JustAPilot

Maybe the dedicated elevator perk works for the US market but I found it did not work for our Mediterranean sailing. Coming back from port, every elevator got mobbed by everyone that could fit in regardless if it said Yacht Club or not. We actually just started going up a flight of stairs to another floor just so we can call the elevator and be on it without everyone else joining.

Having Nexus also helps with customs and lineups, no traffic when you’re leaving that early. 

16 hours ago, Lena11033 said:

 

Exactly, I have a 20 min drive to my closest airport BUT then its you need to be 2 hours early, 1 hour flight to Toronto, wait 4 or 5 hours there until the next flight which is a what 3/3.5 hours then get to the hotel.

 

But that's if its even doable, I looked at one recently for my cruise in April it had travel time as 17 hours so looks like I'll be driving to Detroit for that one.

And for us that live near Toronto, it’s a 30 minute drive to the airport, 6am direct flight to FLL, arrive by 10am, take Uber to cruise port and get on the ship. Pretty straight forward and easy long weekend getaway.

Having sailed YC in the Med on Splendida I will say the reviews are justified. The experience in YC is not consistent across the board which for example with Haven it’s pretty consistent and you know what to expect. The daily newspaper I never requested it but talking to some guests who did they were told to download the app and read it from there and that they don’t give out physical papers anymore..?

Food is subjective of course but I didn’t find the quality to be very high standard, only 1 dinner they had lobster tails on the menu and the meats were not of the highest quality, kind of fatty. Wine options for the pairings were not anything more than $20 a bottle, Haven has Napa Valley Cab’s like Silverado and Veuve champagne. Which leads me to the bar discussion and asking the bar to make you something with this ingredient and liquor, there wasn’t any creativity like the Haven bar and your essentially having to tell them what you want. Still had a fantastic experience and the staff really make the experience in YC just fantastic and the word “no” was not in their vocabulary. 
 

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.  

34 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We were on the Seascape a few months ago and the concierge in the YC was 'aghast' that a guest was able to get the Royal Suite for $5000 total. The staff are upset because it took them years to get to the highest positions within the MSC organization, those within the Yacht Club.  For their services to be 'discounted', as management is currently doing, is an affront to their hard earned efforts. I recall early on a YC director boasting that the Owners Suite was now commanding $14,000 for one week. They took pride in this. The same suites are commanding double this on other supposedly luxury cruise lines. We are testing these 'others' out and so far only Explora Journeys comes the closest to Yacht Club treatment (as one would expect from a sister organization).

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. 

49 minutes ago, hgrant said:

 

Because I already know some of our group will not be in Haven so I am asking a question about ship rules.  If you don't want to answer, please feel free to move on.  I was just curious if others faced this and what they did about it.  We have decided not to book Haven or a suite for this trip so we can hang out with our friends and relatives.

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. 

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

I did the same.  I do faux bookings all the time to compare fares, on all cruise lines.  I get calls and emails from all of them.  Until, I sent a written email to all of them requesting I be removed from their email list and to be put on their "do not call" list. 

 

I'll call them if I need them.  

 

Haven't received anything from any of them since.

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.