sbcs5390

3 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

How do you go about getting the status match?  Not that we have anything special because we started with Carnival and aren’t brand loyal. 

Here is the form: https://www.msccruisesusa.com/manage-booking/msc-voyagers-club/status-match

A couple things to know:

1) Officially, it's "once and done" so you have one shot to submit information from one program to match.

2) You can only submit one program.

3) MSC doesn't publish the tables of what matches to what, so you have to go by word of mouth to know what your best avenue is. 

4) They do match hotel programs as well. 

5) They are not always consistent so there's no guarantees you'll get the same. For instance, I had read that Marriott Titanium was going to Gold, so I just did my Celebrity Elite. Now more recently I saw someone with Marriott Titanium got Diamond. I missed out on the awesome Celebrity/RCL -> Azamara -> MSC hack described above.

6) The good news is - with Yacht Club your status doesn't matter much. Lots of Diamond members in YC leave their free specialty meal on the table because it's just not worth it when YC is right there and so excellent. 

7) They issue you the number of points equal to the prior level. For instance, upon my gold status match, I was issued 4,300 points. You also get 100 points for confirming your contact info before each cruise. 

8 ) You earn extra points for being in YC, like Captains' Club. A weeklong cruise is 1,500 points. You also earn points for onboard spend (although mine haven't appeared yet from my 4/22 cruise). You also get double points if you book more than a year out, and if you book onboard - I don't know if these are additive, i.e., quadruple points for onboard booking >1 year out, but I doubt it. Long story short, I'll be Diamond anyway after my next cruise because it's a longer one, earning me 2,000 points * 2 and getting me to the 10,000 points needed for Diamond. I see getting to Diamond level as insurance that if I ever take a regular MSC cruise outside of YC, it won't be as bad (priority boarding, free specialty meal, etc.), but none of the Diamond benefits really matter when you're in YC.   

9) MSC requires you to cruise once every three years or you lose your status. Kind of annoying as I had a 19 year gap on Celebrity and it picked up where I left off with them. 

I want to come back and write a broader post about my experience on MSC a couple weeks ago in response to your question - which was incredible - as someone who's been on Celebrity (a lot, from insides to RS), Royal, Carnival, NCL, HAL, Cunard, Oceania, and Crystal. Summary version is: just canceled 3 Celebrity cruises to come back to YC with family after really enjoying my first time. The value is tremendous. I had a particularly awful experience with Oceania that I should also write about one day. 

58 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Our adjustment came in the form of an OBC, which was fine with us.

Curious, were you already within final payment? 

3 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

once on board you have to go to Charge Card station to register your credit card which I always found strange. Dealing with guest services is much better on Celebrity.

I was able to pre-register my card online with no issue but there are lots of self-service terminals around to register. There's even a terminal at the YC Concierge which is a lot more full-functioning as guest services than any Retreat lounge or Michael's Club concierge can be, which I saw as a major advantage. Given YC fares are about the same as a regular balcony on Celebrity (maybe CC), you're getting a lot more. 

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Yea hearing announcements in 5 languages would make me feel like I was at Walmart with all the announcements.  No thanks. 

Conversely, I felt like it was a much more cosmopolitan experience, with not just folks from the U.S. I met friends from the UK, Canada, and had folks at the table next to me using the Italian menu and conversing with the wait staff in Italian. Felt a lot more worldly to me. On Meraviglia from New York, though, they only made announcements in English that I remember. 

On Meraviglia, it cost me $70 to upgrade on a 7 night cruise. I was solo and had the ability to use two devices. The ability to send pictures was not improved, i.e., still took 8 minutes to send one photo. The YC Concierge chastised me that I should have understood the terms when I chose to upgrade, and should know it's not like home when I asked to switch back. I said that I assumed it was like the many other cruise lines I'd been on where the upgraded internet had upgraded functionality. I do think YC should include the premium from the get go. Subsequently he called to say he had the internet team check and I had managed to use 1.6 GB so it must be fine. I stopped it as it was becoming argumentative and intrusive. I never was able to do WiFi call direct on my iPhone, even with the streaming, but I made calls using my Microsoft Teams app without issue. I think they are throttling speed on iMessage or something. Snapchat (and I heard WhatsApp) seemed to work a lot better. 

20 hours ago, Stockjock said:

you should get the 5%+5% discount (wouldn't it be easier to just call it 10%?).

It ends up being 9.75% 🙂 

4 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I watched live shows on the meraviglia last week.  No problem with speed or connection.  I was able to text....but sometimes with a delay.

The main problem I had was with sending photos on iMessage. One picture would take 8-10 minutes to go back home. Things worked OK on my work computer. I wonder if they throttle iMessage. This was 4/22 on Meraviglia. I was just surprised because on Celebrity when you have that issue and upgrade to the premium wifi (which is included in all suites) it goes away. 

The premium streaming internet is not included. Surprising when compared to other suite products like Celebrity but to me that is the only shortfall. Fortunately the upgrade doesn’t do much, so it’s not really necessary, but also I made the mistake my first time and they wouldn’t switch me back. 

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

We are also on 10/25 Miraviglia.  We live in East Brunswick.  Uber gave us a quote of $75 each way.  Just hope we can get one getting off the ship on 11/5.

I would definitely recommend trying to pre-schedule at least the departure, and probably if you can, the return trip. The surging might be crazy on the day of with everything going on. Uber and Lyft both offer the option, and sometimes one is cheaper than the other. Unfortunately, my mom uses a mobility device and sometimes drivers refuse to transport them so it's best we park. 

3 hours ago, travelwide said:

You are tempting me!

You won't regret it! I am so excited to come back with my family. I did 4/22 solo as a tester - the family travel agent! We are doing 10/25/23 and 5/4/24.

Belmar here! We are a bit nervous about returning on the 10/25 cruise to the NYC Marathon and bridge closures! Plus, Princess will be parking then too adding to the lot filling up concerns. Fingers crossed... 

On 4/27/2023 at 9:23 AM, funNsun4me said:

I heard somewhere that the 7 day is really considered an 8 day and you are charged $45 a day for 8 days, can anyone confirm?

I paid $315 for the 4/22 - 4/29 cruise. The last one after ours was a day longer cruise (Miami itinerary instead of PC)

4 hours ago, jules815 said:

I'm so happy you had a good time and loved the Yacht Club experience. I agree with you 100% about that YC beach. Surprised they haven't done something with it by now.

Craig (Yacht Club Dir on Meraviglia) mentioned that they have a big project coming up to ready the YC area for larger vessels like World America that will have nearly 500 in YC. He’s seen the plans and described changes to the restaurant (two stories I think?) and more toilets, etc. I didn’t ask but would be surprised if they didn’t clean up the beach again at the same time. 

On 5/2/2023 at 11:42 AM, mmbcater said:

I can answer the YC question but not the Ceclo.... Ive seen them online and also wondered about them.... 

 

Answers: Also yacht club related, I’ve seen that umbrellas are included in the yacht club beach area, what about the floating mats? You would have to rent them, they are not included in the YC

 

 

Umbrellas are provided at the chairs at the YC beach - or at least were in late April. 

So glad you had a nice time. I was on the 4/22 cruise solo in YC to test it out for a future family cruise. I also have family members with mobility issues and know the “YC shuttle” will be great for them. We are going back on 10/25 - have to apologize as we snagged the last two YINs!

Q2 - I have heard officially that it’s “once and done” but others have mentioned they resubmitted and got a better result.

Q3 - I have been able to get the discount and OBC (if required number of months out) applied after doing the match. 

Good luck!

4 hours ago, hunter68 said:

Quick question is the internet provided with YC booking 2 devices per person?

Yes, I just returned from Meraviglia solo and had two devices. Don't bother upgrading - I did and it made no difference in what I wanted to do and they would not refund me. Save the $70! 

I submitted my parents' Celebrity Select for them and MSC gave them Gold last week. Probably 10 months ago I had done mine, Celebrity Elite, which also matched to MSC Gold.

I had missed out on the "hack" to match Celebrity to Azamara to MSC Diamond, and apparently I see some folks got Marriott Titanium over to Diamond more recently. The good news is with the double points offer for booking onboard, I'll be Diamond anyway after my second MSC sailing which I booked while on my first. 

I’m doing a tester solo in two weeks’ time in hopes of being able to bring my parents in the future for the same reasons. We have done most of the lines and lately have been doing Celebrity including two in the Retreat. I think there you really need to be on a new ship to have an experience close to YC and pick a suite that is truly inside the Retreat complex. You are right that their ships can feel overwhelming otherwise.  The only recent cruise on which my Mom did not get sick was when we were in the Retreat and she too has a weakened immune system. For me, I don’t mind an inside cabin so absolutely love that YC offers the inside suites. Flying is also a big stress for her so Meraviglia coming to New York is a draw. 

53 minutes ago, Btcutter said:

 

Help.  Trying MSC for the first time and heard great things about Yacht club.  Taking my parents in their 70's departing Barcelona for 7 nights.

 

2 inside rooms or 1 balcony suite in YC.  Pretty much same price.  They only cruised balcony never inside room.  But then we've never done YC either.

 

Thoughts and/advice.

I think you’ll be happier with the space and two bathrooms of two YC insides. I went for the one on the same deck as the Top Sail Lounge so I can just walk down the hall to it. I sail in two weeks on Meraviglia so don’t have any personal experience yet. 

On 3/26/2023 at 1:40 PM, blueslily said:

Anyone have an update on this topic. I am interesting in having flowers in our cabin later this year. Wonder if anything has changed recently. 

Me too - I’m probably going to just bring on in New York but would have rather they just handled it for me. 

This would have been amazing. We left Equinox on the 27th and had a lot of stuff. To confirm: it's $29 per person (on the reservation?) regardless of the number of bags checked? And, it's waived for all Retreat guests, including Sky Suites?

Waiter in MDR on Equinox March 18 sailing said it had been replaced by something else - I think a sirloin. Did not try the kids' sirloin. 

On Equinox now and both stateroom attendant and guest services refused. We have two aft concierge cabins and were so excited about opening them. 

I’m so surprised they didn’t offer to have your butler serve from one of the menus in-suite. I had a RS when the ship was less than half full and we enjoyed Murano a lot. You’re right though - that tub takes a while to fill! Keep having a great time!