Comparing MSC Yacht Club Deluxe Suite to Celebrity Suite Life

[Want2Cruise 701]

We've been thinking of jumping ship from Celebrity. There was a similar thread on that board and some recommended MCS Yacht Club.

 

We have an Equinox cruise booked for next July in a Sky Suite with no benefits other than $250 OBC for booking onboard our last cruise. MSC Yacht Club for a Deluxe Suite is $400 more but it seems you get beverages included, $200 OBC and a retreat area with a pool, hot tub and bar.

 

What other benefits do you receive with the Yacht Club. We have a teenage son. Will he be able to use the benefits and areas as well? We are also Elite with X and hear our status will be honored. True or not? The Equinox will be redone next summer to include a suite retreat area, but there is little information to compare to the Yacht Club.

 

Also, if anyone has sailed both, how does the Deluxe Suite compare to a Sky Suite. The drawing looks like MSC has the smaller cabin. The drawing also shows a lounge chair on MSC. Can you have these? Is there room. On a X Sky Suite, there is not one, but in your experience, our butler has provided two when asked.

 

Any other general comparison between MSC and X for those that have sailed both.

 

TIA. :)

[skt4cruise]

Have not sailed both but PRICE is the main factor we never go higher than Celebrity Concierge. We leave in 3 days on MSC in Deluxe Suite in YC and everything is included for sooo much less than any we have sailed. Private cabana included but not on list.

 

We are Elite with Celebrity and got to Black through Status Match on MSC.

Edited August 6, 2018 by skt4cruise
added word

[kelleherdl]

Private cabanas were still an additional charge on our Seaside YC cruise last month. Folks who did try to use them without paying were invited to vacate the cabaña. Personally getting a private cabana on the YC pool deck is totally unnecessary.

 

Dennis

 

Sent from my QTASUN1 using Tapatalk

[go fish 44]

Having been on both cruise lines in top level. MSC hands down wins over Celebrity.

 

the YC is a private area only for YC people. Front of the ship deck 16 18 and 19.

 

Private pool with BBQ and bar, the food that is offered is BBQ salmon, chicken, lamb chops, always a roast being carved, also salads, and fresh made pasta to order. these are only a few of the items available. breakfast is also available.

 

then the Dining room well both have private DR but on MSC you get wine paring every meal (free) and the view over the front of the ship not a side room view, and everyone can look at the water.

 

the lounge, with piano music while you eat, also all the free drinks 24 hours a day (if you want) ANYwhere on the ship, just show your room card

great snacks available at 16 hours a day. High tea at 4pm daily.

 

You can drink at any bar on the ship at any time you want including the free mini bar in your stateroom.

that has beer, pop, goodies, like peanuts, pringles M& M's small bottles of liquor.

 

Yes, you do have to make a reservation for the shows in the theatre, but we just asked on day one for 9.30 show every night and the reservations were made (everyone on the ship has to reserve the shows in the theatre. If you forget to make your reservation just as your butler.

 

the Butler has several rooms so he is not your personal butler he has other rooms as well as your

 

Hands down MSC YC club has way more perks then you get with Celebrity and for our money that is the way we go.

 

Remember MSC is doing loyalty match from any other cruise line or hotel where you have levels of loyalty earned.

 

Really nice perk is your choice of a newspaper delivered to your room every AM, A paper of your choice

(this may not be important if you are only away for 7 days but we are away for many months and it is good to good to read the home town newspaper.

 

Hope this helps you make your choice. we have done lots and lots of cruising

 

Sue

[kelleherdl]

The free paper perk is really neat. It is not just the news summary type thing you get on other ships. It is a true ~75% facsimile of the whole paper. They use that service that prints newspapers from all over the world. I think this is a pretty expensive service if you pay for it yourselves. We opted for the Washington Post.

 

Dennis

[Danbee46]

Just a brief correction from one of the other posts. A cabana is included with the two YC Royal Suites. However, those suites sell out very quickly in spite of the higher cost.

[DaCruiseBug]

We've been thinking of jumping ship from Celebrity. There was a similar thread on that board and some recommended MCS Yacht Club.

 

We have an Equinox cruise booked for next July in a Sky Suite with no benefits other than $250 OBC for booking onboard our last cruise. MSC Yacht Club for a Deluxe Suite is $400 more but it seems you get beverages included, $200 OBC and a retreat area with a pool, hot tub and bar.

 

What other benefits do you receive with the Yacht Club. We have a teenage son. Will he be able to use the benefits and areas as well? We are also Elite with X and hear our status will be honored. True or not? The Equinox will be redone next summer to include a suite retreat area, but there is little information to compare to the Yacht Club.

 

Also, if anyone has sailed both, how does the Deluxe Suite compare to a Sky Suite. The drawing looks like MSC has the smaller cabin. The drawing also shows a lounge chair on MSC. Can you have these? Is there room. On a X Sky Suite, there is not one, but in your experience, our butler has provided two when asked.

 

Any other general comparison between MSC and X for those that have sailed both.

 

TIA. :)

 

Free access to the thermal spa is included with a YC room. Not sure how much it's on Celebrity but that's a $400 saving versus the Haven on NCL.

[Geoff&Louise]

Having sailed Yacht Club (Seaside) and Celebrity Suite (Eclipse) I agree with all comments above. YC is truly a great experience and "everything" is included, even a fully stocked mini-bar in your room, and as much gelato as you want! For us, having your own sun deck, pool and grill is a huge positive with great service and no fights for sun beds, and free entry to the spa was great. The YC lounge is much better than the ageing Michael's Club on Celebrity, and with wonderful views. For me, Celebrity has a slightly larger cabin (with better TV channels - good to watch whilst the wife is getting ready....:')) and whilst always subjective, the food, especially in Luminae is of a higher standard. Also, we did like the benefit of reserved seating in the theatre on Celebrity on their Chic nights. That said, Celebrity is much more expensive. We had already booked Celebrity Infinity for next March before we went on the Seaside in May this year, but since we have returned we have very much been drawn again to the Yacht Club experience with MSC and booked the new Bellissima for February 2020. As an overall experience, we give Celebrity 8 out of 10, but MSC Yacht Club 10 out of 10.

[Beamafar]

We've done YC on MSC 5 times now and had a Sky Suite on Millennium once (never again!). There is no comparison between the 2 experiences. I agree with practically everything that's been said already and will just add a couple of things that stuck out for us.

 

I was shocked to discover that the water in the cabin wasn't even included on X - despite the fact that we had an all-inclusive drinks package as part of a promotion. Nor was the mini-bar. These had always been included in YC.

 

We sailed on X before MSC introduced the included drinks package for YC so the drinks were only free in the enclave, but, now that the deluxe package is included, YC is even better value!

 

I agree that the food in Luminae is superior to what's offered in the dedicated YC restaurant. However, we found the service in Luminae shocking, to the point where we ate in the MDR on X - something we have never experienced in YC. We tend to go to the YC restaurant for 3 meals a day and have never felt the need to eat elsewhere, nor could we find fault with the wonderful service there.

 

The Top Sail Lounge - with it's forward-facing panoramic views - leaves Michael's Club in the shade (such a stuffy, out-dated venue!) as does the service!

 

We had the Sky Suite that connects with the penthouse suite, which is certainly quite a bit bigger than even the 'square' YC cabins (and Meraviglia cabins), and in-suite dining - which isn't offered in YC. However, when we requested to dine in the cabin, the butler on X as good as said that we could only enjoy it that one time (I'm sure we could have insisted on dining in the cabin any time we wanted, but we just felt it wasn't worth the uncomfortable feeling it brought).

 

Something that I've never experienced on MSC was, when returning to Millennium after an excursion, we looked at the ship and thought "Do we really have to get back on this?"!!! Suffice to say, we never booked another cruise on X and have 2 more YC bookings (with 2 others on non-YC ships) taking us to November next year.

[Dr. Cocktail]

It's funny ... for numerous reasons, I vowed never to return to Celebrity after a truly wretched sailing 5 years ago and have been extremely happy in The Haven and YC with some HAL and Oceania thrown in for spice!

 

But .... with the refurbishments announced on Celebrity's ships, I have actually gone back on my vow and booked some upcoming sailings. Summit, Millenium and Equinox will be refit next year with the oldest ships getting the most dramatic changes. https://www.celebritycruises.com/revolution/ The cabins will be stripped back to steel and outfitted with new bathrooms. Michael's Club will be similarly gutted and replaced with the Retreat Lounge. More importantly, the ships will get The Retreat Sundeck .... private deck with bar and pool/whirlpool. Basically, they are joining MSC and NCL in offering the "ship within a ship" concept.

 

In terms of pricing, they're all over the map but the two I booked were comparable in cost to the YC.

 

Soooooooooooo .... a long way of saying that the Celebrity Suite experience will likely be very different on three of the ships one year from now. More choice is nearly always a good thing!

[champagne123]

As a Celebrity Ra Ra girl...I love hearing all of the positive remarks about MSC and cannot wait for my 2 bookings!

[Beamafar]

It's funny ... for numerous reasons, I vowed never to return to Celebrity after a truly wretched sailing 5 years ago and have been extremely happy in The Haven and YC with some HAL and Oceania thrown in for spice!

 

But .... with the refurbishments announced on Celebrity's ships, I have actually gone back on my vow and booked some upcoming sailings. Summit, Millenium and Equinox will be refit next year with the oldest ships getting the most dramatic changes. https://www.celebritycruises.com/revolution/ The cabins will be stripped back to steel and outfitted with new bathrooms. Michael's Club will be similarly gutted and replaced with the Retreat Lounge. More importantly, the ships will get The Retreat Sundeck .... private deck with bar and pool/whirlpool. Basically, they are joining MSC and NCL in offering the "ship within a ship" concept.

 

In terms of pricing, they're all over the map but the two I booked were comparable in cost to the YC.

 

Soooooooooooo .... a long way of saying that the Celebrity Suite experience will likely be very different on three of the ships one year from now. More choice is nearly always a good thing!

 

Sounds not much better than what Aurea offers on MSC, TBH, DrC. The YC is a whole separate enclave, a haven to escape to. Somehow, I can't see Celebrity retrofitting a similar area into their old ships - it needs to be purpose-built to be in any way on a par with what YC offers.

 

Is there a drinks package now included in Suite bookings (as opposed to just being part of a sales promotion)? Will they offer free access to the thermal suite in their Spas? Otherwise, there really is no comparison with YC, IMHO. I'm just trying to tease out, $ for $, what X is offering (nowadays) for a similar price to YC.

 

It's always been my understanding that Celebrity is regarded as 5-star and MSC 4-star (with YC being 5-star). I certainly didn't have a 5-star experience onboard Celebrity - and that was in a Suite!

[Want2Cruise 701]

Thank everyone for all the positive comments regarding the YC experience. Seems like they have a great thing going. I think we'll give it a try. The deposit is low and refundable prior to final payment, I believe.

 

This would be for next summer, and we have a cruise booked in April on the Summit after the refurb so we can experience the new Suite amenities with X and decided whether the additions were worth it or not. If not, we'll keep the MSC booking for July and cancel the Equinox.

 

One thing.....does anyone know if you can get a lounge chair in the Deluxe Suite? We're not night people, and I just prefer to lay out on the balcony in the evening. We even sleep out there occasionally too.

[Dr. Cocktail]

Sounds not much better than what Aurea offers on MSC, TBH, DrC. The YC is a whole separate enclave, a haven to escape to. Somehow, I can't see Celebrity retrofitting a similar area into their old ships - it needs to be purpose-built to be in any way on a par with what YC offers.

 

Is there a drinks package now included in Suite bookings (as opposed to just being part of a sales promotion)? Will they offer free access to the thermal suite in their Spas? Otherwise, there really is no comparison with YC, IMHO. I'm just trying to tease out, $ for $, what X is offering (nowadays) for a similar price to YC.

 

It's always been my understanding that Celebrity is regarded as 5-star and MSC 4-star (with YC being 5-star). I certainly didn't have a 5-star experience onboard Celebrity - and that was in a Suite!

 

Hi Bea:

 

There's no question that Celebrity's Suite Class will have all of its facilities spread out whereas YC is much more of an enclave with the exception of Fantasia Class dining.

 

But Celebrity will get you the private restaurant, Luminae, which by all descriptions is an excellent venue.

 

You get the Retreat Lounge with its open bar, expanded wine list and cocktails with live music - something that Aurea doesn't offer. The redesign may not be to all tastes but it's certainly cutting edge interior design and a Topsail equivalent, albeit without the spectacular view.

 

The Retreat deck will likely be the entire Solstice Deck on the Solstice Class Ships and the entire forward Sports Deck on Millennium Class Ships. If you look at the renderings, the furnishings, shade, pool and bar look very attractive indeed (and again, much above anything in Aurea). This really is comparable to The One Pool Deck.

 

No question ... YC gets you the spa and if you're Black, you also get a specialty meal. On Celebrity, if you're Elite or higher, you get some complimentary pressing and laundry - a wash both literally and figuratively!

 

With few exceptions for Suites, Celebrity is including the Deluxe Beverage Package, unlimited internet on two devices, all of your gratuities and $300 credit per suite. And all suites come with fresh flowers, if that's important to you! The minibar is not included but you can bring back bottles from Michael's Club and supposedly some butlers have taken it upon themselves to sort of make it included!

 

So ... I don't want to be a shill for Celebrity, especially as I haven't been on (nor has anyone else!) in their new Suite Class but if the price is right, I think that it will be an excellent alternative.

 

Again, it's important to look at all of the options available for a particular date and itinerary.

[Beamafar]

Thanks, DrC ... while it may not tempt me back to Celebrity, I can imagine that this will be extremely attractive for those who sail in suites on X. I'll be very interested in reading comparative reviews when the changes are introduced.

 

Regarding Luminae ... as I've already said, we ended up eating in the MDR, such was our dislike of the whole vibe and poor service there.

[Want2Cruise 701]

Thanks, DrC ... while it may not tempt me back to Celebrity, I can imagine that this will be extremely attractive for those who sail in suites on X. I'll be very interested in reading comparative reviews when the changes are introduced.

 

Regarding Luminae ... as I've already said, we ended up eating in the MDR, such was our dislike of the whole vibe and poor service there.

 

I'll report on the X board the new suite experience as we sail the Summit on March 30, which is the 2nd sailing after the revolution. We have S1 6145 booked, which is attached to the Penthouse with the great bathroom and is decorated to match the PH. I'm hoping they don't make many changes to this.

[Beamafar]

I'll report on the X board the new suite experience as we sail the Summit on March 30, which is the 2nd sailing after the revolution. We have S1 6145 booked, which is attached to the Penthouse with the great bathroom and is decorated to match the PH. I'm hoping they don't make many changes to this.

 

That's the one we had on Millennium. I agree - a fabulous bathroom! :) The decor was very dated, though and the very large balcony, with nothing overhead, could do with a canopy being added to provide some shade.

 

I wonder if the popularity of YC has spurred Celebrity to introduce the changes. :confused: Certainly there's more of a demand for a luxury experience without the exclusive luxury lines' prices.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Beamafar

[Dr. Cocktail]

 

I wonder if the popularity of YC has spurred Celebrity to introduce the changes. :confused: Certainly there's more of a demand for a luxury experience without the exclusive luxury lines' prices.

 

 

Absolutely 100%! The Haven has (had) a HUGE following until their prices skyrocketed.

 

Don't forget, Rick Sasso was president of Celebrity before he came to MSC where he pioneered the Yacht Club.

 

Celebrity through various channels knows the popularity of The Haven and the YC.