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MSC a joke !!!!

Toffeeboy

By Toffeeboy,
in MSC Cruises

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Beamafar Great Review Rare

Beamafar

Posted
Posted

We've had both embarkation and disembarkation ports changed on our upcoming Azamara cruise - both changes outside of the cruise line's control.  This is the risk you take when booking cruises, unfortunately.

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johnnylincoln

johnnylincoln

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Four years ago I booked a Royal Caribbean cruise from Southampton on the Independence of the Seas...two weeks after booking they decided to pull Indy from Southampton and put Anthem of the Seas there instead and double the prices. My two choices were a refund or pay the increased price. 

 

All cruise lines are as bad as each other. 

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

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Posted

I find the OP's situation interesting since we had a related issue happen to us with an Oceania cruise (disembarkation port was moved 1500 miles only 3 weeks before the cruise).  I do not see it as "business as usual" and it truly sucks.  In the case of the OP's cruise it appears that MSC simply changed several itineraries with very little warning.  The changes do not look to be caused by COVID because they are still visiting most of the same countries.    

 

When Oceania pulled this kind of thing on us we simply cancelled and demanded a full refund.  "O" wanted to only give us a future cruise credit which we would not accept.  In the USA we do have some protection when we use major credit cards (as a general rule a vendor much deliver the product that has been purchased) so we wrote a letter to "O" explaining that we wanted our money back or would file a "credit card charge-back request."  "O" quickly granted our request and did refund our money within days.  As to the airlines, we had booked flights with Delta using miles.  Once Delta understood our situation, they generously offered to refund all of our miles and related fees.

 

I do not know the exact rights the OP has in their country, but have been led to believe that Europe has even stronger consumer laws than here in the USA.  So perhaps the OP might want to cancel and use the system to get a refund.  The bottom line is that the OP is not getting the product that was purchased!  While port cancellations or changes are part of the cruise world, changing dates and embarkation/debarkation ports is not a norm.  Consider if a person booked a cruise in the Med and the cruise line decided to change it to a South America cruise!  Folks would argue that is not the same cruise.  The situation here is similar.

 

Hank

 

 

 

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Paphillyguy

Paphillyguy

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

I find the OP's situation interesting since we had a related issue happen to us with an Oceania cruise (disembarkation port was moved 1500 miles only 3 weeks before the cruise).  I do not see it as "business as usual" and it truly sucks.  In the case of the OP's cruise it appears that MSC simply changed several itineraries with very little warning.  The changes do not look to be caused by COVID because they are still visiting most of the same countries.    

 

When Oceania pulled this kind of thing on us we simply cancelled and demanded a full refund.  "O" wanted to only give us a future cruise credit which we would not accept.  In the USA we do have some protection when we use major credit cards (as a general rule a vendor much deliver the product that has been purchased) so we wrote a letter to "O" explaining that we wanted our money back or would file a "credit card charge-back request."  "O" quickly granted our request and did refund our money within days.  As to the airlines, we had booked flights with Delta using miles.  Once Delta understood our situation, they generously offered to refund all of our miles and related fees.

 

I do not know the exact rights the OP has in their country, but have been led to believe that Europe has even stronger consumer laws than here in the USA.  So perhaps the OP might want to cancel and use the system to get a refund.  The bottom line is that the OP is not getting the product that was purchased!  While port cancellations or changes are part of the cruise world, changing dates and embarkation/debarkation ports is not a norm.  Consider if a person booked a cruise in the Med and the cruise line decided to change it to a South America cruise!  Folks would argue that is not the same cruise.  The situation here is similar.

 

Hank

 

 

 

IT may not be the Norm but it is not limited to MSC.  All cruise lines make these type of changes maybe on a very rare occasion but they still do.  

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GonzoWCS

GonzoWCS

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I find the OP's situation interesting since we had a related issue happen to us with an Oceania cruise (disembarkation port was moved 1500 miles only 3 weeks before the cruise).  I do not see it as "business as usual" and it truly sucks.  In the case of the OP's cruise it appears that MSC simply changed several itineraries with very little warning.  The changes do not look to be caused by COVID because they are still visiting most of the same countries.    

 

When Oceania pulled this kind of thing on us we simply cancelled and demanded a full refund.  "O" wanted to only give us a future cruise credit which we would not accept.  In the USA we do have some protection when we use major credit cards (as a general rule a vendor much deliver the product that has been purchased) so we wrote a letter to "O" explaining that we wanted our money back or would file a "credit card charge-back request."  "O" quickly granted our request and did refund our money within days.  As to the airlines, we had booked flights with Delta using miles.  Once Delta understood our situation, they generously offered to refund all of our miles and related fees.

 

I do not know the exact rights the OP has in their country, but have been led to believe that Europe has even stronger consumer laws than here in the USA.  So perhaps the OP might want to cancel and use the system to get a refund.  The bottom line is that the OP is not getting the product that was purchased!  While port cancellations or changes are part of the cruise world, changing dates and embarkation/debarkation ports is not a norm.  Consider if a person booked a cruise in the Med and the cruise line decided to change it to a South America cruise!  Folks would argue that is not the same cruise.  The situation here is similar.

 

Hank

 

 

 

How did you get all of that from the OPs post?  I am still trying to figure it out?

 

Cheers

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emmas gran

emmas gran

Posted
Posted

They changed our cruise April departing August on Virtuosa from North Cape to M10 days Canaries! Also changed dates of a Seaview cruise pre Covid  by 2/3 weeks and we had to cancel as had other plans. It happens.

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mscdivina2016 "Live from...." Rare

mscdivina2016

Posted
Posted
On 7/8/2022 at 4:42 AM, Toffeeboy said:

just been informed that a complete date change and and return port to disembark after all flights booked fuming !!!!!!!!!

 

Welcome to the cluster known as MSC.

 

I have had this happen 3 times with them in the past year.

Most recently 2 weeks ago.

 

MSC Splendida sailing 4/15/2023 now sailing 4/12/2023.

 

Earlier this year.

Seaview sailing from Martinique in March changed to February?? Then it changed again back to March now sailing from St Martin. Each time a date change as well of a few days.

Each time I changed my airfare.

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Toffeeboy

Toffeeboy

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I will explain more about this change it is not Covid related purely operational reasons they changed the departure date from the 21st November to the 27th November and with a completely different Itinerary the original cruise was 11 nights now 7 and a totally different final port for the trolls on here who say life sucks after you have booked all your flights I hope it happens to you all !!!!!🐷

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BVILady

BVILady

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Posted

Similar happened to me with Costa, they changed the embarkation port to a city which had been impossible for me to reach and disembarkation also impossible for me to get back to Trieste in time to catch my non-refundable not changeable flight out of Trieste. I cancelled and got refund and actually that is how I ended up with a booking on MSC since they had a similar itinerary of our original dates. So Poster might take the refund and look for a different cruise fitting his dates out of his original port. Good luck - we actually ended up with a bargain.

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8420PR

8420PR

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Posted

I have a lot of sympathy.   It is a real art getting the timing right to book cruises, flights, hotels etc....   

 

In Europe cruise deposits, hotel bookings and flights are typically non-refundable (and often very expensive to change), making things more complicated.

 

My guess the cruise is MSC Splendida in the red sea - MSC seem to be having problems getting Saudi Arabia cruises finalised (e.g. similiar happened last year to Bellisima and I don't think Virtuosa ever called at Damman).   

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GonzoWCS

GonzoWCS

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Toffeeboy said:

I will explain more about this change it is not Covid related purely operational reasons they changed the departure date from the 21st November to the 27th November and with a completely different Itinerary the original cruise was 11 nights now 7 and a totally different final port

Thanks for the specifics and sorry this happened to you and yours.

 

Cheers

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