So what cruise lines can rival the Retreat experience?

[Beamafar]

I do hope that MSC YC at least meets your expectations (or even exceeds them).   Which ship did you book?

[RichYak]

26 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

So, since starting this thread, we have booked a cruise on MSC YC.

Out of curiosity, which ship? I hope you enjoy it!

[CruisinShips]

21 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I do hope that MSC YC at least meets your expectations (or even exceeds them).   Which ship did you book?

Thank you.  We booked the Seascape.

[RichYak]

9 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

For some reason, some like a larger ship than the lux lines offer. I can’t see why.

I can think of a few reasons. Some prefer the larger production shows and casinos and the kind of varied entertainment that large ships provide. Seasickness on smaller ships is another reason. Also, the lux lines are more egalitarian which some like and some don't. There are those that prefer to have private, dedicated spaces that the fray cannot access. 

[Beamafar]

2 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Thank you.  We booked the Seascape.

We’re doing Seascape in a few weeks’ time.  We had a wonderful YC experience on her sister ship, Seaview (in the Med) and have sailed in a non-YC cabin on Seashore - another fantastic Med cruise.  There are a couple of very recent reviews of Seascape YC on the MSC forum. 

[TeeRick]

We have not yet tried MSC Yacht Club but tempted to follow the crowd at some point.

 

We have done a Crown Loft suite twice on Royal on Oasis-Class ships (Symphony and Harmony).  It might be a consideration.  They are in a small enclave deck (17) just with other CL suites.  Just down the hall on 17 is the Coastal Kitchen suite restaurant and the Suite Lounge.  But to get to the Suite Sun Deck you need to go down a deck and cross over.  

[CruisinShips]

6 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

We have not yet tried MSC Yacht Club but tempted to follow the crowd at some point.

 

We have done a Crown Loft suite twice on Royal on Oasis-Class ships (Symphony and Harmony).  It might be a consideration.  They are in a small enclave deck (17) just with other CL suites.  Just down the hall on 17 is the Coastal Kitchen suite restaurant and the Suite Lounge.  But to get to the Suite Sun Deck you need to go down a deck and cross over.  

We too have stayed in Crown Loft suites...rear facing ones on the Oasis, Allure and Symphony, and liked them very much.  I agree the 17th floor being suites only with the Coastal Kitchen/Lounge is a very good setup. We could easily do without the butler we enjoy in the Retreat, the a CL was exactly where I was leaning before this thread convinced me to try MSC YC.

 

That being said, a week cruise in a CL is no great bargain either....

[Beamafar]

56 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

We too have stayed in Crown Loft suites...rear facing ones on the Oasis, Allure and Symphony, and liked them very much.  I agree the 17th floor being suites only with the Coastal Kitchen/Lounge is a very good setup. We could easily do without the butler we enjoy in the Retreat, the a CL was exactly where I was leaning before this thread convinced me to try MSC YC.

 

That being said, a week cruise in a CL is no great bargain either....

No 17th deck on MSC - Italians are superstitious about the number the way others are about the number 13 (which is a deck number on MSC). 

[agape01]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:52 AM, CruisinShips said:

NOT just from a suite standpoint, but I'm referring to the overall Retreat experience.  Butlers, dedicated restaurant, dedicated lounge, dedicated sun deck.  I get that other cruise lines offer suites and upscale amenities, but most don't offer those things I mentioned.  I know some will say MSC Yacht Club, but IMO it just doesn't match up.  Others may say NCL's Haven, but same answer. RCL's suite class on Oasis ships?  Maybe close, I guess, but a step or two below.

 

So what am I missing? 

 

By now you must have been realizing that you're missing out on a whole lot.

I have been on Retreat on the Millennium from Tokyo to Singapore last year and prior to that I was on the Oceania Riviera from Rome to Miami. This is what I would have to say.

For the price that you are paying for a Retreat experience, you would definitely be getting more bang for your buck on a Oceania. Reason? OBC are still valid and you can use your OBCs however way you want, whether you want to spend it on shore excursions or La Reserve by Wine Spectator, the choice is yours to make. Room service is 24hrs in regardless whatever stateroom that you cruise with and all specialty restaurants are included in your fare. It just depends on how many times you are able to go depending on the type of your stateroom. Of course you would have to pay extra for a premium drink package but what is already offered is a list of wines (Red/Whites) for lunch and dinner.

There is almost no fight in terms of food quality at the MDR on my Oceania Riviera cruise compared to Celebrity's Luminae. Food plating is like going to a good bistro and the quality is mostly spot on. The only thing that didn't meet my expectation was when that one night I had the lobster bisque that was not consistent with the other 6 times I had it. It was not a deal breaker.

 

My stateroom on the Riviera was a concierge class which by the way had the biggest bathrooms that I had ever experienced except for the Grand Suite One Bedroom on a RCCL cruise that I had a chance to try for cheap during COVID-19. Toilets came with bvlgari toiletries as you would find in any Ultra Luxury Cruise Line.

No doubt that the entertainment is not as big as what you would find on a RCCL or Celebrity, but most of my fellow passengers seem to be entertained enough each evening. I also feel that the casino would be adequate to entertain regular gamblers.

If you are comparing experience for experience for the price that you are willing pay, I would say that Oceania is a great compromise and not going to ultra luxury cruise line. 

Hope this helps.

P.S. If you want to see "food porn" let me know, I still have the shots from that cruise.

Edited April 22 by agape01

[billc23]

7 hours ago, CruisinShips said:

 

I agree with many others...we live in South Florida and really love the convenience of Caribbean cruises, so the ship is more important to us than the ports...that's why the smaller ships just aren't appealing for those itineraries.

 

The smaller ships may have more onboard activities and certainly more dining options open on a port day than Celebrity does on their ships. The majority of "activities" on port days on a Celebrity ship are vaguely disguised sale events. For those who stay on the ship while at port and enjoy the lack of crowds, the smaller ships are like that all the time. Sailing on a ship with 550 to 1000 passengers really is not that different than sailing on a 2000 to 3500 passenger ship as far as the port day experience on the ship. 

 

I have also booked multiple MSC YC sailings and I am looking forward to the experience. 

[Stem to Stern]

On 4/22/2024 at 9:14 AM, CruisinShips said:

Thank you.  We booked the Seascape.

Enjoy!  We tried MSC Yacht Club on Seascape in December 2023.

We enjoyed the YC experience as well as the Gen Pop areas of the ship.

Although we did find the YC Restaurant food, service, and atmosphere subpar in comparison to Luminae. 

Others don't care for Luminae's culinary offerings, but we love them. 

So, if you can go with flow as far as meeting your expectations, I think you will like it. 

The YC pool deck and lounge are spacious, warm, inviting, and comfortably furnished. 

There was plenty of crew in the Yacht Club to take care of your every wish. 

We hope to give the Yacht Club another try again at some point in time.

 

I did a live report which can be found on the Celebrity boards if you search.  It is there because it was part of a side-by-side report along with our experience in The Retreat on board Celebrity Summit.

[chisoxfan]

We also just booked  Seascape YC  for Jan 2025. A crazy trifecta... Princess Sun suite, HAL Nieuw Statendam with Orange club and then MSC. Sadly we did not consider X our previous fave cruise line as Retreat was 50% to 100% more than what  was offered by the other cruises and just not worth it to us. AQ not considered because of IV on newer ships (our preference). Outside of drastic price drops in Retreat not seeing anything that would bring us back to X.