MSC Voyagers Club - what’s it all about?
If you’re anything like I was, you might not know too much about cruise line loyalty programmes. Before I took my first cruise, I had no idea whether or not I should be a member of these programmes, or if they were a waste of time. Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this post, and we’re looking specifically at MSC’s offering: ‘MSC Voyagers Club’.
So, first off, what is it?
Well, ‘MSC Voyagers Club’ is a loyalty programme designed to engineer loyalty with MSC cruises. This programme spans across 5 different tiers: Welcome, Classic, Silver, Gold and Diamond. Depending on which ‘tier’ you fall in to, your onboard ship card will look different. Yes - this does become one of those things where people then hang their cards around their necks to let the rest of the ship know that they’re a ‘Diamond cruiser’. However, you can get there MUCH quicker than you might think - stay tuned and we’ll look at the tips to fast-track your status with this programme.
Before you read on, I should say - you can read more details about the Voyagers Club on the MSC website, if you’d like to get your information that way, too! To get there, just click here.
So, I know the question burning with you right now - how do you work your way up the programme, and are there any ways to ‘fast track’ your position to get the rewards quicker? We’ll come back to the second point later in this post, but first let’s look at how you build your status with MSC.
The MSC Voyagers Club is a points-based system. You’ll need:
Classic membership: 1 to 2,199 points
Silver membership: 2,200 to 4,299 points
Gold membership: 4,300 to 9,999 points
Diamond membership: 10,000+ points
This is the first key difference between MSC’s programme and many of the other cruise lines. Take Royal Caribbean for example - they operate on a ‘points per night’ basis, where each night that you spend onboard one of their ships constitutes as a point. You get more points per night if you book suites, but for the purpose of this conversation, just think ‘one point per night’. However, MSC’s a little different, and therefore can be a bit more confusing. So, how do you build points? We’re going to cover 3 key areas here: Cruise bookings, Cruise expenses and finally additional promotions.
1. So, how many points is your cruise worth?
First up, you need to understand how many points your basic booking is worth. When you cruise with MSC, you will choose which ‘experience’ you’d like to opt for. I’ll write more on this in a future article, but your options are: Bella, Fantastica, Aurea or MSC Yacht Club. The bullets below shows you how many points you’d rack up for each of these experiences, per booking (correct at 27/03/2024).
Bella experience: 200 points (cruises under 6 days/5 nights), 500 points (cruises from 6 to 10 days/5 to 9 nights) or 700 points (cruises of over 10 days/9 nights)
Fantastica experience: 400 points (cruises under 6 days/5 nights), 700 points (cruises from 6 to 10 days/5 to 9 nights) or 1,000 points (cruises of over 10 days/9 nights)
Aurea experience: 600 points (cruises under 6 days/5 nights), 1,000 points (cruises from 6 to 10 days/5 to 9 nights) or 1,500 points (cruises of over 10 days/9 nights)
MSC Yacht Club: 800 points (cruises under 6 days/5 nights), 1,500 points (cruises from 6 to 10 days/5 to 9 nights) or 2,000 points (cruises of over 10 days/9 nights)
There are other ways to score additional points at the ‘booking’ stage, but we’ll come back to this later when we talk about point 3: additional Promotions.
2. How many points can you earn on additional expenses?
For some cruise lines, this is a bit of a minefield. I cruised with Costa last year, and it took me a while to understand how their expenses actually transferred into points on their loyalty programme. For MSC, it’s a little more ‘clear cut’, and I actually think it’s a great idea to offer points in exchange for additional expenses incurred - not all of the cruise lines have this approach! There are two different categories of expenses that you’ll need to think about here: Onboard services prepaid before the cruise, and also Onboard expenses. For the former, you’ll receive 100 Voyager Club points for every 150 (€ / $ - if you pay in another currency, they’ll apply a conversion rate specific to your date of purchase) you spend on booking services before your cruise. For Onboard expenses, you’ll score points here too. For these, it’s the same rate: 100 points for each 150 (€/$). It’s worth noting - if you’re planning to play big in the casino to leap your way towards that Diamond membership, don’t bother - casino spend doesn’t qualify for any points whatsoever (although you’d be in the MSC Casino programme, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today!).
3. What about additional promotions?
Okay, we’ve covered how to get points through either booking your cruise, or by spending additional amounts after booking, but you need to be aware of some additional promotions that can really help you out! From time to time, MSC will publish lists of their ‘Voyages’ cruises to members of the programme, and these will usually come with bumped points promotions to encourage you to book. For example, at the point of writing this post, the promotion running is for a 5% discount on these cruises, in addition to a whopping 700 bonus points just for making the booking. To get this many points through onboard spend would cost you a decent amount of money, so this promotion is worth considering! There are a few other ways to secure your extra points, too:
Booking a world cruise? Well, get ready for TRIPLE points! For this offer, MSC will credit you with triple points for your experience booked at the point of booking. Your status points will usually be applied to your account at the end of your cruise, so having them applied at the stage of booking is a key point here. Think - how many points do you need to reach the higher level(s), and are there benefits that would be useful for you on your longer cruise?
Able to book more than 12 months before your cruise? If so, you can expect to receive DOUBLE points, in addition to a 5% discount on your booking.
If you’re already Silver, Gold or Diamond and you book more than 9 months out, you’ll receive an additional €50 onboard credit!
MSC Status Match
So, until this point, we’ve covered how you can build your MSC Voyagers Club status through earning points. However, what if you’re a bit more impatient, and want to progress up the ranks NOW? Well, the MSC Status Match could be your answer!
I’ve met so many people onboard who have absolutely no idea about this promotion, but when they look into it, they would qualify! Now, it’s important to note that this promotion has changed in recent years - you were previously able to ‘fast track’ to the top of the programme and immediately earn Diamond status if you had a strong loyalty with another company, but the offer now is open to only Classic and Silver tier-matching, not higher.
So, how does it work? Well, if you’re a Classic member with any other loyalty programme, you can submit evidence to become a Classic Voyagers Club member immediately, and the same for Silver. My advice? Check what MSC accepts - you may just save yourself some time and get a couple of extra perks! You can find out more about the Status Match programme on the MSC website: click here!
So, to wrap up, is it worth it?
My answer to this one is easy: YES! Ok, you’re not going to have MSC inviting you onto free cruises every year, but it would be nice to get some time in the spa, a complimentary Speciality Dining reservation, a bottle of fizz on elegant night, and some snacks in the cabin among other things, wouldn’t it? Before you next cruise with MSC, get yourself signed up to the Club!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed this post today. If you have, it would be amazing if you’d sign up to receive my newsletters to stay ‘in the loop’ with what’s coming in the future. You can do this by heading over to the ‘sign up now’ tab at the top of your screen. Thank you, and go register for the club!