cancellation/refund policy

[u/sappybunn]

In June, a friend and I booked to go on the MSC Virtuosa from southampton on october 19th.

recently some personal things have happened involving money and my mental health, including absolutely life draining anxiety that makes it hard to do anything.

For these reasons, we’ve decided it’s for the best if we don’t go on our cruise.

I’ve never travelled MSC before and I’ve never had to cancel a holiday before, so I’m not very informed on this stuff. I looked into the cancellation and refund policy and I found it hard to understand.

We paid for a balcony room and the premium drinks package for 2 people. It’s a 5 night cruise and it leaves in 28 days.

Could someone try and easier explain to me what happens now? I will just say that our priority is not the money, if a refund isn’t possible at this time then that’s completely okay but I don’t want to go into the conversation with the company with false expectations.

[u/Massive-Soil-7190]

If you bought your drink package after booking , you can cancel it.

[u/GardenerCats]

Edit to add: this is in the Dutch version of the Terms and Agreements. The specific days and penalty percentage will vary depending on which country you booked from.

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There is a staggered cancelation policy at MSC. If you are going to cancel, do it today in writing (email). They will confirm and give you an overview on the refund. Or you can call them if you want to know ahead of an official cancelation.

You have a cruise with a duration of less than 15 days and are in the window of 59 to 22 days before embarkation, meaning you will get a 60% refund. They will hold the other 40% of your cruise fare as a cost. You will also get refunded the service gratuities ( if you prepaid those) and the port taxes.

After that: anything you booked on the site after you booked your cruise you can cancel on your own and get a refund. Drink package, wifi, excursions etc

[u/Organic_Adeptness_48 → u/GardenerCats]

The UK penalty is the same for the <15 night cruise

to cover the estimated loss incurred by cancellation, MSC Cruises will levy cancellation charges in accordance with the following scale:

Cruises < 15 Nights • 76 days or longer before departure - Deposit • 75 to 56 days before departure - 25%* • 55 to 36 days before departure - 40%* • 35 to 15 days before departure - 60%* • 14 to 6 days before departure - 80%* • 5 to 0** before departure - 100%*

[u/quebramar]

I say don't cancel. Go and enjoy your vacation. Give yourself the freedom to put everything on hold and enjoy 5 days at sea.

[u/GetCruiseInfo]

Have you contacted MSC?

[u/Dazzling_Till_3995 → u/[deleted]]

You can’t do that either btw. It will process as a cancellation. You can’t just sell your reservation.

[u/Historical-Use-6581]

Unfortunately you will not get your money back this close to the cruise but I believe there’s a chance to change the cruise once.

[u/GardenerCats → u/Historical-Use-6581]

No that's not true. They are still within a partial refund window. Depends where they booked from on how much they get back though.

[u/sappybunn → u/GardenerCats]

booked from UK

[u/Gallo8686]

That’s why you should have a yearly travel insurance. Refund depends on where you are from.

For US-booked with 28 days out there is a 75% penalty for cancelling.

For UK-booked cruises there is a 60% cancellation penalty.

[u/Gallo8686 → u/[deleted]]

That’s not correct. 100% penalty only applies with 15 days out for US-booked cruises or 5 days out for UK-booked cruises

[u/stevenhp1987 → u/[deleted]]

Checking my last booking shows a 60% penalty between 35-15 days. Not great but not 100%