Yacht Club Questions

Hi

I'm sailing on Fantasia next January, in the Yacht Club :D

First time with MSC and I'm looking forward to it very much :)

The booking experience has been ummm.......challenging, due to the 'unusual' web site :rolleyes:

.....but I'm positive the onboard experience will be much better :)

I have a couple of questions -

I believe the butlers will escort you off the ship in port - how lovely!

.....I'm assuming though that you are on your own when it comes to getting back on board? I'm only asking because I travel solo, and although I've cruised several times I've never been on such a large ship. I'm thinking the lines to reboard have the potential to be very long?

Also, my flight to Dubai is with Emirates. I belong to their reward programme, so is there any way of getting the booking number from MSC or letting them know my frequent flyer number to get the points?

Anything else anybody would like to share for a newcomer to MSC?

Many thanks in advance :D

I realize that the website has been a bit challenging...But if you can get signed in, your booking number will be on your reservation. You should have received a confirmation email from MSC that would include your booking number. If you booked through a TA, it should be on the paperwork from them. EM

Don't get your hopes up too high. I did and my wife wisely cautioned me that I might be headed towards disappointment. We took our first MSC cruise in the Yacht Club on the Divina last week and while there were some excellent moments, there were also some major disappointments. Whether the pluses outweigh the minuses is yet to be determined in my mind, but before boarding, I was actually considering cancelling our upcoming cruise on another line in favor of MSC. That is no longer the case. No doubt you'll have a good time, but you might do well to temper your high hopes and wait and see the actual product. I sure wish you a wonderful cruise.

My answers in red below:

Hi

 

I'm sailing on Fantasia next January, in the Yacht Club :D

 

First time with MSC and I'm looking forward to it very much :)

 

The booking experience has been ummm.......challenging, due to the 'unusual' web site :rolleyes:

 

.....but I'm positive the onboard experience will be much better :)

 

Yes it will be.

 

I have a couple of questions -

 

I believe the butlers will escort you off the ship in port - how lovely!

 

Yes they will. Our butler also assisted us with our luggage in getting off the ship.

 

.....I'm assuming though that you are on your own when it comes to getting back on board? I'm only asking because I travel solo, and although I've cruised several times I've never been on such a large ship. I'm thinking the lines to reboard have the potential to be very long?

 

The lines are not very long usually, also, the suite guests board at the forward exit and most other passengers board at the aft exit - at least that is how it was in the Caribbean.

 

Also, my flight to Dubai is with Emirates. I belong to their reward programme, so is there any way of getting the booking number from MSC or letting them know my frequent flyer number to get the points?

 

Call MSC and ask them for your booking number. Then when you get to the airport and check in double check that your frequent flyer number is on your reservation.

 

Anything else anybody would like to share for a newcomer to MSC?

 

We sailed on Divina in March. All food and drink are all inclusive to Yacht Club suites in the restaurant for Yacht Club guests and the bar and snacks in the Yacht Club. You also get access to the spa. There is a snack buffet 24x7 in the lounge. There was nightly live music in the lounge. Let your butler know if you want tea served in the lounge each day - they do formal tea at, I believe 4:00 - 5:00pm. When you board, the concierge will ask what time you like to have dinner. I told her 7pm, however, when we went to the restaurant that evening, the Maitre'd had not received this information and fussed at us a little - not realizing that we had already told the Concierge what time and that it was her mistake not ours. So I told him 7pm every night. BTW, our butler escorted us to the dining room on the first night - funny because we had gone there to lunch on boarding day!

 

Everything in your suite's minibar is free and will be replenished twice a day.

 

The bathtub/shower combo had a slick floor but there was no bathmat, so we would put a wash cloth on the floor and stood on that.

 

The shows are great! They are only 45 - 60 minutes long, so do go! But I should warn you there is audience participation on Italian Night - so if you want to get the chance to participate, then sit in the front of the center section near the aisle and if you don't, sit in the middle of a section.

 

There are specialty restaurants onboard, but food from them is served in the Yacht Club dining room each night, so we never bothered to try the specialty restaurants.

 

One thing we noticed was that they were selling art onboard at the typical art auctions, but they actually had the 2 featured artists onboard the ship. They came to the Yacht Club Lounge and mingled with passengers who were buying their art. I've never seen that before on other cruise lines.

 

Many thanks in advance :D

Just another question for SuiteTraveler. When you mean YC members have access to spa area? What does that consist of? Massages? Or is it just steam room/sauna area only? I know that Aurea guests get a free one hour massage. Thanks in advance for any info.

Also...Is the butler and concierge not in the tip pool? I always tip extra everywhere I go but I don't want to under tip anyone.

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Thanks very much for the responses everyone :)

Don't get your hopes up too high. I did and my wife wisely cautioned me that I might be headed towards disappointment. We took our first MSC cruise in the Yacht Club on the Divina last week and while there were some excellent moments, there were also some major disappointments. Whether the pluses outweigh the minuses is yet to be determined in my mind, but before boarding, I was actually considering cancelling our upcoming cruise on another line in favor of MSC. That is no longer the case. No doubt you'll have a good time, but you might do well to temper your high hopes and wait and see the actual product. I sure wish you a wonderful cruise.

Thank you for your thoughts :)

May I ask what were your major disappointments?

Hi Darcy, I hope you don't mind me asking a question here. Hope it doesn't derail your thread :).

SuiteTraveler: How did 7 p.m. work out for you? Were most dinners 1.5 hours? The late shows start at 9:00 so I was thinking this may be a good time for us also.

You mentioned "There are specialty restaurants on-board, but food from them is served in the Yacht Club dining room each night". This is the first I've read this. Would you mind elaborating. Is it the exact same menu? Or just similar dishes?

Thank you in advance :)

Thank you for your thoughts :)

 

May I ask what were your major disappointments?

Based on what I had read on CC, I had expected a spectacular ship and outstanding dining in Le Muse Neither was the case. The public areas are dark and cramped, the food was unimaginative and of average preparation

On the positive side the entertainment was excellent, the YC is a really exciting concept, and the service was wonderful throughout. In fact our butler was too anxious to please on several occasions.

Based on what I had read on CC, I had expected a spectacular ship and outstanding dining in Le Muse Neither was the case. The public areas are dark and cramped, the food was unimaginative and of average preparation

 

On the positive side the entertainment was excellent, the YC is a really exciting concept, and the service was wonderful throughout. In fact our butler was too anxious to please on several occasions.

BosoxI: Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally understand where you are coming from in terms of the 'dark' interior of Divina. My favorite class of ship is the Radiance class with the extensive use of glass throughout to look at the sea. The Divina does lack the wide open spaces (huge lounges, floor to ceiling windows covering multi floors, etc...). Most of the lounges are what I'd term intimate. I didn't find any areas cramped except the three pool areas during the day (which were really terrible my sailing); and the black and white lounge (which is too small of a venue for what they schedule). Glad to hear you enjoyed the YC, I'm heading there next :)

Based on what I had read on CC, I had expected a spectacular ship and outstanding dining in Le Muse Neither was the case. The public areas are dark and cramped, the food was unimaginative and of average preparation

 

 

 

On the positive side the entertainment was excellent, the YC is a really exciting concept, and the service was wonderful throughout. In fact our butler was too anxious to please on several occasions.

If food quality is a key element for you, consider Oceania for a future cruise.

Based on what I had read on CC, I had expected a spectacular ship and outstanding dining in Le Muse Neither was the case. The public areas are dark and cramped, the food was unimaginative and of average preparation

 

On the positive side the entertainment was excellent, the YC is a really exciting concept, and the service was wonderful throughout. In fact our butler was too anxious to please on several occasions.

Did you consider the black and white lounge dark??????

Also...Is the butler and concierge not in the tip pool? I always tip extra everywhere I go but I don't want to under tip anyone.

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They are not included in your tip pool - You will need to tip them extra

I tip based on how much they do for me or I use them - I know some people who never use the concierge for anything and obviously they don't tip them for that reason however concierge is worth tipping because she can get you off the ship ahead of everyone else, she can get you up front seats for shows without waiting in line for a hour, she can get you seats in restaurants that are otherwise sold out etc

It was just a tad bit satisfying walking past 1000 people waiting to get off the ship when we were at one of the ports

Same goes for concierge and I don't know that it holds true for everyone by concierge helped the housekeeper with the room so even if I had not directly asked him for something he was still doing stuff behind the scenes for us so he deserves a tip regardless if you asked for anything directly

How much you tip is controversial

They are not included in your tip pool - You will need to tip them extra

 

Can anyone confirm or deny that butlers and concierges are not included in tip pool? I understand US customs of tipping extra, but this is the first I've read that they are EXCLUDED from the $12.00 pp/pd service fee.

Once we realized we didn't care for the public areas, DW and I pretty much stayed in the YC area except to see a show (the theater is fantastic) or to traverse the seventh deck in order to eat our unremarkable meal in the very much misplaced Le Muse.

A few other observations: the pizza would have been excellent had it been completely baked. I suspect the demand for it is so great that the cooks don't leave it in the oven long enough. That's a shame, as it's very tasty. I tried only five pieces in the buffet, two were half raw, the others were very good. We didn't have one delivered from Eataly to our cabin.

The YC Deluxe "Suite" is no bigger than a regular balcony stateroom, and the S1 and even S2 suites on Celebrity are larger. The balcony is narrow but the cabin is well appointed, especially the marble but smallish bathroom. The walkin closet eats up some space, of course. No shower stall so be prepared to step into a bathtub, a possible problem for the elderly in high seas.

If the drapes are completely closed at night, the cabin is a tomb. I mean black. No night light in the bath, though it might to possible to use your own, as there is a plug. The sink stopper has to be pushed in order to drain the water, a minor but annoying situation. I was a bit surprised that the robes were not Frette or equivalent, just regular waffle.

The Top Sail Lounge is very nice, a good place to hang out, as drinks and food are available all day. And it sure is convenient, as is the pool area on Deck 18, where food and drinks are also available. Plenty of space in both areas, so chair hogs were never an issue.

I purchased too much WiFi time for our purposes. Also, there is no dedicated IT person on board, which is unbelievable on a ship this size. I had no trouble connecting my Kindle and my cellphone, but my computer posed a problem. The YC concierge called down to the ship's expert who gave me a quick fix. Be aware that purchased WiFi time cannot be applied in the computer lounge, where you'll have to use your cruise card with a separate charge, of course.

If you have status on another line, be sure to get credit with MSC. We had a black card and received two plates of chocolate covered strawberries (on the same evening, burp), two bottles of champagne, and free access to two specialty restaurants where we ate from the prix fixe menu on two evenings. Note that we were limited to that menu or we would have had to pay extra. One irate couple was complaining to the concierge that they had been charged for their meal from the regular menu. They must have been sleeping through the many occasions we were told that the limited menu option was free but everything else was a charge.

The five course prix fixe menu in Eataly is extremely heavy on meat and fatty meat at that. But it was vey good if you can pick through it. We had a lighter meal in Galaxy the next night with a beautiful view out the wall of plate glass windows. Yes, the whole ship is not dark, thankfully.

On the subject of food, we spoke with a CC member who had been in the YC on the previous cruise but who was now in a regular cabin. I asked him to compare the two restaurants and he replied he did not see significant difference between Le Muse and the regular dinery. Wow. Regardless of that observation, there is no way I would travel on MSC other than in the YC which we really enjoyed.

Can anyone confirm or deny that butlers and concierges are not included in tip pool? I understand US customs of tipping extra, but this is the first I've read that they are EXCLUDED from the $12.00 pp/pd service fee.

I am sorry I actually stand corrected - Every cruise line I have been on including European cruises the butler and concierge was excluded and you had to tip them separately - I just called to re-verify this information and you are correct the gratuity charge covers everyone working on the ship including the butler and concierge - When I told her on other boats they were not included and that is why I asked she was in shock lol

So I guess it is optional - I will still give them a little extra but no where near what I usually give since i know they are already get part of gratuity

I am sorry I actually stand corrected - Every cruise line I have been on including European cruises the butler and concierge was excluded and you had to tip them separately - I just called to re-verify this information and you are correct the gratuity charge covers everyone working on the ship including the butler and concierge - When I told her on other boats they were not included and that is why I asked she was in shock lol

 

So I guess it is optional - I will still give them a little extra but no where near what I usually give since i know they are already get part of gratuity

Interesting! It has regularly been expounded on here that the butler and concierge are excluded from the DSC pool. Thanks for clarifying.

Interesting! It has regularly been expounded on here that the butler and concierge are excluded from the DSC pool. Thanks for clarifying.

When I call next to make a payment I am going to ask again assuming I get a different person just to be sure that is the case as I would hate for a butler and concierge to get ripped off

Once we realized we didn't care for the public areas, DW and I pretty much stayed in the YC area except to see a show (the theater is fantastic) or to traverse the seventh deck in order to eat our unremarkable meal in the very much misplaced Le Muse.

 

A few other observations: the pizza would have been excellent had it been completely baked. I suspect the demand for it is so great that the cooks don't leave it in the oven long enough. That's a shame, as it's very tasty. I tried only five pieces in the buffet, two were half raw, the others were very good. We didn't have one delivered from Eataly to our cabin.

 

The YC Deluxe "Suite" is no bigger than a regular balcony stateroom, and the S1 and even S2 suites on Celebrity are larger. The balcony is narrow but the cabin is well appointed, especially the marble but smallish bathroom. The walkin closet eats up some space, of course. No shower stall so be prepared to step into a bathtub, a possible problem for the elderly in high seas.

 

If the drapes are completely closed at night, the cabin is a tomb. I mean black. No night light in the bath, though it might to possible to use your own, as there is a plug. The sink stopper has to be pushed in order to drain the water, a minor but annoying situation. I was a bit surprised that the robes were not Frette or equivalent, just regular waffle.

 

The Top Sail Lounge is very nice, a good place to hang out, as drinks and food are available all day. And it sure is convenient, as is the pool area on Deck 18, where food and drinks are also available. Plenty of space in both areas, so chair hogs were never an issue.

 

I purchased too much WiFi time for our purposes. Also, there is no dedicated IT person on board, which is unbelievable on a ship this size. I had no trouble connecting my Kindle and my cellphone, but my computer posed a problem. The YC concierge called down to the ship's expert who gave me a quick fix. Be aware that purchased WiFi time cannot be applied in the computer lounge, where you'll have to use your cruise card with a separate charge, of course.

 

If you have status on another line, be sure to get credit with MSC. We had a black card and received two plates of chocolate covered strawberries (on the same evening, burp), two bottles of champagne, and free access to two specialty restaurants where we ate from the prix fixe menu on two evenings. Note that we were limited to that menu or we would have had to pay extra. One irate couple was complaining to the concierge that they had been charged for their meal from the regular menu. They must have been sleeping through the many occasions we were told that the limited menu option was free but everything else was a charge.

 

The five course prix fixe menu in Eataly is extremely heavy on meat and fatty meat at that. But it was vey good if you can pick through it. We had a lighter meal in Galaxy the next night with a beautiful view out the wall of plate glass windows. Yes, the whole ship is not dark, thankfully.

 

On the subject of food, we spoke with a CC member who had been in the YC on the previous cruise but who was now in a regular cabin. I asked him to compare the two restaurants and he replied he did not see significant difference between Le Muse and the regular dinery. Wow. Regardless of that observation, there is no way I would travel on MSC other than in the YC which we really enjoyed.

Just off the DIVINA YC & have sailed a # of time Balcony, enjoyed dinner in both, main difference is service & atmosphere, thogh food may have a slight edge in YC not dramatic.

Hi

 

I'm sailing on Fantasia next January, in the Yacht Club :D

 

First time with MSC and I'm looking forward to it very much :)

 

 

 

I have a couple of questions -

 

I believe the butlers will escort you off the ship in port - how lovely!

 

.....I'm assuming though that you are on your own when it comes to getting back on board? I'm only asking because I travel solo, and although I've cruised several times I've never been on such a large ship. I'm thinking the lines to reboard have the potential to be very long?

 

 

Many thanks in advance :D

To answer this question, when we were in Malta last week, we booked one of the tours as it was a really short stop. The butler escorted us to the bus, and we had reserved seating on the bus.

On our return the lines to embark were huge, but there were some of the butlers out with their little "Yacht Club" paddles and we made a bee-line for them and then got taken directly to the front of the queue. There were several embarkation points in this particular harbour, but Yacht Club guests were entering at only one.

To answer this question, when we were in Malta last week, we booked one of the tours as it was a really short stop. The butler escorted us to the bus, and we had reserved seating on the bus.

On our return the lines to embark were huge, but there were some of the butlers out with their little "Yacht Club" paddles and we made a bee-line for them and then got taken directly to the front of the queue. There were several embarkation points in this particular harbour, but Yacht Club guests were entering at only one.

Thank you :)

With the Yacht Club cabins, could you please explain what is available at no charge, if anything, in the Spa? Thank you.

With the Yacht Club cabins, could you please explain what is available at no charge, if anything, in the Spa? Thank you.

Free access to the Thermal Suite (Sauna and Steam Room),(Separate men's and women's) as well as discrete and direct spa access from the Yacht Club.