Abhorrently poor pre-cruise customer service

[nunuc2000]

For all of you who have also experienced less than mediocre customer service from MSC for your pre-cruise interactions, I hear ya!  Unfortunately, I'm quickly realizing that booking our first MSC cruise will likely be our last as well. 

 

I have literally spent over 8 hours on hold waiting for the phone to be answered by them on various dates over the last couple of weeks, with the quickest answer time being 47 minutes today.  Not even exaggerating!  The Canadian website is atrociously flawed, with no ability to book any extra dining or excursions, etc. The ONLY thing visible is the itinerary. I can't review any of my booking details, and have been told repeatedly that I have to phone them directly if I need ANYTHING done.  Well there's valuable time out of my life that I'll never get back.

 

This morning I noticed that there was a price drop on the cruise we have booked for next May, and I tried to phone them to have my cruise re-fared. When I FINALLY got through after 47 minutes, the agent I spoke with was able to see the price reduction, but then went on to say she couldn't make any changes to my existing booking, including the re-fare. She said the only way to apply the lower price is to completely cancel my booking, then "rebook you at the lower price, and I will try to get the same cabin, but I'm not sure I can". WHAT?!  We are booked with friends, and we have side by side balcony cabins... and there appear to be only a couple of balcony cabins left on that sailing.  She said "It's possible that when I cancel your booking, someone else might book it... I can't assure you that you will get the same cabin, but you should be able to at least get a balcony." ????  Are you freaking kidding me?!  I've NEVER heard of such an asinine process... EVER!  We've cruised on various different cruiselines almost 40 times over the last 12 years, and have often called for price drops prior to final payment - but have NEVER encountered anything like this. This is just plain stupid! 

 

So I told her do NOT cancel my booking, instead, let me speak with your manager. Her response? "Well he's gone for lunch now, and he couldn't make this change either anyway."  (Count to ten and breathe, Celine... just breathe) "Regardless of whether or not he can make these changes, I want to speak with him anyway. Please have him call me" ... and then she says "Well I can't assure you he'll call you back because he might not because he can't make the changes either." Just wow. WOW!!  I reminded her that these calls are recorded, and that I'm specifically stating that I want the manager to phone me back as soon as possible. I also advised her that MSC currently has what is probably the worst reputation in the North American market for administrative service.  Just abysmal. And my experience with her is exactly why they have that bad reputation, and that I sure hope my on-board experience is significantly better than my pre-cruise experience.  She simply repeated that she doubts he'll call me back because she knows he can't make the changes without canceling my booking first and starting again too.  Just wow.  Even when I asked for her name, it was a dodgy exchange...

 

Her:  "My name is Nan...(mumbling something unintelligible)"

Me: "Pardon?"

Her: "Nan.. (again, mumbling) is my name"  

Me: "Can you please spell that?"

Her: "N-A-N-D-I-E... no... I mean N-A-N-D-Y"

Me: "Are you sure that's how it's spelled?"

Her: "Yes, and my manager might not call you back because he can only do what I can do"

Me: "Ya... I got that the first several times you mentioned it, and I say again, I want to speak with him regardless of what process you have in place for honouring, or not honouring, price reductions prior to final payment."

 

Then I Gave her my contact numbers and full name again, since she seems to have a problem with memory retention. Will I hear back from him? Doubt it. Will I have any success in seeing my cruise re-fared without the risk of losing my present cabin? Doubt that too. Will I do everything I possibly can to keep climbing the MSC ladder until I find someone in a position to actually listen to how utterly ridiculous my experience has been thus far with MSC?  Yup... I'm retired with a lot of time on my hands, and I'm nothing if not resolute and determined when something like this gets on my nerves. You can bet I'm now going to dedicate my immediate future to making MSC feel as frustrated with me as I am with them.  Will it mean they improve the way they interact with their customers? Probably not. Will it solve anything for me? That's not likely either.  Will it keep my mind sharp and give me a reason to use wine to wet my whistle while speaking with them? Sure... not that I need a reason to pour an occasional glass of wine. Will it allow me to keep my fingers nimble thanks to the emails and correspondence that I'll be engaged in? Yup.  

 

Stay tuned... this should prove to be interesting... certainly more so than watching bad day-time TV anyway. 

[emmas gran]

I am not very experienced with MSC having only done 3 cruises with them, previously cruised with Celebrity.

Unfortunately the 2 cruise companies are completely different and I believe what you have been told is correct, they do not do price reductions like Celebrity in USA.

[DCGuy64]

My sympathies to the OP. I can't relate to the bad CS experiences, however. My dealings with MSC have always been stellar, and since we use a travel agent for our bookings, I have to say they've been great. But as we know, we all have different views of the cruise lines based on our own experiences. I am hopeful things get better for the OP and that she (I assume it's a she since I read "Celine") will give MSC a chance. FWIW I have read on Cruise Critic reviews of people who have had a wonderful time on their cruises after having had customer services woes beforehand.

[sfaaa]

No re-faring is likely a computer issue, not customer service. And if you are this unhappy with MSC, why not just cancel your booking and be done with it.

[nunuc2000]

1 hour ago, emmas gran said:

I am not very experienced with MSC having only done 3 cruises with them, previously cruised with Celebrity.

Unfortunately the 2 cruise companies are completely different and I believe what you have been told is correct, they do not do price reductions like Celebrity in USA.

Upon contacting MSC to originally book our cruise, we were advised that should there be a lower advertised price on their webpage prior to final payment, the reduction would be applied with "a quick phone call to their call centre". This is the way it's done with most cruise lines, and we've never had an issue with retaining our original cabin... until now. 

[mafig]

I've had this happen when different perks are associated with the new fare.

 

I always use a travel agent when booking with MSC.

[nunuc2000]

30 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

My sympathies to the OP. I can't relate to the bad CS experiences, however. My dealings with MSC have always been stellar, and since we use a travel agent for our bookings, I have to say they've been great. But as we know, we all have different views of the cruise lines based on our own experiences. I am hopeful things get better for the OP and that she (I assume it's a she since I read "Celine") will give MSC a chance. FWIW I have read on Cruise Critic reviews of people who have had a wonderful time on their cruises after having had customer services woes beforehand.

 

I'm glad to hear that your experiences have been so positive, and indeed, I've heard that by and large, the onboard experience for many cruisers who have decided to try out MSC have also been quite good. That's one of the reasons that we decided to give MSC a try. If every aspect of the MSC product was consistently negative or poor, that would have eliminated them as a choice for new cruising experiences.  

 

I've also been reading more and more about the negative administrative interactions (read: pre and post cruise) that many folks have had, and that quite often their customers recommend using a TA to avoid the hassle of dealing with them directly.  Until now, we've generally preferred to work directly with each cruiseline to retain some control, and we've always found the process of dealing with them quite painless and smooth. But, if we choose to cruise with MSC again in the future, we most definitely will retain the services of a good TA to alleviate the frustration.. and hopefully, eventually,  MSC will improve their processes to a point that they actually WILL be as easy to work with as other cruise lines. 

 

We've never had a "bad" cruise... but this pre-cruise experience definitely qualifies as bad so far.  Thankfully, we're seasoned enough to know that land versus sea staff experiences can be quite different, and we're looking forward to the cruise itself.

 

 

[nunuc2000]

19 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

No re-faring is likely a computer issue, not customer service. And if you are this unhappy with MSC, why not just cancel your booking and be done with it.

 

It's both, actually... and it's not a difficult challenge to overcome for most cruise lines.  As for being unhappy with MSC... I'm not able to form an opinion yet about the actual cruise experience, and still plan to have a great cruise.  It's the pre-cruise administrative experience that is fraught with issues thus far, and it appears I'm not alone with feeling that way. But as I've indicated previously, I've cruised enough to know that our pre-cruise experience is not necessarily going to be an indicator of what our actual on-board cruise experience is, so we're looking forward to the cruise. If we enjoy it enough to cruise with MSC again in the future, we'll definitely take the advice of others and use a TA.

Edited November 21, 2019 by nunuc2000

[daisy-mae]

3 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

 I also advised her that MSC currently has what is probably the worst reputation in the North American market for administrative service.  Just abysmal. And my experience with her is exactly why they have that bad reputation, and that I sure hope my on-board experience is significantly better than my pre-cruise experienceV anyway. 

 

 

With respect, I'm not convinced that trash talking the company from whom one is hoping to secure a positive resolution is the best approach.

 

Just sayin"...

Edited November 21, 2019 by daisy-mae

[nunuc2000]

**UPDATE**

 

Shortly after reaching out to the North American head office in Fort Lauderdale, I was contacted by the head of the Canadian office - he apologized for the frustration and challenges I've been facing, and agreed that there was a lack of communication and that they are indeed aware that they need to make serious improvements in the North American market, most recently with their Canadian clients - he acknowledged that they are struggling with their call centre staff, and training is a big issue - the call centre has only been open "a few months", and the challenges have unfortunately resulted in many customer service failings.  He is committed to seeing improvements as they move forward, and is glad I felt comfortable enough to escalate my concerns.  

 

He had listened to the recorded call, and stated he couldn't disagree with anything I said. He appreciates the candor and feedback,  and wishes more clients would be honest and forthright - it helps them improve, and that's what they're trying to do.  Knowing how a customer truly feels is the best way to truly resolve it, he said. He's right. He has now resolved the issue that led me to contact them in the first place today - he has applied the reduction and I have kept my original room.  He was very appreciative, and seemed genuinely interested in hearing from me upon our return from our cruise. 

 

Here's hoping future interactions with them go as smoothly as both he and I are hoping. :)

[sidari]

I hope that you are aware of the T and C with regard to any given cabin booked ? MSC can change it upto sailing day.

[nunuc2000]

3 minutes ago, sidari said:

I hope that you are aware of the T and C with regard to any given cabin booked ? MSC can change it upto sailing day.

 

That's pretty standard with most cruise lines... along with many other caveats that the cruise lines technically have at their disposal.  

[Tapi]

3 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

She said the only way to apply the lower price is to completely cancel my booking, then "rebook you at the lower price, and I will try to get the same cabin, but I'm not sure I can". WHAT?!  We are booked with friends, and we have side by side balcony cabins... and there appear to be only a couple of balcony cabins left on that sailing.  She said "It's possible that when I cancel your booking, someone else might book it... I can't assure you that you will get the same cabin, but you should be able to at least get a balcony." ????  Are you freaking kidding me?!  I've NEVER heard of such an asinine process... EVER! 

 

I don’t know if this is what happened here, but I have a good friend who used to work for another cruise line in their call center and he share this with me.

 

The sales agents only got paid a commission on bookings that they personally made. Some agents would try to “work the system” by getting inbound callers who already had bookings that they’d made online to cancel and rebook. That way, they agent would get paid for the new booking made. Like in your case, they’d tell the inbound caller that the “only way” to make a change would be by canceling and rebooking.

 

Now, this practice was severely frowned upon by the cruise line, and agents caught doing this could be disciplined with termination. But still several agents, specially newer ones who thought that they wouldn’t caught, still did it. I’m wondering if something similar happened here, specially with new agents as the supervisor that called you mentioned. 

 

Glad that hat things got sorted out, and I hope that you have a great cruise. As a side note, for our first MSC cruise we had several customer service issues pre cruise, but for our subsequent ones everything flowed without issues. I learned to call very early in the morning if I ever needed something and calls always seemed to go right through and I’d be greeted by a pleasant agent who was probably just starting their shift. 

[nunuc2000]

3 minutes ago, Tapi said:

I don’t know if this is what happened here, but I have a good friend who used to work for another cruise line in their call center and he share this with me.

 

The sales agents only got paid a commission on bookings that they personally made. Some agents would try to “work the system” by getting inbound callers who already had bookings that they’d made online to cancel and rebook. That way, they agent would get paid for the new booking made. Like in your case, they’d tell the inbound caller that the “only way” to make a change would be by canceling and rebooking.

 

Now, this practice was severely frowned upon by the cruise line, and agents caught doing this could be disciplined with termination. But still several agents, specially newer ones who thought that they wouldn’t caught, still did it. I’m wondering if something similar happened here, specially with new agents as the supervisor that called you mentioned. 

 

Glad that hat things got sorted out, and I hope that you have a great cruise. As a side note, for our first MSC cruise we had several customer service issues pre cruise, but for our subsequent ones everything flowed without issues. I learned to call very early in the morning if I ever needed something and calls always seemed to go right through and I’d be greeted by a pleasant agent who was probably just starting their shift. 

 

Oh Wow!  I sure hope that's not what she was trying to do... and considering how adamant I was about wanting to escalate my issue, I'm inclined to think that wasn't happening in this case.  But I'd never even heard of such a thing... so unethical!  

 

Glad to hear that your personal experiences improved considerably - gives me hope!! LOL  By the way... did you used to have a big chocolate lab laying upside down with a big tongued smile on his face as your picture?  Your moniker is familiar... :)

[Toofarfromthesea]

1 hour ago, nunuc2000 said:

 

I'm glad to hear that your experiences have been so positive, and indeed, I've heard that by and large, the onboard experience for many cruisers who have decided to try out MSC have also been quite good. That's one of the reasons that we decided to give MSC a try. If every aspect of the MSC product was consistently negative or poor, that would have eliminated them as a choice for new cruising experiences.  

 

I've also been reading more and more about the negative administrative interactions (read: pre and post cruise) that many folks have had, and that quite often their customers recommend using a TA to avoid the hassle of dealing with them directly.  Until now, we've generally preferred to work directly with each cruiseline to retain some control, and we've always found the process of dealing with them quite painless and smooth. But, if we choose to cruise with MSC again in the future, we most definitely will retain the services of a good TA to alleviate the frustration.. and hopefully, eventually,  MSC will improve their processes to a point that they actually WILL be as easy to work with as other cruise lines. 

 

We've never had a "bad" cruise... but this pre-cruise experience definitely qualifies as bad so far.  Thankfully, we're seasoned enough to know that land versus sea staff experiences can be quite different, and we're looking forward to the cruise itself.

 

 

 

On the positive side, if their bad service drives you to use a TA it might end up saving you some money, as some TAs will give substantial perks for booking through them.  I never book directly and generally get OBC/price reductions of 7-10%.  And that is above and beyond the 5% discount I get for being a past passenger.

This might work out well for you, in the long term.

[nunuc2000]

26 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

On the positive side, if their bad service drives you to use a TA it might end up saving you some money, as some TAs will give substantial perks for booking through them.  I never book directly and generally get OBC/price reductions of 7-10%.  And that is above and beyond the 5% discount I get for being a past passenger.

This might work out well for you, in the long term.

That's good to know... and definitely a bonus if we go that way, thanks! :)

[Tapi]

32 minutes ago, nunuc2000 said:

By the way... did you used to have a big chocolate lab laying upside down with a big tongued smile on his face as your picture?  Your moniker is familiar... :)

Yes, that’s me.😀 At some point in time I edited my signature and deleted the photo by mistake, and I didn’t have it saved on my computer so it got lost. It’s a shame because it was my favorite photo of our dog ☹️

[nunuc2000]

2 minutes ago, Tapi said:

Yes, that’s me.😀 At some point in time I edited my signature and deleted the photo by mistake, and I didn’t have it saved on my computer so it got lost. It’s a shame because it was my favorite photo of our dog ☹️

Awww that's a shame that you lost that photo... I LOVED that photo too!!  Not many stand out on CC, but that one certainly did for me!  You'll have to take a new one and use that :)

 

[monza]

1 hour ago, nunuc2000 said:

**UPDATE**

 

Shortly after reaching out to the North American head office in Fort Lauderdale, I was contacted by the head of the Canadian office - he apologized for the frustration and challenges I've been facing, and agreed that there was a lack of communication and that they are indeed aware that they need to make serious improvements in the North American market, most recently with their Canadian clients - he acknowledged that they are struggling with their call centre staff, and training is a big issue - the call centre has only been open "a few months", and the challenges have unfortunately resulted in many customer service failings.  He is committed to seeing improvements as they move forward, and is glad I felt comfortable enough to escalate my concerns.  

 

He had listened to the recorded call, and stated he couldn't disagree with anything I said. He appreciates the candor and feedback,  and wishes more clients would be honest and forthright - it helps them improve, and that's what they're trying to do.  Knowing how a customer truly feels is the best way to truly resolve it, he said. He's right. He has now resolved the issue that led me to contact them in the first place today - he has applied the reduction and I have kept my original room.  He was very appreciative, and seemed genuinely interested in hearing from me upon our return from our cruise. 

 

Here's hoping future interactions with them go as smoothly as both he and I are hoping. 🙂

Happy to hear someone was listening to you and address your outcome as it should have been in the first place. And, kudos for being patient when things like this happen. It is so easy to get frustrated and then let that ruin what might otherwise be positive resolution. 

 

I have had a similar experience. Resolved some problems but not without much time and frustrations. However, many things remain dysfunctional, including, for example, things like pre-booking excursions, event and dining, etc., not functional or available for Canadians. Booking anything for Canadians is currently on board only and therefore must pay the added costs to book on board (plus the added foreign exchange fee). When I identified the issues with the CSR the response was; yes, we know, we (MSC) messed up, we didn't get the proper tour operator licenses, our (MSC's) failure, we hope to fix this by the end of the year (too late for our cruise). This exchange left me with a; not doing anything about our lack of service nor really care how you are affected and a; too bad to be a Canadian with MSC.

 

Things like not being able to pre-book anything or realize the saving of doing-so will not be the end of the world and we are still looking forward to making the most of and enjoying our cruise. But we will not be spending our money on MSC’s excursions nor likely on any other MSC services. Booking private excursions. But nevertheless, for some of us Canadians trying MSC for the first time, MSC failings, not meeting or delivering on its offerings and services, the poor CS and the dismissive attitude just leaves a bad taste.

[thetaro]

I canceled over 10 times because of price drop or missing discount, and I manage to get the same cabin right after I cancel.

 

I don't bother wasting time with phone CSR. Just tell them I want to cancel, then go online and book the same cabin with a lower price.

[perakcruiser]

4 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

That's pretty standard with most cruise lines... along with many other caveats that the cruise lines technically have at their disposal.  

 

8 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

We've cruised on various different cruiselines almost 40 times over the last 12 years, and have often called for price drops prior to final payment - but have NEVER encountered anything like this. This is just plain stupid! 

I think you only talk about US cruise lines. Usually the Europeans will not allow you to cancel and rebook just because of a price drop. It is one of the so many perks MSC is giving US pax to get a hold there. I am sure this all will disappear when MSC is strong enough. 

 

NORMAL is that you have to pay 20% of the price at booking time, which is ALWAYS lost if you cancel or want to change to a cheaper price. As the price movement at MSC is extremely high and they have myriads of different rates, often still it is a good deal to cancel and give up the 20% and rebook. But you will not get the same cabin again as MSC will not put it on sale immediatley as they sell not all cabins at the same time. 

 

And I think you Canadians should be a little bit more thankful to MSC  You are the 50th or so most important market for them, well behind Mexico or Brazil, and they already set up a webpage for you and even a hotline. 

[monza]

10 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

 

I think you only talk about US cruise lines. Usually the Europeans will not allow you to cancel and rebook just because of a price drop. It is one of the so many perks MSC is giving US pax to get a hold there. I am sure this all will disappear when MSC is strong enough. 

 

NORMAL is that you have to pay 20% of the price at booking time, which is ALWAYS lost if you cancel or want to change to a cheaper price. As the price movement at MSC is extremely high and they have myriads of different rates, often still it is a good deal to cancel and give up the 20% and rebook. But you will not get the same cabin again as MSC will not put it on sale immediatley as they sell not all cabins at the same time. 

 

And I think you Canadians should be a little bit more thankful to MSC  You are the 50th or so most important market for them, well behind Mexico or Brazil, and they already set up a webpage for you and even a hotline. 

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by monza

[GOLDENBONNY]

I did price change with HAL once and I had same answer- you have to cancel your cabin and rebook. 

[Beardface]

21 hours ago, nunuc2000 said:

She said "It's possible that when I cancel your booking, someone else might book it... I can't assure you that you will get the same cabin, but you should be able to at least get a balcony." ????  Are you freaking kidding me?!  I've NEVER heard of such an asinine process... EVER!

 

This is literally what I had to do with Norwegian earlier this year when I went to reprice our Encore sailing prior to us cancelling to go on the MSC Seaside, instead.  Literally. the. same.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Beardface