefing of everything your purchase will include / exclude lest you spend too much time at the complaint desk post boarding.

Very well said that agent is lousy.

I'm calling BS on Princess being cheaper than MSC....

You are sooooo right, Princess is much higher.

I imagine the travel agent is getting a nice commission from Princess too. So much for due diligence.

Thanks, but actually, the pricing on Princess is much better.

MSC wants $939 for a balcony, I've paid $539 for a balcony on the Regal.

I've also paid as little as $259 for a balcony on Princess.

Are you comparing a 7 day Princess to a 7 day MSC? That would be the only fair way to compare. I just looked and the cheapest Princess 7 day is about $1100 per person for a balcony (that's not including any tips, taxes, port fees, etc.) And I can guarantee you that you didn't pay $259 for a 7 day for a balcony on Princess.

We've been on several Princess cruises, and just went on our first MSC cruise on Divina a few months ago. We really like Princess and they have beautiful ships, and good food, but nothing we've ever been on, compares to the beautiful MSC Divina. When it comes to comparing, MSC Divina had better desserts, better entertainment, and better itinerary than any of the Princess cruises had. Our next cruise will be with MSC.

You are sooooo right, Princess is much higher.

You can say that again. Where in the world did they find a Princess balcony for $259.00? What was it? A 2 day cruise? We've been on Princess many times. Matter of fact, we got one of our Princess cruises for free, because they overbooked our cruise, and asked us if we would switch from a 5 day cruise to a 4 day, and if we agreed, they'd give us the cruise for free. So, we did. But to compare that price to another cruise line would be totally ridiculous. I've yet to see any MSC 7 day cruise price, be more than a 7 day Princess when comparing balcony prices.

As someone who's cruised a few times before (and even if it were only one cruise), it would be easy for me to assimilate that all those sweet extras are for those booking high dollar cabins. The graphic could be clearer, yes, but this is not entirely uncommon. The website I've always used to book cruises always lists out all these bells and whistles. But when booking a more basic cabin, it's never included.

I'm sure someone will eventually come along and start a class action lawsuit against cruise lines who advertise like this.

When I booked MSC (last week) I really liked that the frills were spread out over different "experiences" like Bella, Fantastica?, Wellness, Yacht Club etc.. Made it much easier to see, yeah, basic isn't getting anyone anything extra.