MSC VIRTUOSA UK DONT TOUCH

[77red96]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

But what did your trip cost?

 

I have a Safari in Africa with emergency medical evac.

Business class air the whole trip.

18 night cruise in Yacht club.

About $35,000 trip cost.

 

 

My trip cost £10,000 for the whole family but we were covered up to £20,000 ($22000)

[77red96]

6 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Famous quote from MOL: "If I would get only 1 € for everyone who says "I will never fly with Ryanair again" and then flies with us again, I would be the richest man in human history" 😄 

 

Over the years I also many times said "Not acceptable, next time I cruise with another line". And when I search for the cruise then MSC comes around with this: 

 

I will actually never be on another Ryanair flight, no matter the reason, I won't.

I will hitchhike and get ferries before Id consider a Ryanair flight.

 

The last one I was on was delayed by almost 3hours, then when we got on the plane hadn't been cleaned. I thought well that's fair enough if they are doing a speedy turnaround to get us in the air.

 

Then they announced to be careful at the rear of the plane as one of the toilets was blocked and had flooded the aisle.... This was covered with paper towels which did little to help.

 

To add insult to injury we then had to sit on the runway for 55 minutes as the plane was overweight and had to take off in a different runway to the one planned. I don't understand why they didn't leave us in the terminal and clean the plane during this time.

 

Finally we were in row 20 of 32, so thankfully far enough away that when the plane started to descend and leaned forwards we had a warning scream from behind to lift our belongings from the floor before the tsunami of sewage passed us.

 

Honestly the worst flight I've ever been on, my wife is still traumatised by the whole experience.

 

It's a long way to fall from virgin Atlantic premium in the bubble.

[mscdivina2016]

23 minutes ago, 77red96 said:

My trip cost £10,000 for the whole family but we were covered up to £20,000 ($22000)

Wow that's a great price. Maybe we are too old for cheap insurance. Lol.

 

What company is that?

 

[77red96]

4 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Wow that's a great price. Maybe we are too old for cheap insurance. Lol.

 

What company is that?

 

Holidayextras.com I've found them to be very reasonable. That said I've not had to claim from them,🤞 it stays that way.

 

[77red96]

18 minutes ago, 77red96 said:

Holidayextras.com I've found them to be very reasonable. That said I've not had to claim from them,🤞 it stays that way.

 

Just for interest, and so I could think of this laterally, I got a quote for annual multi trip insurance with all the afore mentioned benefits and a maximum £32000 fare. It came in at £429 for the 4 of us. I'm guessing age and no pre-existing medical conditions play a factor in that.

[les37b]

On 9/22/2022 at 6:22 PM, cruising.mark.uk said:

I really don't subscribe to the compensation culture that many seem to.  Ship happens.  And it happens on all modes of travel and all cruise lines.

 

So, the OP has 7 weeks notice that they are getting an extra night on a newer ship.  The change in date may mean they incur some additional charges.   This is what travel insurance is for.  I don't believe there is any reason for the cruise line to  help them rearrange their travel arrangements or to pay any costs incurred, unless those arrangements are all part of a package holiday sold by the cruise line.  If it is not a package, the OP chose to make independent arrangements to join the cruise and thus accepted the risk involved with that.  No doubt, they also mitigated that risk by purchasing travel insurance... 

 

As long as a full refund is an option offered. Changing itinerary is one thing, but if dates are amended, that is a big issue. You may work somewhere with flexible leave arrangements, but many don't. 

 

Had the amendment cut the cruise short of what had been bought, would that be ok too?

 

I see you don't believe in travel compensation, so guessing you must really hate the €600 compensation for flights delayed by over 3 hours. Seems far less than what the OP has endured. 

 

 

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, 77red96 said:

Just for interest, and so I could think of this laterally, I got a quote for annual multi trip insurance with all the afore mentioned benefits and a maximum £32000 fare. It came in at £429 for the 4 of us. I'm guessing age and no pre-existing medical conditions play a factor in that.

I tried them.  It picked up I am in the USA so I went under a vpn and it won't let me go above $11,000 per person.

You're travelling on a trip of a lifetime so we want to make sure that we cover all aspects of your trip. So we can ensure we provide the right cover, give us a call on 0800 042 0215 and please quote WEB1

I am very interested so I might try calling tomorrow.  I do wonder about age, we will be 60 and our flight into the game lodge is not on a commercial carrier. We actually hired a private plane service to fly us in and out.  I also know we have emergency medical evac at $750,000 per person including being flown all the way back the the USA in an Air Ambulance.

[77red96]

14 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

I tried them.  It picked up I am in the USA so I went under a vpn and it won't let me go above $11,000 per person.

You're travelling on a trip of a lifetime so we want to make sure that we cover all aspects of your trip. So we can ensure we provide the right cover, give us a call on 0800 042 0215 and please quote WEB1

I am very interested so I might try calling tomorrow.  I do wonder about age, we will be 60 and our flight into the game lodge is not on a commercial carrier. We actually hired a private plane service to fly us in and out.  I also know we have emergency medical evac at $750,000 per person including being flown all the way back the the USA in an Air Ambulance.

Ahh of course, I put it in for us (a party of 4) at £8000 each which was £32000 total. I'm sure if you give them a call they should be able to do something for you. 

 

Ps. That sounds like an amazing trip.

[redspain]

I don't see what the problem really is, in 2019 we booked a pre Christmas tour arrive in Barcelona 3 days later(Dec 23),  a little 3 day from Rome and it got changed to a 7 day from Genoa and over Christmas, we were very grateful. Extra days, at Christmas, on-board a ship... I really fail to see what the issue is??? Pay the fees and enjoy the cruise!!

[mscdivina2016]

6 hours ago, redspain said:

I don't see what the problem really is, in 2019 we booked a pre Christmas tour arrive in Barcelona 3 days later(Dec 23),  a little 3 day from Rome and it got changed to a 7 day from Genoa and over Christmas, we were very grateful. Extra days, at Christmas, on-board a ship... I really fail to see what the issue is??? Pay the fees and enjoy the cruise!!

Your scenario may have worked for you but it may not work for others.

I have 3 cruises next year out of Southampton. Not on the same cruise line either. So I walk off one onto another and so on.

1 day change would be a disaster.

I always have pre and post trips as well. Not easy to change either as 1st class air or high end accomodations are not always available when the dates are close.

[hamrag]

5 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Your scenario may have worked for you but it may not work for others.

I have 3 cruises next year out of Southampton. Not on the same cruise line either. So I walk off one onto another and so on.

1 day change would be a disaster.

I always have pre and post trips as well. Not easy to change either as 1st class air or high end accomodations are not always available when the dates are close.

That is a risk you take, and certainly you couldn't (notice I didn't say wouldn't 😉) blame MSC in such eventuality if e.g. it was say Celebrity with a one day later arrival for your MSC cruise! 

[mscdivina2016]

17 hours ago, 77red96 said:

Ahh of course, I put it in for us (a party of 4) at £8000 each which was £32000 total. I'm sure if you give them a call they should be able to do something for you. 

 

Ps. That sounds like an amazing trip.

Ok I contacted them and was told to take the policy I am offered being from the United States.

The private plane,scuba and off road adventures in the UAE are the big issues.

[Kevin79]

On 9/25/2022 at 1:35 PM, cruising.mark.uk said:

Gauging success on how big a file of complaints one can build up with the provider seems like a slightly strange metric by which to measure the enjoyment accrued from expensive leisure time

When I was at uni, I did an elective with a professor who was doing research into the physiological response to complaints. His research was based at a local airport, and there was certainly evidence to support that some individuals feel a positive response to making complaints. Release of endorphins and the like. It was really interesting. It was only one term and he still had a long time to go.

[mscdivina2016]

3 minutes ago, Kevin79 said:

and there was certainly evidence to support that some individuals feel a positive response to making complaints. Release of endorphins and the like. It was really interesting. 

I represent that. Lol.

 

But my complaining to Yacht club director is because I have a recording of the phone rep telling me to take it up on board, they certainly should be able to help.

 

So did customer service tell me an outright lie?😮.

 

If so, how do we go back and fix it as this was prior to the subject cruise? 

[iwtobek]

13 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

So did customer service tell me an outright lie?😮.

Warning: offtopic (slightly)

 

I used to work as a call center manager in my young days. The harsh truth is that we don't (and we can't) listen to every conversations, and make sure every rep has always the correct behaviour. At those times it was sometimes made easier as we all worked at the same place, and you could always feel when someone was going off, it's probably much harder today with telework being popular (for good reasons) in the industry.

 

Anyway, when someone said something they shouldn't have (and we noticed) we brought that up. When minor, at the end of day with the the staff member. When more important, discussed it with the team on the next briefing. And when critical, we went forward and made it sure the customer had the correct tip.

 

Were we able to catch every errors, every failures? Certainly no. As a whole we made sure the experience felt great, and surely over time our ranking improved. But as @mscdivina2016 is already aware, his issue is not something that can be fixed at call center level. They're as clueless.

 

As a human being when you have nothing to say but have to say something, what would you do? That's an almost philosophical question. As a corporate you can help with training (“we're sorry our service handles XXX and you're YYY but rest assured we want your issue solved and I'm going to let you know a few tips so that you know what to do next and feel free to call us back anytime”) but in the end, if you start thinking, “this poor customer, I wouldn't want to be him, I can't let him know we can't do anything, I surely hope someone else will be able to fix it up, maybe at headquarters, or on the ship” and somehow you wish that loud enough that on the line the customer hears that you just mentioned bring that up on the ship.

 

Not a lie, why wouldn't you bring it up on the ship? But definitely not a fix. You didn't have that — no one around you does— and all you had was empathy.

[mscdivina2016]

6 hours ago, iwtobek said:

Warning: offtopic (slightly)

 

I used to work as a call center manager in my young days. The harsh truth is that we don't (and we can't) listen to every conversations, and make sure every rep has always the correct behaviour. At those times it was sometimes made easier as we all worked at the same place, and you could always feel when someone was going off, it's probably much harder today with telework being popular (for good reasons) in the industry.

 

Anyway, when someone said something they shouldn't have (and we noticed) we brought that up. When minor, at the end of day with the the staff member. When more important, discussed it with the team on the next briefing. And when critical, we went forward and made it sure the customer had the correct tip.

 

Were we able to catch every errors, every failures? Certainly no. As a whole we made sure the experience felt great, and surely over time our ranking improved. But as @mscdivina2016 is already aware, his issue is not something that can be fixed at call center level. They're as clueless.

 

As a human being when you have nothing to say but have to say something, what would you do? That's an almost philosophical question. As a corporate you can help with training (“we're sorry our service handles XXX and you're YYY but rest assured we want your issue solved and I'm going to let you know a few tips so that you know what to do next and feel free to call us back anytime”) but in the end, if you start thinking, “this poor customer, I wouldn't want to be him, I can't let him know we can't do anything, I surely hope someone else will be able to fix it up, maybe at headquarters, or on the ship” and somehow you wish that loud enough that on the line the customer hears that you just mentioned bring that up on the ship.

 

Not a lie, why wouldn't you bring it up on the ship? But definitely not a fix. You didn't have that — no one around you does— and all you had was empathy.

Moving back onto topic slightly,

 

Things get compounded when we are told repeatedly that a manager will call within 48-72 hours to never have that happen.  In my case at least 2 dozen times.

 

Same with send an email.  I have over 100 SR#s an never a return email.

 

Yes they can change dates, ships, ect,  but each time there is a human toll in one way or another due to no fault on our end. The true reality is probably 95% of the cruisers fly in so airfare or airfare change fee's are a reality.   Lets not forget that refundable tickets may even come with a cost.  My fully refundable airfare is, but less a $100 fee.  Insurance won't cover it.