I am a Diamond with Hilton and sent proof over to MSC through the website. Same day, they gave me Diamond status with MSC. Pretty cool stuff. I love that you're branching out from Royal.
Thank you! Yes, going on new cruise lines has been exciting! Def helps keep it fresh and really figure out what I like. Glad to be able to share the experience!
Hey Brandon. JFYI, Virgin Voyages does now offer status match. I’d say it’s really worthwhile. You get a free bottle of Moët French champagne ($95 value), $10/day credit for specialty coffees, free bag of laundry + some free dry cleaning & pressing, among other benefits. Very easy to match in from any other program.
Hey Dan! I did see this! Looks like I lucked-up and went a month or two before this rolled out. Would have made my experience 10x better as most of my gripes were solved with this new program. Trying to find a way to get back on VV now to test it out!
A big difference with MSC’s program is that you have to cruise every 36 months or else you lose your status and your account disappears. So don’t do the status match if you don’t have definite plans to cruise MSC.
I know this video is older but thank you thank you thank you for posting this video! I'm so glad YT recommended your channel to me. I have status at several hotel chains so I just submitted a match to hopefully Gold status. Even if I only get Silver, that's still $50 onboard credit and more status than I would have had otherwise. This is such a great service and more lines should do it, makes me even happier that I decided to branch out to MSC.
You sure do! It is every cruise! Though, if it is a short cruise, you will not get all of the benefits but most. The main one I haven't gotten is the chocolate mold.
I wish more cruiselines would do this. Heck I wish they'd do it for the brands they own. Why can't my Princess points be used on Carnival? Or Celebrity on RCL? It's stupid.
The marketing and revenue powers that be! You would really think they would, especially as I feel there is a progression to Royal, Celebrity and then Silversea.
I heard on a previous video that you have to do it as soon as you board. It does fill up or have limited time. I did not see a way to do it on advance but hoping someone else jumps in here to confirm for you. 🤗
Brandon, I’m Diamond w Royal. The only “status match” I really care about is free drinks. Does Gold status on MSC provide for free drinks like on Royal ? I’m sorry if I missed it. 🤦♂️
Not to my knowledge. At diamond, I do get a bottle of something but no free drinks. Granted, if you save several hundred on the cruise fare, one could argue the drinks are included 😜
Potentially... I don't even know if they have a solid casino loyalty program at this time and don't believe they do. It is individual sailing by individual sailing. If you have a certificate from another ship, I am sure their team would probably be glad to invite you.
I just added my Hilton gold status my points are over 10000 points will that put me at back or gold with msc? And will this be active for my first cruise ?
If you go through their process, it will be active for your first cruise (which is amazing). They used to have as sheet that listed out the types of status and how they matched it but the page has been taken down for me to confirm for you.
Thank you for this informative video I've been trying to research this information their website does not break down these specifics from my android device, I just applied for the match reward program I'm a diamond on royals so I qualified for gold membership on MSC I have not yet experienced MSC but I'm looking forward to doing so in the near future
Brandon, I enjoy your videos and thank you for sharing this. So if I do this, it doesn't mean they will drain my Royal, NCL and Hilton points that I have earned, right? I just want to confirm before I do this.
Hey Karen! They are not able to touch another companies program! You are safe to match and keep status on the program you match with. Hope you have a blast!
Tried to link Carnival status today. Keep getting error saying loyalty number already in use…any help would be appreciated. I even sent screenshot of loyalty status. Thanks in advance.
Hey Chris, MSC is not my primary line so I don't have as many connections to help. I would suggest slightly modifying your number to get the form to submit. Once it submits, you will be able to email with the right folks who are processing for you. I had a quick turnaround.
WOW just sent you a response and you were ablate get this vlog out! We value most of all 4 free drinks a day and unless I misunderstood MSC doesn't offer free drinks. Diamond is worth $100/day to us for booze, although I have to admit we cant drink 4 cocktails/day.
I'm not sure if you are a gambler but I would enjoy a video about the various casino players clubs onboard and how to get comps and status matches from them. Cheers!
I have heard that! I went like a month or two before they rolled this out. It really does fix a lot of the simple problems I had with Virgin. I look forward to trying them out again!
@@TheWeekendCruiser yes on valiant lady we had a combo of the splash of romance and deep blue virgin sail club perks on transatlantic/mermaiden caribbean. we got free fresh squeeze from the juice bar every morning; a free Moet shake of champagne on each cruise; free seaday in the sauna/steam room on each cruise; free huge bag of laundry; free chocolate macaroons/chocolate tray delievered twice to the room....think that was it??? But definitely worth it. We got deep blue status for sailing twice with virgin this year
@@TheWeekendCruiser also virgin are not imposing a single supplement for solo travellers until april 2023...so you can get a sea view balcony room for the price of 1 person i think
@@TheWeekendCruiser i had to look up the virgin page. We also got daily $10 speciality coffee; free premium wifi and an exclusive champagnge/cocktail sailaway event (which was held on a seperate night to the 1st sail away party)
Hey Kevin, you will need at a profile to status match. You can go to the Voyagers sign up page to create a profile and when you book your cruise, it will automatically be applied.
With Silver you get only one $50 on-board credit and not two $50 credits - If you book between 9 to 12 months you get the $50 OBC. If you book greater than 12 months ahead you get the $50 OBC + Double points. It is misleading the way it is written but that is how it works. Additionally I am told that each member on the sailing will get the OBC only if they are an existing voyager member. Sounds really strange but that is what even the Supervisor at MSC has confirmed. However MSC customer service is not yet fully trained and geared for the US Market and they are operating like headless chicken. If anyone has had a different experience with MSC OBC's please comment and share. Thanks.
They took it down a few weeks ago for some reason and I haven't been able to locate a replacement 😭😭 whatever status they will award you is better than no status though!
@@TheWeekendCruiser Can you answer a couple questions about MSC cruises? I have a cruise in Jan 2024, and I was doing some reading online about MSC, and from what I have read, jeans aren't acceptable? I pasted it below: is this true? Did you experience this when you cruised MSC? Written Restrictions and Jeans: After 6 p.m., jeans, T-shirts and shorts are not permitted in the ships' public areas. No swimwear is allowed in main dining rooms. Jeans are allowed on casual resort wear nights, as long as they aren't torn or ripped.
Hey there, that policy seems a bit strict. I only wear jeans and flip flops to the main dinning room but it was a 3 night weekend sailing. Not sure if this changes anything but this would surprise me. Going back in a week for another MSC weekend cruise and will research
@@TheWeekendCruiser Thanks for the quick reply. My sailing next Jan is 5 days. I will await your reply once you return, but it sounds like jeans should be good.
HI Brandon, okay... mom here so here the kids question [insert eye roll here 😁] ..but did you happen to see or hear if they would do the matching for kids? Or is it like RCL where kids just fall under parents' status
haha no eye roll but admittingly, kids are not my area of expertise 😂 However, in looking at the details of the MSC Voyager Club, it is open to all ages and would match status of anyone under age of 18. However, it does not mention it will match to parents status, they would need to stand on their own. Also, check this list as many of the benefits are not eligible to 18 and under. Some, like alcohol, are obvious. www.msccruisesusa.com/-/media/us/documents/voyagers-club-final-tcs.pdf
@@TheWeekendCruiser thanks Brandon, you’re the only cruiser who makes me think about checking out new lines. Everyone gets the hand block #loyaltoroyal😃😃
Hey there! I had someone else comment on this the other day and it appears they have removed it. :-( Hopefully, just temporary but its been gone at least two weeks now.
I was stumped by the "Issue Date of the Card" field. If I understand correctly, I don't have to fill this in if I upload the screenshot of my account that I'm matching from? Thanks!
@@TheWeekendCruiser Brandon, thanks for the great video! Where is the matching list again? The link is not on MSC’s website and the link in your video no longer works :-( I know you can only status match once in your lifetime with MSC. Here are my loyalty stats: Hilton: Gold Marriott: Gold Royal Caribbean: Platinum World of Hyatt: Explorist MGM: Gold Caesars: Diamond Which program should I use to match with based on the MSC conversion chart?
@@leonspears Looks like you are right, it has disappeared and I cannot locate. All I can confirm is the old chart has Royal Caribbean Platinum matching to MSC's Silver Status.
