LOYALTY MATCH

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

I thought they would do tier for tier. We have over 48 cruises with Carnival and ahve been Diamond, the top tier with them for several years now. Did the application for the loyalty match and they gave us GOLD. Anyone get the Diamond when you did the match application?

[emmas gran]

They stopped giving Diamond about a year ago due to so many doing the loyalty transfer to MSC. People will come and say they got matched to Diamond since the change.

Edited May 4, 2021 by emmas gran

[sidari]

16 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I thought they would do tier for tier. We have over 48 cruises with Carnival and ahve been Diamond, the top tier with them for several years now. Did the application for the loyalty match and they gave us GOLD. Anyone get the Diamond when you did the match application?

Number of days or cruises has nothing to do with how a person is matched.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

25 minutes ago, sidari said:

Number of days or cruises has nothing to do with how a person is matched.

OK So how are they matched? I figured top tier to top tier.

[heatherb1958]

We did the match when the programme first came out matching our RCI top tier Pinnacle level and got what was then Black with MSC .
A year or so ago I had read that the matched levels were now reduced due to the success of the programme but also read that Pinnacle with RCI would still get top level , now Diamond, with MSC. Maybe the programme is still being too successful 🤔 and at least if after one cruise the customer likes it there is some incentive to come back 🤷‍♀️ . At the end of the day something for free is better than nothing 😊.

[sidari]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

OK So how are they matched? I figured top tier to top tier.

From memory it was based on what was available on the corresponding level of the cruise line the match was being made with. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

From memory it was based on what was available on the corresponding level of the cruise line the match was being made with. 

Diamond is the top level with Carnival. Diamond is the top level with MSC, right? What I read. They stopped giving Carnival Diamond the Diamond on MSC a few months back. Makes no sense for me. I applied a year or so ago.  They now give it to those that reached top level with the more expensive cruise lines. So it does count on what you spend on cruises. To me that is stupid. If I take 6 Carnival cruises in a year and one Crystal why should the Crystal cruise be given the Diamond and not me. We usually take 4-6 cruises a year. Actually we took 8 Carnival cruises one year to reach Diamond faster. Whatever. I just found out something else. Just booked. I got the Veterans discount and they would not give my wife the 5% off of her cost. Still an inexpensive cruise. But when they offer a 5% they should honor it.

[sidari]

7 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Diamond is the top level with Carnival. Diamond is the top level with MSC, right? What I read. They stopped giving Carnival Diamond the Diamond on MSC a few months back. Makes no sense for me. I applied a year or so ago.  They now give it to those that reached top level with the more expensive cruise lines. So it does count on what you spend on cruises. To me that is stupid. If I take 6 Carnival cruises in a year and one Crystal why should the Crystal cruise be given the Diamond and not me. We usually take 4-6 cruises a year. Actually we took 8 Carnival cruises one year to reach Diamond faster. Whatever. I just found out something else. Just booked. I got the Veterans discount and they would not give my wife the 5% off of her cost. Still an inexpensive cruise. But when they offer a 5% they should honor it.

Only MSC can explain, well maybe depending on who you speak to, having got to Black/Diamond by sailing with MSC I have never been and never will be a fan of status match, more so because the benefits were downgraded in order to move from a Loyalty club to the VC.

You can usually only get one discount be it the VC or whatever else they offer such as veterans discount.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Well it is still a good price for the cruise. But after paying and going to the MSC site so check in, I find they screwed up the itinerary on us. We were to go to Grand Cayman. No longer it will be Cosa Maya. The worst thing they did. No longer arriving on Ocean cay at 7:00 AM it is now 2:00 PM. No longer leaving the next day at 7:00 PM it is now 6:00 PM. No a happy cruiser. Wonder how many changes before we actually take the cruise. We booked because of price and the length of time at the Cay and going to Grand Cayman.

[Geobugs]

I paid $95 annual fee on the Hilton Honors credit card.  MSC gave me gold.  It is worth the $95.

[jules815]

6 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I thought they would do tier for tier. We have over 48 cruises with Carnival and ahve been Diamond, the top tier with them for several years now. Did the application for the loyalty match and they gave us GOLD. Anyone get the Diamond when you did the match application?

We did the status match (Royal Caribbean) prior to our first MSC cruise, which was back in January, 2019. At that time we matched to Black, but have now been changed to Diamond. Back then I heard due to the popularity, they might have been scaling it back. 

[IntrepidFromDC]

5 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

OK So how are they matched? I figured top tier to top tier.

Somebody posted a link to the current match table on another thread a week or so ago.  Hope you can find it, or they see this and post it again.  Maybe try Googling "MSC current match table"?  I got Gold for my barely-platinum status so I made out ok.

[dexddd]

They did match top tier to top tier until about 9-12 months ago.

 

Read article about 6 months ago that Grand Cayman basically could care less about cruise ships and was going to restrict access for a couple years.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 hours ago, dexddd said:

They did match top tier to top tier until about 9-12 months ago.

 

Read article about 6 months ago that Grand Cayman basically could care less about cruise ships and was going to restrict access for a couple years.

I think that is the reason MSC switched Grand Cayman port for Costa Maya. As for the 5% discount for veterans. Nothing but a propaganda move. You get 5% no matter, just for doing the Voyagers Club. If you also got 5% on top of the veterans 5%. Then that would be nice. Like Princess you get the Veterans OBC and if they offer a Veterans discount you also receive that. No matter. MSC does  have low cruise prices. I just hope the cruise goes. it is for September 5th this year.

[rkacruiser]

As a 5 Star HAL Mariner Society member, I eared the Black/Diamond level on MSC.  MSC has extended the time when I need to embark another of their ships in order to remain at that status.  Thanks.  I appreciate that.  But, why not make whatever MSC status one has continuous for whatever duration of time?  This would permit those who are able to cruise less frequently than some of us to continue to build their loyalty status.

[dexddd]

20 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

I think that is the reason MSC switched Grand Cayman port for Costa Maya. As for the 5% discount for veterans. Nothing but a propaganda move. You get 5% no matter, just for doing the Voyagers Club. If you also got 5% on top of the veterans 5%. Then that would be nice. Like Princess you get the Veterans OBC and if they offer a Veterans discount you also receive that. No matter. MSC does  have low cruise prices. I just hope the cruise goes. it is for September 5th this year.

MSC does give a 10% discount to folks in various services.

 

I can only speak to NCL who used to give, like ten + years ago, discount to veterans and seniors. No longer.  I do appreciate that MSC does offer 10%.

 

Good luck on your trip.  If MSC would give us FCC from 14 months ago we'd probably book an August or September trip.

[ericfromri]

August 2018, submitted status match from RCCL (pinnacle) and within 24 hours had welcome email for Black(now Diamond) level.  its not nearly as nice as Pinnacle but it is still good.  i booked 67 nights back to back on Divina from nov 21 to jan 22 and i wouldn't have if not for the status match.  

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

3 hours ago, dexddd said:

MSC does give a 10% discount to folks in various services.

 

I can only speak to NCL who used to give, like ten + years ago, discount to veterans and seniors. No longer.  I do appreciate that MSC does offer 10%.

 

Good luck on your trip.  If MSC would give us FCC from 14 months ago we'd probably book an August or September trip.

Folks in various services? Meaning? My TA said nothing more than the 5%.

[sidari]

15 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

As a 5 Star HAL Mariner Society member, I eared the Black/Diamond level on MSC.  MSC has extended the time when I need to embark another of their ships in order to remain at that status.  Thanks.  I appreciate that.  But, why not make whatever MSC status one has continuous for whatever duration of time?  This would permit those who are able to cruise less frequently than some of us to continue to build their loyalty status.

you are asking MSC to use some common sense here like other cruise lines do, sadly it does not appear to exist in their thinking, somewhat like only the person who pays the final bill gets the VC points added to their level which can leave two people on different levels, again unlike other cruise lines.

[dexddd]

20 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Folks in various services? Meaning? My TA said nothing more than the 5%.

It was posted here long time ago and kind of can be found on MSC website under Cruise deals then deals then. Military and Civil Servant.  Why I say kind of, from quick glance at terms under link it only talks about Military yet we've gotten civil servant 10% off.  The post that was here included other groups - I want to say it was teachers but MSC US site does not mention that.

 

It also says interior and ocean view are only 5% so maybe that is why TA saying only 5%?

[Até]

22 hours ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Folks in various services? Meaning? My TA said nothing more than the 5%.

Pretty much any government employee can qualify.  When I first used it I could combine with the Voyagers Club so it was 5%+5% off interior and ocean view and 5%+10% off balcony and above.  Now the Civil Service/Military discount is not combinable so you take one or the other - on lower cabins it's the same base 5% but offers some cancellation benefits if you get deployed.  At a base of 10% it's better than the base Voyagers Club discount on balcony and above. 

 

But often a sailing will fall under the Voyages Selection discount so it can be better to combine Voyagers Club with that, which can beat the Civil Service/Military discount alone.  Since it became non-combinable I have never used the Civil Service discount because I've always found a better deal through Voyages Selections.  It takes some work because MSC constantly changes which sailings are offered as Voyages Selections.  Note there are three different levels of Voyages Selection discounts; 5%+5%, 5%+10% and 5%+15%, where the initial 5% is your Voyagers Club discount and the additional +% is the Voyages Selection discount.  Plus you get $50 OBC per Silver member and above.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club/msc-club-pax-type-515

 

Just to confuse you more note that the Civil Service 10% is a little bit more of a discount than the Voyages Selection 5%+5%.  The VS discount is applied sequentially so it actually comes out to about 9% total.  But since the deployment benefit doesn't matter to me and we both get the OBC I still go with the VS.  If the sailing goes VS 5%+10% or above it's always a better deal.  Luckily with MSC US it's not to hard to change which discount offer you claim.  After final payment that liberal policy usually changes.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

1 hour ago, Até said:

Pretty much any government employee can qualify.  When I first used it I could combine with the Voyagers Club so it was 5%+5% off interior and ocean view and 5%+10% off balcony and above.  Now the Civil Service/Military discount is not combinable so you take one or the other - on lower cabins it's the same base 5% but offers some cancellation benefits if you get deployed.  At a base of 10% it's better than the base Voyagers Club discount on balcony and above. 

 

But often a sailing will fall under the Voyages Selection discount so it can be better to combine Voyagers Club with that, which can beat the Civil Service/Military discount alone.  Since it became non-combinable I have never used the Civil Service discount because I've always found a better deal through Voyages Selections.  It takes some work because MSC constantly changes which sailings are offered as Voyages Selections.  Note there are three different levels of Voyages Selection discounts; 5%+5%, 5%+10% and 5%+15%, where the initial 5% is your Voyagers Club discount and the additional +% is the Voyages Selection discount.  Plus you get $50 OBC per Silver member and above.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club/msc-club-pax-type-515

 

Just to confuse you more note that the Civil Service 10% is a little bit more of a discount than the Voyages Selection 5%+5%.  The VS discount is applied sequentially so it actually comes out to about 9% total.  But since the deployment benefit doesn't matter to me and we both get the OBC I still go with the VS.  If the sailing goes VS 5%+10% or above it's always a better deal.  Luckily with MSC US it's not to hard to change which discount offer you claim.  After final payment that liberal policy usually changes.

Thanks. I think I understand. They gave me GOLD and the $50 OBC which I thought I would get. I did not. You indicated you both got the $50 OBC?

[Até]

1 hour ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Thanks. I think I understand. They gave me GOLD and the $50 OBC which I thought I would get. I did not. You indicated you both got the $50 OBC?

The $50 OBC for Silver and above Voyagers Club members is only on specific sailings listed as Voyages Selection sailings.  These selected sailings change over time and currently the US has a fairly poor offering.  Typically there are about 50 to 75 sailings in the 5%+15% category at any given time and more in the lower percent discount categories.  See the link to the US Voyages Selection 5%+15% page I posted above, on that page are also links to the 5%+10% and 5%+5% sailings pages.  It used to be that you had to call and ask for the discount to be applied to your booking but now you can select the sailing from those online lists, enter your Voyages Club number and birth date and the discount will be automatically shown in the cabin prices.  The OBC will be added a few days later to your booking confirmation.

 

ETA: If you've already booked and see your sailing has moved into a VS discount category, or moved to a higher percent category, you can call and have the discount applied and get the OBC added.  As I mentioned after final payment this can be more difficult.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Até

[shipgeeks]

I think Heatherb said it best: "Something for free is better than nothing".

[Fogfog]

Match is done by the type of cruise line or hotel you match from avg lines vs premium, luxury etc..and they look at the perks or benefits your present tier got you at you other brand.