YC Concierge for Shore Excursions?

[annster31]

New to MSC and YC. Anybody use the Concierge for shore excursions (good or bad experience?) We are going on the SeaView in the Mediteranean with a port everyday. 

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, annster31 said:

New to MSC and YC. Anybody use the Concierge for shore excursions (good or bad experience?) We are going on the SeaView in the Mediteranean with a port everyday. 

 

For MSC shore excursions, YC guests meet in the Concierge area and a butler escorts the party to the pier. That element of the experience is good, however once at the pier there is no preferential treatment as you join the complete party for the tour. We felt that some resented the YC members, and ensured they jostled to be amongst the first on the coach/other transport means. This didn't bother us in the slightest, but a small number of YC guests noses were clearly out of joint.....bear in mind it is not a YC tour, rather a ship tour so all are quite rightly considered equal.

[BermudaBound2014]

Do you mean the YC concierge that is supposed to help you book excursions? That concierge is for “odd” excursions that the guest requests. Ours said they had booked a helicopter for a guest in San Juan to over the port once. Also mentioned helping get someone a round of golf on this elite course. Think very exclusive ($$$$$). For regular shore excursions they sent us down to the shore excursion desk. 

[Hlitner]

On the Divina we would the various YC Concierge's helpful in answering questions about the excursions (they would even call the shore excursion desk to get more info if necessary).  But we also had a Kiosk within the YC (near the Concierge Desk) where anyone could pull up a list/description of any ship excursion and even do their own booking.  As the other post mentioned, if you do book a ship excursion they will have a meeting place in the YC from where a Butler will take folks down to the proper area on the pier to meet the tour group.  At that point you are on your own just like any other cruiser.

 

Our Concierges made a point of telling us that they could handle the issues that would normally send folks running to either Guest Relations or the Shore Excursion Desk.  One nice thing (among many) of the YC was not having to ever deal with the queues one would see at Guest Relations.  

 

Hank

[Beamafar]

The concierge can arrange tailor-made excursions to suit your needs outside of the ship's offered excursions (if that is what you're asking about).

 

If you choose to do a ship's excursion, the procedure has been outlined by other posters.  In our experience, the front seats of the excursion buses are nearly always reserved for YC guests.  We've even experienced the butler placing specific cabin numbers on the seats.

[kevinrobedm]

It is very true, for Shore excursions we met in the Yacht Club lounge at the designated time we got on a sheet in our room the night before.  The butlers then take the tickets and get your excursion number stickers.  They then take you down the priority elevators and right off the ship.  We pretty much went in front of everyone being in the YC.  The butlers just make room for the YC patrons and get you where you need to go.

 

When coming back you just meet a butler at the base of the ship, they take you through the line priority and up the priority lifts and back to the Yacht Club.

 

It worked very very very well on the Seaview and made for a nice perk of being in the Yacht Club.

 

Other patrons do you look at you (sometimes with disgust) but we have learned that we paid for this service, just like anyone could, and we should not feel bad for taking advantage of what we paid for.

[Linda the Book Lover]

19 hours ago, kevinrobedm said:

It is very true, for Shore excursions we met in the Yacht Club lounge at the designated time we got on a sheet in our room the night before.  The butlers then take the tickets and get your excursion number stickers.  They then take you down the priority elevators and right off the ship.  We pretty much went in front of everyone being in the YC.  The butlers just make room for the YC patrons and get you where you need to go.

 

When coming back you just meet a butler at the base of the ship, they take you through the line priority and up the priority lifts and back to the Yacht Club.

 

It worked very very very well on the Seaview and made for a nice perk of being in the Yacht Club.

 

Other patrons do you look at you (sometimes with disgust) but we have learned that we paid for this service, just like anyone could, and we should not feel bad for taking advantage of what we paid for.

Thanks for the reminder that we should not feel bad about taking advantage of the service. 

[Beamafar]

You are not always escorted back on board by a butler.  In our 5 YC cruises (on different ships with different itineraries) we have never been escorted back onboard and only once (that I recall) was there a separate gangway laid on for YC guests.  Otherwise, we've always had to queue to get back onboard - along with those in steerage  😱.

[annster31]

Thank you for the information. 

[hamrag]

9 hours ago, Beamafar said:

You are not always escorted back on board by a butler.  In our 5 YC cruises (on different ships with different itineraries) we have never been escorted back onboard and only once (that I recall) was there a separate gangway laid on for YC guests.  Otherwise, we've always had to queue to get back onboard - along with those in steerage  😱.

 

We were never escorted back on either, but both Meraviglia and Preziosa had a YC gangway meaning no queues to get back on board. On one occasion only, in Valencia, there was literally a 200+ queue to get through the security area at the cruise terminal but the YC butlers were on hand to shepherd us right to the front of that queue....it was very hot, blazing sunshine, and it was interesting to see the looks and comments as we were chaperoned!

[CruisingFox27]

I've never noticed a separate YC gangway but we've never not been escorted back on, where there hasn't been a queue we've declined but an escort has always been offered.