Voyager Club Silver & up $50 OBC per person?

[Native Floridian 26]

The perk is described as per person and not per cabin in multiple references on MSC website pages.  After just getting status matched for both my husband and me to Gold and my December Seashore cruise repriced at 5+15% discount, I'm struggling to get the $50 OBC on the reservation.  I see the $50 OBC on the cruise details with my name, but shouldn't my husband's name be listed too, and we should get $100 OBC?  I was on the phone with MSC CS today, and the rep, who seemed new, said it was one per cabin, but after verifying with superiors while on the call it's per person, they supposedly fixed it.  Nonetheless, our reservation still shows only one of us getting the OBC.

 

Has anyone else had this issue?  

[Até]

The $50 OBC for Voyages Selection sailings is per person for Silver and above.  When looking at the booking online you can click on the Cruise Details tab and you should see the Shipboard Credit under each passenger name.  In the picture below there is also $200 per name from a different promotion MSC had.  Each bullet point is a passenger name I blacked out.

 

 

On your booking confirmation you should see it listed on page two for guest one and page three for guest two.  SB050GVS is the code for the Voyages Selection $50 OBC, again the other $200 OBC is a different promotion.

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Até

[Native Floridian 26]

Thank you. We have the 5+15 discount for Voyages Selection and are Gold but are booked Interior. Should we just get 50 pp for normal Club GOLD benefit or is there an additional OBC for the Voyages Selection?  I know my husband's $50 OBC is still missing even though they were supposed to apply it today.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Native Floridian 26

[Até]

9 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

Thank you. We have the 5+15 discount for Voyages Selection and are Gold but are booked Interior. Should we just get 50 pp for normal Club GOLD benefit or is there an additional OBC for the Voyages Selection?  I know my husband's $50 OBC is still missing even though they were supposed to apply it today.

It seems to be a common misunderstanding and I don't know where people get the idea that all Voyager club members Silver and above get $50 OBC on any sailing.  It's only for the Voyages Selection sailings.  Since you booked under the Voyages Selection discount both Gold members, a max of two per cabin, should get the $50 OBC as I pictured above.  It can take a day or two for MSC to show it on the booking/online.  They used to publish that it would take 24 hours after booking for the OBC to show up, I would give it a bit more time than that.  Perhaps you can push the issue again after a week, depending on sail date?

[alyssamma]

26 minutes ago, Até said:

t seems to be a common misunderstanding and I don't know where people get the idea that all Voyager club members Silver and above get $50 OBC on any sailing.

Could it be because MSC makes this confusing as F?

 

🙂

 

Seriously, unless you are familiar with MSC, the whole voyager thing is very confusing...

[Beamafar]

Our upcoming cruise is a VCS one but we are not getting the OBC that comes with it as we’ve only booked an Inside Bella, so not entitled to it, according to MSC, despite the fact that there’s no mention on the website that cabin category/‘Experience’ booked determines this. 
 

[sidari]

1 hour ago, Beamafar said:

Our upcoming cruise is a VCS one but we are not getting the OBC that comes with it as we’ve only booked an Inside Bella, so not entitled to it, according to MSC, despite the fact that there’s no mention on the website that cabin category/‘Experience’ booked determines this. 
 

Typical MSC, Left Hand/ Right Hand Bea.

[Native Floridian 26]

3 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Our upcoming cruise is a VCS one but we are not getting the OBC that comes with it as we’ve only booked an Inside Bella, so not entitled to it, according to MSC, despite the fact that there’s no mention on the website that cabin category/‘Experience’ booked determines this. 
 

That's crazy.  I would talk to another rep.  They did apply my $50, but not my husband's.  We are Interior Bella also.

 

I found this in the MSC book.  Looks like only points are based on experience/type of cabin. All S,G,D get the OBC.

 

On selection cruise departures, all members* get a 5%, 10% or 15% extra discount combinable with the always-available 5% Club discount. 

 

On top of this, Silver, Gold and Diamond members over 18 years old receive a €/$50 p.p. shipboard credit to spend on board.

 

Voyages Selection departure generate double membership points for the type of Experience chosen. Points will be assigned at the end of the cruise.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Native Floridian 26

[Beamafar]

34 minutes ago, Native Floridian 26 said:

That's crazy.  I would talk to another rep.  They did apply my $50, but not my husband's.  We are Interior Bella also.

I intend to pursue it when final payment is due (which is on the 20th of the month).  If I don’t get anywhere with the rep I intend to email booking management and ask them for an explanation. 
 

I’m Diamond level so not getting double points won’t bother me - I believe I have over four times the number required to get to Diamond so any more are of no use to me. 

[Até]

9 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I’m Diamond level so not getting double points won’t bother me - I believe I have over four times the number required to get to Diamond so any more are of no use to me. 

Given up on MSC making a new top tier?

[Beamafar]

1 minute ago, Até said:

Given up on MSC making a new top tier?

A long time ago, Até.  I can’t see them increasing benefits for the foreseeable future;  too much financial damage done by Covid to be repaired. 

[no1talks]

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

A long time ago, Até.  I can’t see them increasing benefits for the foreseeable future;  too much financial damage done by Covid to be repaired. 

What about adding a new tier, as a bridge to the upcoming spin-off brand, Explora Journeys?

 

That might be a useful strategy for MSC.

[Beamafar]

3 minutes ago, no1talks said:

What about adding a new tier, as a bridge to the upcoming spin-off brand, Explora Journeys?

 

That might be a useful strategy for MSC.

There’ve been endless debates on here on the subject since MSC first introduced the status match programme back in 2015 and severely reduced the benefits for us Black Card holders who’d built up points over years in the hope of reaping those benefits, only to see people who’d never cruised with MSC be handed benefits they’d never “earned”.  
 

So many people matched to Black that the benefits were further eroded.  Those of us Black members have since been crying out for MSC to introduce a new top tier.  It seems to have fallen on deaf ears and I gave up long ago lobbying MSC on the issue. 

[the wandering two]

Re OBC, we're on Virtuosa later this month,  Bella inside & have 50€ or equivalent each.

Definitely one to pursue MSC on.

 

[8420PR]

There are some offers (e.g fares) where the voyagers club discount doesn't apply, particularly the flash sales. 

[Beamafar]

We don’t have flash sales here.  I booked a Voyagers Club Selection cruise (5+5%) which comes with OBC for members from Silver to Diamond. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Beamafar

[Cruiseforever11]

25 minutes ago, the wandering two said:

Re OBC, we're on Virtuosa later this month,  Bella inside & have 50€ or equivalent each.

Definitely one to pursue MSC on.

 

50€=£39pp just letting you know. Done 2 Virtuosa cruises last month both times £39 

[Até]

MSC did make it a bit harder to match to Diamond.  They also often do some informal recognition of those with 10+ MSC cruises. 

 

But mostly due to MSC making it so much easier to accumulate points through the Voyages Selection sailings I still think sometime in the future MSC will have to add another top level.  As a side note the 5%+15% sailings in the US are now an astounding 425 sailings.

[ready2cruzagain]

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We don’t have flash sales here.  I booked a Voyagers Club Selection cruise (5+5%) which comes with OBC for members from Silver to Diamond. 

We just booked a VS cruise with the 5% + 15% in an inside Fantastica and we each received the $50 obc

[Beamafar]

Yeah - I can’t fathom why we’re not getting it.  Never booked this level of cabin before so haven’t encountered this problem in the past.  The OBC entitlement has nothing to do with the type of cabin booked. 
 

I didn’t chase it up over the past few months as DH was recovering from cancer surgery so it was the least of my concerns.  Think I’ll email them tomorrow and, hopefully, get MSC’s reasoning in a written reply.  

[gadaboutgal]

If the cruise is already booked, can I still get the obc and additional discount above the Diamond 5% on a Voyager Selection cruise?

[Até]

16 minutes ago, gadaboutgal said:

If the cruise is already booked, can I still get the obc and additional discount above the Diamond 5% on a Voyager Selection cruise?

I've had some difficulties depending on the phone agent, but in every case I've been able to get the discount applied to an existing booking as long as it's before final payment.  Even after final I've been able to negotiate the discount along with a cabin upgrade.

[racephoto]

10 hours ago, gadaboutgal said:

If the cruise is already booked, can I still get the obc and additional discount above the Diamond 5% on a Voyager Selection cruise?

Yes, I just did this yesterday on two separate bookings (pre final payment) with no issue. The $50 OBC showed up a few hours later. 

[Barcelona17]

20 hours ago, Até said:

I've had some difficulties depending on the phone agent, but in every case I've been able to get the discount applied to an existing booking as long as it's before final payment.  Even after final I've been able to negotiate the discount along with a cabin upgrade.

I have a booking for December in the Mediterranean and only got the 5% discount. After reading this thread I called and asked if I was entitled to the additional 10% and got it. No problems. The MSC agent was very pleasant.

 

dcl