NEW VC TIER BLUE DIAMOND

[Georgia_Peaches]

40 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

I don‘t like this status match and think the new level is to low.

I would agree with this if there was much value in what’s offered at the new tier. On Celebrity the highest tier garners a free 7 night cruise. I will never in this lifetime earn enough points for such a thing  lol. 

[Nikita4]

40 000 or 50 000 better because its so easy earn a lot of points. I know a lot of persons with more than 50 000 points.

[TrinaLC]

Is it 100% worthless if you are sailing in YC?  
 

I don’t see any benefit. They should have had at least a free bag of laundry for every 4-5 days. 
 

[cellfree]

2 hours ago, Mark_T said:

This all starts from 7th November.

Ty, good to know, we board Seascape November 9. Although this time round (not always) YC so little difference. As others have said changes most beneficial for non-YC which we will appreciate then. 

Edited Saturday at 09:01 PM by cellfree
added words

[Stockjock]

I'm not fully understanding the new way to earn points.  Let's say I do a YC sailing and spend $6,000 USD.  How many points do I receive?  Does my onboard spend still matter?  Does the amount I spent on the cruise matter, or is it just a fixed award (sometimes doubled) based upon category booked?

Edited Saturday at 10:20 PM by Stockjock

[crbonfiber]

58 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I'm not fully understanding the new way to earn points.  Let's say I do a YC sailing and spend $6,000 USD.  How many points do I receive?  Does my onboard spend still matter?  Does the amount I spent on the cruise matter, or is it just a fixed award (sometimes doubled) based upon category booked?

If you are in the YC what ever tier you are doesn't matter.

[LostAtSeaForever]

I landed in the Blue Diamond category! Yeah, me! But it appears there is no benefit since we continually cruise Yacht Club, and some of those benefits may be weakened with BDs having access to some of our perks, baggage drop-off, and lounge access. I wonder if more people having use of WiFi will slow down the speed? It may be beneficial to start considering booking an Aurea experience; we don't really use the butler. Yacht Club prices are soaring! 

[Stockjock]

14 minutes ago, crbonfiber said:

If you are in the YC what ever tier you are doesn't matter.

I must not have been clear.  I didn't think that the tier did matter, but previously points were awarded largely on spend.  Now, it seems to be a fixed number of points (likely much lower) based on the category of what you book, unless I'm not understanding what they're doing in terms of these changes.

[SirWolf]

10 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I must not have been clear.  I didn't think that the tier did matter, but previously points were awarded largely on spend.  Now, it seems to be a fixed number of points (likely much lower) based on the category of what you book, unless I'm not understanding what they're doing in terms of these changes.

 

Your observation seems to be correct 

.. points for onboard spending are not mentioned in the new VC Terms.

 

MSC Yacht Club “Experience” points are unchanged 

• Cruises 5-9 nights 1,500 points

• Cruises 9+ nights 2,000 points

.. that’s consistent with the points I received in the past ..

 

Pre-Paid onboard service packages:

100 points for every $150 spent on pre-paid packages prior to the cruise.

 

You will get 1,500 points for a 7-night cruise in Yacht Club regardless if you book YC Inside for $3,500 , YC Deluxe for $5,000 or YC Duplex for $6,000.  Points are based on the Experience.

.. plus the pre-paid packages (excursions, photo packages, spa treatments, specialty restaurant packages, etc).

 

The question remains .. will the onboard spending be reflected in points ?

🤔

 

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I'm not fully understanding the new way to earn points.  Let's say I do a YC sailing and spend $6,000 USD

 

Look here:

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club

 

Under "How to collect points" click on "Read more"

 

MSC Experience purchased
 

Experience	Cruise under 6 days / 5 nights	Cruises from 6 to 10 days / 5 to 9 nights	Cruises of more than 10 days - 9 nights
Bella	200 points	500 points	700 points
Fantastica	400 points	700 points	1000 points
Wellness	600 points	1000 points	1500 points
Aurea	600 points	1000 points	1500 points
MSC Yacht Club	800 points	1500 points	2000 points

 
Onboard services prepaid before the cruise: you earn 100 points every 150 €/$ on expenses made before the cruise on MSC packages and services included in the cruise booked*. 

Onboard expenses: you earn 100 points for every 150 €/$ spent on board, excluding casino expenses. Points for onboard expenses (including pre-boarding purchased shipboard credit) will only be assigned to the MSC Voyagers Club cardholder making the final payment.
*For currencies other than € euro, the currency conversion on purchase day will apply.

 

 

The onboard spend is interesting as it apparently does not apply to anything purchased in any of the shops onboard.  My DW bought a number of items, well over $150, and did not receive any points for anything outside the cruise. 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:02 AM by DaKahuna

[SirWolf]

@DaKahuna , the thread is about the new VC Blue Diamond level and the revised Voyagers Club Terms & Conditions effective 07. September 2024 .

 

Paragraph 2. Earning Points “a. b. c.” doesn’t include Onboard Expenses.. that differs from the current VC Terms & Conditions.

Onboard Expenses are listed in Paragraph 2.c. in the current VC Terms & Conditions.

MSC replaced 2.c. “Onboard Expenses” with 2.c. “Bonus Points”.

 

.. not getting VC points for onboard expenses would be a “bummer” ..

I hope someone has insight information and can clear this up.

 

[Nikita4]

When you travel in YC then the new perks are worthless.

and most of the peoble with more than 25 000 Points are YC cruiser.

 

I ve booked a solo cruise in the next months in fantastica ocean view solocabin for less than 900 Euro, so with the new perks is this really good for me :-). Free internet, YC check in and  any time dining.

The prices for YC are so much higher than before covid so as a solo i don‘t want do pay more than 4000 Euro a week, but with this perks its ok for me.

[Tierun]

Seems to me that the goal is to get the current YC clientele to sail Explora Journeys.

[steamboats]

12 hours 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.  

 

I´m German and I did match my RCI Diamond back then to MSC Black (now Diamond). There are even RCI Pinnacles in Germany 😉!

 

steamboats

[perakcruiser]

56 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

I´m German and I did match my RCI Diamond back then to MSC Black (now Diamond). There are even RCI Pinnacles in Germany 😉!

Of cause there are a few RCI and Carnival cruisers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, but what market share do these lines have in Germany, France, Italy, Spain?

 

Way under 1 percent, totally irrelevant. The companies also don't want to have a relevant market share as they don't want to clash with their own brands Aida, Costa and TC.

 

But I heard that TC is now "allowed" to compete with their sisters Celebrity and Marella, which could be the biggest cruise news 2025 🙂

 

TC surely has a loyal customer base but no "club" at all. So they cannot match to VC. Aida in theory can, I took one cruise with them and have around 5000 points. To match usefully to MSC VC I would need 130000 points, so only 25 cruises more 😄

 

Let's be realistic, most of these status matches to MSC come from US cruisers, and 95 percent matches to diamond or gold for sure.

 

 

[smokey01]

14 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

Let's be realistic, most of these status matches to MSC come from US cruisers, and 95 percent matches to diamond or gold for sure.

Loads of Brits can/have loyalty matched to Celebrity, RCL, Cunard, Princess etc. not just Americans. These cruise lines have been sailing from the UK for along time as well as Brits doing fly cruises.

[steamboats]

3 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

🙂

🙂

😄

😄

Let's be realistic, most of these status matches to MSC come from US cruisers, and 95 percent matches to diamond or gold for sure.

 

Sorry, I can't get the Images out... Of course they main status match group are US. This is why MSC invented the status match to get the loyal US customers.

 

Anyway the market for US cruise lines in Europe is much bigger than you think. Next to the big players AIDA and TUI Cruises in Germany there is a big share of Costa and MSC and other international cruise lines are at least 6 % of the market.

 

Plus you have the UK which is also a very attractive market for MSC - they have Southampton as a major port. There you may find a lot more status match customers who have a status with another US cruise line (and as P&O and Cunard are part of the Carnival group I count them as US too).

 

There are a lot here in Germany complaining about those Germans who are Diamond via status match.

 

And actually it is not that difficult to get those 10 or 25K at all. Currently you get 700 points extra... Spend money online or onboard (o.k. onboard doesn't count anymore by Nov 7th - people will buy more online in advance then).

 

TC is getting more international with the Mein Schiff Relax. They will have English as regular onboard language next to German. This is mainly to attract the Benelux countries. Getting into the UK or US market may not be their basic plan. They would have to change much more to attract these markets.

 

I cruised with RCI or X long before TC was founded. And there are many more Germans like me. 

 

steamboats 

[Nikita4]

We are a swiss family and love US Cruise lines and never will sail with TC or Aida… there are much more europeans they cruise with us lines instead of the german lines.

 

MSC was a small cruise line 12 years ago and was growing very fast, in this time other european lines like Aida, TC and Costa were loosing guests to MSC. so they will also try to enter the big US market like here in europe.

[perakcruiser]

39 minutes ago, steamboats said:

And actually it is not that difficult to get those 10 or 25K at all.

So why there are so little Diamonds on board? All of my last MSC sailings were fully booked or close and there were not more than 25 to 45 Diamonds. I am talking about the real number, not just the party attendance. I will ask about Blues on my next Preziosa cruise in November, I guess it will be 3 to 5 or even less. If I understand the document from MSC Israel correct, they also will not have a separate party but join the "normal" Diamonds 😄 

 

9 minutes ago, Nikita4 said:

in this time other european lines like Aida, TC and Costa were loosing guests to MSC.

While Costa lost dramatically, Aida and TC did not lose, they just did not grow as fast as MSC. I also think it is very hard for MSC to gain customers from TC, the gap between these two products is too big. Only Celebrity comes close to TC. Not talking about YC of cause, that is a different world. 

[frank808]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

I´m German and I did match my RCI Diamond back then to MSC Black (now Diamond). There are even RCI Pinnacles in Germany 😉!

 

steamboats

Really...I have never met any 🧐.

 

This is a tongue in cheek response.

[frank808]

13 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

So why there are so little Diamonds on board? All of my last MSC sailings were fully booked or close and there were not more than 25 to 45 Diamonds. I am talking about the real number, not just the party attendance. I will ask about Blues on my next Preziosa cruise in November, I guess it will be 3 to 5 or even less. If I understand the document from MSC Israel correct, they also will not have a separate party but join the "normal" Diamonds 😄 

I think there might be more than you think.

 

Just on this week, I have met another couple who are blue diamonds from conversations with them. 

 

One couple mentioned that they have cruised 30+ times on MSC and in YC only.

 

Another couple mentioned this is their 60th cruise. But I did not know if it was all 60 cruises was with MSC or they only cruise in YC. 

 

So for sure on this 7 night sailing of Preziosa there are at least 4 passengers that qualify for blue diamond and that is in YC only. I would think there is at least another 2 individuals on this past week's sailing that would qualify for blue diamond.

 

At the Diamond get together this sailing, there were at least 60 people at the party.

 

There might be more blue Diamonds than you are estimating.

[perakcruiser]

12 minutes ago, frank808 said:

There might be more blue Diamonds than you are estimating.

Well as said I am on board Seaside and Preziosa very soon and will check the numbers (and the Blue details) for sure. A Diamond party with 60 would be a little bit shocking 😄 

 

 

[steamboats]

30 minutes ago, frank808 said:

Really...I have never met any 🧐.

 

I know a  couple in person!

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

1 minute ago, perakcruiser said:

Well as said I am on board Seaside and Preziosa very soon and will check the numbers (and the Blue details) for sure. A Diamond party with 60 would be a little bit shocking 😄 

 

My last Diamond parties in the Med were pretty much overcrowded with way more than just 60 people (although held in the morning).

 

Also in Europe there are thousands of Diamonds (and not just because of a status match). The reason MSC is inventing a new tier is because of the mass of people who have the Diamond status already.

 

steamboats

[sidari]

15 hours ago, SirWolf said:

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.

 

We got to black with 5 cruises, Three of which were 20 day repo's and all in what was then B2 now Fantatica Balcony cabins and one Outside cabin.