Ommadawn

Life is essentially the race between people making the world idiot proof and the universe making a bigger, better idiot.

Glasses for wine? Give me a tankard or goblet and let me have at it. 🙂

What does F&B mean here?

Thanks so much for the response. However, I am specifically looking at Celebrity's Retreat and MSC's Yacht Club. There are people in the Celebrity threads saying that they switched from Celebrity's Retreat to MSC's Yacht Club because the Yacht Club was cheaper. Here is what I have found, lots of deals like this: Celebrity Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale, Flordia on January 12th, 2025 heading to Nassau and their island, 4 nights for $3,297.70 (I included gratuities to make it fair). This is all inclusive of premium drinks, wifi and gratuities. Compare that to the almost exact same cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida on January 12th, 2025 on MSC in the Yacht Club with a balcony (the basic balcony in the Yacht Club), for four nights headed to Nassau and their island for $3,350. This includes premium drinks, wifi and gratuities. They are almost the same cruise, on the same date, with the same benefits, at almost the same price. I cannot find the savings of which others spoke. Edit: The Celebrity cabin is a basic Sky Suite, the bottom of The Retreat (it does have a balcony and is the equivalent of the basic balcony in the Yacht Club).

O.k... I have been looking at the Yacht Club in MSC as a (supposedly) cheaper alternative to Celebrity's Retreat. However, I am not finding the cheaper fares. I keep comparing MSC Yacht Club cabins to Celebrity Retreat cabins and, unless you are only talking about the Inside Rooms in the Yacht Club, I cannot seem to find the savings. Is this what people are talking about? Personally, a suite should, at least, have a balcony. I can't see having an inside room like that without it being really, really cheap (or, unless you have a sleeping disorder which requires the complete absence of light). Can y'all give me some examples of the savings in the MSC Yacht Club with a balcony as compared to Celebrity's Retreat?

And Aquaclass with Blu. You forgot that level of cabin and that restaurant.

I can tell you from experience that a taxi will cost you 300 pounds plus tip. (We had train tickets, but the trains were on strike that day and we had an appointment to go up The Shard, so we took the cab.)

Yes. On which cruise is this special happening? 🙂

But Carnival ships going out of Rio can have a Carnival. 🙂 Hmmm.... that does make me slightly afraid of the Viking ships. 🙂

They lose money when I upgrade. 🙂 I do like my Bumbu Rum. 🙂

I have been reading and watching videos a lot lately about MSC and the conclusion that I draw is that it is Yacht Club or don't sail with them.

The one that my wife and I did was wonderful. And the Egyptian Pound was so weak that everything there was incredibly cheap for us. 🙂

I must have missed that cruise. 🙂

Take the cash and do a different vacation this year, a trip to Tennessee or New Orleans or Las Vegas and use the Future Cruise Credit for a different year. It is a free vacation. 🙂

But they make up for the lack of room on the first level of the balcony by having the second level. 🙂 If I can ever afford it, I would love to have this cabin for a week. 🙂

How about this? Buy the shot bottles of Jack, drink them yourselves (at home before you leave for the cruise) and then put a decent denomination of Japanese Yen in the bottle. That way you can give a keepsake from your home (the bottle) and a tip as well. 🙂

My Father only ever gave me one good piece of advice: he said "Son, when you get older, you won't regret the things that you did, but you will always regret the things that you didn't do". I say go for it. The Suite life is wonderful. 🙂

Not to cast aspersions, but I flew from Lubbock, Texas to Bellingham, Washington, and then took a train from Bellingham to Vancouver to board the ship with the two hardbacks in my suitcase. It is doable. 🙂

I am looking at it right now, but, not being used to it, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me. I was hoping to save a good bit of time for myself (and maybe others) with this thread.

Thanks so very much for the long and detailed reply. This helps a lot. 🙂

Hello! I have never sailed on MSC. I almost always sail Celebrity and have Elite status on that line. However, I thought that I would try something different. I saw somebody over on the Celebrity board rave about MSC, so I thought that I would look at it. I like The Retreat in Celebrity (although it may be becoming too expensive for me), so I thought that I would try The Yacht Club. I found a really interesting cabin with a bedroom loft and a two story balcony. I want to try that one. However, I can't seem to find that particular cabin on all of the ships. I have a lot of questions, many of which are probably fairly basic. However, since I was going to ask other questions, I figured that I would ask them all. Thanks so much in advance for any and all answers. 1. What is the name of that two story cabin with the loft bedroom and the private whirlpool on your own balcony? 2. How can I tell which ships have that particular cabin? 3. I am looking at the ships and their itineraries. Unlike Celebrity, the ships seem to stay in their area year round. Is this true? 4. Do any of the ships go out of Amsterdam? I haven't found this one as of yet. 5. What are the benefits of the Yacht Club? Does it come premium drinks and wi-fi like Celebrity's Retreat? 6. I have already filled out a form for equal tier status on MSC. It looks as if that will give me Gold status. Is this a good level? What does that give me? 7. How do the specialty restaurants work on MSC? How much do they cost? Is there a level of cabin wherein which they are included? 8. How does this line compare to Celebrity in terms of size of ship, number of passengers, number of children? 9. What are the general perks for The Yacht Club? 10. Are there any other differences between the two lines of which I should be aware? 11. Is there a casino? 12. The ships have fun names. However, the different decks seemed to be named as well and many of their names are the same as the ships. This is confusing to me, but am I correct? I could be on the Fantasia deck of the Fantasia ship? 13. Are there different classes of ships? How do I tell them apart? What are the different benefits? 14. Is there anything that you would recommend that I must try to do on the ship? 15. Do they carry Bumbu Rum? 16. Do they have formal nights (or some variation thereof)? 17. Is there a library on most of the ships? 18. How is the Buffet? 19. How is the room service? 20. Is the boarding process different from what I am used to at Celebrity? 21. Is there a Move Up bid process like at Celebrity? 22. Are there any promotions of which I should be aware as a first time cruiser with them, as a (hopefully soon) Gold member with them or any sales of which I should be aware? Thanks so much in advance!

I went on an Alaskan cruise on the Solstice a few weeks ago. I had seen pictures of how emaciated the library on that ship had become. I packed two hardback books that I no longer wanted into my suitcase and I traded the two books for one book from the library. I think if each of us readers do that on each cruise (or even half of us), then we could replenish the libraries on the ships and we would have a much wider selection from which to borrow and from which to trade. You can't even receive a rate of trade that good at a used bookstore. Does that sound like a good idea to y'all?

Typically it is the big box retailers with a travel service whose bookings are not eligible for MoveUp by way of their arrangement with the cruise lines and their offered fares. Our TA fares (individual, or reduced rate group based) have always been eligible. Not clear on your comment regarding "having no options". That my just mean there were no stateroom upgrade options available at the tim I have been on fully booked ships where there was no possibility of an upgrade bid being accepted, but they still gave you the option to bid.

Thanks for the information. What does YC mean?

I was looking at Princess, but it looked as if drinks and wi-fi were not included in the suite prices. Is that correct?