Viva123

Take walki talkies

Disembarkation at ports:

This was probably my favorite perk of the yacht club experience. Every morning when we woke up and our Butler was usually in the halls or around the concierge area. He would ask when would we like to get off the boat. We told him that we wanted to get off as early as possible. We usually hang around the topsail Lounge having coffee with a small breakfast and then as soon as we were cleared to leave the ship he would come get us. He would take us to the elevators and escort us all the way down to the fifth floor and passed all the lines of people straight to the security check. Once through the security check he would continue with us all the way off the boat onto the dock and then he would leave us there and go back on. Let me tell you something, all the hundreds of people that are standing in line and are watching you walk right in front of them really don't like it. But hey, everybody has the same chance to purchase a yacht club experience. When you go to get back on the ship at the end of the port day there will always be somebody holding up a yacht club sign. You then inform him that you were Yachtclub showing him your room card and he will escort you right to the ship as well. At Tenderports like Grand Cayman, they would immediately walk you past the line And put you on the first available Boat. This is a great park worth money itself.

Next... Casino and Shows

Do you remember the names of the concierge and head butler? Thanks for a very interesting review.

I don't remember the name of the concierge but I do remember there were three of them and they rotated. The head Butler for us was Eric.

Le Muse

This place was beautiful as well. I love the Decour and the layout of this restaurant. It is a small restaurant but being that you can Eat at time we never had a problem getting seated right away, there's always a couple tables empty. We chose to have a set seating time at 6:30 every day because we have small children at home are used to eating dinner early. The maître d' Mario is outstanding you can definitely tell he aims to please you He told me "That in his restaurant it is not allowed good food,Only perfect food". The service was great the longest dinner we had was probably an hour and a half. All the pastas were delicious as expected, Mario would have a special that he would make fresh every night for everyone to watch him. Me and my wife along with the other couple that we met on the ship all thought that every meal was amazing. They tried very hard to please you and As all ways you could order how many or whatever you want. There was a lobster night and everyone orderd 100 apiece it seems like LOL. Bar service was fast. They will pair wines with your food depending on your choice if you would like them. Again absolutely no complaints we enjoyed every bite of every piece of food we had. The walk to the back of the ship was actually kind of nice for us. Because other than going to the casino 2 Shows that we watched, I don't think we were would have left the YC Area. So it was nice to at least see some other parts of the Ship. FYI Try the Bone Marrow its very delicious.

Next Disembarkation at ports:

Thanks for all the great details. I thought I read about someone getting a bucket of beers (or maybe 2 or 3) is that possible? I like to have a couple sitting in ice and will even share sometimes with DW.

I never had or saw any buckets of beer in the YC. That being said I'm sure if you wanted it they would be more than happy to provide it. I don't think there's very many things that they'll say no to. But there's really no need for a bucket of beer theres so many Butler's walking around constantly asking you if you want drinks I was usually ordering my next one before I was halfway through with the one in my hand.

Topsail Lounge

This place is beautiful! I believe has the best view on the ship. The buffet here has so good food aswell. Usually in the morning crescent rolls, cheeses, breads and fresh fruit. Lunch consisted of mini pizza, small sandwiches, and other munchies. They also had snacks throughout the day that were rotated. In the evening they had a piano player and violin player that were excellent. The butlers were walking the Lounge and offering drinks to everyone in the lounge. This place was very popular in the morning times due to it could be a little windy in the morning for breakfast at the one pool. But usually after breakfast hours all the way till around dinner time there wasn't more than 15 or 20 people in it. Like I said the food was all good but it wasn't enough to make lunch with and we thought more just appetizers and hors d'oeuvres

Up Next......Le Muse

'We arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport at 945 in the morning, skies were clear and it was beautiful. We took an Uber to the port of Miami which cost roughly $35 we found this to be the fastest and cheapest way after doing research.'

Thanks for your great review.

 

 

Were you able to get Uber at the FLL airport?

 

 

We will be doing the same this fall and wanted to use Uber from FLL to MSC Divina.

Yes we took an uber. It was very convenient. Maybe a thirty minute trip to the cruise terminals.

One Pool Bar

After spending a few minutes being in the room and seeing all the amenities the Butler ask if we would like to go to the Le Mouse for lunch. We declined and thought that it would be a better idea to head upstairs and just eat at the buffet ,we were looking forward to getting in the pool. Once we got to the one pool area it was magnificent, tons and tons of lounge chairs with plenty of towels for everybody. I went and saw our bartender who turned out to be one of our favorites on the ship his name was Gary. We wanted to grab a quick drink and head to the small buffet at the one pool( i'll post pictures of the buffet after the review) there is the one pool which is plenty big enough and usually stays at a very good temperature and 2 hot tubs. Not one time did we have to share a hot tub with anybody else. And the most that was ever in the pool with us was no more than five I was blown away with this area throughout the cruise, it was so empty. I would say lounge chairs were 12/1 ratio. We counted on the last day at sea which was the busiest and no more than 45 people on the whole 18th deck. Plenty of Bartenders walking around offering food and drinks. You could order hotdogs and hamburgers on request and they were surprisingly very delicious. All week Long this was our favorite place to be. It was so peaceful compared to the loud rest of the ship. Breakfast was good as well eggs,bacon,sausage,potatoes and made to order omelette. The food at lunch stayed very consistent on being great. No complaints from us at the One Pool area. At this time in our cruise we realized the YC was the way to go.

Next up Topsail Lounge!!

While we wait at the airport having the last Corona of the vacation before we fly home, I want to take the time to start my review. I will have to make a few different post so bare with me. At the end of my review I will post random pictures that we took of menus, room,pools etc. etc.

Embarkation

We arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport at 945 in the morning, skies were clear and it was beautiful. We took an Uber to the port of Miami which cost roughly $35 we found this to be the fastest and cheapest way after doing research. Once at the port of Miami it was very very busy and hectic with the thousands trying to get on and the thousands trying to get off all at the same time. We found the yacht club tent at the very end of the terminal where there was no line. Upon checking in they tagged our bags and we waited roughly 5 minutes for a Butler at the port to start our process walking through the terminal. I originally thought that our luggage came with us but this is the case they taged the bags and you get it later just like everyone else, we didn't see ours until well later into the day probably around 3 o'clock. After being escorted quickly through the masses of lines of people trying to get on board you could tell right away that the experience was definitely worth it by the look on the faces of everyone else that was extremely pissed after standing in the hot lines for who knows how long. Once to the reception area Champagne was offered when we did our check in process. Shortly after about 10 or 15 minutes they escorted a large group of us to the ship. Once we boarded the boat we went directly to deck 15 to the topsail lounge. There were plenty of bartenders coming around offering drinks and snacks while we waited on our Butler. Once our butler came and found us he escorted us to the maître d' where we picked our dining time and set up our cruise cards ( which was very fast and simple I still don't understand why people complain about this process) literally 3 min. From there we were escorted to our room which was 15027.

Room

Our room was very very nice, plenty of different snacks and beverages offered in the mini fridge, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit offered every day along with A bottle of champagne. My wife loved the walkin closet. The water pressure in the shower is best we have had on any cruise and the water gets very hot. Bed was super comfortable as well.

More to Come, It only gets better from this point!!!!!!!

Thanks so much, can you tell me how much the internet is and I would love memento photo on the stairs, Thanks for your reviews and look forward to more. I am going Sunday two weeks with excitement judging by the reviews its going to be enjoyable..

I bought the week Long package and believe I paid $80ish? Last day and still have some left. Used for work emails and to FaceTime the kids at home. Also played Pandora at the pool. Really really good deal and faster then the Carnival we recently got off of.

Again,

I want people to understand that the review that I will be posting tomorrow will be based on our opinions, thoughts and suggestions of the yacht club and some other parts of the ship. That being said we are not millionaires, we are a couple in our late 20s, Middle class and and own a business in the Construction/Farming industry. That being said we are down to earth and easy-going and don't expect a whole lot. So when we are absolutely blown away with the yacht club experience because we are not used to this type of treatment in Tennessee (or any other vacation we have cruised 8 times and flown to 4 different countries via Resort stay ). So I'm sure some people have complaints about it, but again those are probably not the people that I want to have a beer with.

More to follow, in Nassau now!

Were all drinks available ship-wide? Or were the red stars excluded outside YC?

All the drinks offered on Yacht Club menus up stairs are free everywhere. I was extremely surprised at what a huge selection we have in YC. I took pics of Drink menu for YC will post tomorrow while I'm bored at the airport.

Thanks for the info. Not much that I can think of other than how much is the pay pizza place and can you possibly take a pic of the menu to post after you get home.

Thanks.

All the pizza from the Eataly restaurant is free of charge when you order through room service after 6:00 PM. Best Pizza at Sea.

I did take a picture of the menu as soon as I can get to my computer tomorrow I'll upload it

Do you know if MSC offers any incentives to book a future cruise while on board ?

And if you visited the casino, can you share any tips or information ? TIA

Yes, they offered a $200 on board credit with only a $50 deposit if you booked on board for the YC.

Yes, we play the Casion every night, we love 3 card poker and usually played $200- $250 worth a night together (wife and I). So they do have a point system you can redeem free gifts and perks but I think it's terrible for Table games. Collectively, we have won and lost throughout the cruise but definitely lost more then we won. Our goal was 1250 points so we could qualify for the 30% future cruise discount that you can stack on top of your 5% Voyager discount and the mentioned onboard credit. With slots I believe it's possible to do this , but I have spent well over $1000 between my wife and I and as of today only have 880 points. Not favorable for table games. The slots have a formula for money spent/points earned, table game points are decided by the pit boss who walks table to table adding points to players on a IPad depending on length of playing time and original money cashed in. We haven't met anyone yet in the casino that has qualified on just table games. But again many people do if you can sit and play slots long enough.

Tomorrow is our last day on this gorgeous ship. As stated, my review is to follow after we get home on Saturday. But in the meantime if there is any small questions you have that I can answer while on board I'd be happy to get to as many as I can until I run out of internet package.What I can't get to answer now I will be sure to answer on Saturday.

Unfortunately, back to the real world for us in a few days. Wish we could just stay on for the next couple weeks!!

YC is a Fantastic experience. Better then all other lines/suites we have been on. I am actually typing this form my YC room now! Full from Lobster from the

Le Muse!

FYI Sorry for all the grammar errors, I try to type fast to save on internet time.

Don't have much time to answer any questions right now. But we are currently on the Divina in the yacht club midway through the cruise, can't wait to ride a very lengthy and detailed review about our experience. I will say this, there are many false and negative reviews about the yacht club. It is absolutely nothing less than fantastic and spectacular and anyone that has anything less to say then absolutely magical is either the type of person that can never be pleased no matter what type of vacation there on, or just ignorant and thinks that they should be treated more than royalty because in the yacht club it's not much short of that, more details to come when we get off. I just wanted to let future yacht club cruisers, do not listen to the negative reviews if somebody has anything bad to say it's because there is a very whiny and you probably reading reviews from people that you don't want to be friends with. For most normal people that enjoy luxury, You will appreciate this great time and it this is the only way to cruise. I have taken tons of videos and tons of pictures, so stay tuned!

Question, I know that Yacht club members get priority disembarkation at Ports. But do you get priority embarkation to get back on the ship as well? Especially places like Grand Cayman were your tendering and the lines could be a hour long to get back on the ship?

Nice review

I was waiting for someone to mention the smoke detector lol. Some people have zero common sense! The 40 clothes package is what we buy and that's more then worth it. Super affordable as is most MSC add on's...... Internet, Picture package ETC... compared to Princess and Most other lines

Absolutely, we're very excited. Stay tuned in... with the affordable Internet package that we bought I'll be able to post daily review that way if anybody has questions while I'm on board id be happy to answer them

Tipping extra is a completely personal choice and I agree that everyone should get equal service across-the-board whether you tip or not, especially in the yacht club. But I do believe it's completely a personal opinion, I have always tiped extra on every cruise and great service is always provided never had a complaint. Therefore I won't change what is working for me. I do know for a fact that most of the employees in the cruise line industry make very low wages and that being said a little extra cash can go a long ways. What means little to you could mean a whole lot to somebody else.

We board the Divina next week, and I'll be making sure to write a review of the yacht club as I have read many of others and I would be happy to give back my personal thoughts and opinion for the next person who is interested in trying the Yacht Club for the first time.

Thanks for all the response, I believe we will wait until the end of the cruise and take care of everybody like suggested. This is our first yacht club experience, and excited to see how it compares to princess. If everything comes true what we've read the yacht club might be what we cruise on from this point forward.

We have been on 7 previous cruises on other cruise lines. Normally always tipped our room steward and dining staff extra cash upfront to ensure we have a really great and pleasant vacation. This has always worked for us being that these workers hardly make much money for all the responsibilities that they have and normally the great service they provide. I heard on the Yacht Club ( We leave on Divina in 12 Days) not to tip extra until the end. Service could be spotty? Any thoughts? Again normally when we tip the first day they go above and beyond for us the rest the cruise to make it extra special.

Thanks