Upgrading drinks package for Aurea cabin

[cruiser man 60]

We have booked a reposition cruise to Japan next year with Easy drinks package included as part of Aurea. I rang my TA to check price for upgrade to premium which she gave but said she would check with MSC .

 TA rang back and said MSC advise that if I upgrade drinks package I would lose other perks which came with cabin e.g. spa access etc.

 

anyone else heard this as doesn't seem correct and could I just upgrade grade on board and agin anyone had experience of upgrading on board and costs?

[reedprincess]

That incorrect information.

You can upgrade your drinks package and it has no affect on your Aurea Experience perks.  

It's the difference in price between the two packages.  If you do it in advance, you don't pay the service charge; if you do it aboard, you pay the 15% service charge on the price difference.

 

You could call MSC yourself and do it rather than through your TA...

[nikkiw60]

We have booked a reposition cruise to Japan next year with Easy drinks package included as part of Aurea. I rang my TA to check price for upgrade to premium which she gave but said she would check with MSC .
 TA rang back and said MSC advise that if I upgrade drinks package I would lose other perks which came with cabin e.g. spa access etc.
 
anyone else heard this as doesn't seem correct and could I just upgrade grade on board and agin anyone had experience of upgrading on board and costs?

Totally untrue, we booked through a travel agency in UK a few years ago and they said couldn’t be done. In end we did it on ship was an extra 15%. Our next one in October we called MSC and they did it for us.
BTW if this is the Hong Kong to Japan in April we are also on that sailing. Our Japan guide book got delivered today coincidentally!


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[sidari]

As others have said sounds like someone does not know their job, the Aurea experience has nothing to do with changing drink packages seeing as you have to pay more to upgrade to Premium.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

Anyone know what the upgrade cost from Easy to Premium would be?

[Beamafar]

1 hour ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

Anyone know what the upgrade cost from Easy to Premium would be?

 

Easy is $35 pppd and Premium is $62 (for US-based sailings), so the upgrade cost is the difference between the 2, which makes it £27 pppd.

[cruiser man 60]

Thanks, I will call TA again next week or so. Waiting for internet packages to come out so will probably do all at same time.

its the Dubai to Japan cruise so don't fancy 29 days drinking Heineken!

[sidari]

Bea ... Are they not usually different on Grand Voyages ?

[Beamafar]

27 minutes ago, sidari said:

Bea ... Are they not usually different on Grand Voyages ?

 

The person I was responding to didn't specify which region they were sailing.  I just saw that they were posting from the US.  I'm usually more circumspect on the subject, but made assumptions here that maybe I shouldn't have.

[Até]

Didn't MSC in the past have different drink package pricing for sailings less than nine days and greater than nine days?  I know on my European bookings greater than nine days Easy package is $35, Premium is $47 and Premium Plus is $65.  I know they're $35, $62 and $79 respectively for US sailings, but are they different prices for the shorter vs. longer European sailings?

[Beamafar]

You're quite right, Até ... MSC did introduce a reduced price per diem for cruises of >8 nights - for a time!  Didn't last long!  😡

 

While the new drinks prices are named the same for all sailings now (thankfully), the prices still differ depending on the region you're sailing.  I don't know how much, in Euros, it costs for US-based sailings (the price for our New York sailing is showing in US$ in the 'Enhance your Cruise section on my booking on the Ireland website 🙄), nor did I know how much it cost in $ for European sailings ('til you posted the prices - thank you for that!)

 

What I do know is that there is quite a difference in price for Premium and Premium+ (not so much for Easy) between the 2 regions.  For instance ... Prem in Europe is €39 - that's approx $44 - but is $62 for US sailings.  Premium+ is €55 (approx $62) but is $79 for US sailings, so your figures look about right (I'm working off XE Currency Exchange rates, so wouldn't necessarily reflect the rate MSC has set).

Edited August 10, 2019 by Beamafar

[cruiser man 60]

I am based in UK and price is in Euros, I got the price to upgrade to premium which was £9  pppd but told I was not allowed otherwise we would lose spa package which everyone says is wrong so will call again in next few weeks to check again.

[deliver42]

The spa pkg is automatic with Aurea. It can't be taken away.

[hamrag]

10 hours ago, cruiser man 60 said:

I am based in UK and price is in Euros, I got the price to upgrade to premium which was £9  pppd but told I was not allowed otherwise we would lose spa package which everyone says is wrong so will call again in next few weeks to check again.

 

If you were quoted that price, my advice is nab it and double check that revised documentation confirms you have premium! The spa package will take care of itself on board, as Aurea cabins have it automatically...that cannot be disputed.

[Viccarol]

I’ve upgraded easy to premium for £8 pppd for our up coming cruise - no mention of losing anything that we booked I’ll be annoyed if I can’t get my massage 😱

[little miss chatterbox]

On 8/10/2019 at 10:56 PM, Viccarol said:

I’ve upgraded easy to premium for £8 pppd for our up coming cruise - no mention of losing anything that we booked I’ll be annoyed if I can’t get my massage 😱

Can I be really cheeky and ask what number you called? My TA tried to get an upgrade from an easy to premium or premium plus and it was coming out as £800 for just the premium (for a ten day cruise). I need to speak to your person 

[Viccarol]

On 8/15/2019 at 10:37 PM, little miss chatterbox said:

Can I be really cheeky and ask what number you called? My TA tried to get an upgrade from an easy to premium or premium plus and it was coming out as £800 for just the premium (for a ten day cruise). I need to speak to your person 

 I’ve just got off the ship but once I’m home I’ll try and find it but I think it was just the normal uk number off the website - by the way I got my massage and some lovely drinks 🍾🍸

[little miss chatterbox]

Thank you, sounds wonderful. Can you really choose any massage?

[beachluver9]

We sailed on the Poesia in June in an Aurea cabin.  A couple of months prior to sailing we upgraded to the premium package at a very reasonable price.  When we boarded the ship our upgraded drink package was not shown on our cruise account so we were not able to get an upgraded drink.  I showed the guest relations rep our email confirmation and even the credit card charge for the exact amount.  They said that was all very nice, but if it wasn't on our reservation it didn't exist.

 

The only way that we could get it resolved was to purchase the next level upgrade (very pricey).  Once someone realized that there was an opportunity to up-sell our package we finally got some attention.  Almost an hour and a half later we finally had a drink in our hand.

 

Two takeaways for us: 

 

1)Pay the 15% charge and purchase the upgrade on the ship, that way you know that it will be applied to your account

 

2)  Don't buy the highest level of drink package until you visit several bars and take a good look at their menu.  The mini-bar in the stateroom is a bad joke and we never actually used it except for a coke here/there.  There is only one bar that had super premium drinks and it had no entertainment until late in the evening (we are before dinner cocktail people)

[deliver42]

The idea of having a TA is to make it easy to make changes without staying on the phone for an hour. However, it also helps if your TA knows what he's talking about. Find a TA that knows the ins and outs of MSC if you intend to stay with MSC. This TA doesn't know anything about MSC.

[sidari]

On 8/19/2019 at 7:14 PM, little miss chatterbox said:

Thank you, sounds wonderful. Can you really choose any massage?

apart from the Bali 4 hands one I recall.