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Oversold and almost denied boarding?!


TrinaLC
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A FB poster on group Seaside Nation reports credibly that even though she and her family had a solid booking, not a guarantee, with assigned stateroom, booked thru MSC they were initially denied boarding due to an oversold situation. Held until after everyone boarded and luckily a room was found. They report no compensation and no sympathy. Said 6 other groups.

 

She sounds very credible. Anyone hear of a situation like this?!

 

 

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No. Never. Cruises aren't sold like, for example, airline seats are which is why "oversold" isn't an issue you see discussed on the boards. It sounds like we don't have 100% of the story (which usually happens when we only hear from one side). I'm sorry, but IMHO the word credible is misused here.

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I read her account on FB and did not actually think it was true. It seemed very far fetched to me. I’ve never heard of this happening across any cruise line. What made you feel she was credible?

 

 

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A FB poster on group Seaside Nation reports credibly that even though she and her family had a solid booking, not a guarantee, with assigned stateroom, booked thru MSC they were initially denied boarding due to an oversold situation. Held until after everyone boarded and luckily a room was found. They report no compensation and no sympathy. Said 6 other groups.

 

She sounds very credible. Anyone hear of a situation like this?!

 

 

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Highly doubtful.

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Yes there was a situation like this in Australia.

 

The passengers received the news at the airport en route to Sydney.

 

There was such an uproar locally, the cruise line eventually found a stateroom for the passengers and they got to cruise.

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I’ve read about it happening on the Celebrity forum. I believe, like the poster above stated, that it was in Australia. I think the cruise was sold out and something happened that made some staterooms uninhabitable so some passengers were denied boarding.

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I can't speak to this specific instance, but absolutely cruise lines oversell. They expect a certain amount of fall-out come final payment time and usually it works itself out. Sometimes it doesn't, then they go to the next step which is a buy-off offer. I've received these on both Princess and Cunard. I moved to another sailing, had all my money refunded, and got the cruise for free. I helped the cruise line and they helped me. Back in the day Carnival would often have a couple cabins still oversold even at the time of sailing. They would allow the passengers to board the ship and enjoy the amenities, but no cabin until departure when any no-shows could be accounted for and their cabins released. On the rare occasion they would even "walk" the pax to a competitors ship sailing the same day that had space. That was all pre-internet so there was no place for pax to rush to and express their misery.

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There was a case about twelve years ago where a Royal Caribbean computer geek was taking people's reservations that were paid in full and changing the names on the reservations to her/his friends and relatives. The change was done within 24 hours of embarking.

 

People showed up for their cruise and found there was no reservation in their names.

 

It took an internal investigation, but the culprit was found.

 

The affected passengers received compensation.

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The above is different circumstances. That was fraud done by an individual who was not affiliated with RCCL. The original FB poster stated that MSC did it on purpose. This is what I find hard to believe. Currently, there are numerous social media sites that would definitely pick up on this type of practice if it was indeed happening. When I originally read the OP’s comment I thought maybe he/she was worried about that happening to them or someone else.

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I can give a similar account that has been worked out. We have a group of 6 couples going on Seaside in the fall. One person at MSC booked all of the cabins and linked the accounts. This person somehow put 2 couples in the same cabin. They both had confirmed emails and documents for the same cabin. It is a cabin max occupancy of 2 so it wasn't like he thought they were going as 4. During a group conversation I asked all to list their cabin # and that's when we realized the issue. MSC was able to fix it and get another cabin in the same classification (yacht club) just before it sold out. Had we not caught it, there was going to be a real mess.

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A FB poster on group Seaside Nation reports credibly that even though she and her family had a solid booking, not a guarantee, with assigned stateroom, booked thru MSC they were initially denied boarding due to an oversold situation. Held until after everyone boarded and luckily a room was found. They report no compensation and no sympathy. Said 6 other groups.

 

She sounds very credible. Anyone hear of a situation like this?!

 

 

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Perhaps there are more than one similar FB thread about this, but the one I'm familiar with is very similar with one big exception - they said it WAS a GTY and that after several weeks of no response after final payment from MSC regarding a room assignment, they showed up to board and were told that due to an overbooking situation they did not have a room. They apparently were gathered with 6 other couples in the same situation, with the rest of your comment about the resolution being accurate.

 

My question to the other posters on this thread who challenge this is just because you are not aware of a situation like this occurring, why do you not believe it COULD happen and that the poster is fabricating it? They have apparently remained on the FB thread to address questions and challenges by others and not "posted and run". The issue they seem to be making is about this resulting from weeks of no response and a dissatisfaction with the level of MSC customer service.

 

They seem very specific in their information - I guess I would just tend to give them the benefit of doubt in believing that this in fact could have happened to them........

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My question to the other posters on this thread who challenge this is just because you are not aware of a situation like this occurring, why do you not believe it COULD happen and that the poster is fabricating it? ........

 

 

 

Absolutely it can happen. It’s rare and you may not hear about it but yes it can happen. I gave examples earlier in the thread about being bought off two different sailings (Princess and Cunard) due to an oversell. So I know with 100% certainty that cruise lines oversell. They also don’t hold out a cabin for emergencies. That is another myth people like to believe. They are in business to sell every possible berth on every single sailing. Imagine if they held out a cabin on every ship and every sailing? The amount of lost revenue would be extreme, especially over the course of the lifetime of the ship.

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Over bookings and related issues happen on many cruise lines. In most cases it occurs because some cabins on a ship must be pulled out of inventory for various physical reasons. But the norm is that the cruise lines will contact cruisers a few days or weeks prior to the cruise and try to get them to accept some type of alternative such as refunds coupled with a free cruise. In over forty years of extensive cruising we have never heard of a situation such as what was described on FB. But stuff does happen....even after you board a ship.

 

Hank

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Oh this happens! My daughter and her husband are CURRENTLY waiting in Jacksonville to board the Liberty. The Carnival agent said they had overbooked, and they don't know if there will be room for them. This was an anniversary trip, and they drove several states to get to Florida. Carnival didn't even call to let them know there was a possible issue!

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Oh this happens! My daughter and her husband are CURRENTLY waiting in Jacksonville to board the Liberty. The Carnival agent said they had overbooked, and they don't know if there will be room for them. This was an anniversary trip, and they drove several states to get to Florida. Carnival didn't even call to let them know there was a possible issue!

 

They were assigned a cabin # when they checked in online to print their boarding pass, weren't they? Please explain.

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Oh this happens! My daughter and her husband are CURRENTLY waiting in Jacksonville to board the Liberty. The Carnival agent said they had overbooked, and they don't know if there will be room for them. This was an anniversary trip, and they drove several states to get to Florida. Carnival didn't even call to let them know there was a possible issue!

Why is this answer posted on the MSC Cruises board when the reservation was for a Carnival Cruise ship ?

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Oh this happens! My daughter and her husband are CURRENTLY waiting in Jacksonville to board the Liberty. The Carnival agent said they had overbooked, and they don't know if there will be room for them. This was an anniversary trip, and they drove several states to get to Florida. Carnival didn't even call to let them know there was a possible issue!

 

 

 

I don’t know what actually happened but it sounds like some sort of fraud or an oversight by a travel agent possibly? I hope they are currently on board and enjoying themselves at this point.

 

 

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I don’t know what actually happened but it sounds like some sort of fraud or an oversight by a travel agent possibly? I hope they are currently on board and enjoying themselves at this point.

 

 

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Fraud??.......or it could be that it was overbooked as the poster indicated they were told by the cruise line agent. :rolleyes:

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Fraud??.......or it could be that it was overbooked as the poster indicated they were told by the cruise line agent. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Yes, Fraud. Unfortunately it happens. People hand their money over to people who seem to be reputable agents. They aren’t. People show up at the port ready to sail and there is no cabin for them.

In any case, like I stated, I hope they got it all straightened out with Carnival and are happily cruising now.[emoji4]

 

 

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