Our first YC experience.

[mcoler181]

Not really one for posting long reviews so will be short and to the point but as I get a lot good info off here thought it would only fair to share my experience. This was our second sailing with MSC, first was on Seascape in standard class of the ship with our two daughters.

 

This sailing it was just the two of us for an anniversary cruise, we were on Virtuosa out of Southampton in early July (only just getting round to it now), it was a 5 night sailing around Northern Europe.

 

Embarkation was great, escorted up to the YC waiting area and offered a glass of fizz, short wait and we were escorted with about a dozen other YC passengers to the ship, have to say felt slightly awkward strolling past the huge line of people in the gangways up to the ship, overheard one person say "they must be Yacht Club" 🤣

 

Cabin - We only had an Interior, we generally go for cheaper cabins when cruising as we aren't ones for spending any time in them, sleeping and getting ready so would rather save the money to spend elsewhere. It was perfectly fine for us. 

 

Butler - Bit of an odd one this, I was under the impression (from here) the Butler would come and introduce themselves etc, I don't think we saw her until day 3 and it was just a "hello, how are your in the corridor", wasn't really an issue as we wouldn't have used her for anything anyway over an above looking after the room, just not what I was expecting. 

 

Service -  In all areas it was great, the lounge, dining room and top deck, if I had one criticism breakfast was a little slow at times. One thing we found funny, a particular male server took quite a shine to me and would rush over to greet me in the dining room and whenever else he saw me but completely blanked my wife on each occasion, wound her up a bit 🤣.

 

Food - I'll start by saying the food was really good with a couple of issues.

Twice ordered eggs benedict for breakfast, first occasion the muffin was not toasted at all, hollandaise was so so, but adequate. Thought I would try it again and specifically asked for the muffin to be toasted as i had ordered it previously and the muffin was untoasted, it wasn't really any better which was a shame.

The first night there was nothing I fancied so I went for the Filet steak, medium rare. What arrived was probably the smallest almost well done Filet Steak I have ever seen, they were busy so I just ate it and moved on, I did have the Oscar style steak later in the cruise and this was much better so I'll put it down to an off day.

I have to say in regards to the food it wasn't as good as I was expecting, that's not to say it was in anyway bad but just wasn't the level I was expecting from reviews/comments on here. In fact I'm sure someone on here months ago was trying to say it was Michelin Star level, which at the time I disputed but said I hadn't tried it so would have to wait until I had, its no where near Michelin Star level. Like I say we really enjoyed the food and had some lovely meals it just wasn't elevated to the level I was under the impression it was going to be. Could this be down to the ship? The MDR food we had on Seascape in the Caribbean was fantastic but there have been a lot of reviews and Youtube videos about how poor the MDR food is on Virtuosa, does this extend to YC?

 

So overall, fantastic cruise will definitely do YC again in the future, wont be any time soon as its a bit out of our budget when travelling with the full family, plus don't think the kids would particularly enjoy YC, too sedate. 

 

Next up is World America in an Aurea Infinite Ocean View cabin. 

[DaKahuna]

We are doing our 2nd and 3rd MSC YC cruises this month.  We had excellent food and service in the YC on MSC Divina.  Smarter people than me have said that the experiences in YC is really dependent on the YC Director, the Chef, and the head butler and I am finding that to be more and more true. 

[MsTabbyKats]

31 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We are doing our 2nd and 3rd MSC YC cruises this month.  We had excellent food and service in the YC on MSC Divina.  Smarter people than me have said that the experiences in YC is really dependent on the YC Director, the Chef, and the head butler and I am finding that to be more and more true. 

Agree.

Our first YC experience, on a scale of 1 to 10...was about 100

Our second one, although very good (9 out of 10) just lacked small details important to us; things probably no one else would care about.

 

[KarenGretz]

57 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Agree.

Our first YC experience, on a scale of 1 to 10...was about 100

Our second one, although very good (9 out of 10) just lacked small details important to us; things probably no one else would care about.

 

I wonder if the YC first time was sooooo good that nothing will live up to it? That's my fear with my first YC experience happening in 32 days! I guess I'll just have to suffer through 😉

[SirWolf]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We are doing our 2nd and 3rd MSC YC cruises this month.  We had excellent food and service in the YC on MSC Divina.  Smarter people than me have said that the experiences in YC is really dependent on the YC Director, the Chef, and the head butler and I am finding that to be more and more true. 

 

Middle management level is most important in any (large) company. Unfortunately many upper management executives have good concepts but these ideas don’t get implemented all the way to the guest/customer. Motivating and being role model is key of a good manager in middle management position.

I have observed a few YC team pre-shift briefings before dinner.. the “energy” of the YC Director is visible in the kind of service the waiters/waitresses provide at dinner.

Edited September 11 by SirWolf

[MsTabbyKats]

35 minutes ago, KarenGretz said:

I wonder if the YC first time was sooooo good that nothing will live up to it? That's my fear with my first YC experience happening in 32 days! I guess I'll just have to suffer through 😉

My first world problems:

 

No pizza delivery to pool deck...which I was looking forward to.  Pizza and a coke....for me, heaven.  And no...eating in the cabin is not the same.

 

Snacks at TSP not as good and lacked variety

 

Weather wasn't perfect on #2.  DH and I are not fans of "the dining room experience"...(we eat out all the time at home, so it's nothing special).On trip #1 we spent hours on the pool deck, including the buffets.  Because of the weather, eating on the pool deck was limited.  We ended up spending a lot of time in the main buffet.

 

Entertainment in the theatre wasn't (for us) as good.  DH likes production shows. English is DH's 3rd language....he doesn't "get" comics...and there were multiple "non-production" shows.

 

As I said...most issues were specific to us.

[SirWolf]

1 hour ago, KarenGretz said:

I wonder if the YC first time was sooooo good that nothing will live up to it? That's my fear with my first YC experience happening in 32 days! I guess I'll just have to suffer through 😉

 

IMHO it’s all about expectations. YC is definitely more expensive than entry level experiences ..but.. ( there is always a “but” 😉 ) YC is not a private charter cruise with 4 passengers and 12 crew on a luxury super yacht.

I am expecting the service advertised by MSC and I appreciate any additional efforts to make my cruise even more enjoyable.

I am respectful to YC butlers and crew in general.. respect goes a long way.

Still getting goosebumps when walking up the gangway to step onto ship .. and having watery eyes when saying Goodbye to the butler on the last day.

[mnocket]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We are doing our 2nd and 3rd MSC YC cruises this month.  We had excellent food and service in the YC on MSC Divina.  Smarter people than me have said that the experiences in YC is really dependent on the YC Director, the Chef, and the head butler and I am finding that to be more and more true. 

Interesting...  we recently completed a YC cruise on Preziosa (sister ship to Divina I believe) and we were very disappointed by the food in the YC restaurant.  It was nowhere close to what I experienced on US sailings on the Seaside. I thought maybe it was a US vs Europe thing, but maybe it just varies ship-to-ship, sailing-to-sailing.  

[Two Wheels Only]

46 minutes ago, mnocket said:

I thought maybe it was a US vs Europe thing, but maybe it just varies ship-to-ship, sailing-to-sailing. 

 

Pretty much everything varies ship-to-ship, sailing-to-sailing with MSC......😉

[asctony]

13 hours ago, mcoler181 said:

 Cabin - We only had an Interior, we generally go for cheaper cabins when cruising as we aren't ones for spending any time in them, sleeping and getting ready so would rather save the money to spend elsewhere. It was perfectly fine for us. 

 

Next up is World America in an Aurea Infinite Ocean View cabin. 

Thank you for taking the time for your review. It was excellent in that you could compare your first non-YC cruise to the YC experience. You were honest and described your experience.

 

If I may ask, what inside cabin did you have on this cruise? I asked because we are going on the World America and see where there are Inside cabins in the YC area on Deck 21, 20 & 19 that are Non-YC YIC.

 

I'm totally surprised that these Non-YC cabins are in the YC area. Yet, other YC inside cabins are on deck 15 & 16.

 

Trying to decide how that would affect both YC and Non-YC guests in such a small area. 

 

TIA

[mcoler181]

11 minutes ago, asctony said:

Thank you for taking the time for your review. It was excellent in that you could compare your first non-YC cruise to the YC experience. You were honest and described your experience.

 

If I may ask, what inside cabin did you have on this cruise? I asked because we are going on the World America and see where there are Inside cabins in the YC area on Deck 21, 20 & 19 that are Non-YC YIC.

 

I'm totally surprised that these Non-YC cabins are in the YC area. Yet, other YC inside cabins are on deck 15 & 16.

 

Trying to decide how that would affect both YC and Non-YC guests in such a small area. 

 

TIA

we were in 16008 if that is any help.

[asctony]

27 minutes ago, mcoler181 said:

we were in 16008 if that is any help.

Thank you very much!

Happy Cruising.

[Oxo]

On 9/11/2024 at 3:27 AM, mcoler181 said:

Not really one for posting long reviews so will be short and to the point but as I get a lot good info off here thought it would only fair to share my experience. This was our second sailing with MSC, first was on Seascape in standard class of the ship with our two daughters.

 

This sailing it was just the two of us for an anniversary cruise, we were on Virtuosa out of Southampton in early July (only just getting round to it now), it was a 5 night sailing around Northern Europe.

 

Embarkation was great, escorted up to the YC waiting area and offered a glass of fizz, short wait and we were escorted with about a dozen other YC passengers to the ship, have to say felt slightly awkward strolling past the huge line of people in the gangways up to the ship, overheard one person say "they must be Yacht Club" 🤣

 

Cabin - We only had an Interior, we generally go for cheaper cabins when cruising as we aren't ones for spending any time in them, sleeping and getting ready so would rather save the money to spend elsewhere. It was perfectly fine for us. 

 

Butler - Bit of an odd one this, I was under the impression (from here) the Butler would come and introduce themselves etc, I don't think we saw her until day 3 and it was just a "hello, how are your in the corridor", wasn't really an issue as we wouldn't have used her for anything anyway over an above looking after the room, just not what I was expecting. 

 

Service -  In all areas it was great, the lounge, dining room and top deck, if I had one criticism breakfast was a little slow at times. One thing we found funny, a particular male server took quite a shine to me and would rush over to greet me in the dining room and whenever else he saw me but completely blanked my wife on each occasion, wound her up a bit 🤣.

 

Food - I'll start by saying the food was really good with a couple of issues.

Twice ordered eggs benedict for breakfast, first occasion the muffin was not toasted at all, hollandaise was so so, but adequate. Thought I would try it again and specifically asked for the muffin to be toasted as i had ordered it previously and the muffin was untoasted, it wasn't really any better which was a shame.

The first night there was nothing I fancied so I went for the Filet steak, medium rare. What arrived was probably the smallest almost well done Filet Steak I have ever seen, they were busy so I just ate it and moved on, I did have the Oscar style steak later in the cruise and this was much better so I'll put it down to an off day.

I have to say in regards to the food it wasn't as good as I was expecting, that's not to say it was in anyway bad but just wasn't the level I was expecting from reviews/comments on here. In fact I'm sure someone on here months ago was trying to say it was Michelin Star level, which at the time I disputed but said I hadn't tried it so would have to wait until I had, its no where near Michelin Star level. Like I say we really enjoyed the food and had some lovely meals it just wasn't elevated to the level I was under the impression it was going to be. Could this be down to the ship? The MDR food we had on Seascape in the Caribbean was fantastic but there have been a lot of reviews and Youtube videos about how poor the MDR food is on Virtuosa, does this extend to YC?

 

So overall, fantastic cruise will definitely do YC again in the future, wont be any time soon as its a bit out of our budget when travelling with the full family, plus don't think the kids would particularly enjoy YC, too sedate. 

 

Next up is World America in an Aurea Infinite Ocean View cabin. 

Excellent review! You really detailed your comments and it provides a lot of valuable information. I see where you are going on the World America. When? It really looks like a very nice ship. 

Thanks again for your info!

Enjoy your next cruise.

Just noticed you are from the UK, where? I was stationed at Bentwaters & Woodbridge RAF. Woodbridge East Angelia.

Edited September 12 by Oxo
add info

[mcoler181]

2 hours ago, Oxo said:

Excellent review! You really detailed your comments and it provides a lot of valuable information. I see where you are going on the World America. When? It really looks like a very nice ship. 

Thanks again for your info!

Enjoy your next cruise.

Just noticed you are from the UK, where? I was stationed at Bentwaters & Woodbridge RAF. Woodbridge East Angelia.

Oct 2025 we are on World America, looking forward to it.

 

We are up in the North East of England, a place called Middlesbrough.