Yacht Club Questions(1st Time MSC)

[KennyFla]

Those that have been on the Divina, are the speciality drinks at Cafe Italia included in the YC drink package?  I know it depends on who operates the chocolate shop, MSC or third party.

[Até]

My 2018 Divina experience was the same as Sverige, they were only offering Mumm Champagne.  At the time of our sailing YC was considered to have the Deluxe package elsewhere on the ship, which was basically a $13 limit.  The only other Champagne I've been able to get with YC package was NF.  We snacked in Cafe Italia may times but I don't remember any drinks over that dollar limit, most of the time we had pretty standard coffees though and everything was covered.  As far as I know it's not like the Jean-Philippe venues where nothing is covered by a drinks package.  We did encounter some of the specialty cocktails in La Luna bar that are likely now above the new $12 YC limit.  The only places I've had trouble with the current YC package was specialty restaurants and the Champagne bar, some only had one or two possibilities, often having the YC available choices priced above $12.

[hamrag]

9 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

We were served Mumm at Divina bar the first days on our cruise on Divina. They said that they didn't had any Nicolas Feuilatte on the ship but after e few days it was Nicolas Feuilatte. 

 

We could not get any Champagne in the Top Sail Lounge the first days because they said that it wasn't included. The Yacht Club manager changed his mind after talking to the beverage manager so we could order Champagne but we never saw anyone else do it in the Top Sail Lounge. Of course I could have paid for Champagne in the Top Sail Lounge but I didn't wanted to do it when it was included at Divina bar.

NF has always been included in the 3 Yacht Club cruises we have experienced, never had a problem getting Champagne served either within or outwith the Yacht Club areas.

[sverigecruiser]

8 hours ago, hamrag said:

NF has always been included in the 3 Yacht Club cruises we have experienced, never had a problem getting Champagne served either within or outwith the Yacht Club areas.

 

It took us two days to convince the Yacht Club manager about that on Divina.

[Norwich Cruiser]

3 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

It took us two days to convince the Yacht Club manager about that on Divina.

Similar problems MSC really should get there act together.

Its quite embarrassing.

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Similar problems MSC really should get there act together.

Its quite embarrassing.

 

I agree.

[rkacruiser]

13 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Similar problems MSC really should get there act together.

Its quite embarrassing.

 

I'd use the term "frustrating".  MSC is not alone with being inconsistent in one's cruise experience.  Holland America Line may have hold position #1 in that unenviable category.  

 

Once upon a time...in a land far, far away...HAL's cruise experience was consistent regardless of the vessel on which one sailed.  Then, expansion of the fleet began.  The numbers of ships, the size of the ships, Hotel Directors/Captains who were not as HAL "experienced" as previous ones.  Inconsistency of cruise product appeared.  I think MSC may be suffering from the same malady based upon what I read from those who have much more MSC experience than I.  

 

A word of encouragement based on my most recent 3 HAL cruises--2018, 2019, and 2020--consistency of my cruise experience returned.  That will happen as well with MSC, I expect.  But, it takes "some howls" from guests to Corporate for that to happen, I think.   

[sverigecruiser]

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Once upon a time...in a land far, far away...HAL's cruise experience was consistent regardless of the vessel on which one sailed.  Then, expansion of the fleet began.  The numbers of ships, the size of the ships, Hotel Directors/Captains who were not as HAL "experienced" as previous ones.  Inconsistency of cruise product appeared.  I think MSC may be suffering from the same malady based upon what I read from those who have much more MSC experience than I.  

 

 

The problem with MSC is that they are very inconsistency even on one ship. For us Champagne was included at Divina bar but not in the Yacht Club. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The problem with MSC is that they are very inconsistency even on one ship. For us Champagne was included at Divina bar but not in the Yacht Club. 

Agree we’ve found similar even to the point that they were changing there minds daily.

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The problem with MSC is that they are very inconsistency even on one ship. For us Champagne was included at Divina bar but not in the Yacht Club. 

 

14 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

Agree we’ve found similar even to the point that they were changing there minds daily.

 

Someone aboard the ship is making such decisions, it seems to me.  Who?  I vote for the Hotel Director as being the responsible person.  Or, if not him/her, that person would have the authority over whomever is causing this issue.  

 

A meeting with the Hotel Director might clear up such a situation, I would expect.  

[DCGuy64]

14 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

 

Someone aboard the ship is making such decisions, it seems to me.  Who?  I vote for the Hotel Director as being the responsible person.  Or, if not him/her, that person would have the authority over whomever is causing this issue.  

 

A meeting with the Hotel Director might clear up such a situation, I would expect.  

Great points there. My wife and I try to introduce ourselves to the Hotel Director when we attend the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle. He always remembers us and, although we've never had to relay anything negative, I don't doubt he would act on it if that weren't the case. (Side note: the director could very well be a "she" next time, but we only had male hotel directors on our previous MSC cruises)

Also, I'd like to point out that we had no trouble getting included champagnes at the Champagne Bar on both the Seaside and the Meraviglia. It wasn't just NF, either. We were in Aurea the first time and YC the second. For us, the $17pppd for the Premium+ package was justified, but there were still good choices even without paying extra.

[sverigecruiser]

27 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

 

Someone aboard the ship is making such decisions, it seems to me.  Who?  I vote for the Hotel Director as being the responsible person.  Or, if not him/her, that person would have the authority over whomever is causing this issue.  

 

A meeting with the Hotel Director might clear up such a situation, I would expect.  

 

On Divina I wrote a message in Swedish to the beverage manager after being told in the Yacht Club that the Champagne wasn't included. The Yacht Club manager later told me that he had talked to the beverage manager and tthat they had decided that we could get Champagne. It sounded like they made an exception for us and not that they agreed that the Champagne should be included and we never saw anyone else order Champagne in the Yacht Club. I don't know if the letter I wrote helped at all.

 

On our second cruise on the Norwegian Epic we were told at the Haven bar the first day that we couldn't order, and pay for, any Champagne by the glass. The second day we attended the captains reception in the Haven and then we talked to the food and beverage manager and he told us that we could order Champagne by the glass and if anyone said no we should tell them to talk to him. After that we could order Champagne by the glass but every time we tried at a new bar we had to tell them that they should talk to the food and beverage manager because they always said no first! So it's not Only MSC!

[Hlitner]

On 12/30/2020 at 4:31 PM, sverigecruiser said:

 

On Divina I wrote a message in Swedish to the beverage manager after being told in the Yacht Club that the Champagne wasn't included. The Yacht Club manager later told me that he had talked to the beverage manager and tthat they had decided that we could get Champagne. It sounded like they made an exception for us and not that they agreed that the Champagne should be included and we never saw anyone else order Champagne in the Yacht Club. I don't know if the letter I wrote helped at all.

 

On our second cruise on the Norwegian Epic we were told at the Haven bar the first day that we couldn't order, and pay for, any Champagne by the glass. The second day we attended the captains reception in the Haven and then we talked to the food and beverage manager and he told us that we could order Champagne by the glass and if anyone said no we should tell them to talk to him. After that we could order Champagne by the glass but every time we tried at a new bar we had to tell them that they should talk to the food and beverage manager because they always said no first! So it's not Only MSC!

I actually know the Beverage Manager in question :).  On one of our two Divina YC cruises we had a similar issue.  When DW ask for Champagne in the One the waiter brought her a decent Prosecco and explained that they were out of Champagne (this was the first day of a 3 week cruise).  We later ran into the Beverage Manager and mentioned the issue.  He seemed surprised and said that he would send a supply of Champagne to the One (it was Mumm).  From that point whenever DW ordered she would ask for "French Champagne" and they always were able to serve Mumm.  The Beverage Manager later told us he sent Mumm because the ship was completely out of NF (we prefer Mumm).

 

Hank

 

 

[rkacruiser]

Why should such inconsistency of service exist?  A YC guest, a 5 Star Mariner, a Haven guest, a Princess Elite guest:  such inconsistency of the cruise experience diminishes the cruise product that the cruise line tries to provide. 

 

Maybe the reinvention of the cruise experience, that I think is coming in 2021/2022, will see some positive changes to the consistency of cruise experiences that we receive that have been lost.  

[sverigecruiser]

19 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I actually know the Beverage Manager in question :).  On one of our two Divina YC cruises we had a similar issue.  When DW ask for Champagne in the One the waiter brought her a decent Prosecco and explained that they were out of Champagne (this was the first day of a 3 week cruise).  We later ran into the Beverage Manager and mentioned the issue.  He seemed surprised and said that he would send a supply of Champagne to the One (it was Mumm).  From that point whenever DW ordered she would ask for "French Champagne" and they always were able to serve Mumm.  The Beverage Manager later told us he sent Mumm because the ship was completely out of NF (we prefer Mumm).

 

Hank

 

 

 

Of course it's completely unacceptable to say that they were out of Champagne! The beverage manager should not have to deal with that! I'm sure that someone in the Yacht Club is responsible to make sure that all kinds of beverages is stocked.

 

It's also unacceptable that anyone shall have to order French Champagne to get Champagne. All Champagne is French and everyone working with beverages on a European cruiseline shall know that!  

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

It's also unacceptable that anyone shall have to order French Champagne to get Champagne. All Champagne is French and everyone working with beverages on a European cruiseline shall know that!  

 

Very well said!  Much "champagne" has been drunk by millions of cruise guests over the years that was nothing more than "a sparkling wine".  

 

 

[phissy]

Decided to post question here...

just pulled up MSC USA terms and Conditions and noticed that now it indicates that deposit for YC cruise is NOT REFUNDABLE.   When we booked in May, we were told that up to 90 days before cruise, it was refundable. 
Not sure if they will honor previous policy...thoughts?

[Até]

I assume you've seen the last couple month's posts in a related thread I started in February, 2019.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2637375-yacht-club-bookings-now-lose-deposit-at-120-days/page/2/

 

As far as I can tell MSC US is keeping to the Terms & Conditions in effect at the time you booked.  Up until recently there were inconsistencies regarding the YC deposit refundability.  Those are now gone and it states pretty clearly YC deposits are not refundable, and there have been posters stating their recent YC bookings state this directly.  The best thing to do is look at your booking confirmation and hope there is a "Final Payment, Cancellations and Penalties" page near the end.  Sometimes on page two "Booking Details" there will be a field "Cancellation date (No penalty)", some bookings have a date and some have a question mark.

 

If you call MSC you will still get agents that have no idea this policy was changed.  They now have a new system that they just put in your booking number and it automatically tells them when and what penalties apply to your booking.  Unfortunately they cannot tell you this date when making a new booking, you have to make the booking then they can tell you that information.  I was considering trying to make a courtesy hold booking to see if they could verify the information, but haven't bothered yet since I believe these reports that US YC deposits are now non-refundable.  I made several YC bookings as far out as I could before this change was finalized but for any new bookings this will affect my planning time frames significantly.

[sverigecruiser]

14 hours ago, phissy said:

 

just pulled up MSC USA terms and Conditions and noticed that now it indicates that deposit for YC cruise is NOT REFUNDABLE.

 

I think that is great news, for me. Since the deposits are always non refundable here it make no difference for us. If deposits are non refundable everywhere it might be easier to book a yacht club suite for us.

[emmas gran]

1 hour ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I think that is great news, for me. Since the deposits are always non refundable here it make no difference for us. If deposits are non refundable everywhere it might be easier to book a yacht club suite for us.

Same for us in UK , I read on other boards people have 10/12 bookings on refundable deposits and have no intention of taking them all. It is quite selfish on their part

 

Liz

[JohnJayJotaJames]

5 hours ago, emmas gran said:

Same for us in UK , I read on other boards people have 10/12 bookings on refundable deposits and have no intention of taking them all. It is quite selfish on their part

 

Liz

here in Brazil we don't have an option to book with a deposit! we can hold a reservation for 3 or 4 days then we pay in full. It can be in 10 or 12 payments but we have to pay.

[Bwana Tom]

On 12/26/2020 at 3:35 PM, Nunagoras said:

Hi, @Dsciorti:

 

First of it all; be very welcome to the forum!...

 

MSC is an Italian line. They've started primarily cruising here in Europe. Almost all what the previous colleagues here in the forum have said is true. Note though that MSC works differently from region to region. In the US and South American sailings you'll see the prices in USD, but if you come to Europe, or the Middle East, then you'll find all things priced in EUR. Trade marks availability may vary depending on region as well.

 

Regarding the packages you'll have the Premium one that, despite the currency will give you access to almost 95% of what is sold aboard, so basically anything else except for those very special and expensive spirits, wines, champagnes and some occasional specific drinks here and there. If you're interested on those you can add the Premium Plus one.

 

Do note all of this is coming from before the pandemic. They may change terms and conditions at any moment.

 

Have a nice day!...

Hello:

It is always nice to read a pleasant and informative post like yours. I too am new to this particular forum and have not been on a MSC cruise. We cruise most often on Princess and a few times on Celebrity. We were thinking we could get access to some different ports by possibly booking on MSC, which I believe will honor our captain club frequent cruising status from Princess.

I just want to say the information you provide to @Dsciortiwas very helpful.

Thank you  

[Nunagoras]

On 1/20/2021 at 8:36 PM, Bwana Tom said:

Hello:

It is always nice to read a pleasant and informative post like yours. I too am new to this particular forum and have not been on a MSC cruise. We cruise most often on Princess and a few times on Celebrity. We were thinking we could get access to some different ports by possibly booking on MSC, which I believe will honor our captain club frequent cruising status from Princess.

I just want to say the information you provide to @Dsciortiwas very helpful.

Thank you  

Many thanks to the kind words!...

 

As per before the pandemic they used to honor any other cruise lines fidelity schemes, as well as, at least in some markets, to some hotel chain and even at some of their local partners Travel Agencies. Just send them some proof that you have some electable status elsewhere and they'll apply it to your account accordingly.

 

Have a nice day!...

[kidless]

I need to follow this thread. We had just started trying MSC cruises pre-COVID after many years of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Now with several MSC FCC’s in hand we are ready to cruise.  We have 2 cruises booked for this year and two for next. Our October and next March will be in Yacht Club both Divina. Excited to hear about all the ins/outs of YC.  

[phissy]

Many of us who have cruised with MSC are also waiting and wondering what the Post Covid cruise experience will be like.

Our YC experiences have been good. There are always glitches but, Concierges or YC Restaurant Manager can resolve most.

I remember our first night at dinner in YC , I order glass of champagne.  Waiter explains they only serve Prosecco. (Mediterrean Cruise)

I then asked again, if during our cruise, getting champagne by the glass in restaurant would be possible. 

Waiter looked to Restaurant Manager and he just gave him a nod.  The champagne was available from then on. Seems like they wait until it is requested, which is not a problem for me😉