Booking on board

[riredsox]

Are there any advantages to booking on board?  We are taking our first MSC in September and want to book another but will wait if there are benefits for booking onboard.   Thank you,  Jill

[George C]

You get 200 in on board credit. At least we did we were in YC. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by George C

[sptrout]

MSC does not really push on-board bookings like other cruise lines that we have sailed. During our first MSC cruise I did not believe that there even was any on-board booking sales people. (There was, but we did not notice them to late in our cruise.) OBC is one of their perks that they mention, but that OBC is only for the cruise that you are on so it may not be of any use. Three weeks ago, we managed to leave some OBC unspent so having more by pre-booking another cruise would not have been used.

 

Anyway, there are benefits, but not like other lines IMO.

[cellfree]

The OBC you get depends on cabin type you book. We have always found the time you would have to spend waiting too long to make it worth while. 

[Shippy]

   This is a bit confusing but worth the read....

We NEVER book onboard but...

 We were on the Seaside in October...loved our YC cabin, so while onboard, I went on the internet & booked the same cabin with our internet agent. They gave us  free gratuities and a couple of hundred OBC.

  Some how we wound up talking to the cruise specialist onboard. She claimed she could get us the extra $200. for booking onboard & we could keep our original booking (?)

   I was a bit nervous because she took the confirmation # I had & said she had to cancel that & rebook.

Unbelievably, That was exactly what she did. Aside from a different booking number....my agent & their perks are all the same AND I have the additional $200. obc credit courtesy of MSC.

 

[George C]

I thought the future cruise salesperson on seaside was a idiot, she lied to us and gave us wrong info, will never deal with her again. My only complaint about the YC cruise was her.

[nednrom]

We booked onboard for a future cruise - the perks are OBC dependent on your status and the type of room you book, double points, and $99 deposit.  It also gave you discount of 5 - 15% Discount depending on your status.

[riredsox]

Thank you everyone.  I will wait to book my second YC onboard for the $200 and have it sent to my TA for their perks too.  I can always find a way to spend it!

[mickey89]

I must say it is not treated as a serious business opportunity on MSC in my experience.  Last cruise the lady, maybe she was the only one, said she was too busy to explain the options so we left.  On Celebrity it is totally different, in recent years they have expanded both the venue size and staff numbers at 'Future Cruises'.  

 

MSC wake up, you are missing a captive audience........!

[deliver42]

MSC isn't alone on the future cruise desk. I've found the same on Princess and NCL. It seems RCCI is the only corp. that takes it seriously, with multiple stations in a nice office on Royal and Celebrity. We just got off the Celebrity Equinox, where they had a nice office with comfy lounges to sit on while we waited our turn  to see a rep. There were 4 on duty at the time.

[aprilF]

We waited an hour with one couple already at the desk being helped.  It wasnt really a waste of time for us as we would have just been waiting to get off the ship.  We got into line for future cruises about 20 minutes before we were allowed to exit the ship and the line was still going strong by the time the future cruise desk was ready for us.  By the time we were done, we were able to just walk off the ship.  What I found to be extremely silly was that it took us nearly 40 minutes to book even though I knew exactly what we wanted since I was just rebooking.  I even had the paperwork on the cruise so that there was no need to really look around, just search exactly what our parameters were.  How long does it take if you need advice on which cruise to take???

 

Also, dont bother to head back for the silly VR tour of your ship if it is offered.  It isnt worth a special trip to the desk at all.

[SteelCruisin]

While on the Seaside this past December we booked a Mediterranean cruise for April, the cruise consultant Sulekah and her partner Leonardo were wonderful to work with...both very professional and were able to explain all our options and what were our added bonuses to booking there and then...when we got home we transferred our booking for even more added bonuses...all in all a pleasant experience...thanks Sulekah and Leonardo!

[Fogfog]

1 hour ago, aprilF said:

We waited an hour with one couple already at the desk being helped.  It wasnt really a waste of time for us as we would have just been waiting to get off the ship.  We got into line for future cruises about 20 minutes before we were allowed to exit the ship and the line was still going strong by the time the future cruise desk was ready for us.  By the time we were done, we were able to just walk off the ship.  What I found to be extremely silly was that it took us nearly 40 minutes to book even though I knew exactly what we wanted since I was just rebooking.  I even had the paperwork on the cruise so that there was no need to really look around, just search exactly what our parameters were.  How long does it take if you need advice on which cruise to take???

 

Also, dont bother to head back for the silly VR tour of your ship if it is offered.  It isnt worth a special trip to the desk at all.

Good pts here

We want to book a world cruise and know the dates and that we want YC. Not seeing any availability and wonder if the cabins are being held back. We are sailing shortly and will see if the MSC future cruises can do anything for us. I can see the potential obc etc online if booked onboard via our ticketing/planner

The problems I hear about MSC and transferring it to a TA... I don't know if those are legit

We need a better TA as from what I read on CC--some get much nicer add ons than we got. We paid rack rate for our YC B2Bs and while we got cirque+dinner on each sailing and small obc and a cash card (shopping) after, the total seems a bit low for our price of admission.

We have only booked onboard once on Celebrity--went in knowing the dates, cabin etc...still took over an hour to get it done 

There were 4 agents available and a very nice lounge

I am not certain MSC sees the missed opportunity/value in pros in the future cruise dept. Unfortunate

 

 

 

[emmas gran]

Fog Fog

MSC Poesia which is doing World Voyage in 2021 and 2022 does not have YC cabins.

[Fogfog]

TY emmas gran

Its a many days ++  cruise I guess under a different title than world as it is not the ship you mentioned.

I have seen it as links. 

We'll see what they can tell us onboard

Wonder if they'd send someone to YC to handle it

[hummer88]

We booked our Meraviglia cruise for this year while on the Seaside last year.  We booked a super family plus room for our upcoming year.  We also cruised the Seaside the previous year (Seaside back to back years).

 

Our first time on Seaside the future cruise desk was terrible.  On our last full day at sea, the desk was only open for a few hours and line was huge, so we didn't bother waiting, but we had intentions on inquiring.

 

Last year, they moved the desk (7th or 8th deck atrium) and they had two new people working.  The lady we dealt with was not great.  I knew more about the two ships then she did.  I would mention something (like the super family plus room) and she would look it up.  We did book and received $300 OBC for our next cruise, nothing for the current cruise.  

 

We had a big issue with the price that she quoted us and the price that was coming up on our invoice once we got home.  When we transferred it to our TA at home, he had to fight for the price, then the OBC was missing.  Overall the experience was not great.  I will not even consider using the future desk unless they are offering something that is really enticing.

[marco]

Our experiencing on MSC is the same as it's been on HAL, Princess and Celebrity. What ever deals and perks were offered, we got the same ones offered from our TA,  later. And  we also got an additional OBC from our TA.