hiccups

We were also on this sailing in Yacht Club as well—our first MSC cruise. Our experience mirrored yours fairly closely. I’m glad to see the YC room service menu, as we didn’t have one in our room so had no idea what was available. We knew pizza was an option so did request that Sunday afternoon after we were back onboard. Our neighbors mentioned the pizza they received on Friday must have been brought up immediately from the oven because it was so hot, but ours was lukewarm. Agree that Le Muse was quite good, especially the filet! I was disappointed to see that the dress code was not enforced, though—lots of shorts and T shirts at dinner. But not enforcing rules seemed the norm—I saw people smoking/vaping all around the ship. Someone was even vaping on Deck 6 outside the shops! I also saw children in the adult pool area. So many kids everywhere, as you said, with lots of them treating the hot tubs as their private pool. My husband ventured to the buffet on Saturday at 2 PM for a slice of pizza, and I came later to find him. We were both surprised at how absolutely packed the buffet was—long lines and no seats available. Like you, we were glad to be able to retreat to the Top Sail lounge. Our butler was MIA—we saw him Friday and then not again until he delivered our pizza on Sunday. Friday he asked if we had any requests, and I asked for a couple cans of Coke Zero for the fridge, but never received them. Not a big deal as I could walk to the lounge, but given what I’ve read here about the butler service, that surprised me. Agree that embarkation and disembarkation were very nice! We wouldn’t have minded leaving the ship a bit earlier, though. At 9:55 I finally went to the concierge and asked if we had to wait to be escorted, or if we could leave. She had just called our cabin steward and he escorted us out. He did a great job with our room the entire time. We’d sail on MSC again, but only in YC.

When I did my match a couple years ago, I used my Azamara status and received Diamond on MSC. Last week I submitted the form for my DH, who is the same level as I am on Azamara, and he was only matched to Silver. Looks like I need to contact Voyagers Club and find out why the discrepancy.

We just returned from our first MSC cruise, a three-night on Divina in YC. On the first day, we received a bottle of chilled Prosecco and a plate of macarons. I thought that was a YC perk, but because of status match I’m Diamond, so possibly that was the reason? Yesterday I also received a small extra-dark chocolate bar (yuck) with “Voyagers Club Diamond” on the box.

Yikes! We’re on this sailing as well, our first with MSC. We’ve booked Yacht Club, though, so hopefully that will help.

Thank you! We aren’t gamblers… do you know if can you do a cash out in the casino without playing? Another question, Celebrity will refund TA OBC to our credit card on file. Would you know if MSC does that, or should we just plan on doing some shopping? 😃

We have our first sailing on MSC this weekend—trying out YC on Divina for a three-night cruise. We most frequently sail on Celebrity, and on X we are able to request a form at Guest Services to use our OBC to provide extra gratuities for various staff. Is this possible on MSC? I want to make sure we have enough cash on hand if not.

I was just looking into Brightline for our cruise next week, but because it’s only a three-nighter we really wouldn’t save any money. Keeping it in mind for longer cruises, though.

The fitness centers usually have a scale. Remember, though, it's your vacation--you can undo any damage pretty quickly when you get home. Enjoy what you like in moderation 🙂

We watched several football games in our cabin on our Edge cruise last October. I was pleasantly surprised!

Compared to what you can book yourself for a lot less, they're only so-so. That being said, if you have OBC to spend, that's an easy way to use it. Also, if you can't find others on your cruise to share a tour with (which is what we've done in the past), it's certainly better to do an Azamara excursion than to miss out. However we've also booked a couple Azamara excursions and then gotten onboard and found they'd been cancelled.

We've sailed both and prefer Equinox. We liked that there were more common areas and some different activities like the Hot Glass studio.

I hadn’t looked at Virgin since before the pandemic, but a friend asked me about it so I came over to the board and found your review. It looks like Virgin has changed a few things since I first researched them, and for the better to us. I’ll have to take a look again! Thanks for such a thorough review!

We looked at Galápagos cruises a couple years ago, and I wish we’d booked then. We’re younger than you, but our knees are already not what they used to be! Thinking we may go ahead and do it anyway in the next year or two (and start some joint supplements in the meantime!).

I hope you all recover quickly! Good to hear you weren’t shuttled off to an OV cabin.

I priced a December Beyond cruise last week. Today the IV cabin is $230 more for two people, and a loss of $200 OBC from the other promo.

On some cruise lines, TAs can book a block of rooms and get a discounted rate that they pass along to their clients. I've booked a couple that way. Even if the TA doesn't offer a rate lower than what I can get booking directly, though, we still use a TA for the OBC. Usually we don't use the OBC and then it's refunded to our credit card.

Not related to Ocean Cay, but rather than making another post, I wondered if anyone has YC cabin recommendations on Meraviglia? We're looking at the regular deluxe suites. Thanks!

She's entitled to her opinion, and I appreciate her sharing it with us--she prefers Celebrity, but says if we want MSC, Yacht Club is the way to go. I look up the cruises we're interested in, get a price online and then check with her to see what she can offer in terms of price and OBC or other amenities. I don't just book blindly on her word.

No, thank you, I'm happy with her. She has sailed on MSC, but doesn't really recommend it for us since we usually sail Celebrity, Oceania and Azamara. She says, as I've seen other posters here say, great ships and a good product, but often inconsistent, and if you have anything go wrong, it's very hard to get resolved.

We are considering booking our first MSC cruise in Yacht Club for December. In speaking to our TA, she said "nothing on the island is included." From the website it looks like there is at least one included dining venue--are the others purchase only? Are any drinks included if you have a package? I assume all excursions are an extra cost. Thanks for any information!

Don't forget these are the Yacht Club menus---you could sail in a non-YC cabin and have access to other dining venues. I assume if you're in YC you could eat elsewhere if you like (haven't yet sailed on MSC so I could be wrong about that), but the private restaurant is part of the YC draw.

I’m so very sorry for your loss… thank you for letting us know. Don was always willing to share his thoughts and experiences with the board, and his contributions will be missed.

Either you or your TA need to call Celebrity to get the discount. You can purchase the upgrade through the Cruise Planner, but it won’t have the discount.