NEW VC TIER BLUE DIAMOND

[sidari]

Details of the New Tier and benefits have been released and will come into force early November.

52846_02_VOYAGERS_CLUB_Terms_and_Conditions_ENG_17-09REV-1.pdf

[Até]

While the bottle of water (one per cabin) is kind of funny there's actually some nice benefits for Blue Diamond.   I wonder if it's going to affect the Yacht Club embarkation experience. 

 

ETA:  Looks like gold and diamond now lose the priority tendering?

Edited Friday at 11:02 PM by Até

[Georgia_Peaches]

Thanks for posting. I didn’t see a chart showing the points needed to attain each level. Anyone know how many points are needed for blue diamond?

Edited Saturday at 01:42 AM by Georgia_Peaches

[Bgwest]

2 hours ago, Até said:

I wonder if it's going to affect the Yacht Club embarkation experience. 

Yes. BD will be able to access/use the YC embarkation lounge. Also BD will be able to use the YC luggage drop off tent. 

This is as described in the document.  

[no1talks]

28 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Anyone know how many points are needed for blue diamond?

25k, GP.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Thanks for posting. I didn’t see a chart showing the points needed to attain each level. Anyone know how many points are needed for blue diamond?

 

Top of page 3, right hand column

 

 

 

[sidari]

Apologies to all who have read or commented on this thread, the PDF was shared in good faith but I have not been able so far to authenticate the PDF document that I have posted. It was shared with me by a friend who is also an MSC cruiser.

It is a lot of work for someone to go to for it not to be correct and there does appear to be some strange oddities contained within it, that said MSC are well known for some strange changes and their wording of certain things.

Hopefully we will see something soon from MSC either confirming or denying the changes although as we have seen in the past they do tend to post changes without informing people.

[Mark_T]

9 minutes ago, sidari said:

Apologies to all who have read or commented on this thread, the PDF was shared in good faith but I have not been able so far to authenticate the PDF document that I have posted. It was shared with me by a friend who is also an MSC cruiser.

 

If it helps, yesterday I posted a link to the MSC Israel website which has the PDF, so it is 'official' but as ever there may be changes if perhaps it is not the final version...

 

https://msccruises.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/52846_02_VOYAGERS_CLUB_Terms_and_Conditions_ENG_17-09REV-1.pdf

 

[sidari]

2 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

If it helps, yesterday I posted a link to the MSC Israel website which has the PDF, so it is 'official' but as ever there may be changes if perhaps it is not the final version...

 

https://msccruises.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/52846_02_VOYAGERS_CLUB_Terms_and_Conditions_ENG_17-09REV-1.pdf

 

Mark ... Thanks for that.

[detwings]

I do not think Blue Diamond should have access to the YC embarkation lounge.  This should be only for those who pay the extra money for these benefits and cabins.  The embarkation lounge will be over runned by Blue Diamond passengers and many may think they get butler service or access to the YC area, which they do not.  Bad move by MSC taking away from the YC experience for us.

[Mark_T]

I do think they need to make it very clear that they are not talking about onboard facilities, but so far at least, we've made little to no use of the embarkation lounge, so hard to rank it as a 'loss' but I can imagine there are circumstances where there just isn't the space for more guests and it could have utility if boarding was delayed.

[Cruisergal1208]

1 hour ago, detwings said:

I do not think Blue Diamond should have access to the YC embarkation lounge.  This should be only for those who pay the extra money for these benefits and cabins.  The embarkation lounge will be over runned by Blue Diamond passengers and many may think they get butler service or access to the YC area, which they do not.  Bad move by MSC taking away from the YC experience for us.

My thoughts too.  They seem to keep watering down the special perks that make the YC an exclusive experience. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, detwings said:

I do not think Blue Diamond should have access to the YC embarkation lounge.  This should be only for those who pay the extra money for these benefits and cabins.  The embarkation lounge will be over runned by Blue Diamond passengers and many may think they get butler service or access to the YC area, which they do not.  Bad move by MSC taking away from the YC experience for us.

I whole heartedly agree!  I imagine the reason they did it is because…what else is there?  Here’s my list of things they could have done instead of encroaching on the YC experience:

 

- create a separate BD luggage drop off tent. Not hard to get one of those pop tents….  99 bucks on Amazon. 
 

- create a BD lounge. Just rope off an area!

 

- offer a second specialty meal. Heck, make it a 3 meal package!

 

- offer BD an Easy Plus Drink Package ( or did they? I don’t remember seeing it)

 

- include a specialty coffee from Venchi 

 

- include $25 in free slot play

 

 

[RudiRatlos]

1 hour ago, detwings said:

The embarkation lounge will be over runned by Blue Diamond passengers

MSC should quite well know how many Blue Diamond members are expected typically at boarding. I assume this will be only a small number, so a separate lounge or baggage drop off would not make sense.

[JAGR]

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I whole heartedly agree!  I imagine the reason they did it is because…what else is there?  Here’s my list of things they could have done instead of encroaching on the YC experience:

 

- create a separate BD luggage drop off tent. Not hard to get one of those pop tents….  99 bucks on Amazon. 
 

- create a BD lounge. Just rope off an area!

 

- offer a second specialty meal. Heck, make it a 3 meal package!

 

- offer BD an Easy Plus Drink Package ( or did they? I don’t remember seeing it)

 

- include a specialty coffee from Venchi 

 

- include $25 in free slot play

 

 

Maybe add free laundry?

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

we've made little to no use of the embarkation lounge, so hard to rank it as a 'loss' but I can imagine there are circumstances where there just isn't the space for more guests and it could have utility if boarding was delayed.

You're likely right that there won't be much of a 'loss' beyond mental anguish among us YC'ers... I'm just kidding of course.  

 

But I will say that on our first ever YC/MSC cruise there was a delay in boarding and the 'lounge' was SRO.  We were packed in like sardines and there was a lot of grumbling about why it was taking so long to board...it was after 12 PM.  We were later told that they were having trouble zeroing out the previous passenger list.  

[Mark_T]

Boarding in Genoa, the 'lounge' really was almost non-existent, in Miami it looked more useful but Pepe grabbed us as soon as we arrived and we didn't stop moving until we were onboard 🙂

[Cruisergal1208]

5 hours ago, Mark_T said:

If it helps, yesterday I posted a link to the MSC Israel website which has the PDF, so it is 'official' but as ever there may be changes if perhaps it is not the final version...

 

https://msccruises.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/52846_02_VOYAGERS_CLUB_Terms_and_Conditions_ENG_17-09REV-1.pdf

 

[Essiesmom]

It could also be that due to the way points are accrued, most of the Blues will already be in YC.  EM

[Cruising89143]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I whole heartedly agree!  I imagine the reason they did it is because…what else is there?  Here’s my list of things they could have done instead of encroaching on the YC experience:

 

- create a separate BD luggage drop off tent. Not hard to get one of those pop tents….  99 bucks on Amazon. 
 

- create a BD lounge. Just rope off an area!

 

- offer a second specialty meal. Heck, make it a 3 meal package!

 

- offer BD an Easy Plus Drink Package ( or did they? I don’t remember seeing it)

 

- include a specialty coffee from Venchi 

 

- include $25 in free slot play

 

 

Agree with you 100%.

[perakcruiser]

58 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

It could also be that due to the way points are accrued, most of the Blues will already be in YC.  EM

Of cause. I think there will be many sailings with zero or one or two Blue Diamonds and some with max 5. In the US there maybe are a few more because of status match (the Europeans have nothing to match) and some hardcore YC cruisers. 

[peder]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

It could also be that due to the way points are accrued, most of the Blues will already be in YC.  EM

 

Exactly. It's way easier to accrue points in YC cabins, so most Blue Diamond folks are booking YC most of the time anyway.

 

For us as a family of 5, with Blue Diamond status, this is a nice benefit for us. We can book Aurea suites that sleep 5 or 6 and still get a lot of our YC benefits without needing to book 2 Yacht Club cabins.

[SirWolf]

10 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Of cause. I think there will be many sailings with zero or one or two Blue Diamonds and some with max 5. In the US there maybe are a few more because of status match (the Europeans have nothing to match) and some hardcore YC cruisers. 

 

Why have Europeans nothing to match ?

Does the VC status match program not apply to Europeans ?

 

[Two Wheels Only]

In my experience, the only time that the YC embarkation area is crowded is when it is earlier than actual boarding time. Anytime after that, there are maybe a handful of people waiting there. 

[sidari]

7 minutes ago, SirWolf said:

 

Why have Europeans nothing to match ?

Does the VC status match program not apply to Europeans ?

 

Europeans have the exact same to match as anyone else.