Ocean Cay--what's included?

[hiccups]

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!

[Two Wheels Only]

Yacht Club guests have dining and drinks included in the Yacht Club area (Ocean House) for lunch...

 

 

...which is right next to the beach. 

 

In my experience (don't know if it is official), anything that we ordered at the ice cream shop (The Smiling Fish) was free of charge. Once they saw the Yacht Club keycard, the receipt machine printed zeros. Others were charged and had to sign the receipt...there were tons of receipts being printed. We had an overnight on the island and we stopped there both days. 

 

Your Yacht Club drink package will work on the island just as it does on the ship. There are also included options for everyone on the island as well as pay extra options. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Two Wheels Only

[JAGR]

We've only done the YC dining at OC, and it was great.  Some of those items (like the lobster roll are for sale at a location near the main shopping area, but there is also a free buffet there with traditional barbeque (ribs, etc.) as well as jerk chicken and the like.  Food trucks with burgers and hot dogs are located around the island and are free to all.  Your drinks are free inside the YC area as well as at any bar elsewhere on OC.  Enjoy your time there.

Edited May 27, 2022 by JAGR

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, JAGR said:

We've only done the YC dining at OC, and it was great. 

 

5 hours ago, JAGR said:

Your drinks are free inside the YC area as well as at any bar elsewhere on OC.

 

My experience as well.  The staff you will see at the Ocean House for YC guests will be the same Butlers who serve you on the ship.  The Head Butler is in charge of the staff and, during my experience, she was very visible and active.

 

I suggest dining at this facility during an "off hour" dining time to avoid crowds.  

[cruiseguyinorl]

As a TA, i suggest you get a new one. They have no idea what they are talking about.

[deliver42]

Unfortunately a lot of TA's have no idea about MSC or their policies. Being on Ocean Cay is no different than being on the ship. 

[dexddd]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

Unfortunately a lot of TA's have no idea about MSC or their policies. Being on Ocean Cay is no different than being on the ship. 

True, but TAs find dealing with MSC in US difficult.  At least my large TA.

[hiccups]

22 hours ago, cruiseguyinorl said:

As a TA, i suggest you get a new one. They have no idea what they are talking about.

 

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.

[1kaper]

15 hours ago, dexddd said:

True, but TAs find dealing with MSC in US difficult.  At least my large TA.

So on my cruise during a downpour I chatted at the bar with a TA. She deals only with MSC. I mentioned I had heard this. She said she’s never had an issue and as mentioned, will only deal with them. 

[sverigecruiser]

11 hours ago, hiccups said:

 

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.

 

She's not a good TA if she say that nothing is included when everything is included! You may like her but that is very unprofessional!

[GonzoWCS]

Following along to see what is truly included.

 

Cheers

[Morgsmom]

15 hours ago, hiccups said:

 

Since you are looking at YC, I'd say take a chance at MSC.   

Edited May 29, 2022 by Morgsmom
typo

[WirelessRoute]

On 5/27/2022 at 1:26 PM, hiccups said:

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!

 

As others have posted. If you are in the Yacht Club, there is a private part of the island just over the bridge that is for YC members only. You are escorted there by cart and dropped off in front of the Ocean House. The picture posted on the 2nd post is how the Ocean house looks. The food is included as well as same drinks you are entitled to in the YC bars and Lounge on the cruise ship (Though they do not bring all wines, beers and liquors off). I attached the menu from this past week of Seashore at the YC Ocean House that is on Ocean cay.

 

There are beach chairs, umbrellas and Blue YC towels provided. You can also order drinks at the beach but it does take some time to receive them as they have to run back and forth from the Ocean House to retrieve them.

 

The beach is not great for the YC when we went. There lots of rocks and coral on the beach. There 2 other beach short walk from Ocean House that are in my option better but they did not have service, umbrellas or chairs setup. It baffles me that they did not setup at one of these beaches instead. If I had to guess they wanted to as close to Ocean house as possible to fetch drinks. Why not have a cooler on the beach with beer in it for easy access? Just a thought. Let me know if there are any other questions.

Yacht-Club-OCEAN-HOUSE-Ocean_Cay_Menu.pdf

[ddlb]

16 hours ago, hiccups said:

 

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.

Of course she wants you to sail on the other ships. Booking MSC would deeply cut into her commission. May want to double the price the differences!

[WirelessRoute]

48 minutes ago, ddlb said:

Of course she wants you to sail on the other ships. Booking MSC would deeply cut into her commission. May want to double the price the differences!

 

Traveling MSC and traveling MSC Yacht Club are 2 completely different experiences. I felt like I was not even on an MSC cruise. We have been on Disney, RCL, Princess, Holland, NCL, Celebrity, MSC non YC and MSC YC. If you haven't heard it enough from others I'll add my 2 cents MSC YC can't be compared to other lines. Now I am not sure if we can go back to regular MSC experience.

[no1talks]

3 hours ago, WirelessRoute said:

(Though they do not bring all wines, beers and liquors off).

I'd bet a week's pay that if the items are on the ship anyway and you give a solid day's notice to the Yacht Club concierge (and your butler), you can have the ingredients for your favorite beach drink brought to Ocean House with the morning supplies. 

 

YC staff are very accommodating, which is why I'm happy to tip beyond the included service fee.

[no1talks]

4 hours ago, WirelessRoute said:

"...other beach short walk from Ocean House that are in my option better but they did not have service, umbrellas or chairs setup. It baffles me that they did not setup at one of these beaches instead."

Ocean Cay is only a few years old and we were not in YC on our prior visit, when the place was really new.

 

However, unless I'm incorrectly recalling other posts from YCers who have been on the island since the beginning, the sand was washed out by storms.

 

The past few years have been rough for the sand business and thus the delay in remediation.

[psmarkle]

As others have posted, everything except shore excursions are included for the YC.  For lunch, I ordered 2 lobster rolls and the salad.  When they arrived, I dumped the lobster on top of the salad and ate away, discarded the rest! FWIW, we rented a oceanview Cabana since the "oceanfront" cabanas were all booked...I put in "" since the oceanfront cabanas are actually located on the tree line, behind all the YC chairs and umbrellas.  Based off posters on this forum, I spoke to the YC Concierge (luv them!!) and requested Cabana #7 which is the closest to the Ocean House. On the negative, it was missing the 2 sitting chairs and did not have a ceiling fan like the other Cabanas.

 

However, on the positive (and there are many in the YC!) side, the waitress was always around and quick with drinks (sailed with our 2 23 & 24 year-old "boys")...which were frequently requested! 🙂

 

For our Nov Meraviglia cruise, will spend the extra $50 to get an ocean-not-oceanfront Cabana to have more direct route to the water. Highly recommend wearing water shoes.

 

And to answer the question floating in the room, it was $400 for our oceanview Cabana for the day and $450 for an oceanfront Cabana.  We found it worth every nickle as DW is a shade lover, and DS2 gets overheated.

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, WirelessRoute said:

If you haven't heard it enough from others I'll add my 2 cents MSC YC can't be compared to other lines.

 

The difference between a Pinnacle or Neptune Suite on HAL and a suite on MSC YC is stark.  The HAL experience is different than the MSC experience.  

 

 

 

 

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, WirelessRoute said:

I attached the menu from this past week of Seashore at the YC Ocean House that is on Ocean cay.

 

Thank you.  An excellent menu.  

[no1talks]

20 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The difference between a Pinnacle or Neptune Suite on HAL and a suite on MSC YC is stark.  The HAL experience is different than the MSC experience.  

 

 

 

 

Perhaps you could share some observations regarding the differences, if it's not an imposition? I thank you.

[rkacruiser]

13 minutes ago, no1talks said:

Perhaps you could share some observations regarding the differences, if it's not an imposition? I thank you.

 

The YC Restaurant is included as a YC guest.  The menu is not the same as the 

      MDR menu.  The Restaurant is open for B-L-D regardless of whether the ship

      is at sea or in port.

A private sun/pool deck with Lido type food offerings for B-L and snacks.

The YC Lounge is a larger lounge with an outside view and on some of the ships an 

    outside deck.  Light entertainment is offered in the evenings in the Lounge as is 

    afternoon tea.  The Neptune Lounge does not offer either.  

A Butler, an Assistant Butler, and 24 hour Concierge service

Reserved seating (overseen by a Butler to keep other guests from sitting there) in

     good seats in the Main Theater.

If desired, a Butler will escort you to your seating in a theater.  Or, escort you to the 

    site of disembarkation or, if on an excursion, to that site where the tour leaves  

    the ship.  

At embarkation, YC guests are asked to assemble at a special White Tent area 

    where their luggage is collected and kept separate from others for quicker 

    delivery and a Butler who will escort you through the embarkation process and

    to your suite.  (This did not work as well for me as expected.  Maybe because of

    the chaos I experienced at the Port of Miami.)  

Your choice of hard copies of a nice list of daily newspapers delivered daily to your

    suite.  

I didn't use much out of my mini-bar.  But, upon arrival in my suite, there was a 

    bottle of Proseco on ice.  After I drank it, another one appeared.  Don't think I

    was charged for it.  A large fruit bowl was changed during a 7 day cruise.

    Nightly turn down chocolates appeared on my bed.  Some nights, a plate of

    additional sweets appeared on my coffee table (such as Macaroons).  

 

There were some minuses.  But, compared to what a Neptune Suite costs and a YC suite costs, for me, the better value is the YC.  Would I book a Neptune Suite again.  Yes.  I enjoy different cruising experiences!!! 

 

 

[no1talks]

@rkacruiserwe availed ourselves of all these amenities as well. (So much dropped-off chocolate!) I should add, however, only one of the tea services was the posh, loose-leaf preparation. Also worth mentioning to others: Access to the Aurea "Thermal Suite" is included, should a YCer wish to stroll over to the spa. (We didn't go. Hopefully next time.)

We were denied one request, however. on embarkation day, I asked the maître d' if we might have the YC chef prepare and old-school multicourse dinner for my wife and I on the actual formal night. (I say "actual" because every night is formal night for me. 😊) It would have been Chef's choice for individual small courses; I just requested number and type. The maître d' respectfully declined, but we were surprised when every one of our dinners began with an amuse-bouche and included a shrimp cocktail course.

So, clearly there are limits to what accommodations can be made for YC guests. I suppose, for example, if one's YC cabin had a bathtub, one would be rebuffed upon asking the butler to draw a bath. (As I understand it, this is a task one cruise line in particular offers, keeping scented oils and bath beads on hand.)

I really do suspect the added expense of other lines' ship-within-a-ship experiences would be examples of the law of diminishing returns. Pay increased fares of 40%, 70%, even more, but do not receive a commensurate ROI.

There's no need to look elsewhere anytime soon.

[hiccups]

On 5/29/2022 at 12:52 PM, ddlb said:

Of course she wants you to sail on the other ships. Booking MSC would deeply cut into her commission. May want to double the price the differences!

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.

[hiccups]

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!