Cutbacks and devaluations - this new gold member may not come back

Just got back from a seven day cruise on the Magnifica yesterday. Ironically, this last cruise brought me up to gold status, but I will think twice before booking with MSC again. The recent cutbacks and devaluations were just a little more than I had anticipated.

- I knew the onboard club discounts had been replaced by a coupon book, but was nevertheless surprised how useless it was. We did not use a single coupon

- the buffet was much more fast food oriented than before. It was hard to find decent fish or meat. Instead, we got to sample all ethnic varieties of chicken legs over the course of the week

- the good Italian cheeses and hams were gone and replaced by some very basic cheese and processed turkey breast

- the house wine sold by the carafe at a reasonable price was no longer available

- Fish and meat portions at the MDR decreased in size

- Scrambled eggs at breakfast tasted very artificial

- The passenger mix seemed much more down market with many eastern European first-time cruises. Hardly anyone bothered to dress up for Gala nights.

I don't want to sound negative, but since loyalty is no longer rewarded, we will test out some other lines. TUI cruises is at the top of our list.

Hi Alex ... If that is a true reflection of the whole of MSC then I may well not see my Black card which I am just a few days cruise short of! why do they feel the need to ruin a good thing.

Hi Alex ... If that is a true reflection of the whole of MSC then I may well not see my Black card which I am just a few days cruise short of! why do they feel the need to ruin a good thing.

To save money no doubt!

Still think the whole strategy is I

L advised. They have a lot of new big ships due to deliver so need a bigger customer base than ever. All business people know it is cheaper to sell to existing customers than constantly attract new ones. Yet they seem determined to lose existing customers.

Alex, I have 3 booked over the next 2 years, 2 booked in the last week of my 20% discount. If my April repo cruise is like your recent one, I probably won't bother at all with the other 2.

I can't see me making any further bookings. Cost up a lot, benefits greatly reduced and if onboard food and other things also reduced, then not a lot of point choosing MSC.

I haven't cruised with them anyway since Apr 2014 when I previously sailed 2-4 times per year.

You only have to look at these boards and the names of people who were regular MSC passengers and contributors to the site who have now long gone elsewhere driven away by the stupidity of MSC management and their non ideas.

I hope some of our experience was specific to the ship and sailing and that your experiences will be better. I would think though that budgets are set centrally and food is purchased centrally for all ships.

I agree that it would be much cheaper to sell to existing customers than having to spend money to win new ones. Once all the new ships come online and need to be filled, a base of loyal customers would be important.

Not just MSC, but many other lines are adding ships, including Costa, Aida and TUI, so that there will be a lot more competition in a few years from now.