Liveish from World Europa - YC Owner's Suite by a Star Class cruiser

[alistairg]

On 2/16/2023 at 8:59 AM, little britain said:

Perhaps the OP is enjoying himself too much to continue posting….🤷‍♀️

Sorry, I was. There was a lot to do and we seemed to have very little time. No one had asked any further questions, so I left it until we got home.

 

The first night in the YC restaurant seemed to be an anomaly. The service was very good every other time we were in there, we generally had the same waiter after the first night who was very good. The plastic water bottles did make one more appearance when back in Dubai, I don't know why.

 

Generally the food in the YC restaurant I would say was solid but not great. A few desserts were highlights - the floating island, tarte tatin and caramel ice cream. I still feel there was a lack of variety in the meals. I found myself eating way more red meat than I ever would at home which was not great for my stomach.

 

They were very good at catering for my wife and her sister's gluten free diet. The actual menu wasn't that exciting, but they just asked for things such as chicken breast and salads or adjustments to things on the main menu.

 

There were still a couple of niggles. They closed the YC restaurant for breakfast at 9am one day despite the app showing 930am. We went to the YC sundeck instead. The unpleasant waiter from the first night told me to speak to the YC director when I tried complaining. I then figured out we could go upstairs, they didn't offer it as an alternative. The two times we had breakfast up there the service was much less professional than in the restaurant.

 

The entertainment was alright. The shows are quite short, 35-45 minutes. We saw the musicals based production which was decent and the George Michael tribute act. He was OK, but lost the audience by doing a lot of ballads before doing more upbeat well known numbers. A large number of people left during the show.

 

We did the Love Market tour in Dammam. We were fascinated to see Saudi Arabia and people seemed very happy to see tourists. There was not really a lot to see but we still enjoyed the experience. Two men were filming the tour. They were very friendly taking pictures with people, but I did wonder what was going on. We asked the tour guide if they were government officials and they said they thought they worked for local businesses. I wasn't buying it. My wife asked them and they said they worked for security for the royal family who wanted to know more about the tourists. For the drinkers, they were serving alcohol in the YC restaurant with dinner. I was astonished though that not only did they remove any alcohol n the mini bar but they took a bottle of champagne and gin that we had previously been given out of the room. I don't drink so didn't care, but once they have given these things to you, they belong to you and this is a very weird thing to do. Hide your booze if you want to drink in the afternoon.

 

In Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha we didn't do any organised tours, nor take the over priced hop on hop off buses (much more expensive than in most cities and with less stops). Instead we just jumped in taxis and Ubers which are extremely cheap. My companions were particularly impressed with Doha.

 

We had our meal in Butcher's Cut and it was good. The steaks were excellent, although the desserts and starters were uninspiring. Service was very good. We were seated in the area on deck eight outside the restaurant. We didn't find the people passing by a problem and enjoyed the people watching.

 

Overall, my daughter perhaps best summed it up. She said why have they copied Royal Caribbean Oasis Class but with everything a bit worse? I said that was probably fair, but you had to take into consideration that it was much cheaper. She wasn't so fussed as she wasn't paying!

 

I actually think my daughter's verdict was a bit harsh. The actually accommodation in our room was beautiful and better than you would get on RCI for similar money. I think if you were used to a Grand or Owners Suite on RCI which can be quite expensive, then a YC Balcony with butler service would seem like a nice upgrade in service, although a smaller room.

 

Relative to Star Class which I wanted to compare it to, I would say the butler was 80-90% as good. I asked him how many cabins he covered and he told me seven. Genies usually cover three or four. TBH considering he was covering seven I don't know how he managed it. So maybe 80-90% of the service and 125% of the space for 75% of the price.

 

My two niggles with the cabin remained annoying all trip. The lack of a separate WC, indeed we stayed at hotels either side of the cruise where they had separated the WC from the bathroom so two people could use the facilities. That would have helped a lot. The other was the bizarrely uncomfortable hot tub. With no seat cut into the base you had to constantly force yourself to stop floating around in it. On the other hand the sp itself has an enormous number of hot tubs and the largest main pool I have ever seen on a cruise ship.

 

As to things I have seen mentioned in other reviews. We were in the buffet a couple of times and it was quite cramped for space and had much less variety than on RCI. We didn't try the MDR. I do think they need more specialty restaurants and the choices they have are odd. La Pescaderia was very quiet and of little interest to us. Chef's Garden Kitchen seemed very expensive and I couldn't get excited about the menu, although perhaps it would have been good.

 

There was no free soft serve ice cream on deck, it was three Euros at one of the four places that sold ice cream on the ship. Disappointing as I am a big ice cream fan.

 

I must mention the hot chocolate in Jean Phillippe which was fantastic. On the other hand the chai tea in the Raj Polo Tea House was quite disappointing which was a shame as it is a lovely venue.

 

We didn't find the Russians as bothersome as some other people. There were clearly a lot of them about but we didn't really interact with them. There were a couple of instances of pushing in and so on, but nothing we couldn't ignore.

 

The famous MSC IT struck when we got off the ship. My friend had multiple unexpected charges pending on his debit card, although one has since disappeared. We were not presented with a bill the last night of the cruise. Indeed I was quite uncomfortable with the way payments were handled all cruise. Consistently you were just presented with a tablet to sign and not shown the bill first. I think my friend was charged instead of me by mistake for one meal.

 

Overall we had a great vacation and many of the niggles I am pointing out are only for comparison sake. I think once you set out to review something and note issues with it, it can soon spoil your fun.

 

Hot tub picture added to show the lack of seating.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by alistairg

[little britain]

We were never presented with anything to sign ✍️ when we purchased a drink ( apart from in Speakeasy but we knew they were not included).

 

My bottle of champagne was left on display  in my cabin in Dammam day ( but it was my birthday!)

 

We also had issues with breakfast times.. we are not early risers so several times we went straight up the sun deck for breakfast only to be told it was closed despite the Planner saying it was open till 11.

Many people were caught out too and the only option was danish/croissants in the TS lounge. 
 

I don’t know why they have stopped the all day offerings of snacks/canapés in TSL too? 

 

 

I agree with the Oasis comment! That whole back deck/promenade was a total waste of space… DH said it was as if they had run out of ideas so they just put a few sunloungers there! 
 

ps: I see you are going on Apex. That ship is style over substance .. but at least it has some art!  Oh how I missed the wonderful art of the stairways and corridors on RCI! 

Edited February 19, 2023 by little britain

[ocdb8r]

Thanks for the reports and candid thoughts.  I think everything you noted was fair.  A few questions if you are still monitoring the thread:

 

1) Did you happen to visit the thermal area of the spa (which YC guests are supposed to have access to)?  Curious for your assesment.

 

2) You mentioned many hot tubs on the ship - how busy were they?  How was the pool and hot tub selection for YC?  Was it very busy?

 

3) Any thoughts on YC drink selection and/or availability (both inside or outside the enclave)?

 

 

[alistairg]

1. Sorry did not visit the spa. We did visit the gym which was OK, but around half the size of the one on Wonder of the Seas.

 

2. The pools didn't seem too busy, but to be fair I only looked at them in passing. The inside pool in the Botanic Garden is a particularly nice facility and usually maybe had three or four people in it, I could imagine it being very busy if it was cooler outside. Similarly hot tubs seemed well used, but not overly busy.

 

The YC pool is quite small and there was one hot tub next to it. It wasn't busy. They had reserved cabanas on the deck for the OS and RS which were very nice and service up there was good. the deck was quite busy.

 

3. I am not the best person to ask as my wife and I don't drink. My friend and SIL with us enjoyed the drinks selection and never felt the need to go above E13. The beer selection seemed a little limited. As well as no Asian beers they had no Peroni or Moretti for the mini bar. Basically every time my friend asked for something they said Heineken or Stella.

 

So he asked for Heineken in one bar which they had on draught and twice they gave him a dark beer that obviously wasn't lager. When he queried it they gave him a bottle of Heineken instead of this draught beer.

 

Something to mention on the WiFi. The speed was OK, but it had trouble resolving quite a lot of URLs. These were not streaming sites, and this continued after I upgraded to the streaming wifi, just various websites that I was using during the week. In the end I used a VPN to get a consistent browsing experience, so it definitely was not a speed or capacity issue.

Edited February 22, 2023 by alistairg

[little britain]

On 2/22/2023 at 4:37 PM, ocdb8r said:

Thanks for the reports and candid thoughts.  I think everything you noted was fair.  A few questions if you are still monitoring the thread:

 

1) Did you happen to visit the thermal area of the spa (which YC guests are supposed to have access to)?  Curious for your assesment.

 

2) You mentioned many hot tubs on the ship - how busy were they?  How was the pool and hot tub selection for YC?  Was it very busy?

 

3) Any thoughts on YC drink selection and/or availability (both inside or outside the enclave)?

 

 

I used the spa - it was quite small, nothing like the one on Bellissima. No walk through rain showers. 
 

I never had any issue getting Prosecco or aperols or g&t in any bar. I drink rose wine and sometimes the bottle differed. There is an excellent very dry French one if you can find it. The Anjou is not good! 

[auntsally]

We board Europa tomorrow morning, with a week in YC, hoping that all this is an isolated experience 🤞we sailed on a similar cruise on MSC Bellissima and YC was everything we’d hoped for 
 

Just returned from Dubai and a week in YC on Europa, it was amazing, any negative reviews you’ve read would seem isolated.

No disruptive Russians, no need for any ‘normalising’, we were overwhelmed by the attention of all staff and if anything we feel sorry for them as they work 7 days a week with no rest days, if anything they must be tired, but this did not affect their service or professionalism.

 

I’d say, if you have a trip on Europa planned, go with an open mind and be prepared to enjoy it. 😊

[auntsally]

Just returned from Dubai and a week in YC on Europa, it was amazing, any negative reviews you’ve read would seem isolated.

No disruptive Russians, no need for any ‘normalising’, we were overwhelmed by the attention of all staff and if anything we feel sorry for them as they work 7 days a week with no rest days, if anything they must be tired, but this did not affect their service or professionalism.

 

I’d say, if you have a trip on Europa planned, go with an open mind and be prepared to enjoy it. 😊

[misztercruizer]

Update on the May 12 sailing MSC Europa.

Barcelona - Barcelona

B_A_H Are you still on this trip?

send us a note so we can meet.

Misztercruiser

misztercruiser@pronto.me

[misztercruizer]

To: B_A_H

Sorry Error in my email

Update on the May 12 sailing MSC Europa.

Barcelona - Barcelona

B_A_H Are you still on this trip?

send us a note so we can meet.

 

misztercruizer@pronto.me

[Airbear232]

Very good review, we are curious about MSC having cruised mostly on RCI.  I agree that the menus should be accurate for food content, but don't understand how halal, or even kosher, would be imposing a religion on someone.  But overall good review.

[wirral36]

Hi, does anyone have any pictures or videos of owners suite 18001 ? I’m stressing over the sofabed. 16002 looks like it’s a much thicker mattress on that sofabed. I need clarification but there are no pics of the sofabed as a bed and no videos at all. If anyone can help I’d be so grateful. 

[misztercruizer]

wirral36

  This is a great suite. Super Ship.

   We never opened the sofa bed, you may be seeing the sofa cushions. 

It has two sofas they are very nice suede. 

We sailed on May 12-19, 2023 Barcelona to Barcelona

Our suite was 16002 it is one deck down, we took this suite as the inside cabin is much larger.18001 has a much nicer deck area.

  Check out you tube: 

 

 

[wirral36]

4 hours ago, misztercruizer said:

wirral36

  This is a great suite. Super Ship.

   We never opened the sofa bed, you may be seeing the sofa cushions. 

It has two sofas they are very nice suede. 

We sailed on May 12-19, 2023 Barcelona to Barcelona

Our suite was 16002 it is one deck down, we took this suite as the inside cabin is much larger.18001 has a much nicer deck area.

  Check out you tube: 

 

 

Hi, thank you for your reply. 18001 has a white sofa bed that looks half the thickness or less of your blue sofabed in 16002. I can see videos and photos of your suite but there are none at all of 18001. I wonder if there’s a reason. Do you have any photos of your balcony at all ? Many thanks