MSC, cruise cancelled four weeks out???

[macrompian1]

Can anybody shed any light on this? Due to depart from Barcelona on 17th February , four weeks time... I was doing my web check in today on MSC website, the error message kept coming up to check departure date, so time and time again, I went in and checked , rechecked all the info I had input , to no avail. So I rang my travel agent to see if I was doing something wrong, I was told after several hours, that my cruise that I only booked in November and had fully paid for had been cancelled with no reason given.

At this stage it was 5.pm this evening (Saturday) , so the best the travel agency can do is wait for the Irish manager of MSC to get into work on Monday. The reason we chose those dates was because our kids would be out on mid-term break and we didn't want them to miss any school, I have looked to see if other cruises depart around that time but there is very little going on at that time of year in Europe.

So, did any of you hear anything??

[aprilmay15]

Msc moved our cruise up 5 days and changed the ports of calls. I am not sure what is going on with this company and all the changes. This is my first MSc cruise and possibly my last. I call the company to check on details and so does my TA and we get 2 different answers. If I had not already spent $400 on visas I would cancel. They need to get their act together.

[riclop]

They are going some really bad things to there passengers.

[macrompian1]

Yes, It's very strange. The first the TA knew about the cancellation was when I rang . The TA are very experienced with cruises so I can't understand how this happened.

[sidari]

February has been removed from the Barcelona sailings on the MSC UK website!

 

Would be interested to hear the reason you had the cruise cancelled.

[pat1954]

I am very interested in how MSC deal with you as I have already posted my cruise 26/9/14 on Armonia is no longer on MSC website and I think ship is going into drydock but MSc don't reply to emails or let their customers know anything so hope you get a better response than I did my travel agent is kept in the dark also don't MSC realise we don't book cruises with companies with no customer service.

[macrompian1]

I am very interested in how MSC deal with you as I have already posted my cruise 26/9/14 on Armonia is no longer on MSC website and I think ship is going into drydock but MSc don't reply to emails or let their customers know anything so hope you get a better response than I did my travel agent is kept in the dark also don't MSC realise we don't book cruises with companies with no customer service.

 

Sorry to hear you are in a similar predicament, I still have very sketchy information to be honest. TA says that the cruise has been reduced to a 5 day cruise ending in Genoa, which is difficult to fly to Dublin out of, and so would require a two hour transfer to Milan and fly out then....not an option, we'd only be on the ship and getting off again and then the hassle of transfers etc. so, no thank you to that one.

I received an email from the TA on Dec 7th stating time changes for excursion days, but all 7 nights were listed, and no mention of cutting it back. So, MSC, what in Gods name are ye up to? In fairness, the TA seems to be making some effort to sort it out, but at 4 weeks to go and very little else similar in terms of dates and itinerary, I just don't know what's going to happen.

I will keep ye posted. Wish me luck!!

[Beamafar]

I had booked the Feb 17th sailing too on 1st November only to receive an email from my TA on 4th Dec saying MSC had called her to say that it had been changed to a 5 day cruise ending at Genoa and that they wanted to cruise-move me to Feb 10th.

[macrompian1]

I had booked the Feb 17th sailing too on 1st November only to receive an email from my TA on 4th Dec saying MSC had called her to say that it had been changed to a 5 day cruise ending at Genoa and that they wanted to cruise-move me to Feb 10th.

 

Thanks Beamafar,

I got this email on Dec 7th, no mention of a shortening of the cruise

 

 

"just sending you a quick email in relation to a couple of time changes to the itinerary on your cruise. I have copied the changes below so you can see which ports have been affected.

 

1st Barcelona, Spain 18:00

 

 

2nd At sea

 

 

3rd La Goulette/Carthage & Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia 08:00 17:00

 

 

4th Palermo/Monreale, Italy 08:00 15:00

 

 

5th Civitavecchia/Rome, Italy 08:00 18:00

 

 

6th Genoa, Italy 09:00 18:00

 

 

7th Marseille/Aix en Provence, France 08:00 16:00

 

 

8th Barcelona, Spain 09:00

 

 

If you have any questions or queries please let me know, thanks a mil"

 

So someone on either side is very confused/couldn't care and now I am spending more time and stress on trying to get it sorted. I have also missed out on a great number of great deals that were available, but sure I was saying, " I'm grand , I have my cruise booked!" Yeeeesh!!

[Beamafar]

So sorry for your predicament. This is the second time I've had a problem with MSC changing a route. I'd booked to travel to the Black Sea on the Sinfonia on May 15th next. I received a letter from my TA advising that the route had changed to West Med and Canaries. I asked to be moved to the sailing of 2nd May as I was only interested in the Black Sea itinerary but MSC would not facilitate that so I cancelled that booking. This happened at the same time I was booking the Splendida cruise and, as I've had difficulties with the refund on the Sinfonia booking (it's being sorted) I decided that the easier option was to just accept the date change. So I'll be embarking on Feb 10th, hopefully!!

[pat1954]

Sorry to hear you are in a similar predicament, I still have very sketchy information to be honest. TA says that the cruise has been reduced to a 5 day cruise ending in Genoa, which is difficult to fly to Dublin out of, and so would require a two hour transfer to Milan and fly out then....not an option, we'd only be on the ship and getting off again and then the hassle of transfers etc. so, no thank you to that one.

I received an email from the TA on Dec 7th stating time changes for excursion days, but all 7 nights were listed, and no mention of cutting it back. So, MSC, what in Gods name are ye up to? In fairness, the TA seems to be making some effort to sort it out, but at 4 weeks to go and very little else similar in terms of dates and itinerary, I just don't know what's going to happen.

I will keep ye posted. Wish me luck!!

I saw on another website this morning still for sale cruise on your ship visiting Marseilles day after Genoa that would be easier to get back from but as we both know Msc has cruises for sale which are not happening

[macrompian1]

I saw on another website this morning still for sale cruise on your ship visiting Marseilles day after Genoa that would be easier to get back from but as we both know Msc has cruises for sale which are not happening

 

I'm finding it very difficult to find anything similar on the dates previously booked, I might have to wait until the Easter holidays, and naturally the prices are higher, apparently Msc are only too happy to just refund and let me toddle away off into the sunset, such a shame, it would have been my first MSC cruise. C'est la vie.

[pat1954]

I'm finding it very difficult to find anything similar on the dates previously booked, I might have to wait until the Easter holidays, and naturally the prices are higher, apparently Msc are only too happy to just refund and let me toddle away off into the sunset, such a shame, it would have been my first MSC cruise. C'est la vie.

It might be a good idea to wait till Easter as we did this cruise last year on 18th Feb the weather was only good in Tunis and it snowed in Genoa but the ship and crew were good and apart from weather we enjoyed the cruise hope you have better luck next time

[macrompian1]

It might be a good idea to wait till Easter as we did this cruise last year on 18th Feb the weather was only good in Tunis and it snowed in Genoa but the ship and crew were good and apart from weather we enjoyed the cruise hope you have better luck next time

 

Tanks Pat1954, looking at Musica for April now, might just leave it altogether and go back to RCL and do a summer one, still can't understand how MSC behave towards potential guests, the mind boggles .....

[sharecruises]

Ouch....I hope this works out for you

 

Customer service is not MSC strong point but this is really ridiculous

Let us know - hope this works out

:(

[macrompian1]

Ouch....I hope this works out for you

 

Customer service is not MSC strong point but this is really ridiculous

Let us know - hope this works out

:(

 

 

Thank you,

Now it appears as if the same cruise is departing a day earlier , from Marseille , and the company are trying to get me to pay and extra......get this....3,000.00euro for the privilege of going on the cruise I had already booked and paid for in full!! HOW?, WHAT? HUH?

Seriously , who is running their customer department? Basil Fawlty?? The TA is trying to get this debacle sorted, if anyone from MSC management is reading this , please review your booking/changing/ how to treat potential long term customers policy!!

[Beamafar]

This is absolutely shocking stuff. Your experience with this company, coupled with my own very recent dealings, including involving the same 17th Feb sailing, is really putting me right off MSC which is a pity as I've enjoyed cruising with them up until now.

[cateyes2u]

This is my first sailing with MSC, and I was so excited about sailing on this beautiful ship.

 

Although I was extremely disappointed with the changes, I decided to pay the $125 penalty for air, but this may be my final cruise with them if they do not get their act together.

 

Is anyone going to start a new roll call with the new sail date, and update the M&G participants?

[sidari]

At least when Costa changed our cruise with them by adding an extra day they gave it FREE! are you watching MSC ?

[Beamafar]

You'd have to wonder if MSC has any idea how cancellations or changes affect their consumers. For those, like Macro, who are time constrained due to school-going children, or others who only have a particular time off at work and don't have the luxury of re-configuring their holidays, it has a huge impact. The disappointment and frustration one feels is acute and, while I know some could say there're worse things in life, that's not to say it doesn't take its toll. It also comes with an extra cost as in cateyes2u's case. The decisions seem arbitrary rather than from situations outside of the company's control, such as weather, dangerous conditions or political unrest, etc. which would be understandable at least.

[macrompian1]

You'd have to wonder if MSC has any idea how cancellations or changes affect their consumers. For those, like Macro, who are time constrained due to school-going children, or others who only have a particular time off at work and don't have the luxury of re-configuring their holidays, it has a huge impact. The disappointment and frustration one feels is acute and, while I know some could say there're worse things in life, that's not to say it doesn't take its toll. It also comes with an extra cost as in cateyes2u's case. The decisions seem arbitrary rather than from situations outside of the company's control, such as weather, dangerous conditions or political unrest, etc. which would be understandable at least.

 

Well said Beamafar! Even the TA agreed hat it was a very strange way for a company to behave. They really do just want me to disappear cancel the whole thing and get out of their hair. They just don't realise what they are dealing with.... Equally intriguing is the fact that I looked up the USA website to see if the 16th Feb date was live on their website, it was and for a charge of 529usd I could have my balcony room!! That was this afternoon, I went back just there to check and there it was, gone, as they say.....some freaky stuff going on in MSC land. Arbitrary changes do seem to be the case. I have spent a lot of time looking around again now, but quite frankly, the prices for booking this late in the season for anything close to Easter or Summer , are scary. Disappointment & frustration are very polite terms for what I am feeling right now :mad:

[pat1954]

You'd have to wonder if MSC has any idea how cancellations or changes affect their consumers. For those, like Macro, who are time constrained due to school-going children, or others who only have a particular time off at work and don't have the luxury of re-configuring their holidays, it has a huge impact. The disappointment and frustration one feels is acute and, while I know some could say there're worse things in life, that's not to say it doesn't take its toll. It also comes with an extra cost as in cateyes2u's case. The decisions seem arbitrary rather than from situations outside of the company's control, such as weather, dangerous conditions or political unrest, etc. which would be understandable at least.

I mentioned before on this thread that I thought my Armonia cruise would be cancelled surprise surprise received letter from Msc today CANCELLED due to refit as I had already thought would happen I was offered Fantasia instead but my flights cannot be changed without costing lot more money so I have cancelled and booked Preziosa not the itinerary I wanted but no choice I am out of pocket for two hotel bookings in Venice and they won't compensate me so beware if you book cruise only Msc are not at all helpful TA did her best but no joy

[macrompian1]

Oh No Pat 1954, so sorry to hear that. If Msc keep changing the game plan, no-one is going to have money next year to book more cruises...it will all have been spent on cancelled flights, hotels , etc. Where is the joined up thinking here? Where is the

" customer is king" service ? At this rate if we do end up going on an MSC ship ,I will be so worried about how they operate the ship at all , if they can't get simple , paid in full bookings right!! I'll need a holiday to recover from this farce!

[Beamafar]

That is so awful for you.

I'm beginning to think that TAs who are having to deal directly with their clients being let down by MSC should boycott the company. It seems to be causing nothing but headaches for them (not to mention us would-be/wannabe cruisers). I know in my case, my TA couldn't apologise enough even though, as she said herself, it was "outside my control".

[sidari]

The most annoying thing is that no one at MSC will give you the Truth of why they have done something. When they finally stop treating their passengers like Cargo they may just get somewhere.

Edited January 23, 2014 by sidari