Aurea vs Yacht Club

[wdwcoltsfan]

May i ask what price you paid for it?

 

It is $2388 per person for the deluxe Yacht Club suite for that sailing.

[Cruising-Kiwi]

During the school holiday period especially, YC is not as private and quiet as its sometimes advertised or believed to be. Check out this thread where children and poor parenting are accused of ruining the YC experience. MSC is a family cruise line so kids are generally everywhere including the YC. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2388245

[SweetsugarNL]

It is $2388 per person for the deluxe Yacht Club suite for that sailing.

Thank you

[DipBrat]

During the school holiday period especially, YC is not as private and quiet as its sometimes advertised or believed to be. Check out this thread where children and poor parenting are accused of ruining the YC experience. MSC is a family cruise line so kids are generally everywhere including the YC. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2388245

 

Reading through the whole linked thread will give the OP a good overview of the different opinions but more importantly different experiences that are possible in YC. Only thing I would add is school breaks in Europe are different from the US. Italy has some regions that only go back to school in Mid September for example so while the week after labor day will be almost free of school age kids on most US lines it is possible it will be filled with Italian families on MSC.

[Tonie_Deccache]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 3:54 PM, Beamafar said:

Having experienced both YC and Aurea, I would highly recommend the former over the latter. There's really no comparison.

My wife, our two boys and I are due to board MSC Seaview on January 12^th. Unfortunately we were misled by a travel agent into booking Aurea Suite with Private Whirlpool, under the belief that “this is the best service you can get on-board MSC Seaview”, she said. The agent seemed to have “forgotten” to tell us that it was the best service we could purchase, BECAUSE ALL YACHT CLUB SUITES WERE BOOKED AT THAT TIME!!

Browsing MSC website latter on the week, we discovered about MSC Yacht Club and started to fear we would not be traveling within desired standards of service and private access areas in Aurea Experience did not seem to be much more than a tanning station, although we were told it would have private pool and bar in the so called “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”.

Having called MSC to see about possible cabin and/or service upgrade, we were told that all Yacht Club Suites are indeed booked, and it would not be possible to purchase an upgrade into Yach Club services. However, the MSC representative was very emphatic about the “excellent benefits” of the Aurea Experience. He even said that the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium” has a bigger swimming pool then the Yacht Club sun deck…

Anyway, since it seems that booth, travel agent and MSC, are laying to our faces, we like to know:

(1) Should we avoid boarding MSC Seaview all together, unless within the Yacht Club category? This would mean a 25% penalty on a 10k reservation.

(2) Will our boys (both 11 years old) be happy with what will be available to them in MSC Seaview? Seems like they would be allowed into the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”, is this so!?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Cheers!

[hamrag]

8 hours ago, Tonie_Deccache said:

My wife, our two boys and I are due to board MSC Seaview on January 12^th. Unfortunately we were misled by a travel agent into booking Aurea Suite with Private Whirlpool, under the belief that “this is the best service you can get on-board MSC Seaview”, she said. The agent seemed to have “forgotten” to tell us that it was the best service we could purchase, BECAUSE ALL YACHT CLUB SUITES WERE BOOKED AT THAT TIME!!

 

Browsing MSC website latter on the week, we discovered about MSC Yacht Club and started to fear we would not be traveling within desired standards of service and private access areas in Aurea Experience did not seem to be much more than a tanning station, although we were told it would have private pool and bar in the so called “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”.

 

Having called MSC to see about possible cabin and/or service upgrade, we were told that all Yacht Club Suites are indeed booked, and it would not be possible to purchase an upgrade into Yach Club services. However, the MSC representative was very emphatic about the “excellent benefits” of the Aurea Experience. He even said that the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium” has a bigger swimming pool then the Yacht Club sun deck…

 

Anyway, since it seems that booth, travel agent and MSC, are laying to our faces, we like to know:

 

(1) Should we avoid boarding MSC Seaview all together, unless within the Yacht Club category? This would mean a 25% penalty on a 10k reservation.

 

(2) Will our boys (both 11 years old) be happy with what will be available to them in MSC Seaview? Seems like they would be allowed into the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”, is this so!?

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

Cheers!

 

 

For what it is worth, having sailed in YC, there is little or anything that would excite any 11 year old child (I am a father of 2 sons, and a daughter, now adults) in the YC enclave. Everything that would excite them is outwith the YC. So, if it is mainly about exciting your children, there is no way I would take a 2.5k penalty and cancel.

 

Also, once on board, I would enquire if it might be possible to spend a day in YC so that you can assess for future reference.

[martica010]

On 8/31/2018 at 3:06 PM, Tapi said:

We have selected Aurea for our next cruise aboard the Meraviglia simply because we were very interested in one of the new Aurea Duplex Suites. The cost between this type of accommodation and an entry level YC suite were almost the same. But we are traveling with small children, and having a larger loft type suite with a separate bedroom on the second floor, dining table, sitting area, and a large forward facing balcony with a private hot tub, not to forget 2 bathrooms, one in each floor, seemed like the wiser choice for the needs of our family. I feel that it will be great to unwind in our loft suite after a long day of exploration rather than being crammed into a smaller suite for the sake of YC benefits.

 

With that said, if only my wife and I were traveling, most likely I would’ve selected a YC suite!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hello WE are having the same issue.. Im so confused though. WE booked the duplex bc of the space and price (the YC cabin was almost the same price) however there is a Royal SUite on the March sailing for a little under 10K not only is it a hefty price but I do not think we will take full advantage of the perks bc we have 2 kids.. (ages 10 and 11) however they are always with us! The one thing I am perplexed with is the room service. ONe of our kids is special needs and I might have to eat in sometimes..  I have seen the room service menu and there is no hot food in Aurea.. ANything you can advice me?

[Tapi]

1 hour ago, martica010 said:

Anything you can advice me?

As much as I enjoyed the Aurea duplex suite, the room service aspect of it wasn’t great. We ordered room service dinner one night so that we could take advantage of the dining table in our room, but since we would’ve had to pay for each item a la carte, it would’ve been more expensive than going out for a nice dinner at a specialty restaurant, so I canceled it. We never used it for lunch or dinner. Also, with the beverage package that comes with the Aurea experience, we could order as many sodas and bottled waters as we wanted throughout the ship, but if I grabbed the same exact times from the fridge in the room, we’d get charged. I found this to be petty. So I started carrying a backpack with me around the ship which I would fill with soda cans and bottles of water from various bars, and then I’d bring them back to our room. 
 

We did order room service for breakfast every morning which was complimentary, and that we did enjoy tremendously. It was so nice to start our day with breakfast in our suite, and to be able to spread out and sit at a table, rather than to sit on the bed to eat like when we’ve sailed in a regular stateroom.

 

Long story short, we were very satisfied with our choice to book the Aurea duplex suite because of all the extra space. It’s truly a fabulous suite. I could be with the kids downstairs playing UNO or watching TV, while my wife was upstairs taking a nap. Having two bathrooms, two TV’s, and separate closets was wonderful, specially traveling with children. At night, it was fantastic to sit in our own hot tub while watching the night sky. It was blissful. It was SO nice to have so much space. This suite truly spoiled us for life. Now my kids (and wife) think that every time we cruise, we are going to do so on a suite like that. 😂
 

But if we’d been more discerning in regards to service, and if service had been a higher priority than space for us, we would’ve been disappointed. All perks aside, service is comparable to a standard stateroom. Nothing special. Our steward, while friendly, did the bare minimums. He also seemed unfamiliar with the little in-cabin perks that our suite came with. For example, he took our used robes on day 2 but never replaced them with new ones. We also had a Nespresso machine in our room, and we always had to remind him to replenish the pods because he’d always forget, or he would replenish the pods but forget to give us clean coffee cups. We learned on day 5 that he was at the end of his contract, and we got a new cabin steward when we got to Genoa, so that may have influenced his performance. Maybe he was just ready to go home.

 

I’d recommend that you ask yourself what’s most important to you, space or service. If it’s space, then stick with the more spacious accommodations. If not, then maybe you’ll want to sacrifice space in favor of upgraded service at the YC. If the YC Royal Suite is within your budget, and you won’t be sacrificing other things in order to afford it, then go for that! There are times when I’ve selected a lower stateroom category for the sake of saving money rather than because of affordability, and I’ve ended cursing myself for cheapening out and diminishing the enjoyment of my vacation. 
 

Happy travels! 

[CruiseIreland]

14 minutes ago, Tapi said:

 Also, with the beverage package that comes with the Aurea experience, we could order as many sodas and bottled waters as we wanted throughout the ship, but if I grabbed the same exact times from the fridge in the room, we’d get charged. I found this to be petty. So I started carrying a backpack with me around the ship which I would fill with soda cans and bottles of water from various bars, and then I’d bring them back to our room. 
 

 

 

 

We sailed Seaside in Aurea and the mini bar was included. It was very limited by the way but we reacquainted ourselves with vodka and scotch! 

[martica010]

29 minutes ago, Tapi said:

As much as I enjoyed the Aurea duplex suite, the room service aspect of it wasn’t great. We ordered room service dinner one night so that we could take advantage of the dining table in our room, but since we would’ve had to pay for each item a la carte, it would’ve been more expensive than going out for a nice dinner at a specialty restaurant, so I canceled it. We never used it for lunch or dinner. Also, with the beverage package that comes with the Aurea experience, we could order as many sodas and bottled waters as we wanted throughout the ship, but if I grabbed the same exact times from the fridge in the room, we’d get charged. I found this to be petty. So I started carrying a backpack with me around the ship which I would fill with soda cans and bottles of water from various bars, and then I’d bring them back to our room. 
 

We did order room service for breakfast every morning which was complimentary, and that we did enjoy tremendously. It was so nice to start our day with breakfast in our suite, and to be able to spread out and sit at a table, rather than to sit on the bed to eat like when we’ve sailed in a regular stateroom.

 

Long story short, we were very satisfied with our choice to book the Aurea duplex suite because of all the extra space. It’s truly a fabulous suite. I could be with the kids downstairs playing UNO or watching TV, while my wife was upstairs taking a nap. Having two bathrooms, two TV’s, and separate closets was wonderful, specially traveling with children. At night, it was fantastic to sit in our own hot tub while watching the night sky. It was blissful. It was SO nice to have so much space. This suite truly spoiled us for life. Now my kids (and wife) think that every time we cruise, we are going to do so on a suite like that. 😂
 

But if we’d been more discerning in regards to service, and if service had been a higher priority than space for us, we would’ve been disappointed. All perks aside, service is comparable to a standard stateroom. Nothing special. Our steward, while friendly, did the bare minimums. He also seemed unfamiliar with the little in-cabin perks that our suite came with. For example, he took our used robes on day 2 but never replaced them with new ones. We also had a Nespresso machine in our room, and we always had to remind him to replenish the pods because he’d always forget, or he would replenish the pods but forget to give us clean coffee cups. We learned on day 5 that he was at the end of his contract, and we got a new cabin steward when we got to Genoa, so that may have influenced his performance. Maybe he was just ready to go home.

 

I’d recommend that you ask yourself what’s most important to you, space or service. If it’s space, then stick with the more spacious accommodations. If not, then maybe you’ll want to sacrifice space in favor of upgraded service at the YC. If the YC Royal Suite is within your budget, and you won’t be sacrificing other things in order to afford it, then go for that! There are times when I’ve selected a lower stateroom category for the sake of saving money rather than because of affordability, and I’ve ended cursing myself for cheapening out and diminishing the enjoyment of my vacation. 
 

Happy travels! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I do think it is petty that they do not include the same things that they do outside the cabin inside.. Strange.. WE are Norwegian Haven spoiled so Im a little scared of making the change however the diff in price was over 4k.. thats almost a vacation in MX.. I would do what your wife did without hesitating bc Im that kind of gal LOL. But can I do the same with Pizza and bring it back to our room? I enjoy the walking around and view it as extra exercise. I much rather have a butler set our table but like I said the diff was a lot for a room that is not that much different so I thought of taking advantage of that this time around.. A haven 2 bedroom is close to 13K for a week and that is just insane. We like to live nicely but not throw away money either. I also think that the kids would not enjoy such things as a cabana in the pool area or very quiet places.. Ahhh decisions decisions.. Just the fact that it is the only other cabin avail makes me think it has our name on it. THe perk at Ocean Cay are very nice for YC also.. I wonder what they are like for Aurea..I know you havent been bc it just opened so I guess we will soon find out. 

 

Thanking you ♥

[Tapi]

18 minutes ago, CruiseIreland said:

We sailed Seaside in Aurea and the mini bar was included. It was very limited by the way but we reacquainted ourselves with vodka and scotch! 

Did you have to upgrade your drink package in order to have full access to the stateroom mini bar? We were given the option to upgrade (for an extra fee of course), but I declined once I figured that what I wanted (water and sodas) I could still get complimentarily somewhere else on the ship. 

[reedprincess]

On 12/7/2018 at 2:16 AM, Tonie_Deccache said:

My wife, our two boys and I are due to board MSC Seaview on January 12^th. Unfortunately we were misled by a travel agent into booking Aurea Suite with Private Whirlpool, under the belief that “this is the best service you can get on-board MSC Seaview”, she said. The agent seemed to have “forgotten” to tell us that it was the best service we could purchase, BECAUSE ALL YACHT CLUB SUITES WERE BOOKED AT THAT TIME!!

 

Browsing MSC website latter on the week, we discovered about MSC Yacht Club and started to fear we would not be traveling within desired standards of service and private access areas in Aurea Experience did not seem to be much more than a tanning station, although we were told it would have private pool and bar in the so called “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”.

 

Having called MSC to see about possible cabin and/or service upgrade, we were told that all Yacht Club Suites are indeed booked, and it would not be possible to purchase an upgrade into Yach Club services. However, the MSC representative was very emphatic about the “excellent benefits” of the Aurea Experience. He even said that the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium” has a bigger swimming pool then the Yacht Club sun deck…

 

Anyway, since it seems that booth, travel agent and MSC, are laying to our faces, we like to know:

 

(1) Should we avoid boarding MSC Seaview all together, unless within the Yacht Club category? This would mean a 25% penalty on a 10k reservation.

 

(2) Will our boys (both 11 years old) be happy with what will be available to them in MSC Seaview? Seems like they would be allowed into the “Exclusive Aurea Solarium”, is this so!?

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

Cheers!

 

There's no pool in the Top 19 deck are. There's hot tubs, bar, seating and tanning areas.  And it's much quieter and less crowded than the main deck.

I think you're talking yourself into disappointment. Aurea is great, and Seaview is gorgeous (sister ship to Seaside). The dining room is lovely and being able to go in your schedule is a plus. Your room is quite spacious, with larger balcony and such than any YC room except the Royal Suites.  You have room service delivery charge included. You have robes and slippers, priority embarkation and disembarkation, etc. You have anytime access to the Thermal Suite with it's hydro pool, steam and saunas, two massages (YC doesn't have this), etc..

I can't imagine why you would be thinking of cancelling and taking a penalty when you have a pretty darn great cruise booked. 

Your kids still have all the same access to the waterslides, zip line, arcade, pools, kids club, etc - all of which they'd have to leave YC to use anyways.  

YC is great, but it's not a significantly substantially different world over Aurea. Ship still goes to the same place, etc. 

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, Tapi said:

Did you have to upgrade your drink package in order to have full access to the stateroom mini bar? We were given the option to upgrade (for an extra fee of course), but I declined once I figured that what I wanted (water and sodas) I could still get complimentarily somewhere else on the ship. 

Yes, you have to upgrade your drink package to Premium Plus to have access to the minibar, regardless of Stateroom experience booked - it's not included for any (except Yacht club).

[martica010]

Perfect that sounds easy enough.. I will definitely upgrade to Premium now for sure! 

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, martica010 said:

Perfect that sounds easy enough.. I will definitely upgrade to Premium now for sure! 

If you're wanting the mini-bar, you have to upgrade to Premium Plus, as I noted above.

Premium does not include the mini-bar.

[CruiseIreland]

3 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Yes, you have to upgrade your drink package to Premium Plus to have access to the minibar, regardless of Stateroom experience booked - it's not included for any (except Yacht club).

When we sailed in the Aurea Whirlpool suite last February on Seaside, the mini bar was included. Has that changed since? 

[martica010]

I read the following message on this thread

 

Also, with the beverage package that comes with the Aurea experience, we could order as many sodas and bottled waters as we wanted throughout the ship, but if I grabbed the same exact times from the fridge in the room, we’d get charged. I found this to be petty. So I started carrying a backpack with me around the ship which I would fill with soda cans and bottles of water from various bars, and then I’d bring them back to our room. 

 

* it concerned me but I believe once you upgrade to Premium they service the bar! 

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, CruiseIreland said:

When we sailed in the Aurea Whirlpool suite last February on Seaside, the mini bar was included. Has that changed since? 

Nope. You likely had the Deluxe drink package, which included the mini-bar. The Aurea Experience doesn't include the mini-bar, and didn't back then either. 

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, martica010 said:

I read the following message on this thread

 

Also, with the beverage package that comes with the Aurea experience, we could order as many sodas and bottled waters as we wanted throughout the ship, but if I grabbed the same exact times from the fridge in the room, we’d get charged. I found this to be petty. So I started carrying a backpack with me around the ship which I would fill with soda cans and bottles of water from various bars, and then I’d bring them back to our room. 

 

* it concerned me but I believe once you upgrade to Premium they service the bar! 

Let me reiterate - Premium for NOT include the mini-bar. You would have to upgrade to Premium Plus 

Aurea includes Easy drink package. 

 

It's also not petty to not include the mini-bar even when you can get sodas or waters - or booze or food - elsewhere on the ship as covered by your respective drink package. The drink packages don't include the mini-bar except for Premium Plus, neither does any room Experience (except Yacht Club).  It's the same on virtually all cruise lines - the mini-bar items  aren't included except in very specific cases on pretty much all lines, such as specific suites, or top end lines that are all-inclusive.  Neither Princess nor Celebrity nor HA nor Cunard nor Carnival, etc include the mini-bar in the room (yes, certain circumstances such as Elite or full suite on Princess and so forth).  Petty? If that's how you want to look at it. Normal business practice is more like it though.

If you want the mini-bar included, you'll need to upgrade to the Premium Plus beverage package or book a YC cabin (and even that perk is being tweaked).

[CruiseIreland]

6 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Nope. You likely had the Deluxe drink package, which included the mini-bar. The Aurea Experience doesn't include the mini-bar, and didn't back then either. 

You are absolutely correct. I had forgotten that I had upgraded the drinks package! Apologies all! Ken 

[martica010]

I find Petty because I'm in a duplex which is a two bedroom suite! I am a Norwegian Haven frequent Traveler so I find it a little strange how MSC sorts out its cabins...

[mafig]

Doesn't Norwegian not include water in their drink package unless you upgrade, even if you're in the Haven?  I find that strange.  It's all what you're used to.

[reedprincess]

5 hours ago, martica010 said:

I find Petty because I'm in a duplex which is a two bedroom suite! I am a Norwegian Haven frequent Traveler so I find it a little strange how MSC sorts out its cabins...

Yes, but Aurea isn't equivalent to Haven .for that you'd need to book in Yacht Club.

Aurea is same as "rest of ship" on either MSC or NCL.  It's got some extra perks, by the mini-bar isn't one of them, just like it's not in non-Haven (or Haven, from my understanding) cabins...

[martica010]

All I had to do was upgrade our beveraage package and we now have full mini bar service.

[reedprincess]

40 minutes ago, martica010 said:

All I had to do was upgrade our beveraage package and we now have full mini bar service.

Yes, that's how it works. Upgrade to Premium Plus ans the mini-bar is included. 

I'm not sure what the big draw is, single serve Pringles, some peanuts, lousy beer, couple sodas and some minis (Dewar's and Absolut  mainly).  But it's there, and available for anyone who wants to pay for the individual items or upgrade to PP.   

Hope it's everything you want it to be!