MSC’s Status Match program

Most cruise lines and hotels offer loyalty programs, but with MSC Cruises (Fort Lauderdale, FL; 877/665-4655), you can register the status you have with a competitor's loyalty program, and they'll match it with an equivalent of their own. For example, my Holland America Line 4-star status gets me Gold Status with MSC.

If you go to MSC's website (www.msccruisesusa.com/statusmatch) and provide proof of your status with another loyalty program, they'll match it when you book a cruise with them.

Carnival Cruises, Holland America's parent company, won't even recognize my 4-star status with Holland America (as I found when I called about a 7-day family Mexico cruise we would be taking with Carnival in mid-February 2019)! Carnival has nine different brands, and each stands on its own.

When I'm traveling with kids and grandkids, I only sail on Carnival-branded ships, since Holland America — the brand we usually travel with — has very little for kids to do.

We last traveled with MSC on a Baltic cruise in 2018.

TONY LEISNER
Tarpon Springs, FL