Are MSC's Voyager's Club membership perks nearly worthless?

[Stockjock]

The good news is that status is easier to achieve on MSC versus most other cruise lines.

The bad news is that MSC's status perks seem to be nearly worthless.

As you may know, MSC will status match many hotel and cruise line loyalty programs.  However, one will lose all Voyager's Club points if you don't sail within 3 years.

I'm currently a Gold Level member, and quite close to Black/Diamond.

But what are these higher level tiers actually worth?

Recently, one could get up to 20% off of a cruise (5% + 15% on certain VC sailings).  But that's gone.  Now, one may receive a 5% discount, which is something, but certainly less than what was recently offered.

On my Grandiosa cruise, which just ended, I got a free small photo in the dining room, which is better than nothing.  But I had to be in the MDR on Mediterranean Night (only) and agree to take a photo.  They also gave me a cheapie MSC bag/backpack, which I'm sure cost them less than a dollar, and probably less than $0.25 USD.  Otherwise, no real benefit, in practical terms.  I did buy a photo, which gave me 30% off and saved me $6 USD, so I suppose that's something.

I did see where one fellow Black/Diamond passenger posted a photo of her complementary chocolate bar (shown).  Ooh la la!  That probably cost MSC $0.15 USD.

Am I missing something, or for many, is MSC Voyager's Club status nearly worthless?

Edited September 24, 2022 by Stockjock

[cruising.mark.uk]

No, I don't think you are missing anything.  The perks are minimal at best.  At the higher tiers you used to get an onboard credit of 50 euros as well, but I think they have now changed that so you only get it if you book a long time in advance.  We certainly haven't been given it for the cruise we just booked for January 2023.

[Georgia_Peaches]

We got $240 refund on our last cruise booking (5% off).  That refund covered our gratuities plus a little more.  Like you, we were also given the gym bag which I used on the private island day.  We were told we could have laundry service but I don't want others washing my clothes.  We didn't take advantage of the free picture.  

 

We have loyalty points with NCL, RCL, Celebrity, Carnival, and now MSC.  None of those lines offer loyalty perks that wow me into sticking with them exclusively.  I really just don't care about the "perks" all that much.

[Morgsmom]

4 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

We got $240 refund on our last cruise booking (5% off).  That refund covered our gratuities plus a little more.  Like you, we were also given the gym bag which I used on the private island day.  We were told we could have laundry service but I don't want others washing my clothes.  We didn't take advantage of the free picture.  

 

Just to note the laundry service is at a fee; it is not free unlike other lines when you have status. 

[vintagegarage]

The free meal for two at the specialty restaurant, priority boarding, robes and slippers, priority disembarkation, late stateroom check out as a MSC Diamond Member. I use the free dinner, robes and slippers, and priority boarding and disembarkation.

 

I took advantage of the loyalty match and used my Princess Elite status to get Diamond on MSC,

Edited September 24, 2022 by vintagegarage
added a few items

[Georgia_Peaches]

Just now, Morgsmom said:

Just to note the laundry service is at a fee; it is not free unlike other lines when you have status. 

LOL...my butler left that part out.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

3 minutes ago, vintagegarage said:

The free meal for two at the specialty restaurant is about the only perk I notice as a MSC Diamond Member. 

We status matched to Gold so didn't get that perk but I agree it is nice!  Was the dinner on the fixed menu or could you order ala carte?

Edited September 24, 2022 by Georgia_Peaches

[LifeonMars]

For Diamond Guests one gets a Tasting menu meal in one of the speciality restaurants on board, a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine together with the Macarons  and Priority embarkation together with Complimentary one-hour thermal area session (one per cruise), late disembarkation if you wish, so in my mind the benefits are not worthless and Thank you MSC for them.

Edited September 24, 2022 by LifeonMars

[vintagegarage]

I agree with LifeonMars, and went back to edit my original reply in this topic.  I also use the priority boarding, robes and slippers, in addition to the free meal for two at the specialty restaurant.  Here is the complete list with gold below.  I definitely wouldn't call them all worthless:

 

Priority line for boarding on embarkation day

Complimentary specialty restaurant “Tasting Menu” dinner per stateroom (no beverages)

Priority disembarkation at end of cruise

Courtesy bathrobe and slippers available during the cruise

Complimentary dancing class

MSC Voyagers Club exclusive Diamond Party

Late stateroom check-out disembarkation

Sweet Chocolate Gift

Plus All Previous Tier Privileges:

Complimentary one-hour thermal area session once per cruise

Complimentary gift

Priority disembarkation in ports where a tender boat is required

Complimentary photo taken during Welcome back cocktail

Complimentary birthday cake

[Stockjock]

For what it's worth, I asked our cabin steward if he could get us some washcloths and facial tissue.  He asked if we needed anything else, and I said robes would be great, so he provided bathrobes and slippers.  As mentioned, I am gold level, but I don't think he knew that or cared.

[perakcruiser]

6 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Am I missing something, or for many, is MSC Voyager's Club status nearly worthless?

Depends on "compared to what".

 

5% are 5%. A free photo is nice as the photos are very expensive (on all lines). Not needing to line up for a tender ticket is in my opinion the biggest perk, priority embarkation and disembarkation also nice. And then the free speciality restaurant visit, at least for Black/Diamond this is not bad at all.

 

Certainly there are two worlds, the world before the status match when almost nobody had Black and even Gold was something rare to see. Nowadays I guess on US cruises people without Black or Gold are already a minority 😄

 

Next thing, MSC is a European cruise line, yes, they want to rock the US market also, something nobody else is trying. But compared to their European rivals the Voyagers Club actually have the BEST perks.

 

Their biggest rival TUI Cruises is offering NOTHING at all, they not even recognize if you made many cruises with them before. 

 

AIDA and Costa do have a program but reaching the higher levels is almost impossible for people who do not cruise with them all the times. Actually at AIDA it is not even possible to reach level 2 of 5. And level 1 gives you exactly nothing and level 2 onboard credit of 15 Euro. 

[no1talks]

The open question that has me intrigued is whether or not Explora will link its yet-to-be-explained loyalty program to MSC's existing program.

 

Deep in the FAQs on the Explora website, a mention is made regarding possible linkage of some sort, but we will have to wait a bit longer.

 

If Explora does decide to build on or link to the current system, it may be useful (at last) to those who have points way past the diamond mark.

 

[Nunagoras]

I wouldn't call the VC perks as worthless. I'd call them symbolic at best most of the times, unless one is talking about tender port priority when needed or things on that sort. You have 5% discount across the board. Little? Better than nothing, considering that pretty much nobody pays brochure prices these days. You might have some special offers from them. Again better than nothing. And some discounts onboard, the same...

 

Curiously: All my cruises with MSC were made as a member of a small charter group inside the sailing. Even though at the time those sailings were unelectable for VC points, on my last cruise, a TA from Brazil to Portugal they recognized us as VC members. We went to the VC general party one night, and we had some discounts on the shops. Little, but better than nothing, and at least we felt like there was an incentive, a recognition, or simply a way to show empathy from the business to their clients. That was for me more than enough, but I'm European and this is the way we tend to see those things.

[Hlitner]

We get loyalty perks from quite a few different cruise lines (RCI, Celebrity, HAL, MSC,  Princess Seabourn, etc) and the perks on MSC are pretty decent when compared to the competition.  And that extra 5% if quite valuable when one books the Yacht Club on longer voyages!  As to the candy bar :)...well, I truly disliked the large/heavy chocolate ships we used to get.  The decent chocolate bar is OK (and tasty).   I will add that MSC has made it quite easy to get loyalty perks by simply doing a match.  On HAL, it took us over 500 days cruising to get to where we get some decent perks and on several other lines it has taken more than 200 days!  

 

Hank

[iwtobek]

55 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Little? Better than nothing, considering that pretty much nobody pays brochure prices these days.

5% discount do stack up

[Nunagoras]

46 minutes ago, iwtobek said:

5% discount do stack up

Back in the day? Yes. Currently; bear in mind that there are some special offers where you can't actually to stack up VC discounts with others, at least here from where I live. As Hank says; the 5% discount is most valuable for YC bookings, especially if it's a longer cruise.

[iwtobek]

2 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Back in the day? Yes. Currently; bear in mind that there are some special offers where you can't actually to stack up VC discounts with others, at least here from where I live. As Hank says; the 5% discount is most valuable for YC bookings, especially if it's a longer cruise.

If true you taught me something. We're not MSC veterans, trying to see what we think. Successfully booked a cabin with a promo + 5% VC discount. (Disclaimer: in YC, but for this specific booking, I do remember seeing the discounts apply for all experiences after filling out my VC membership number.)

[Nunagoras]

36 minutes ago, iwtobek said:

If true you taught me something. We're not MSC veterans, trying to see what we think. Successfully booked a cabin with a promo + 5% VC discount. (Disclaimer: in YC, but for this specific booking, I do remember seeing the discounts apply for all experiences after filling out my VC membership number.)

At least from where I live they aren't your regular promo offerings, but very specific ones, for example some last minute, some flight+hotel+cruise+transfers or some during extra season like Christmas, New Year, Easter or if we want to cruise during our own public holiday dates. Some of those offerings are not cumulative with either way VC or any other promo going out at booking time and most don't apply to the YC. Whether they may be better or not from the regular offering? Don't know. They're very specific, but they permit me to say that not all are electable like in past they were.

[Mike B Landlubber]

Is the 5% discount only available booking direct with MSC, or is it available booking through a travel agent?

[Hlitner]

28 minutes ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

Is the 5% discount only available booking direct with MSC, or is it available booking through a travel agent?

It is available through travel/cruise agencies.  But the discount may not show in various online booking engines (even when you enter your Voyagers Club number) so, if you book online, make sure to follow-up with a phone call (or e-mail) requesting the discount.  We always book through our favored cruise agencies, always get our discount plus we also get additonal On Board Credit provided by the agency.

 

Hank

[Markanddonna]

30 minutes ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

Is the 5% discount only available booking direct with MSC, or is it available booking through a travel agent?

We get it when we book direct.  A few cruises have even higher discounts.  We were fortunate to match to Diamond when you could get it with an NCL Platinum status. MSC raised the requirements because there were too many folks like us who were Diamond on our first cruise and their regular loyals obviously complained. I don't blame them.  

[kernow]

I don't think it's worthless at all. We have a booking for next year where we got 5+5% and 50 obc pp. This is for YC where the prices only ever seem to go up as you get closer to the sailing so worth booking early.

We also really enjoy the free speciality meal. I agree we don't get as much as on some other lines(I think RCL is the best) but still nice things to have especially as we did status match in 2017 for our first MSC cruise.

[racephoto]

I greatly enjoy the perks. I like the specialty restaurant dinner even though I don’t love the fact that the tasting menus are kind of limited. I even got another free dinner on the 3 day segment I had as a second booking on the Grandiosa B2B after the first 10 days. Also got a 2nd bottle of Prosecco and macarons and a second bag. I only got the one chocolate bar, which kind of cracks me up, but it specifically says on the page that it has to be a four day or longer cruise to get the chocolate. 🙂 I admit that I was disappointed when I saw the chocolate bar. I miss the chocolate ships because I thought they were really cute. But they weren’t fantastic chocolate. This chocolate is smaller, but it is better. Priority for tenders and embarkation/disembarkation is nice too. 

[psmarkle]

2 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

We get it when we book direct.  A few cruises have even higher discounts.  We were fortunate to match to Diamond when you could get it with an NCL Platinum status. MSC raised the requirements because there were too many folks like us who were Diamond on our first cruise and their regular loyals obviously complained. I don't blame them.  

 

We, too, status matched to MSC Diamond off our NCL Platinum back in the day. We were NCL Haven fanatics until it got way too expensive! Now, it's no problem for us to maintain our Diamond status as we have only been sailing MSC YC, and the 5% definitely adds up which we also stack with the Casino 30% discount.

[Stockjock]

3 hours ago, racephoto said:

I greatly enjoy the perks. I like the specialty restaurant dinner even though I don’t love the fact that the tasting menus are kind of limited. I even got another free dinner on the 3 day segment I had as a second booking on the Grandiosa B2B after the first 10 days. Also got a 2nd bottle of Prosecco and macarons and a second bag. I only got the one chocolate bar, which kind of cracks me up, but it specifically says on the page that it has to be a four day or longer cruise to get the chocolate. 🙂 I admit that I was disappointed when I saw the chocolate bar. I miss the chocolate ships because I thought they were really cute. But they weren’t fantastic chocolate. This chocolate is smaller, but it is better. Priority for tenders and embarkation/disembarkation is nice too. 

What did you get for dinner on the tasting menu?  Were portions tiny?