MSC "All in" Promotion.....Be Careful

[lcpagejr]

Just booked a last minute cruise (on-line) for Thanksgiving week cruise on Seaside... YC Suite.   

 

I used a very popular and well known online booking agency. For Yacht Club they showed 2 pricings  which differed by almost $300. The higher was the "all in" option. Since I have cruised Yacht Club in past I knew pretty much everything is included except internet. So this is very deceiving if you are new to booking a Yacht Club cabin.  Additionally I called that said agency (for a question on another issue) and received 3 different prices every time I questioned the pricing. I just kept thinking to myself.... anyone who actually would try to book via phone would really be getting "screwed" ...The phone agent seemed to have no familarity with MSC. I hung up and booked online at the regular YC cabin price ...LOL.  Just be careful and its always best to do a dummy booking to get your pricing before talking on the phone to an agent!    FYI...The reason I used this internet agency instead of my regular online agency is because my regular agency offered a significant  ($650) onboard credit for YC category. This agency offered no onboard credit but their price was approx $650 lower ....so knowing I spent very little out of my pocket on last YC sailing I didn't want to have to deal with a huge onboard credit I likely would not use up.

[SirWolf]

After reading your thread is seems to me that the title is kind of misleading. You had issues with the pricing of a internet travel agency and not with MSC. There is nothing wrong with MCS’s pricing online. Passengers just need to read the fine print and compare the Experiences. I always book my (YC) cruises using the MSC website and never had an issue with pricing and/or services included.

[lcpagejr]

On 11/9/2019 at 2:23 PM, SirWolf said:

After reading your thread is seems to me that the title is kind of misleading. You had issues with the pricing of a internet travel agency and not with MSC. There is nothing wrong with MCS’s pricing online. Passengers just need to read the fine print and compare the Experiences. I always book my (YC) cruises using the MSC website and never had an issue with pricing and/or services included.

I see your point... And while I respect your decision to book directly thru MSC... In my past experience  you lose significant amount of extra savings (OBC).... When going directly thru MSC

[mickey89]

On 11/9/2019 at 7:01 PM, lcpagejr said:

...so knowing I spent very little out of my pocket on last YC sailing I didn't want to have to deal with a huge onboard credit I likely would not use up.

It’s easy to convert your obc into cash, just use the obc special chips on the roulette wheel. Put equal amount on black and red and winnings are cash chips. We convert $250 non refundable obc and walked away with $220 in cash.

[sfaaa]

2 minutes ago, mickey89 said:

It’s easy to convert your obc into cash, just use the obc special chips on the roulette wheel. Put equal amount on black and red and winnings are cash chips. We convert $250 non refundable obc and walked away with $220 in cash.

Sounds like creative money laundering. 😱

[floridian1]

On 11/9/2019 at 2:01 PM, lcpagejr said:

Just booked a last minute cruise (on-line) for Thanksgiving week cruise on Seaside... YC Suite.   

 

I used a very popular and well known online booking agency. For Yacht Club they showed 2 pricings  which differed by almost $300. The higher was the "all in" option. Since I have cruised Yacht Club in past I knew pretty much everything is included except internet. So this is very deceiving if you are new to booking a Yacht Club cabin.  Additionally I called that said agency (for a question on another issue) and received 3 different prices every time I questioned the pricing. I just kept thinking to myself.... anyone who actually would try to book via phone would really be getting "screwed" ...The phone agent seemed to have no familarity with MSC. I hung up and booked online at the regular YC cabin price ...LOL.  Just be careful and its always best to do a dummy booking to get your pricing before talking on the phone to an agent!    FYI...The reason I used this internet agency instead of my regular online agency is because my regular agency offered a significant  ($650) onboard credit for YC category. This agency offered no onboard credit but their price was approx $650 lower ....so knowing I spent very little out of my pocket on last YC sailing I didn't want to have to deal with a huge onboard credit I likely would not use up.

does this agents company start with an 'A'? if so i use them too and know exactly what you are tlaking about because i did a similar post here about the same thing almost 2 years ago because I was confused. Thank god for cruisecritic steering me in the right direction. I was new to MSC so i didn't have a clue.

 

With that said I have booked multiple cruises with them including my upcoming Grandiosa cruise because they do come out several hundred -$1k cheaper than booking direct. Too bad they dont offer nice OBC anymore for MSC (I wasnt offered anything for our grandiosa cruise either)

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 11/9/2019 at 12:01 PM, lcpagejr said:

Just booked a last minute cruise (on-line) for Thanksgiving week cruise on Seaside... YC Suite.   

 

I used a very popular and well known online booking agency. For Yacht Club they showed 2 pricings  which differed by almost $300. The higher was the "all in" option. Since I have cruised Yacht Club in past I knew pretty much everything is included except internet. So this is very deceiving if you are new to booking a Yacht Club cabin.  Additionally I called that said agency (for a question on another issue) and received 3 different prices every time I questioned the pricing. I just kept thinking to myself.... anyone who actually would try to book via phone would really be getting "screwed" ...The phone agent seemed to have no familarity with MSC. I hung up and booked online at the regular YC cabin price ...LOL.  Just be careful and its always best to do a dummy booking to get your pricing before talking on the phone to an agent!    FYI...The reason I used this internet agency instead of my regular online agency is because my regular agency offered a significant  ($650) onboard credit for YC category. This agency offered no onboard credit but their price was approx $650 lower ....so knowing I spent very little out of my pocket on last YC sailing I didn't want to have to deal with a huge onboard credit I likely would not use up.

 

Are you sure the obc from your regular agency wasn't refundable?  As a general rule, cruiselines obc is non-refundable, but travel agency obc is frequently (usually?) refundable.