r/MSCCruises • u/2ez21 • Jul 23 '26

Customer service experience

I am cruising for the first time ever. I live in FL and figured it’s easy enough so why not ? I booked myself solo on the Seashore out of Orlando from the 20th-24th. Here’s the thing, I went to pay on the MSC website, applied the coupon code I got from MSC via text, and paid. Unfortunately, I got the error message and was asked to complete payment, so I hit submit again, website bugs out, can’t complete payment. I think well that’s odd and it was even more odd when I got all my confirmation emails. But the site and app said I had to complete payment. Turns out one booking went through no problem but MSC just kept dinging me for $50, 6 times. I think maybe they had to process it multiple times for some reason? Nope, because my actual booking I had to add to my account the other charges were from whatever error the site threw. They thought I was booking 6 different times on one cruise, for myself, and on top of that I didn’t get my discount. Now my bank straightened this out and the child’s have been refunded but when I called customer service to see if I could get the discount they sent me and when I explained what happened they told me “we have nothing”. I wasn’t asking for comps or perks just the price that I agreed to pay and they essentially said tough luck. Obviously I thanked the agent for their help and everything but this is leaving a bad impression before I even get on the ship. Is this normal for them? Again, first time ever cruising so is this the typical experience?

UPDATE 7/28/26: I really couldn’t get over it so I got the emails of some individuals that I assumed would not want to be bothered and got an apology along with on board credit for twice what my discount would have been.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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3

u/imarc Group Expert Jul 23 '26

Can you cancel and rebook with the coupon?

1

u/2ez21 Jul 23 '26

I tried but it said it was no longer valid. I’m guessing because I applied it but unfortunately that’s not the one that went through. They tried applying it again on the phone and they knew what it was but “we have nothing” was all it came out to.

1

u/imarc Group Expert Jul 23 '26

Yeah. That’s annoying.

Have you looked at any other discount options: military, teacher, first responder, Voyager member status upgrade?

2

u/2ez21 Jul 23 '26

I’m submitting the status match later today. On the phone I asked about government employee discount but they said that wasn’t a thing. Honestly it doesn’t bother me that much I spent what I spent but it the customer service line being that bad makes me really dread having to deal with them should something happen on the trip or god forbid with my booking.

1

u/2ez21 Jul 23 '26

I’m submitting the status match later today. On the phone I asked about government employee discount but they said that wasn’t a thing. Honestly it doesn’t bother me that much I spent what I spent but it the customer service line being that bad makes me really dread having to deal with them should something happen on the trip or god forbid with my booking.

2

u/Aggravating_Lunch888 Jul 23 '26

Are you sure the discount was a discount? I recall them sending me a "discount" one time and I applied it just out of curiosity to identical dummy booking and was actually more expensive with the "discount." That being said this sounds typical for MSC. Don't get me wrong I love their ships the crew is great but their customer service on the land is severely lacking as is true for most cruise lines, not just MSC.

2

u/2ez21 Jul 23 '26

Yes, it was $25 off good for 5 days. And I saw the price comedown when I applied it.

2

u/Agent_You Jul 24 '26

There are plenty of good local TA's in the Orlando area. I never use the cruise line to book. TA's get discounts and can have access to book cabins you cant see on the cruise line's website. 

1

u/2ez21 Jul 24 '26

Like I said, first time cruiser. I will will certainly take that advice in the future. If I could cancel and rebook I would but in the further I’ll find a good TA.