What if you get errors when logging into your MSC account or can't add a booking number? Here's a fix.

[Stockjock]

I touched upon this in another thread, but I thought it was a common enough issue to start a new thread with a bit more information.

If you log in to your MSC account and immediately see errors, or if you enter a valid booking number but it's either rejected or not visible "under all my cruises', or if you're not receiving Voyagers Club points that you should be entitled to, here are some things to check.

First of all, if everything seems to be working properly, don't mess with it.  It will only make things worse.  In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Step 1: Make sure your name is correct in Voyager's Club.  If it's wrong, this can only be corrected by Voyager's Club and only by e-mail and the U.S. address is MSCVoyagersClub@msccruisesusa.com.  If you're not sure, the MSC customer service agents can pull up your Voyagers Club number and view how your name is formatted.  But they won't be able to fix errors on your VC account.  But they may be able to fix errors on the booking itself, as described below.

Here's where I'm seeing problems.  As mentioned elsewhere, my GF is from the Philippines.  They use their maiden name as sort of a hyphenated last name, although there may not be an actual hyphen.  But if you have a name like this, it could be a problem.

So again, a hypothetical example.  This is not my GF's real name.

Susan Lopez Smith

Voyager's Club was showing her name as Susan (first) no middle name Lopez Smith (last name).

The correct format on her reservation should be Susan (first) Lopez (middle) Smith (last name).

Took me several tries to get Voyager's Club to correct her name.  Once it was in good order, and after a few more back and further messages, she went from almost no VC points (Classic), to 7,700 VC points (Gold), as she had not been getting credit for prior cruises and spending.

Once the Voyager's Club name is confirmed to be correct, try to add your bookings to your MSC account.  Remember, if the name is off by just a tiny bit, you won't be able to add it and you probably won't get VC points for future or past sailings where there is a name mismatch.

Back to my case, as an example.

VC name fixed, past points credited.  Now it was time to add our 2 future sailings.

Upcoming 2022 sailing went in no problem.  The name and formatting were the same.

Here's how it should look on your booking confirmation: 
Guest(s)
Smith, Susan Lopez  

The first one looked exactly the way it should, it was easily entered into "link my bookings" in her MSC account, so all good there.

But the 2nd one looked like this and could not be added:

Lopez Smith, Susan.  The mismatch was creating the problem.

They took multiple shots at fixing the problem.  I think I spoke with 4 agents.

Attempt 1: No change.

Attempt 2: Lopez Smith, Susan Lopez (wrong).

Attempt 3: Smith, Lopez, Susan (still not right - first name in wrong position and extra comma).

This agent (yesterday) got frustrated, said nothing more could be done.

Today:

First attempt: No change.  Agent insisted it was a Voyager's Club issue and suggested I contact them.  I told him it was not and that Voyager Club was finally in good order.  The last thing I want to do is contact them and make things worse after the issues were fixed (took 3-4 weeks, not including an unsuccessful attempt in 2021).

Second attempt: Different agent.  Same outcome as the first agent.  Everything was fine, contact Voyager's Club (wrong).

Third attempt: Different agent.  He sounded more intelligent, so I was hopeful.

At first, he couldn't figure out the issue and said it looked fine.  I asked him to e-mail my booking confirmation to himself and to view the formatting under guests.  He did this and could then see that her name wasn't formatted properly.

(Me): Adams, John Quincy (Good)
(GF): Smith, Lopez, Susan (Not good.  Last name is fine.  Middle name shown as first name.  First name shown as middle name.  Extra comma).

He now (finally!) understood the issue.  But how to fix it?

He tried several times and nothing was working.  And then on his 3rd try, he said, "I think I've got it this time!".

He sent me yet another booking confirmation:
Smith, Susan Lopez

Perfect!  I asked how he fixed it and he said, "I really don't know how I fixed it, to tell you the truth, but it's fixed, right".  And it was.

Once the name was corrected, I logged into her MSC account, it was immediately accepted, and now properly shows up under all of my cruises.

I mentioned elsewhere that airlines will sometimes lump the first and middle names together on the flight ticket and if that's all that is going on, it's probably fine.  But on MSC, it's not fine.

Remember, the MSC systems are super fussy and everything much match *perfectly*.  Remember too, that if you aren't sure how your name is formatted, request a booking confirmation, look your name at the top under guest(s) and as long as it looks like this example Adams, John Quincy you should be good.  Presuming, again, that it matches your Voyager's Club account.  

It's a good thing that I am a patient person, lol.


 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Stockjock

[cruiseguyinorl]

Just as a caveat to this. If her passport shows her last name as Lopez Smith, the booking will automatically revert to that when she checks in at the terminal. The little known fact is that it honestly doesn't matter what is on your reservation up until then as their system will change it automatically to match the passport when it is manually swiped at the pier. So in the example in this case, hopefully Smith is the only name in the Surname field.

At least this has been my experience with MSC over the past years with all my group guests. But we know MSC stands for Most Surely Changes.

Bret

[Stockjock]

5 minutes ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

Just as a caveat to this. If her passport shows her last name as Lopez Smith, the booking will automatically revert to that when she checks in at the terminal. The little known fact is that it honestly doesn't matter what is on your reservation up until then as their system will change it automatically to match the passport when it is manually swiped at the pier. So in the example in this case, hopefully Smith is the only name in the Surname field.

At least this has been my experience with MSC over the past years with all my group guests. But we know MSC stands for Most Surely Changes.

Bret

Thanks.  Good to know that's not an issue at the terminal, but it is in terms of MSC's fussy systems.  It doesn't seem to like hyphenated or quasi-hyphenated names and everything must match precisely.

[mawvkysc]

Just a simple tip for newbies. Make sure you are on the MSCcruisesusa website. I have accidentally gone to another country’s MSC site before. 

[Stockjock]

I posted this on social media.  While I appreciate the fact that this MSC agent did fix the problem...
 

Mild annoyance of the day.
 

Had an issue with a travel reservation, as my GF's name was listed incorrectly. The first 2 customer service agents couldn't figure out how to correct it. The 3rd did, after numerous tries.
 

But...
 

Even though he seemed like a nice guy, he said, "o-cray" about 50 times. He was trying to say "okay", but he pronounced it as "o-cray".
 

I'm glad he fixed the issue that others couldn't, but the "o-cray" thing was driving me "o-crazy"!

Edited October 21, 2022 by Stockjock

[MaisonRose]

As an aside about these Name issues, how a woman is listed in Europe is different.

For example when I replaced my driver permit here in France, I got immersed in a name kerfluffle, it turning out that I am Susan maiden name and using my married name didn’t ring with French bureaucracy. After 22 years!

Who da thunk it?

Susan

[Stockjock]

On 10/24/2022 at 1:07 PM, MaisonRose said:

As an aside about these Name issues, how a woman is listed in Europe is different.

For example when I replaced my driver permit here in France, I got immersed in a name kerfluffle, it turning out that I am Susan maiden name and using my married name didn’t ring with French bureaucracy. After 22 years!

Who da thunk it?

Susan

The thing about MSC is that the names must match precisely.  

In terms of the French situation, you'd probably need to present your marriage license if you want to have it updated, or simply not worry about it.

[mrtdg]

I accidentally created an account using my preferred name rather than my passport name. I never thought that would render my account useless. I am unable to change my name and their is no help available. I called MSC and they repeatedly gave me incorrect email addresses. I haven't even created a VC account because I don't want that to be inaccessible too.

 

On my son's account he used the wrong email and discovered even though there is a place to change your email it does nothing.

 

This is my 1st time on MSC and I already hate the website. I guess I need to signup for a new email address to use it. I'm afraid even that will not work since I tried already with my linking it to my real email with the wrong first name.