Worth the hassle to rebook?

[Elsammo46]

Hi all, I have a yacht club interior room booked for the November 6th cruise on the Meraviglia out of Port Canaveral. The interior room cost about $2,200 when I booked it back earlier this year. Now I’m seeing that a deluxe suite is available for about $2,500…only $300 extra for a much better room!  Now, this sounds like a great deal and if it were any other line I’d go ahead and rebook, but I’ve never sailed on MSC before and I’ve heard their customer service is a nightmare to deal with. Could I just call and offer to pay the difference to be moved into a deluxe suite perhaps? For anyone who has done this before, is that fantastic deal I mentioned above worth going through the hassle of MSC customer service? 
 

Thank you!

Edited September 10, 2022 by Elsammo46

[Hlitner]

I suspect you are talking about the Deluxe YC Suites which are essentially outside cabins (one can argue whether they are true suites) with a small veranda.  The answer to your question would depend on the importance of $300 in your life.  If you can spare the dollars than you would likely find the outdoor cabin a very nice upgrade.  If you have never had a balcony cabin than the downside is that they do become addicting.   Many decades ago, DW and I (in our poor days) would book the lowest priced inside cabins on many cruise lines with an occasional outside cabin (no balcony).  In 1998, when we cruised on the, then new, Grand Princess we booked our first balcony cabin!  Since that time, we only book balcony cabins and/or suites.   The addiction to balconies has cost us a lot of money (we have take far more than 100 cruises...some of them months in length) but we have never regretted the decision :).

 

Hank

[Elsammo46]

4 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I suspect you are talking about the Deluxe YC Suites which are essentially outside cabins (one can argue whether they are true suites) with a small veranda.  The answer to your question would depend on the importance of $300 in your life.  If you can spare the dollars than you would likely find the outdoor cabin a very nice upgrade.  If you have never had a balcony cabin than the downside is that they do become addicting.   Many decades ago, DW and I (in our poor days) would book the lowest priced inside cabins on many cruise lines with an occasional outside cabin (no balcony).  In 1998, when we cruised on the, then new, Grand Princess we booked our first balcony cabin!  Since that time, we only book balcony cabins and/or suites.   The addiction to balconies has cost us a lot of money (we have take far more than 100 cruises...some of them months in length) but we have never regretted the decision :).

 

Hank

Thank you for the reply! I love balconies myself, almost always cruised with one. At the time of my initial booking, the deluxe suite was outside of my budget, but now the price has dropped significantly, which is why I’m considering switching now. I’m just concerned how the refund would work now that final payment has already been processed? Would I just get a future cruise credit that I could put towards my rebooking? I’ve just heard horror stories about MSC’s customer service, like bookings getting completely ruined and the like. It’s the o Lu thing giving me pause rn. I guess if nothing else I could call and ask how the process might work even if I don’t officially change anything just yet. 

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, Elsammo46 said:

Thank you for the reply! I love balconies myself, almost always cruised with one. At the time of my initial booking, the deluxe suite was outside of my budget, but now the price has dropped significantly, which is why I’m considering switching now. I’m just concerned how the refund would work now that final payment has already been processed? Would I just get a future cruise credit that I could put towards my rebooking? I’ve just heard horror stories about MSC’s customer service, like bookings getting completely ruined and the like. It’s the o Lu thing giving me pause rn. I guess if nothing else I could call and ask how the process might work even if I don’t officially change anything just yet. 

LOL, there is that!  To be honest, we have never had customer service issues with MSC because we use an excellent high volume cruise agency for all of our bookings (with any cruise line) and depend on a very good Cruise Agent to take care of most issues.   In a case like yours, it would normally be viewed as an "upsell" which, in practice, means you should just pay the extra money with everything else (such as your booking number) staying the same.  The best description, we have heard, of MSC's off the ship customer service is that it is "luck of the draw" which means it depends on the person who is on the other end of the phone.  I guess the only way to find out is to call them and make a determination if the person you get seems to be pretty sharp.  If so, take your chances and if you are uncomfy just thank the person and say you will think about it for a few days.  You could later call back, get a different person, and play the game all over again.

 

If the MSC agent talks about doing a cancellation and rebooking (to get the Deluxe Suite) I might have 2nd thoughts about the transaction.   With a cancellation they might want to refund your paid fare and do a new transaction and that would suck!   You would possibly need to pay for the new booking and wait, heaven knows how long, to get your refund for the current booking.  Argh!

 

Hank

 

Hank

[phissy]

Agree with Hank.

Since you are past final payment….

call MSC and ask how much to upgrade your booking to deluxe suite.

Tell them you want to see what the amount is before deciding to upgrade. 
If agent seems to know their stuff, go with them .

If they seem confused, HUCA.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise. 

Edited September 10, 2022 by phissy

[JT1962]

If the pricing you are seeing now is part of the Labor Day Free Balcony promotion, it is unlikely they will allow you to get that price without canceling and re-booking. There would also be a penalty since you are past final payment.

 

I called customer service to see about upgrading to a balcony with the Labor Day promotion on my October cruise, since the price was less than $ 250 more than I paid for an update inside cabin. They said the Labor Day promotion was only for new bookings and I was locked into the price structure that I originally booked. It was going to be $ 1,200 more to upgrade to a balcony, which was more than I paid originally, including taxes / port fees. They said I could cancel, with a $ 500 penalty, and re-book, but I just kept what I originally booked. 

[hamrag]

Cannot speak for USA bookings, but in the UK the price structure remains what it was at booking date. So, in essence, the price drop you now see would not be available to you in the UK. Rather you would need to pay the price that you said was outside of your budget.

[Sixtytwo]

Hmmm...I am a bit confused by some of the responses about rebooking. Last week I saw the Labor Day "event" and thought I would see if we could upgrade from our inside to a balcony.  Well, it took two phone calls with MSC to get it done, but we were successful! We have a balcony and our fare price went down (!!!) by about $300US. It may have just been my lucky day, but it worked out well for us! 🤷‍♂️

[Elsammo46]

22 minutes ago, Sixtytwo said:

Hmmm...I am a bit confused by some of the responses about rebooking. Last week I saw the Labor Day "event" and thought I would see if we could upgrade from our inside to a balcony.  Well, it took two phone calls with MSC to get it done, but we were successful! We have a balcony and our fare price went down (!!!) by about $300US. It may have just been my lucky day, but it worked out well for us! 🤷‍♂️

Did you have to cancel and rebook entirely? Or were you able to get an upsell on your original reservation? Do you remember exactly what you asked to get the upgrade? Forgive me, I’m just trying to figure out exactly what to say on the phone tomorrow 😂

Edited September 10, 2022 by Elsammo46

[Sixtytwo]

4 minutes ago, Elsammo46 said:

Did you have to cancel and rebook entirely? Or were you able to get an upsell on your original reservation? Do you remember exactly what you asked to get the upgrade? Forgive me, I’m just trying to figure out exactly what to say on the phone tomorrow 😂

Actually, I simply talked to a MSC rep and asked if I could change my reservation under the sale and the first one got part way through and I lost connection, or she hung up! I called right back and started over again and it was all handled in about ten minutes. Got out of the inside and into a balcony. I cannot say you will be successful repeating what I did, but it is worth a try. Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.

[Elsammo46]

29 minutes ago, Sixtytwo said:

Actually, I simply talked to a MSC rep and asked if I could change my reservation under the sale and the first one got part way through and I lost connection, or she hung up! I called right back and started over again and it was all handled in about ten minutes. Got out of the inside and into a balcony. I cannot say you will be successful repeating what I did, but it is worth a try. Good luck and let us know how it worked out for you.

Appreciate the feedback! I’ll definitely keep y’all updated 

[awhcruiser]

2 hours ago, Sixtytwo said:

Hmmm...I am a bit confused by some of the responses about rebooking. Last week I saw the Labor Day "event" and thought I would see if we could upgrade from our inside to a balcony.  Well, it took two phone calls with MSC to get it done, but we were successful! We have a balcony and our fare price went down (!!!) by about $300US. It may have just been my lucky day, but it worked out well for us! 🤷‍♂️

Were you past final payment?

[Elsammo46]

I was successful in my upgrade! Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I am very happy rn!

Edited September 11, 2022 by Elsammo46

[Sixtytwo]

19 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

Were you past final payment?

No. Cruise is Jan 8-15, 2023. About, give or take, 119 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes out.

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, Elsammo46 said:

I was successful in my upgrade! Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I am very happy rn!

So, only $300 extra??

[mackfam]

Elsammo46
I am also interested in your cost to upgrade as myself and my husband  are also booked on this cruise in a YIN. There seem to be a fair number of YC1 suites still available but the original price difference of $1000+ per person to go from a YIN to a YC1 was not worth it to us. If I could upgrade for a few hundred dollars that would be a different story.

Edited September 13, 2022 by mackfam

[Selion]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:34 PM, Sixtytwo said:

No. Cruise is Jan 8-15, 2023. About, give or take, 119 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes out.

Rebooking typically doesn't happen after final payment date.  At most you may get some OBC or a category upgrade at little or no cost.  I'd gotten upgrades with Princess, Royal & Celebrity, but so far OBC fairy has missed me.

[Sixtytwo]

15 hours ago, Selion said:

Rebooking typically doesn't happen after final payment date.  At most you may get some OBC or a category upgrade at little or no cost.  I'd gotten upgrades with Princess, Royal & Celebrity, but so far OBC fairy has missed me.

I normally do not put much faith in rebooking for an upgrade. But, in this case, I figured it was worth the try and, thankfully, it worked out for the best. We have a 2024 TA booked with NCL at what I consider to be a much too high rate. I will certainly keep my eyes open to an opportunity to either rebook or upgrade to a much better cabin.