One of the best things about cruising is sharing the experience with friends and family. Whether it’s a family reunion, a multi-generational vacation, or just a group of friends setting sail together, it’s natural to want everyone to be connected. But if your group books under separate reservations, you might wonder:
“How do I link MSC Cruises reservations together online?”
Linking reservations ensures your group gets the most out of the trip—coordinated dining, cabins close together, and shared activities. Without linking, your cruise experiences may feel scattered, with people seated at different dinner tables or booked into separate excursion groups.
In this 3000-word guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about linking MSC Cruises reservations:
Why you might need to link reservations
Benefits of linking
MSC’s official policy on linking bookings
Step-by-step process to link reservations online
How to link through a travel agent or MSC directly
Dining, excursions, and stateroom coordination after linking
Group booking vs. linked reservations
Common challenges and troubleshooting
Real-world scenarios and examples
Expert tips to make it seamless
By the end, you’ll have a clear, actionable roadmap for linking reservations successfully, so you and your companions enjoy every moment of your cruise together.
Linking reservations isn’t mandatory, but it offers significant benefits.
MSC Cruises assigns dining times and table seating. Without linked bookings, your group may be split up across the dining room. Linking ensures you’re seated together.
When linked, MSC can try to place your cabins near each other for convenience.
Linked groups can book and embark on excursions together, avoiding logistical headaches.
From spa appointments to specialty dining, linked reservations help staff coordinate requests for the entire group.
If your travel group has multiple bookings, MSC agents can see them connected in the system, making problem-solving easier.
Shared Experiences: Dinner, shows, and activities with your group.
Simplified Logistics: Easier to manage excursions, payments, and changes.
Priority for Proximity: Cabins assigned closer together where possible.
Better Coordination: MSC’s system treats your bookings as part of the same party.
Peace of Mind: Avoids surprises at embarkation when people expect to be together but aren’t.
MSC allows passengers to link multiple bookings together. The process:
Requires each booking number.
Can be done online through the MSC website or app, via a travel agent, or by calling MSC’s customer service.
Linking does not merge payments—each reservation retains its own billing.
Linking ensures dining and activity coordination but doesn’t guarantee cabin adjacency (subject to availability).
Here’s a simple roadmap for doing it yourself online:
Each traveler’s booking number (alphanumeric code).
Full passenger names for verification.
Email addresses or MSC account details linked to each booking.
Go to MSC Cruises official website.
Log in with your MSC account credentials or booking number + last name.
Click on “Manage Your Booking”.
Enter your booking number if it’s not already visible.
Look for “Link Another Booking” or “Connect a Reservation.”
Enter the other booking number(s) and passenger details.
Once entered, the system will show confirmation that the reservations are connected.
You should receive an updated confirmation email.
Log back in to see if your dining assignments match.
If excursions are already booked, call MSC to ensure everyone is grouped.
If you booked through a travel agent, linking should be done through them.
Provide your agent with all booking numbers.
They’ll update MSC’s system on your behalf.
This is often the easiest option since agents can request special dining or cabin arrangements.
If you encounter technical issues online, you can call MSC Cruises directly.
Be ready with all booking numbers and passenger names.
MSC customer service will manually link the reservations.
They can also confirm dining and stateroom arrangements.
MSC offers assigned dining (traditional seating) or My Choice dining (flexible).
Linked reservations are grouped for the same table.
Specialty dining reservations should be booked early for the whole party.
When linked, you can reserve excursions together.
If booked separately, call MSC or the excursion desk onboard to sync.
There’s an important difference between linking reservations and making a group booking.
Usually 8+ cabins booked together.
Comes with perks: onboard credits, discounted fares, and dedicated group coordinators.
Simply connecting separate individual reservations.
Provides dining and activity coordination but no group booking perks.
Sometimes, even after linking, guests are seated separately.
Solution: Visit the maître d’ on embarkation day to request table changes.
Linking doesn’t guarantee side-by-side cabins.
Solution: Make a request early or book together originally.
Excursions may still show separately.
Solution: Call MSC excursions desk before sailing.
MSC’s system may not always confirm links online.
Solution: Call MSC directly or use the app.
Two siblings booked separate cabins with kids. They linked reservations online, ensuring one large dining table together.
One couple booked an interior cabin, another a balcony suite. Linking reservations allowed them to dine and book excursions together, despite different cabin classes.
Grandparents booked separately through a travel agent, while the children booked directly with MSC. By linking the two reservations, they ensured cabin proximity.
Link Early – Do it as soon as bookings are made to increase chances of dining/cabin coordination.
Use One Contact – Assign one person as the primary communicator for the group.
Check Confirmation Emails – Always verify that linking has been processed.
Confirm Onboard – Recheck dining and excursions after embarkation.
Consider Group Booking – If your party is large, ask if you qualify for MSC group benefits.
Yes, you can do it online, through the app, or by contacting MSC.
No, only one person needs to initiate the linking process with booking numbers.
Not guaranteed, but MSC will try if availability allows.
Yes, as long as you provide both booking numbers.
No, each reservation retains its own billing and payment method.