Hutcha

Hi all. I debated whether or not to do a "live" review, but in the end decided that I didn't want to take time away from the cruise. I'm taking this cruise with my beautiful wife Carly @Hutchswife and our 21 year old son. This is a delayed HS graduation present (covid) and 21st B-day present. He had a friend coming along, but they couldn't make it, so they were a no show. We are in a YC Deluxe suite, and our son is in a YC Interior. Post Covid, this will be our 5th cruise in 18 months. In order, a NCL Haven (wife and I), a RCL Star class (family of 7), a Celebrity balcony (wife and another couple), another RCL Star (family of 7), and now this one. We have a OV balcony coming up in March, on the Icon, and (spoiler alert) will probably book two more MSC cruise. One in 24 and 25. I plan on doing another post on the differences in the "luxury" offerings of the different lines, so I'll stay away from that here. Starting with embarkation. We got to the port at 10:30, and found the Yacht Club tent as soon as we entered the drop off area. Dropped our bags and were escorted to the YC check in area. Check-in was quick, but we sat there for about 30 mins before being moved to a roped off area in the main terminal. Once there, we were served beverages and snacks. Non YC guests were seated right across from us, and it was a little uncomfortable as they stared at us while we were being served. We sat there for about another 15-20 mins and were then escorted up to the Topsail lounge. After about 30 mins there, we were told that our room was ready and we were escorted there. We settled into our room, took a quick look around the ship, and then proceeded to go to the YC restaurant for lunch.

It was a perfect med rare inside

I asked Arthur if they could do a beef wellington on the first night. They made extra yesterday. It was delicious!! He said they did six of them. We took three.

I'm in Yacht club next week, and I don't have any packages offered.

Yeah, so why not give the YC interior a more attractive offer? Take $960 from both upgrades. At least lower the min bids. Then they can decide what the best combo is.

Yes, you can definitely go to guest services and give them the name of the person(s) you want to tip. They will add it to your onboard account and the person will be notified that you gave them money.

Congrats!! That's an awesome deal. I really don't understand their rationale with the bidding. We have two YC cabins next week. An interior and a deluxe balcony. To upgrade the interior to a balcony, it's a min bid of $1,095pp. That puts it up to the "rack rate" for that cabin. There's no way we'd bid for either of our cabins. The min bids to upgrade our balcony go as high as $6,000 a person.

Makes me wonder if the company that does the upgrades takes things like this into consideration. In other words. cabins being equal between two people, would they give the upgrade to someone that paid for the drink and Wi-Fi package?

Thanks for catching that. Yes, it adds $370 total. Combine that with the military discount that was in my original quote, and it comes out to just under $3,000. Royal was at $3,200, and it didn't include drinks wifi or any specialty dining. This was also comparing one of their newest ships to Harmony.

I board Seascape next week. I have seen all of the reviews that you are mentioning. This will be my first time on MSC, and I have kind of already concluded that I will only sail them in the Yacht Club. I'll firm up that decision (one way or the other) two weeks from from Sunday. The cons I have seen that have to do with food are that the only place to get food, that's not at an upcharge, is the buffet and main dining room. The no poolside food comment might come from the fact that on most cruise lines, there's a separate place to get burgers, pizza and such. Not on MSC, therefore the buffet can become very crowded. The other thing about food is that they are a European line, so the portions can be small and the food a little different than the standard American fare. I don't know what your budget is like, but if you want to be spoiled from ever cruising in a regular cabin, try out an inside yacht club room. For as little as $500-750pp extra, you can experience their ship within a ship concept and be spoiled.

It's the lowest price I've seen since booking my Icon cruise last year. Granted, the Icon price was grossly inflated, at $92pppd. It's down to $86, and right at my upper limit. Might have to do it.

OK. Again, it was just my opinion. They did not say they already booked it. The majority of the opinions that "I" have seen have been negative. Your experience is different, even though the only comments your originally made were negative.

I think that getting a majority opinion the a CP balcony is not a desired choice is helpful.

I'd get one of these nice Waterfall cabins

I'd take any balcony over a CP balcony. JMO

My point is that it is as much as I would have paid for the better room when I booked almost a year ago. The total price is also very close to what the rooms are currently going for. That's also just the minimum bid. In my experience, an upgrade offer is given at a discount to what the empty room would sell for.

First, never feel bad about spending money on something you enjoy. Are those prices per person? On the Feb 2025 Wonder cruise I'm getting $2,300pp. So I can compare apples to apples, can you quote a price for that March 2024 OV balcony on Harmony?

I'm really hoping for a Black Friday sale. On my March Icon cruise, the DBP is about $1,500 all in for the two of us. That's just ridiculous. I really need to get it in the $1,100-1,200 range to consider it.

I sail in yacht club on MSC Seascape in two weeks. This will be my first time on MSC, and from my research, I don't think I'd book outside of YC on MSC. I'll have a better idea on that soon. It looks like MSC (Seascape at least) does a better job at dispersing the crowds for activities (bars, pools, entertainment venues) than Royal, but eating is where you really feel it. Main dining and the buffet are the only places for complementary dining. As such, the buffet is usually very crowded. If you just want pizza or a burger, you have to go through the buffet. This is one of the most common complaints about MSC. I'm looking for a summer 24 cruise for me and my teenage son. I want a newer ship. I can get an OV balcony on Wonder for $5,800 (plus drinks and wifi), or a YC balcony (ship in a ship, drinks, wifi, butler) for a little less.

Curious what your discount gets you on the cruise I quoted above. Although, as you mentioned, is it really not fair to compare the Prima to HOTS? I've been looking for a cruise next summer. OV balcony on Wonder is $5800. For about the same price (a little less), I can get YC on MSC's newest US based ship

I was already doing a mock booking for my previous post, so I went back to it when I read your post. Comparing OV balconies out of Galveston for the same week, NCL comes out over $800** cheaper. It's on one of their newest ships, vs HOTS. You get drinks, wifi, and specialty dining. If those things are important to you, you save at least another $1,000. If not, you're still saving over $800. My point is, RCL is losing their advantage. I will not book another one until they do something to earn back my business. A competitively priced drink package would be a great start. **NCL was priced with a military discount of 10%

Booked Icon, about 10 months ago, for a Mar 2024 sailing. Got the two of us in an OV Balcony for around $3K. Those cabins are now going for $8K. For that price, for the same week, I can book The Haven on NCL, The Retreat on Celebrity, and Yacht Club on MSC. ...AND get drinks, Wi-Fi, and all the other perks that go with their suites. It's not prices everywhere going up. It's RCL taking advantage of their loyal customers. It won't stop until the customers start putting their foot down. Look at all the other prices that are going up. The drink package for my cruise is at $1,500 (for 2). Overwater cabana, $3,500. Water park, $180pp. Look at all the other main cruise line boards. The first page on most will contain at least one thread from a "long time RCL cruiser" trying this brand for the first time. Everyone is adding inventory. Royal's prices will have to come down. Let's help them out by voting with our credit cards.

Enjoy your cruise. Can you please let us know how it goes today?

I had my TA call to try and take the no show off of the cruise. I'd being willing to pay any supplement, but the only option given was to replace the person that can't go, or show up with them missing. They said they could not remove the person and leave a single in the room.

I'll do a search, but I'd like to hear from someone this has happened to.