Hi there…I am not prone to posting reviews because we are still cruising noobs relative to those on here who have tons of cruises under their belts and are multi-star/diamond etc. We are jealous of those who sail so often…so cool for those who can. So I will give my thoughts on YC value.
This was our second MSC cruise (Oct 24 bahamas cruise), both on MSC, both on Divina and both in YC. We have sailed HAL in what is now the Neptune suites as well. I am 60 and my amazing wife is 57…we love anything Carribean.
Our final message is we would not sail MSC unless it was in the Yacht club. Embarkation is such a breeze even though the Terminal B experience this past Monday was a bit of a disaster though once we finally did get on the ship and through the doors of deck 15 all was good!
First let me hit the pluses for us. Once we stepped into the YC areas it was immediate relaxation. I have to say every single person we encountered on the ship was enthusiastically helpful and cheery. The YC lounge is a gem of a place to relax and just let stress fall to the floor. The pool area was great…had the BBC recommended to us day 1 (Banana Baileys Colada…OMG) and it was never that busy the whole cruise. This was our first time to Ocean Cay and we loved the YC beach again as it was relaxing snd service was good. Rocks are bad at that beach and one couple walked over to an adjacent beach and said was much more comfy and sandy. We floated so were fine. Beautiful island that place is.
Now the things we felt were somewhat underwhelming. Our butler, who will remain nameless as we debated whether he was new and just not on his game, was just not great. He took preferences once he found us after embarkation but things never showed up until Day 3 and some things were never delivered, without any follow up why. Nothing that affected our fun but just felt like we didnt have that typical butler experience which is a YC differentiator. Example…disembarkation we go to the lounge as he told us once they announce clearance he would come get us and escort us out. We sat and watched several couples and groups come and go with their butlers…some by the same butler…some butlers kept checking in the lounge for folks. Ours…nope. We went to the concierge and they had to call him. We had another butler about to offer to take us down when ours showed up. What’s worse is I don’t think we saw but one another couple coming or going from our side of the ship the whole time.
We were disappointed in the restaurant in general. Could not get a filet cooked correctly at any sitting though I did have good salmon and seafood soup. We are not “foodies” or wine drinkers but the food was not on par with our first cruise. Maitre d’ was very attentive and talked to us quite a bit…was impressed by that staff there. An older couple next to us was heard talking with him about this being their 28th cruise on MSC, 18th on the Divina (the maitre d was the one calling out their numbers) and they said this was their 90 something cruise they had taken! Made my heart warm listening to them. The maitre d’ talked to us like we didn’t have cruise noobs on our foreheads LOL. That impressed us.
Well I rambled too long and more than planned. Final conclusion is we will never sail MSC without being in YC. Overall value is too good…amenities we look for are there and we had a blessed time feeling looked after and the staff on all levels were great.
We will be back no questions asked. Thanks for listening.