momofmab

I think one of MSC's biggest obstacles is consistency in the service and product across the ships (at least within the size categories, such as the "Sea" ships). In the past couple of days alone, I've read several different versions of the safety drill process for YC quests that were different from my experience in YC on Seascape (and one of the negatives on my list). I was also lured to MSC (YC) by the great experiences of the very talented "Live" thread writers. While I don't question their experiences whatsoever, mine was nowhere near those levels, and it has caused me to be convinced that MSC follows this board and makes a big effort to "wine & dine" those that sing their praises. My cruise in YC was fine, but not at level that others on CC have experienced. I suppose it was a good value for the price, but with those prices creeping upward, I would likely choose to sail in "gen-pop" on other lines where I felt the overall experience was better.

Food is subjective, but we didn't love the YC restaurant either (except for the pasta dishes, which were all excellent & the Tiramisu dessert!) Getting coffee after dinner to have with dessert, took forever. We did like the YC poolside buffet for breakfast & lunch. We tried the YC restaurant for breakfast one morning and even though our order was promptly taken, our food never arrived (despite those around us, who arrived later, getting their food). We said something and they apologized but our food still didn't come out (apparently, they were struggling that morning with scrambling eggs). My husband wished they had a poolside dinner buffet as well (he dislikes the wait time in between courses. He's not a big fancy dinner service guy.)

We had a lifeguard on the YC beach for our cruise. It's rough over there as it opens up to the ocean (an older gentleman had to be helped up after he fell in the surf and couldn't get up). I would not be comfortable with my kids swimming over there, unsupervised by me. They do have some kind of a netting/buoy contraption up to keep swimmers from heading out to sea but I'm not sure how well that works. Other non-YC swimming areas on the island are much better, IMO.

This jumped out at me. Does this mean that you didn't have to join the masses for the official muster drill and parade down endless flights of stairs with 5000 other passengers to swipe your card on deck 7, and fight to get an elevator back up? Our muster drill on Seascape was a big negative for our first YC experience. It would be great if they made this change.

I agree that it seems to be exacerbated by wind & sea conditions and speed of the ship. We were in an midship concierge IV (I think deck 10 or 11) on Beyond in Jan 2023. Very calm seas for the first 6 days, Captain Kate was cruising nice & easy - no banging. On the last night, she was trying to outrun some bad weather on the way back - the ship was travelling at a higher rate of speed, there was a stiff wind and the seas were rolling more than they had. That last night sounded like someone was outside our cabin, repeatedly banging a sledgehammer against the wall. If I had to listen to that for the entire cruise, I would not be happy. It's great that there are some who brush off the banging and are fine with having to sleep with all kinds of noise-altering gear, sleeping meds and white noise contraptions (maybe their cruise was free?) but for those who spend a hard-earned dollar and take precious vacation time, I don't think it's too much to ask not to have sledgehammer banging in one's cabin. I loved everything about my Beyond cruise (save for the last night), but unless I could 100% vet that a particular cabin did not have noise in various types of weather conditions, I will not be back on Beyond until they solve that issue.

There aren't a lot of shaded areas on the YC deck. Depending on the time of day and the way the ship is facing, one can usually find some areas that are somewhat shaded by the structures on deck. There is a raised lounge area located at one end of the pool that is shaded for certain hours of the day. The best time to score a pergola is on port days when most people are off the ship (even those aren't completely shaded). In my opinion, the coffee drinks in Top Sail are better than the in-room Nespresso (although I use a Nespresso for coffee at home). It's an easy walk from most cabins or you can ask your butler to deliver it to you.

We try to do this too, now that we aren't bound to the school vacation weeks anymore. Nonetheless, I was shocked by the full ship (outside of YC) and number of kids for a week that school in the U.S. was in session (this was on Seascape). My impression after cruising MSC was that there will likely never be a week where the ships are not full - based on the cheap pricing (especially outside of YC) and the fact that even the ships that originate from the U.S. seem to attract a large European audience, and their holidays and school vacations differ from the U.S. Because of this, MSC's "Sea" ships are too big & crowded for us (even though we were in YC, we still like to utilize other areas of the ship). If we ever try MSC again, it would be on one of their smaller ships).

100% Although the YC is a beautiful, serene oasis, we missed using the whole ship. Every time we left YC, it was like emerging into a circus. We'd do a quick lap and walk swiftly back to YC. Conversely, on X we're fine being in "gen pop" - we've never done Retreat and likely never will with current pricing. X & MSC in general are completely different products, targeting different audiences.

Have you or your wife had the filet in the YC restaurant yet? Interested to see what you thought of it. Before sailing in YC on Seascape, I read post after post about how amazing the filet was in YC - no need to waste your money in Butcher's Cut. We found that to be far from the case on our sailing. The YC filet looked like it had been dragged behind the ship (my husband tried it twice), while our meal in Butcher's Cut was superb. My husband also had the chicken breast (which looked exactly like your photo). One of the things I mentioned on my survey was that YC needs to upgrade their veggie sides on the always available classics, from the mushy mess that they currently serve. And some kind of sauce offering for that sad slab of chicken breast would be nice.

We tried it on Beyond, which was our first X cruise. The only benefit we used was the embarkation day lunch, which was fine, but there was a long line and it was crowded. Not sure how many concierge cabins they sell on the average cruise, but it felt like 1/3 of the ship. Wouldn't pay extra for it again but did love our first X cruise!

We like them. It's a clean, climate-controlled area (when the window is up) to watch the sea go by. 100% agree that the chairs are awful (we were on Beyond). It's also nice to have the extra space, which is again, clean and dry. I can see why those who spend a lot of time on regular balconies wouldn't like them though.

Totally agree with how ridiculous this was. We had to go from 19-7, file through the theatre for no reason, and then wait until the elevators cleared out enough to get on one (YC override wasn't functioning during the drill). We ended up using the stairs to go up a few decks, waited some more, and then finally grabbed a packed elevator back to the YC entrance on 16. I don't recall the drills on Beyond or Oasis being that crowded and chaotic. I worried for some of the mobility-challenged passengers who were navigating the stairs. Surely they could sprinkle the muster stations out better on more decks and not have everyone doing it at the same time!

I have no idea if there was a similar sign in TSL or not or if he was a repeat passenger with special piano privileges. He played a couple of subdued, dinner music worthy tunes on the piano and then came up the stairs for dinner. Everyone clapped.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Location doesn't bother me but a subway running above just might 😉

My TA has a promo for the sailing I'm looking at that makes this class of cabin cheaper than a regular IV balcony (non-GTY). Is there any downside to taking my chances with this level of GTY? I'd be booking 2 cabins and don't care if they are near each other. I've sailed on Edge class before (in a Concierge balcony) and don't really have a cabin location preference, except that I wouldn't want it to be completely obstructed. When booking a GTY, how soon before the sailing does one find out the exact cabin location? TIA!

yes, a lovely portable restroom trailer across the road - but still a miss not to have planned for more at the actual restaurant. I can't remember which terminal we were at in December (I think C?) but our embarkation experience was similar.

We were on Seascape YC in December for the first time and totally agree with your assessments, particularly the line-cutting expedition at embarkation. Budging you way through an angry line is not the proper way to begin a cruise for a suite-level experience. The YC space was amazing but agree that the rest of the ship was a bit of a head-scratcher. Every time we ventured outside YC, we ended up retreating quickly. The YC beach on Ocean Cay remains one of the biggest MSC misfires. O.C. is a beautiful island and overall my favorite ship-owned island. I don't know how someone in authority looked at that stretch of rocky sand and rough surf and said, "This is where we will put the suite passengers!" The surf was so rough, we saw an elderly gentleman fall and not be able to get himself back up, requiring intervention from the lifeguard. Another YC couple whom we met had the best idea when they rented a cabana on the calm, beautiful beach across the way from the YC beach and just walked over for lunch. Also, one single toilet bathroom at the YC restaurant?! You're right though, the prices when compared to the private suite options on other lines make MSC hard not to give a try. The pool deck was awesome (minus the odd "spa" music) and was where we spent most of our week.

On Seascape, there was a talented YC guest who would play a few pre-dinner songs on the piano, prior to the scheduled musicians. Everyone loved it. He didn't sing though, and he didn't overstay his welcome.

Hope you're feeling better! Those floors are very slippery! I noticed they had large fans drying the floors outside of our YC on deck 16, near the jungle pool. It always felt very humid in that area. We also noticed rude behavior in the theatre - people getting up, kids running up the aisles and people talking through the whole performance. After attending 2 performances, we stopped going because it was just so distracting. Not sure if it's a cultural difference or what. I felt bad for the performers.

I definitely think this experience warrants a complaint to Celebrity and the port. An apology and an explanation should be satisfactory. Unless I missed it, OP has not said that they or their daughter spent the entire cruise moping in their stateroom. If they can perhaps prove that the cruise was completely ruined because of the check in incident, then maybe some compensation could be offered to smooth things over and entice them to rebook with Celebrity. I don't think it was racially motivated in the negative way that people on here are assuming but rather an overreaching attempt by the check in staff to be hyper vigilant about trafficking (they actually told OP that this was the nature of their questioning). It's no secret that human trafficking in many forms is at an all-time high. Those battling it on the front lines will likely be able to cite many incidents of creative ways that people traffic. I don't doubt that they've seen it on cruises. Cruising is just another way of moving people from one place to another and in some instances, if one books an inside cabin, can be cheaper than flying these days. There's already been cases of drug smuggling via mass market cruise lines. When going through TSA at an airport, people are randomly pulled aside for further screening. Are we to consider each of these situations racially motivated if the person pulled aside is not white? Before everyone jumps on me, YES, I think it was overreaching on the part of the employee. I don't criticize them for asking the questions, but they should have been satisfied with the documentation presented and allowed the family to go on their way. It's unfortunate that the family was subjected to a poorly trained employee. I hope they were able to put the incident behind them and enjoy their cruise. Consistency in both training and execution across the cruise lines and American cruise ports has to happen in order to prevent extreme situations like this one, but I don't fault the cruise lines (or port employees) for trying to prevent trafficking (and yes, people's comments about all races being vulnerable to trafficking are valid points as well).

I felt the same way as you on a recent YC cruise on a "Sea" class ship. First timers as well and only saw our butler briefly on day 1, and then only in passing for the rest of the cruise. He never asked our plans, informed us of events or escorted us anywhere. We didn't even see him on the last day. So he didn't get tipped (the assistant butler, in contrast, was very attentive and took great care of our room so he got double-tipped). The concierge was also unable to help with reservations, which was perplexing because that's what they do. Others will disagree but I don't think you should have to tell someone what their job is in order to receive expected services. If the services of a butler and concierge are advertised when you book your cruise (and the availability of extras such as a pillow menu) then those things should be made obvious to you when you begin your cruise. If I have to ask for things multiple times or have meetings with senior level staff then that's not a vacation I'm going to book again. Additionally, there are many reviews on here that promote a level of service that is not necessarily a reality for all YC cruisers. The "hit or miss" in the YC product is the Achilles Heel for MSC and in my opinion, will keep it from being on par with suite products on competing lines. Some are okay with that because the price point is less (but slowly creeping up), but I'd rather pay more and get the level of experience that I want without having to tell someone how to do their job.

Same. Our week was relaxing and overall enjoyable but most definitely not a GenX level experience. I'm glad I tried MSC's suite product and may be interested at some point in trying YC on one of their smaller ships, just to compare.

We interact on all our cruises. We find some staff to be receptive to that and others not and we adjust accordingly. From our observation on our YC cruise a few weeks ago, there were those who received extra special attention (and they weren't European - actually many of the Europeans on our cruise seemed to keep to themselves - again, just my observation). The few things we asked for, we received, so that was not an issue. Not hating on YC at all, we feel it was a good overall value for the price paid. We just never received the extra special attention that some other reviewers rave about no matter what YC they are in. Someone above mentioned it being a concern on an upcoming cruise, so I shared our experience. It could have just been our luck of the draw with our butler - who knows?

So, yes - I agree with you. I commented on another thread that our YC was experience was nowhere near the level that some of the YC regulars review on here - and I did notice on our cruise that at least one group of YC regulars who we spoke to briefly on board, seemed to get the VIP treatment. Maybe MSC monitors cruise review boards and has a list of those who submit regular positive reviews?

I think you just have to decide what factors in the cruise experience are important to you. I read every review I could find on YC before our first trip and 97% of the grievances weren't issues that would be on my radar. I booked YC (and in the past, have booked suites) mostly for the room size, a dedicated restaurant and in the case of YC, a dedicated pool area. I couldn't care less about being escorted around by a butler except during embark/debark, rarely use the concierge and don't need to deep dive on the resume of the sommelier. We had a great week with only rub being on the hit or miss food in the YC restaurant (loved the pool buffet for breakfast & lunch though). Food is subjective, obviously, but I do think MSC needs to tweak the experience in their restaurant.