MSC Tip...

[Stockjock]

As mentioned, if your reservation is in good order, try hard not to call MSC customer service, as there is a decent chance that your reservation will get messed up. It might be that your cabin changes, the pricing changes, the packages change, all of these or something random.  
Sometimes, you get lucky and everything is fine.

But that said, if you do make a change, be sure to ask for an updated copy of the booking confirmation and review it before you hang up.  Check the names, dining times, cabin, pricing, etc.  If there is a problem, best to let the original agent address it, if possible.  It's also a good idea to get a booking confirmation from them when you first call, before they make any changes, so that you have something in writing just in case.  There have been times where having a correct booking confirmation saved me, as they otherwise had no record of price changes in their system, which is surprising.

I've experienced a lot of errors and unexpected and unanticipated changes to bookings that started with a routine call to MSC.

This wasn't the worst of the problems I've experienced, but something I experienced 15 minutes ago.  I could not get my GF's upcoming cruises added to her Voyager's Club account.  Turns out that her quasi-hyphenated last name was screwing up MSC's fussy system.  So I changed it instead of Susan (first name) Lopez Smith (last name) to Susan (first name) Lopez (middle name) Smith (last name).  This seemed to clear up most of the problems, but there is still one booking under Susan (first name) Lopez Smith (last name).

I called MSC to fix it.

He spent about 30 minutes trying to correct the name.

Then, he sent me a booking confirmation showing Susan (first name) Lopez (middle name) Lopez Smith (last name).

After arguing with him (nicely) that it still wasn't correct he sent me a new invoice.

Same error.

We discussed it some more.

It should look like this on the booking:

Smith, Susan Lopez

Instead it looks like this

Smith, Susan, Lopez

Close, but no cigar.  I tried to add it to her MSC account and it was rejected.

What's wrong?  That extra comma after Susan (not her real name).  Remember, the booking must match *exactly* with the MSC account and Voyager's Club number.

For example, if my name is John William Smith, on the booking it should appear as Smith, John William.  Not Smith, John, William or William Smith, John.

I nicely argued a bit more about getting rid of that 2nd comma, but he couldn't or wouldn't, so I'll address that tomorrow with a different agent.

Got off on a tangent a bit, but circling back to the central point, always get a booking confirmation before and after any changes are made, have them e-mailed to you, and review them for changes before you get off the phone, if at all possible.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Stockjock

[mafig]

I've heard that.  I did resist the urge I had to change my suite from starboard to port because of what might happen.

 

[Stockjock]

Just now, mafig said:

I've heard that.  I did resist the urge I had to change my suite from starboard to port because of what might happen.

 

Smart move.

[Georgia_Peaches]

I think I would just avoid booking directly with MSC and let my TA handle any issues. Before we boarded Seashore I noticed that DH’s place of birth on the online check in screen didn’t match his passport. I couldn’t edit bc the editing window had closed. I told my TA and had new boarding documents from MSC within the hour. I don’t know how she did it but I am grateful that I’m not the one who had to make the call. It seems that dealing with MSC customer service is akin to having a root canal without anesthesia. In fact, the root canal may be better!

[peanutzmom]

This will be our first MSC cruise (though we’ve been on over a dozen cruises). I didn’t know about Status Match until after I booked the cruise and signed us up for the Voyager Club. We’re Carnival VIFP Platinum, but I’m afraid to contact customer service about Status Match in case it will change our booking price just to get us a small gift!

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, peanutzmom said:

This will be our first MSC cruise (though we’ve been on over a dozen cruises). I didn’t know about Status Match until after I booked the cruise and signed us up for the Voyager Club. We’re Carnival VIFP Platinum, but I’m afraid to contact customer service about Status Match in case it will change our booking price just to get us a small gift!

Status match is a separate department.  Just doing a status match shouldn't disrupt the booking.  But anything more than that, i.e. requesting that it be added to the current, booking might.

Since I'm about to go to Las Vegas, I'll give you odds of disruption.  

 

Doing status match, but not adding it to the current booking, or adding it retroactively: Less than 5%.

Doing status match, obtaining status and adding new status to existing booking: 35%.

If you do this, as mentioned, be sure to save your original booking confirmation so if something gets screwed up, they can hopefully figure out what happened and reconstruct it.

[tbmrt]

11 hours ago, Stockjock said:

As mentioned, if your reservation is in good order, try hard not to call MSC customer service, as there is a decent chance that your reservation will get messed up. It might be that your cabin changes, the pricing changes, the packages change, all of these or something random.  
Sometimes, you get lucky and everything is fine.

But that said, if you do make a change, be sure to ask for an updated copy of the booking confirmation and review it before you hang up.  Check the names, dining times, cabin, pricing, etc.  If there is a problem, best to let the original agent address it, if possible.  It's also a good idea to get a booking confirmation from them when you first call, before they make any changes, so that you have something in writing just in case.  There have been times where having a correct booking confirmation saved me, as they otherwise had no record of price changes in their system, which is surprising.

I've experienced a lot of errors and unexpected and unanticipated changes to bookings that started with a routine call to MSC.

This wasn't the worst of the problems I've experienced, but something I experienced 15 minutes ago.  I could not get my GF's upcoming cruises added to her Voyager's Club account.  Turns out that her quasi-hyphenated last name was screwing up MSC's fussy system.  So I changed it instead of Susan (first name) Lopez Smith (last name) to Susan (first name) Lopez (middle name) Smith (last name).  This seemed to clear up most of the problems, but there is still one booking under Susan (first name) Lopez Smith (last name).

I called MSC to fix it.

He spent about 30 minutes trying to correct the name.

Then, he sent me a booking confirmation showing Susan (first name) Lopez (middle name) Lopez Smith (last name).

After arguing with him (nicely) that it still wasn't correct he sent me a new invoice.

Same error.

We discussed it some more.

It should look like this on the booking:

Smith, Susan Lopez

Instead it looks like this

Smith, Susan, Lopez

Close, but no cigar.  I tried to add it to her MSC account and it was rejected.

What's wrong?  That extra comma after Susan (not her real name).  Remember, the booking must match *exactly* with the MSC account and Voyager's Club number.

For example, if my name is John William Smith, on the booking it should appear as Smith, John William.  Not Smith, John, William or William Smith, John.

I nicely argued a bit more about getting rid of that 2nd comma, but he couldn't or wouldn't, so I'll address that tomorrow with a different agent.

Got off on a tangent a bit, but circling back to the central point, always get a booking confirmation before and after any changes are made, have them e-mailed to you, and review them for changes before you get off the phone, if at all possible.

I had a similar problem...My TA booked my reservation with Barbara spelled Barbra.  Had a similar problem with an airline reservation a few months ago involving my primary and middle names being put in the computer with no space inbetween them.  Definitely check everything now.

[Stockjock]

5 hours ago, tbmrt said:

I had a similar problem...My TA booked my reservation with Barbara spelled Barbra.  Had a similar problem with an airline reservation a few months ago involving my primary and middle names being put in the computer with no space inbetween them.  Definitely check everything now.

Just so you know, on airline reservations, even when they are in good order, showing your first name and middle game all together is pretty common and usually does not alter anything.  But on MSC that would be a big deal for sure, especially in terms of voyagers club points or having your reservation show up on your account.

 

It’s confusing.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Stockjock

[perakcruiser]

14 hours ago, peanutzmom said:

This will be our first MSC cruise (though we’ve been on over a dozen cruises). I didn’t know about Status Match until after I booked the cruise and signed us up for the Voyager Club. We’re Carnival VIFP Platinum, but I’m afraid to contact customer service about Status Match in case it will change our booking price just to get us a small gift!

I understand your doubts. Especially if you like your booking. But you can do the status match already now. Just trying to get any of the benefits into your existing booking can hurt. Indeed much more than a tiny gift is worth.

[Stockjock]

19 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

I understand your doubts. Especially if you like your booking. But you can do the status match already now. Just trying to get any of the benefits into your existing booking can hurt. Indeed much more than a tiny gift is worth.

Yep, if it was me, I'd take the status match, but not change anything in the existing booking.  The improved status should then show up properly on future bookings.  There are some perks, but not enough to justify the risk of fouling up the booking, imo.  They could address it once onboard, as that's pretty safe, but not sure if it's worth the bother.

As a side note, it's possible that the perks show up anyway once the higher status is achieved.  And if so, that's fine. It's just that I wouldn't call MSC requesting any modification to the reservation.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Stockjock

[tinkr2]

OMG I read your post and immediately got a bad feeling. I spent hours on the phone today trying to change 2 of my 5 cabins to connecting.She said it couldn't be done and had found me two one apart. I accepted 9071 and 9067. Thanked her for all her help and hung up.

Just went and looked at my new booking  and we have 2 cabins, 9030 and 9035, opposite sides of the ship. They were better before she helped me. my mother has dementia and can't be that far away.Uggggggg.

[travelberlin]

8 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

OMG I read your post and immediately got a bad feeling. I spent hours on the phone today trying to change 2 of my 5 cabins to connecting.She said it couldn't be done and had found me two one apart. I accepted 9071 and 9067. Thanked her for all her help and hung up.

Just went and looked at my new booking  and we have 2 cabins, 9030 and 9035, opposite sides of the ship. They were better before she helped me. my mother has dementia and can't be that far away.Uggggggg.

Every time I see this type of experience, I rush to check at my booking 😃. Until now everything Ok. 
Ivi

[mafig]

15 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Every time I see this type of experience, I rush to check at my booking 😃.
Ivi

 

Me, too!

[Stockjock]

15 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

OMG I read your post and immediately got a bad feeling. I spent hours on the phone today trying to change 2 of my 5 cabins to connecting.She said it couldn't be done and had found me two one apart. I accepted 9071 and 9067. Thanked her for all her help and hung up.

Just went and looked at my new booking  and we have 2 cabins, 9030 and 9035, opposite sides of the ship. They were better before she helped me. my mother has dementia and can't be that far away.Uggggggg.

Unfortunately, I think you'll have to call back.  Have access to the ship's deck plan when you call so you can look at any specific cabins that they show you.

[deliver42]

This is typical of MSC's customer service. Now you have to call, but in the future avoid calling for any reason. As you found out, they don't have a clue what they're doing.