MSC refund policy coronavirus

[niko40]

Well after my conversation wit MSC today i think we will be cancelling our cruise. We have our eye on a 14 night cruise with Royal that leaves 4 days after the msc cruise and now with the price drops will probably book it this week our ta will let us move the deposit to the new cruise and at least we will have the guarantee of a refund should we need it.

[BermudaBound2014]

Has MSC agreed to refund (or postpone) any of the Caribbean sailings from the USA in March and April yet?

[Nikita4]

31 minutes ago, sidari said:

Italian crew members were also barred from boarding!

 

 

From where do you have this information?
All the captains from MSC are Italien, so it's really not possible do denied boarding of all Italien citzens, pax or crew.

 

21 minutes ago, niko40 said:

Well after my conversation wit MSC today i think we will be cancelling our cruise. We have our eye on a 14 night cruise with Royal that leaves 4 days after the msc cruise and now with the price drops will probably book it this week our ta will let us move the deposit to the new cruise and at least we will have the guarantee of a refund should we need it.

 

MSC oder Royal the risk of the coronavirus is equal I think. When ist someone ill on the ship that will happen it's not a European problem there are also a lot of cases in de US. When you don't wan't to have a risk, you have to stay a home.

[sidari]

Nikita4 ... I cannot pass on the where the information came from to people I do not know personally, suffice to say from the ship.

[floridian1]

52 minutes ago, rwm01 said:

MSC Cruises has reneged on their offer to reschedule cruises to Italy!

 

In late February an e-mail was sent out by Ken Muskat, EVP and COO of MSC Cruises USA allowing travel agents to postpone and re-book cruises due to COVID-19. We are now informed by our travel agent that MSC has changed their mind and is not honoring these postponements / re-bookings.

 

After working with our travel agent to reschedule our cruise and then cancelling all our travel arrangements surrounding the original cruise, we are now faced with not even being able to get to the ship if we wanted to!

 

Totally untrustworthy!

Wait....whattt? This happened today?

[Homosassa]

46 minutes ago, sidari said:

niko ... Saga Cruise line policy as of 1 hour ago UK.

 

Saga Ocean Cruise Updated Price/Cancellation Promise***

☑️Free of charge cancellation up to 14 days before sailing; no questions asked

☑️Applies to cruises sailing from June to December 2020

☑️Valid on new bookings made in March 2020

☑️Also applicable to existing bookings, providing they are sailing June to December 2020

Commission protected and paid in line with our standard cancellation policy – the customer will receive a full refund up to 14 days, but you will still earn the relevant commission amount on the cancellation!
☑️ Backed by Saga’s Price Promise
Book your customers cruise with confidence today!

Saga is in a different cruise tier (luxury) than MSC.

 

Just like Viking, Saga has a different market demographic that can pay for upscale treatment.

[Homosassa]

33 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Has MSC agreed to refund (or postpone) any of the Caribbean sailings from the USA in March and April yet?

Why would they? 

 

I am sure that any new developments will be posted on their website or sent directly to passengers that are booked on a cruise.

 

I know that I have received three emails in the past week regarding my cruise on Monday.

[rwm01]

21 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

Wait....whattt? This happened today?

Yes, it happened this morning.  We had already rescheduled and been given a new cabin # on new cruise next year - 2021 (with an increase in cost of +40% from original booking).  That re-booking happened about 3 days ago.  Today we found out that MSC had changed their minds via our travel agent.

[Mattnvick]

So if you are at the port and MSC denies you boarding due to their Covid19 policy and they arent offering refunds. What exactly would you claim under on your insurance if you dont have a Cancel for any reason?

Edited March 5, 2020 by Mattnvick

[sidari]

5 minutes ago, Mattnvick said:

So if you are at the port and MSC denies you boarding due to their Covid19 policy and they arent offering refunds. What exactly would you claim under on your insurance if you dont have a Cancel for any reason?

Emailed mine at Axa yesterday but as yet no response! 

[Mattnvick]

7 minutes ago, sidari said:

Emailed mine at Axa yesterday but as yet no response! 

 

Thanks Sidari.  Will you post when they do please?

[floridian1]

34 minutes ago, rwm01 said:

Yes, it happened this morning.  We had already rescheduled and been given a new cabin # on new cruise next year - 2021 (with an increase in cost of +40% from original booking).  That re-booking happened about 3 days ago.  Today we found out that MSC had changed their minds via our travel agent.

Wow. My agent is off today but she cancelled and rebooked ours on tuesday after msc told thrir agency we could cancel and rebook. Yesterday she said she was still waiting for msc to transfer the money (msc said it takes 48 hours) now im super nervous. You need to fight this.

Edited March 5, 2020 by floridian1

[rwm01]

1 minute ago, floridian1 said:

Wow. My agent is off today but she cancelled and rebooked ours on tuesday after msc told thrir agency we could cancel and rebook. Yesterday she said she was still waiting for msc to transfer the money (msc said it takes 48 hours) now im super nervous. You need to fight this.

Similar situation.  Travel agent said the change over was accepted by MSC and was waiting for the charges to be applied the the new balance and then they would bill for the difference.  Then got the call that the re-booking was disallowed.  Our travel agent is fighting this and has dates and times of calls with MSC and name of csr who approved, etc.  Waiting to see if they re-honor the re-booking or if we are screwed.

[CelebrationFamily]

Oh geez. I called a few days ago and was told there was no rush, that I could rebook anytime before the night before our March 27 sail date. I had her repeat the policy so that we were both clear before I hung up and started the process of deciding our course of action. My plan was to call tomorrow with my new sail date...this information is disheartening and SO FRUSTRATING. Fingers crossed that they come to their senses and reconsider (once again! 😒)

[floridian1]

16 minutes ago, rwm01 said:

Similar situation.  Travel agent said the change over was accepted by MSC and was waiting for the charges to be applied the the new balance and then they would bill for the difference.  Then got the call that the re-booking was disallowed.  Our travel agent is fighting this and has dates and times of calls with MSC and name of csr who approved, etc.  Waiting to see if they re-honor the re-booking or if we are screwed.

When did you rebook for? 

[aprilF]

2 hours ago, Nikita4 said:

 

I don't   think that's true with the Italians, perhaps they traveled trough Milan Airport or a town how is in quarantine. 

You dont know this and there was nothing in what I read to indicate this.  What I read is that the passengers that were denied (and given rebooking credit and help with airfare) were from another unaffected part of Italy.  I figured MSC was so generous since they were denying passengers above and beyond their posted restrictions.  Several of us have been waiting for MSC to update their online information to restrict all of Italy in light of this and how some ports are reacting.  This has not happened.  I wouldnt rely on getting help unless maybe you were denied above and beyond their posted restrictions.  I'd actually expect something like "the discretion of our port staff" to be in the wording soon so maybe they can even wiggle out of all denials. 😞

 

2 hours ago, rwm01 said:

MSC Cruises has reneged on their offer to reschedule cruises to Italy!

 

In late February an e-mail was sent out by Ken Muskat, EVP and COO of MSC Cruises USA allowing travel agents to postpone and re-book cruises due to COVID-19. We are now informed by our travel agent that MSC has changed their mind and is not honoring these postponements / re-bookings.

 

After working with our travel agent to reschedule our cruise and then cancelling all our travel arrangements surrounding the original cruise, we are now faced with not even being able to get to the ship if we wanted to!

 

Totally untrustworthy!

Thanks for the warning.  I was debating between losing my deposit and rescheduling.  Will just forfeit the deposit now.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

Why would they? 

 

I can think of a dozen reasons lol.

 

Unfortunately, the MSC site is so crappy it won't open correctly when I'm at the office. I even asked my secretary to try today on her computer. Is it against the rules to ask for updates here?

[rwm01]

9 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

When did you rebook for? 

I had re-booked the same cruise for next year (i.e., transatlantic repositioning, leaving from Miami), so was 1 year forward.  MSC had approved it when originally re-booked.  Figured that gave lots of time for the COVID-19 situation to resolve.

[floridian1]

5 minutes ago, rwm01 said:

I had re-booked the same cruise for next year (i.e., transatlantic repositioning, leaving from Miami), so was 1 year forward.  MSC had approved it when originally re-booked.  Figured that gave lots of time for the COVID-19 situation to resolve.

Oh wow. Pls keep us updated on how this turns out. Ill report back tomorrow about what msc says about our cruise.

[sidari]

2 hours ago, Mattnvick said:

 

Thanks Sidari.  Will you post when they do please?

Will do because it could affect us.

[resistk]

This seems to be the norm, cruise lines creating distress with ever changing policies; I think consumers will desert them in droves.  I have three cruises, April and June with three different lines and expect I will lose well over $10,000 as I have paid them all up like a trusting fool.

[rwm01]

9 minutes ago, resistk said:

This seems to be the norm, cruise lines creating distress with ever changing policies; I think consumers will desert them in droves.  I have three cruises, April and June with three different lines and expect I will lose well over $10,000 as I have paid them all up like a trusting fool.

The most distressing part is that we had still planned on going on the cruise from FL to Italy - until MSC actually made the offer to postpone and reschedule.  We trusted them and re-booked through the TA and even agreed to pay a much higher rate (not discounted) for the re-booked cruise. 

 

Once we got our cabin # and were told it was all set ... then the rug gets pulled out from under us after we had cancelled all the logistics to get to the original cruise (and the return trip from Italy - hotels, airfare, etc.).  Worse than "bait and switch" ... it was "bait and eliminate".  Ugh

[Homosassa]

It seems that the situation is fluid and that MSC is dealing with the issues as they arise and affect different ships and embarkations.

 

As far as Italians being denied boarding, I don't know if it is a case of them actually showing up at the pier or the cancellation of a tour package.

 

For those of you that have cruised on MSC, remember all the large tour groups from various countries that show up on the debarkation schedule?

 

As MSC markets around the world and it seems that often the marketing, booking, and arrangements are made by an agency in that country, it would be a situation where MSC cancelled the tour packages before the group left.

 

If I remember the "Italian situation," wasn't it a large group from Italy that was denied boarding on a ship from a US port?

 

I can see where MSC cancelled all packages from Asia, Italy, (Iran if one existed) at this point as there would be no control over the possible exposure of the passengers in the weeks prior to the cruise.

[Homosassa]

16 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I can think of a dozen reasons lol.

 

Unfortunately, the MSC site is so crappy it won't open correctly when I'm at the office. I even asked my secretary to try today on her computer. Is it against the rules to ask for updates here?

Everyone can think of reasons to support their viewpoint.

 

The updates that I have received pertain specifically to my sailing on the Armonia this coming Monday (March 9).

 

It would not be of any help to post them here as it would just fuel more speculation from people trying to extrapolate based on limited information that pertains to a specific cruise  in a situation that changes daily. 

 

Try the MSC website from home; it might be that there is a block on the work computers for non-business related sites. The MSC updates on the site are easy to find and MSC is doing a good job of giving the facts on the different situations and decisions as they arise.

 

. 

[GatorMomInNC]

17 hours ago, floridian1 said:

Wow. My agent is off today but she cancelled and rebooked ours on tuesday after msc told thrir agency we could cancel and rebook. Yesterday she said she was still waiting for msc to transfer the money (msc said it takes 48 hours) now im super nervous. You need to fight this.

I cancelled my cruise earlier this week (before the deadline so that I should receive full refund) and my TA was told by MSC that it would be 1 to 2 mos. before I could get my refund.  I was considering rebooking on a cruise line like RCCL which has better cancellation policy, but if I decide to do that it won't be with the MSC funds (which is mainly points from my credit card) as I don't have access.  Now, compare this to about 10 days ago when I cancelled all my excursions online - that was immediately refunded to my CC.