Earlier this week I wrote about a new status match offer from MSC Cruises. If you hold elite status with another cruise line or hotel/tour company, they’ll match you to an equivalent status in their MSC Voyagers Club. Voyagers Club is a 5-tier program with benefits that increase in value as you climb up the status ladder.
The best benefit of all is a 5% discount off your cruise fare, with bigger discounts and even onboard credits available for select voyages. The perks for elite status are pretty typical, ranging from priority boarding to welcome back cocktails and onboard parties and late check-out/disembarkation. You can view the complete list of benefits here.
The Status Match
I decided to go ahead and apply for a status match based on my Diamond Plus status with Royal Caribbean International. While I’m sure I have a Diamond Plus membership card somewhere, I can’t find it, so I took a screen shot of my status from the Crown & Anchor member page at royalcaribbean.com.
Once I visited the loyalty match page at MSC’s website, I was able to easily attach the screen shot of my RCL status.
I received a message that my application was received, and they’d be in touch within 2 to 3 business days.
True to their word, I received an email yesterday with my new MSC Voyagers Club status.
While I do not have immediate plans to book an MSC cruise, the likelihood that I do just went up. They have some fairly attractive pricing in the Caribbean from Miami that is difficult to ignore. Not to mention, some interesting new ships coming online soon.
However, please note that unlike the other cruise lines that I’m most familiar with, Voyagers Club status is not “lifetime.” If you review the terms and conditions of the program, you’ll find the following:
MSC Voyagers Club Membership is subject to a minimum of one cruise every three years. If the last cruise disembarkation date is over 3 years (36 months) or no cruise has been completed in 3 years after the enrolment date, membership to the MSC Voyagers Club program will expire.
Something to keep in mind, and that’s not just for status matched members. If you’re interested in matching, here’s the link to the loyalty match page.
-MJ, July 31, 2015
I’ve sailed the Splendida in the Yacht Club in Europe and the Divina in a Balcony cabins in the Caribbean and I can only say nice things about them. The Yacht Club is the way to go if you can afford it but the regular cabins are all very nice. Most of the ships are very new and are in the 140,000 ton range. They say they have the youngest cruise ship fleet in the world. I hate to even tell people how good they are out of fear that it will drive more crowds to them and it will be harder to book or get good prices but they are very good. The biggest problem I have with the new loyalty changes is that I’m already Gold with them from my cruises but I don’t see a way to status match to a higher level. Congrats on the Black level you will see some really good benefits when you sail on them. Trust me.
I did not know their history. I think if I sailed on them, it would likely be in Yacht Club. That said, we are quite booked for cruises through 2016. We usually take a “big” trip every other year. This year will be France and Spain followed by the Allure T/A. I think our focus in 2017 will be on South America. Have to work MSC in somewhere in between. 🙂
I followed the same procedure, but am still waiting for a response. However, in my case, I used my Hilton Gold status, so it will be interesting to see how they handle that.
One of my biggest obstacle’s to considering a cruise with MSC, other than preferring smaller vessels and not being able to afford Yacht Club for single occupancy, is that they began life by purchasing Naples based Lauro Cruises and probably the worst cruise I ever took was on the Achille Lauro, in terms of lack of hygiene and (being warned of) thievery of guests by crew members. While they have come a long way, with Lauro Lines as its roots, for me, MSC has a big beware sign.