Comparing MSC Meriviglia Yacht Club to NCL Haven on Joy and Escape in an accessible cabin.

[Glitchlo]

Room-NCL rooms are larger but all are very functional. NCL has larger self opening front door in Accessible rooms as well as at public restrooms. NCL has eating table and a little larger balcony
 

Sundeck/pool-NCL Haven pool has retractable roof with lounging chairs both inside and out. MSC has outside pool and sundeck. This gives NCL a hostile weather advantage. NCL also has chair lift at Haven (if you ask). MSC has no pool chair lifts. All MSC pools are salt water. 
 

Eating-MSC YC has a different menu each night. Haven stays the same making use of specialty restaurants more enticing. Food is great in both lines. MSC has a grill/buffet area on sundeck for breakfast and lunch making food VERY accessible while enjoying outside. NCL has outside dining in Haven restaurant but food on sun deck is limited to 2 or 3 sandwich types.
 

Drinking/Lounge-MSC includes mini bar in their pkg as well as a bottle of liquor. NCL does not. NCL has 1 bar in mid lounge. Joy has additional front observation lounge as does MSC. MSC has bar at pool deck and front lounge making service better. MSC has light entertainment at night in lounge. MSC package includes water (Italian bottled water in room and at dinners) and specialty coffees. NCL does not.
 

Crew/Service- Both have wonderful service but MSC seems to go out of their way to be friendly and are always there when you need them.
 

Spa- the MSC YC has daily access to the Thermal room. The NCL Joy does not have one and the Escape has a significant daily charge

Cost- MSC has far better value as their cost is about 2/3 that of Haven. Also MSC allows you to apply your OBC to the service charges implemented (crew tips)

Summation Haven vs Yacht Club-
1)NCL Haven is a little more wheelchair friendly due to pool chair lift and power doors.
2)Out of NY MSC goes to both Bahamas/private island (dock) and Bermuda where NCL only goes south to Bermuda. Their private island is only tender accessible making weather more of an issue.
3)NCL might be better option in hostile weather conditions.

BUT the cost factor along with what they give, gives MSC a HUGE advantage and NCL better look at their pricing if they want to maintain NYC market share out of NY.

[mafig]

Thank you for the comparison.

[Georgia_Peaches]

Great summation of the two products!  Escape is my favorite NCL ship and their Haven area is beautiful.  However, the drawbacks for me include the stationary dinner menu and the lack of bar/grill on the Haven pool deck.  As I am not a sun worshiper, I wish MSC offered a shaded indoor lounger area like it's NCL counterpart.  It was very nice to get out of the sun on the Escape but still feel like you were part of the pool deck, albeit on the inside.  I also prefer NCL's thermal suite over MSC's but I love that MSC includes access to the thermal area in the YC price.  Pricing is the biggest factor and for that reason, I will go back to MSC time and again over NCL.