Itinerary Changes

[CliveS]

Having cruised several times, principally with Royal Caribbean & Norwegian, I was looking forward to our first cruise on MSC in October until I was told of an itinerary change.

Having book the cruise to visit one of my partners bucket list "Santorini", I have been told that for "operational reasons" the ship will visit Athens instead.

I have asked to switch to another cruise that is visiting Santorini (MSC have several around this time) and have been told that this is not possible, nor can I cancel without losing my deposit.

This is an appalling way to treat customers and will mean that our first MSC cruise will be our last (we cruise 2 or 3 times a year).

Rest assured the publicity this will get from my many thousands of LinkedIn followers will cost them much more than they will make in profit from me.

Back to Royal Caribbean next time!

[Até]

It could just as likely happen with Royal Caribbean, all cruise lines operate in the same manner regarding changes to itineraries.  One thing I have learned after 35 years of cruising is not to put everything into visiting a certain port.  If visiting that city/area is paramount then take a land vacation.

[hloakes]

We had this happen on Carnival a few years back but it happens less than a week before the trip. They changed the whole itinerary from West to East Caribbean.   We were given the option of cancelling or rescheduling. We were given $100 in OBC. We also got our kids upgraded from and inside cabin to sea view. We were not happy but made the best of it. There was a wedding party on board that had a destination wedding planned; they were really unhappy. 

 

It seems MSC would give you something. 

[sidari]

You can change if cabins are available but usually incurs a £100 fee.

[jody75]

Better still book in the US where deposits are fully refundable up to Final payment.  You can book both RCL and MSC in the states without any problem.  Headline prices these days are about the same but you will get added perks like OBC and prepaid tips and any price drops prior to FP will be honoured without question. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by jody75

[Linda the Book Lover]

(B) The Company does not guarantee that the Cruise Ship will call at every advertised port or follow any particular route or time schedule. 

[Beamafar]

Interesting that you've sailed "several times", yet this is your first post on CC - and not on your favoured cruise line forums of NCL and Royal Caribbean.

 

As a seasoned cruiser, were you not aware of the pitfalls?

[sconter]

2 hours ago, CliveS said:

Having cruised several times, principally with Royal Caribbean & Norwegian, I was looking forward to our first cruise on MSC in October until I was told of an itinerary change.

Having book the cruise to visit one of my partners bucket list "Santorini", I have been told that for "operational reasons" the ship will visit Athens instead.

I have asked to switch to another cruise that is visiting Santorini (MSC have several around this time) and have been told that this is not possible, nor can I cancel without losing my deposit.

This is an appalling way to treat customers and will mean that our first MSC cruise will be our last (we cruise 2 or 3 times a year).

Rest assured the publicity this will get from my many thousands of LinkedIn followers will cost them much more than they will make in profit from me.

Back to Royal Caribbean next time!

 

Good luck going back to Royal Caribbean, have a look at the top of that board on CC to see what RCCL done with the UK based Independence Of The Seas 2020 itinerary.

 

I imagine you will be horrified and your many thousand linkedin followers likewise. 

[Até]

19 minutes ago, sconter said:

Good luck going back to Royal Caribbean, have a look at the top of that board on CC to see what RCCL done with the UK based Independence Of The Seas 2020 itinerary.

The same goes for NCL, there's a large thread where the April Breakaway transatlantic was cut short by two days for an early dry dock, from twelve to ten with seven days at sea and to a Northern route.  Even in extreme cases like that NCL only gave them 25% off the fare, they lost 17% of their cruise days and I think two ports.  Cancellation policy remained in effect.  The only real compensation was a 25% future cruise credit and $300 for air or hotel changes.  Missing a single port is not going to get you anything except a refund of those port fees.

[Até]

2 hours ago, hloakes said:

We had this happen on Carnival a few years back but it happens less than a week before the trip. They changed the whole itinerary from West to East Caribbean.   We were given the option of cancelling or rescheduling. We were given $100 in OBC. We also got our kids upgraded from and inside cabin to sea view. We were not happy but made the best of it. There was a wedding party on board that had a destination wedding planned; they were really unhappy. 

 

It seems MSC would give you something. 

We had the same happen to us on MSC, Eastern became Western due to weather.  I heard MSC offered some type of cancellation option at the last minute, like the day before sailing, but we were already in Miami.  We got nothing.  It was a great cruise.

[Beamafar]

4 minutes ago, Até said:

The only real compensation was a 25% future cruise credit and $300 for air or hotel changes.  Missing a single port is not going to get you anything except a refund of those port fees.

 

MSC gave us a 50% discount off a future cruise as well as some OBC on account of missing a couple of ports (with one of them in Vietnam actually being substituted for another one of similar attraction) on a Splendida repo to Japan last year.  The reason for the changes were weather-related - something outside of MSC's control.

[Até]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

 

MSC gave us a 50% discount off a future cruise as well as some OBC on account of missing a couple of ports (with one of them in Vietnam actually being substituted for another one of similar attraction) on a Splendida repo to Japan last year.  The reason for the changes were weather-related - something outside of MSC's control.

As I stated it was still a great cruise and I really never thought about future credits.  I think if MSC was offering something like that on our cruise word would have gotten around.  I now wonder if some people on my sailing asked for compensation and were given future credits.  I'm not implying you complained.  Was everyone on your ship openly offered this discount?  It seems a very generous offer.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Até

[Beamafar]

I certainly never complained and, yes, everyone received a letter in their cabin stating the following:

 

 

[thetaro]

If people spam me with this kind of nonsense on Linkedin, I would unfollow him/her.

Just saying. 

[mef_57]

Imagine being one of the NCL cruise passengers who booked Bermuda cruises in September and found themselves on a Canadian cruise due to hurricane activities.  Many of those passengers were from the Maritimes and New England.  They even visited their home ports.  NCL gave them nothing.  Other cruise lines went further south to Caribbean ports or Bahamas and several offered some compensation or alternative. 

While you are reading the MSC policies, be sure you also read that despite being assigned a specific cabin, it is really just a 'guarantee' and they can change your cabin at will.  Really, missing a port is a 3rd world problem and not worth whining about, but as stated, if you have your heart set on Santorini, do it properly and do a land trip where you have enough days to actually get out of port and shopping streets.

[G.M.T.]

OP should be thankful that MSC has saved him a lot of hassle:

 

http://www.ekathimerini.com/230836/gallery/ekathimerini/community/holiday-mecca-of-santorini-reaching-its-limits

 

https://www.thenationalherald.com/187530/overrun-santorini-will-limit-cruise-ship-arrivals-visitors/

 

PS. It seems that everyone these days is a guru with thousands upon thousands of followers who will jump from the cliffs of Santorini if commanded to do so. That is if they can actually get onto the island. Imust admit I have a couple of followers, the grand kids follow me holding out their hands for their pocket money (there goes another cruise).