Royal Diamon tries MSC Yacht Club on MSC Preziosa and loved it

[Iluvcruising2]

Soon, it was time to disembark. For YC passengers, you can wait in the concierge and wait for a butler to bring you off the ship. It would be faster this way. Before that, I spotted this interesting ship docked opposite the Preziosa. The ship looked like some type of aircraft carrier, I think a helicopter carrier. My smart kid asked me why a French ship was in an Italian port. It turned out that he was right, this was a French ship. If you google "L9014" and the ship turns out to be a rather modern French helicopter assault carrier. Couldn't see any helicopters on deck. Very interesting.

 

And L9014 wasn't the only navy ship in port. This was the other ship. A 'La Fayette' class frigate, also from the French navy. Neat.

 

The view of the port from our balcony. Civitavecchia is a rather industrial port. You can see the coaches waiting, I think those were for ship's tours.

 

Our plan was to get on the free port shuttle, get out to the port gates, and find our way to the Avis car rental. We had booked a car and the plan was to drive to the Castel Romano Shopping outlets, about 80km away. So here is our adventure to get our car, in this video.

[YOUTUBE]JKJpY8DHMg8[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

Picking up the car was fairly easy. We were the first (later on I found out that they rented 5 cars today). There were 2 ships in port today, ours and a Costa ship. Take note that they require an International Driving Permit, which I had prepared.

 

The drive to Castel Romano shopping outlets wasn't difficult. I had loaned a GPS. Take note that the road had tolls. Look out for the toll booth which was manned (a sign with a hand). I paid cash for all the tolls, the cost was under 6 Euros, each way.

 

While on the toll roads, the roads were smooth. But once we got off toll roads, I found the roads to be rather bumpy (with potholes). So that part made for a slightly more bumpy ride. Then again, perhaps our car was small so all the bumps could be more acutely felt.

 

This was the car, an Eco 4-door smart car. We had booked an Audi A1 or equivalent, and this was what we got. Take note that the car was rather small, and the back seats were tight. Ok for my kids, but I think it would have been very cramped for adults.

[YOUTUBE]1HuQMw-EhPk[/YOUTUBE]

 

It took me about an hour to drive to the outlet mall. The car performed well on the highway and I was hitting speeds of 130km/h without problems (that is the speed limit, in case you were wondering, I wasn't speeding). We spent a few hours at the outlet, shopping. The place was quite crowded, with locals, which was good. At least it showed that locals patronize this place. All the well known Italian brands were there. We visited a few stores and ultimately I bought some stuff from Coach. I also could do the paperwork for VAT Tax Refund, but the final claim can only be done at our final point of departure from the EU, which would be London Heathrow. To do the refund paperwork, you would need to bring your passport. Check out this video for some snippets of the shopping experience.

[YOUTUBE]jTDk6o0o6E4[/YOUTUBE]

 

The outlet place was pretty large.

 

The fountain outside Versace was pretty neat.

 

There was this dinosaur model.

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

Thank you very much for your great review from the lovely MSC Preziosa. Very nice to see your photos and videos from your cruise. And great that you enjoyed the Yacht Club, a excellent cruiseproduct in my opinion. We have done 6 cruises in YC and have booked the maiden voyage on the MSC Meraviglia in 2017. Can't wait. We sailed the Preziosa in September 2013 and you can see some photos here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1973929

 

A video from our cabin, a YC Deluxe Cabin, so you can compare with the lovely Royal Suite that you had. On the new MSC Meraviglia MSC will add a jacuzzi to the Royal Suites as well. I can also inform you that the YC restaurant will be moved forward to the YC area, on deck 18.

 

 

I'm looking forward to see the rest of your review :)

[Ashling]

Hi, I am loving you review, photos and videos. I check everyday to see if you have added additional photos & videos. as we have booked our first MSC cruise sailing July 2016 in the Yacht Club. Your review provides a brilliant insight as to what we can expect. Do you happen to have a copy of the bar menu, so we can see what drinks are free, and what drinks not included. Thanks in advance.

[Iluvcruising2]

Hi, I am loving you review, photos and videos. I check everyday to see if you have added additional photos & videos. as we have booked our first MSC cruise sailing July 2016 in the Yacht Club. Your review provides a brilliant insight as to what we can expect. Do you happen to have a copy of the bar menu, so we can see what drinks are free, and what drinks not included. Thanks in advance.

 

Bar menu - I put some of the menu in this video - [YOUTUBE]cvgEQmCuis0[/YOUTUBE]

 

Thanks for checking back and glad that you are enjoying the review.

[Iluvcruising2]

Thank you very much for your great review from the lovely MSC Preziosa. Very nice to see your photos and videos from your cruise. And great that you enjoyed the Yacht Club, a excellent cruiseproduct in my opinion. We have done 6 cruises in YC and have booked the maiden voyage on the MSC Meraviglia in 2017. Can't wait. We sailed the Preziosa in September 2013 and you can see some photos here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1973929

 

A video from our cabin, a YC Deluxe Cabin, so you can compare with the lovely Royal Suite that you had. On the new MSC Meraviglia MSC will add a jacuzzi to the Royal Suites as well. I can also inform you that the YC restaurant will be moved forward to the YC area, on deck 18.

 

 

I'm looking forward to see the rest of your review :)

 

Thanks very much for this. 6 cruises in the YC? Very cool.

 

I enjoyed your video. I think the deluxe cabin is perfectly fine for a couple. But as we had 4 pax, something bigger would have been better. Also, if I am not wrong, MSC does not allow 4 pax in most YC1 cabins.

 

Wonderful to hear that the YC restaurant will be moved to the YC area.

[Iluvcruising2]

We got back to Civitavecchia in very good time. (I don't like to risk getting back to the ship late). There was a petrol station just opposite the car rental, so filling up the tank was pretty convenient, i.e. no need to hunt for a petrol station. As with car rentals, do note whether your car takes petrol or diesel. In my experience renting cars, it could be either. In our case, it was petrol.

 

Returning the car was also fast and painless. With all the paperwork done and car checked (no damage, thank God for the safe drive), we got ourselves back on the free port shuttle and back to the ship.

[YOUTUBE]1PEbqijHYQY[/YOUTUBE]

 

The MSC Preziosa, docked in Civitavecchia.

 

We were docked right behind a container ship.

 

On this day, I don't recall long lines getting on board. Probably we were back slightly early. But there are definitely lines coming back on board the ship on most days. That is one issue passengers should be prepared for, especially if you return to the ship during peak times.

[Iluvcruising2]

Back on the ship and we were hungry! Didn't eat too much while on shore, just snacked enough to keep us going. Looking back at the photos/videos, I laugh at how 'greedy' we were. After putting our stuff in the cabin, we went first to the Top Sail lounge to grab a bite.

 

My kids had a dirty banana. I can't remember what drink I had, I didn't take a picture! Must have been too thirsty and hungry.

 

Then we went up to the One Pool area to check it out. It was rather chilly by then, so there weren't many passengers there. Here are the pool towels.

 

Plenty of deck chairs, no passengers. This is one downside of sailing in winter - when the weather gets cold, the outside areas are not so attractive. The upside is that the prices are cheaper.

 

Plenty of fruits available at the One Pool bar area.

 

A video I made of some of the food we had at Top Sail and One Pool.

[YOUTUBE]nIHZcbdw8Mg[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

After all that food, it was time to take a walk around the ship. The fastest way to get fat is to do nothing after food. Seriously. Gotta keep that metabolism going. Some random pictures from around the ship. A headless bust.

 

Another headless bust. Reminds me of the ruins in Rome. Well, this is an Italian cruise line after all.

 

A unique juxtaposition. No more headless busts. MSC Excursions desk, I think.

 

They had a small toy shop onboard which sold interesting stuff. They carried some LEGO Star Wars, which caught the attention of my kids. Yeah, we bought it for them. Prices were pretty reasonable, I thought. And indeed, they were reasonable because when we went back to London, UK after the cruise, we saw the same LEGO sets but they were more expensive, like 15 Euros versus 18 GBP for the same thing. So glad that we bought on the ship.

 

Yes, we were at the excursion desk. Well, we did not purchase any shore excursions through MSC, so I can't really comment on them, other than the fact that the prices didn't look too bad. They offered packages too.

 

That is the shore excursion desk. Pretty crowded place.

[Iluvcruising2]

Ah yes, this was the entrance to the Toy Store. Shut at the moment, as the ship was still in port.

 

We went to the Main Dining Room and took a photo of the menu which was posted outside.

 

A closer look at the English menu. Sorry, I don't know how to get it to stand upright here. The food looked ok. For choice of mains, you had fish, smoked ham, braised beef.

 

A view of the elevators at the Centrum.

 

This is how Guest Relations look like. As YC guests, we didn't have to use the Guest relations as we had our own concierge.

[Iluvcruising2]

Continuing on the theme of being hungry and food, today was also the first time we experienced Afternoon Tea on the MSC Preziosa Top Sail lounge. Afternoon tea is served from 5pm to 6pm, everyday. Some of the tables in the lounge were laid out for tea. You don't have to pre-book. Just turn up and grab a seat!

 

A butler will come around with a trolley, and your choice of tea would be prepared before you. Can't remember how many choices they had, but we chose Earl Grey.

 

The lounge wasn't crowded at all. In fact, it was rather empty.

 

The food is served. Delectable.

 

These cucumber sandwiches were my favourites. I ate too many of them!

 

Check out the movie I made, of our afternoon tea experience.

[YOUTUBE]z0pTp4Xh4I8[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

This evening, we decided to go watch the show first before going to dinner. Well, we were very full from afternoon tea. The show was advertised as SWING, featuring 2 singers and the Preziosa dancers.

 

This was the main theater, which was very large. I think it seats about 1,700.

 

We decided to sit higher up, in the circle seats. The reason is that it would be easy to leave the theatre early and go to dinner, if we did not like the show.

 

The front row seats in the circle were awesome. It was a glass panel and you had an unobstructed view. In this video, I show you the Cruise Director coming on stage to introduce the show. Not supposed to record the actual show.

[YOUTUBE]_BqZQSzzZDg[/YOUTUBE]

 

How did I find the actual show? Well, the dancing was ok, but I didn't fancy the singing too much. Not that the singers weren't good, but perhaps I just wasn't impressed. Oh well, I'm no expert in entertainment, but suffice to say that after about 20 minutes of the show, my family decided to leave and make our way to the suite restaurant for dinner.

 

The Platinum theatre is at the front of the ship. So we had to walk to the aft to get to the suite restaurant. On our way to the restaurant, we passed the Centrum and it was quite lively, with live music. There were two guitarists, singing.

 

Were they singing in English? No. But I found this song that they sang to be rather familiar. Must have heard it before somewhere, on the radio or internet. Watch the video, if somebody can tell me the name of this song, I'd be grateful.

[YOUTUBE]zfUkZc54jmQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

They were having some sale of goods here. In fact, I think they brought out stuff to sell every night. Notice the ladies bags on the right side. My wife told me the bags were reasonably priced, though she didn't buy any.

[Iluvcruising2]

Alright, we have reached dinner on Day 2. Second of seven wonderful dinner onboard MSC Preziosa Yacht Club. First let's check out the menu. There was shrimp cocktail this evening. I am going to have that!

 

For the main, I was going to choose the meat, which is from the Tex Mex speciality restaurant. Looks very interesting.

 

I mentioned earlier that the red and white wines for the evening were always different. Tonight, I remembered to take a photo of them. I asked for two glass, one white and one red, so that I could try both.

 

This was the white wine. It was very drinkable.

 

This was the red, also good. I must say I'm no wine expert, so please take my review with a pinch of salt.

 

I shared earlier, in response to a question, that my kids wanted to order from the adult menu. It made them feel a lot more grown up, and as parents we also hoped that they eat more adult food. But sometimes, they get tired of it, so tonight one of my kids had this chicken breast with fries, which was pretty good too. I think they have this chicken breast every night.

 

And this meat dish was definitely the highlight of my meal (with the prawn cocktail a close second). This was awesome. Cooked perfectly and went so well with the red wine. Looking at this photo now is making me very hungry.

 

Check out my video of the meal for the other dishes we ate. Another excellent dinner.

[YOUTUBE]WVIorE3MnW8[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

I realised that without all the photos and videos I took I would have long forgotten what I did on the cruise on certain evenings. The human memory just cannot store so much information, or maybe I am just getting old. So, on this eveing, after the dinner, I can say with 100% certainty that I went to the Top Sail Lounge, got a drink and something to eat!

 

This was my drink, together with some nuts.

 

This were the aperitifs I had in the lounge.

 

Look at those dressed up strawberries! Delicious looking but I was too full for an more food.

 

This video shows you the food in the Top Sail lounge that evening. As I was having my drink, they started to clear out the food and put in new ones. Transiting from aperitifs to late night sweets. Cool.

[YOUTUBE]0G03vu-Tl7I[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

Earlier this evening, before we went to the suite restaurant for dinner, I took a walk around the Inca buffet to check out what was served for dinner. This is the video I made.

[YOUTUBE]5K2ZlYP3-yY[/YOUTUBE]

 

Overall, I think the food selection at dinner isn't as good as Royal or NCL. Definitely not as good as Celebrity. But that is just my observation. Also, about half the buffet area was closed. I guess they don't 'expect too many passengers to go to the buffet lines for dinner. They had bar seating like these, which was cool.

 

Some meat and roasted vegetables on skewers.

 

And some desserts.

[SenatorsFan]

Thank you for this very thorough review. I am enjoying your videos and photos very much. I would like to take an MSC cruise sometime in the future. I did laugh when I saw the can of Pringles in your cabin fridge. Did your kids ever eat them?

Heather

Edited December 29, 2015 by SenatorsFan

[Iluvcruising2]

Thank you for this very thorough review. I am enjoying your videos and photos very much. I would like to take an MSC cruise sometime in the future. I did laugh when I saw the can of Pringles in your cabin fridge. Did your kids ever eat them?

Heather

 

Thank you for reading! We ate the nuts in the fridge, but somehow we left the Pringles alone.

[Iluvcruising2]

Thank you for this very thorough review. I am enjoying your videos and photos very much. I would like to take an MSC cruise sometime in the future. I did laugh when I saw the can of Pringles in your cabin fridge. Did your kids ever eat them?

Heather

 

Hello again, if you ever sail on MSC, please help me tell them that you saw my review on cruise critic! (Shameless plug for myself)

 

I wanted to say that we did something really fun with the mini-bar items later in the cruise. Will post that when I come to that day of cruising. Stay tuned!

[Iluvcruising2]

Today was Day 3 of our 7N cruise. The ship MSC Preziosa was due to dock at Palermo, Italy. Check out the MSC Daily. Arrival was 10am and all aboard at 1630. The day in port wasn't too long, but we'll make do.

 

Palermo is the capital city of Sicily, and I am sure it had a glorious past.

 

We had some time in the morning and we certainly did not have to wake up early. So we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast in the suite restaurant. I took this photo with the little bottles of jam.

 

This video shows you some snippets of the breakfast we had. And thereafter we went to check out the One Pool and Top Sail lounge to see what else there was to eat! I know, greedy. But hey, we are on a cruise.

[YOUTUBE]MUyJG4YoFmA[/YOUTUBE]

 

At the aft of Deck 15, is the Garden Pool.

 

In this video I show you the Garden Pool, which is at the aft of the ship. Nobody was swimming this morning. This being winter, it was a bit cold.

[YOUTUBE]zAhoei8hYh0[/YOUTUBE]

 

Plenty of Deck Chairs for you to choose from.

 

The MSC logo, on the MSC Preziosa.

[Iluvcruising2]

A view of the Vertigo waterslide. MSC claims that the Vertigo waterslide is the longest single body water slide at sea - 394 feet! I rode the slide once and screamed a lot. That video is on the first page of this review.

 

But I decided to put the water slide video here again, just in case you missed it.

[YOUTUBE]Ns1ynVRQ7js[/YOUTUBE]

 

A picture of the main pool. I count a grant total of one person swimming.

 

This was taken in the One Pool area. You can see the ash trays on the tables. This section of the One Pool allows smoking.

 

Snapshot of what was available for breakfast at the One Pool.

 

Thereafter, we went back to our cabin to rest, and watch the sail in to Palermo!

 

I could see the port. We were getting close. There was a ferry leaving port.

[Iluvcruising2]

And as we were docking, another ship came in. Here is a video.

[YOUTUBE]qCZNzgd_9es[/YOUTUBE]

 

Like our ship, the Costa ship came into port, did a turn, before backing in. This was to facilitate easy departure later this evening.

 

The Costa ship came right by us. They were so near, we could throw something over, I think. Anyway, I didn't try. Plenty of people on the sun deck, watching the sail in. If you watched my video, you could hear me yelling. Yeah, I get crazy sometimes.

 

Alright, it was time to disembark. It was a bright, sunny and rather warm day. We have never been to Palermo before. The plan was to take a long walk into the historic city center (yes, you read correctly, walk) and then find our way to the Palatine Chapel. Thereafter, maybe even walk back to the ship. Sounds very strenous? I guess it was somewhat energetic, but we decided that we needed more exercise. Anyway, the distances didn't look too far. Just walk at a leisurely pace.

 

This video shows you snippets of the walk. As we head out of the ship, there were many private tour vendors and tuk-tuk drivers canvassing for business. So, plenty of private tour options, and there was no real need to book a ship's tour.

[YOUTUBE]u7Pb2QC-ROI[/YOUTUBE]

[Iluvcruising2]

In case you are wondering how I navigated the walk, I was using the GPS on my phone and an app called CityMaps2Go. The cost of this app is marginal (less than $5 i think) and I have used it very successful for many trips now. The app does not need data, so no hefty roaming charges. However, you must remember to download the map for the city that you are visiting before your trip, otherwise there is no map on your phone for the GPS signal to map against.

 

From the historic city center, I think we did turn and kept walking along a straight road that would bring us to the Chapel Palatine.

 

A photo of the junction at the historic center.

 

In this video, some snippets of the walk and I observe some of the architecture along the way.

[YOUTUBE]3hyxk33FLgw[/YOUTUBE]

 

More pictures of the scenery along the way. We are headed towards the chapel.

[Iluvcruising2]

The time now is 12:07AM, 1st Jan 2016, in Singapore. Happy New Year!!

[plucasana]

happy year to you to. we still have 5 more hours of 2015 left[emoji3]. looking forward to read g you more in 2016!!!

[Aldeya]

Happy New Year to you and your family!

 

I just want to let you know how MUCH I enjoy your excellent review! The work you put in this review and all the detailed pictures and videos are very much appreciated!

 

We never took MSC Cruise but after many cruises on other lines decided to take a look at this cruise line. You review will definitely help us to decide on MSC booking.

 

Thank you again! :)