New to MSC- Just booked World America YC

[cellfree]

44 minutes ago, 3smithboys said:

Can anyone give me insight into the specialty dining experience on MSC? Is it worth it if you are in YC? On Carnival we always book the Teppanyaki and sometimes the steakhouse and book those ahead of time. It doesn’t seem like that is a possibility. Also, I saw there is a specialty dining package. Is it worth it.

I would suggest you will enjoy the food in the YC. We have talked about you “matching” your Marriott status and I believe you will receive Diamond Status. If so, you will receive a Specialty meal for yourself and your cabin-mate. We always take advantage of if and eat at the Butchers Cut which has always been exceptional. I have read though that some in the YC who are Diamond do not take advantage of the Specialty meal as they enjoy the YC so much. Oh yes, you cannot book ahead of time, once on Ship your Butler or YC Concierge Desk or yourself can make reservation you want. And this Specialty meal is complimentary on every cruise if Diamond. Hope this helps. 

Edited September 12 by cellfree

[RichYak]

20 minutes ago, asctony said:

NON-YC CABINS in YC area

Personally, I'm not missing this point, I just don't see where this is true. In looking at the deck plans, yes, there are regular non-YC inside cabins on the front of the ship, they are surrounded by YC areas but they are not IN the YC area, and they don't have any access to YC.

[3smithboys]

19 minutes ago, cellfree said:

I would suggest you will enjoy the food in the YC. We have talked about you “matching” your Marriott status and I believe you will receive Diamond Status. If so, you will receive a Specialty meal for yourself and your cabin-mate. We always take advantage of if and eat at the Butchers Cut which has always been exceptional. I have read though that some in the YC who are Diamond do not take advantage of the Specialty meal as they enjoy the YC so much. Oh yes, you cannot book ahead of time, once on Ship your Butler or YC Concierge Desk or yourself can make reservation you want. And this Specialty meal is complimentary on every cruise if Diamond. Hope this helps. 

Thanks for the info! We got our match back and we matched at silver. So, doesn’t seem like we will get that. I guess we should wait and see what the food is like before we decide about specialty restaurants, especially with the upgraded YC experience.

[cellfree]

38 minutes ago, 3smithboys said:

Thanks for the info! We got our match back and we matched at silver. So, doesn’t seem like we will get that. I guess we should wait and see what the food is like before we decide about specialty restaurants, especially with the upgraded YC experience.

I am surprised you matched “silver.” Just read some other threads and people are saying their Marriott Titanium level is matching Silver. We/husband was matched many years ago, probably MSC has tightened levels up a bit.

All this to say though, I would suggest your YC Dining experience will be great. 

Edited September 12 by cellfree

[asctony]

47 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Personally, I'm not missing this point, I just don't see where this is true. In looking at the deck plans, yes, there are regular non-YC inside cabins on the front of the ship, they are surrounded by YC areas but they are not IN the YC area, and they don't have any access to YC.

I may need new glasses! 'Surrounded', I love Westerns where the Indians rode around the wagons. The wagons were surrounded by the Indians. LOL

[3smithboys]

4 minutes ago, asctony said:

I may need new glasses! 'Surrounded', I love Westerns where the Indians rode around the wagons. The wagons were surrounded by the Indians. LOL

If those cabins in the center are non YC, that is odd; however, if they were YC, I don’t think I would have selected one of those cabins over deck 15/16. Even though they are closer to the YC amenities, the pool deck is right above these cabins so I wouldn’t want to hear the noise from the set up and chair scraping. 

[asctony]

Just now, 3smithboys said:

If those cabins in the center are non YC, that is odd; however, if they were YC, I don’t think I would have selected one of those cabins over deck 15/16. Even though they are closer to the YC amenities, the pool deck is right above these cabins so I wouldn’t want to hear the noise from the set up and chair scraping. 

Using your logic of not wanting cabins located below the pool deck, what about all those other YC cabins surrounding those non YC cabins?

Those YC cabins are expensive compared to the inside cabins.

Again, confusing & as you say 'odd.'

[3smithboys]

1 minute ago, asctony said:

Using your logic of not wanting cabins located below the pool deck, what about all those other YC cabins surrounding those non YC cabins?

Those YC cabins are expensive compared to the inside cabins.

Again, confusing & as you say 'odd.'

I wasn’t justifying their decision in not making them YC. I was only saying if they made them YC and I had the choice between there and 15/16, I wouldn’t choose there. I guess some people don’t care about it being under the pool deck or didn’t check? There will always be cabins under/over restaurants, pools, theaters, etc… I just won’t book them. 

[SirWolf]

I guess deck plans give wrong impressions of sizes and how areas look in reality.

It seems that the access to the Non-YC staterooms is in the middle between the elevator bays and the cabins are tugged away. 

 

(Disclosure: I’ve not sailed on the MSC World Europa.. just looking at deck plans)

 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

1 hour ago, 3smithboys said:

I guess we should wait and see what the food is like before we decide about specialty restaurants, especially with the upgraded YC experience.

On our first MSC YC sailing, we bought the 3-dinner package for the specialty restaurants. We'd previously sailed NCL Haven in the smaller ships that only had a Haven-exclusive breakfast and lunch and then dinner in the Main Dining Room. We were never impressed with any of the meals that came included in Haven and had tried to dine in their specialty venues as many nights as possible, and that's why we bought the 3-dinner package on MSC. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised with MSC's YC restaurant! It was so much better than anything on NCL -- for all three meals -- and we really felt that we missed out by "having" to go to 3 dinners at the MSC specialty restaurants. The YC restaurant has a different menu every day for lunch and dinner, plus you can ask for specially prepared items. The more advance notice you give them, the better your chance that they can make whatever you desire (as long as the ingredients are on board, of course). We now use our 1 Diamond specialty meal at lunch so we don't miss a single dinner in YC. If you've looked at the menus posted here in CC and like the type of food that MSC serves, you'll likely not want to miss YC dinners either. (My signature has a link to my most recent cruise and I included menus each day, if you want to see examples of what to expect.)

[mscdivina2016]

On 9/11/2024 at 7:41 PM, 3smithboys said:

 I know the ship hasn’t sailed yet, but I’d love any information/tips you can give to make the experience better! 

If you didn't use a TA, transfer it to one.

 Costs you nothing and if something goes wrong, they can deal with the constant little screw ups and an occasional big one.

 

[cellfree]

We have never had any problems using MSC agents or with the website. But have read about people who do. @3smithboys make sure you get your 5%+5% off and $50 per person OBC now that you have matched and are booking far out. Perhaps you have already done this, just wouldn’t want you to miss out.

[asctony]

13 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

On our first MSC YC sailing, we bought the 3-dinner package for the specialty restaurants. We'd previously sailed NCL Haven in the smaller ships that only had a Haven-exclusive breakfast and lunch and then dinner in the Main Dining Room. We were never impressed with any of the meals that came included in Haven and had tried to dine in their specialty venues as many nights as possible, and that's why we bought the 3-dinner package on MSC. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised with MSC's YC restaurant! It was so much better than anything on NCL -- for all three meals -- and we really felt that we missed out by "having" to go to 3 dinners at the MSC specialty restaurants. The YC restaurant has a different menu every day for lunch and dinner, plus you can ask for specially prepared items. The more advance notice you give them, the better your chance that they can make whatever you desire (as long as the ingredients are on board, of course). We now use our 1 Diamond specialty meal at lunch so we don't miss a single dinner in YC. If you've looked at the menus posted here in CC and like the type of food that MSC serves, you'll likely not want to miss YC dinners either. (My signature has a link to my most recent cruise and I included menus each day, if you want to see examples of what to expect.)

Food is very subjective!

We cruise both NCL & MSC.

We totally disagree that NCL is or has bad food compare to MSC. MSC has always been noted for poor food in quality, presentation & selection.

We cruised MSC in the Caribbean & in Europe. 

 

[3smithboys]

58 minutes ago, cellfree said:

We have never had any problems using MSC agents or with the website. But have read about people who do. @3smithboys make sure you get your 5%+5% off and $50 per person OBC now that you have matched and are booking far out. Perhaps you have already done this, just wouldn’t want you to miss out.

We were going to call this weekend to ask about this since we matched and book so far out. Thanks for the reminder! Will this call then give us an MSC agent or are there specific YC agents that we should contact?

[cellfree]

3 minutes ago, 3smithboys said:

We were going to call this weekend to ask about this since we matched and book so far out. Thanks for the reminder! Will this call then give us an MSC agent or are there specific YC agents that we should contact?

With MSC you cannot contact any particular person. The phone message though will include a YC booking choice. I have never had any problems with MSC agents but you do need to be very clear as to what you want them to do for you and I always ask for an email as to any change they make before they pull the final plug. They should be able to apply the 5%+5% immediately but they most likely will tell you the $50 per person takes a day or two to show up. 

[chrisgp999]

On 9/12/2024 at 4:42 PM, RichYak said:

Personally, I'm not missing this point, I just don't see where this is true. In looking at the deck plans, yes, there are regular non-YC inside cabins on the front of the ship, they are surrounded by YC areas but they are not IN the YC area, and they don't have any access to YC.

I have to admit this layout of non-YC cabins in close proximity to flow of traffic into the Yacht Club increases my concern about an increased quantity possible YC interlopers.  Heightened vigilance is required.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, chrisgp999 said:

I have to admit this layout of non-YC cabins in close proximity to flow of traffic into the Yacht Club increases my concern about an increased quantity possible YC interlopers.  Heightened vigilance is required.

Has it been a problem on World Europa?

[3smithboys]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:53 AM, cellfree said:

With MSC you cannot contact any particular person. The phone message though will include a YC booking choice. I have never had any problems with MSC agents but you do need to be very clear as to what you want them to do for you and I always ask for an email as to any change they make before they pull the final plug. They should be able to apply the 5%+5% immediately but they most likely will tell you the $50 per person takes a day or two to show up. 

We received the discount without any issues. They sent a confirmation email right away, and it showed up with the discount on our billing statement. Thanks again! 

[chrisgp999]

21 hours ago, RichYak said:

Has it been a problem on World Europa?

Don't know if this is a problem on the WE.  There are not many reviews or Board posts about that ship.  Guess that is because it's strictly a European itinerary.  Will be interested to see how things develop when the World America start sailing. 

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, chrisgp999 said:

Don't know if this is a problem on the WE.  There are not many reviews or Board posts about that ship.  Guess that is because it's strictly a European itinerary.  Will be interested to see how things develop when the World America start sailing. 

I suspect it isn't a problem on WE and won't be a problem on WA. I can't even imagine how it could be a problem as the areas are completely walled off.

[rrraydon]

On 9/12/2024 at 5:13 PM, asctony said:

Thank you. I knew that.

 

My point which apparently people miss is:

NON-YC CABINS in YC area & YC CABINS on Deck 15 & 16 whereas YC area is on Deck 21, above Decks 15 & 16.

I booked cabin 15024, deck 15. I probably should have booked on 21?

[chrisgp999]

21 hours ago, RichYak said:

I suspect it isn't a problem on WE and won't be a problem on WA. I can't even imagine how it could be a problem as the areas are completely walled off.

 

21 hours ago, rrraydon said:

I booked cabin 15024, deck 15. I probably should have booked on 21?

Areas are walled off, but non-Yacht Cuubers still have to walk past YC entrances to access their non-YC area.  Regarding access to the World Europa YC, I just came across an interesting YouTube vide review of the WE Yacht Club.  Early into the video, the Vlogger came upon two ladies very perplexed that their keycard did not access a YC entrance door.  It is clear in the video that said ladies did nor have YC keycards.  The Vlogger, upon seeing this, helped them out by using his key to unlock the door.  Being a gentlemen, he then held the door ope for them.  Upon viewing this video, DW and I started yelling at our TV.  It was clear from this video that these ladies actions had no malicious intent.  They were just confused about the presence of this thing called the Yacht Club.  

[Gemina]

My husband and I will be on the WE in the Yacht Club for 2 weeks next month. I’ll try to report back what, if anything, I notice about the issue. I’m hoping to do a mini trip report if I can stay on top of it as I’ve also noticed there are not a lot of reviews of the ship. 

[asctony]

23 hours ago, RichYak said:

I suspect it isn't a problem on WE and won't be a problem on WA. I can't even imagine how it could be a problem as the areas are completely walled off.

How can you or anyone suspect this will or won't be a problem?

Walls?

SMH

Edited Sunday at 11:27 PM by asctony

[RichYak]

9 minutes ago, asctony said:

How can you or anyone susp8 this will it won't be a problem?

Walls?

SMH

Because WE has been sailing for nearly 2 years and it hasn't been a problem. Stop with all the panic and hysteria. SMH