Here’s to NOT “The Worst Cruise I’ve Ever Taken”!!! Sailing the Mera today- first time MSC, YC and Aurea Suite

[L1211]

6 hours ago, KKB said:

@L1211 Thx for your review.

It very much parallels my non-YC experience on the Divina last month.

Lots of crew who didn't seem well trained. Lots of lines to get drinks.

Constantly out of everything at bars.

Pizza best I've ever had!

Buffet excellent quality but a hot mess.

Now, I DID find a few EXCELLENT bartenders & servers who knew what I liked, would go out of their way to get it & were just overall lovely people. 

And I did extraordinarily well at the casino so it was a profitable situation--guess I'd do that every week if I could!!

 

IMO you missed nothing by not hitting production shows. 

They were...odd. Vocal talent was VERY good.

But dancers' costumes didn't make any sense & dancing was high school level.

(DD has danced since she was 3, and currently works full time at a dance studio, so know my dance)

Abba show--vocalists in lovely evening gowns. Dancers in...umm...Samurai costumes?? Then waitress costumes?

Disjointed seems to be a theme of this line in many areas.

 

A gal I follow on Celebrity who does Retreat did a short Celebrity Retreat cruise followed by YC on Divina & did a comparative. She RAVED RAVED RAVED about YC & made me ponder trying it.

Needless to say I had heard YC isn't quite the same upscale experience on larger ships as your review shows.

 

As with you--I had a good time. Pretty much have a good time on any trip.

Sailing Preziosa in May--but that is more for the itinerary. Many port days so line not as important.

But your review tells me issues appear to be more systematic than situational.

I will reserve judgement until after my May cruise...

 

No doubt we had a great time!  I truly tried to do a “trip report” and share what was happening as we experienced it.  I’m writing our opinions now. But we really did enjoy!  Good luck and keep us posted!! 

[Morecruisesplz]

27 minutes ago, L1211 said:

No doubt we had a great time!  I truly tried to do a “trip report” and share what was happening as we experienced it.  I’m writing our opinions now. But we really did enjoy!  Good luck and keep us posted!! 

You did a great job. Thanks 😊 

[Gatordad1967]

13 hours ago, Greygooser said:

Not to hijack the thread on a tangent, but I am having my first MSC cruise this June. I am Silver on NCL, and will be gold later this summer. Does anyone know if can I match now, then match again after my NCL cruise?

They will match once.  I tried a few different matches before I got the highest.  And, if you don't sail with them for 3 years, you start at zero.  No match second go around.  So sail at least a 3 nighter ever 3 years.

 

[Greygooser]

8 hours ago, Gatordad1967 said:

They will match once.  I tried a few different matches before I got the highest.  And, if you don't sail with them for 3 years, you start at zero.  No match second go around.  So sail at least a 3 nighter ever 3 years.

 

Unfortunately I don't have status anywhere. Can I wait until after I reach gold on NCL to match? It would be after my first MSC cruise. Or can you only match before your first MSC cruise?

[8420PR]

You can do a status match at any time, but only once per customer.

 

In my opinion, the biggest $$$ benefit is the 5% discount, so maybe matching NCL silver today is better than waiting to get gold.  

 

One other method would be to get the Hilton AmEx Aspire credit card for $450 annual fee, which automatically gives Hilton diamond status and use that for the MSC status match (hopefully to Diamon level as reported here).  The benefits of Diamond on MSC certainly are not worth the $450 fee though.......

[L1211]

2 hours ago, 8420PR said:

You can do a status match at any time, but only once per customer.

 

In my opinion, the biggest $$$ benefit is the 5% discount, so maybe matching NCL silver today is better than waiting to get gold.  

 

One other method would be to get the Hilton AmEx Aspire credit card for $450 annual fee, which automatically gives Hilton diamond status and use that for the MSC status match (hopefully to Diamon level as reported here).  The benefits of Diamond on MSC certainly are not worth the $450 fee though.......

Crafty!  

[Greygooser]

6 hours ago, 8420PR said:

You can do a status match at any time, but only once per customer.

 

In my opinion, the biggest $$$ benefit is the 5% discount, so maybe matching NCL silver today is better than waiting to get gold.  

 

One other method would be to get the Hilton AmEx Aspire credit card for $450 annual fee, which automatically gives Hilton diamond status and use that for the MSC status match (hopefully to Diamon level as reported here).  The benefits of Diamond on MSC certainly are not worth the $450 fee though.......

Thank you, good info.

[tweety33]

Thank you for the review, I enjoyed reading along your journey.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 3/15/2023 at 6:36 PM, CruiseScrooge said:

I had to do elder care for quite a while and now that i'm cruising again i was disappointed to find out Carnival killed the tiny hidden away free fish and chips station on the Conquest class ships and put in a pay place. ...

 

I also miss the Fish & Chips (above the Lido buffet). On a couple of Conquest class ships I've been on since various dry docks they were replaced with a BBQ place (no charge, but just so-so anyway).

 

Tom

[Greygooser]

On 3/20/2023 at 8:58 AM, 8420PR said:

You can do a status match at any time, but only once per customer.

 

In my opinion, the biggest $$$ benefit is the 5% discount, so maybe matching NCL silver today is better than waiting to get gold.  

 

One other method would be to get the Hilton AmEx Aspire credit card for $450 annual fee, which automatically gives Hilton diamond status and use that for the MSC status match (hopefully to Diamon level as reported here).  The benefits of Diamond on MSC certainly are not worth the $450 fee though.......

I ended up getting the Hilton Honors Surpass card, which gets me Gold for $95 annual fee. Minimal spending will get me 150k points (worth 3-6 nights at a Hilton property), plus some other perks. Pretty good card.

[L1211]

Looking at booking another MSC cruise in June with family - thinking Bella experience with all speciality dining and premium drinks for a new experience!  Anyone gone “back” from YC and loved it??? 

[Morgsmom]

On 3/19/2023 at 7:15 PM, RichYak said:

Macarons need to be refrigerated. If you left them out overnight, your butler absolutely did the right thing. 

??? No they don't.  

[hamrag]

On 4/14/2023 at 2:07 AM, L1211 said:

Looking at booking another MSC cruise in June with family - thinking Bella experience with all speciality dining and premium drinks for a new experience!  Anyone gone “back” from YC and loved it??? 

We went back to Aurea, following 3 YC's, never again! Our 4 since have all been YC's with another booked.