How to get the most out of your Yacht Club experience

[alyssamma]

1 hour ago, cdel71 said:

 

I guess I could have asked it differently.   

My question was - if I want Surf and Turf (Lobster Tail and Filet), which is not on the YC Dinner menu (always available), can you order it, and if so, what is the up-charge, if anything?

 

I know Filet is - but lobster tail is NOT, unless I missed it.

Gotcha. Well, in the covid era, who knows, but pre-covid they had nights with lobster tails. On Seaside they seemed to have this more (I think 2x on a 7 night cruise).

 

I know this doesn't directly answer your Q...and I'm not sure you will get one because I doubt many have tried to do this 🙂

 

That being said, I've found if you ask nicely, you can get just about anything in the YC. I know many have gotten meals that are not on the menu. So, I suspect, if you were nice about it you could get a lobster tail whenever you wanted. Especially since you would be willing to pay for it.

[eagletwo]

We have sailed in the YC on the Meraviglia, March 2020 and just recently on the Divinia Sept. 16-19. Two very different experiences.  The Meraviglia cruise was awesome.  YC with all the areas located in the front of the ship was nice. Our butler was ok, nothing special.  We were not sure what to ask for.  He and his assistant cleaned our cabin, kept our mini fridge stock and would do anything we asked but he never asked us if we needed anything.  Food in the YC was very good.  Arthur "MSC Legend" was the Maître d of the YC dinning room.  He would provide anything you asked for.  

 

On the Divinia, Arthur again was the Maître d of the YC dinning room. Perfect service even though the food was not the greatest.  Hated that the YC dinning room was all the way in the back of the ship.  15-20 minute walk at best.  Butler does escort you to the dinning room which is nice.  Our Butler, Donny, was awesome.  He just seemed to anticipate our needs. Some how we had a bottle of champagne or Prosecco in our room every night.  Macaroons and other chocolates showed up every night.

 

Lobster on the 7 night cruise on the Marviglia was available in the YC one night, I had two.  Not on the 3 day cruise on Divinia.

 

We will sail with MSC again, but only in the YC and the Meraviglia or newer ship.

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by eagletwo

[alyssamma]

4 minutes ago, eagletwo said:

We have sailed in the YC on the Meraviglia, March 2020 and just recently on the Divinia Sept. 16-19. Two very different experiences.  The Meraviglia cruise was awesome.  YC with all the areas located in the front of the ship was nice. Our butler was ok, nothing special.  We were not sure what to ask for.  He and his assistant cleaned our cabin, kept our mini fridge stock and would do anything we asked but he never asked us if we needed anything.  Food in the YC was very good.  Arthur "MSC Legend" was the Maître d of the YC dinning room.  He would provide anything you asked for.  

 

On the Divinia, Arthur again was the Maître d of the YC dinning room. Perfect service even though the food was not the greatest.  Hated that the YC dinning room was all the way in the back of the ship.  15-20 minute walk at best.  Butler does escort you to the dinning room which is nice.  Our Butler, Donny, was awesome.  He just seemed to anticipate our needs. Some how we had a bottle of champagne or Prosecco in our room every night.  Macaroons and other chocolates showed up every night.

 

We will sail with MSC again, but only in the YC and the Meraviglia or newer ship.

 

People seem split on Divina about the dining room. Personally, I loved it...nice walk, heard lots of live music, passed through the photo shop and did some people watching. And I think the Divina dining room is the most elegant and I actually *loved* the food.

 

I also think Divina has the nicest Top Sail.

 

That being said, I hated the YC cabins and didn't like the fact the ship wasn't modern (e.g., I had to use a key card instead of wrist bracelet). Above all I hate a bathtub, much prefer a shower.

 

Divina also has a pretty poor buffet on the pool deck.

 

For the Meraviglia, I found it to be a mix of Seaside and Divina in terms of things I liked and didn't like. But overall, I liked the Seaside the best. I'm hoping the Seashore is just like it.

 

But...and this is the important part...they are ALL good. You can't really go wrong with any of them.

 

I'm sailing on the Mera 10/2 and then Seashore 4/9. I'll prob add another in there somewhere 🙂

 

[MouseBerry]

Hi,

a 15 to 20 min walk from YC to the YC restaurant? Seriously? We made it in 3 min. If very hungry 2 min.

 

We had a cruise two weeks ago on the Seaview and currently on the Splendida. Yes Splendida is 12 years old and is not the most modern. But we prefer the Splendida style much over the new Seaview,side,shore. These are not our ships. 

 

regards

MouseBerry

[hamrag]

9 hours ago, eagletwo said:

....Hated that the YC dinning room was all the way in the back of the ship.  15-20 minute walk at best....

 

For us, on the identical Preziosa, it was an easy 5 minute at most amble. Obviously mobility for others may be different and, IMHO, that is the only reason why it might take more than 5 minutes.

[styles27]

I enjoyed the fact that the YC dining room wasn’t close by.
Heck if it weren’t for that we wouldn’t have seen any other part of the ship because other than dining and getting off for excursions we stayed in the YC

 

I’m actually looking forward to seeing more of Divina this time (Nov 14)

[MonsterJoe]

Just finished my RX home test, which was amazingly efficient and simple - ready to go!

[riredsox]

52 minutes ago, styles27 said:

I enjoyed the fact that the YC dining room wasn’t close by.
Heck if it weren’t for that we wouldn’t have seen any other part of the ship because other than dining and getting off for excursions we stayed in the YC

 

I’m actually looking forward to seeing more of Divina this time (Nov 14)

This is why I won’t mind the walk!  To see the rest of the ship and stopping for a cocktail or two at different venues!  Great Rhode Island minds think alike (born and raised).  

[Gatordad1967]

22 hours ago, alyssamma said:

LOL, against your will...love it.

 

it is true.  My wife likes it here.  I like it here from April to right about now.

 

[styles27]

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

This is why I won’t mind the walk!  To see the rest of the ship and stopping for a cocktail or two at different venues!  Great Rhode Island minds think alike (born and raised).  

Hello fellow RI’er. I live in Smithfield now but grew up and lived in  Seekonk, MA til 2018

[EMc&DrS]

When we were on Meraviglia, our butler insisted that he walk us to the Cirque show at the back of the ship. We really didn't think this was necessary, but he insisted.  When we arrived at the back of the crowd waiting outside the doors to get in, he walked us right past the crowd, through the closed doors, and directly to our assigned seats before the doors opened.  Same thing they do when getting on and off the ship in ports of call.  Very nice touch!

[Hobby3333]

On my first YC cruise the butler unpacked our suitcases and put our clothes up.  Last YC we did our own.  Do the butlers still offer this service? We are on the Seashore in July

[Gatordad1967]

2 hours ago, EMc&DrS said:

When we were on Meraviglia, our butler insisted that he walk us to the Cirque show at the back of the ship. We really didn't think this was necessary, but he insisted.  When we arrived at the back of the crowd waiting outside the doors to get in, he walked us right past the crowd, through the closed doors, and directly to our assigned seats before the doors opened.  Same thing they do when getting on and off the ship in ports of call.  Very nice touch!

how many cabins do they cover? that is a lot of walking

 

[zekekelso]

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily. 

[MonsterJoe]

15 minutes ago, zekekelso said:

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily. 

 

I sail Saturday - I'm done with work for the week.  I already started!

[capriccio]

6 minutes ago, MonsterJoe said:

 

I sail Saturday - I'm done with work for the week.  I already started!

Have a great cruise and come back and share your impressions!

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, EMc&DrS said:

butler insisted that he walk us to the Cirque show at the back of the ship. We really didn't think this was necessary, but he insisted.  When we arrived at the back of the crowd waiting outside the doors to get in, he walked us right past the crowd,

 

I asked the Concierge for this service and was glad that I had done so.  We had to wait shortly for the doors to open, but she took me directly to my seat.  I appreciated it.

 

20 hours ago, eagletwo said:

Hated that the YC dinning room was all the way in the back of the ship.  

 

The position of the YC dining room has been my concern about making a YC booking on this ship.

 

11 hours ago, hamrag said:

Obviously mobility for others may be different and, IMHO, that is the only reason why it might take more than 5 minutes.

 

Some of us are not as mobile as we once were.  It would take me considerably more than 5 minutes to get from the YC area to where the YC dining room is located on Divina.  

[blordos]

Next week me and my wife are going to MSC Virtuosa. We will be staying in the YC. Our  boarding paper says WIFI is now included for the YC guests. That is  pleasant surprise. Last time we went on the MSC Grandiosa YC and WIFI was not included.

[EMc&DrS]

18 hours ago, Gatordad1967 said:

how many cabins do they cover? that is a lot of walking

 

They each cover a handful of staterooms--not sure how many. 

[UniPac]

16 hours ago, blordos said:

Next week me and my wife are going to MSC Virtuosa. We will be staying in the YC. Our  boarding paper says WIFI is now included for the YC guests. That is  pleasant surprise. Last time we went on the MSC Grandiosa YC and WIFI was not included.

Currently on Seashore YC. The „Browse“ package is included, 2 devices per person.Slow but works for news, mail, whatsapp, facebook…

[PennyHofstader]

Hi, I'm in YC on the Divina now. We have not gotten macrons or a pillow menu. We get a daily newspaper, but only one per cabin. The one I asked for was somehow not available, and my mom answered the phone call about it, so now we're getting my local paper (which I'm annoyed about because I had been looking forward to reading an international paper all week). 

 

The YC dining room is FAR if you are of limited mobility. They loaned my mom a wheelchair for the week, and our butler pushes it to and from the dining room at dinner. (She gets room service for breakfast, and various things have happened for lunch/other daytime eating. I still haven't been to Le Muse for breakfast or lunch.) The food and service are good, but the service is so good that you can hardly say two sentences to your companion without someone butting in. Also, it's so fast that we're getting though dinner in under an hour.

 

The YC room service menu is quite limited, and they don't really have an in-room bar menu, though if you call them up, they will make an effort. Today we had a leftover cheese plate from breakfast that didn't come with crackers or bread, so at cocktail time we asked for crackers, a glass of sherry (even though it's not on the YC list), and a cocktail that I had seen on the menu of a non-YC bar. We got three stale saltines still in their packaging, some orange liqueur instead of the sherry (still not sure what they were thinking), and my backup cocktail choice, a dirty martini, which was just a regular martini with three olives. Sigh. Also, instead of having liquor in the minibar, they're giving you one big bottle of booze for the week. (As with the newspaper, good luck if you have different preferences.) It would be nice if they delivered fresh ice more than once a day or just had an ice machine; this is the Caribbean and it melts very quickly. (Yes, I know, I could ask.)

 

This cruise is at about 25% capacity, so we haven't needed help cutting lines or anything. The spa is practically deserted, and there's an elevator that goes directly from our room to the sauna area, so we can go down there and hang out. (Also, they have a good menu of fruit smoothies and protein drinks.) Mom doesn't like that there's no where to sit down while you get dressed after a shower (in the showers next to the saunas). Although there are separate men's and women's changing areas, the saunas are shared, as are their associated showers, even though the intent seems to be for you to use them naked. We had trouble with knobs coming off on the showers and the hot/cold not being labeled. That reminds me that the YC bathrooms are lovely but dangerous - marble floor, deep tub, one small handrail, and strangely, only half of the shower/tub has a glass screen (no curtain), so water gets all over the floor.

 

Complaints aside, we're having a very good time, and taking an elderly woman of limited mobility with me on most trips would be a lot worse.

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, PennyHofstader said:

.....Complaints aside, we're having a very good time....

 

🤣 🤣

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 9/22/2021 at 8:24 AM, MonsterJoe said:

We're only a couple days out now (WOOO!)

 

I've gone down the rabbit hole here and all over the Interwebz, thirsty for information and tips in order to make the most out of this cruise.

What I've not seen a lot of - is specific tips on how to get the most out of the Yacht Club experience.  Yes, I've seen all the menus - I know which Champagne is included, I know you can 'just ask...' etc...

I'm curious about the specific things you have learned or figured out that might not be obvious and have added to your enjoyment in the YC.

Separately - I see in a lot of pictures that people have Macarons in their room.  They're my wife's favorite and it's our anniversary, so I'd like to make sure those happen - how do I do that?

Cheers!

Don’t you know that every time you post one of these YC threads the price goes up??  Lol.  In the future please refer to the Yacht Club as the YC.  That way the newbies won’t know what we are talking about…lol.  

[Seadweller001]

The first night the Butler walked  us and another couple to La Muse and it seemed to take for ever.  We went down the elevator, walked across the ship and back up the back elevator.

 

The next lunch and subsequent meals we walked outside to Le Muse and it was NLT 5 minutes.   It was nice leaving the YC twice a day and seeing the rest of passengers having fun on the ship.   With the restaurant in the YC proper we would hardly leave the YC.  We sail the MV in Dec and I will determine which set up I like better.

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, Seadweller001 said:

With the restaurant in the YC proper we would hardly leave the YC.  

 

If one would do such, one would deprive yourself of a more varied and pleasant cruise experience.

 

16 hours ago, PennyHofstader said:

only half of the shower/tub has a glass screen (no curtain), so water gets all over the floor.

 

You are experiencing an Italian hotel type of bathroom.  This was a surprise for me when I was a guest at Rome's Visconti Palace Hotel.  One learns to "deal with it".