raino144

British family living in Switzerland here. We always book through UK travel agents as the prices are lower and agents can offer 10+% discounts over MSC website. We do have a UK address, bank account and credit cards etc… Never been an issue so far!

Just wanted to update the thread - we are now on World Europa, some ship this!

Plenty of kids in YC this week. My kids are both in Kids Club right now - our 3 year old is *not quite* 100% out of nappies but they happily let her in the kids club proper and gave me an onboard phone which they will call me on in case of an accident.

Kids club hours are 9-8 (or later!) every day, mine go in for a couple of hours in the afternoon before jumping into the hot tub to tire them out before dinner.

The kids club setup is definitely a step up from our Grandiosa trip last Oct.

When the kids go off to University, a 20+ night Transatlantic itinerary in Yacht Club! For me MSC is all about the ship.

Maybe Europe is different, my live thread from last October with much more baby club is here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2968848-live-from-the-grandiosa-october-21-28-yc-duplex-with-children-5-and-2/

Edit: key club times copy pasted from my review: There are 3 slots on port days (9-10, 13-15 and 18-20) of which you can book 2 to leave them with the kids club staff, the day before.

My kids are now 5 and 3 and we are on World Europa YC next week (3rd time with kids). Staff are amazing both in YC and also in the Kids Club (needed for them to burn off energy!)

At dinner there were some other cruisers who preferred to be sat away from families which is understandable, we were always in early and had as ‘our table’ a really lovely table by the window where we could entertain the kids with iPads and headphones so they were well behaved (an hour in the pool / jacuzzi beforehand suitably tired them out 🙂 )

I guess my post is more to provide pre-cruise reassurance- would love to see a live thread!

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Thanks for this, it appears our (just) 3 year old but who still wears pull-ups should be able to go in Baby Care again when we go on World Europa next Sunday… this info is literally nowhere on MSC!

Preziosa, Divina, Seaside, Grandiosa, with World Europa coming up in 2 weeks!

All YC 🙂

Have a look at the couple of threads I have posted, we have sailed both Seaside and Grandiosa with young children. MSC Baby club is excellent and allows 2x 2 hour slots per day. 

Looking forward to this. Newly minted MSC Diamond + travelling on this itinerary next Easter. Previously sailed Grandiosa (just!), Seaside, Divina and Preziosa so looking forward to your thoughts. Especially the expanded YC vs. other ships?

A fitting photo to end our voyage with. Goodnight Grandiosa!

10 minutes ago, voyagerL said:

We’re embarking on Tuesday! Thanks for the updates 😊 can you let me know what theme nights they had during your cruise? Gala + White Night + ? 
 

Thanks in advance (helps with the luggage debacle) lol! 

White night was leaving Barcelona, Gala night on the sea day. Also a 60/70/80s night leaving Genoa but we didn’t pack for that 😂

More F10 winds. With the balcony door open the cabin door is whistling, but perfectly pleasant in the hot tub!

Wishing Ted a full and speedy recovery. 

Ischia on the departure from Napoli. Week has absolutely flown by, another happy cruising week in YC!

14 hours ago, Captain-John said:

 

You must really have enjoyed it! It's a shame we don't have the same flexibility as our stateside cousins who can adjust pricing after booking without losing deposits etc. 

 

It's a shame booking onboard doesn't offer any advantage either.

We ended up negotiating with a couple of travel agents to get their quotes down from the initial £8,588(incl Voyagers Club discount) to £7,500. Still a jump on this year but the duplex is a brilliant space for the family.

We settled into a routine where we dropped the little one off 9-10, got off and had a few hours in port, both kids into kids club 13-15 and then enjoyed the cabin / hot tub / minibar until going to dinner when the restaurant opened at night.

Last night was quite wobbly, sea legs on land today! 

Seventy. Thousand. Dollars!! 

Napoli!

The Celebrity ship looks smart so for interest we priced up an equivalent suite for next October to Grandiosa.

I am still picking myself up off the floor….

News!!!!

We have rebooked Grandiosa next year in October out of Marseille.

After massive haggling with travel agents we have minimised the increase to 25pc. Still mega ouch.

Ouch!

I’m cruising this week and can only hat tip @StonePayload and @kelly94942. Mega contributions. 

44 minutes ago, DisneyJen said:

Thanks for the update @dexddd👍

 

@raino144 - cruise prices, especially in suites, have risen dramatically across the industry, My understanding is there is a huge demand for all sorts of cruising and lots of covid cruise credits driving up cruise fares.

 

 

We’ve negotiated the agents down to £7,600 for Grandiosa so far. We’ll most probably bite at £7,500… still a whopping 25pc increase!

Spent the morning researching equivalent 2024 cruises and in YC like for like we are seeing 30% increases in cost. 
 

This week on Grandiosa we paid £5,960 - the equivalent sailing next year is £8,100 after Voyagers club and travel agent discounts.

Our Easter ‘24 booking on World Europa was £7,490 and October prices coming in £9,500.

All YCD grade cabins (duplex with whirlpool). 
 

I wonder with the increases in cost whether the value proposition for YC is still worth it. 

World Europa got the main terminal, Grandiosa one to the right and Splendida was further round to the left this last Saturday.

We stayed in the Holiday Inn in the port, hotel was very nice but the local area not so. 

Palermo!

Today’s agenda is fairly quiet… kids club, short port visit and more kids club 🙂 the cruise has gone by so fast, can’t believe tomorrow is the last full day already!

20 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

That’s ridiculous. They will lose passengers and continue to have to sell as last minute upgrades.

 

We are in YC shortly and they were left with a large number of cabins which disappeared all at once, presumably bidding upgrades allocated.

 

We get some inflation for sure. We would have happily signed up at the £6,500 level or so. 

5 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

That’s probably because they hiked the price between last year and this, at least they have sailing from the U.K.

 

Last year a week in YC balcony from the U.K. was around £3600. This year it is £5200, massive rise. The YC inside is now the same price as I paid for a balcony just last year. 

While an inflationary rise is fine this level is not.

 

Wait until you see next year’s prices! Currently sailing in YCD for £5,950. Next year’s sailings are £8,000…. Same weeks