MSC Yacht Club- compared with X?

[Germancruiser]

Since the X has just a very limited number of ships in Europe this year, I thought of trying their " ship in ship concept" in their Yacht Club. So I am booked on the MSC Seaview- in YC1 Deluxe Suite. Very curious about the experience!

What also pulled me into the MSC fold- so to speak- was their new concept, introduced on board the newest ships. They call it the Waterfront prommenade - with Outdoorseating ( of Restaurants- Bars...) and lounge chairs- which wraps 360 degres around the ship. I am big fan of an open prommenade deck- so I thought I might give MSC a try. It remains to be seen if I like it.

The reviews are mostly horrible ( for the " regualr " cabins) - so I though I might ask here - if any Happy X- cruisers have an experience with both the YC and X! Thanks!

Edited July 16, 2021 by Germancruiser

[talljules1]

We've done a cruise in the Yacht Club - on MSC Preziosa.

 

It was comfortable, and within the YC it was very nice.  Food in the YC restaurant was OK - but not as good as Celebrity. Met some nice people.

 

For the rest of the ship - OK, not so nice. Felt crowded and the service was more grumpy.  We spent very little time outside the YC. We went to the buffet once to try it out and it was awful. Really nothing appealing there at all.  Fortunately you will eat well in YC.

 

We'd sail MSC again, but only in the YC. Wouldn't consider any of the other rooms (or shipping containers, as we think of them for MSC).

[emmas gran]

We have done 5 MSC in YC on Prezoisa, Splendida, Meraviglia, Bellissima x 2 (B2B) and 23 Celebrity

 I would never consider cruising outside YC on MSC, totally agree with talljules 1, the first cruise food was mediocre but improved with each sailing. 

[LorraineP]

We did the YC twice on the Seaside & it was our best cruises ever. Celebrity & RCL have nothing to offer compared to it. Also did NCL Haven & again YC much better. The service exceptional, the food in YC restaurant excellent & I’m a very picky eater. Agree would never book a cabin outside the YC when we ventured out of our area it was a total zoo. 

[helen haywood]

Well, I’ll swim upstream here.  We’ve sailed MSC in both a regular balcony cabin and in YC.  We enjoyed the regular cabin!  And we loved the buffet!!  Maybe we just like different/new experiences.  But YC is absolutely wonderful.  Far superior to suites on Celebrity IMHO.

[mafig]

Agree about the Yacht Club!

Don't forget the great Cruise Critic party they put on.  Cocktails, cake, photos taken and delivered to your cabin.👍

[CeleryCruiser]

We have sailed with MSC Seaview 2019 in Aurea class in basic western MED route. Surely that is not the same thing than YC - class. Ship was then only less than one year old and then there was a lot of issues with service, tech and cleaning.

The Spa itself was a nice and there was different saunas and a thalassotherapy  pool.  Also massages were nice and priced quite moderate way. In the spa we had trouble with the lockers - which tend not to work as they should. Very hard to get them locked and they seemed to open by themselves while we were in Spa.

 

The buffet was a noisy zoo and crowded and the service stations were badly organized. Though the pizzas were the best ever! The premium drink package we prepurchased did not show up as it was in advertised and we had a lot of issues with it - waiters could not see it in their sales system and we had to complain almost every time about drinks billing.  Wines were much better than we have never had in Celebrity. 

Service personell had some kind of basic orientation challenge. The service was on its worse rude, slow and inconsistent.  I suppose that we never sail with MSC again.

Edited July 16, 2021 by CeleryCruiser

[DWhit]

I have only had one trip on YC and one trip on Celebrity suites, so I am no expert.  To me,  YC and Celebrity Suites are comparable regarding rooms and dining, but Yacht Club is  ahead in personnal service, etc.  I think you wouldn't go wrong with either one.

[paulh84]

Interesting feedback. The comparisons between Celebrity, even  a non-suite cabin, and Yacht Club are all over the place. We have a YC booked on the Seashore next winter. I still can't decide if we're going to go or replace it with another Celebrity cruise. I will say just from looking at menus the food in general doesn't have any appeal to me. YC pricing is also creeping closer and closer to Sky Suite pricing. In that case, Celebrity is an easy decision for us.

 

We really enjoy the aesthetic of Celebrity ships and MSC isn't even close to the same caliber here. Even on their brand new ships MSC is really channeling some 1990's Carnival ship vibes. They look so dated. The dark heavy colors, chrome and sparkles, lighting, the mirrored ceilings everywhere. Not sure what they are thinking? 

[PRH]

We went MSC YC back to back with Celebrity sky suite.  Food better on Celebrity but loved everything else about YC—included mini-bar, daily newspaper delivered to your cabin, fantastic linens & sheets, escort from ship to your tour, ambiance of the Topsail (versus Michael’s Club) and the service, MSC party for CC, services such as laundry & internet reasonably priced and laundry includes ironing.

MSC ships can feel a bit crowded but we never had a problem finding a seat in the numerous bars (and no loud music like in Martini Bar) so you c@n actually hold a conversation.  Buffet food was generally good and the pizzas and risottos are to die for.  Seaside, Divinia and Seaview.

We’re Elite Plus (earned the hard way) but are returning to MSC YC this fall.  Love Ocean Cay (their private island).  Have been increasingly aware that Celebrity no longer values long time cruisers as noise levels have become downright irritating and length of cruises shortened and no creative itineraries.

[George C]

We always book suites on Celebrity everything from sky to penthouse, we did our first yacht club a couple of years ago on seaside and totally loved it. There lounge area is way nicer that suite or inside retreat area is, loved the piano and the live music from a lot 5 to 11 pm. Outside area is equal to retreat but has a breakfast buffet along with a lunch , pool was a little bigger and a lot deeper than Edge, also multiple hot tubs. I did think celebrity Luminae is better than suite restaurant on yacht club by a lot. We did venture from the yacht club to see some of the entertainment which I thought was at least equal to celebrity. You have the option to expand the premium drink package for 18 a day to include everything sold my the glass, including very expensive scotch like Johnny Walker Blue and also top XO cognacs , we will definitely be booking yacht club again, they also give veterans a ten percent discount. 

[grandgeezer]

We've done the Yacht Club twice on the Seaside and the Sky Suite once on the Equinox. The two on the Seaside were our favorite cruises of the 47 we've done. The layout is perfect, the restaurant, the bar, and the sun deck were all within a five minute walk. It's an area all by itself, you have to use your room key to get in. None of the areas were ever crowded so we never had a problem. The butler was amazing, we saw and talked to him several times a day, unlike the one on the Equinox where we saw him maybe 4-5 times the whole cruise. Your mini fridge is included and he stocked it with only the items we chose and restocked it twice a day. The sun deck was the star of the show, it has it's own pool, though small was never crowded. More lawn chairs than you would ever need. It's own bar and food station, which were very modern and oozed luxury. Food was made as ordered and delivered to you. More option too, some days they had specials such as pasta and fried fish.

I agree with some of the other posters, I don't think we would try the other cabins. Also we heard that the YC, on the older ships are quite as nice. We went down in the ships for the shows, shopping, and bar hopping with no problems.

As with all cruise lines, the suite pricing doesn't reflect the value we assign to it so we'll be staying home. If it ever drops to reasonable, we'd do the YC in a heartbeat but not Celebrity, there pricing was over $100 p.p. per day when we last sailed.

[morpheusofthesea]

7 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

The reviews are mostly horrible ( for the " regualr " cabins) - so I though I might ask here - if any Happy X- cruisers have an experience with both the YC and X! Thanks!

Loved Celebrity for years in regular cabins, then read about MSC. Went on MSC forums on CruiseCritic and read rave reviews of YC. Tried it out and it instantly became our favorite cruise line. I suppose it has to do with the 'white gloved' butlers in YC that give you the feeling of what Royalty take for granted.  Got off a post-covid sailing of Edge in a CS and I must say that Celebrity Butlers are now attempting the same level we experienced in YC. We loved the no masks, no testing of vaccinated passengers and the 95/100% vaccinated sailings. Food is something you will have to concluded for your subjective selves. We never had a bad meal on either cruise line .DW loves the MSC entertainment. Both have reserved seating for suite guests, but with MSC you have to have a butler escort you should you desire a front row seat before the performance is ready to open to save you those seats, beating the running young family members savings all those coveted seats (Pre-covid). Will not know til November the post covid situation on board Seashore. Must note that service is terrific on Celebrity with only 50% capacity. Hope it doesn't change, so recommend you sail soon.

[tunaman2011]

Greetings

 

To state it simply, we loved YC.  Just off Edge last Saturday and had a great cruise.  Celebrity is a great line which we would jump back aboard tomorrow.  But YC is wonderful.  My DW would not go anywhere near any other class of cabin on MSC because they fill their ships like sardine cans.  But YC is a beautiful oasis.  We wandered about the ship (especially for the pizza and gelato which are both some of the best on ship or land) and the ship seemed very crowded.  But when we went to the sports bar (they have a decent selection of draft there) and the staff saw we were YC we got immediate service ahead of regular guests.  The service inside YC is also top notch.  The YC food is more along the lines of the Mediterranean diet so there was more seafood and veggies and less meat.  Celebrity menus are meat centered and while each Celebrity entree includes the mention of veggies they are often just added as decoration.  YC does have plenty of meat selections, but you will notice the increased variety in entrees and there are actual veggies on the plate 🙂.  And for those who enjoy fish, the variety of fish types was much, much greater than Celebrity.

 

We are in YC on the new SeaShore just after Thanksgiving.  We hope that it has not changed to much in our post-covid world.  We will be back on Celebrity in January so it will give us a good comparison going forward.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[mafig]

OK, everyone.  I thought we were going to keep the YC our secret.🤔

[Denny01]

From a majority of posts, it sounds as if most say they would only remain in the MSC Yacht Club areas and not venture in the rest of the ship, and would only cruise MSC using the Club option. One of the things I enjoy on X is the entire ship is quite inviting and enjoyable, including the common areas, dining and buffets and of course the very interesting cross section of passengers from the Suite to the Inside cabin people. 

 

Never cruised MSC, so can’t say anything about what the experience would be like staying within the Club area only, so I will just leave it at that.

 

And I don’t mean to infer any judgement, just not that interested in being limited by what appears to be not great venues outside a set area. Never gone Suite on X, but about to try it next year. Fully realize X is now advertising the Retreat experience, but I’ve not seen any of those who went Retreat even mention that they just remain within its confines, and personally, I wouldn’t anyway. 

 

Den

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I've cruised in suites on Celebrity and in the Yacht Club (2X).  I did do a comparison once upon a time on these boards.  Here are the basics:  I would never cruise MSC except in Yacht Club.  The rest of the ship is a zoo.  Only ventured out when most were ashore.  Contrary to all other reports, I did not find their pizza to be anything special.  Their risotto, however is excellent.  Celebrity wins the food contest, both in Luminae and the rest of the ship.  Celebrity also wins for the whole ship experience.  Otherwise, Yacht Club wins if you're comparing a YC balcony cabin to a sky suite.  Their lounge and pool area simply leave Celebrity in the dust.  Higher levels of suites on Celebrity are a bit better but a lot more expensive.  YC used to be a bargain.  Now its prices are roughly the same as a sky suite on Celebrity.  MSC's itineraries out of Florida are ho hum except for their excellent private island.

 

The other peculiarity of MSC is that if status is important to you, you must cruise once every three years to maintain your status.  Otherwise, all your points expire and you're back at the starting gate.  When they first started cruising from Florida, they offered reciprocity, so I was Diamond with MSC before even stepping on the Seaside.  Basically, the only benefits of that are a very nice chocolate ship and a meal in a specialty restaurant.  So not that big a deal, and frankly, at their current prices, not sure I'll be sailing with them again.  The other issue for me is they sail out of Miami and I prefer to sail out of Fort Lauderdale.

[mafig]

10 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 The other issue for me is they sail out of Miami and I prefer to sail out of Fort Lauderdale.

I was trying to recall why I've only been in the YC twice, even though I do love it.  ^^^^This is the reason.  

[PRH]

They now also sail out of Cape Canaveral. 

[WonderMan3]

I tried two MSC Yacht Club cruises back in 2019….never again! The Yacht Club area itself is lovely and they definitely did the ship-within-a-ship concept right having the Sundeck, lounge and private restaurant all close to each other and to the YC suites. Having an outdoor buffet on the sundeck was a big plus. The suites (basically just larger sized cabins) are spacious and comfortable. But that’s pretty much where the pluses end. The food quality in the Yacht Club was horrible, even worse than the main dining rooms on Celebrity. Specialty restaurant food quality was hit or miss but more hits than misses. We wound up gravitating towards the specialty dining because the YC food was so disappointing. As others stated, outside the YC area is an absolute zoo; way too crowded and lots of rowdy and classless people. It felt like an NCL cruise outside of The Haven. We spent no time outside of YC other than to do specialty dining, play in the casino and see a couple Cirque du Soleil shows (both of those were “Cirque lite” and disappointing). Service onboard was mediocre to terrible even in Yacht Club. We enjoyed our trips because of the destinations we visited but outside of that it was one of the worst cruise experiences we ever had. If you are a big fan of NCL and can find better pricing with MSC then I’d say go for it. If you are a solid Celebrity cruiser then I could not in good conscience recommend MSC as you risk likely disappointment.

[Germancruiser]

Thank you all so much for you helping comments. They fundamented my choice only to sail in YC on board MSC- ships! I loved my Apex- Maiden Voyage last month- even though it came with a hefty price tag. The benefits of their loyality programm became watered down, due to the All inclusive concept.

Beeing Elite Plus just came in handy when we embarked the ship- that really saved us at least an hour- because of the testing going on.

Also the Seaview sails out of a German port ( Kiel or Warnemünde) - so this too, is to prefer in these uncertain times.

All of Europe goes  one by one back to the red level status- with warnings because of the soaring cases. The US are still off limits for Europeans so the limits the choise further.

So after all is said and done I will let my Option booking go straight to a fixed booking in October.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

6 hours ago, PRH said:

They now also sail out of Cape Canaveral. 

I'm aware of that.  Cape Canaveral is not an easy drive for me, thus not on my radar.

[deliver42]

I thought the YC was fantastic, but that was before they changed the drink package. The rest of their ships are beautiful, but crowded.

[PTC DAWG]

8 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I'm aware of that.  Cape Canaveral is not an easy drive for me, thus not on my radar.

3.5 hours, a walk in the park..

[PTC DAWG]

The problem with the Yacht Club is that it is on an MSC Ship.