on MSC's website, only allowed list 4 rooms to pick from, instead of all available

Booking thru MSC Cruises website, and after you pick your room type/category, it says those rooms are "ONLY ON " such-and-such floor, and the dropdown menu gives you only 4 rooms to choose from. And they're pretty bad rooms, even a year out. Essentially just showing you the rooms with obstructions or rooms near the noise centers/stairs/elevators.

On Splendida, I know there are 2 decks that offer many many Balcony1 rooms. And I know that this far pre-cruise, they aren't filled.

Is there a different website that allows me to see ALL the non-booked rooms, so I can request a different one than the 4 MSC wants me limited to?

I don't know about a different website.

My TA had the same problem when we were booking 4 rooms on an upcoming Divina cruise. He was only allowed to see 4 cabins in our chosen category at a time. He needed to call the cruise line to be given a list of other cabins (and then they would only give him eight different cabins to chose from).

Booking thru MSC Cruises website, and after you pick your room type/category, it says those rooms are "ONLY ON " such-and-such floor, and the dropdown menu gives you only 4 rooms to choose from. And they're pretty bad rooms, even a year out. Essentially just showing you the rooms with obstructions or rooms near the noise centers/stairs/elevators.

 

On Splendida, I know there are 2 decks that offer many many Balcony1 rooms. And I know that this far pre-cruise, they aren't filled.

 

Is there a different website that allows me to see ALL the non-booked rooms, so I can request a different one than the 4 MSC wants me limited to?

It's best to call MSC to get what you want.

I'm having the same experience as Styxfire. Does anyone know if showing only a few less desirable rooms is MSC's way of getting those sold first. I know 15 months out that only rooms near elevators cannot possibly be the only rooms left. Has anyone had experience with waiting to book and checking each month to see if something better becomes available? Maybe the early bird gets the worm and the later birds get the apple! Right now I just really don't want any of the rooms it's offering. Grrrrr.

We are in the UK and when I was looking to book Splendida for September this year the MSC website was only showing the cheapest cabins available on deck 8 in not good positions.

I was intending to book through a travel agent to get a discount but phoned MSC direct and a very nice lady looked at what else was available and found a cabin on deck 9 in a good position.

I told her I wanted to go through TA so she said they would hold the cabin until they phoned,which they did.So its worth phoning them.

I like the Princess website as you can see exactly which cabins are available and not just a handful.I wish they would all do this.

Other cruise lines do the same except they would list up to 15 cabins at a time instead of 4.

MSC has certain cabins available to certain countries, best to ring direct in order to try to get a cabin you want, we had to do just that to get an Aft suite on the Seaside because only Deck 9 suites are showing on the UK site.

Well, they do seem to have some strange practices like providing free bottled water to Americans and Canadians but not to Europeans because "If they drink water they drink sparkling water and are used to paying for it." That's actually what their site said. Strange. I've got plenty of time. I think I'll just watch and see what transpires before I commit. Thank you everyone for your suggestions and experiences.

Booking thru MSC Cruises website, and after you pick your room type/category, it says those rooms are "ONLY ON " such-and-such floor, and the dropdown menu gives you only 4 rooms to choose from. And they're pretty bad rooms, even a year out. Essentially just showing you the rooms with obstructions or rooms near the noise centers/stairs/elevators.

 

On Splendida, I know there are 2 decks that offer many many Balcony1 rooms. And I know that this far pre-cruise, they aren't filled.

 

Is there a different website that allows me to see ALL the non-booked rooms, so I can request a different one than the 4 MSC wants me limited to?

A few weeks ago I was not able to see available rooms on **********dotcom for MSC but as of right now it is showing many rooms for the date and category I selected. you will still have to call but this will give you a better assessment of available rooms. I don't know if it shows everything but it certainly showed more than the MSC site.

Dave

I guess the rules prevent you from posting the website but can you give me a hint????:confused:

I guess the rules prevent you from posting the website but can you give me a hint????:confused:

A dyslexic look out in the crow nest would be a Scanner of the Sea.

A dyslexic look out in the crow nest would be a Scanner of the Sea.

Thank you for sharing! I was able to find a very large balcony on the Divina thanks to the site and called my TA to snag it. I was previously booked in a room right off the elevators. You just may have saved my cruise. :)

My personal experience is while I do appreciate the site eluded to above, even scanner may not show all inventory. It is worth a call directly to the cruise line when it is finally time to book. I recently booked Divina and none of my traditional 'go-to' inventory sites showed the cabin I ended up booking.

Finding true cabin availability isn't solely a MSC issue (although four cabins at a shot is the smallest amount I'm aware of). For example the Royal Caribbean UK site shows exponentially more cabins than any of the US based sites (which show the traditional 15), and even then the UK site may not show all available.

Happy Cabin Hunting :)

The site showed sold out for my Feb 2018 Seaside...so I perused the deck plans and gave my TA several choices and she got my cabin for me. Also got my 5% status match, yeah!

Now to study/learn about MSC!

We were able to snag 2 Aft balconies on Divina by calling MSC directly for the same price the 4 offerings the web site was showing:D

My personal experience is while I do appreciate the site eluded to above, even scanner may not show all inventory. It is worth a call directly to the cruise line when it is finally time to book...

the Royal Caribbean UK site shows exponentially more cabins than any of the US based sites (which show the traditional 15), and even then the UK site may not show all available.

The 1-800 # on MSC's website got me to their U.S. call-line, but the rep told me that they weren't allowed to see all the avail cabins, and that I may have wider availability by contacting the European call-line directly. MSC blocks you from viewing the European website (even when you enter the URL) by routing you to the U.S. website based on cookies stored in your registry.

Before I book my Splendida Balcony cabin- fantastica rate.. Can anyone advise me of where is the best location/floor to book.. ? I too only get a few options right at the forward of the ship on deck 10.. Where is the best place to be located.. Not cruised many times an always just taken what I was given.. Which Are more stable forward - midship or aft cabins?

Before I book my Splendida Balcony cabin- fantastica rate.. Can anyone advise me of where is the best location/floor to book.. ? I too only get a few options right at the forward of the ship on deck 10.. Where is the best place to be located.. Not cruised many times an always just taken what I was given.. Which Are more stable forward - midship or aft cabins?

Try phoning them direct.

When I was booking Splendida a couple of months ago the website was only showing available cabins in poor locations.When I phoned them they gave me much better options.

We booked deck 9 but none were showing available on the website.

The best locations are midship and lower decks for less movement and where you have cabins above and below you ,so no noise from public areas.

I've booked twice with MSC, and both times I called and told them what cabin I would like from the deck plans, and was able to get them. MSC isn't the only one like this. Royal and Celebrity is the same way, and I've called and gotten what I was looking at. On HAL, I wanted an aft for Alaska, and had to call for that.