MSC Orchestra cruise - Such a *******!

I am writing to complain about our worst experience with MSC cruises booking. Our family of 17 people booked a trip to the Portuguese Island 07 Feb 2020 to 10th February 2020.

We booked the cruise in August 2019. Passenger registration forms was sent to *** . We paid the funds in full and received our booking confirmation on 17 September 2019.

We noticed that numerous errors was captured incorrectly by Simphiwe Zi***ala i.e. Surnames spelt incorrectly, first names captured incorrectly, gender and passport numbers captured incorrectly.

We phoned MSC call centre on numerous occasions, placed on hold to get through the relevant department/person. We were advised that Simphiwe was on sick leave and when she returns, she would rectify the error. We never receive any phone call from Simphiwe nor did we receive any feedback from her as to when the registrations would be rectified. Emails was sent to her however no response. I called MSC call centre and spoke to Mohammed who assisted and corrected the information at the last minute.

All corrected 17 passenger Etickets was only emailed to us a day before departure 06.02.2020. We thought, all was good and was ready for an exciting holiday.

The worst was yet to come : On the 07th February 2020, we proceeded to MSC to embark. We conceded all the MSC check ins i.e. baggage/security etc... When we arrived at the last check point (Home Affairs), my daughter was denied access due to not producing an unabridged certificate. This tore my daughter emotionally whereby was denied access.

During the MSC check in points, we was not made aware of the abridged certificate, nor asked to produce the document at any stage. Only when we got home, we noticed the small fine print Travel documents & visas. • Both parents travelling with child (ren) under the age of 18 years have to produce a full/unabridged birth certificate for the child (both parents details must be on the birth certificate

At no stage were we contacted by MSC to ensure that all the information required was correct on the passenger registration forms. MSC received payment in full in September 2019 however never contacted the customer to advise that they require an unabridged birth certificate for children under 18.

We saved a lot of money and also booked online to purchase vouchers for drinks and coffee, only to learn that _+R15000 spent on MSC cruise will be forfeited.

I am very much disappointed. MSC just made this trip a terrible experience and shattered my little girl’s heart who is only 14 years old.

Such a *******!