WOW!!!! First time in Yacht Club

[tigger54]

So excited. My husband and I have been on a couple of MSC cruises in the past and really enjoyed them. We normally stay in an inside or ocean view cabin on most of our cruises (33 and counting), but we have always wanted to try the Yacht Club once in our lifetime. We just snagged the last interior Yacht Club on the Seaside for August 2020 and am so excited. I am hoping some of you experienced Yacht Club folks can tell me what to expect. Is it as great as people are saying? How is the Yacht Club restaurant food compared to their regular dining room food? Is Spa access included and if so, what are the amenities in the Spa? I don’t even know what to ask. Please fill me in on what to expect and maybe some differences between the Yacht Club experience and a fantastica (what we usually cruise).

Thank you in advance for your help.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Safe to say you will be blown away.  The YC will be a totally new experience for you. You will enjoy a level of service that you have never had on your other cruises.  The restaurant is also better.  You will enjoy the level of food and service as well as the quality.  The best part is the serenity as compared to the rest of the ship.  Make sure you take advantage of breakfast, lunch and dinner in the YC restaurant and the grill.

Sit back and enjoy. 

[modes]

You will be hooked.

[dexddd]

Find our trip report from March or I'll link later.  We are going back in 8 weeks.  Which YIN do you have?  Our kids had 18031.

[tigger54]

We are in cabin 18023.

[Russ_MT]

What a total waste of money.    You will hate it.

 

Just kidding.   From the moment you check in (at the special YC tent) you will be taken to a special lounge, given Prosecuto and  snacks while they process your wrist band and photo.  Then Butlers will escort you up to the special elevator to the YC Lounge.

 

Forget cards, butlers in tails will be serving you drinks and food and never ask for your card, because EVERYONE is entitled to the perks.

 

Get used to these words "So Civilized".

 

Butlers won't let you do anything yourself.   They will constantly bring you drinks and snacks or whatever you want.    If you want coffee, a drink, a burger, a butler will ask "Where are you sitting, I'll  bring it to you.".   

 

YC is quiet and not crowded.   Live piano at dinner.    YC Restaurant is excellent and civilized.  Sun deck is peaceful and relaxing.  No belly flop contests.  You'll have to go outside for that.

 

Fun Fact:  They change the linens on YC beds EVERY day.  You want a bottle of wine for your cabin, ask your butler and he/she will bring one, open it and pour it for you.  No extra charges or anything.  

 

YC is a ship inside the ship.   They will walk you down to a show where reserved seating awaits you.  

 

They are serious about service.   YC manager will get to know you.   

 

Gelato is included.  So is chocolate bar.  So is the spa (special services like massage is extra).

 

You won't be able to go back.

 

--Russ

 

 

 

 

 

[dexddd]

While waiting to board in the lounge they will also serve you Prosecco to drink or you can walk up to the table and get some.

Edited April 29, 2019 by dexddd

[tigger54]

Sounds awesome. So looking forward to it.

[Russ_MT]

We did 2 weeks on Seaside in December '18.

 

You will get a wrist band.  Not to buy drinks (although outside of yacht club you will), but to open doors into YC an Aurea and your cabin. 

Inside YC, EVERYONE is the same, so they don't nag you for your card/band.  They just bring you what you ask.   Inside YC you will never need to show your card/band.   We found the rest of the ship crowded and rarely left YC.  

 

The wrist band also works on the priority elevator (forward by YC).  There is a sign "Yacht Club elevator" so other PAX know they are using your elevator.   Scan your band and the elevator becomes priority stopping only at YC floors.   You will need to scan it again inside the elevator before selecting a floor.  Woosh...right up to your floor.

 

The mini bar is INCLUDED.   Ask your butler to fill it with whatever you want.   They don't have Baileys in mini bottles, so our butler filled a cup with Baileys and covered it with cellophane and put it in the fridge.

Water:  We drink a lot of bottled water.   We mentioned this to our room steward (different from butler) and she made sure we had 8 LARGE glass bottles of Italian bottled water every day (again all included).  She asked "Is that enough water?"   They will bring whatever you ask. 

 

Sun deck:

More chairs than peeps.  Always a chair available.  No chair hogs.  WITH soft cushions and nice towels.

If you want a specific chair, you can "hog" it.    Remember starboard is the smoking side of the ship. 

Food is okay.   Always some fresh hot food and cold snacks.

 

Lounge:

Never crowded, great views and big and bright.   Plenty of little "nooks" to go hide and be private. 

Plenty of butlers to bring you beverages.  Coffee is made to order and delish.   They will bring it to your seat.  Snack area with hot/cold fresh snacks.

 

Restaurant:

Outstanding.  Awesome waiters and Matre D will seat you in your favorite seat if you have one.  Let them.   They prefer pairing you with your favorite waiter so they know you.   We went to the Seafood restaurant one night (wasn't that good) and mentioned to our waiter we liked the creme brulee they had.   The next night he brought us one.

Filet Mignon is always on the menu.   Food is great.   Service outstanding.   They had a piano player and violinist playing during dinner.  So relaxing.  The restaurant is open to below lounge.   Fantastic views facing forward windows.  The YC restaurant is small and intimate.   You can/should make a reserved time for dinner only, but they won't hold you to it.  Breakfast/lunch is totally freestyle.    They also serve similar breakfast items on the pool deck. 

The Captain and officers often eat at the YC restaurant, so you can expect the best. 

 

We ate at Butchers Cut...it was okay.  Honestly, the steak at YC was as good if not better.    The seafood restaurant was less than expected.  We wish we ate the YC restaurant. 

 

Service is top notch:

We rented a cabana.  They bring you rounds food.  Lots of it.  One round is sushi.   We mentioned we don't eat the raw fish, just California rolls (the rice ones and pointed them out).    We were then brought RICE ROLLS with nothing else in them (see below).   Rolled up rice.  He heard "just rice".   We laughed.  We didn't eat them and when the butler came to take them away we tried to explain  (slight communication problem).   The head butler came over and apologized.  We said, "No problem, we wanted to explain we weren't wasting food."   He apologized again.  Later that night after dinner a FULL plate (a dozen) of proper California rolls arrived in our cabin AND a note from YC manager stating he's giving us a FREE cabana tomorrow with his apologies.   Service!   

 

Butlers:

They will escort you through crowds on/off the ship.   Never wait for anything.  They wear tux/tails and offer you anything.  It's a pool of butlers in public areas and you will have your own private butler for the cabin.  Want a drink in your cabin, just ask, they'll bring you a bottle of wine or whatever.  

 

Bathrooms:

The public bathrooms in YC have cloth hand towels.   You really feel different and special in YC.  It's a ship within a ship.   Not like anywhere else in the ship.

 

I probably shouldn't be writing this stuff as it's a nice secret that should be kept. 

For the price, YC is the best value at sea.   We are sailing in a suite on RCL Symphony of the Seas in October for twice the price of a YC suite.  Then we will do a week on Seaside YC.     Royal gives you NONE of this kind of service unless you are in their star/genie class (10x the cost).   That's why we are doing YC the second week.  So we can end with being spoiled. 

 

You will be hard pressed to go back after a week in YC.

 

--Russ

 

[JAGR]

17 minutes ago, Russ_MT said:

Water:  We drink a lot of bottled water.   We mentioned this to our room steward (different from butler) and she made sure we had 8 LARGE glass bottles of Italian bottled water every day (again all included).  She asked "Is that enough water?"  
 

 

 

Good summary, but to be PC, YC does not have 'room stewards.'  You have a butler and an assistant butler.  I think the assistants appreciate the title. 

[Russ_MT]

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

Good summary, but to be PC, YC does not have 'room stewards.'  You have a butler and an assistant butler.  I think the assistants appreciate the title. 

 

Is that what they called them?   Interesting.   Well, I'll be sure to use the right term in October when we sail. 

 

The "assistant butler" cleaned our room and stocked us with lots of water.   She was awesome!   She'd run down the hall to open our cabin door.  Created some amazing towel animals and decorated our cabin for my birthday.   She gave us a big hug when we were disembarking.  A gem.  I hope she gets promoted. 

 

Also unique to YC I learned they change all the bedding linens every day.

 

 

[JAGR]

7 minutes ago, Russ_MT said:

 

Is that what they called them?   Interesting.   Well, I'll be sure to use the right term in October when we sail. 

 

The "assistant butler" cleaned our room and stocked us with lots of water.   She was awesome!   She'd run down the hall to open our cabin door.  Created some amazing towel animals and decorated our cabin for my birthday.   She gave us a big hug when we were disembarking.  A gem.  I hope she gets promoted. 

 

Also unique to YC I learned they change all the bedding linens every day.

 

 

 

Service is fantastic!  They really do have a customer focus.  Now, if only IT and other land-side services could be taught that skill!

[dexddd]

Here is the link that shows our kids' YIN room - they had a bit of a hallway when you first entered.  I see the first couple photos also show you the lounge and snacks in the terminal followed later by snacks in the YC lounge:

 

 

[tigger54]

Wow! Sounds awesome. Thanks for all of the information. This is a splurge for my husband and I but I’m afraid it will spoil me so that I won’t be happy in a regular cabin after this cruise. Lol!

[SirWolf]

The little things make the YC Experience special...  Dorelan Pillow Menu !

Select a type of pillow (firmness) and your butler will deliver the pillow to your room.

...and...

MSC Excursions: Butler escorts you off the ship to the bus. No waiting in line when leaving the ship and returning.

[JAGR]

We did an MSC Excursion in St. Thomas, and the butler only took us to the security area so we could exit.  You won't always get a full escort, but it sure beats waiting in line.

[Epos Man]

and then you have to mix with the steerage for the day🤣

[thecruisers6]

If you search on YouTube for “Kurzes kabinenreview YC innenkabine MSC Seaside“. 

You will see a cabin similar to yours. 

 

Our butler checked each morning before we went ashore, we had remembered our sunscreen, hats and he made sure we had ice cold water to take with us. He did make us laugh saying he had never seen anyone as white as me! Guess the English weather it to blame 🙄

 

I cannot imagine going back to steerage with the YC interior introduction, I have 2 cruises booked in them but please don’t tell anyone 😳

[Russ_MT]

 

 

 

48 minutes ago, thecruisers6 said:

I have 2 cruises booked in them but please don’t tell anyone 😳

 

YC is our secret too.  We love to share, but worry we will destroy a good thing and MSC will jack up the prices to what they ought to be for such a level of service.   When the word finally gets out that this is the biggest value in cruising, the prices surely will go up.

 

It really is like cruising on a private yacht.   Don't like the food on the menu, ask.  They will bring you whatever you want.  Want more lobster?  Ask.  We did our own Surf and Turf by mixing up the menu.

 

We've cruised RCL Crown Loft suite (awesome cabin BTW) but the service was limited to the suite only areas.  No butler spoiling.    We cruised NCL Haven Owners suite, came with a butler but not nearly the butler service MSC provides throughout the YC area.

 

I would order a burger at the pool grill and a butler would say "Where are you sitting sir, I'll bring it to you."   I'd go to the lounge in the morning and order a coffee (fresh made to order) and a butler would say "Where are you sitting sir, I'll bring it to you."

 

There is a newspaper menu of major national publications they print daily for you.  Our butler found us at the pool and brought it to us.

 

You feel slightly guilty having a butler escort you past crowds.   But you will get over that feeling.   I felt slightly guilty using my wrist band to summon the elevator with other passengers around.  But they label it clearly "Yacht Club Elevator" so those people can clearly see why.    I kept thinking, "They (other passengers) had the option to pay for YC and chose not to.  Their loss". 

 

My ONLY complaint about Seaside is the pool is right in front of the pool bar/grill.   Nobody sitting there looks at the pool, but it does feel more public and on display.   Not nearly as public as the other pools on the ship though.  YC spoils you that way.  

 

BTW, the Aurea area is available to YC as well.   The pool, bar and spa.   YC provides a bathrobe and slippers.

 

Friends of ours were in an inside suite for the first week.  They loved it.  Simply slept there and used the pool deck and lounge most of the time.  

 

Here's our cruise video from week 1.   Lots of YC stuff.  Notice how empty the YC pool deck and lounge is.

Week 2 vid further down this post.

 

 

Here is from week 2

Skip to 10:23 for the "Smoked drinks".    Your YC drink package includes this.  This bar is just OUTSIDE of YC between the specialty restaurants.   Fun to watch.   This has footage of the other pool decks.  Much more crowded.  No soft loungers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dolphin1313]

Russ_MT, thanks for the video's.  I enjoyed watching them.

[TrinaLC]

On 4/29/2019 at 10:50 AM, JAGR said:

Good summary, but to be PC, YC does not have 'room stewards.'  You have a butler and an assistant butler.  I think the assistants appreciate the title. 

 

‘They do indeed appreciate the title. We made a mistake and left a note addressed to our “steward” and were very politely but firmly corrected!  (It was actually charming, the pride he clearly had in the job/title.)

 

[Hobby3333]

On 4/29/2019 at 12:47 PM, dexddd said:

Here is the link that shows our kids' YIN room - they had a bit of a hallway when you first entered.  I see the first couple photos also show you the lounge and snacks in the terminal followed later by snacks in the YC lounge:

 

 

How old were your kids?  We booked inside for our 17 and 20 year old 

[max996]

I love the MSC Yacht Club.

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, Hobby3333 said:

How old were your kids?  We booked inside for our 17 and 20 year old 

16 And 20 but we booked DW in the Yin and DS in deluxe and swapped.

 

Hopefully you don't have 18031.  It is a stinky room, at least for us. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by dexddd

[Hobby3333]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

16 And 20 but we booked DW in the Yin and DS in deluxe and swapped.

 

Hopefully you don't have 18031.  It is a stinky room, at least for us. 

No, we are on deck 16.   We are doing the exact thing with swapping cabins.   Will they change wrist bands or did you use card to get into room?  Our kids are 17 and 20