17 months, nevertheless no MSC Cruises credit

Pricey Travel TROUBLESHOOTER: In 2019, I booked an MSC cruise from Italy to Greece for 2020. MSC canceled the cruise in early 2020 and supplied me a 125% cruise credit history or a refund. I questioned for a credit score.

It is been 17 months, and I have not received the credit rating still. I’ve arrived at out to my vacation agent and the govt contacts for MSC Cruises that you list on your consumer advocacy web page. Neither has worked.

I could definitely use your intervention. I just want the cruise credit they promised me.

— Terry Sutherland, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Remedy: This is a strange case. Generally, cruise strains are brief to offer a credit score but slow on the refunds. And I can truthfully say this is the 1st time a cruise line has dragged its feet (or it’s possible I ought to say its anchor) on a long term cruise credit.

I reviewed the correspondence amongst you and MSC. It appears to be like the firm supplied you possibly a refund or a cruise credit history. You requested the credit rating but then nothing took place. You requested politely and MSC apologized for “running a bit behind” on issuing future cruise credits. You requested your journey agent, who apologized for the “unusual hold off.” Yeah, I would contact a 17-month delay abnormal, far too. Really strange.

For a scenario like this, my common tips would have been an attraction to one of the MSC Cruises executives I record on my web site at www.elliott.org/organization-contacts/msc-cruises/, which you did. Oddly, you didn’t get a reaction. Usually, when executives obtain a plea from a purchaser who has waited that lengthy, they just take action. Then once again, we’re speaking about the cruise field in the course of the pandemic. There was no cruise market in the course of the pandemic, so that may clarify your case.

I have to applaud you for getting so affected individual. I would have started obtaining restless just after a couple weeks. You lasted 17 months! Wow. I believe you have been correct to give MSC a very little leeway for the duration of the pandemic, in particular looking at how tough COVID-19 hit the cruise organization. But adequate is more than enough. You wanted to climb the escalation ladder, to start with to your agent, then to the cruise line, subsequent to the executives and at last, to me. And you did. And which is how your case finished up in my inbox.