Just back from MSC Seaside Yacht Club

Cruise = 24 March 2018 -- 31 March 2018.

Just back from a 7 day cruise on the MSC Seaside in the Yacht Club. Overall we had an excellent cruise and would consider MSC in the future.

Basic background:

My wife and I have cruised 64 times on various cruise lines, including Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, NCL, HAL, Cunard, Oceania, Azamara and Princess. We are frequent travelers, including three or four cruises per year, and this limits our budget to basic cruise amenities. Usually booking inside cabins, but we will splurge for upgraded cuisine. (like dining packages on NCL, inside Yacht Club, alternative restaurants....,) We aren’t cabin people, so suites and large spaces are not a priority. We will upgrade to a balcony now and then, if the price is right.

Here is our take on our first MSC cruise in their Yacht Club:

GOOD:

--Excellent service from everyone! Vishnu, our Butler was the best which made the YC a very special space onboard. Waiters Andrei, Roshan and Clara in the YC dinning room were as good as we’ve experienced, and Zakia, Ivonne and Judith in the YC lounge kept those wonderful drinks coming our way. Jay, our cabin Steward, didn’t miss a beat and kept our room perfect. Olin, out by the pool, was everywhere with his friendly, top-notch service.

--The entire ship is beautiful and innovative, with chrome and mirrors galore.

--Yacht Club was uncrowded and felt like a sanctuary compared to the sometimes chaotic environment of the other parts of the ship.

--Food in the MDR of YC was, for the most part, excellent. A few misses, but overall very good.

--Food at the pool buffet was basic for breakfast (still good) and really great for lunch. One day I had the largest, thickest premium cut of prime rib I ever had on a cruise ship.

A couple of days later, lobster tails were grilled up and all you could eat.

--Pasta and Pizza excellent.

--My wife is a part time vegetarian and loved all of those options.

--Alcoholic drinks were varied and well prepared. Always a couple of wine selections available during all meals.

--Fresh bread selections were the best we’ve encountered since Oceania.

--Loved the Italian flare offerings, with prosciutto, parma and various cheeses offered every meal.

--Shows were short and entertainers were very talented.

--Embarkation and disembarkation were smooth and easy. Personal guide (our butler Vishnu) helped us jump the lines. The embarkation lounge was a nice change of pace.

--Ship felt very European with less than half of the passengers being US or Canadian citizens. Loved this!

--Loads of elevators and none of the decks smelled of anything foul (earlier reviews pointed to a problem in this area).

--Great matching benefits; our Elite Plus with Celebrity gave us Black Card status. We received $200 ship board credit, that turned out to be $200 each -- a nice bonus we didn’t know of until checking out our account midway through the cruise.

--The abundant Yacht Club staff really spoil the passengers.

--Internet was cheap and reliable. App was good.

--Interactive hallway panels made booking entertainment easy and fast.

--Cabin (inside YC) was + or - 200 sqft. Closet was basic and a bit small (no problem for a seven day cruise). Limited shelf and drawer space, but not a problem for us. Bathroom was compact, but functional. Shower very small with great water pressure and temperature control. Bed was nice and firm, but with the dreaded middle fissure.

Large TV with a pretty good selection of channels and movies.

BAD:

--Too many people and too many kids. Spring break time for many. The feel was similar to the large ships of NCL (think Getaway or Escape). A few kids in YC, but they were well behaved. No crying babies.

--No walking space outside. No running track. No promenade deck. Nothing. There were nice open decks to the sea, but these areas were limited and sectioned off.

--Gym was too small and lacked in every way. Limited machines. Spa area was nice, with multiple workers, but not user friendly.

--Shower in YC inside cabin had a glass enclosure, but it was very, very tight. It had a hand held shower head and an over-head square rain head. I’m 6’2” and it was a battle from the start. I learned the best strategy was to lower the hand held head and turn on the over head shower head. Except for a couple of self-inflicted water boarding sessions, I made it work without injury.

--Loads of smoking areas everywhere outside and in the casino.

UGLY:

--Our YC key card could override all settings of the forward elevators between the YC and the main area of the ship. All buttons pushed would be cleared and elevator would rush to the YC individuals that called it up. We only did it once and felt so bad that we never used that feature again. What were they thinking?

Overall we had a excellent week onboard the Seaside, but I’m sure we will never again see the prices that pulled us towards the YC. Like the Haven on NCL, YC will get more expensive as people discover this wonderful way to cruise. The cat is out of the bag on this one, and we would probably only cruise MSC if we could get a deal in the Yacht Club. Perhaps we will try one of their other ships in the future?

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Thank you for your review.

It seems like you liked most of your cruise.:p

Did you status match? To Black?

Did you go to the Cruise Critic M&M?

Thank you for your review.

 

It seems like you liked most of your cruise.:p

 

Did you status match? To Black?

 

Did you go to the Cruise Critic M&M?

Hi m,

Overall, it was great cruise. Yes, we were given Black Card status because of our Elite Plus with Celebrity. We've kind of cut back with our Cruise Critic Meet and Greets as of late. The first 40 were really fun!;) We still do them on Celebrity.

Enjoy!

Kel

Thanks for your review. Our family got together for Easter, and after dinner, we gathered around the living room waiting for the Women's NCAA final began. Two of our three sons started talking about Spring Break for next year, and the possibility of booking a cruise for the first full week of April, 2019. I've been taking the boys cruising since the late 90's and they loved it, and still do. The problem is there are now 15 of us, with all the grand kids. So I just scouted out what might be out there within our budget, and saw the MSC Seaside, out of Miami. I also looked at the Breakaway out of New Orleans, but the Haven Family Suites were priced at $4500 PP, and as of yet, no deals are available for 3rd and 4th guests this far out.

With 15 of us, I kept looking. I saw the MSC Seaside on a cruise site, and thought the ship looked interesting, so yesterday, after talking with my PCC at NCL, I decided to call MSC. After talking to an agent, I booked 3 Yacht Club five person suites for next year, and paid slightly more for an entire suite for 5, with free beverage packages for everyone, than the fare for one person in the Haven with no perks. I am so looking forward for a new experience for our family on MSC!:D

Excellent review....We were also in Yacht Club last week. We Had a YC Suite Balcony.... Largest shower we have ever had!! Its not too often you have a marble/granite 3' bench in a shower (LOL). Crowds were not a issue for us...as we pretty much stayed within the Yacht Club...but when I roamed the common areas...the kids seemed well behaved throughout the cruise. The inside never felt crowded. Lastly, I do agree.... MSC "missed the boat" by not having a walking/running track.

Really appreciate the report, thanks!

Thanks for the review and yes the YC does spoil you and agree Olin by the pool is fantastic.

Thanks for the review. I got a good laugh out of your "self-inflicted water boarding sessions" remark

~Brian

We are boarding Saturday. Unbelievable deal on the Royal Suite that I booked December of 2015. This will be our third YC cruise - twice on the Divina, once in the Sofia Loren RS on the Divina. YC is amazing. The cat IS out of the bag now. I'm telling you, all the YC passengers need to make a pact that we will only say bad things about it so the prices won't skyrocket and we can find available cabins! Whose with me? Ha

Thanks for your review!

Thank you for posting. I will be sailing in Yacht Club next year and had read that the YC cruisers get express elevator service--hard to believe and something I do not want to take advantage of. You indicated that you did this only once--does that mean it is not automatic, you need to do something to get an express ride or to override other passengers? Can you explain this a little as I would feel pretty bad zooming past passengers who had waited for an elevator.

Thanks for posting your review!We're sailing in the YC in September. Did you visit the Casino? Yes, please explain the YC elevator perk a bit more and thank you!!

The elevator is "managed" through your YC cabin key card or bracelet. You do not have to use them.

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Thank you for posting. I will be sailing in Yacht Club next year and had read that the YC cruisers get express elevator service--hard to believe and something I do not want to take advantage of. You indicated that you did this only once--does that mean it is not automatic, you need to do something to get an express ride or to override other passengers? Can you explain this a little as I would feel pretty bad zooming past passengers who had waited for an elevator.

Thanks for posting your review!We're sailing in the YC in September. Did you visit the Casino? Yes, please explain the YC elevator perk a bit more and thank you!!

Hi ff and ck,

Your cabin pass card has a chip in it that you can press against a pad on the "call buttons" of the elevators. It will ID the closest elevator and cancel all pushed buttons, and the elevator will make a non-stop trip to your location. When the doors open, people will have a group puzzled look on their faces, and the only way to get the elevator to respond after that, is to place your card on the pad below the floor buttons and select the floor "YOU" want (you have to wait until a green light goes off), and off you go to that floor only.

Cruel and a real a***ole thing to do to people. The butlers used it all the time to expedite leading groups on and off the ship (excursions, walk offs, and disembarkation)

We didn't see people using it and that was great.

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Hi ff and ck,

 

Your cabin pass card has a chip in it that you can press against a pad on the "call buttons" of the elevators. It will ID the closest elevator and cancel all pushed buttons, and the elevator will make a non-stop trip to your location. When the doors open, people will have a group puzzled look on their faces, and the only way to get the elevator to respond after that, is to place your card on the pad below the floor buttons and select the floor "YOU" want (you have to wait until a green light goes off), and off you go to that floor only.

 

Cruel and a real a***ole thing to do to people. The butlers used it all the time to expedite leading groups on and off the ship (excursions, walk offs, and disembarkation)

 

We didn't see people using it and that was great.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Yes, totally agree it's a real a**hole thing to do to other folks. We never tried it. I think it's available only on two elevators near YC. Similar perk (but not a*h* worth) is the YC Butler leading YC members ahead of the line on embarkation on port days. Had heard that there is the occasional snide remark, but standing out in the hot sun, I can live with that ( and there WERE snide remarks).

Yes, totally agree it's a real a**hole thing to do to other folks. We never tried it. I think it's available only on two elevators near YC. Similar perk (but not a*h* worth) is the YC Butler leading YC members ahead of the line on embarkation on port days. Had heard that there is the occasional snide remark, but standing out in the hot sun, I can live with that ( and there WERE snide remarks).

Yes...we never did the floor bypass last week. We did use Butler to get off ship...but many times we went down after the crowds so there really was no line leaving ship. Coming back on the only port I found it as an advantage was Grand Cayman.... Probably passed over 100 passengers to get to the tender (probably saved us 15 min). Having the separate entrance going back on was nice....but there were always others who played dumb or spoke a foreign language who just used that entry way...really wasn't a big deal though!!

I think there should be Yacht Club ONLY elevators for direct service to the spa and embarkation point!

--Our YC key card could override all settings of the forward elevators between the YC and the main area of the ship. All buttons pushed would be cleared and elevator would rush to the YC individuals that called it up. We only did it once and felt so bad that we never used that feature again. What were they thinking?

Thanks for your review.

I like the idea with elevatorpriority for the YC but they could have done it differently. I should probably feel bad too even if I had paid for the perk.

I think there should be Yacht Club ONLY elevators for direct service to the spa and embarkation point!

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worst thing on the elevators: how to use it...., use bracelet inside, wait for green light off, then press your floor - otherwise nothing happens anymore...

It would have been nice if one of the two forward staff elevators could be used by YC guests for spa access, but the only way down was the forward bank of public elevators. We also tried the YC priority call once and never again. We pulled up a group of about six people heading down, and being the first day they had no idea what was happening. It was bad enough to have to admit we did it, but what was worse is that once you scan your card for the second time inside the elevator and make your selection everyone else starts pushing buttons also. The system will then think you changed your mind and deletes the first selection and changes to the next - and so on as more people start fighting over whose floor is the one selected, pure chaos. In our case the system crashed and the elevator just shut down. I saw stuck elevators a few times, I'm sure it was YC. Stupid people would try to use the function at rush times like after a show. It would pull back a packed elevator, no one is going to unpack off the elevator to let them on to scan their card. The embarrassed YC guest probably walked the other way and the elevator just sat there until the other passengers gave up. Later on in the cruise people learned what was going on and some would storm off the hijacked elevator yelling at the YC guest that did it. Others learned they could stay on and hijack the elevator back - or at least make a fight out of it. I mentioned the problem with this "perk" to the YC director and was told they already had plans to re-program the elevators to disable the priority function.

They certainly never told us about it as a YC perk during YC orientation. We only knew from CC. Seems they have already figured out its pretty unwise.

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The Divina had a direct elevator to the spa from YC. The Seaside doesn't?

 

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No...The elevator inside the Yacht Club just serviced floors 16,18,19....which makes sense to control passenger flow within Yacht Club

As a Black card member, Kelmac, which specialty restaurant did you select? How was it?

As a Black card member, Kelmac, which specialty restaurant did you select? How was it?

Hi m,

We used our "freebie" at Butcher's Cut. The beef was wonderful. They have a special $39* menu that limited your order to three items. I had to negotiate an appetizer, soup and a main course, by dropping the dessert. Service was great.

Black card members could only order using the $39 menu. (or an uncharge would apply)

Enjoy!

Kel:D