Deciding Between Aurea Balcony (3rd Time) or Yacht Club (1st Time)

[optimusprime82]

My wife and I are trying to decide between booking a Grand Suite or Whirlpool Suite (Aurea Experience) on the Seaside or a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. Our biggest apprehension is that we're going to have a hard time going back to the Aurea Experience after Yacht Club on our following cruise (already scheduled for October 2021).

 

Our first two MSC cruises were both Aurea Experience and we enjoyed them immensely. We'd like to try Yacht Club but we never felt we were missing anything with Aurea. Anyone have any experiences going back and forth between these two "classes?"

 

Yacht Club is about $1000 more than the Aurea cabins. 

 

Just a little more background; we are not heavy drinkers but we do enjoy sampling a few drinks (3-5 per day each). We have dined at at least three specialty restaurants per cruise with MSC otherwise we have dinner in the MDR. We only visit the buffet at breakfast or lunch but never dinner. We take full advantage of the Thermal Spa include with the Aurea Package. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by optimusprime82
Added price difference

[JP82]

And cue the usual slew of people who have sailed Yacht Club saying the would never sail anything else.

 

#steerageisreal

[deliver42]

The thermal suite is free in both. I sailed the YC the first time, and Aurea the 2nd. Would I prefer the YC? Of course, but not at the going prices, which are a lot higher than when we went, which was on he Divina.

[Até]

I've sailed both and am not tied to either.  If you want to sail YC Seaside is a great ship to do it on.  It's also one of the best for Aurea.  I don't really like the whirlpool suites and the Grand Suites would now only appeal if I had kids traveling with us.  So if I were doing Aurea on Seaside I'd pick an Aurea balcony on deck nine starboard above the private spa area.  YC on Seaside is a nice splurge. The main reasons I do it is for the better drinks package, quieter One pool deck, peaceful lounge, slightly better food and ease of getting on and of the ship.  We've sailed Fantastica and Aurea several times now and didn't miss YC too much.

[AllisonandMike]

Thanks for bringing up this topic.  We usually do the Aurea on the Meraviglia.  Have not sailed Seaside yet, but are booked for a back-to-back on Aurea Deck 9 Starboard  mid-forward for September.

 

We, too, have been toying with the idea of doing the YC instead, but since we've never sailed on Seaside yet, weren't sure.

 

Definitely a difficult decision, but we feel we still have time to decide.

 

As OP stated, any additional input would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks,

Mike and Allison

[rkacruiser]

On MSC, I have only sailed in YC on Meraviglia.  For me, it was an upgrade in what I usually book on other cruises.  I did so because the price was very attractive, on a cruise company about which I was curious, and wanting to experience their "ship within a ship" concept.  I enjoyed it.  However, I know that I very much underused the services that were available to me.  (What does one do with a Butler when one has no Butler at home?)

 

OP, since you apparently enjoy trying the specialty restaurants during your cruise, upgrading to YC seems pointless to me.  One of the main things that I enjoyed were my meals in the YC Restaurant and at their Pool Grill.  The service and the immediate and continued friendliness of the staff along with most of what I ordered fully met my expectations.  If on a 7 day cruise, you have 3 dinners elsewhere on the ship.  Why spend the money for YC?  

 

 I looked at the Meraviglia's specialty restaurants menus.  Because of my MSC Diamond status  I could have had a complimentary dinner at one of them.  The restricted menu for such a dinner was a "turn-off" when I had the YC dinner menu from which to order.  The other items that could be ordered--for an additional charge--were not significantly different enough from other ships' specialty restaurant menus to entice me to patronize them.  

 

Also, keep in mind, the "more you pay, the more you sway" when King Neptune is having a bad day.  Ate suggested Deck 9 was a good deck.  My Meraviglia suite was on Deck 15.  His Majesty, the Lord of the Seas, was having a couple of bad days when I was aboard.  It didn't bother me; I guess I am a good sailor.  But, compared to a Dolphin Deck stateroom on the Volendam, the difference was noticeable.  

 

 

[optimusprime82]

On 4/30/2020 at 7:44 AM, deliver42 said:

The thermal suite is free in both. I sailed the YC the first time, and Aurea the 2nd. Would I prefer the YC? Of course, but not at the going prices, which are a lot higher than when we went, which was on he Divina.

 

The Thermal Spa is nice but we'd actually lose getting the two included massages going with YC instead of Aurea. Obviously we could just pay for the massages since we usually add in and extra couple of treatments each depending on the length of the cruise. 

[optimusprime82]

On 4/30/2020 at 9:50 AM, Até said:

I've sailed both and am not tied to either.  If you want to sail YC Seaside is a great ship to do it on.  It's also one of the best for Aurea.  I don't really like the whirlpool suites and the Grand Suites would now only appeal if I had kids traveling with us.  So if I were doing Aurea on Seaside I'd pick an Aurea balcony on deck nine starboard above the private spa area.  YC on Seaside is a nice splurge. The main reasons I do it is for the better drinks package, quieter One pool deck, peaceful lounge, slightly better food and ease of getting on and of the ship.  We've sailed Fantastica and Aurea several times now and didn't miss YC too much.

 

The idea of a Whirlpool sounds nice but the room design seems really poor. We don't go on a cruise to watch TV but we still watch it before bed (etc) and the placement of the TV in relation to the bed appears to be terrible. The Grand Suite looks nice but videos on YT haven't blown me away versus a standard Aurea balcony.

 

My wife really enjoys the private pool areas so I think she'd really get a lot of use out of that. 

 

The Easy Drink Package was pretty worthless to us last year on the Mera versus the drink package we had in 2017 on the Divina. I think we'd get a lot more use out of the YC drink package. Again we're not heavy drinkers but I'm about as likely to drink sea water as I am Miller Lite.

[optimusprime82]

On 4/30/2020 at 5:33 PM, rkacruiser said:

On MSC, I have only sailed in YC on Meraviglia.  For me, it was an upgrade in what I usually book on other cruises.  I did so because the price was very attractive, on a cruise company about which I was curious, and wanting to experience their "ship within a ship" concept.  I enjoyed it.  However, I know that I very much underused the services that were available to me.  (What does one do with a Butler when one has no Butler at home?)

 

OP, since you apparently enjoy trying the specialty restaurants during your cruise, upgrading to YC seems pointless to me.  One of the main things that I enjoyed were my meals in the YC Restaurant and at their Pool Grill.  The service and the immediate and continued friendliness of the staff along with most of what I ordered fully met my expectations.  If on a 7 day cruise, you have 3 dinners elsewhere on the ship.  Why spend the money for YC?  

 

 I looked at the Meraviglia's specialty restaurants menus.  Because of my MSC Diamond status  I could have had a complimentary dinner at one of them.  The restricted menu for such a dinner was a "turn-off" when I had the YC dinner menu from which to order.  The other items that could be ordered--for an additional charge--were not significantly different enough from other ships' specialty restaurant menus to entice me to patronize them.  

 

Also, keep in mind, the "more you pay, the more you sway" when King Neptune is having a bad day.  Ate suggested Deck 9 was a good deck.  My Meraviglia suite was on Deck 15.  His Majesty, the Lord of the Seas, was having a couple of bad days when I was aboard.  It didn't bother me; I guess I am a good sailor.  But, compared to a Dolphin Deck stateroom on the Volendam, the difference was noticeable.  

 

 

 

I don't recall all of the specialty dining options on the Seaside but if we did YC we would likely not buy the 3 or 4 Specialty Dining Package like we've done on the Mera and Divina. We'd probably only visit one or two and perhaps only go if they were open for lunch. For instance, we thought the Japanese Steakhouse on the Mera was nice but we have those at home and we wouldn't feel like we were missing out if we skipped it on the Seaside. The seafood options offered in YC look decent so we could probably skip the seafood specialty restaurant since we dined there previously primarily because the MDR didn't offer much in terms of premium seafood. 

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, optimusprime82 said:

The seafood options offered in YC look decent 

 

The best entree choices in Meraviglia's YC Restaurant were pasta and seafood dishes.  Oh, and the breads and rolls!   

 

I don't recall the pasta dish, but it arrived with a Pesto Sauce.  The green color surprised me, but it was delicious.  During my sailing, the YC Chef seemed to like Pesto a good deal.  

[CruisingFox27]

We've alternated between Aurea and YC and enjoyed all of our cruises. Seaside YC is fabulous, our favourite YC so far. 

We've not felt as though we're missing out when going Aurea experience again, although we've not had any with the Easy package, which we'd find restricting on a longer cruise. 

We love YC but the cost has been prohibitive for us on some sailings but we've been grateful to be sailing and focused on enjoying our trip. 

[sverigecruiser]

On ‎4‎/‎30‎/‎2020 at 11:33 PM, rkacruiser said:

 If on a 7 day cruise, you have 3 dinners elsewhere on the ship.  Why spend the money for YC?  

 

 

7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 4 dinners?

[JP82]

2 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 4 dinners?

You might drop a lunch or two if you feel brave and step out of YC and off the ship amongst the great unwashed though?

[sverigecruiser]

10 minutes ago, JP82 said:

You might drop a lunch or two if you feel brave and step out of YC and off the ship amongst the great unwashed though?

 

 

My answer was to the question: Why spend the money for YC if three dinners are elsewhere on the ship?

 

My answer to the question was that maybe 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 4 dinners is a reason to book the YC.

 

On a 7 day cruise I eat at least 5-6 lunches on the ship and some people don't even leave the ship.

Edited May 4, 2020 by sverigecruiser

[JP82]

I was joking, no need to explain. 😄

[reedprincess]

On 4/30/2020 at 2:16 AM, optimusprime82 said:

My wife and I are trying to decide between booking a Grand Suite or Whirlpool Suite (Aurea Experience) on the Seaside or a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. Our biggest apprehension is that we're going to have a hard time going back to the Aurea Experience after Yacht Club on our following cruise (already scheduled for October 2021).

 

Our first two MSC cruises were both Aurea Experience and we enjoyed them immensely. We'd like to try Yacht Club but we never felt we were missing anything with Aurea. Anyone have any experiences going back and forth between these two "classes?"

 

Yacht Club is about $1000 more than the Aurea cabins. 

 

Just a little more background; we are not heavy drinkers but we do enjoy sampling a few drinks (3-5 per day each). We have dined at at least three specialty restaurants per cruise with MSC otherwise we have dinner in the MDR. We only visit the buffet at breakfast or lunch but never dinner. We take full advantage of the Thermal Spa include with the Aurea Package. 

We've done both, and would be perfectly happy in either on Seaside 

As you've enjoyed the Aurea perks so much, you could stick with Aurea, and upgrade your drink package to Premium Plus, which would give you any drink aboard by the glass, and free room service food and drinks along with the mini bar, which is restocked free of charge - thus making it even closer to YC 

To be honest, even in YC on Seaside, we ate a fair few of our dinners in the Aurea section of the main dining room (better selection in our book, and surprisingly better service overall), and did our Diamond dinners for specialty dining, so we rarely ate dinner in the YC dining room (the last two cruises had surprisingly disjointed service, and the menus weren't all that appealing. Wine Service was excellent though)..  

We did thoroughly enjoy having some quiet space to escape to - the much less boisterous pool deck (although be prepared for chair hogs there also), the outdoor grill, the Top Sail (and the little snacks were great!)..  

But for $1000 price difference, we'd skip YC in a heartbeat and simply upgrade the Aurea Easy package to Premium (which would be equivalent to YC drink package) and enjoy all Aurea has to offer - the Top 19 sundeck and bar and thermal suite provide more than enough extra quiet space for us.  

So, while we've done YC nd Aurea, we have no problem doing Aurea again. Nor would we have any issues with going Bella balcony room, and adding on drink package, spa, etc - depends on pricing (and a Bella balcony cabin is same as an Aurea cabin, it's just the perks that are different)...

Enjoy, whichever you choose. Seaside is a fab ship!!

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, reedprincess said:

We've done both, and would be perfectly happy in either on Seaside 

As you've enjoyed the Aurea perks so much, you could stick with Aurea, and upgrade your drink package to Premium Plus, which would give you any drink aboard by the glass, and free room service food and drinks along with the mini bar, which is restocked free of charge - thus making it even closer to YC 

To be honest, even in YC on Seaside, we ate a fair few of our dinners in the Aurea section of the main dining room (better selection in our book, and surprisingly better service overall), and did our Diamond dinners for specialty dining, so we rarely ate dinner in the YC dining room (the last two cruises had surprisingly disjointed service, and the menus weren't all that appealing. Wine Service was excellent though)..  

We did thoroughly enjoy having some quiet space to escape to - the much less boisterous pool deck (although be prepared for chair hogs there also), the outdoor grill, the Top Sail (and the little snacks were great!)..  

But for $1000 price difference, we'd skip YC in a heartbeat and simply upgrade the Aurea Easy package to Premium (which would be equivalent to YC drink package) and enjoy all Aurea has to offer - the Top 19 sundeck and bar and thermal suite provide more than enough extra quiet space for us.  

So, while we've done YC nd Aurea, we have no problem doing Aurea again. Nor would we have any issues with going Bella balcony room, and adding on drink package, spa, etc - depends on pricing (and a Bella balcony cabin is same as an Aurea cabin, it's just the perks that are different)...

Enjoy, whichever you choose. Seaside is a fab ship!!

 

Having not tried the Aurea Experience, your post is most informative for me.  Thanks for doing so.

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, JP82 said:

step out of YC and off the ship amongst the great unwashed though

 

I did so during my Meraviglia cruise.  I did so more often than I expected.  Why?  The bartenders at the few bars that I patronized were more friendly and conversant than the gentleman in the YC Top Sail Lounge's bar.  The bars outside of YC had more patronage allowing for more interaction with other guests.  There was a "vibe" outside of YC that I really enjoyed and would have missed had I not ventured out of YC.  Never tried any pizza offered at the YC Pool Grill, if it was.  But, the pizza that I enjoyed from the venue near the Atmosphere Pool was excellent.  (The burgers/fries from a nearby venue looked great as well.  But, there's a limit to what I can consume daily.  Darn it!)