Yacht Club Questions(1st Time MSC)

[JAGR]

On 12/26/2020 at 3:38 PM, marcoigna said:

Again. As u said, different ship/day different rules.    Have upgraded previously to PP+ but on Seashore next year, no option to do so.     

Hi, Marco!  I'm wondering if that is because now they are showing no limit on beverages. On both our Seashore bookings, under Privileges, it says:

"− Unlimited beverage selection in MSC Yacht Club areas and in all bars and restaurants
of the ship according to the drink selections available in the different venues."

 

That would suggest no need for PP+.  Of course, you two will be on long before Chris and I in early 2022. Take care.

[JohnJayJotaJames]

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

Hi, Marco!  I'm wondering if that is because now they are showing no limit on beverages. On both our Seashore bookings, under Privileges, it says:

"− Unlimited beverage selection in MSC Yacht Club areas and in all bars and restaurants
of the ship according to the drink selections available in the different venues."

 

That would suggest no need for PP+.  Of course, you two will be on long before Chris and I in early 2022. Take care.

Hi!
UK, US and Brazilian sites have been updated and say Yacht Club has a $12 limit!
I hope this changes!!!

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas including mini bar (drinks less than $12/€10)
• Complimentary beverage selection an all onboard bars and restaurants, according to the selection available in each venue (drinks less than $12/€10)

US site is worded as

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas, including mini bar (up to $12/€10)
• Complimentary drinks in all onboard bars & restaurants*
• * According to the selection available in each venue, and drinks up to $12/€10.

[phissy]

5 hours ago, JohnJayJotaJames said:

Hi!
UK, US and Brazilian sites have been updated and say Yacht Club has a $12 limit!
I hope this changes!!!

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas including mini bar (drinks less than $12/€10)
• Complimentary beverage selection an all onboard bars and restaurants, according to the selection available in each venue (drinks less than $12/€10)

US site is worded as

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas, including mini bar (up to $12/€10)
• Complimentary drinks in all onboard bars & restaurants*
• * According to the selection available in each venue, and drinks up to $12/€10.

This does look like they are making YC correspond to Premium drink package......until Winter 2021.

beginning Nov 1, 2021, out of Florida, drink packages change.

no package corresponds to $12. 
Suspect YC will follow package with $15 drink limit. Premium Extra.

[JohnJayJotaJames]

9 hours ago, phissy said:

This does look like they are making YC correspond to Premium drink package......until Winter 2021.

beginning Nov 1, 2021, out of Florida, drink packages change.

no package corresponds to $12. 
Suspect YC will follow package with $15 drink limit. Premium Extra.

phissy, I like your logic. An increase to $15 drink limit would be great! 

[Beardface]

We were in the Seaside YC in March of last year (literally the last full week cruise the Seaside had before the lockdown).  It was wonderful.  We did opt for the $17pppd upgrade to Premium Plus, and it was absolutely worth it.  A glass of JW Blue for me and a Martell XO for my wife every evening before bed absolutely paid for itself.

 

And that specific plan really does open the ship to you on whatever you want to drink.  Gelato was included as well for us on that plan.  Before we sailed, we thought we were going to try out the specialty restaurants, but the regular YC dining room was nice enough itself that we never bothered.  The Top Sail Lounge is one of our favorite rooms on any ship we have been on.

[JAGR]

18 hours ago, JohnJayJotaJames said:

Hi!
UK, US and Brazilian sites have been updated and say Yacht Club has a $12 limit!
I hope this changes!!!

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas including mini bar (drinks less than $12/€10)
• Complimentary beverage selection an all onboard bars and restaurants, according to the selection available in each venue (drinks less than $12/€10)

US site is worded as

• Unlimited drinks in all MSC YC areas, including mini bar (up to $12/€10)
• Complimentary drinks in all onboard bars & restaurants*
• * According to the selection available in each venue, and drinks up to $12/€10.

 I'm inclined to hold them to the terms of my booking confirmation:

[Beardface]

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

 I'm inclined to hold them to the terms of my booking confirmation:

I had the same thing happen for my Seaside sailing last year.

 

I still called to get PP+ added, and I got that added to my account.  I then called about excursions a week or two later to get some booked (which, ironically, we never actually used because we were delayed being able to leave the ship by 8 hours in Jamaica due to COVID) and the rep we spoke with about that called us back later that day to basically tell me "I looked into your account, and because you are in the YC, you don't actually need the PP+ plan, you already have it."  He then took it off our booking and refunded the money.

 

Except, he never actually took it off our account, our booking still showed PP+ when we sailed, and it opened everything for us, despite not having to pay (the value was still there, we absolutely would have paid for it).

 

It is confusing, but these kind of glitches do happen, and they just don't catch it.  Whatever your booking says is what goes, so if yours says unlimited drinks, that's most likely what you'll get.

[Two Wheels Only]

4 minutes ago, Beardface said:

Whatever your booking says is what goes, so if yours says unlimited drinks, that's most likely what you'll get.

 

It gets even more confusing when things get better instead of worse. I also have "Unlimited beverage selection..." on my confirmations but I also have the old "4GB" internet. The current internet for Yacht Club guests is "Complimentary Internet package (Browse pkg., 2 devices, unlimited data)" which is better than what was standard before. 

[JohnJayJotaJames]

3 hours ago, JAGR said:

 I'm inclined to hold them to the terms of my booking confirmation:

JAGR, Great idea. Hope it works! When is your cruise?

[phissy]

I also found it strange that after booking a YC reservation , they offer packages already included in YC.

If I pull up Drinks packages, it looks like they would sell you any of the packages, even though you already are entitled to almost all of the drinks included in packages.

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, Beardface said:

Before we sailed, we thought we were going to try out the specialty restaurants, but the regular YC dining room was nice enough itself that we never bothered.

 

That was my thinking before I sailed on Meraviglia.  Experiencing the cuisine and the service in the YC restaurant and then reading the menus of the specialty restaurants, even though I could have tried one at no charge to me, why would I do this?  For a long cruise, yes.  A different dining venue might be good for something "different".  For a 7 day cruise, no, I don't need something "different".  My "different" will be some pizza from the pizza venues aft of YC.  

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve always been happy with the the yacht club food and apart from our free Butchers Cut meal have never bothered to visit any other specialty restaurants.

[dexddd]

On Seaside out of US, Gelato has been included for YC, at least since 2019.

That great pizza, the butlers source it out of the pizza place in buffet - fresh and hot.

[hamrag]

4 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

We’ve always been happy with the the yacht club food and apart from our free Butchers Cut meal have never bothered to visit any other specialty restaurants.

Precisely so for us also.

[jules815]

6 hours ago, hamrag said:

Precisely so for us also.

Same with us. We didn't even use the complimentary meal at the Butcher's Cut. We were very happy with the food and service on Seaside.

 

[JAGR]

On 4/14/2021 at 2:02 PM, JohnJayJotaJames said:

JAGR, Great idea. Hope it works! When is your cruise?

Last week of February and then March.  B2B

 

[JAGR]

On 4/14/2021 at 12:55 PM, Beardface said:

I had the same thing happen for my Seaside sailing last year.

 

I still called to get PP+ added, and I got that added to my account.  I then called about excursions a week or two later to get some booked (which, ironically, we never actually used because we were delayed being able to leave the ship by 8 hours in Jamaica due to COVID) and the rep we spoke with about that called us back later that day to basically tell me "I looked into your account, and because you are in the YC, you don't actually need the PP+ plan, you already have it."  He then took it off our booking and refunded the money.

 

Except, he never actually took it off our account, our booking still showed PP+ when we sailed, and it opened everything for us, despite not having to pay (the value was still there, we absolutely would have paid for it).

 

It is confusing, but these kind of glitches do happen, and they just don't catch it.  Whatever your booking says is what goes, so if yours says unlimited drinks, that's most likely what you'll get.

Agreed.  That's been my experience thus far.  I'm a Hendrick's fan, and even when that got removed from the basic YC gin list, I was never charged for it.  I do make a point to have a word with the Bar services manager at the M&G on the second day.  How kindly you approach them works wonders, in my experience.

Edited April 15, 2021 by JAGR

[travellerin1984]

On 4/14/2021 at 3:07 PM, Beardface said:

We were in the Seaside YC in March of last year (literally the last full week cruise the Seaside had before the lockdown).  It was wonderful.  We did opt for the $17pppd upgrade to Premium Plus, and it was absolutely worth it.  A glass of JW Blue for me and a Martell XO for my wife every evening before bed absolutely paid for itself.

 

And that specific plan really does open the ship to you on whatever you want to drink.  Gelato was included as well for us on that plan.  Before we sailed, we thought we were going to try out the specialty restaurants, but the regular YC dining room was nice enough itself that we never bothered.  The Top Sail Lounge is one of our favorite rooms on any ship we have been on.

Thank you. Very good information. How were the wines in Premium Plus? 

[Beardface]

On 4/18/2021 at 3:43 AM, travellerin1984 said:

Thank you. Very good information. How were the wines in Premium Plus? 

We just stuck with the house wines most nights, but their staff was pretty good at suggesting pairings for the food we had.

 

With P+, you can have any by the glass wine, but I think for the most expensive ones, you need to buy the bottle.  I'm really not certain on this, as we didn't really explore the options too much when it came to wine.

 

Put it this way, much like when we were in Italy on our honeymoon, the average house wine is better than what we generally experience with a 'step above house' around home.

[hamrag]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:43 AM, travellerin1984 said:

Thank you. Very good information. How were the wines in Premium Plus? 

We are not wine buffs, nor did we upgrade to P+, but we met a couple of folks who had upgraded and the wine sommelier servicing the YC restaurant spent much time assisting both couples with P+ wine selections each evening.

[Cruising89143]

Going to try again and see if this cruise happens. Had a total of seven cruises canceled since April of last year. Four on MSC and three on Celebrity. We have decided to not cruise this year and canceled our Azamara September cruise. Overall I had one issue with MSC on receiving a total refund. Had to get my cc company involved but from reading the other cruise boards, this was not just exclusive to MSC. Some seemed to have handled things in a more professional manner.

 

We booked the Seaside for mid May next year out of Civitavecchia (Rome) in the YC. Not sure if the deposit is refundable or not. States on the invoice that it will state non refundable under the promotion name. It doesn’t but we have no plans to cancel since we decided to wait so far into next year to try another trip to Italy. We’re combining this with a before and after land trip.

 

Looks like the mini bar was officially removed as a perk. No big deal. I will call and book the PP drink package. Used this on Celebrity and loved it. Will watch the board to see if any other YC changes happen. I expect to to see a major tightening of the belt to try and recoup lost funds. Hopefully they do not try anything crazy. The last thing they want to do is chase away potential guests. $$$$ Time will tell. 😊

[Até]

14 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We booked the Seaside for mid May next year out of Civitavecchia (Rome) in the YC. Not sure if the deposit is refundable or not. States on the invoice that it will state non refundable under the promotion name....

 

Looks like the mini bar was officially removed as a perk. No big deal. I will call and book the PP drink package.

I think now in all countries for any new YC bookings the deposit is non-refundable.  Through a long drawn out process US YC bookings slowly changed to non-refundable several months ago.

 

The minibar is still included in the YC.  Seaside will begin the new drinks packages on 13 November, 2021.  So after that date the Premium Plus package will be gone.  The top package will become the Premium Extra, which is essentially what YC guests will already have.  YC will still get the minibar while Premium Extra will not.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/on-board/dining-drinks/drink-comparison-chart

[Two Wheels Only]

2 hours ago, Até said:

I think now in all countries for any new YC bookings the deposit is non-refundable.  Through a long drawn out process US YC bookings slowly changed to non-refundable several months ago.

 

My most recent YC booking (made last week) in the USA has...

 

FOR MSC YACHT CLUB & WORLD CRUISE:
MSC YACHT CLUB
· 
· Cancel 120−90 days prior to departure: Deposit Non−Refundable
· Cancel 89−60 days prior to departure: 50% of the total fare
· Cancel 59−30 days prior to departure: 75% of the total fare
Cancel 29−00 days prior to departure: 100% Penalty

Please note that certain MSC Cruises USA promotions now include a new NON−REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT requirement. These promotions are identified with 'NON−REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT' in the promotion name. For bookings with a NON−REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT designation, a 100% cancellation penalty will be imposed on the applicable deposit amount
charged at time of booking for cancellation and/or changes made at any time beyond 24 hours after initial booking.

 

So far, my deposits have still been refundable. The phone rep even stated that when I apply a FCC to this booking, the deposit would be returned to me with the old confirmation number from the FCC becoming the new confirmation number. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Two Wheels Only

[jules815]

On 4/14/2021 at 9:54 AM, JAGR said:

 I'm inclined to hold them to the terms of my booking confirmation:

Just pulled up our booking and it says the same thing.

We're (hopefully) sailing 10/16/21. As long as my husband can drink his Hendricks G&T's, he'll be happy. As I recall, our last cruise on Seaside back in 1/19, according to the included "list," Hendricks wasn't included at that time, but even without upgrading, my husband was able to get it no problem at all. In fact, one evening he was drinking rum and Coke's, and the bartender insisted on him trying some of the specialty rums they had, which were definitely part of the PP package that we hadn't paid for.

 

It would be nice to know ahead of time, as we'll have quite a bit of credit to use with online purchases prior to sailing. 

 

[Até]

1 hour ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

My most recent YC booking (made last week) in the USA has...

 

So far, my deposits have still been refundable. The phone rep even stated that when I apply a FCC to this booking, the deposit would be returned to me with the old confirmation number from the FCC becoming the new confirmation number. 

Is that text from your Booking Confirmation?  If so what date is on pages 2 & 3 under "Cancellation date (No penalty)"?  Unfortunately there has also been other posters and myself that were told by MSC US that YC deposits are now non-refundable on new bookings.  Part of the problem has been MSC US seems to have forgotten to tell the phone agents, and to complicate things using their newish booking system they cannot see deposit loss dates/cancellation policy until the booking is actually made.  If you ask a phone agent to look at Section one of the Terms & Conditions they get confused.

 

As I said I believe it's been a long series of events slowly leading up to the actual policy catching up to the Terms and Conditions that now explicitly state YC deposits are non-refundable.  The "terms" that sometimes show up on the last pages of the Booking Confirmation, as well as the page two Cancellation date have been horribly erratic.  Luckily I too have several confirmations of the same sailing with different policy/dates, if I cancel and MSC refuses to refund the deposit I will appeal to my credit card showing them the confirmations that have the deposits as refundable.

Booking-Terms-and-Conditions.pdf

Edited May 3, 2021 by Até