Small Change to YC MiniBar Policy

[BoundForSea]

So for those who follow the MSC YC bouncing ball of policies…

 

We boarded Divina this week and found out from our Butler that since the restart in the US, the Minibar will now only provide you snacks for free ONCE on your voyage. ONE of each: Pringles, nuts and a Twix Bar were loaded in it. That’s it for the voyage. After that if you ask for them to be replenished they will charge you for them. 

 

Also, alcohol nips are no longer provided. Instead they will offer you a bottle of wine or a bottle of alcohol (Rum, Whiskey, Gin, Vodka, etc) for the entirety of your cruise. If you want more than that, you will again be charged. Now I’ll tell you we requested Tangueray, and received a nice healthy large bottle of it that we won’t finish on our 4 night sailing for sure. I like this change better. Same as Celebrity Retreat. 
 

No change to non alcoholic drinks in the MiniFridge. There are 2 Heineken bottles provided as well like before, nothing to note on those changing at all. 

 

So those are the changes. Also no complimentary Macaroons or truffles at night daily. Only provided once for Diamond Club Members. We still get a fresh fruit bowl daily. 

 

That’s all folks. Now remember it’s MSC, your mileage may and WILL vary!! haha. 

 

Safe Cruising to you. 

[LeCommandant]

Thanks for your feedback. 
 

In Mediterranean, it was about the same, but snacks were never included. 
Here you can find the policy:

 

[Beamafar]

This change was first introduced when Bellissima launched.  MSC has slowly been implementing this policy fleet wide since then. 

[ocdb8r]

1 hour ago, LeCommandant said:

Thanks for your feedback. 
 

In Mediterranean, it was about the same, but snacks were never included. 

Just got off Seashore in Naples and our experience was the same as posted for the US - we were told the Pringles, Mixed nuts and Toblerone were included but would not be refreshed (and we in fact consumed these and we're not charged).  We were given a choice of 8 different bottles of alcohol and chose Bombay Sapphire, which arrived as a full 70cl bottle.  Non-alcoholic drinks and beer were refreshed regularly.

[hamrag]

4 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

So for those who follow the MSC YC bouncing ball of policies…

 

We boarded Divina this week and found out from our Butler that since the restart in the US, the Minibar will now only provide you snacks for free ONCE on your voyage. ONE of each: Pringles, nuts and a Twix Bar were loaded in it. That’s it for the voyage. After that if you ask for them to be replenished they will charge you for them. 

 

 

That's good news, saves a load of calories and a couple less pounds added weight on the cruise! 

[Beamafar]

22 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

That's good news, saves a load of calories and a couple less pounds added weight on the cruise! 

Ah, G, I’m gonna really miss the choc peanuts. Can’t buy anything close to them anywhere.  I often enjoyed a few with a g&t in the afternoon on the balcony after a short, post-lunch, siesta. 
 

We have PremPlus for our upcoming (non-YC) cruise;  wonder what the situation will be regarding the included minibar. 🤔

Edited September 28, 2021 by Beamafar

[sidari]

11 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Ah, G, I’m gonna really miss the choc peanuts. Can’t buy anything close to them anywhere.  I often enjoyed a few with a g&t in the afternoon on the balcony after a short, post-lunch, siesta. 
 

We have PremPlus for our upcoming (non-YC) cruise;  wonder what the situation will be regarding the included minibar. 🤔

Bea ... Yet another loss to add to the other ongoing thread, cannot recall when they actually added something decent though.

[Beamafar]

3 minutes ago, sidari said:

Bea ... Yet another loss to add to the other ongoing thread, cannot recall when they actually added something decent though.

Totally agree, Dave.  Downgrading the drinks packages is another bugbear as well as Aurea only having Easy included.  It lessens the Aurea Experience.

 

On topic - the whole YC Experience is being whittled away at and is not the great value product it once was.

[Morgsmom]

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We have PremPlus for our upcoming (non-YC) cruise;  wonder what the situation will be regarding the included minibar. 🤔

We had PremPlus on last week's Divina out of Port Canaveral - our mini bar was not just restocked, it was fully stocked every single day.  (Meaning, 4 more beers, 3 more nips, all the snacks, etc).  After day 3 we had to "pay" our room attendant to stop because the desk area had no more room!  (And I needed DH to stop eating those Pringles and Choc peanuts every day 😄)

 

I suspect that the room steward had NO idea what to do so he kept adding to the collection INSTEAD of just restocking.  

[cdel71]

6 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

So for those who follow the MSC YC bouncing ball of policies…

 

We boarded Divina this week and found out from our Butler that since the restart in the US, the Minibar will now only provide you snacks for free ONCE on your voyage. ONE of each: Pringles, nuts and a Twix Bar were loaded in it. That’s it for the voyage. After that if you ask for them to be replenished they will charge you for them. 

 

Also, alcohol nips are no longer provided. Instead they will offer you a bottle of wine or a bottle of alcohol (Rum, Whiskey, Gin, Vodka, etc) for the entirety of your cruise. If you want more than that, you will again be charged. Now I’ll tell you we requested Tangueray, and received a nice healthy large bottle of it that we won’t finish on our 4 night sailing for sure. I like this change better. Same as Celebrity Retreat. 

 

 

I wonder if these changes have hit the Meraviglia sailing out of Miami yet?

[Beamafar]

1 minute ago, Morgsmom said:

We had PremPlus on last week's Divina out of Port Canaveral - our mini bar was not just restocked, it was fully stocked every single day.  (Meaning, 4 more beers, 3 more nips, all the snacks, etc).  After day 3 we had to "pay" our room attendant to stop because the desk area had no more room!  (And I needed DH to stop eating those Pringles and Choc peanuts every day 😄)

 

I suspect that the room steward had NO idea what to do so he kept adding to the collection INSTEAD of just restocking.  

Never experienced that before!   We’ve always had the minibar included since MSC first introduced the packages.  We’ve had all kinds of experiences trying to have it stocked each day. 
 

Great to know it was restocked for you.  Gives me hope that the same will apply in the Med.   Looks like it’ll be our last time to enjoy it as it’s being removed from the included list of the top drinks package as well as being a downgraded affair when in YC. 

[alyssamma]

2 hours ago, cdel71 said:

 

I wonder if these changes have hit the Meraviglia sailing out of Miami yet?

So, as of 8/23 they had not. In fact, the butlers brought me Pringles whenever they saw me and kept my room stocked.

 

This was actually brought up pre-covid and there was (as is typical with MSC) lots of confusion on the subject.

 

I've never experienced this, but others have.

 

I personally believe you can get whatever you want, but if you try to abuse it then they will "invoke" the rule.

 

I've never been told "no" to anything in the YC so far, but then again I don't ask for much...just Pringles 🙂

 

[cdel71]

3 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

So, as of 8/23 they had not. In fact, the butlers brought me Pringles whenever they saw me and kept my room stocked.

 

This was actually brought up pre-covid and there was (as is typical with MSC) lots of confusion on the subject.

 

I've never experienced this, but others have.

 

I personally believe you can get whatever you want, but if you try to abuse it then they will "invoke" the rule.

 

I've never been told "no" to anything in the YC so far, but then again I don't ask for much...just Pringles 🙂

 

 

It's certainly not going to make or break my vacation by any means.  If they restock the nuts and/or the Pringles that's great, and if they don't, it's all good.  If they want to drop a bottle of Kettle one in the room, also great, but if they don't, i'm not going to lose sleep over it.  Plenty to drink in YC bars and on their private island.    

[BoundForSea]

On our day one introduction with our Butler he made a point to tell us this change when he went over the MiniBar in the room. We’ve stayed with this Butler last Feb and he’s very good. I think if we asked for some more snacks he would magically make them appear. 

[hamrag]

5 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Ah, G, I’m gonna really miss the choc peanuts. Can’t buy anything close to them anywhere.  I often enjoyed a few with a g&t in the afternoon on the balcony after a short, post-lunch, siesta. 
 

We have PremPlus for our upcoming (non-YC) cruise;  wonder what the situation will be regarding the included minibar. 🤔

Indeed, us too! When we did our 14 nighter in the Caribbean a couple of years ago, Barbados return, we finished with 2 or 3 nights in a Barbados hotel and smuggled a fair few from the minibar to use in the hotel. 😉

 

As many others will have done likewise, probably is the reason for removing such from the YC experience! 🤨

[Beamafar]

Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy the treats one last time next month.  I’ll appreciate them even more as a result.  Probably took it too much for granted.  Hadn’t seen this ever being removed.  I suppose outside of YC the minibars would be rarely used and, in the YC, well, I’m sure the contents often ended up flying around the world in suitcases.  😂😂

[hamrag]

4 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

....I suppose outside of YC the minibars would be rarely used and, in the YC, well, I’m sure the contents often ended up flying around the world in suitcases.  😂😂

 

Why not solicit some for future cruises? 🤣

[BoundForSea]

No mention of the new snack rule in the QR Code Menu, however it is listed in the items for purchase list, but the alcohol offering policy is there. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by BoundForSea

[Beamafar]

14 minutes ago, hamrag said:

 

Why not solicit some for future cruises? 🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[BoundForSea]

4 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Send me your address. hahaha

 

A better thought perhaps I’ll source the old chocolate covered peanuts and sell them on here for pre cruise purchase to stock the bars with! 😂😂

Edited September 28, 2021 by BoundForSea

[defbref]

10 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

No mention of the new snack rule in the QR Code Menu, however it is listed in the items for purchase list, but the alcohol offering policy is there. 

"Kindly be informed that any additional Wine, Spirits and Snacks will be charged to your cabin."

[cdel71]

2 minutes ago, defbref said:

"Kindly be informed that any additional Wine, Spirits and Snacks will be charged to your cabin."

 

It's interesting - in the MSC for Me app - when I check Items included, the verbiage states Yacht Club - "free minibar service".   I suppose I could argue if I really wanted, but not sure it's worth it for a refresh of $8 nuts or $6 candy bar.   I hate being nickle'd and dime'd for something that's supposed to be included.

Edited September 28, 2021 by cdel71

[Beamafar]

6 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

Send me your address. hahaha

 

A better thought perhaps I’ll source the old chocolate covered peanuts and sell them on here for pre cruise purchase to stock the bars with! 😂😂

I’ll definitely be having the choc peanuts replenished every day.  I may be fortunate and get a very generous cabin steward who’ll provide me with a double helping.   Gonna enjoy every last nut coming out out of those tins, baby. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Beamafar

[Beamafar]

2 minutes ago, cdel71 said:

 

It's interesting - in the MSC for Me app - when I check Items included, the verbiage states Yacht Club - "free minibar service".   I suppose I could argue if I really wanted, but not sure it's worth it for a refresh of $8 nuts or $6 candy bar.   I hate being nickle'd and dime'd for something that's supposed to be included.

It could be argued that the minibar service is replenishment of beer, sodas and water.  

[BoundForSea]

10 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I’ll definitely be having the choc peanuts replenished every day.  I may be fortunate and get a very generous cabin steward who’ll provide me with a double helping.   Gonna enjoy every last nut coming out out of those tins, baby. 

The Choco covered are gone. Just plain now and the tin is TINY. I wish I took a pic of it.