Yacht Club Mini Review

Just back from the April 4th sailing. Have to say I LOVE Yacht Club.

Things we loved:

- The small buffet by the pool on the 18th floor for a leisurely breakfast. Our butler would find us there and bring us the morning paper. Heaven. They have a small assortment of hot food and also offer waffles, pancakes, and omelettes to order. The coffee was amazing but pretty strong for me. The waiter saw me add 4 creamers and suggested I order a white Americano. Perfect!

- The Top Sail lounge. A fabulous, quiet place to have a nice conversation, a nice snack, drink, or high tea. Always great service. My kids really got into the idea of tea everyday at 4pm. Try the chocolates on the buffet. Delicious.

- Loved doing the winemaker experience. So fun. We got to play with four different wines in various mixtures, then make a bottle (or more) to bring home.

- We did a private excursion in St. Maartin that was out of this world. Do yourself a favor and look up Blue Safari St. Maartin. It's a speedboat that takes you to multiple islands for swimming/snorkeling and an all around fabulous day. Easily one of the highlights of our trip.

- Another absolute favorite was the Stingray City Bahamas excursion. This one we did do with MSC. Amazing! We took a 5-10 minute speedboat ride to an open ocean enclosure (3-5 acre?) filled with very gentle stingrays. It was the best experience every to be able to swim with them. My 10 year old son got a full body hug from one as it explored him. He wasn't so sure about the experience as it was happening but he warmed up to it very quickly. If I knew how much fun it was I would have booked the 10:30 AND 12:30 outings.

The best tips I got from this forum that really paid off were to bring wire hangars (there's never enough for a family), a plug-in strip if you want to charge multiple electronics, and magnetic hooks. I bought a package of 4 and wished I had more. We used them for drying bathing suits and cover-ups, hats, etc.

My kids didn't love the kids club. Probably my kids though. It was just too loud and chaotic for them. We did see plenty of kids having lots of fun.

The food was fine. Definitely not 5 star but we always found something we liked. Eataly Pizza was really good. Other than the pizza we found a severe lack of seasoning of any kind. I understand that they're trying to appeal to a broad audience, but the best meal we had on this trip was at the Miami airport at Ku-Va Cuban restaurant. That was amazing. The MSC food was also very consistently overcooked so if you want medium-rare, order rare. Even better tell them you want your meat pink/red, not gray.

Service at Le Muse was great. They were really nice to my kids and made a special effort to make them happy. That went a long way for me. The kids were easily able to tolerate long dinners because of the attention they received.

Shows were good but not amazing. I enjoyed Wonderland (and Pirates) a lot but then kept seeing the same acts interjected in following shows. I think the issue is that they hire acrobats that specialize in something really cool but then need to use them again and again in ways they're not as good in. The Michael Jackson impersonator was really really good and the dance numbers were worth sitting through the slower songs. It's just weird to have opera singers sing Michael Jackson songs, enunciating every syllable. Odd. I really did appreciate that I was able to expose the kids (7 and 10) to a wide variety of shows and music.

Loved our room. Plenty of space for 4 (understanding that two were younger children), bathroom with lots of storage and plenty of space in the walk in closet and wall cabinet for most things. Loved having a balcony to watch the world go by.

We loved having a butler and had a fabulous time. We'll definitely be back. We're actually considering doing the Divina in the Mediterranean.

Just back from the April 4th sailing. Have to say I LOVE Yacht Club.

 

Things we loved:

- The small buffet by the pool on the 18th floor for a leisurely breakfast. Our butler would find us there and bring us the morning paper. Heaven. They have a small assortment of hot food and also offer waffles, pancakes, and omelettes to order. The coffee was amazing but pretty strong for me. The waiter saw me add 4 creamers and suggested I order a white Americano. Perfect!

 

- The Top Sail lounge. A fabulous, quiet place to have a nice conversation, a nice snack, drink, or high tea. Always great service. My kids really got into the idea of tea everyday at 4pm. Try the chocolates on the buffet. Delicious.

 

- Loved doing the winemaker experience. So fun. We got to play with four different wines in various mixtures, then make a bottle (or more) to bring home.

 

- We did a private excursion in St. Maartin that was out of this world. Do yourself a favor and look up Blue Safari St. Maartin. It's a speedboat that takes you to multiple islands for swimming/snorkeling and an all around fabulous day. Easily one of the highlights of our trip.

 

- Another absolute favorite was the Stingray City Bahamas excursion. This one we did do with MSC. Amazing! We took a 5-10 minute speedboat ride to an open ocean enclosure (3-5 acre?) filled with very gentle stingrays. It was the best experience every to be able to swim with them. My 10 year old son got a full body hug from one as it explored him. He wasn't so sure about the experience as it was happening but he warmed up to it very quickly. If I knew how much fun it was I would have booked the 10:30 AND 12:30 outings.

 

The best tips I got from this forum that really paid off were to bring wire hangars (there's never enough for a family), a plug-in strip if you want to charge multiple electronics, and magnetic hooks. I bought a package of 4 and wished I had more. We used them for drying bathing suits and cover-ups, hats, etc.

 

My kids didn't love the kids club. Probably my kids though. It was just too loud and chaotic for them. We did see plenty of kids having lots of fun.

 

The food was fine. Definitely not 5 star but we always found something we liked. Eataly Pizza was really good. Other than the pizza we found a severe lack of seasoning of any kind. I understand that they're trying to appeal to a broad audience, but the best meal we had on this trip was at the Miami airport at Ku-Va Cuban restaurant. That was amazing. The MSC food was also very consistently overcooked so if you want medium-rare, order rare. Even better tell them you want your meat pink/red, not gray.

 

Service at Le Muse was great. They were really nice to my kids and made a special effort to make them happy. That went a long way for me. The kids were easily able to tolerate long dinners because of the attention they received.

 

Shows were good but not amazing. I enjoyed Wonderland (and Pirates) a lot but then kept seeing the same acts interjected in following shows. I think the issue is that they hire acrobats that specialize in something really cool but then need to use them again and again in ways they're not as good in. The Michael Jackson impersonator was really really good and the dance numbers were worth sitting through the slower songs. It's just weird to have opera singers sing Michael Jackson songs, enunciating every syllable. Odd. I really did appreciate that I was able to expose the kids (7 and 10) to a wide variety of shows and music.

 

Loved our room. Plenty of space for 4 (understanding that two were younger children), bathroom with lots of storage and plenty of space in the walk in closet and wall cabinet for most things. Loved having a balcony to watch the world go by.

 

We loved having a butler and had a fabulous time. We'll definitely be back. We're actually considering doing the Divina in the Mediterranean.

Great review - brought back a few memories to remind me why I've booked the YC for my next cruise :)

There's no need to bring extra hangers - just ask and they'll be supplied. Even when in 'steerage' I've always requested them.

As for the plug-in strip - my experience is that things charge very slowly if you have a number of items plugged in at the same time. I gave up bringing one as, with weight restrictions on airlines, it wasn't worth it.

This is exactly how we felt about our first YC experience and why we also booked the Divina in the Med for June! I have never traveled on the same ship twice, but after experiencing the YC I think I could sail her exclusively. LOL The only difference between your review and mine would be that we were baffled that anyone could enjoy the Michael Jackson show. Maybe it has changed, but to us it felt like a middle school performance with good lighting.

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the suggestion about the coffee!!! I used to walk down to the buffet to get a cup because I couldn't stomach (literally) the coffee in the YC. I loved the buffet coffee (and could probably use the trek to get there) but the white Americano will be my pick in June.

Thanks for a great review!

I pack my hanging clothes already on a hangar so it's easy to just hang everything up when we get to the room. I didn't consider asking for more. Would they have the thin hangars or just more of the huge space taking ones?

As for the power strip, I didn't notice any problem with charging and we usually had four devices charging every night. It was really nice not to have to play charging roulette.

We also rented a ship phone for the week from the kids club. That let my kids leave dinner or a show early, go back to the room, and call me to confirm they got there. Totally worth $20 for the communication. I also let my 10 year old have sign out privileges at the kids club but asked that he call me and let me know when he did so. The rented phone made that possible.

This is exactly how we felt about our first YC experience and why we also booked the Divina in the Med for June! I have never traveled on the same ship twice, but after experiencing the YC I think I could sail her exclusively. LOL The only difference between your review and mine would be that we were baffled that anyone could enjoy the Michael Jackson show. Maybe it has changed, but to us it felt like a middle school performance with good lighting.

Thank you SO SO MUCH for the suggestion about the coffee!!! I used to walk down to the buffet to get a cup because I couldn't stomach (literally) the coffee in the YC. I loved the buffet coffee (and could probably use the trek to get there) but the white Americano will be my pick in June.

Thanks for a great review!

I agree that the show wasn't up to Las Vegas standards but my kids had never even heard of Michael Jackson and it brought up a lot of happy memories so I did enjoy it. I'll admit it was distracting watching the amazing acrobats struggling to be backup dancers.

The extra hangers are the metal ones that they supply when returning your laundry (if you've requested it be hung rather than folded). Much easier than fiddling with the hooks on the wooden ones!

I agree that the show wasn't up to Las Vegas standards but my kids had never even heard of Michael Jackson and it brought up a lot of happy memories so I did enjoy it. I'll admit it was distracting watching the amazing acrobats struggling to be backup dancers.

Haha - yes, I totally understand.

We hang our clothes on those thin, velvet-type hangars right into our suitcase so it is super easy to just grab them and hang.

I had no idea that we can now rent the phones from the kid's club! That's brilliant. We will definitely do that when we board.

I can't imagine a better experience than the YC at this price. I marveled every day at the amount of chairs available near the YC pool! That alone is worth the price of admission. Especially when you look over the railing at the swarms of people at the other pools. And the towel lines. And the ice cream lines. And the packed pools...

I can't imagine a better experience than the YC at this price. I marveled every day at the amount of chairs available near the YC pool! That alone is worth the price of admission. Especially when you look over the railing at the swarms of people at the other pools. And the towel lines. And the ice cream lines. And the packed pools...

We often had the YC pool all to ourselves and the kids would each get their own hot tub. We went to the main pool once but they hated it and wanted to go back to where they were offered drinks and snacks and could lounge in peace. The 14th floor hot tubs often had 12+ people in each.

I can't wait, we are booked on the Divina YC in July cruising the Mediterranean. No crowds and bar service on hand to bring you what ever you want....... Now that's how you do it. Bring it on! [emoji2]

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I'm surprised you didn't find the food to be "5 star". We felt that almost all of our meals in Le Muse were top quality, on par or better with some of the nicest restaurants we have been to. Our filet mignon (had a good amount of it) was always cooked perfectly as well. I'm hoping the quality of the food has not declined since we were on the ship in October.

 

My kids didn't love the kids club. Probably my kids though. It was just too loud and chaotic for them. We did see plenty of kids having lots of fun.

 

The food was fine. Definitely not 5 star but we always found something we liked. Eataly Pizza was really good. Other than the pizza we found a severe lack of seasoning of any kind. I understand that they're trying to appeal to a broad audience, but the best meal we had on this trip was at the Miami airport at Ku-Va Cuban restaurant. That was amazing. The MSC food was also very consistently overcooked so if you want medium-rare, order rare. Even better tell them you want your meat pink/red, not gray.

 

Shows were good but not amazing. I enjoyed Wonderland (and Pirates) a lot but then kept seeing the same acts interjected in following shows. I think the issue is that they hire acrobats that specialize in something really cool but then need to use them again and again in ways they're not as good in. The Michael Jackson impersonator was really really good and the dance numbers were worth sitting through the slower songs. It's just weird to have opera singers sing Michael Jackson songs, enunciating every syllable. Odd. I really did appreciate that I was able to expose the kids (7 and 10) to a wide variety of shows and music.

We were on the same cruise, but in steerage. :D

The kids club was overrun. We had been on Divina in early December 2013, and it was a totally different experience. Many more planned activities, more prizes and real crafts (not just coloring and gluing), they taught the kids a song & dance routine and went the the Black & White one night to put on a show for the parents, etc. We went this week because it was spring break in Georgia, so lots of kids. Not much the club can do in that case, I suppose. We were sorely disappointed in the total lack of security. They had us in a long line at times, signing the kids out then picking them up with a different person, and never once asked to see our cards for ID.

Food is definitely not 5 star. We ate in the buffet most meals, which was maybe like 3 stars if you pick and choose. I'd think that YC would be better but it sounds like you had issues with done-ness. Ironically, the best thing I found about the food is that they were not routinely overcooking the fish. This was on the buffet! Much of it was cooked perfectly, though I hit one or two pieces underdone. Some overdone also, but not drastically so. On the buffet that is an easy problem to solve. ;)

We had the same opinion of the shows: they were largely just different variations on a variety show with the acts overlapping. Also, there were the same shows we saw on Divina ~15 months earlier. Some new personnel and some minor changes in the acts, but 90% identical.

Regarding Starwalker, the MJ segments are very entertaining, but by the time you subtract the long 'goodbye' at the end, and the slow numbers in the middle, the MJ portion is probably less than 20 minutes. That seems lacking to me, given MJ's impact on the entertainment world.

Resstation: I believe you can only rent phones if you have kids in the mini-camp. This is a fantastic tool, and they should rent the phones to anyone for $75 a pair. That would still be a great value and hugely profitable.

I did manage to get one of the $10 future cruise vouchers. Thank you to those who posted about that a few weeks back. I'm not sure if we'll use it in time, but well worth the $10 gamble. DW is tired of Divina, but I'm sure we'll get onto Seaside in early 2018 (though too late for the voucher, I believe).

Question regarding YC: does your keycard allow you to override the elevators? I would think that it would allow you to get to 17 & 18 and maybe allow for a priority call to bring the elevator quickly. I ask because later in the week we got in an elevator heading down from 12 to 6. One lady kept running her card and pressing 18 as the elevator descended. She did this like 6 times when the other folks were on, and then another half dozen times when the elevator continued down after they got out. She seemed to think that her elite status should stop the elevator mid-journey and turn it around. Was she nuts or can you YC folk actually reroute an elevator?

We were on the same cruise, but in steerage. :D

 

The kids club was overrun. We had been on Divina in early December 2013, and it was a totally different experience. Many more planned activities, more prizes and real crafts (not just coloring and gluing), they taught the kids a song & dance routine and went the the Black & White one night to put on a show for the parents, etc. We went this week because it was spring break in Georgia, so lots of kids. Not much the club can do in that case, I suppose. We were sorely disappointed in the total lack of security. They had us in a long line at times, signing the kids out then picking them up with a different person, and never once asked to see our cards for ID.

 

Food is definitely not 5 star. We ate in the buffet most meals, which was maybe like 3 stars if you pick and choose. I'd think that YC would be better but it sounds like you had issues with done-ness. Ironically, the best thing I found about the food is that they were not routinely overcooking the fish. This was on the buffet! Much of it was cooked perfectly, though I hit one or two pieces underdone. Some overdone also, but not drastically so. On the buffet that is an easy problem to solve. ;)

 

We had the same opinion of the shows: they were largely just different variations on a variety show with the acts overlapping. Also, there were the same shows we saw on Divina ~15 months earlier. Some new personnel and some minor changes in the acts, but 90% identical.

 

Regarding Starwalker, the MJ segments are very entertaining, but by the time you subtract the long 'goodbye' at the end, and the slow numbers in the middle, the MJ portion is probably less than 20 minutes. That seems lacking to me, given MJ's impact on the entertainment world.

 

Resstation: I believe you can only rent phones if you have kids in the mini-camp. This is a fantastic tool, and they should rent the phones to anyone for $75 a pair. That would still be a great value and hugely profitable.

 

I did manage to get one of the $10 future cruise vouchers. Thank you to those who posted about that a few weeks back. I'm not sure if we'll use it in time, but well worth the $10 gamble. DW is tired of Divina, but I'm sure we'll get onto Seaside in early 2018 (though too late for the voucher, I believe).

 

Question regarding YC: does your keycard allow you to override the elevators? I would think that it would allow you to get to 17 & 18 and maybe allow for a priority call to bring the elevator quickly. I ask because later in the week we got in an elevator heading down from 12 to 6. One lady kept running her card and pressing 18 as the elevator descended. She did this like 6 times when the other folks were on, and then another half dozen times when the elevator continued down after they got out. She seemed to think that her elite status should stop the elevator mid-journey and turn it around. Was she nuts or can you YC folk actually reroute an elevator?

Absolutely!!! I've used it a couple of times. It's hit or miss on some of the elevators though.

You can totally reroute elevators. The trick is that it only works on the center two elevators and you have to leave your card in the reader. Our butler taught us that trick. Super nice for us but annoying to others waiting.

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Absolutely!!! I've used it a couple of times. It's hit or miss on some of the elevators though.

You can totally reroute elevators. The trick is that it only works on the center two elevators and you have to leave your card in the reader. Our butler taught us that trick. Super nice for us but annoying to others waiting.

Ah! So she wasn't crazy.... just poorly trained, as she kept pulling the card back out. I guess the trick for the rest of us would be to pull the card out for a half second saying "is that a special card?" :p

Actually, given the number of times an elevator passed us by, it must work on every elevator and there were 1500 people in YC for our cruise.

1500! [emoji50]

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