Status Match from other Cruise Lines

I saw that MSC is now matching loyalty status with other cruise lines. Would this help Celebrity and Royal Caribbean? I'm 14 points away from Platinum on Carnival and could probably convince Cindy to do a back to back to get to the next tier. Some folks don't want to leave and venture out because of their perks but would if their loyalty was recognized. This would sweeten the pot and help fill up some of those winter cabins in the Caribbean. Some of us might even try something more upscale like Azamara.

The ships are sailing full. There is no need to sweeten the pot, apparently

I saw that MSC is now matching loyalty status with other cruise lines. Would this help Celebrity and Royal Caribbean? I'm 14 points away from Platinum on Carnival and could probably convince Cindy to do a back to back to get to the next tier. Some folks don't want to leave and venture out because of their perks but would if their loyalty was recognized. This would sweeten the pot and help fill up some of those winter cabins in the Caribbean. Some of us might even try something more upscale like Azamara.

Celebrity does a status match with Royal Caribbean and Azamara up to Elite. As West Lake Girl said no reason to do any others.

Celebrity does a status match with Royal Caribbean and Azamara up to Elite. As West Lake Girl said no reason to do any others.

That's better than what Carnival Corp does because my status means nothing for Princess - We just looked. I can wish but I've only done one Royal Caribbean cruise.

I love status matches. I've taken advantage for hotels, casinos, airlines, etc.

And yes ships are full, now but the Celebrity population is getting older. Attracting younger folks is key. People tend to stick with what is comfortable. With younger passengers getting status with say, Carnival or NCL it might make sense to try to entice them to try Celebrity

I know with me I am prone to go where my status is matched versus going where I get no perks .

Just my 2 cents.

Whose top tier benefits even come close to Celebrity?.They probably would need to reduce benefits for their most loyal passengers to provide equal benefits for others. That's one reason why they only wanted to match up to Elite for their sister lines.

By the way: Did you see the RCCL earnings report? They're getting higher prices and the ships are full. You only put items on sale when you need to and Celebrity doesn't need to.do that.

I love status matches. I've taken advantage for hotels, casinos, airlines, etc.

 

And yes ships are full, now but the Celebrity population is getting older. Attracting younger folks is key. People tend to stick with what is comfortable. With younger passengers getting status with say, Carnival or NCL it might make sense to try to entice them to try Celebrity

 

I know with me I am prone to go where my status is matched versus going where I get no perks .

 

Just my 2 cents.

Exactly!

If it weren't for Cindy - I would probably just stuck to Carnival and rolled my eyes to all the cutbacks and maintenance issues. :rolleyes: Like you said I was comfortable and didn't want to start all over again at the bottom of a new loyalty program.

No need to attract cruisers from Carnival or other lines,,.,.

The alcohol perks have done enough to broaden the demographic and not always in a good way! Folks from other lines come over; and then many of them want X to become the clone of the cruise lines they left,,,thus diluting the unique Celebrity Experience,

The status match with Royal has led to overcrowding at Cap Club and E plus events on X and Diamond events on Royal, Too many at higher levels has led to perk dilution...Everyone is Special!

Whose top tier benefits even come close to Celebrity?.They probably would need to reduce benefits for their most loyal passengers to provide equal benefits for others. That's one reason why they only wanted to match up to Elite for their sister lines.

By the way: Did you see the RCCL earnings report? They're getting higher prices and the ships are full. You only put items on sale when you need to and Celebrity doesn't need to.do that.

How is MSC doing? The more business the better you just build more ships for all the new crossover folks - or just offer it seasonally when sales are down. Hotels keep building more and units and give everyone top tier rewards through credit cards.

How is MSC doing? The more business the better you just build more ships for all the new crossover folks - or just offer it seasonally when sales are down. Hotels keep building more and units and give everyone top tier rewards through credit cards.

MSC is NOT Celebrity! There benefits do not come close to Celebrity. They have real problems and have named a former Celebrity Hotel Director VP of Operations. They need to attract passengers and will do what is needed to survive in a competitive market.

Celebrity sales are strong throughout the year and they have the ability to move ships if a particular area is weak. I'd benefit greatly if Celebrity had a match with a strong line like Princess, but I would oppose a match since it would water down my current Celebrity benefits. Hotels are delighted to fill 90% of capacity. Celebrity fills at 104%. according to the last report I read.

Might also mention there is I guess you would call it a status match with MGM resorts.

There is also something to be said that being on a Celebrity ships is more like cruising than being on a floating 6 Flags or DisneyWorld.Some people like that..

MSC is NOT Celebrity! There benefits do not come close to Celebrity. They have real problems and have named a former Celebrity Hotel Director VP of Operations. They need to attract passengers and will do what is needed to survive in a competitive market.

Celebrity sales are strong throughout the year and they have the ability to move ships if a particular area is weak. I'd benefit greatly if Celebrity had a match with a strong line like Princess, but I would oppose a match since it would water down my current Celebrity benefits. Hotels are delighted to fill 90% of capacity. Celebrity fills at 104%. according to the last report I read.

I'll agree with the 2nd part because we've been eyeballing Princess and the atrium and pools look very upscale with lots of yummy food around the pool and desert counter. That music though - I prefer a little 70's and 80's rock.

Might also mention there is I guess you would call it a status match with MGM resorts.

 

There is also something to be said that being on a Celebrity ships is more like cruising than being on a floating 6 Flags or DisneyWorld.Some people like that..

The MGM crossover helps each company draw in the casino players. I love status match - Almost booked Atlantic City Tropicana pre-cruise because of their partnership with Carnival.

Maybe MSC is the best mix of being upscale and a theme park and so they're just trying to get more folks to try it.

Orator is correct! MSC matches the status level but not the perks. Went on them in Jan. and it took me 3 trips to GS to get perks (chocolate ship,12 free drinks and Proseca). In fact i spent quite a bit of time at GS trying to correct all the other problems. Can not compare MSC to Royal or X. According to posts you must book Yacht Club on MSC in order to have an enjoyable cruise. Why pay the extra money on MSC when a better cruise can be had for less on X or Royal?

OK, I'm going to rise to the bait just this once.

Status matching exists in the travel industries to encourage business travelers to change loyalty without losing their perks. Period. An airline might chose to match (or equally likely let you "challenge") your 100,000 mile status, but it's because they want you to give them 100,000 miles worth of business next year, and they know if you do it, you'll lose your status with the previous airline and be "stuck" with them. Ditto hotels. If you don't switch, you'll lose the one time status pretty fast.

The MGM partnership is a co-branding scheme to get you into a non-competing travel segment. Same as United's partnership with Marriott.

The cruise lines probably don't need it (MSC's program excepted), and their status systems are for life, so you wouldn't lose your Celebrity status by cruising MSC. Which is a disincentive to offer a match.

I know Duanerice1 pasted they've done status matches, apparently as an individual leisure traveler, but that's pretty rare. When I've looked into it (United 1K/Marriott Platinum; I travel a lot), the rules made it difficult to impossible to actually gain something, unless I was going to switch airlines all but completely.

And back to the OP: It's time to post your next 50-100 posts on something actually related to your cruise experience or questions about your expected experience on Celebrity. The "why doesn't a cruise line I've never sailed on change to suit some notion I have" posts are old. Really old.

We have done most of our cruises on RCCL and Celebrity....end of the month we will be sailing on the Equinox which will be our 53rd cruise that we have taken. Last year we tried MSC, and upgraded to their Yacht Club....we were really WOWED! Loved it so much that we are doing the Yacht Club again on their new MSC Seaside in November. When we got dropped off our Butler came to a tent set up outside and carried our baggage on board, and got us all checked in via a private waiting area. Our food was fantastic....unlimited top shelf drinks. With that being said, we still love RCCL and Celebrity...but in my opinion...give MSC a try.

The status match to Black Card was OK...but their loyalty program does not come close to matching Celebrity or RCCL.

MSC is NOT Celebrity! There benefits do not come close to Celebrity. They have real problems and have named a former Celebrity Hotel Director VP of Operations. They need to attract passengers and will do what is needed to survive in a competitive market.

Celebrity sales are strong throughout the year and they have the ability to move ships if a particular area is weak.

"Have real problems" - hardly. They are doing massive growth though... whereas Celebrity aren't. They're actually looking to double fleet size within some years.

That growth enables increased passenger numbers without contention.

Plus this offer has been operating for over a year, i.e soon after they launched in the US and is in place to enable larger numbers in new markets. If they hadn't run it their loyalty numbers would be very low as there have been very few Americans exposed to their product before they launched in the US.

So no, not a problem, just a sensible way to build numbers when there is way more than sufficient capacity for them.

Oh, and yeah... MSC also "have the ability to move ships if a particular area is weak!" Not that that has been an issue.

Orator is correct! MSC matches the status level but not the perks. Went on them in Jan. and it took me 3 trips to GS to get perks (chocolate ship,12 free drinks and Proseca). In fact i spent quite a bit of time at GS trying to correct all the other problems. Can not compare MSC to Royal or X.

Well, it took me 4 visits over same number of days to Guest services last Celebrity cruise just to get the GoBest offer that was meant to be included with my booking - and that was in a suite. GS had to wait for replies from Head office overnight multiple times, and then only added them progressively. And yes there were other problems as well, and it went far from smoothly.

Admin problems are hardly unique to MSC and response turnaround time no better on Celebrity or RCL. Seems very comparable!

"Have real problems" - hardly. They are doing massive growth though... whereas Celebrity aren't. They're actually looking to double fleet size within some years.

 

That growth enables increased passenger numbers without contention.

 

Plus this offer has been operating for over a year, i.e soon after they launched in the US and is in place to enable larger numbers in new markets. If they hadn't run it their loyalty numbers would be very low as there have been very few Americans exposed to their product before they launched in the US.

 

So no, not a problem, just a sensible way to build numbers when there is way more than sufficient capacity for them.

 

Oh, and yeah... MSC also "have the ability to move ships if a particular area is weak!" Not that that has been an issue.

There you go. They wouldn't be doubling the fleet if this offer wasn't working. Imagine if Celebrity doubled their fleet - all the new places they would go? Even just one or two more ships. Those Caribbean sailings in the winter wouldn't stay dirt cheap because the families leaning on their loyalty points would have a new option. If Celebrity doesn't want them MSC will.

I'm a platinum member with Wyndham because of the credit card and any brand they buy - they get my loyalty. They scratch my back I scratch theirs.

MSC loyalty even at the lower level gives 5 - 15% discount. We are elite on Celebrity and get next to nothing, the only real perk is free 90min. of ridiculously expensive WiFi.

MSC Caribbean itineraries are so much more attractive, we can sail direct from Barbados with no sea days avoiding the hassle of Miami Immigration and Customs.

MSC must be doing something right as it's almost impossible to book their YC these days, always fully booked.

Bye bye Celebrity you need to up your game.

Unfortunately sometimes the more guests that can access a loyalty perk the less pleasant that perk becomes. Already just with the RC/X/Azamara offering matching status there are examples of too many guests at certain levels...

For example, Diamond lounge on RC, far too busy on Allure and Oasis to be pleasant. Then priority Elite Boarding, often the line is longer than the regular queue...I guess we have all been at airport gates too where they invite their highest loyalty level group to board and half the lounge stands up...

If you are ‘gaining’ a status at no cost you may appreciate the perk for nothing but if you have ‘earned’ your status and then it is offered to others you are possibly seeing its real value diminish...

Whilst all perks on cruise ships or at hotels are worth ‘something’ they are rarely a deciding feature for us in holiday planning...When you look at the total cost of a cruise compared to the value of even the Elite/Diamond perks they are negligible, even more so if you have a drinks package or book a suite...

We choose to cruise Celebrity almost exclusively at the moment because it suits us....Our E+ status doesn’t matter....We rarely cruise RC now despite our D+ status because we no longer find it a good fit...

 

We choose to cruise Celebrity almost exclusively at the moment because it suits us....Our E+ status doesn’t matter....We rarely cruise RC now despite our D+ status because we no longer find it a good fit...

Chemmo, have you ever thought about doing Azamara? Your status would transfer as Discoverer Plus there, but I think there is less importance for priority boarding and the like because it's a smaller ship with less guests.

Phil

I saw that MSC is now matching loyalty status with other cruise lines. Would this help Celebrity and Royal Caribbean? I'm 14 points away from Platinum on Carnival and could probably convince Cindy to do a back to back to get to the next tier. Some folks don't want to leave and venture out because of their perks but would if their loyalty was recognized. This would sweeten the pot and help fill up some of those winter cabins in the Caribbean. Some of us might even try something more upscale like Azamara.

Who really sails for the loyalty points? That’s the farthest thing from my mind when booking a cruise. Itinerary, ship and reputation top my list. The perks that come with points are really over hyped.

Food for thought:

1: Why does MSC have to give discounts and freebies to cruisers who have never cruised with them before?

2: What would you think if you had to share the Elite events with people who never did a Celebrity cruise before?

If I were a loyal MSC cruiser who "earned" the status, I´d really be upset about it. Because someone is always paying the bill...

Who really sails for the loyalty points? That’s the farthest thing from my mind when booking a cruise. Itinerary, ship and reputation top my list. The perks that come with points are really over hyped.

Not my sole reason for booking Celebrity, but it certainly makes a difference. As Elite Plus, the perks of 240 minutes internet (for both DH and me), healthy discounts on internet packages if I feel I need it full-time, as well as free laundry can really make a difference price-wise on our cruise. Usually get a drink package, but if not the cocktail hour saves a lot of $$ as well. When I start comparing prices against other cruise lines that are close to Celebrity in experience, these extra savings can tip the scale.