Is the Yacht Club Worth it? Yes it is! But..

[JustAPilot]

So first time doing yacht club in the Mediterranean and the hype is real. Service is amazing, food? Yeah I ate my fair share of lobster tails. But here is the thing, because MSC has multiple departure and arrival ports I never felt like my embarkation was a gongshow. We checked in after 12pm and there was zero lineup for bags or security. Infact I was ushered to the family line without anyone even realizing I was yacht club. Maybe because we had a stroller and a toddler they thought we were in the general section? Regardless once I said yacht club we were treated different.
 

And now for the but, so I’m not one to spend every hour in my own “section” so we normally went to the main part of the ship because A. they have a kiddy pool area which my son loved and B. there was just more entertainment and meeting fellow guests. Not once did I flash my yacht club card and make myself known the staff were fantastic all over. MSC has another customer and I’m here to tell you that the service all over the ship especially in Europe is top notch. 

 

 

 

[JustAPilot]

And we were loyal NCL fans but their Haven pricing is way out of touch for what you get, do yacht club like us you won’t be disappointed. 

[markwfpb]

Thanks for this. We've done several MSC YC in the Caribbean but our Fantasia cruise will be our first in Europe.

We board in Naples. Looks like the ship doesn't even arrive until 1pm. We're scheduled to board at 2pm - so not much point in showing up any earlier or maybe the ship often gets there earlier than scheduled?

Also curious if they enforce no smoking on balconies. (we were on a 17-day HAL cruise with a smoker below us who never stopped so hoping to not repeat that!)

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, markwfpb said:

Also curious if they enforce no smoking on balconies. (we were on a 17-day HAL cruise with a smoker below us who never stopped so hoping to not repeat that!)

 

 If you report offenders, they will take action.  However, they cannot stop it from happening if they do not know about it.  

 

  Did you report the smoker on your HAL cruise? 

 

[Essiesmom]

On our second cruise on Divina, we hadn’t left port before we could see/smell our balcony neighbor smoking on the balcony.  We immediately called guest services.  They came right up, and it never happened again.  EM

[markwfpb]

We've never had a problem with smokers on MSC in the Caribbean - but wondered if Europe enforcement was simply more lax.

Yes, on HAL, we reported several times but the couple never stopped - the husband even smoked in line for an excursion!

[JustAPilot]

No smokers on the balcony so far, but they do have ash trays in the yacht club pool deck on the Med cruise. 

[JustAPilot]

Also get used to no personal space in the elevators outside of YC. As soon as you insert your card for priority the elevator gets raided by Italian families who have no concept of personal space and they come for the ride with you. 😂

Edited June 10 by JustAPilot

[markwfpb]

Thanks. Good thing we usually take the stairs!

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, JustAPilot said:

No smokers on the balcony so far, but they do have ash trays in the yacht club pool deck on the Med cruise. 

 

 Yes, a certain portion of the pool deck is designated as a smoking area. This is no different than the regular pool deck.  

 

  You can tell where it is by the ash trays and can easily avoid it should you choose to do so.