Wynn Las Vegas has long had cruise benefits for high-level elite members of its casino loyalty program. A few years ago, I did a status match to Wynn Platinum (note that Wynn status matches are an absolute rarity), and I was able to take advantage of the chance for a complimentary Holland America cruise. Last week, Wynn announced an update to its cruise partnership: Wynn now partners with MSC Cruise Lines. While I have cruised MSC several times now and enjoyed aspects of MSC enough to come back a few times, I find this partnership to be an odd pairing.
The Deal
- Wynn Las Vegas has announced a partnership with MSC Cruise Lines, providing opportunities for complimentary cruises for elite members as follows:
- Wynn Rewards Platinum tier members can now get a complimentary cruise of up to 10 nights in an Oceanview stateroom with MSC Cruises plus $100 of Onboard Casino Free Play
- Wynn Rewards Black tier members can get a complimentary cruise of up to 10 nights in an Aurea Suite plus $200 of Onboard Casino Free Play.
- Direct link to more information on Wynn Rewards benefits
Quick Thoughts
The marketing information released by MSC and Wynn indicates that top-tier Wynn elites also gain access to MSC Yacht Club, though it isn’t clear to me exactly what that means (after all, anyone has access to pay for Yacht Club — is it complimentary for Wynn elites? I’m not sure). For those unfamiliar, MSC Yacht Club is what MSC dubs a luxury “ship within a ship” experience — essentially, it’s like a private club within the ship.
MSC’s main strength is that they serve a lot of itineraries that you won’t find with the major US cruise lines. While they do offer some Caribbean itineraries with fairly typical stops, they offer itineraries around Europe, Africa, and Asia with ports that you may not otherwise get with major US lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, etc. I have come to really enjoy cruising in Europe for the chance to visit a different European city each day (and in some cases discovering places we’ve loved that we never would have considered otherwise). I also particularly enjoy the fact that MSC’s crowd is so international; we’ve met very few Americans on most of our MSC cruises. Since I am surrounded by Americans in my day-to-day life, I enjoy the international flavor of an MSC cruise (though I should note that some folks get annoyed by the fact that announcements take longer since they are made in multiple languages each time).
All that said, MSC certainly has a more “budget” feel to it that seems like an odd fit with Wynn Las Vegas. I haven’t taken MSC up on its Yacht Club offering, but it makes sense to me that MSC would try to market its Yacht Club experience to Wynn elites. On the other hand, I have stayed at Wynn/Encore, and the regular MSC experience just isn’t very similar by any measure. I’m not sure that a free cruise on MSC would be the carrot that would push someone to reach elite status with Wynn, though I suppose this is really just a marketing tool for both sides.
Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to get Wynn Platinum or above. I believe that Founders Card Elite was offering the chance to get Wynn Platinum status, but from what I’ve read about it, I think that the cruise benefit was not available to those getting Platinum status from Founders Card (I’m not sure if that has changed). Back when I matched to Wynn Platinum (which, again, has been a very rare offering), I had to complete two non-consecutive Wynn/Encore stays in order to use the cruise benefit (I booked those via Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts®). The Founders Card benefit notes that members need to make two non-consecutive stays to access Platinum benefits like the spa credit, so I would think you’d at least need those those two stays to get the cruise benefit if it were even available (and, again, based on terms I’ve seen published elsewhere, I don’t think it was available even after stays when the benefit was paired with Holland America last year).
I expect that most readers probably won’t make it to Wynn Platinum through play. I certainly wouldn’t expect to see another match, but it is worth knowing that this benefit has switched to MSC whether you’re chasing Wynn status through play or if we see another match opportunity.
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Thanks in part to you, Nick, I’ve cruised on MSC several times and I agree it is not a “luxury” line — with the very real exception of Yacht Club. Personally, I would never pay for Yacht Club, but it is designed as a luxury product and would certainly be enjoyable (like I assume I could actually use a cruise ship pool in the afternoon if I was in Yacht Club). If Wynn status is actually giving away free Yacht Club cruises, this would be a big deal — even if getting the status would be extremely hard for people “playing the game” here.