Celebrity Retreat vs MSC Yacht Club

[Cruising89143]

30 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

The problem with Yacht Club is you’re stuck in Yacht Club. If YC is too sleepy for you, once you pass those doors you find yourself on Carnival 2.0 which is a hard pass for me. 

Agree. Found the exact same issue on the Norwegian Bliss. Once outside of the Haven, it was a madhouse. 

[mahasamatman]

5 hours ago, RichYak said:

I'm sailing YC for the first time next month

 

So are we! Just got our boarding passes yesterday.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

So far I'm a bit surprised by the responses.

 

I figured asking this question in the Celebrity forum I'd be met by a bunch of people defending the Retreat as the superior experience.

 

So far though, it's been anything but that, but with one exception...

 

 

[mac_tlc]

50 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

That too is my only pause…

As it is for us.....

 

But before my status match expires I have to try it so I don't wonder what it is like.

 

 

mac_tlc

[NMTraveller]

I am on the MSC forum ??? 🤣

[chill6x6]

I've had cruises booked with YC and canceled and went with what I knew which is usually NCL Haven or Royal Sky/Star suite.  Everyone has their own set of priorities.  One of mine is I want two loungers on my balcony at least and hopefully a table with two chairs.  That's about impossible with a YC suite.  Two very basic chairs and a very small table is all I can determine is on the balconies of the majority of YC suites.

 

Current prices I've see are just short of $10K/7 days for a balcony suite out of Galveston which is currently the only sailing for Caribbean itineraries for the timeframe I need. That's getting up there where it may or may not be very competitive with the other cruise lines.   

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

The problem with Yacht Club is you’re stuck in Yacht Club. If YC is too sleepy for you, once you pass those doors you find yourself on Carnival 2.0 which is a hard pass for me. 

"Stuck" in Yacht Club? That's a funny word choice. I actually find it appealing that, unlike with the Retreat, you have that choice. I do wish Celebrity hadn't gone with a half-a$$ed approach to the ship within a ship concept. For instance, in the Retreat, if you want a late breakfast or lunch on a port day, you find yourself on Royal 2.0.

[Stem to Stern]

59 minutes ago, CruisematicVA said:

So far I'm a bit surprised by the responses.

 

I figured asking this question in the Celebrity forum I'd be met by a bunch of people defending the Retreat as the superior experience.

 

So far though, it's been anything but that, but with one exception...

Would that be my response?  I am a bit surprised by most of the responses as well, but maybe not all that surprised.  Celebrity has really taken the wind out of the sails of a lot of their loyal customer base.  Some of Celebrity's remaining loyalists on Cruise Critic may see "Yacht Club" in the title and just scroll on by.  These threads tend to bring out those of us willing to call out Celebrity for what they are doing and willing to explore our options.  Although we still like the overall experience Celebrity still provides, we aren't idiots who bend over and say, "Okay, I will play by Celebrity's new rule book and pay their crazy prices for fewer perks."  We are definitely keeping our options open.  If the overall value guides our future bookings toward MSC or another line, so be it.  If the new Celebrity rule book means booking a non-suite category on Celebrity and playing their MoveUp game in hopes of getting into The Retreat at a more palatable price, so be it.  We will be giving stronger consideration to land-based travel going forward.

 

My basic point in my original comment was that we found the food and wait service better in Luminae on Equinox and Summit compared to the YC Restaurant.  I am not cheering on anything else that Celebrity has done to The Retreat experience on board its ships.  Prices have soared into the stratosphere compared to our previous bookings.  We used to get gratuities and on board credit included with The Retreat.  Then just prior to our last sailing, they increased the per-glass price of all of my go-to drinkable grocery store wines above the premium beverage package limit to $19.00.  The sommelier was put in the awkward position of having to warn me of the additional $2.00 plus gratuity up charge I would be seeing on my account.  There goes my "Modern Luxury."  But I try not to sweat my first world problems.

 

I think you have asked a valid question in your original post that hopefully sets you up for lowered expectations rather than disappointment.  I will make a couple of side notes related to your original post and your and others' comments. I personally do not miss the MSC spa on Celebrity ships.  I visited the spa on Seascape a few times and tried all of the different elements, but I guess the spa is just not my thing.  Gen Pop on Celebrity is more of a "minimum-security" situation.  It is all pretty civilized.  Although the areas around the pools can get pretty crowded, the interiors are quite spacious.  We did not mind Gen Pop on Seascape.  It is just a matter of knowing when and how to best navigate it.  Remember, you will be in Europe!!  Enjoy!!  Celebrity and MSC are two entirely different animals.  My best advice is to try not to compare the two.  Life is richer when it includes a wide variety of all kinds of experiences.

Edited February 17 by Stem to Stern

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, mahasamatman said:

 

So are we! Just got our boarding passes yesterday.

Enjoy! I see you'll be sailing in the Med. I'd be curious to get your impression of the ferry-style aspect of MSC in Europe where every port day is a new embarkation/disembarkation day and whether or not it affects the experience at all.

Edited February 17 by RichYak
grammar

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

8 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

Would that be my response?  I am a bit surprised by most of the responses as well, but maybe not all that surprised.  Celebrity has really taken the wind out of the sails of a lot of their loyal customer base.  Some of Celebrity's remaining loyalists on Cruise Critic may see "Yacht Club" in the title and just scroll on by.  These threads tend to bring out those of us willing to call out Celebrity for what they are doing and willing to explore our options.  Although we still like the overall experience Celebrity still provides, we aren't idiots who bend over and say, "Okay, I will play by Celebrity's new rule book and pay their crazy prices for fewer perks."  We are definitely keeping our options open.  If the overall value guides our future bookings toward MSC or another line, so be it.  If the new Celebrity rule book means booking a non-suite category on Celebrity and playing their MoveUp game in hopes of getting into The Retreat at a more palatable price, so be it.  We will be giving stronger consideration to land-based travel going forward.

 

My basic point in my original comment was that we found the food and wait service better in Luminae on Equinox and Summit compared to the YC Restaurant.  I am not cheering on anything else that Celebrity has done to The Retreat experience on board its ships.  Prices have soared into the stratosphere compared to our previous bookings.  We used to get gratuities and on board credit included with The Retreat.  Then just prior to our last sailing, they increased the per-glass price of all of my go-to drinkable grocery store wines above the premium beverage package limit to $19.00.  The sommelier was put in the awkward position of having to warn me of the additional $2.00 plus gratuity up charge I would be seeing on my account.  There goes my "Modern Luxury."  But I try not to sweat my first world problems.

 

I think you have asked a valid question in your original post that hopefully sets you up for lowered expectations rather than disappointment.  I will make a couple of side notes related to your original post and your and others' comments. I personally do not miss the MSC spa on Celebrity ships.  I visited the spa on Seascape a few times and tried all of the different elements, but I guess the spa is just not my thing.  Gen Pop on Celebrity is more of a "minimum-security" situation.  It is all pretty civilized.  Although the areas around the pools can get pretty crowded, the interiors are quite spacious.  We did not mind Gen Pop on Seascape.  It is just a matter of knowing when and how to best navigate it.  Remember, you will be in Europe!!  Enjoy!!  Celebrity and MSC are two entirely different animals.  My best advice is to try not to compare the two.  Life is richer when it includes a wide variety of all kinds of experiences.

Great post, thank you!

 

We have young kids and the grandparents are taking them, so we're getting 2 weeks without kids (3 days in Rome + 2 days in Barcelona before and after the cruise)... We are going to have an amazing cruise, no matter what. It could be an interior cabin on Margaritaville at Sea and we'd still make the most of it.

 

My wife doesn't know I sprung for first class tickets on the flights or the Retreat on our cruise... But after 10 years of raising kids, she deserves a little luxury!

 

We are doing two MSC cruises in YC (Seascape and Seashore) in March with the kids, so it'll be a great opportunity to compare the two experiences to see if the premium we're paying on Celebrity is worth it or not.

 

For what it's worth, I hope the Retreat IS worth the premium. We had an amazing cruise on the Ascent over Christmas with our kids in an IV balcony, which was truly amazing. I feel like maybe being on the ship is going to set us up for a bit of disappointment on an older ship like the Equinox, but we're going to have an incredible cruise regardless.

 

Thank you for sharing your perspective!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

15 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Enjoy! I see you'll be sailing in the Med. I'd be curious to get your impression of the ferry-style aspect of MSC in Europe where every port day is a new embarkation/disembarkation day and whether or not it affects the experience at all.

Are you saying we will have to clear customs/security at every port? That's news to me if so!

 

I'll be sure to come back and share our experience.

 

Honestly, we love the ship more than the ports so I wish there were more sea days (1 on a 9 day cruise), but I'm sure we will have an incredible time and check a bunch of things off our bucket list!

[RichYak]

2 minutes ago, CruisematicVA said:

Are you saying we will have to clear customs/security at every port? That's news to me if so!

No, I'm saying that at each port stop, a number of passengers will be ending their cruise and new passengers will be embarking. That's my understanding of how MSC sells cruises in Europe. I just have no sense if that is at all disruptive to those continuing on.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

2 minutes ago, RichYak said:

No, I'm saying that at each port stop, a number of passengers will be ending their cruise and new passengers will be embarking. That's my understanding of how MSC sells cruises in Europe. I just have no sense if that is at all disruptive to those continuing on.

Ah, gotcha.

 

We will be on the Celebrity Equinox for our Med cruise. We've only done MSC in the Caribbean so I'm not sure how that compares.

 

MSC does something kind of similar in the Caribbean where some book 7 day cruises and others are 14 days, and they do a roundtrip to Miami/Port Canaveral after 7 days.

 

Personally, if I was going to book a 14-day cruise, I would rather cruise further from the home port, but things are close enough in the Caribbean to make that work with different ports at least.

[ohiopops4]

That is our concern as well once you leave YC.  It's also the feedback our TA has gotten from previous guests - especially on sailings less than 7 days on MSC.  

 

 

[ohiopops4]

3 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

The problem with Yacht Club is you’re stuck in Yacht Club. If YC is too sleepy for you, once you pass those doors you find yourself on Carnival 2.0 which is a hard pass for me. 

  Sorry - adding the quote I was referencing.....

[TheHawk1]

2 hours ago, CruisematicVA said:

So far I'm a bit surprised by the responses.

 

I figured asking this question in the Celebrity forum I'd be met by a bunch of people defending the Retreat as the superior experience.

 

So far though, it's been anything but that, but with one exception...

 

 

Is “gen pop” the new politically correct term for riff raff or hoi polloi?  

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Just now, TheHawk1 said:

Is “gen pop” the new politically correct term for riff raff or hoi polloi?  

I don't know if a term taken from prison culture is any more PC than those 😝

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

The problem with Yacht Club is you’re stuck in Yacht Club. If YC is too sleepy for you, once you pass those doors you find yourself on Carnival 2.0 which is a hard pass for me. 

That is the one reason we struck them off the list of potential replacement for Celebrity.  

[Jim_Iain]

7 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

Is “gen pop” the new politically correct term for riff raff or hoi polloi?  

Well it is nicer than trailer trash. 

 

I've never sailed Carnival or MSC but often hear the term Carnival 2.0

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

That is the one reason we struck them off the list of potential replacement for Celebrity.  

You should try them at least once to see for yourself if they're really that bad.

 

YC is definitely the better option, but going out into the standard areas of the ship aren't some nightmare experience like some would lead you to believe, especially if you're not eating in the MDR and buffet.

[Dolebludger]

We have cruised in both YC and Retreat (before all the cuts) and we pretty much agree with the comments above. But some classes of MSC ships have no YC, and to get the YC you have to choose a larger ship than we’d like. But since X has raised its prices greatly (while cutting benefits), the YC and Retreat are no longer direct competitors. Instead, the Retreat is now in a price class that puts it in competition with Silversea, Regent, Seaborne, and a few other true lux lines. And the Haven on NCL has been mentioned. The smaller NCL ships (Jewel class) have a “Haven (?) but it it has no separate dining, lounge, pool or anything else. You don’t even get included drinks in the main bars, though you do get a fairly full bar in the suite. So, to get a “real Haven” you have to book on a ship too big for us. And it is more expensive than the YC too. So for some of us, it comes down to a choice between the Retreat and a lux line The cost is about the same, and the lux line sometimes costs less. So for us, it is a no-brainer.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

4 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

We have cruised in both YC and Retreat (before all the cuts) and we pretty much agree with the comments above. But some classes of MSC ships have no YC, and to get the YC you have to choose a larger ship than we’d like. But since X has raised its prices greatly (while cutting benefits), the YC and Retreat are no longer direct competitors. Instead, the Retreat is now in a price class that puts it in competition with Silversea, Regent, Seaborne, and a few other true lux lines. And the Haven on NCL has been mentioned. The smaller NCL ships (Jewel class) have a “Haven (?) but it it has no separate dining, lounge, pool or anything else. You don’t even get included drinks in the main bars, though you do get a fairly full bar in the suite. So, to get a “real Haven” you have to book on a ship too big for us. And it is more expensive than the YC too. So for some of us, it comes down to a choice between the Retreat and a lux line The cost is about the same, and the lux line sometimes costs less. So for us, it is a no-brainer.

Have you sailed on any of the luxury lines?

 

I have young kids so I'm not going to take them on a ship line that, but I'm curious how they compare to the Retreat. 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

No, I'm saying that at each port stop, a number of passengers will be ending their cruise and new passengers will be embarking. That's my understanding of how MSC sells cruises in Europe. I just have no sense if that is at all disruptive to those continuing on.

 

A bit off topic. sorry.

Observation: we were berthed on Ascent next to an MSC ship in St Kitts..odd looking vessel.  The passengers seemed to be large family groups..compared to couples,  small groups, singles and many fewer kids on X..

 

We'll stick with X ..had a great cruise. Not a  big fan of the Retreat but MSC ships are way too huge for us 

Edited February 17 by hcat

[TheHawk1]

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Well it is nicer than trailer trash. 

 

I've never sailed Carnival or MSC but often hear the term Carnival 2.0

There really is no nice way of saying you’d rather not spend your vacation with “those people”.  But I get your point.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

5 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

There really is no nice way of saying you’d rather not spend your vacation with “those people”.  But I get your point.

I don't particularly want to spend my time with a lot of the people in the suite areas either.

 

"My" people are the ones who have done well for themselves but are humble and hard working.

 

But between a group of uncouth drinkers and arrogant snobs, I'm not sure which would drive me to poke my eyes out faster 😳