Silhouette LIVE (1/12) w/ Side by Side: A Royal Week on Celebrity and MSC

[LouChamp]

8 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Good evening from the Divina!  
 

A quick story from dinner tonight:

 

When I got to the suite restaurant I saw a big ornate cheese cart (like the one celebrity used to have in Murano before they went to just giving you a plate of pre-cut cheese).

 

Being a naive rookie, I asked the hostess “is that cheese cart just something special for the first night? Or is it an up charge thing?” (I’m so used to paying for a specialty restaurant to get a formal cheese service.)

 

She responded “no Ma’am Charla [sidebar: all the crew in the restaurant remembered my name after me only being there for like an hour at lunch] in yacht club a cheese cart service is complimentary at every dinner.”
 

I responded, half joking with:  “wow, that’s wonderful. Cheese is my love language.”

 

Flash forward to about 20 minutes ago when heading to my stateroom to turn in after a little live music in the Jazz bar.  My butler Kevin was in the hallway and saw me coming and opened my door for me and said “I left you a little something that I heard that you really enjoy.”

 

Sure enough, a cheese plate with accompaniments was waiting for me.

 

While I’m lying in bed consuming said turn down treats, I’m pulling together pictures and notes from the rest of my first day onboard, so please prepare for a brief posting frenzy.

 

Aloha. Once again you are hitting home runs with your posts and of course food pictures.  Funny story if I may share for a moment. On the QE2 Queens Grill they had this humongous cheese cart which they presented to us. I selected some of the options and my wife said no thank you lol 😂. Fast forward to the QM2 Queens Grill where that had a cheese cart but it was smaller and she found some cheeses 😂. Looking forward to reading more of your experiences! Thank you again

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

10 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Full post about my stateroom to come, but my bed has a mauve velour headboard with matching two-toned zebra print duvet and curtains.

 

Um... Wow.

[GenerationX]

After my muster drill workout yesterday, I went back to my suite where my butler, Kevin was waiting to introduce himself.

 

He gave me an orientation to the room and told be about all the services he can assist with.  He mentioned that items in the mini bar are complimentary (not a big selection, but nice as the mini bar on Celebrity is only included if you’re dropping serious coin on the upper suites) and he’d be happy to swap out different brands if I’d like and would restock it each day.

 

He also let me know that he would be happy to personally escort me to dinner each night and/or to the theater for shows where there is reserved yacht club seating every night (also pretty nice as on Celebrity there’s only reserved suite seating on chic night).

 

He also let me know my suite comes with a full size bottle of liquor.  However he suggested I just get it from him the last day and take it home with me because “if you want a cocktail in your room ma’am, just call me and I’ll bring it to you from the lounge.  In yacht club you shouldn’t have to make your own drinks.”  I’ve discovered my room is about a 15 second walk to the yacht club lounge bar though, so I feel like I won’t be troubling Kevin to fetch me drinks.  I’m fine to get a few much needed steps in and go grab one myself and bring it back.

 

Ok citizens of the Commonwealth following along, this one’s for you...You know how on Celebrity the “high tea” for suites is now essentially just a little buffet of sandwiches and scones set up for self service in the retreat lounge?  Well Kevin informed me that in yacht club there is a full, proper high tea service in the yacht club each day 4-5pm.  I’ll definitely make a point of checking it out and will report back.  I knew I should’ve packed day gloves and a fancy hat 😂

 

After meeting Kevin I went out to explore the ship some.  As my drink situation suggests, as opposed to Celebrity where retreat cabins are spread all over the ship mixed in near other non-retreat staterooms and can be a decent walk to get to the retreat lounge and pool areas (unless you’re on E-class and again have invested serious dough in the edge villas/royal suites/penthouse), in yacht club the cabins are all in a separate, key card access only portion of the ship adjacent to the lounge and pool.  The suite restaurant though is at the other end of the ship (I assume hence the offer of a butler escort).  My new friends who are regular MSC cruisers informed me that on newer MSC ships, the restaurant is also within the yacht club “enclave” though.  So one could very easily spend their whole cruise locked away in the yacht club.

 

Another fun perk, not a thing on Celebrity:

 

See these key card slots by the elevators? In the forward bank of elevators, If you’re in yacht club, you swipe your card in this before pushing the button for an elevator, and an elevator will come straight to you once it becomes available.  You can tell when this has happened because the deck number display will say “priority service”.  No stopping to pick up other decks.  Once you’re on said elevator, swipe your card again before pressing the button for the deck where you’re going.  The elevator will take you straight there with no other stops. Do not pass go, do not collect 4500 other people trying to squeeze themselves in on top of you.

 

It seems the service is disabled during some peak traffic times, like when a show is letting out in the theater. But still a nice little perk.

 

Overall, thus far, I’m so so sad to say that it’s seeming like Yacht Club is offering a good amount more perks than Celebrity and at almost half the price (and again, without having to book the highest levels of suites to get them).  So, you might be asking, what’s the catch? Well, here are the ones for me thus far:

 

1- As I mentioned before, the decor on this particular ship is…something.  Very Vegas circa 1995.  I know people complain about E class and refurb decor on Celebrity being too grey and plain but I will cheerfully take that bright clean look over all things purple, fluffy and gold.  

 

2- If you aren’t a fan of the (to me still relatively limited) number of kids on Celebrity, brace yourself before coming aboard because MSC is kids on a whole other level.  Not so much in yacht club but everywhere I’ve gone outside the club, strollers and high chairs abound.  In a half hour walking around the main pools and water slide yesterday, I heard “mommy I’m thirsty” whined in at least 3 different languages. There was a woman out on the dance floor in the jazz club last night boogieing down with a sleeping infant strapped to her chest.

 

3- Really minor thing, but it looks like you don’t get a robe in yacht club like you do in retreat.  Again not a deal breaker, but I guess if I want to use a bathrobe for my room service breakfasts and late evening pj’s star gazing on MSC, I’m going to have to pack one and bring it from home.

 

Speaking of breakfast, I’m just finishing a really good hazelnut latte in the lounge.  There’s a nice little continental breakfast spread out but I think I’ll head up to check out the breakfast by the yacht club pool as we pull into Freeport, Bahamas.

 

Talk to you all after breakfast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

11 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

I thought you were going to walk into your stateroom and find the whole cheese cart.

Seriously though I am gathering that this crew is bringing you their Service A-Game.

Or maybe they are always this on point?

 

According to the guys I’ve been talking to who sail yacht club all the time, this level of service is standard in Divina yacht club. They also said that they thought Divina and maybe Miraviglia had the best service.  They said on the new ships, the number of yacht club cabins was increased significantly so the service isn’t as good or as personal (sounds like another cruise line I know well).  

I’m sniffing at trying a cruise at the end of April on one of the new MSC ships depending on how bonuses go at work next month. And of course assuming the food and service I’ve been getting don’t take a nosedive in the next couple of days.

 

This service has definitely felt like it’s a notch above Celebrity even having been in a royal suite.  Which is crazy considering how much less I paid for this cruise.  
 

I just don’t know if Celebrity has the financial capacity to keep up with this.  I’ve heard that thanks to their other business ventures the family that owns MSC didn’t have to take on any debt to survive the cruising shut down.  They aren’t playing catch up the way Celebrity has to.

 

[sbt518]

Did I miss the stateroom photos? I was looking forward to the animal print decor 🤣

[Lena11033]

12 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

Ok citizens of the Commonwealth following along, this one’s for you...You know how on Celebrity the “high tea” for suites is now essentially just a little buffet of sandwiches and scones set up for self service in the retreat lounge?  Well Kevin informed me that in yacht club there is a full, proper high tea service in the yacht club each day 4-5pm.  I’ll definitely make a point of checking it out and will report back.  I knew I should’ve packed day gloves and a fancy hat 😂

 

🤤

Well damn. It's hard to get high tea, actually it's hard to get decent British food in general. On Celebrity in the summer I tried some of theirs and some of it was questionable. Mind you even in Canada it's the same, people recommend British food and then I try it and am like 'this is not right'. 

 

Thinking I may need to look at MSC, the decor I could live with. Kids is a harder one (I don't have kids) I don't dislike kids but there are for sure people that spoil their kids to the point they don't know how to behave in public (I maybe 41 but my dad was born in 1933 so was raised a little more strict than friends my age 🤣). 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

4 minutes ago, sbt518 said:

Did I miss the stateroom photos? I was looking forward to the animal print decor 🤣

Same!

[Cruising89143]

10 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

According to the guys I’ve been talking to who sail yacht club all the time, this level of service is standard in Divina yacht club. They also said that they thought Divina and maybe Miraviglia had the best service.  They said on the new ships, the number of yacht club cabins was increased significantly so the service isn’t as good or as personal (sounds like another cruise line I know well).  

I’m sniffing at trying a cruise at the end of April on one of the new MSC ships depending on how bonuses go at work next month. And of course assuming the food and service I’ve been getting don’t take a nosedive in the next couple of days.

 

This service has definitely felt like it’s a notch above Celebrity even having been in a royal suite.  Which is crazy considering how much less I paid for this cruise.  
 

I just don’t know if Celebrity has the financial capacity to keep up with this.  I’ve heard that thanks to their other business ventures the family that owns MSC didn’t have to take on any debt to survive the cruising shut down.  They aren’t playing catch up the way Celebrity has to.

 

Enjoying your review. Interesting comments about MSC and their backing financially. This article appeared this morning and while being the biggest is not always the best, with MSC having the financial backing that they do, they will definitely do well in the U.S market. 
 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/01/msc-goal-to-become-largest/

[ecslady]

Great information on MSC and great comparison to Celebrity.  Makes me want to give MSC a try again.

 

I actually sailed once on MSC a very long time ago - actually 20 years ago on the MS Melody.  It was my 2nd ever cruise and it stopped at St. Lucia, which I had always wanted to go to.  So, there was a women's group going and I signed up.  What an experience on a very, very old ship.  All the announcements were in about 20 languages (probably not 20, but it felt that way) and they had security guards in black suits stationed all over the ship, including the top deck in the sun and overlooking the pool. The shows were also very old Vegas type.

[countess5]

Based on your description it sounds like the Yacht Club is on the same makeup of the Haven on NCL. Not something we really liked being in a carded off area missing the ship vibe. However hearing Mommy I’m thirsty in different languages isn’t the best. Strollers and high chairs, on my! 

We also felt like when we went out of the Haven area the ship and vibe wasn’t for us. 

Having a larger pool deck area for suites sounds good, Haven was split up and small. They actually had a pool “small” with no views. 

 

Cheers! 

[GenerationX]

25 minutes ago, sbt518 said:

Did I miss the stateroom photos? I was looking forward to the animal print decor 🤣

Nope you didn’t miss it! Next update will be a (very amusing) room report!

[karmamule]

The newer MSC ships we've been on all are polished/shiny verging on gaudy depending on your tastes. We think they just avoid being gaudy and love the look. But, from what we've seen of their older (pre-Seaside) ships they definitely were a bit comical in some of their decor choices. The cabins in newer ships like the Seashore are actually quite understated, with lots of muted gray tones and much simpler decor. (A little too much so in my opinion, I'd have liked more personality in our Seashore cabin)  Though I must say even on their newer ships the Italians seem to like their odd chair designs sprinkled about the ship.

 

In any case, happy to hear you're having a fun time so far! MSC Yacht Club service really has been top notch for us on all of our cruises with them. We're giving Celebrity a chance in our cruise next week but as you now see the bar is set pretty high for them to replace MSC in our affections, at least when it comes to suite-level service.

 

[GenerationX]

34 minutes ago, Lena11033 said:

 

🤤

Well damn. It's hard to get high tea, actually it's hard to get decent British food in general. On Celebrity in the summer I tried some of theirs and some of it was questionable. Mind you even in Canada it's the same, people recommend British food and then I try it and am like 'this is not right'. 

 

Thinking I may need to look at MSC, the decor I could live with. Kids is a harder one (I don't have kids) I don't dislike kids but there are for sure people that spoil their kids to the point they don't know how to behave in public (I maybe 41 but my dad was born in 1933 so was raised a little more strict than friends my age 🤣). 

Same! I also had a strict upbringing and am stricter with my 10 year old than I think many of her peers’ parents are.  I come from a military family that is very big on manners and respect for others and behaving like a lady/gentleman no matter how young you are.

 

I heard from the veteran cruisers this morning that MSC does a lot of “kids sail free” promotions that attract large families, but yacht club is usually excluded from the offer.  So faced with paying nothing for their kids to sail in lower class staterooms vs. paying full price for the whole family to do yacht club, most families end up not booking yacht club.  
 

 

[Lena11033]

1 minute ago, GenerationX said:

Same! I also had a strict upbringing and am stricter with my 10 year old than I think many of her peers’ parents are.  I come from a military family that is very big on manners and respect for others and behaving like a lady/gentleman no matter how young you are.

 

I heard from the veteran cruisers this morning that MSC does a lot of “kids sail free” promotions that attract large families, but yacht club is usually excluded from the offer.  So faced with paying nothing for their kids to sail in lower class staterooms vs. paying full price for the whole family to do yacht club, most families end up not booking yacht club.  
 

 

 

That makes sense, especially with the cost of things people are looking for deals with kids, especially if you have multiple children (my neighbours where I lived before all had 3-5 kids and I have no idea how they afford anything lol)

 

I had a look at YC for a Mediterranean cruise and compared it to what I paid in the summer for a Med cruise for a solo cabin on Beyond. For the same price I can get YC on MSC and the cruise is one day longer.

[GenerationX]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

you have focused on what I was wondering about...ornate decorl

.Can u overlook it or is it a distraction?

We are not Hoppen fans but do like a sleek look..

 

Also, is it crowded in the suite area only places?

Honestly, as of right now, I’m still finding the overstated decor fairly distracting.  Not to the point of ruining my cruise experience, but some of the design choices are just so glaring it’s almost impossible not to notice and cringe inwardly.  I’m wondering though if perhaps I’ll get used to it in a day or two. Time will tell.

[dcbiker97]

Thank you for continuing to post. It’s super interesting to hear your perspectives because we’ve only really only sailed Celebrity other than 2 RC cruises.  
 

Do the menus change nightly on MSC and do they offer the ability to have anything made, given a days advance?  That’s one of the key benefits for us because of some health issues my partner has.  We almost always have to have a special meals prepared, which Luminae staff have been always been wonderful about. 

[asnaleah]

Is MSC the parent company of the new Explora ships?

[karmamule]

5 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

Is MSC the parent company of the new Explora ships?

 

Yes it is. They've started sending us e-mails with deals on Explora cruises.

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  I think in my humble opinion given the level of sophistication you have experienced with the Retreat and Yacht Club it is time to try the Queen Mary 2 Grills experience.  I say that because you are widely respected and am sure many would appreciate your opinion.  After that, perhaps move on to RSSC, Silversea or Seabourn.  I was not please with Viking but certainly please consider my suggestions! 

[GenerationX]

The much anticipated stateroom report:

 

My room is a yacht club deluxe grand suite.  I believe this is the next to highest class of yacht club cabin on Divina. I’ve been told there’s a higher, Sophia Loren themed multi room suite that seems like it’s on par with a royal suite on celebrity.

 

The room and closet are spacious, but I think just felt small to me after 5 days in my royal suite executive condo at sea.

 

As you can see (and mentioned earlier), the interesting design choices continued in the room.

 

The room is very clean, but it seems like it’s due for a good refresh, and not just for the outdated decor.  My carpet has a few stains and the bed skirts and drapes are somewhat worn.  

 

Frequent followers of my reviews know how much I love a good full body mirror.  So it’s saying something when I say this room has too much mirror for me.  The Italians must really enjoy looking at themselves. At all times. The entire wall across from the bed is a massive mirror.  I’m keeping this review rated PG so I won’t share my husband’s response when I sent him a photo of this about how he felt that this feature could actually [cough] “optimize” our [cough] “cruising experience”. 

 

Even less appealing to me is the full wall mirror in the curtain-less shower/tub combo.  With apologies if it’s too graphic, but between the mirror in the tub itself and the one over the sink directly across, I really can do without the close up, play by play, look at how my food and beverage consumption is affecting my bare form as the cruise goes on.

 

I think I also really prefer how in the sky suites on Celebrity S class, the tub is separate from the shower.  
 

If I compare apples to apples and think about a non-refurbished, S class, sky suite on Celebrity compared to this room on MSC, for me Celebrity gets the win for the cabin hands down.

 

I’m going to take a dip in the pool then grab a mimosa at the bar (unlike the retreat Sundeck, I’ve yet to see in-seat drink servers going around, but it sounds like there’s a crew drill going on right now so may be why) then will fill you in on dinner last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[karmamule]

It's funny to see how the older MSC ships looked. As a point of comparison, here's a pic of the main living area for the Royal Suite we had on the MSC Seashore. (The bedroom was equally subdued).

 

 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Room looks great. You are not  missing anything with the Sophia Loren room. Years ago Carnival owned the Crystal Palace in Nassau and Carnival Air. So I would be comped air and hotel and food from NY. Anyway stayed in rooms that would make Las Vegas cringe lol.  Travel to LV several times per year but those rooms…aargh. Now the Crystal Palace was used to house workers when then built Baha Mar and then Atlantis 

took the reigns. Anyway enjoy and thank you for the pictures.  Please post food pictures i am hungry 😂

[mchell810]

44 minutes ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha.  I think in my humble opinion given the level of sophistication you have experienced with the Retreat and Yacht Club it is time to try the Queen Mary 2 Grills experience.  I say that because you are widely respected and am sure many would appreciate your opinion.  After that, perhaps move on to RSSC, Silversea or Seabourn.  I was not please with Viking but certainly please consider my suggestions! 

 

Sounds like a plan, Charla can start a new career as a cruise reviewer/travel writer 😉

[mchell810]

The mirror in the shower is definitely a bit much! 

[Stem to Stern]

Enjoying all of your updates.  I guess I could stomach the decor and turn it into comical amusement especially if the service is as stellar as you describe and the cruise is a fraction of the price of The Retreat on Celebrity.  Monochromatic gray and greige decor can be a bit boring.  Nevertheless the images of the black and gold table lamp and mauve zebra print drapery and bedding will be forever embedded in my brain.  I would have to give some thought to how I would manage the abundance of little people.  And I would have to exercise some restraint with my feedback for late night dancing Queen with strapped-in baby out way beyond their bedtime.