kelleherdl

I was just informed by my TA that she can see it for cruises booked by her. So I guess for us to choose it must be a non-TA-controlled booking. Not a problem for us as she will give me all the options and I can still see if I can find anything better and book myself. I will be curious mostly for airfares. I know on HAL I could always see things myself even if the booking was controlled by my PCC. Dennis

From the time you check in the terminal the butlers know guests who belong in the Yacht Club. It is incredible how quickly the whole YC staff will recognize you. I personally would not want to place any YC staff member in the position of noting the entry of non-YC guests. This question is asked often on this forum.

Please don’t wait until 3PM. You will be throwing away a whole half day up at One Pool. 😀 But seriously, Yacht Club guests can check in at will. We have always done so. Another hint I learned from other folks, not Yacht Club, never arrive so late in the afternoon. I have been in Terminal 10 at 1:30 and 2:00. You will virtually breeze through checkin and boarding. Plus if you have any issues with travel documentation there will be time to get things corrected. The horror stories of folks arriving late in the afternoon and not being able to get docs corrected and not being able to sail are true.

I have to agree. If I ever gave a complete novice to cruising a recommendation on a first cruise I too would suggest an Alaska 7-day on either HAL or Princess. You can do those cruises in just run-of-the-balcony cabins and not have to worry about some of the elements of mainstream cruising that may turn you off from further cruises. The ships are smaller and do tend to cater to a more sedate vacation. Plus you get to experience some pretty amazing country. My wife and I are 4-Star HAL Mariners and sailed all over the world with them, but we sail almost exclusively MSC Yacht Club now. It’s just a choice of product that we have grown to enjoy. HAL and Princess are pricier than MSC, but they will give you a fairer appreciation of the relaxed experience of cruising.

Thanks both. Anxiety level back to minimal. 😀

Yes

Where are cruise ships going to homeport in New York now? It looks like the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal has been turned into the migrant facility for the City of New York. I’m concerned about MSC Meraviglia and Explora Journeys, but there must be other lines impacted as well.

Absolutely not. All the Yacht Club areas are spacious enough that your cruise can be as private as you wish. Based on the offer I’m assuming this is a 4-day cruise? If you count up all the things you will not be paying for in the Yacht Club the upgrade cost is lessened some. Be warned. Once you sail Yacht Club you will be torn each booking to only sail Yacht Club.

What experience did you book? If you booked a Bella experience that’s a pretty good assignment. 12253 is a very nice aft-facing deluxe balcony stateroom. Dennis

The Aurea and Diamond check-in line is just outside the YC entrance podium. Just have them follow you until you get to the YC podium. They won’t have escort stickers on, but you can just tell anybody that asks that you know the Aurea guests will be split off before entering YC check-in. Dennis

Yacht Clubbers have access to the whole ship not just the Yacht Club, and based on my experience will receive better service throughout the ship. The YC cruise card does have cache beyond the glass doors of the Yacht Club. Non-Yacht Clubbers will not have access to the Yacht Club, like to eat with you in the Yacht Club restaurant, Topsail Lounge and the One Pool and Bar and Grill. But we all understand it’s a personal choice. Dennis

Yes, you can log into another country website, but doing a successful booking on the public website of the other country did not work for me. Maybe the travel agents using their booking engine can bypass borders. 😀 I tried to book a cruise I know to be popular with our UK friends, but the UK site reminded me to go home.

If nothing unusual happens with disembarkation, YC should be boarding first around 10:30. We’ve found the lounge to be limited in the terminal, but the wait will not be long. The YC area in the terminal has the typical bubbly and snacks. We were let in the terminal first starting around 9:30. The port staff at the YC tent at the terminal entrance were very helpful. Denny

My understanding is that is when before and after cruise options will be available as well.

We booked our second cruise, Dubai to Mumbai, under that promotion. But the two category ‘upgrade’ for us was not that big a deal. OT-1 to OT-3 is only a deck change.

We’ll be joining you in Reykjavik!

Another thing about the YC Butlers. Over a 7-day cruise you will very likely be helped by other butlers in addition to your cabin assigned area. They will all get to know as will the Topsail servers, the bartenders, the restaurant servers, the One Pool attendants, the Concierge staff, and the One Pool servers. So it is good you are thinking ahead about you immediate Butler and Junior Butler, but be prepared that there may be other staff you want to offer an extra thank you. About Butcher’s Cut….. we sometimes even pass on our free Diamond perk meal at the Butcher’s Cut. We like the steaks in the YC Restaurant just as well. We find Butcher’s cut to be too crowded. Just my opinion.

Oh, you are going to be fine for this cruise. The Bahamas will not even see your passport. You will go ashore with your cruise card and your driver license. You will likely be reminded at check-in that your passport is expiring soon. Coming back into the US Terminal 10 Customs and Border Protection uses facial recognition. Take both, but check-in with your passport. It saves a little manual entry by the pier agent. It was unclear from your original post that your passport had not already expired.

An expired passport IS NOT useful for any sort of identification. Any document used for identification must be unexpired.

Your original certificate of birth abroad (US State Department birth certificate) will get you onboard. I think it’s officially called a Consular Report of Birth Abroad or something like that. It is perfectly acceptable. You are a natural born US citizen.

If you do choose to drop bags before parking bag drop at Port Canaveral Terminal 10 has changed a little bit over the last couple of weeks for MSC. The bulk of bag drop is now at the awninged area adjacent to the surface parking lot across the street from the terminal. However, Yacht Club guests can still drop off their bags in the circular drive area next to the Yacht Club tent at the base of the escalator. You may need to tell the people directing traffic that you are Yacht Club.

The upgrade program is a ‘deal’ only for those who have been kicking themselves in the backside for not booking what they really wanted.

Divina

I guess you know that this sort of suggestion leads to significant heartburn for the YC Director, the Concierge staff and the Head Butler. Some of us have seen where either for marketing, VIP courtesy, or really unique and special circumstances non-YC guests had limited access to the YC. It is not the norm that you can expect to arrange for access, by either paying for a day pass or even arranging a tour. We were on a cruise recently on which the bridal couple was in the Yacht Club, but the rest of the party was not. The wedding was not held in the YC. it wasn’t a large wedding party and it was clear to me YC for all would been a major challenge financially. It was very special that the YC Director and Restaurant Manager permitted the wedding party to have the wedding dinner in the YC Restaurant. It was such a nice gesture. I doubt seriously any of my fellow YC guests objected over this kindness. This is the kind of exception to policy I personally don’t mind.

We’ll see what happens to the Seaside Yacht Club experience when she repositions to Port Canaveral in the Spring. There will likely be a lot a crew turnover by July when we sail. Sorry that your Antilles cruise on Seaside was not as good as the Preziosa earlier. We will be doing Seaside on our Antilles cruise in 2024, so hopefully things will get returned to our preferred level.