Capricruiser

If you're in a Yacht Club suite, spa access is free (except massages).  Plus there's a direct elevator from YC decks 15 and 16 down to the spa on 14 (on Splendida and all the Fantasia class ships).  To get back up you just slip your YC cruise card into the reader. 

I'd like to know the names of the current captain and the cruise director please.

We are booked on the same cruise as Cruising fox and will arrive Shanghai on 12 February flying Rome-Frankfurt-Shanghai.  Unless we hear of more refused entry cases, we're planning on using the 144 hour TWOV on arrival. 

We finished our Divina cruise a couple weeks ago and our minibar was stocked with water, soft drinks, small liquor bottles, and snacks.  In addition we received two full size bottles of spumante or prosecco as we've always received as black card members (and which we always take home).  We always have our coffee and cocktails in the Top Sail and rarely ever take anything from the mini bar.  Thus I'm not sure what's happening on the Grandiosa.

Try the EFFY shop on board most MSC ships.  My wife loves it

On MSC the cabin steward works for the butler who works for the chief butler who works for the YC director.  That's the chain of command.

2 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We've had a couple of pretty bad butlers, including the one on Seaview last month.  MIA I can deal with, but surliness is another matter.

 

Hoping for a better experience with the one on Meraviglia for the next 3 weeks.  If the head butler is the one that I've heard is onboard, I'll have no hesitation in speaking with him should we have any issues (or, indeed, if the butler deserves praise!)

Bea the chief butler on Meraviglia is a she:  Larissa Fedoruk.

I've had eight Yacht Club cruises in the past five years and confirm tuxedos are a rarity.  I usually pack a dark suit with a couple ties or a blazier.  My impression has been that YC guests dress more smart casual than what you see on the lower decks (a range from tuxedos to track suits/tee shirts, etc.).  The blazier usually works fine for me, with or without a tie.  The important thing is to wear what you want, but for the gala evenings dress a little nicer. 

p.s. DW usually wears a nice dress or a pant suit.

The current hotel director on the Divina is Gianfranco Sampiero. 

As a frequent Yacht Club guest let me say that any butler or cabin steward problems should be reported to the chief butler right away.  Bad service is very very uncommon and I'm sure MSC would want disciplinary steps taken.  The problem may come from the number of new ships coming on line the past two or three years.  New Yacht Clubs mean new staff needed to be found and trained as qualified junior members were promoted.  The better senior butlers, waiters, etc. also tended to be sent to staff the new ships (today the Grandiosa staff for example).  One of you mentioned the butler Harish, who was recented promoted to chief butler.  An excellent choice!

We just disembarked from Divina on 13 October.  We've sailed in Yacht Club on all four Fantasia class ships (third time on Divina), and can assure the YC ambiance and service is basically the same.  One chef can be a little better than another, one Maitre'd of chief butler more attentive than another, but if you've cruised YC several times all the ship and food photos are the same you've always experienced.  That said, we've never felt the need to go to one of the specialty restaurants because the YC restaurants and staff have always been excellent. Yacht Club is the only way to go.

We usually cruise in Yacht Club and tend to spend on board, spa, excursions, shops, etc. and consequently rack up the Voyagers points.   I've been a Black member since shortly after they started the program in 2010 and now have almost 60,000 points.  I'd really look forward to the day MSC adds another tier but obviously I'm not holding my breath.

14 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

Charles ... do you, or have you ever, brought up the subject with anyone on MSC - especially the YC or Hotel Director and, if so, what reaction have you received?

 

I highlight it with the CC on most cruises (as well as discussing it with the UK VC agent at length on the phone once before) in the hope that it would get fed back to the powers-that-be.

Bea, talking with any of the staff they more or less say the same thing.   "I've heard about it."   They're discussing it at headquarters."  "It will probably be announced in the next few months:"  etc. etc.  I've spoken with two captains,  two hotel directors, one or two cruise directors, a YC director, and two or three cruise consultants.   I suspect the type of comments I've received are more or less the same that you've received.  As you said, believe it when we see it.  P.s. I remember the first "Black Cocktail" I went to.  There were four of us!   I don't go anymore but I've heard that half the ship shows up.

I've been a Black member since 2010 and have almost 60,000 VC points accumulated.  This change will do nothing for me.  As many of you have stated, we've been waiting for years for a new level but, nothing new.

12 hours ago, Captain-John said:

We hardly had any dealings with our butler, Bruce, on our Meraviglia cruise. He appeared twice, once to escort us off in Russia (to the front of the immigration queue, which was welcome), and also in the TSL on the second last day to say he would escort us off at disembarkation.

 

Occasionally he was serving drinks in the TSL but apart from that we hardly engaged. Although, I'm sure had we required anything he would have obliged. Truthfully I think our assistant butler did the most for us, as he cleaned the room every day and also delivered the room service orders etc.

If your butler was Bruce Mitchell from Madagascar, we had him on the Fantasia in late 2017 and he was outstanding.  My wife had an accident on board which required a wheelchair for a few days.  Bruce was always available and pushed that chair all over the ship.  A really fine fellow.  Generally it's the assistant butler you see the most of because he's the one that cleans the cabin every day.  In any case out butlers have always been great on all our YC cruises.

Our cruise on the MSC Splendida has a port call at Colombo scheduled for 3 March 2020.  So far it is still on the itinerary.

I've been in 15010 and 15015 and both had glass balconies. 

I'm afraid it's another step in the de-italianization of MSC. 

There are over 400 of those old MSC cruise ships sailing the oceans.

As mentioned above, the Preziosa is one of MSC's four Fantasia class cruise ships that were launched between 2008 and 2013 (I believe).  If you sail on the Preziosa and later go on one of the others (Fantasia, Splendida, Divina) you'll think your're on the same ship because all four are almost exactly alike.  We love the Yacht Club experience in the Fantasia class but found the newer larger ships' YC much less intimate. 

MSC calls their repositioning cruises "Grand Voyages" and generally take place in the late winter-early spring and then again in autumn.  The major routes are North America to Europe, South America to Europe, North Europe to the Mediterranean, South Africa to Europe, Dubai/Abu Dhabi to the Mediterranean, and China/Japan to Europe (via Dubai), and of course vice versa.  The ships generally remain in one geographical area for a three-four month season before repositioning back to Italy or another European homeport.  We enjoy the repositioning cruises and have done several with MSC but you have to be prepared for five or six at sea days without seeing a speck of land.

As already stated there are four options to move from the YC enclave to the YC restaurant:

1.  Deck 15 promenade:  Wind, heat, cold, depending

2.  Deck 14 lido and buffet:  The chaos of the buffet crowds

3.  Deck 13 cabin corridor:  Boring and seemingly endless

4.  Deck 7 bars and lounges:  Passing through the gridlock of the photo gallery

MSC butlers are wonderful for all the reasons cited above.  For several years now we've cruised almost exclusively in Yacht Club.  If the itinerary we want only has one of the smaller MSC ships without YC, we may grit our teeth and book - but then maybe not. 

I don't particularly care one way or another because we don't drink very much and all the Venchi chocolates we may want are free for the picking in the Top Sail lounge.  We'll be boarding the Seaview on Sunday so I'll check it out and post what I find.

If we're talking about the scarse East Mediterranean itinerary options we've got to remember the security situations in those ports and countries.  Tunis is out, Tripoli is out, the Egyptian ports are out, Ashdod is out, Beirut is out, and thanks to Ergodan, Turkey is out for the time being.  This leaves only the eastern Adriatic ports, Greece, Cyprus, and sometimes Haiffa.  We can only hope that peace soon returns to the Mideast but I have my doubts for the near future.  The West Mediterranean cruises are still available (Barcelona, Malta, Malaga, etc.) but once you've done one or two cruises those itineraries become rather boring.