Just off MSC Yacht Club, my thoughts

[rollie]

About myself, we have done over 39 Celebrity cruises.  In the last few years we have been able to afford the Retreat.  We really liked the experience on Edge class in the Retreat.  That being said, we feel that Celebrities prices have gone through the roof and the Retreat experience is not the same as it once was.  So, we decided to give MSC Yacht club a try.  I think that the only area that Celebrity still excels is service.  I don't think any other cruise line, other than a luxury brand, can beat Celebrities service.  Luminae food is not what it once was.  The service is still top notch, but quality and choices are not what the once were.  The Retreat sundeck is nice, but the Yacht Club is awesome.  Yacht Club is much bigger than the Retreat sundeck.  I liked the buffet there and had breakfast there everyday..  I was surprised with how good the food quality is in the Yacht Club.  I thought this was an area where Celebrity would still be tops.  Not so.  The lounge is another area that MCS out shines Celebrity.  The bar area is bigger and the whole area is more opulent.  

 

In summary, with the prices Celebrity is now charging for the Retreat, I think I well stick with MSC.

 

[cbfb]

How was the service on MSC YC? What ship were you on? 

[Team Stag]

Congratulations on finding a vacation that you enjoyed and feel that you got a a great value. Cheers!

[hcat]

Good report..if you can answer a few ques that would be helpful...

 

What  MSC ship?  How many passengers?  What was the itin

How was your  suite  compared to X?

What did you enjoy most?  

thanks

[Cruise a holic]

We are also Elite Plus on Celebrity.  We enjoy suites but now with the drop in service and price are also considering MSC Yacht club.  May try for our next winter cruise.  A new adventure.

[H2OH!]

Thank you for sharing. We may try MSC as well for the reasons you stated. 

[asctony]

Normally MSC is very reasonable compared to the other lines. What was your opinion of prices? Cabin, packages, etc.

TIA

Happy Holidays & Cruising! 

[dunedinmaiden]

3 hours ago, rollie said:

About myself, we have done over 39 Celebrity cruises.  In the last few years we have been able to afford the Retreat.  We really liked the experience on Edge class in the Retreat.  That being said, we feel that Celebrities prices have gone through the roof and the Retreat experience is not the same as it once was.  So, we decided to give MSC Yacht club a try.  I think that the only area that Celebrity still excels is service.  I don't think any other cruise line, other than a luxury brand, can beat Celebrities service.  Luminae food is not what it once was.  The service is still top notch, but quality and choices are not what the once were.  The Retreat sundeck is nice, but the Yacht Club is awesome.  Yacht Club is much bigger than the Retreat sundeck.  I liked the buffet there and had breakfast there everyday..  I was surprised with how good the food quality is in the Yacht Club.  I thought this was an area where Celebrity would still be tops.  Not so.  The lounge is another area that MCS out shines Celebrity.  The bar area is bigger and the whole area is more opulent.  

 

In summary, with the prices Celebrity is now charging for the Retreat, I think I well stick with MSC.

 

Thanks so much for your insight.  We have been considering the MSC Yacht Club as well.  Unfortunately, not all travel agents work with them. The only thing that discouraged us from booking was their horrible, land-side customer service reviews.  How was your booking experience, accuracy, any issues?

[gmbhardy]

29 minutes ago, dunedinmaiden said:

Thanks so much for your insight.  We have been considering the MSC Yacht Club as well.  Unfortunately, not all travel agents work with them. The only thing that discouraged us from booking was their horrible, land-side customer service reviews.  How was your booking experience, accuracy, any issues?

I suggest finding an agent that has a track record of working with MSC. Like others have said, they have a lot of weird business practices that make no sense from a practical perspective. We are sailing in the Retreat next month for the first time. We have eight YC  and a dozen Haven cruises under our belt, but based on what I’ve been reading about the current watered down experience in the Retreat,  I’m questioning my decision. By the way, we prefer the YC over the Haven.

[seasoon]

28 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

they have a lot of weird business practices that make no sense from a practical perspective.

Can you share how MSC differs from Celebrity in business practices?

[rollie]

3 hours ago, cbfb said:

How was the service on MSC YC? What ship were you on? 

Service is where Yacht Club lagged way behind Celebrity.  The restaurant was especially slow.  Now wine stewards and waiter were not very friendly.

 

Rollie

[rollie]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Good report..if you can answer a few ques that would be helpful...

 

What  MSC ship?  How many passengers?  What was the itin

How was your  suite  compared to X?

What did you enjoy most?  

thanks

We were on the Seashore out of Port Canaveral for a 3 day cruise.  The cruise was full with about 4000 guests.  We've only been in Sky Suites on Celebrity, and we had a Deluxe Suite on the Seashore, a comparable cabin.  Storage and balcony were superior on MCS, but cabin outlets were much better on Celebrity.  The bathroom was better on Celebrity.  The sundeck on MSC was by far the most enjoyable part of the cruise.

 

Rollie

[gmbhardy]

I’ll give you one specific example. I booked a cruise on board the ship, but realized when I returned home that week would not work for us. You’re allowed one booking change but when my agent attempted to change the booking to a week earlier, they would not allow it. They said the policy would allow a booking change forward but not back. Weird. Another example, my son transferred a booking he made on line to a travel agent. It was considered a rebook so he lost his OBC.

[rollie]

1 hour ago, dunedinmaiden said:

Thanks so much for your insight.  We have been considering the MSC Yacht Club as well.  Unfortunately, not all travel agents work with them. The only thing that discouraged us from booking was their horrible, land-side customer service reviews.  How was your booking experience, accuracy, any issues?

We had no issues booking this cruise.  I will say that they sent us a preferences questionnaire pre cruise and didn't follow through and any requests.  

 

Rollie

[NMTraveller]

Good to know.  People are looking for other options...

[cbfb]

1 hour ago, rollie said:

Service is where Yacht Club lagged way behind Celebrity.  The restaurant was especially slow.  Now wine stewards and waiter were not very friendly.

 

Rollie

Thank you. Good to know. Sounds like a trade off of what is important to the cruiser. We sailed out of Port Canaveral on Seaside just to check it out. We were in a deluxe balcony. it was very cramped. I also see the potential for many kids to be on the ship depending on when you sail. We were on Labor Day week so it wasn’t bad. We enjoyed the cruise, especially at the price point. I think we were all in for $2500. But if I did it again it would be YC. 

[RichYak]

6 hours ago, rollie said:

 I think that the only area that Celebrity still excels is service.  I don't think any other cruise line, other than a luxury brand, can beat Celebrities service.

Unfortunately, I noticed a pronounced drop in service quality on my last Retreat sailing. I'm looking forward to my first MSC YC experience in March.

[NMTraveller]

There are quite a few reports of people going up to the bar because they are not being served by the servers on Celebrity.  How is it on MSC YC?

[AstoriaPreppy]

2 hours ago, seasoon said:

Can you share how MSC differs from Celebrity in business practices?

I’d also note that the MSC website and app are… particularly atrocious for booked passengers? We’re in the Yacht Club next month for our first MSC sailing, but the website has been confoundingly poor. Shore excursions for entire ports will vanish for weeks at a time, only to pop up again (yet be un-bookable). The web check-in process is often non-functional… info will vanish, or take several attempts to process correctly. You have to physically print off all of your docs (no phone or digital passes). Etc, etc.

 

We’re departing round trip from Brooklyn, but the email we received from the line with our docs referenced our UK arrival and various EU regulations… yet the email also references the New York departure. It’s just a mess of IT/communication.

 

Every time I see someone griping on these boards about how unusable the Celebrity website and IT infrastructure is, I realize they’d have a complete meltdown trying to sail MSC. We’re sailing Yacht Club, so a lot of this is moot for us since they can iron out all the issues, but if I was a Bella/Fantastica/Aurea level passenger, I’d be very annoyed.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thanks for your report, Rollie.  I agree that Celebrity's suite prices are completely out of control.  Three times what I paid last year.  Not happening.  I've sailed twice in MSC's YC.  I thought the cabins were excellent, the lounge area fantastic and the same for the pool area.  Their private island was wonderful.  I agree that service does not match Celebrity's level, particularly in the restaurant.  And I last sailed YC prior to the pandemic.  At that time, I didn't think the food measured up to Celebrity either.  What has kept me from sailing them again is that I do not care for 7-night itineraries and I hate driving to Miami.

I second the recommendation to book with a TA who does a lot of business with MSC.  My TA at the time almost fired me because of the difficulty of working with MSC.  I would never attempt to deal with them on my own.

[George C]

4 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Thanks for your report, Rollie.  I agree that Celebrity's suite prices are completely out of control.  Three times what I paid last year.  Not happening.  I've sailed twice in MSC's YC.  I thought the cabins were excellent, the lounge area fantastic and the same for the pool area.  Their private island was wonderful.  I agree that service does not match Celebrity's level, particularly in the restaurant.  And I last sailed YC prior to the pandemic.  At that time, I didn't think the food measured up to Celebrity either.  What has kept me from sailing them again is that I do not care for 7-night itineraries and I hate driving to Miami.

I second the recommendation to book with a TA who does a lot of business with MSC.  My TA at the time almost fired me because of the difficulty of working with MSC.  I would never attempt to deal with them on my own.

We always book our cruises ourselves, but I do get a travel agent for my MSc cruises.

[Stem to Stern]

OP has garnered a significant number of responses to their post.  We agree with much of your opinion having just disembarked Seascape yesterday.  We moved over to Summit on our “turnaround day” and find the Luminae experience far exceeds the Yacht Club Restaurant in food quality and service.  Yacht Club is the clear winner in the Sundeck department with a pool, huge jacuzzis, unlimited padded loungers, Al fresco buffet, and an army of pool butlers and bar service.  Top Sail Lounge usually had a minimum of two bartenders and three waitpersons taking and delivering orders to far more comfortable seating areas.  But we are only on Day 2 of our 5-night Summit cruise, so the verdict is still out.  We will definitely consider Yacht Club again.  Looking forward to reading the rest of the feedback generated here.  

[jcpc]

I believe service in Luminae on M-Class ships in superior to the service received in YC Restaurant.  And usually service in Luminae on S-Class ships is also superior.  However, from my experience the service in Luminae on Edge Class ships is no better than service you would receive in MDR.  There are just too many suites on the Edge class ships to have any sort of personalized service at all......in both Luminae and the Retreat Lounge.  

 

I believe I'm in the minority but I much prefer the food in YC Restaurant than the food in Luminae.  The food in Luminae and elsewhere on Celebrity ships, although always requesting low/no sodium meals, is VERY high in salt content in my opinion.  YC Restaurant had more of a "mediterranean way" of preparing food.....little to no salt, which is my preference. You can get the true flavor of the dish being served rather than the "over seasoned" flavor we, as Americans, are all used to.  Celebrity seems, in my opinion, to now offer quantity over quality.  I much prefer quality over quantity!

 

In my opinion, Celebrity cannot come close to the service received in the Top Sail Lounge on MSC.  We wanted for nothing and were blown away at the personalized service we received.

 

All in all, I'd sail either MSC YC or Celebrity Retreat, however, the Celebrity Retreat pricing is 3 times what I've paid in the past.  A 7-night Caribbean cruise in a Sky Suite prices out at over $10K, whereas you can book a 7-night Caribbean cruise in a verandah suite on MSC for $5K total.  

[Dolebludger]

Actually, price considered, the Retreat is not a competitor of the YC. The Retreat has become a competitor of Silversea and Regent, price wise, and is losing badly IMHO.

[Cruise a holic]

6 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

I suggest finding an agent that has a track record of working with MSC. Like others have said, they have a lot of weird business practices that make no sense from a practical perspective. We are sailing in the Retreat next month for the first time. We have eight YC  and a dozen Haven cruises under our belt, but based on what I’ve been reading about the current watered down experience in the Retreat,  I’m questioning my decision. By the way, we prefer the YC over the Haven.

We cannot locate a good TA for MSC.  Also, we tried filling out the form for getting reciprocity from celebrity we are Elite plus.  The form asks for the Canptains club ID card- don't have one.