NEW VC TIER BLUE DIAMOND

[Dan78]

23 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 would Europeans have nothing to match? We’re from the UK and status matched and will have enough points for the new tier 

[sidari]

1 minute ago, Dan78 said:

Why would Europeans have nothing to match? We’re from the UK and status matched and will have enough points for the new tier 

Dan, How many cruises have you done since the match ? 

[Dan78]

13 minutes ago, SirWolf said:

 

Why have Europeans nothing to match ?

Does the VC status match program not apply to Europeans ?

 

It does apply as we’ve used it and are currently Diamond with 25k+ points 

[Dan78]

5 minutes ago, sidari said:

Dan, How many cruises have you done since the match ? 

We matched to Diamond in 2019 and have done a further 7 cruises with MSC 

Edited Saturday at 04:28 PM by Dan78

[JohnIreland]

Doesn't look like there is any meaningful benefit if you are already in the YC.

[dasi11]

4 hours ago, RudiRatlos said:

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.

I think having a perk and then having to take it away in a year or two when the numbers increase is not smart.  RCL and other lines have been stripping down the perks and that is why some of us have tried MSC.  We don't like cruising for a perk and getting the points only to have the perk removed.  YC is very expensive.  The Blue Diamond status is also expensive to achieve.  They need their own lines for check in, etc.  In two years this will be a mess as the numbers of BD increase.

[perakcruiser]

42 minutes ago, Dan78 said:

Why would Europeans have nothing to match? We’re from the UK and status matched and will have enough points for the new tier 

Because the European lines usually have either no "club" at all or a pretty useless one. The status match basically is a thing for cruisers who come from RCCL or Carnival. Yes, I know, also with Costa it can be useful, but let´s be realistic, the MSC status match was tailor-made to bring the loyal RCCL- and Carnival cruisers to MSC.  

[sidari]

2 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Because the European lines usually have either no "club" at all or a pretty useless one. The status match basically is a thing for cruisers who come from RCCL or Carnival. Yes, I know, also with Costa it can be useful, but let´s be realistic, the MSC status match was tailor-made to bring the loyal RCCL- and Carnival cruisers to MSC.  

Yes the Loyalty Club that was so much better was changed to the VC to bring people in with status match and the watering down of the previous benefits for those who had earned their level by sailing with MSC.

[Dan78]

11 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Because the European lines usually have either no "club" at all or a pretty useless one. The status match basically is a thing for cruisers who come from RCCL or Carnival. Yes, I know, also with Costa it can be useful, but let´s be realistic, the MSC status match was tailor-made to bring the loyal RCCL- and Carnival cruisers to MSC.  

You can status match from Hotels/airlines as well, also just because we’re European doesn’t mean we won’t sail with companies like Celebrity and Royal Caribbean

[Av8tor]

MSC Voyagers Club Membership is subject to a minimum of one cruise every five years. 

 

I copied this from the pdf... The requirement used to be one cruise every 3 years, so that's an improvement for those who don't sail frequently

[Dan78]

17 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Because the European lines usually have either no "club" at all or a pretty useless one. The status match basically is a thing for cruisers who come from RCCL or Carnival. Yes, I know, also with Costa it can be useful, but let´s be realistic, the MSC status match was tailor-made to bring the loyal RCCL- and Carnival cruisers to MSC.  

Also there will be a lot of Europeans who will probably have that many points just due to the sheer number of cruises they have completed with MSC, we know quite a few people who have reached Diamond just through cruising with MSC, especially on mainland Europe. I am shocked they have set the tier so low if I’m honest 

[JamieLogical]

It's really not been hard to accumulate points under the old system, even without status match. I was status matched to Gold (4300 points) prior to my first MSC sailing in April 2023. Since then I am now up to 19600 points, which means I have actually *earned* 15300 points in what, a year and a half? More than enough to be Diamond even had I not gotten a status match. I think there might be more Blue Diamond members onboard US sailings than people here are predicting.

[SirWolf]

@sidari .. @Dan78

Thank you for clarifying that Europeans can participate in the MSC Voyagers Club match program.

AIDA: Grün (Green) matches VC Diamond

COSTA: Gold Pearl matches VC Diamond

CUNARD: Diamond matches VC Diamond

Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, Hyatt Gold Passport, Ritz Carlton Rewards and others can be matched to MSC VC Levels.

[Stockjock]

Is it just me, or is this mostly a downgrade?  I do like the fact that they now allow 5 years rather than 3 for point expiration though.

I think I have somewhere around 17,500 VC points.  I am considering upgrading a Fantastica Veranda to YC Deluxe or Duplex, but even at double points (I booked over a year ago), it sounds like that wouldn't get me to Blue Diamond status, true?

That said, Blue Diamond status doesn't seem to be worth a lot, unless I'm missing something.

[perakcruiser]

10 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

It's really not been hard to accumulate points under the old system, even without status match.

It was much harder before. It took my exactly 10 cruises from 2011 to 2023 to reach Diamond. And I know many other MSC cruisers (from Europe and Asia), but I am the only Diamond I know 😄

 

[cellfree]

Tiers now including “diamond blue” do not appear to be on MSC website yet. 

[Mark_T]

7 minutes ago, cellfree said:

Tiers now including “diamond blue” do not appear to be on MSC website yet. 

This all starts from 7th November.

[SirWolf]

No VC match .. started at “0”

It took me 4 Yacht Club sailings within 2 years (2018 - 2020) to get Diamond status.

3 x 7-nights and 1 x 12-nights.

Average 2,500+ points each sailing.

Example:

YC Experience 1,500 pts

Onboard 600 pts

Prepaid (excursions, spa treatments) 600 pts

 

10+ sailings as per today and counting.

 

[jaxdog315]

16 hours 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?

25,000 points for blue diamond

[JamieLogical]

53 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Is it just me, or is this mostly a downgrade?  I do like the fact that they now allow 5 years rather than 3 for point expiration though.

I think I have somewhere around 17,500 VC points.  I am considering upgrading a Fantastica Veranda to YC Deluxe or Duplex, but even at double points (I booked over a year ago), it sounds like that wouldn't get me to Blue Diamond status, true?

That said, Blue Diamond status doesn't seem to be worth a lot, unless I'm missing something.

 

The big thing for me would be the free wifi, since wifi is no longer included when you book the "best value" cruise fare. Now it only includes Easy Plus. In the past, I have always relied on that bundle pricing for cruise fare, Easy Plus, wifi, and some OBC.

[jaxdog315]

15 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Top of page 3, right hand column

 

 

25,000 vc points for blue diamond the top status match now remains at 10,00 points which I only think is fair to extremely loyal MSC guests since status match has totally watered down the Diamond status

 

[Haljo1935]

Now I wish I had waited to status match, especially since neither my cruise nor points are showing in my profile. Priority embarkation and tendering are important for me, would not want to lose those.

[Stockjock]

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Now I wish I had waited to status match, especially since neither my cruise nor points are showing in my profile. Priority embarkation and tendering are important for me, would not want to lose those.

Be persistent, but not overly so.  You should be able to have points credited that you are entitled to.

[Nikita4]

They said no status match to the new level i think, only to diamond.

 

I don‘t like this status match and think the new level is to low.
I have, after 18 or more MSC cruises, more than 40 000 points. Minimum 40 000 or 50 000 points will be better like on RCL or Cunard.

 

 

[JamieLogical]

23 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

They said no status match to the new level i think, only to diamond.

 

I don‘t like this status match and think the new level is to low.
I have, after 18 or more MSC cruises, more than 40 000 points. Minimum 40 000 or 50 000 points will be better like on RCL or Cunard.

 

 

 

But the rewards aren't nearly as good as RCL's... the number of points needed for a tier should be somewhat proportional to the rewards. Also, I love someone who has 40,000 points saying the minimum should be 40,000. 😜