JustAPilot

Following you on the MSC ship that left Trieste a few days before. Stayed in the same hotel just chilling out in Greece today. 😎

Also get used to no personal space in the elevators outside of YC. As soon as you insert your card for priority the elevator gets raided by Italian families who have no concept of personal space and they come for the ride with you. 😂

No smokers on the balcony so far, but they do have ash trays in the yacht club pool deck on the Med cruise.

And we were loyal NCL fans but their Haven pricing is way out of touch for what you get, do yacht club like us you won’t be disappointed.

So first time doing yacht club in the Mediterranean and the hype is real. Service is amazing, food? Yeah I ate my fair share of lobster tails. But here is the thing, because MSC has multiple departure and arrival ports I never felt like my embarkation was a gongshow. We checked in after 12pm and there was zero lineup for bags or security. Infact I was ushered to the family line without anyone even realizing I was yacht club. Maybe because we had a stroller and a toddler they thought we were in the general section? Regardless once I said yacht club we were treated different. And now for the but, so I’m not one to spend every hour in my own “section” so we normally went to the main part of the ship because A. they have a kiddy pool area which my son loved and B. there was just more entertainment and meeting fellow guests. Not once did I flash my yacht club card and make myself known the staff were fantastic all over. MSC has another customer and I’m here to tell you that the service all over the ship especially in Europe is top notch.

That’s to bad, NCL had some great itineraries especially in Europe. More tourists trap sailings to Costa Maya and what ever that Dominican stop is and sitting with thousands of others in a lazy river is not my forte.

Probably not, ships are sailing at or over capacity these days and Haven rooms get booked out for full asking by cash. Since this is the Joy I’m guessing this is a Bermuda cruise which is already in demand to begin with. $50-$75 over min bid doesn’t move the needle, people pay close to full asking to even score an upgrade for Haven.

I like these threads, from reading the comments here it’s like NCL is paying you to take a cruise with them vs you spending thousands of dollars with them for a vacation and letting things slide vs sharing your concerns and holding them accountable. And yes this is a vacation, so large crowds and over crowded pool bars do affect my vacation. If the pool bars are overcrowded then bring in more bartenders to serve the guests or setup more bar areas around the pool deck.

Also keep in mind the time of year you are going is going to be HOT especially the south of Spain, locals actually leave those places because of the temperatures. I do like your optimism though but I think after the first 2 ports you’ll realize your just sleeping and eating on the cruise because you're exhausted if you try to fit everything in.

I’ll be in YC this summer on a Med cruise and it was a few thousand dollars cheaper then the Haven which is why I booked it. Either MSC is cutting them selves short or supply and demand and Haven is in demand more than YC. Either way from your reviews excited to try the product.

So much for Del Rio’s refined luxury experience idea with the Prima and Viva. Cram them in as much as you can on those Caribbean Miami departures.

Bird I always appreciate your live reviews on just sticking to the features and options on the ship rather than showing me pictures of your family dining out or on the beach to a bunch of internet strangers.

This question has been brought up before and the answer is you are allowed to have guests in your Haven room and the butler will even bring snacks for everyone to enjoy but your guests are not allowed to use any of the Haven facilities.

They are also tip motivated and the more you give the friendlier they are, until the next set of passengers come onboard and they forget who you are.

Please compare YC to Haven! So far I’m happy to have booked YC this summer, Haven is getting watered down more and more with price increases to boot.

Same thing brother, I made the mistake of being signed into my account when I was making faux bookings and got two calls hours later from two separate PCC’s telling me they are my personal consultant lol. I was like wow I have 2 of them at my whim?? Since then I don’t sign in to just browse bookings. At the end of the day you have the actual TA’s who have connections with the brand and can pull strings for you and then you have the ones that just click the submit button on your behalf.

My biggest grip is watering down the Haven experience and nickel and diming for things like lobster tails while raising the prices across the board. Granted ships are sailing full and not having to share space with 3,000 others by the pool is priceless?

We are doing YC for the first time this summer on our annual Med cruise and from what I’m reading most of the complaints about YC, butlers ect are coming from your US cruises. Does MSC bring the “A” team in YC for their Euro cruises or is it just Europeans don’t complain as much? (lol) Anyone done both and can compare?

I also noticed the “slower” months of cruising, January and February are sold out or priced sky high, revenge travel is still a thing.

If this is your son’s graduation gift maybe ask him what ship and itinerary he prefers? Personally I would pick the ship with more port stops as those 4 day cruises are essentially booze cruises anyways and I’d rather be on land then be surrounded by huge group of partiers taking up the pool deck.

Btw talking about coffee, how can they continue to serve that garbage. I’ve had some shitty diner coffee’s but NCL’s free coffee is plain disgusting.

I’m actually legit laughing out loud. Are you telling me the Philippino waitress wasn’t actually interested in seeing pictures of my family skiing in Aspen, laying on the beach in Costa Maya and seeing pictures of my dog?? Oh wait maybe it’s because I kept tipping her $5 for every drink she brought.. but we were legit best friends!! 😂

Eh, it’s like the same as asking members to post who the senior officers are on the cruise, like who cares? Captain so and so isn’t going to remember Jane Smith and her husband from Wichita Kansas who sailed 2 years ago to the Caribbean.

Pretty much, you’re paying another $500 to drink NCL branded Prosecco and are happy with this change? Vs a proper champagne house.. Next up Kirkland branded vodka to replace Grey Goose on the P+ and you’re going to tell me it tastes like Goose? Lol.

Epic main pool bar that serves liquor gets busy, they have another bar by the pool but I think it only served beer and no cocktails. So yeah unless your in Posh or planning on going indoors for a proper cocktail good luck by the main pool bar on a prime season cruise. Regardless Epic is old with rust stains showing in public areas, personally NCL needs to scrap everything older then getaway and escape.