Yacht Club Experience on Splendida Or Fantasia?

[superfind]

In 3 weeks & 6 days (and counting!) my family (My husband, 2 children, my brother & parents) are taking a week long cruise on Splendida. We are all staying in the Yacht club with my parents in the Penthouse Or Royal Suite (cant remember what it is called) & my family in a YC2 whatever that is.

Has anyone had first had experience of the Yacht Club? If so, I would be very grateful for your opinions. I will post when I get back re the Yacht Club & Splendida.

Many Thanks in anticipation.

Wendy;)

[gkbiiii]

Has anyone tried the yacht club yet?

[emcc]

We were on the MSC Spendida from March 16th to March 27th; we had three suites all together on deck 12 that were part of the Yacht Club. My husband and it took our two daughters, their husbands and the grandchildren. We are rather experienced cruisers over the past 20 years or so and this was our best cruise experience yet.

 

We were a little concerned about MSC because of a catastrophic experience on a Costa cruise in the Western Med in Nov of 2009 but this was an incredible experience. The decor of the ship is lovely and not overdone as we found on our last Costa cruise where the over use of green made us feel like we were in the Emerald City of Oz! The rooms and suites were spacious and very, very well appointed. The service was outstanding and even the few language misunderstandings were funny rather than problematic.

 

We were met at embarcation by our butler, Titan, who showed us to our suites where our bags were waiting along with champagne and fresh fruit and a well stocked mini bar with lots of snacks, drinks, wine and alchohol. It was constantly restocked during the trip at no charge. One of our daughters did not want wine at dinner so she took mini bottles of vodka from the bar in her suite to dinner where the waiter mixed it for her. The bathroom was spacious with both tub and shower; there was more closet and drawer space that we could use. We did not have balconies as we were at the front of the ship, but did not miss them.

 

The Yacht Club has its own area in the dinning rooms and you can eat in the specialty Italian restaurant at no charge except for wine. There is a charge at the Tex-Mex restaurant but the food there was disappointing even if the atmosphere was fun. We are from California and now Colorado so finding what we consider good Mexican food on an Italian ship would be very unlikely. We found the food the restaurants to be very good; the food selection is aimed at the majority of the passengers who are European. Our grandchildren, ages 10,11 and 13, enjoyed the buffet at Bora Bora but loved the Villa Verde where the waiters brought them anything that they wanted. The pasta was particularly marvelous; my husband is Sicilian and even he was delighted.

 

The Yacht Club also has it own Top Sail Lounge with a cold breakfast buffet in the morning; it had a little lunch at noon, high tea at 4 PM and snacks in the evening. The service was superb and there is no charge there. There is a special concierge who is fabulous to make arrangements for anything you might want.

 

There is a private pool with two hot tubs, a bar and a lunch buffet on deck 18 which is lovely. The Yacht Club also arranges private transfers rather than buses. Our laundry and dry cleaning were picked up every day and returned the next day; there is no charge for this service.

 

We were escorted off the boat by our butler who found our luggage for us. The most trying experiences for many cruisers, especially Americans on European ships, are the crowds and the individual charges for everything. The Yacht Club is the solution to these and so many more issues. We just loved it and will cruise any of the MSC ships that offer this service. It was worth every penny!

 

 

Ellen

[Capricruiser]

Emcc: I was solo on the Splendida in late January and saw the Yacht Club area (from outside). Normally when my wife goes with me we always book a suite and on our two recent Costa cruises, we had a Samsara suite which is about as close as Costa comes to the MSC Yacht Club concept. You mention that many services and perks are without charge. While I know the cost of YC suites is much higher than a normal suite with balcony on MSC, I'm curious as to what are the services that you have to pay for. and approximately how much? It sounds like the higher cost may not be all that much - all things considered...

[emcc]

I just looked at our bill that we received at the end of the trip. Here are the charges listed.

 

The dinner at the Tex-Mex restaurant. I would not go again even though it was great fun because the food was not up to our Colorado standards of Mexican food.

 

A per person gratuity charge of 66 Euros.

 

A charge for Internet. My husband is a physician and one son-in-law is an attorney and the other is a business man. They all needed to stay in touch with businesses during the trip. One daughter and her husband had a charge for a fax back to the US but the concierge at the Yacht Club moved heaven and earth to help them complete all the paperwork for the acceptance of an offer on the sale of a house. The Yacht Club will provide a free laptop for the use of the passenger.

 

Special wine at the L'Olivo Restaurant although the dinner, water, etc was free.

 

After dinner drinks several nights at Villa Verde Restaurant; we are really into Limoncello!

 

A few bar charges from the non Yacht Club bars. You have to have a drink when your sons-in-law are teaching you to play roulette. I never quite figured it out but I seem to have made money!

 

We spent quite a bit of time both before dinner and after dinner at the Top Sail Lounge which is part of the Yacht Club; drinks are free there and there seemed to be either snacks out or the wonderful wait staff brought things. We also had buffet lunch at the One Pool when we were not gone on an excursion at lunch; I taught the bartender to make a Lemon Drop Martini. He got very good at it and seemed to get a kick out of sending them to me and to the daughters when he saw us up there.

 

Our butler also gave us a package of water tickets for use when we were somewhere on the ship where bottle water was not free. Our laundry and dry cleaning were picked up every morning and returned the next morning. We took snacks, water, soft drinks, etc from the mini bar in our suites on excursions as much for the convenience as anything else. Our mini bars were full when we returned. We had the New York Times delivered every morning which was great also.

 

My husband sailed to Italy several times as a child; he tells stories about sneaking up to the First Class decks just to see them. He says that the Yacht Club reminds him of First Class from the 50's. We enjoy the experience of being on a European ship but the difference in "crowd mores" can be a little difficult. The Yacht Club removed us from that experience and we loved it! It was really sad to leave the staff that took such wonderful care of us and seemed to enjoy our pleasure in the cruise along with us.

 

Our other European cruise experiences were on Costa ships; three in the Caribbean and one in the Med. The three in the Caribbean were in the 1990's and we loved them. We traveled with a large group of doctors for Clinics at Sea for two trips and with our grown daughters and their husbands on the third. The one in the Med was in 2008 and it was an unmitigated disaster from the beginning to the end. I don't know what changed with Costa but will NOT use that line again!

 

Do try the Yacht Club and be prepared to be spoiled! Ellen

[AmoMondo]

I just looked at our bill that we received at the end of the trip. Here are the charges listed.

 

The dinner at the Tex-Mex restaurant. I would not go again even though it was great fun because the food was not up to our Colorado standards of Mexican food.

 

A per person gratuity charge of 66 Euros.

 

A charge for Internet. My husband is a physician and one son-in-law is an attorney and the other is a business man. They all needed to stay in touch with businesses during the trip. One daughter and her husband had a charge for a fax back to the US but the concierge at the Yacht Club moved heaven and earth to help them complete all the paperwork for the acceptance of an offer on the sale of a house. The Yacht Club will provide a free laptop for the use of the passenger.

 

Special wine at the L'Olivo Restaurant although the dinner, water, etc was free.

 

After dinner drinks several nights at Villa Verde Restaurant; we are really into Limoncello!

 

A few bar charges from the non Yacht Club bars. You have to have a drink when your sons-in-law are teaching you to play roulette. I never quite figured it out but I seem to have made money!

 

We spent quite a bit of time both before dinner and after dinner at the Top Sail Lounge which is part of the Yacht Club; drinks are free there and there seemed to be either snacks out or the wonderful wait staff brought things. We also had buffet lunch at the One Pool when we were not gone on an excursion at lunch; I taught the bartender to make a Lemon Drop Martini. He got very good at it and seemed to get a kick out of sending them to me and to the daughters when he saw us up there.

 

Our butler also gave us a package of water tickets for use when we were somewhere on the ship where bottle water was not free. Our laundry and dry cleaning were picked up every morning and returned the next morning. We took snacks, water, soft drinks, etc from the mini bar in our suites on excursions as much for the convenience as anything else. Our mini bars were full when we returned. We had the New York Times delivered every morning which was great also.

 

My husband sailed to Italy several times as a child; he tells stories about sneaking up to the First Class decks just to see them. He says that the Yacht Club reminds him of First Class from the 50's. We enjoy the experience of being on a European ship but the difference in "crowd mores" can be a little difficult. The Yacht Club removed us from that experience and we loved it! It was really sad to leave the staff that took such wonderful care of us and seemed to enjoy our pleasure in the cruise along with us.

 

Our other European cruise experiences were on Costa ships; three in the Caribbean and one in the Med. The three in the Caribbean were in the 1990's and we loved them. We traveled with a large group of doctors for Clinics at Sea for two trips and with our grown daughters and their husbands on the third. The one in the Med was in 2008 and it was an unmitigated disaster from the beginning to the end. I don't know what changed with Costa but will NOT use that line again!

 

Do try the Yacht Club and be prepared to be spoiled! Ellen

 

Thanks for all the info Ellen. I had not appreciated that there were so many things included in the price. I will certainly look in to this again as the extra I'd have to pay may not be as much as I'd thought once I factor in the reduction in my onboard spend - not to mention avoiding crowds around the pool area.

[marie12]

Ellen,

 

Thank you for taking the time to share the information on the YC. We will be going on the Splendida with 2 of our grandchildren in June and had not been able to find much information re how things really work. Your comments have been so helpful! It sounds wonderful. I do have one question. Do you have any recommendations on arranging shore excursions? Michele

[LMM1801]

I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Costa in the80s at an embassy party at Vizcaya in Miami. He was a lovely and gracious gentleman. My ex was working doing specialty finishes in the restaurants at the time, both on the ships and in dry dock, so we took our first cruise so see what it was like. Food and service were amazing, though the amount of smoking was irritating. I think what happened to Costa is what has happened to a lot of cruise lines. They got bought out by Carnival.