MSC CANCELLED OUR CRUISE

[SapphirePrincess993]

1st time cruisers. We booked the MSC Divina  Yacht Club for the Feb. 14th 2025 10 day cruise to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. My husband and I both received emails a week ago from MSC informing us that due to operational reasons affecting the deployment of the MSC Divina, we regret to inform you that your cruise has been cancelled. Our travel agent didnt even get notified. 

 

Canadian MSC office had no clue of any cancellations, the cruise on their system was still reading confirmed and sold out. 

 

My.travel agent called the American MSC office and they told her yes its been cancelled. Both the 10 day and the 14 day cruise departing out of Miami on Feb. 14 2025. Apparently tbe ship has been chartered. To hell with the current passengers booked on those two cruises. 

 

Tuesday May 21st my travel agent got an alert about our cruise and to call MSC. I find this completely unacceptable. I will never book an MSC cruise again. Now I have to wait to get my deposit back from them not to mention getting my money back from American Airlines. Thank goodness I took out insurance. 

 

I find MSC very unprofessional and if this is how they treat their customers before we even step on board, well I am starting to believe the horror stories I have read about MSC.  We may have just dodged a bullit. 

 

I want everyone to read this and know what MSC has done to us. If they did it to one cruise they can and will do it to another. I wont take thst chance again. I will never step foot on an MSC cruise ship and I will make sure everyone I know and through social media just what type of company MSC is!

 

[jame_g]

This happens on every mass market cruise line. When it does, someone almost always comes and makes a post simular to this. I've seen it on carnival, Norwegian, rcl, etc. I've had it happen as well, and it stinks, but have been aware for a long time that it's always a possibility.

Edited May 27 by jame_g

[broberts]

Sadly, as @jame_g wrote, this behavior is not unique to MSC. All of the major cruise lines do this. It's unethical as far as I'm concerned, but the $ rules.

 

At least you have lots of time to consider other cruise options.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Sorry this happened and I understand your disappointment. Charters happen more often than one might think. Why not shop around for a different cruise?  You’re still going to have something special to celebrate!  There are so many cruise lines out there…and there’s plenty of time to hook another. 

[SapphirePrincess993]

We are just flabbergasted that this is actually an event that can happen on any cruise line and it has. Wow. It does stink. We were thinking of rebooking another cruise but we just got cold feet. Just not sure what to do now. 

 

We like the Princess 12nt Panama Canal cruise on tbe Emerald Princess. We have looked into that one. Just kinda still in shock snd not sure what to do. 😞

[rrraydon]

Yes, it does suck and is very unprofessional. As others have said, it's not exclusive to MSC.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, SapphirePrincess993 said:

We are just flabbergasted that this is actually an event that can happen on any cruise line and it has. Wow. It does stink. We were thinking of rebooking another cruise but we just got cold feet. Just not sure what to do now. 

Yup. Every cruise line will accept a full ship charter if a group wants it. And it is much better for the paying passengers than to have a partial charter onboard, closing venues for the exclusive use of the charter guests. 

 

Just rebook another cruise in that timeframe. Enjoy. 

[Eglesbrech]

It’s really unfortunate when it happens to you but as others have said it happens on most cruise lines, so it’s not exclusive to MSC.

 

Its actually worse when they cancel just half the ship and you find yourself on a cruise half full of a single interest group who take over.

 

I hope you find something else suitable for you.

[JamieLogical]

So sorry you had the very bad luck of this happening for your first cruise! It can and does happen. It is really luck of the draw. I can certainly sympathize with why you would be turned off of cruising with his being your very first booking. While it does happen, usually a few sailings a year on just about every cruise line, it doesn't happen frequently enough to turn me off of cruising. I have been on 24 cruises with three more booked and have never had it happen, so it's not SUPER common. The chance of this happening again if you book another cruise is pretty low. Again, just incredibly bad luck to have this happen for your first booking ever!

[puppycanducruise]

So sorry this happened to you.

I hope you can find another cruise to book with another cruise line.  I've heard of this happening, it's not common, but it does happen.

Good luck.  

[Mommapadraig]

As others have said don’t walk away from MSC because of this. NCL did the same thing to us. 

[mnpurple]

As we disembarked Divina last year, they were loading tons of sound equipment onto the ship for a chartered cruise. I can only imagine what that cruise was like. You might want to thank them for giving you the option of not being on a party cruise. Who knows!

[capriccio]

I agree with everyone that this happens on all cruise lines and it's terrible.  It is especially bad when the cruise was scheduled for within the next 11 months and passengers may have already incurred airline costs like @SapphirePrincess993.  If the cruise line announced the cancellation before (in this case) mid-March it would have been too early for passengers to book flights but it seems that doesn't enter into cruise line planning.

[no1talks]

10 hours ago, SapphirePrincess993 said:

"We are just flabbergasted that this is actually an event that can happen on any cruise line and it has."

Generally speaking, the more affordable a cruise line, the more appeal it has to potential charter groups. I don't think anyone on Cruise Critic has ever read the sentence, "Help! my Seabourn cruise was cancelled for a comic book fans' charter."

There are things that can go 'other than planned' when it comes to cruises. When a couple's first cruise is a major event such as a 40th anniversary, that might cause expectations to not account for the things that can (but usually don't) go askew on a cruise.

Naturally, the many cruise lines and price-points offer various levels of likelihood of things being every bit as great as expected. However, even the the loftiest cruise brands can have things go memorably wrong. A certain amount of flexibility may be necessary, no matter the cruise.

[Eglesbrech]

28 minutes ago, no1talks said:

Generally speaking, the more affordable a cruise line, the more appeal it has to potential charter groups. I don't think anyone on Cruise Critic has ever read the sentence, "Help! my Seabourn cruise was cancelled for a comic book fans' charter."

 

Actually, just as a point of interest, it can and does happen on the more expensive lines as well.

 

Hebridean Princess was chartered for the late Queens birthday and all the normal passengers kicked off just like any other charter.

It’s very wrong but then from the other side passengers can book 2 years out and hold a cabin, then cancel just before the final payment.

 

I’ve been on the receiving end of a charter cancellation so sympathise with the OP.

 

[tony s]

Now if you have a good TA they will make it right by pressuring MSC to give you something phenomenal on another ship in the same time period or close to. If TA doesn’t come through time for a new TA.

[markwfpb]

It's good you didn't start cruising in 2020 when cruise after cruise were cancelled, rebooked several months out only to be cancelled again and then again! It definitely sucks to have your plans pulled out from under you. And on a special occasion no less. 

[dasi11]

It is chartered by jamcruise.  Looks like a bunch of bands will have the ship?  you can google their website for the charter.

Edited May 27 by dasi11

[dm1336]

There’s a post in RCL sub-forums where Allure’s Feb 2025 itinerary was cancelled due to Charter, but the difference between RCL and MSC is shown in that post. One cares about their customers and one well…. They have work to do.

[mnpurple]

57 minutes ago, dm1336 said:

There’s a post in RCL sub-forums where Allure’s Feb 2025 itinerary was cancelled due to Charter, but the difference between RCL and MSC is shown in that post. One cares about their customers and one well…. They have work to do.

 

But the OP hasn't said what MSC offered or didn't offer if that is what you're getting at. That might be something worth noting. How far out are chartered cruises usually done?

 

I'm also curious how many people book airfare more than six months out. I usually watch, although I do have a booking using points in Europe to get business fares for next March. I think those are a little more flexible, but I also have a yearly travel insurance plan now.

[Dunchues]

21 hours ago, SapphirePrincess993 said:

We are just flabbergasted that this is actually an event that can happen on any cruise line and it has. Wow. It does stink. We were thinking of rebooking another cruise but we just got cold feet. Just not sure what to do now. 

 

We like the Princess 12nt Panama Canal cruise on tbe Emerald Princess. We have looked into that one. Just kinda still in shock snd not sure what to do. 😞

I'd booked a Princess cruise to Australia next year that we were excited about. Princess then decided not to send the boat to Australia as usual , and instead base it in in the Carribean. I can't imagine how many people had booked over the southern summer season and lost their cruise, but a lot of them vented on the Princess forum so if you want to blow off a bit of steam with a sympathetic audience, they'll understand how you feel. I do too actually,  I wanted a b2b on Divina earlier this year but it was booked out to charter that week so we had a week on Seascape instead. Nice, but not really what I'd wanted.

[SapphirePrincess993]

Thank you for all your comments and wisdom. I have so much to learn about cruising. MSC did offer me the choice of 4 cruises on the Divina. One in November, one in December one in early January and one in March. No yacht club cabins available on.3 out of 4. The one in march had the family cabin on deck 12 with no balcony. Not for us as we were booked in a grand deluxe suite on deck 15.  They suggested another ship but we would encur the extra cost if any. No itinerary in Feb. appealed to us. Or revceive a full refund of our deposit. We took the refund. Agent said MSC wouldnt budge on anything extra. 

We 

[SapphirePrincess993]

So sorry to hear about your cancellation Dunchues. That is devastating. I dont understand why cruiselines feel this is a lucrative move considering how many.customets they upset and potential loose to a move like this. 

 

We are seriously looking at the Emerald Princess Panama Canal cruise 12 days next February in  reserve mini suite. There are 5 left so the agent has one on hold for us for 48 hours so we can think about it and than I hear your story. LOL 

[JamieLogical]

My husband and I are booked on the Meraviglia for a 10-day out of NYC on January 23. It's a little earlier than you were planning to go on the Divina, but is a nice itinerary. The sailing before that is 11-day and even better. You may not be willing to consider MSC again so soon, though, which would be understandable. With you being in Toronto, a sailing out of NYC may be a little cheaper/easier for you?

[Stockjock]

I had the same thing happen on Celebrity years ago.  I had a Sunset Veranda, so without asking, they booked me in the same cabin a couple of weeks later.  I couldn't make that one, so they gave me some OBC and specialty dining for a future cruise.

I wasn't thrilled, but it happens.  It's all about the money, but I get that.

Edited May 28 by Stockjock