Online check in Country of residence Question

[Galway88]

Hey,

 

I am from Ireland and I have booked a cruise of the MSC's Austria site.

 

I work there part time and move between both country's. So I don't live in Austria full time. 

 

My main residence is in Ireland, So my question is when I use the online check in, can put Ireland in as my country of residence? Or because I used the Austria MSC website and it says my Country of residence is Austria do I need to keep it Austria?

 

Has any one changed their country of residence while using the online check in?

 

Thanks 

 

 

 

[Até]

While I am a dual citizen I don't have much experience with this regarding MSC and it's probably best to call and ask.

 

My thoughts: Do you have dual citizenship?  Or do you have some official residence status in Austria?  If not I think it's probably best to use the country that you have a passport or ID from.

[cellfree]

Along with @Até I would suggest using Country on Passport. 

[Galway88]

Thanks for the reply’s, I plan to use my Irish passport.
 

I didn’t make the reservation on the Irish website due to the difference in cost. The Austrian site was much better value. 
 

My question is because I've used the Austrian website to make the booking would stating my residency is in Ireland cause any issue when checking in? 

[Até]

24 minutes ago, Galway88 said:

My question is because I've used the Austrian website to make the booking would stating my residency is in Ireland cause any issue when checking in? 

That's been trouble for a number of people but it's usually caused by your IP address sending you to the local website, not where you booked, and the "foreign" website rejecting you due to not being in it's location.  You seem to have overcome this by the booking having been made and you seem to have access to it.  I don't know if entering the non-booking site citizenship would cause any issues, I kind of doubt it.  But I would still first suggest using the citizenship of my passport and see if it causes any website issues.

 

Give this question a little more time and likely you will get a response from people who have done it.  Lots of EU and UK Cruise Critic users discuss booking in the US, hopefully one of them sees this question.

Edited July 11 by Até

[cellfree]

I see my reply has not been very helpful. I know when I check in I am always asked “what country I was born in” and “what country my residency/passport says,” both are different.

But as you are asking - what happens when you book on a website different from passport country. MSC does not ask what web site you booked from and cruise is “paid in full,” right. 

Well as I ramble and try to think this through, still no definitive answer. But I don’t know if a MSC Agent would know the answer either.

If check-in allows you to put Austria for Residency and Ireland for Passport info, do so.

ok, I’ll quit with my suggestions!

[Galway88]

21 minutes ago, Até said:

That's been trouble for a number of people but it's usually caused by your IP address sending you to the local website, not where you booked, and the "foreign" website rejecting you due to not being in it's location.  You seem to have overcome this by the booking having been made and you seem to have access to it.  I don't know if entering the non-booking site citizenship would cause any issues, I kind of doubt it.  But I would still first suggest using the citizenship of my passport and see if it causes any website issues.

 

Give this question a little more time and likely you will get a response from people who have done it.  Lots of EU and UK Cruise Critic users discuss booking in the US, hopefully one of them sees this question.

 

Thanks, No IP issue. I have a booking.I can access everything on the web site.

I've contacted support to add a cot for my son, No issue at all.

 

It's just the last part I'm questioning for check in. It's a few weeks away so hopefully someone else on here has gone through this as you said from the EU/UK.

 

thanks again

[Morgsmom]

I've often wondered about this because there are often times when other country's websites have much better deals, especially with currency fluctuations, but the site dose not allow the "country" to be changed.  Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

[notley-cruise]

On 7/11/2024 at 4:41 PM, Galway88 said:

Thanks for the reply’s, I plan to use my Irish passport.
 

I didn’t make the reservation on the Irish website due to the difference in cost. The Austrian site was much better value. 
 

My question is because I've used the Austrian website to make the booking would stating my residency is in Ireland cause any issue when checking in? 

 

Check in does not care which MSC website you booked via.  By the time you've got to check-in you've paid in full. 

What matters is you have the neccessary travel documents, visas and permissions for all ports on the cruise, not just embarkation and disembarkation.

If Ireland is your country of permanent residence state that.  If you solely have an Irish passport that's both your nationality and citizenship.

 

We have booked cruises for family members from other countries, we checked with MSC call centre first and they said it was no issue.  We've also booked MSC cruises via other country websites than our normal residency.  Again no issue.  We've needed to amend residencies and nationalities prior to web check-in as their forms tend to default to local, again no issue.

[notley-cruise]

On 7/12/2024 at 3:13 PM, Morgsmom said:

I've often wondered about this because there are often times when other country's websites have much better deals, especially with currency fluctuations, but the site dose not allow the "country" to be changed.  Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

 

VPNs exist for this reason.

[Morgsmom]

16 hours ago, notley-cruise said:

 

VPNs exist for this reason.

Sorry, but I am not quite understanding this response.  

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Sorry, but I am not quite understanding this response.  

 

 A virtual private network connection allows you to mask your location.  I can sit in my home here in Virginia, connect to a VPN end point located in England, and all the internet sites I visit think I am located in England. 

 

 Here is a screen shot of the VPN that I use, and a small selections of the VPN endpoints I can connect to.  

 

[notley-cruise]

Yep, that's the VPN provider we use also.

 

Just to add with the EU there's a common market, so a cruise will be priced the same in Euros whether you are in France, Germany or Ireland.  Cruises includes gratuities, but list them as a separate line item.  I think Easy Plus is the default drinks package.

 

Since the UK left the common market, we have our own pricing in British pounds and different packages.  UK booked MSC cruises include gratuities and Premium Extra drinks package is the default, discounted below what USA pays for Easy Plus when selected at time of booking.

 

Our family has dual nationalities, some UK/EU, some UK/Non-EU, and residencies in UK, EU, and Non-EU Europe.  So we've a fair amount of flexibility over which locale to book through. 

This year we've booked via MSC UK website as the pricing worked out best.

Edited July 14 by notley-cruise

[MyriamS]

14 hours ago, notley-cruise said:

Yep, that's the VPN provider we use also.

 

Just to add with the EU there's a common market, so a cruise will be priced the same in Euros whether you are in France, Germany or Ireland.  Cruises includes gratuities, but list them as a separate line item.  I think Easy Plus is the default drinks package.

 

Since the UK left the common market, we have our own pricing in British pounds and different packages.  UK booked MSC cruises include gratuities and Premium Extra drinks package is the default, discounted below what USA pays for Easy Plus when selected at time of booking.

 

Our family has dual nationalities, some UK/EU, some UK/Non-EU, and residencies in UK, EU, and Non-EU Europe.  So we've a fair amount of flexibility over which locale to book through. 

This year we've booked via MSC UK website as the pricing worked out best.

That is not my experience, at least for Costa. Every EU website has a different price even when I take into account some of them including the gratuities and others not. Costa lets you book on any of their websites, so you can shop around for the best price.

 

MSC has an hardcoded residence requirement, so when you book through their French website, you must be a French resident, on their German website, a German or Austrian resident etc. So, as long as you have an Austrian address (which you must since you work part-time in the country), I would put my residence as Austria at check-in time just to be consistent. If you were to put Ireland, it would probably be ok as well: after all, since cruises are sometimes purchased a year or two in advance, it would be totally possible for someone to move countries between buying a cruise and checking in for their cruise.

[Galway88]

So I called MSC support here in Ireland this morning. They have said there is no issue with changing the country of residence when checking in. 

 

One way I am have been able to book and pay for this cruise from Ireland using the Austrian web site is I used Paypal to pay.

 

Assuming that they may check which bank you are using to pay. 

 

The difference in price between the Irish web site and Austrian was €480.

 

But it looks ok as of today with five weeks to go.

[Morgsmom]

23 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 A virtual private network connection allows you to mask your location.  I can sit in my home here in Virginia, connect to a VPN end point located in England, and all the internet sites I visit think I am located in England. 

 

 Here is a screen shot of the VPN that I use, and a small selections of the VPN endpoints I can connect to.  

 

 

Yes, that makes sense, but my question was around the hard coded nationality.  Looking forward to hearing more about this because there are deals to be had by checking out the different websites.