Celebrity Retreat vs MSC Yacht Club

[RichYak]

31 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

To each his or her own. I’m sure others, including us, have had memorable times on a cruise ship outside a bar. 
 

Variety is good. Plenty for everyone. 
 

mac_tlc

No doubt. And nothing I wrote was meant to imply that you couldn't have memorable times on a cruise outside a bar. If it came across that way, it was not my intent.

[DaKahuna]

14 hours ago, RichYak said:

No, I'm sorry, it doesn't. I don't need to qualify my own experience. Others can and should feel free share their experience, as you have. But I'm not qualifying my statement because you had a bad butler.

 

 I think my intent was not clear, by qualification I meant that it depended on the butler.  Not taking away from your experience, but if you get a bad butler, as we did, the butler service on Celebrity maybe considered better.  I've only had the one experience on MSC so I'll let it go at that. 

 

[mac_tlc]

2 hours ago, RichYak said:

No doubt. And nothing I wrote was meant to imply that you couldn't have memorable times on a cruise outside a bar. If it came across that way, it was not my intent.

No worries Rich, it didn’t. Just mentioning that different people cruise different ways and fortunately there is something for everyone ! 
 

Hoping to try YC this Fall and contrast/compare.
 

mac_tlc

Edited March 26 by mac_tlc

[RK-NC]

Thank you to all. This has been an interesting read. We've been researching MSC YC and we sail on Beyond in 17 days in a Sky suite. It looks like the sundeck bar has seating - maybe that's meant to be a gathering spot? I sort of think of the lounge as a quiet getaway spot. I counted 9 bars on Beyond - lots of places to go for the action! 

[DisneyJen]

Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread!

 

@DJ's DH and I are sailing in a RS on Meraviglia out of Brooklyn in May.

 

Our last two X cruises were in a CS on Equinox and a RS on Summit out of Cape Liberty.

 

Looking forward to new experiences!

[RichYak]

As I was researching future potential cruises, another big Retreat vs YC difference came to mind, so I'm reviving this thread to share it.

 

The nice thing about sailing in Celebrity's M- and S-class Retreat is the manageable number of suite cabins. Fewer Retreat guests equates to higher overall service. The downside is the retrofitted spaces sprinkled throughout the ship or carved out of the main dining area; no dedicated pool; and, on some ships, no outdoor space at all.

 

Celebrity's E-class solves the dedicated space problems but at the cost of a massive number of Retreat cabins. I was one and done on Edge. Luminae was like a factory and the sundeck was too small--queue the chair hogs. I found myself missing the intimacy of the smaller Retreat on S- and M- class.

 

As I research potential future YC sailings for me, I find that I don't have to make that frustrating Sophie's choice of ship class like with Celebrity. There are plenty of MSC ships that have 90-100 manageable YC cabins with seemingly sufficient space for everyone.

[psmarkle]

On 3/25/2024 at 9:33 AM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

I have a live thread going where I've explained everything indepth... Give it a look!

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2999113-live-from-the-msc-seascape-a-familys-experience-in-the-yacht-club-–-7-night-western-caribbean-–-march-23-30-2024/

I saw your update on the MSC board about giving the YC Director a chance to correct things. Did it get posted here, by chance? I'm still reading through this thread, but I found really good info in your post about how to handle things in a tactful way!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

25 minutes ago, psmarkle said:

I saw your update on the MSC board about giving the YC Director a chance to correct things. Did it get posted here, by chance? I'm still reading through this thread, but I found really good info in your post about how to handle things in a tactful way!

Yes, I shared the outcome in the posts that you'll see as you read your way through things!

[cruisebeachgirl703]

On 3/26/2024 at 12:32 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 I think my intent was not clear, by qualification I meant that it depended on the butler.  Not taking away from your experience, but if you get a bad butler, as we did, the butler service on Celebrity maybe considered better.  I've only had the one experience on MSC so I'll let it go at that. 

 

Celebrity, MSC, NCL butlers are hit or miss. Have done all 3 and have had hit or miss on all. Our most recent MSC was great! Our most recent NCL was good. Our most recent Celebrity, terrible. 

With Celebrity we felt it was lack of training. On NCL it seems to us that they are just generally not the best of the best of in this role. MSC I feel prides themselves on the butler service more than the others. (but our 1st was a bust, so we are 50/50)

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My butlers on MSC have been mostly meh.  I've had some fabulous butlers on Celebrity.

 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

11 hours ago, RichYak said:

As I was researching future potential cruises, another big Retreat vs YC difference came to mind, so I'm reviving this thread to share it.

 

The nice thing about sailing in Celebrity's M- and S-class Retreat is the manageable number of suite cabins. Fewer Retreat guests equates to higher overall service. The downside is the retrofitted spaces sprinkled throughout the ship or carved out of the main dining area; no dedicated pool; and, on some ships, no outdoor space at all.

 

Celebrity's E-class solves the dedicated space problems but at the cost of a massive number of Retreat cabins. I was one and done on Edge. Luminae was like a factory and the sundeck was too small--queue the chair hogs. I found myself missing the intimacy of the smaller Retreat on S- and M- class.

 

As I research potential future YC sailings for me, I find that I don't have to make that frustrating Sophie's choice of ship class like with Celebrity. There are plenty of MSC ships that have 90-100 manageable YC cabins with seemingly sufficient space for everyone.

We just finished two weeks in the YC (Seascape + Seashore) and had a great time on both. 

 

We will be in the Retreat on the Equinox in early June and I'm disappointed that our room is not in an exclusive Retreat area and that there's no Retreat pool or live music in the Retreat Lounge.

 

I'm hoping it will be enough to justify tripling the cost of the cruise vs a standard balcony, but I suspect we will regret upgrading (YC on a similar itinerary would have been about 25% less).

[RichYak]

19 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We just finished two weeks in the YC (Seascape + Seashore) and had a great time on both.

I was following along. Thanks for both reviews. 
 

19 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We will be in the Retreat on the Equinox in early June and I'm disappointed that our room is not in an exclusive Retreat area

Yes all Retreat staterooms are in public areas of the ship on all Celebrity ships. I did enjoy the true ship within a ship concept in YC. 

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

8 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Yes all Retreat staterooms are in public areas of the ship on all Celebrity ships. I did enjoy the true ship within a ship concept in YC. 

Don't the Edge-class ships have a ship-in-a-ship concept with their staterooms?

 

I haven't sailed in the Retreat on one yet, but that was my impression. 

[RichYak]

8 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Don't the Edge-class ships have a ship-in-a-ship concept with their staterooms?

 

I haven't sailed in the Retreat on one yet, but that was my impression. 

Nope. Anyone from any deck or stateroom class can walk right up to the door of any Retreat suite. There is no “enclave” for Retreat staterooms. 

Edited April 9 by RichYak

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Nope. Anyone from any deck or stateroom class can walk right up to the door of any Retreat suite. There is no “enclave” for Retreat staterooms. 

Interesting - for some reason I thought you had to have a Retreat sea pass to even to to their deck on those ships. 

 

We loved the Ascent over Christmas... One thing Celebrity definitely has going for it over MSC is the entire ship is a great experience, not only the YC area. 

[Shadow9612]

5 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Interesting - for some reason I thought you had to have a Retreat sea pass to even to to their deck on those ship

I believe the retreat sundeck (on those ships that have one) is accessible only to retreat guests ...

[rrraydon]

On 2/17/2024 at 1:54 PM, 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 has not been my experience with MSC at all. I enjoyed the entertainment, food and people all over the ship.

[Boatharbour]

1 hour ago, Shadow9612 said:

I believe the retreat sundeck (on those ships that have one) is accessible only to retreat guests ...

On Edge class you need a pass to enter the Retreat Deck and Retreat lounge. Luminae is located away from the other dining rooms.
The suites themselves were located in various parts of the ship and not on a dedicated area. We were in a SS sky suite which was a very long walk to the retreat areas, but worth it for the wake view. 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:17 PM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

We just finished two weeks in the YC (Seascape + Seashore) and had a great time on both. 

 

We will be in the Retreat on the Equinox in early June and I'm disappointed that our room is not in an exclusive Retreat area and that there's no Retreat pool or live music in the Retreat Lounge.

 

I'm hoping it will be enough to justify tripling the cost of the cruise vs a standard balcony, but I suspect we will regret upgrading (YC on a similar itinerary would have been about 25% less).

We sailed retreat equinox may 2022. Lounge is a room with a bar and concierge desk. did not spend any time there. Sundeck is just that. No water available to cool off, shower, etc. Service for drinks and lunch was slow. The YC pool deck and TSL win. We followed along your 2 recent weeks and enjoyed very much.