MSC Cabin Categories Changing.

[JezzaC]

I am starting to loose my nerves with MSC. I had originally before the category changes O3 cabin which was 25m2 outside view cabin. Yesterday I got an email that my cabin was GUARANTEE category OL2 which also refers to 25m2 outside view cabin. Today I got a new confirmation with BR1 Deluxe Balcony, which is 17m2 balcony cabin. MSC seems to think that 17m2 balcony cabin is better than 25m2 outside view cabin. I don't agree with them.

 

Only communication I have had from MSC are those confirmations send to me. No one has contacted me other wise or explained what the **** are they doing. I have now send ultimatum to my TA to get back my exact original cabin or then I want an upgrade to at least 25m2 cabin from better category.

[sidari]

10 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

Having sailed Aurea many times on ships that dont have YC  - the last time YC was booked out and we chose an Aurea suite on  a ship that had YC. Never again.  The supposed peaceful sun deck was anything but peaceful being behind pool deck where the entertainment crew screamed ALL day.  Never again ~!!!

Must have been a Meraviglia class ship then, and I agree it is crap.

[JezzaC]

Situation is getting interesting. My TA has had long discussions with MSC. They changed my 25m2 outside cabin into 17m2 balcony cabin and think they made a huge improvement to me and I didn't agree. MSC is reasoning the change with their need to have cabins for covid guarantine. So seems they are planning to use deck 10 on Grandiosa for it.

Discussion is ongoing and my demand is to get my previous cabin back or them to upgrade me to better cabin which is at least same size.

[Markanddonna]

I am an experienced MSC cruiser but just tried to book a two cabin cruise. I saw no option for that. Then, adding all the little extras, I discovered the end price was considerably higher than what we were hoping to pay. Not impressed.

 

So, with Bella, you can't choose your cabin. That is the biggest distinction.

[GonzoWCS]

Getting ready to try MSC.  Following this thread.

 

Cheers

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

I am an experienced MSC cruiser but just tried to book a two cabin cruise. I saw no option for that. Then, adding all the little extras, I discovered the end price was considerably higher than what we were hoping to pay. Not impressed.

 

So, with Bella, you can't choose your cabin. That is the biggest distinction.

Nor can you with a YC Inside which are also now Guarantee, on Europa there are just 3.

[Beamafar]

29 minutes ago, sidari said:

Nor can you with a YC Inside which are also now Guarantee, on Europa there are just 3.

In fact, YC insides are being classed as ‘Bella’ on the UK site when you try to book one:

 

 

 

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

In fact, YC insides are being classed as ‘Bella’ on the UK site when you try to book one:

 

 

 

4 days before departure ! 

[Beamafar]

20 minutes ago, sidari said:

4 days before departure ! 

Wonder when do you get your cruise tickets in that scenario.  Someone needs to send a copy of ‘How to win friends and influence people’ to someone in MSC HQ. 

[hmwende]

I booked balcony fantastica room 12276 on Meraviglia for March 6 back in September. After checking my account, our stateroom and experience remain the same. Only difference is that the category says Deluxe Balcony. I’ve attempted to create a mock booking of the same type of room and the price was only $50 more than what I paid. 

[cruiser82]

I tried doing the web check-in on Thanksgiving for me and my mom for our Meraviglia cruise in January. The credit card step did not seem to work for my mom so I tried it again- it still didn't work. I then tried to do my check-in using my credit card and it also did not work. Tried again and still didn't work. At that point I gave up and decided to try again later. A few moments later I received a notification on my phone that my credit card was charged $0.01 (despite the website saying nothing would be charged to the card when I entered it- I do realize that some companies charge a small amount just to make sure the card is active but they explicitly said nothing would be charged). Then, I received an automated email showing that we we now have a $75 balance when our cruise was paid in full back in October. Also, instead of the FLA room category (Super Family Balcony- 2 connecting balcony staterooms), our category was now just a balcony, and appears to be only one balcony.

 

I called them the next day and spoke to a guy who didn't really seem to know what was going on. He was doing an online chat or something with a supervisor and I was unable to speak with them directly. First they tried saying that we were charged $75 because I tried to change one of our names during the web check in. Not only did I not do that, the option to change the name wasn't even possible during the web check in (the name fields were grayed out). Then, they said that there was a recent change in cabin categories and that's why it changed. I was not notified of this and only learned of this in this thread. I asked him if we still have the two balconies we originally paid for and he couldn't answer, so he gave me an email address to contact and I am currently waiting for someone to call me back. He said I should hear back in 48 hours so I will be giving them a call tomorrow. I checked our reservation later that day and the $75 charge is no longer there, which is good, but the cabin category is still a balcony.

 

This would be my second cruise with MSC and I have always tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but this is ridiculous. I have the option to book a free cruise with them due to my casino status but I'm not even sure I want to go on a free cruise with them at this point. I guess we'll see how they resolve this situation. I'll keep you guys updated in case anyone else is in the same situation.

[JezzaC]

On 11/25/2021 at 4:31 PM, JezzaC said:

Situation is getting interesting. My TA has had long discussions with MSC. They changed my 25m2 outside cabin into 17m2 balcony cabin and think they made a huge improvement to me and I didn't agree. MSC is reasoning the change with their need to have cabins for covid guarantine. So seems they are planning to use deck 10 on Grandiosa for it.

Discussion is ongoing and my demand is to get my previous cabin back or them to upgrade me to better cabin which is at least same size.

 

Seems that this has been now sorted out with MSC. I got a new confirmation from MSC and they have upgraded my booking to the Premium Suite without extra charge.

[Morgsmom]

17 hours ago, cruiser82 said:

A few moments later I received a notification on my phone that my credit card was charged $0.01 (despite the website saying nothing would be charged to the card when I entered it- I do realize that some companies charge a small amount just to make sure the card is active but they explicitly said nothing would be charged).

Just an FYI from personal experience that I went through the credit card registration, got not one but two .01 charges and then once onboard the ship had to re-register my card.  There was absolutely no need to do so during web check in because it didn't carry over the ship.  🙈

[Fla Mike]

26 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Just an FYI from personal experience that I went through the credit card registration, got not one but two .01 charges and then once onboard the ship had to re-register my card.  There was absolutely no need to do so during web check in because it didn't carry over the ship.  🙈

 

Same with me, my current booking I just went past the credit card stuff.

[quattrohead]

I could not get passed the CC part but lucky me had the tickets sent a month earlier and just printed those out.

TBH, I think you could turn up to the port with nothing more than your passport and be OK.

Paperwork and IT are not their strong points, fortunately they are a huge shipping company so know how to run a ship properly 😇

[styles27]

I apologize if this isn’t the place to ask but I didn’t want to start a new topic 🙈

 

Does anyone know if the balcony whirlpool suites on Seashore are “Aurea”?

Reason I’m asking is I received an offer to bid for an upgrade and one of the options is a suite with private whirlpool for a pretty good price. When I do a mock booking it comes in at $1400 more than what we’re paying for a Fantastica but the minimum bid is $315pp which is substantially lower  

[styles27]

Also they offered Interior YC for $315 and when I click on the description of the room it says balcony 🤦🏻‍♀️ 
I would bid but I don’t want interior even in the YC. I need to be able to step outside whenever I want. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 11/18/2021 at 6:43 AM, tweakes said:

a GTY is just fine. No need for me to pay more, so I'm happy. For MSC, a lot of passengers will see that it is only $30 more pp to choose their location... that isn't much so why not upgrade?

well, that's the problem. I paid extra for Fantastica and chose two particular cabins. But MSC bumped me down to GTY and my original cabins are now up for grabs for new reservations. What gives?

I do care where we are because every time we got cheaper gty cabins, they were extremely noisy AT NIGHT when we are trying to sleep. They were behind some service corridors which had never ending traffic all through the night. No, thanks, I pay extra now to avoid such cabins, but MSC simply dismissed my choices.

[40yearcruiser]

Itchy & Scratchy:  Have you called MSC (or had your TA call)? If you booked Fantastica they should not have been changed to a GTY under the new regulations. But, I know, with MSC the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing. Even though we booked Bella, we did it months ago and selected side-by-side cabins. I could understand their changing Bella to guarantee going forward, but they should have honored existing reservations. Really poor business ethics. Now we have no idea if our cabins will be anywhere near each other, and we're only more days until we sail.

[ready2cruzagain]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

well, that's the problem. I paid extra for Fantastica and chose two particular cabins. But MSC bumped me down to GTY and my original cabins are now up for grabs for new reservations. What gives?

I do care where we are because every time we got cheaper gty cabins, they were extremely noisy AT NIGHT when we are trying to sleep. They were behind some service corridors which had never ending traffic all through the night. No, thanks, I pay extra now to avoid such cabins, but MSC simply dismissed my choices.

Same thing here! I paid extra for Fantastica to pick the specific cabin I wanted and was thrown into a Guarantee. Totally po'd. We did make final payment but I am wondering when will we get our cabin assigned and what crap shoot of a cabin will we get?

[ready2cruzagain]

15 minutes ago, 40yearcruiser said:

Itchy & Scratchy:  Have you called MSC (or had your TA call)? If you booked Fantastica they should not have been changed to a GTY under the new regulations. But, I know, with MSC the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing. Even though we booked Bella, we did it months ago and selected side-by-side cabins. I could understand their changing Bella to guarantee going forward, but they should have honored existing reservations. Really poor business ethics. Now we have no idea if our cabins will be anywhere near each other, and we're only more days until we sail.

Not Itchy but same thing happened to me.  Was booked Fantastica, paid more for a specific cabin, was thrown into Guarantee.  Was to due to Covid, then was told due to cabin categories changing. I have called over and over (booked with MSC) and told we will be assigned the same type of cabin.  I am wondering WHEN! Others on on cruise were also assigned Guarantee but they have been given a cabin. We are still waiting for our assignment.

[cruiser82]

8 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Just an FYI from personal experience that I went through the credit card registration, got not one but two .01 charges and then once onboard the ship had to re-register my card.  There was absolutely no need to do so during web check in because it didn't carry over the ship.  🙈

 

What a mess lol.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, 40yearcruiser said:

Itchy & Scratchy:  Have you called MSC

going to on Friday (off work). Not really looking forward to it because I've heard quite a bit about MSC CS.

[Stockjock]

5 hours ago, styles27 said:

Also they offered Interior YC for $315 and when I click on the description of the room it says balcony 🤦🏻‍♀️ 
I would bid but I don’t want interior even in the YC. I need to be able to step outside whenever I want. 

Could you provide the url for MSC's bid to upgrade program?

[styles27]

37 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Could you provide the url for MSC's bid to upgrade program?

They send an email with the upgrade bids but it is linked to my reservation so that url won’t do you any good as it has all of my info on it. 

If you aren’t receiving these emails you’ll want to turn on “allow MSC to email marketing and special offers” or something like that in your account.
It’s an option to click on when I booked the cruise on their website.