LIVE from 9/13 Bellissima and 9/21 Seaview - 7nt Med cruises - Yacht Club

[tcmagnum]

17 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

Oh, I thought I had posted that along with the other photos of Camogli. Here it is. Still haven’t unwrapped it here at home. Have to figure out where to hang it.

Love this picture.  Can you remind us where/what this is?

 

[gimletgal]

On 10/7/2019 at 6:52 AM, hcat said:

OMG...that space looks too dark,  high and scary ...so many stairs!

Actually, that space is gorgeous! And the elevators are certainly available for those who don't like the Swarovski crystal staircases.

Edited October 8, 2019 by gimletgal

[hcat]

I agree hard to tell from photos..but  appears it is not our style. Fear of heights,  and I  prefer to wear my Swarovski!  

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

39 minutes ago, hcat said:

I agree hard to tell from photos..but  appears it is not our style. Fear of heights,  and I  prefer to wear my Swarovski!  

 

There is absolutely no comparison between the Yacht Club lounge space and the tiny, cramped Retreat Lounge on Celebrity with no access to the out of doors.  The YC lounge is at the front of the ship with a gorgeous wall of windows, absolutely not dark.  It has a wraparound outside deck.  At least 10 times the size of the Retreat Lounge.  And butlers falling all over themselves to serve you, unlike the self service version currently operating on Celebrity.  No contest.  If I were making my choice of lines based on those two lounges, Celebrity would not even be in contention.

[wmwmarmstrong]

1 hour ago, gimletgal said:

Actually, that space is gorgeous! And the elevators are certainly available for those who don't like the Swarovski crystal staircases.

 

Love the iconic feature of the Swarovski crystals. At over $12,000 a step, to me they are breathtaking.

[WonderMan3]

The only place I have ever encountered “snobbery” on a Celebrity cruise is in Murano where the staff (mainly managers, maitre’d) seem to think very highly of themselves as if they are working at a 5 star Parisian restaurant and are pretentious to the point of obnoxiousness at times. The food is good but honestly MSC’s French restaurant gave food just as good without any of the attitude.

 

Nowhere else on any Celebrity Cruises (I’ve done 10 of them) would I say I’ve encountered anything close to a snob attitude. Kind of an odd assessment that I would expect to hear more from a Cunard experience or Oceania that market themselves as more luxury. Of course MSC’s clientele based what I saw onboard seems to be an NCL/Carnival type of crowd, so if you’re used to that more raucous atmosphere, the more subdued vibe on Celebrity ships might put you off. 

[WonderMan3]

21 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

There is absolutely no comparison between the Yacht Club lounge space and the tiny, cramped Retreat Lounge on Celebrity with no access to the out of doors.  The YC lounge is at the front of the ship with a gorgeous wall of windows, absolutely not dark.  It has a wraparound outside deck.  At least 10 times the size of the Retreat Lounge.  And butlers falling all over themselves to serve you, unlike the self service version currently operating on Celebrity.  No contest.  If I were making my choice of lines based on those two lounges, Celebrity would not even be in contention.

 

The Edge Retreat is much closer to the MSC concept. (And the wraparound outside deck is gone on the newer ships like Bellissima btw). It’s spacious with plenty of seating and floor to ceiling windows on one side and an outdoor sitting area on the other. There is complimentary food and drink available throughout the day you can help yourself to and servers come by to take drink orders. The only miss is the lack of a full bar to sit at. Right up stairs is the pool deck with lots of seating, pool and hot tub, full bar and seating area to eat. They don’t have a grill like YC but do have a lunch menu (which could use an upgrade). Where it breaks down on that ship is that Luminae is a couple decks below the Retreat Lounge because the spa is in the way. And of course the suites are not all connected to the same space like YC is.  Those were two big mistakes that undermine Celebrity’s attempt at an all-suites area.

[WonderMan3]

8 hours ago, tcmagnum said:

Love this picture.  Can you remind us where/what this is?

 

 

It’s the village of Camogli along the Italian Riviera. Photo in next post. 

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by WonderMan3

[WonderMan3]

[sheffield]

41 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Nowhere else on any Celebrity Cruises (I’ve done 10 of them) would I say I’ve encountered anything close to a snob attitude. Kind of an odd assessment that I would expect to hear more from a Cunard experience or Oceania that market themselves as more luxury. Of course MSC’s clientele based what I saw onboard seems to be an NCL/Carnival type of crowd, so if you’re used to that more raucous atmosphere, the more subdued vibe on Celebrity ships might put you off. 

 

The three cruises that I’ve taken on the Seaside in the Yacht Club were exceptionally quiet and peaceful. We often had the lounge to ourselves. They were far more subdued than any cruise I’ve taken on Celebrity. 

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, sheffield said:

 

The three cruises that I’ve taken on the Seaside in the Yacht Club were exceptionally quiet and peaceful. We often had the lounge to ourselves. They were far more subdued than any cruise I’ve taken on Celebrity. 

 

I was referencing the ship as a whole, walking through the corridors or to the public venues. Yes, Yacht Club is subdued and quiet, as is the Retreat area on Celebrity Edge. Can't make an even comparison to the rest of Celebrity's fleet as they don't have a connected Retreat area.

[sheffield]

I agree the rest of the ship is much busier and loud. However the most raucous ship I’ve ever been on was the Summit to Bermuda from Bayonne. I have never seen so much arguing between passengers and even a fight by the pool! 

I was interested to read your review and have to say it greatly surprised me. Your experience was so different to what we found ours to be on the Seaside. We almost booked a Mediterranean cruise on MSC for next year but went with Viking instead. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

The Edge Retreat is much closer to the MSC concept. (And the wraparound outside deck is gone on the newer ships like Bellissima btw). It’s spacious with plenty of seating and floor to ceiling windows on one side and an outdoor sitting area on the other. There is complimentary food and drink available throughout the day you can help yourself to and servers come by to take drink orders. The only miss is the lack of a full bar to sit at. Right up stairs is the pool deck with lots of seating, pool and hot tub, full bar and seating area to eat. They don’t have a grill like YC but do have a lunch menu (which could use an upgrade). Where it breaks down on that ship is that Luminae is a couple decks below the Retreat Lounge because the spa is in the way. And of course the suites are not all connected to the same space like YC is.  Those were two big mistakes that undermine Celebrity’s attempt at an all-suites area.

The wraparound outside deck is very much there on the Seaside, which is one of the newer ships.

 

I have not experienced the Edge and don't plan to unless the prices retreat from the stratosphere.  I still say that MSC executes the ship within a ship concept much better than Celebrity.  In my opinion, Celebrity wins on food and service in the restaurant.  And the rest of the ship is not as crazed.  Otherwise, Yacht Club wins.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Happy Cruiser 6143

[WonderMan3]

7 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

The wraparound outside deck is very much there on the Seaside, which is one of the newer ships.

 

Bellissima is newer than Seaside and Seaview. The next ship is Grandiosa which is a Meraviglia Plus class ship so it will likely follow the design of Meraviglia and Bellissima; the deck plans for YC seem to indicate that.

[hcat]

14 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

There is absolutely no comparison between the Yacht Club lounge space and the tiny, cramped Retreat Lounge on Celebrity with no access to the out of doors.  The YC lounge is at the front of the ship with a gorgeous wall of windows, absolutely not dark.  It has a wraparound outside deck.  At least 10 times the size of the Retreat Lounge.  And butlers falling all over themselves to serve you, unlike the self service version currently operating on Celebrity.  No contest.  If I were making my choice of lines based on those two lounges, Celebrity would not even be in contention.

Have not sailed in an X suite yet.. we have one booked on Connie. Prices were good so we'll try it. We find service on X in AQ Class and overall throughout the ship  to be very good but they need more staff to bring the levels up at bit for bar and gen dining.

 

In my post,  I was just commenting on the photo of the staircase area with some type of big screen.. doubt we will ever compare in person as we do not like larger ships and for now are okay with X..

[hcat]

13 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

So beautiful.  Hope the painting brings much pleasure!

[hcat]

13 hours ago, wmwmarmstrong said:

 

Love the iconic feature of the Swarovski crystals. At over $12,000 a step, to me they are breathtaking.

I judge steps by  ability to walk on them.. duecm to vision  and balance issues.

 

On X it was a shame when the removed the Chilhuly  chandelier from Michaels years ago to turn the space into a beer bar.    But now only for suites anyhow!

[Fogfog]

@Beamafar

Very sorry to hear you met snobby people

Money doesn't buy manners and refinement

Plenty of examples of that in many arenas of life

I have to wonder if pax were rude and snobby to other pax, how on earth did they treat the crew/staff?😱

 

[Cruising89143]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

Have not sailed in an X suite yet.. we have one booked on Connie. Prices were good so we'll try it. We find service on X in AQ Class and overall throughout the ship  to be very good but they need more staff to bring the levels up at bit for bar and gen dining.

 

In my post,  I was just commenting on the photo of the staircase area with some type of big screen.. doubt we will ever compare in person as we do not like larger ships and for now are okay with X..

We love X but I refuse to pay those prices for suites moving forward. I’m currently on the Norwegian Bliss and we’re booked in the Haven. Less than X but much more than MSC and I don’t think we would do it again unless we received a much better price. I’ll comment more after my current cruise. 
 

We booked the Grandiosa out of Barcelona for next spring for half of what X wanted for a Sky suite which as we all know is entry level for their suites. It’s a very port intensive itinerary so we would not have used the suites services on X as much anyway. I don’t expect the same level of service on MSC as we have received on X but I am now more prepared thanks to Adam and his review. 

[hcat]

I think Adam did a great job...esp  with the comparisons to X which brought many of his  fans over to this board!  Thanks again...

[glittergal1]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

I think Adam did a great job...esp  with the comparisons to X which brought many of his  fans over to this board!  Thanks again...

 

Yes he did a great job with all the perceived negatives so Im sure the X fans he brought over will be deciding against MSC,  leaving more room  on board for the Fans of MSC . 

I am looking forward to reading his final summary 

[AeroXWD]

12 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We booked the Grandiosa out of Barcelona for next spring for half of what X wanted for a Sky suite which as we all know is entry level for their suites.

Celebrity is sometimes cheaper than MSC. In this example, I think Celebrity offers a better value:

 

For a December 1. sailing from Ft Lauderdale, a Sky suite on the Edge with $150 OBC, Unlimited internet, prepaid tips and premium beverage package included amounts to 3285 USD.

 

A Deluxe suite on the Meraviglia sailing from Miami on the same date, but without prepaid tips and OBC, and only 6GB internet would cost 3500 USD if I were booking today. Both prices for two persons in a cabin. 

[ipeeinthepool]

4 hours ago, AeroXWD said:

Celebrity is sometimes cheaper than MSC. In this example, I think Celebrity offers a better value:

 

For a December 1. sailing from Ft Lauderdale, a Sky suite on the Edge with $150 OBC, Unlimited internet, prepaid tips and premium beverage package included amounts to 3285 USD.

 

A Deluxe suite on the Meraviglia sailing from Miami on the same date, but without prepaid tips and OBC, and only 6GB internet would cost 3500 USD if I were booking today. Both prices for two persons in a cabin. 

 

You also need to factor in that the Edge is overpriced compared to Celebrity's S-class ships.  Most people are very satisfied with sailing on Celebrity's S-class ships.  The Equinox, Reflection or Silhouette would be a better comparison and savings may be even greater.

[merdon]

17 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

We booked the Grandiosa out of Barcelona for next spring for half of what X wanted for a Sky suite which as we all know is entry level for their suites. It’s a very port intensive itinerary so we would not have used the suites services on X as much anyway. I don’t expect the same level of service on MSC as we have received on X but I am now more prepared thanks to Adam and his review. 

Will be interesting to hear your assessment of the Grandiosa since we booked her too out of Barcelona next October in the YC. We sail in two weeks on the Equinox in a CS so looking forward to seeing her new changes. We love Celebrity but the prices are becoming too steep so maybe MSC will be the alternative.

[Cruising89143]

7 hours ago, AeroXWD said:

Celebrity is sometimes cheaper than MSC. In this example, I think Celebrity offers a better value:

 

For a December 1. sailing from Ft Lauderdale, a Sky suite on the Edge with $150 OBC, Unlimited internet, prepaid tips and premium beverage package included amounts to 3285 USD.

 

A Deluxe suite on the Meraviglia sailing from Miami on the same date, but without prepaid tips and OBC, and only 6GB internet would cost 3500 USD if I were booking today. Both prices for two persons in a cabin. 

Celebrity being less expensive would be rare and not the norm. Also is that X deal a refundable deposit or NRD?