MSC YC vs Celebrity Retreat: A comparison

[Kteacher]

We just returned from our first time on MSC, sailing in YC on the Meraviglia. This will be a comparison between the two experiences. We’ve sailed Retreat on Summit, Reflection, Equinox, and Edge in CS or RS. 
 

Pre-cruise planning and communication 

 There was no communication from YC prior to boarding. The MSC app was not the most user friendly, and it took several tries before I was able to attach a cc to our onboard account. Celebrity wins here as there has always been shoreside contact pre-cruise with questions about preferences and any specific requests, including specialty dining (more on that later)

 

Embarkation

We sailed out of Brooklyn, and I don’t think MSC has worked out all the kinks yet. YC guests are brought to a separate line for security, but this line crossed with wheelchair assist, so we were trying to let passengers in wheelchairs go in front of us, and MSC butler was waving to us to just push through. I’m not sure why it was set up so that the lines would cross, but it was chaotic. Once through security we were brought to a smaller room, checked in, then brought on board in small groups by a different butler. We boarded and were then herded to a spot near an elevator and told to wait while the butler took care of something for another guest. Again, chaotic because we were told to wait right where other passengers were boarding the ship. We were then brought up to the YC lounge and told to wait here until our cabin was ready. There was a long line forming behind one desk, and I soon found out this was to book any specialty dining, excursions, or shows. It took about 45 minutes waiting in line to book three specialty restaurants and two shows. Celebrity wins here, no question.

 

Retreat Lounge vs YC Lounge

The YC lounge was huge! It was also open almost around the clock, with a large bar area, different snacks put out through out the day and into the evening, multiple bar servers, and live music every evening. The YC concierge desk is near the lounge, and seemed to be staffed continually. MSC wins here. We really enjoyed the live music, the bar servers, snacks, the YC Director always around asking if anyone needed anything, and the size of the lounge.

Luminae vs MSC YC Restaurant (and YC buffet!)

 

Luminae can get a little hectic at times, depending on when you choose to eat. The YC restaurant is very large, so plenty of space for everyone. Food is subjective of course, but we thought the food in YC was really good to excellent. Staff were always around asking checking in to see if we needed anything. What we really liked was just upstairs was a full buffet for YC, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There were lots of options as well as a grill for individually prepared items. So food quality is a tie between the two, but slight edge to MSC for having the buffet option.

Cabin

We were in a Deluxe Balcony Suite, deck 16, right next to the lounge (there is even a secret door to the lounge next to the cabin!). The cabin is smaller, closer in size to a jr suite on Royal Caribbean. The bathroom is also on the small side, and there is about a three inch step up to enter the bathroom. There’s a small closet for hanging items and a small closet with shelves. There were no outlets by the bed, so luckily we had brought an extension cord for my husband’s cpap. The balcony was also on the small side, just large enough for two chairs with foot rests. The mini bar is stocked with water, sodas, juices, and Heineken (the only beer that was available). All YC cabins also get one bottle of spirits (we chose Absolut, and just brought it home with us as drinks were readily available in the lounge). Celebrity wins on cabin size and layout, MSC did a better job on butler service. It was outstanding- we were literally escorted everywhere on the ship we needed to go. The cabins were being serviced all day by the asst. butlers. Everything was always clean, everywhere.

Other observations 

Entertainment on MSC was different than what we are used to. There were included shows that you still needed a reservation for in the main theater and two different paid shows in the Carousel Lounge (12.00 if purchased ahead of time, 18.00 if purchased on the ship and includes one pre-made cocktail. No other drinks served, and the included cocktails were not great). The two paid shows were good, but I’m not sure I would pay for them if I were to cruise again on MSC. There was a Master Chef at Sea competition the last day, and we really enjoyed this.

 We pre-paid for a specialty dining package, three restaurants for 71.00 pp. The packages have a separate menu selection, which was fine. We ended up dining in Butcher’s Cut (steak house), Ocean Cay (seafood), and Kaito Teppanyaki for lunch on the three sea days. We felt the food was better in the YC restaurant than the specialty restaurants, so would not book them again on MSC. Celebrity wins here- we really like their specialty dining as well as dining events like Veuve Cliquot dinner and Daniel Boulud Chef’s Table.

 

Final Thoughts (and would we book another MSC cruise)

This was a great cruise. We loved the YC experience, and loved MSC’s private island (not going to get into private island debate right now…). The pricing for this cruise in a YC suite was about half what we have been paying for CS on Celebrity, so MSC definitely has the advantage on value for $$$. Would we book MSC again? Yes, if the pricing on MSC stays as competitive as it is now. We’d like to try some different itineraries, so I’ve started checking MSC for interesting looking sailings. Right now we have two Celebrity cruises booked for 2024, one in Aqua because the Retreat pricing was a little crazy. Hope this comparison helps anyone considering an MSC cruise.

[Mark_T]

On our trial cruise with MSC we had a smoother pre-cruise and embarkation experience than you did, as there was an email asking for our choice of spirits and our newspaper preference. 

 

On the newspaper, I wouldn't ask for it another time as I was expecting the sort of small summary sheet that I've had on Regent in the past , but what we got was the whole thing, printed on A3 paper and about half an inch thick... far too much waste for comfort.

 

Agree on the speciality restaurants, the price is very low compared to Celebrity, you were getting all 3 for around the price of one on Celebrity, but there is no need as the food in the MDR exceeds the specialities, in particular the fillet that is available every day was cooked to perfection and was probably one of the best steaks I've ever had, anywhere...

 

I'd give Celebrity the edge on the entertainment, especially in Europe as the MSC productions try to appeal to a wide range of different languages, where Celebrity just target English in all markets, so they are more performance focused. ... but Celebrity could use a bit more variety in the production shows.

 

Yes, we have booked with MSC again, can't argue with better than retreat service levels for Aqua prices...

 

 

[Lena11033]

I did MSC in April I don't know if embarkation organization depends on where, for Southampton it was super easy. I turned up, they took my bags and they walked me through the scanners which took less than a minute, I think I went upstairs after and they finished my boarding process while I had a drink.

 

Other than the paid theatre I never did a reservation - I just turned up and went into the reserved area for YC.

 

I will say with the food I had out of Southampton, I would stick away from French/British food - the Italian food was the best I found. The lobster I had on MSC was better than Celebrity.

 

There were good and bad things for both but the price and what I got on MSC was great - I did do an onboard booking for 2025 for World America.

[George C]

We book celebrity a lot , always suites from sky to penthouse, did MSc yacht club just before Covid shutdown everything, we had no chaos boarding at all . I would say yacht club cabins are similar to sky suites. Loved the entertainment in yacht club lounge which could be heard from restaurant one floor above. Butler was far superior on yacht club he would escort you to shows and off the ship . Captain spent a lot of time there and had a couple pleasant conversations with him . Private island suite area again was far superior to celebrity they had waiter service to bring your food and drink , I thought rest of entertainment was equal to celebrity and there outside area which served lunch was excellent, pool was about 6 ft deep never crowded . I will be definitely look forward to booking them again. They also gave me a ten percent discount on cruise since I am a veteran, never got anything like that from celebrity.

[jean87510]

I have 4 upcoming MSC YC sailings booked.  2 on Divinia (b2b), 1 on Seascape and 1 on Meraviglia.  I loved the status match (am Diamond on there) and ease of doing so.  2 I chose inside cabin.  The other 2 in December/January were 1/2 the price of the Retreat on the Beyond at the same time which I moved to the Reflection Retreat.  I'm actually debating just cancelling that if I like MSC.  The other thing I liked was the low deposit, the discount for my status, the ability to move my sailing 1x in YC without penalty.  

[Mark_T]

15 minutes ago, George C said:

They also gave me a ten percent discount on cruise since I am a veteran, never got anything like that from celebrity.

I'd forgotten about the cruise price discounts...

 

They status match from most hotel/airline/cruise loyalty programmes and you can get 5% + an additional 5% if you book more than 6 months in advance. If you are 9 months in advance you get an extra $50 OBC as well.

 

Also double status points + $200 OBC if you book onboard.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Mark_T

[wineoclock]

We had considered MSC YC for September with our daughters but now doing a land trip.
 

Can I ask please what the rest of the ship is like once you leave YC? X is imo good everywhere most of the time. 
 

Forgot to add that we like the non smoking inside & that’s a big deal for us.

 

thank you 

Edited June 29, 2023 by wineoclock

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, wineoclock said:

Can I ask please what the rest of the ship is like once you leave YC? X is imo good everywhere most of the time. 

We were on Divina, cruising near Italy, so we walked through the ship each day to get to the Yacht Club restaurant.

 

We only found it noticeably busy on the gala night, but there were so many bars, with different entertainment in each, that even then the people tended to spread out between them (all serve coffee as well).

 

Didn't see an issue with finding seats or a table had we chosen to stay in any of them. General atmosphere was more 'lively' and culturally diverse than X. 

 

We never noticed any cigarette smoke even in the casino, and the one inside smokers lounge always looked empty as we went past, so I'm guessing we didn't have many smokers onboard, so every cruise is going to be different.

 

I guess the big difference we noticed was the general ambiance, X can feel a little sterile at times, where MSC always felty like people were having fun, but there was both quiet and party spaces available just a walk away, never felt like we would have to hunt down a bar with space to sit as we have had to do on Silhouette or Eclipse at times.

 

The atmosphere in the Yacht Club itself felt way better than the Retreat as there was some form of, appropriate, live music in the lounge every evening. The butlers also work in the lounge, so there is rarely a wait for table service.

 

Can't comment on what it was like around the main pools on a sea day so it could well have been a bit more of a 'zoo' down there, but again quite a few different spaces including an 'adults only' are for those not wishing to deal with excitable children 🙂

 

If we had to sail outside the Yacht Club for a great itinerary I think we probably would still do it, but at current prices we would always be more inclined to book Yacht Club.

[wineoclock]

Thank you so much! We are in  CS on Apex next but definitely I’m beginning to look elsewhere at those retreat prices 😁

[Stem to Stern]

20 hours ago, Kteacher said:

This was a great cruise. We loved the YC experience, and loved MSC’s private island (not going to get into private island debate right now…). The pricing for this cruise in a YC suite was about half what we have been paying for CS on Celebrity, so MSC definitely has the advantage on value for $$$. Would we book MSC again? Yes, if the pricing on MSC stays as competitive as it is now

Your entire review and most of the commentary that followed resonates with me.  Prior to this I was encouraged by Charla's live from MSC thread.  We status matched to Diamond, so were able to take advantage of MSC's incentives for our first booking foray into the Yacht Club.  We will be doing a side-by-side comparison of MSC Yacht Club with The Retreat on board Summit.  We have previously enjoyed The Retreat on board Silhouette and Equinox, but we look forward to trying it on board a Revolutionized M-class ship.  I am not looking to uncover any miraculous discoveries during the comparison, but it will be interesting to disembark one ship and nearly immediately embark the other.  The 5-night on the Summit was booked first.  Then, we tacked on the 7-nights on Seascape after I got Charlacized by her review.  We will be sailing glass-half-full after suffering a lonnng, land-locked 363-day cruise hiatus.  We are always grateful and happy just to have booked cruises to look forward to.  Any day on any ship (within $$$ reason) beats a day on land.

[RichYak]

25 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

after I got Charlacized by her review

Excellent choice of words! And now I'm off to read and learn about Franz Mesmer.

[Stem to Stern]

4 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Excellent choice of words! And now I'm off to read and learn about Franz Mesmer.

I get ized easily I guess.  Maybe on my next cruise I will get YCized like the time I was Crystalized on board Serenity.

[RichYak]

22 hours ago, Kteacher said:

We just returned from our first time on MSC, sailing in YC on the Meraviglia. This will be a comparison between the two experiences.

You didn't touch on the outdoor YC space vs Retreat sundeck at all. Seems to me to be a huge win for MSC vs. all but E-class ships.

[miched]

I recently booked a cruise in the Yacht Club.  
 

The price of the cruise went down because of a 4th of July sale.   I called about getting the price match and was told that MSC doesn’t do a price match.    I was told that the deposits for the Yacht Club are NR so I could cancel the cruise and rebook but the loss of the deposit would offset most of the decrease.  
 

Just something to think about when booking a MSC cruise.   
 

For the most part  the MSC appears to be a better value and offers fantastic service according to the reviews I have read.    I haven’t traveled with them yet so I can only go by those reports.  

 

It also appears as if they nickel dime for many things that you would expect to be included.  Still not a deal breaker for the difference in cost.   
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Kteacher]

5 hours ago, RichYak said:

You didn't touch on the outdoor YC space vs Retreat sundeck at all. Seems to me to be a huge win for MSC vs. all but E-class ships.

Sorry about that.Yes, the YC sun deck (which includes the buffet area) is very spacious with plenty of loungers, towels and bar servers coming around with water, drinks, basically whatever you wanted they brought to you. The only negative I could find is there isn’t much shade.

[cublet]

On 6/28/2023 at 10:02 PM, Mark_T said:

I'd forgotten about the cruise price discounts...

 

They status match from most hotel/airline/cruise loyalty programmes and you can get 5% + an additional 5% if you book more than 6 months in advance. If you are 9 months in advance you get an extra $50 OBC as well.

 

Also double status points + $200 OBC if you book onboard.

Hello,

 

This is either the pedant in me or the retired accountant in me but a word of clarification on the cruise discounts. You get an extra 5% off the 95% so 9.75% in total and not 10%.

 

I am pleased to say that the OBCs are given as shown above to solo travellers and not pro-rated.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, cublet said:

This is either the pedant in me or the retired accountant in me but a word of clarification on the cruise discounts. You get an extra 5% off the 95% so 9.75% in total and not 10%.

It is 5% discount from 100%, then 5% of the 95%, which is why I expressed it as they do, which is 5 + 5 rather than 10, so it was a good point to mkae 🙂

 

3 hours ago, cublet said:

I am pleased to say that the OBCs are given as shown above to solo travellers and not pro-rated.

 

Not all OBC is applied that way though, the promotion that was on when we made our booking is specifically for double occupancy cabins, so a solo traveller would have received half...

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Mark_T

[JackE]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:04 PM, Stem to Stern said:

Your entire review and most of the commentary that followed resonates with me.  Prior to this I was encouraged by Charla's live from MSC thread.  We status matched to Diamond, so were able to take advantage of MSC's incentives for our first booking foray into the Yacht Club.  We will be doing a side-by-side comparison of MSC Yacht Club with The Retreat on board Summit.  We have previously enjoyed The Retreat on board Silhouette and Equinox, but we look forward to trying it on board a Revolutionized M-class ship.  I am not looking to uncover any miraculous discoveries during the comparison, but it will be interesting to disembark one ship and nearly immediately embark the other.  The 5-night on the Summit was booked first.  Then, we tacked on the 7-nights on Seascape after I got Charlacized by her review.  We will be sailing glass-half-full after suffering a lonnng, land-locked 363-day cruise hiatus.  We are always grateful and happy just to have booked cruises to look forward to.  Any day on any ship (within $$$ reason) beats a day on land.

Where can I find Charla’s commentary on MSC? Love her writing! TYIA

[perakcruiser]

On 6/30/2023 at 7:13 AM, miched said:

It also appears as if they nickel dime for many things that you would expect to be included.  Still not a deal breaker for the difference in cost.   

That is not true at all. There is only one thing, you have to pay for the water in the MDR, which is free on most other cruise lines. Not in YC of cause, there is a premium drinks package included.

 

And their price structure of cause makes it impossible for them to do a price match. 

[miched]

57 minutes ago, perakcruiser said:

That is not true at all. There is only one thing, you have to pay for the water in the MDR, which is free on most other cruise lines. Not in YC of cause, there is a premium drinks package included.

 

And their price structure of cause makes it impossible for them to do a price match. 

 

I am not complaining about the price match.   I am only posting to let others know and think about when booking if you think that a “sale” may be coming.     When I booked I didn’t ask about being price match as I am use to sailing on Celebrity and other cruise lines that did a price match. 

if you read the reviews of MSC you will read a lot of things that people complain about having to pay extra for, some are and some are not in the Yacht Club.    As I wrote I can only go by what they wrote as I haven’t been on MSC 

I booked the Yacht Club and it is only for 3 nights.  If there is a charge for something and I want it I will pay for it.   I booked the cruise because it is only 3 nights so I could get a feel for the cruise line.  It is 5 days before a B2B Celebrity cruise and  on the way driving from MI to FL.  If I don’t like it fine,  if it is fantastic then I will book more. 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by miched

[chisoxfan]

On an X site I am surprised there isn't more enthusiasm for the Retreat. We loved YC but booked a

discounted Sky Suite on Ascent for next year. With credits it was approx the same price as YC which has gone up alot like everything. We saw some potential YC benefits (never having sailed on Retreat).

These include the spa access, stocked mini bar, and private island which is not part of our X cruise.

We were thinking of migrating to YC for this Jan 2024 cruise but discovered that YC now has non refundable deposit. Anyway we will probably stick with the new Ascent and see how we like it. I would have to be very impressed to spend 7-10 grand a week for Carib cruise in Retreat. Sorry to be such a downer but as long time cruisers we just don't have the same enthusiasm we used to for cruising primarily because of the declining (IMHO) value. 

[Stem to Stern]

8 hours ago, JackE said:

Where can I find Charla’s commentary on MSC? Love her writing! TYIA

She did a back-to-back on Celebrity and MSC.  Enjoy! 🙂

[Lena11033]

Yes YC has a non refundable deposit but when I booked in April for 2025 the deposit was $200 not a percentage of the total cost.

[KKB]

OK...after about 30 cruises, tried MSC in Feb (NOT YC)

Wasn't a fan--tried again in May. Even less of a fan now.

 

We did Retreat on Beyond in April. Really enjoyed it but would have to get a similar deal as we got on that one to do it again--nothing was so much better to pay a huge premium for.

 

Would I try MSC again if we did YC? 

Maybe, if the price was right.

But I found the passengers to be rude on both sailings (one in Caribbean & one in Europe...)--which is an issue that many reviewers point out.

And the activities & entertainment were, well, odd.

 

I agree with above poster about Celebrity shows--EXCEPT Eclass. Those are on another level.

 

[RichYak]

45 minutes ago, KKB said:

But I found the passengers to be rude on both sailings (one in Caribbean & one in Europe...)--which is an issue that many reviewers point out.

Tami, who often posts on the Celebrity board, is currently on board MSC in YC and went out of her way to indicate that she is having the opposite experience.