msc yacht club equivalent

MSC Yacht Club VS NCL Haven: A Luxury Cruise Comparison

Although MSC first introduced the ship-within-a-ship concept back in 2008, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Haven also offers top-notch services.

So, what will be your pick between MSC Yacht Club vs NCL Haven?

While MSC Yacht Club offers 6 categories of cabin/stateroom, NCL Haven offers 9 types of suites. Also, NCL Haven’s suits are much larger including 2/3-bedroom villas. Both offer 24-hour concierge and butler services. Moreover, NCL Haven offers more exclusive dining and entertainment options than MSC Yacht. But NCL Haven is more expensive than MSC Yacht Club.

So, what will you choose between these two fine ship-within-ship experiences? Follow the article as we’ll help you judge both.   

• Stateroom / Cabin Size - MSC Yacht Club Vs NCL Haven

Concierge Service

• Dining & Entertainment - MSC Yacht Club VS NCL Haven

Price Range

Msc yacht club vs ncl haven: what is best for you, can haven guests have visitors, are children allowed in ncl haven, is room service free in the ncl haven, msc yacht club vs ncl haven: the in-depth comparison.

Both MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven are top of their name. So before diving deep into their services, let’s have a brief look at their competitive offerings. 

So, now we’ll discuss the details of each factor of MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven. You can compare and judge both to pick one for your holiday retreat in these luxurious voyages. 

Stateroom / Cabin Size – MSC Yacht Club Vs NCL Haven

NCL Haven offers 9 types of different suites and cabins while MSC Yacht offers only 6 categories of cabins. 

Compared to NCL Haven, MSC Yacht Club offers smaller cabins. Let’s see what are the categories of cabins offered by MSC Yacht Club .

• The Owner’s Suite: It’s the largest suite offered by MSC Yacht Club. It has 1055 sqft of space, separate dining and living room, 269 sqft of balcony with hot tub, etc.
• The Royal Suite: 667 sqft of space, separate dining and living room, 355 sqft of balcony with hot tub, etc.
• The Duplex Suite: It has two levels with 635 sqft of space, separate dining and living room, 248 sqft of balcony, etc.
• The Deluxe Grand Suite: 269-463 sqft of space, separate living room, 86-129 sqft of balcony, etc.
• The Deluxe Suite: 269-366 sqft of space, and 86 sqft of balcony.
• The Interior Suite: 226 sqft of total space. 

NCL Haven’s suits are humongous compared to MSC Yacht Club. Let’s see what NCL Haven’s suits look like. 

• 3-Bedroom Garden Villa: The largest one in NCL Haven perfect for 8 people. It has 6694 sqft of space, a private dining room, a large living room, and 3.5 baths. Has a hot tub on the balcony.
• 2-Bedroom Family Villa: 504 sqft of space with a master bedroom, a bath, and a private balcony. This is perfect for 6 people.  
• The Deluxe Owner’s Suit: It has 1307 sqft of space with a large dining and living area, a large luxury bath, and floor-to-ceiling windows. A large balcony is also included for 6 people to enjoy.  
• The Owner’s Suit: It has 824 sqft of space with a large living and dining area, one balcony, or two in some ships. This is ideal for 4 people.  
• Aft-Facing Penthouse: This suite has 655 sqft of space with a king-sized bed, a generous living area, and a balcony for all. 4 people can easily enjoy the facilities of this penthouse. 
• The Deluxe Spa Suite: This is the smallest suite in NCL Haven. It has 309 sqft of space with a king-sized bed. Also, there’s a balcony with a hot tub and oversized waterfall showers with jets. It is close to the Mandara Spa Suite and also offers free access to the Thermal Spa Suite.  
• Forward-Facing Penthouse: This is another modest penthouse in NCL Haven. It has 451 sqft of space with a king-sized bed with a forward view. Also, there’s a large dining and living area and a balcony.
• Courtyard Penthouse: The courtyard penthouse of NCL Haven is perfect for a romantic retreat. It has 440 sqft of space with a romantic atmosphere, a private balcony, guest allowance, and living and dining areas.  
• Spa Suite: This suite also has access to Mandara and Thermal Spa Suite. It has 378 sqft of space with a relaxing decoration, a balcony with a hot tub, and oversized waterfall showers with jets.

So, NCL wins regarding stateroom and suite sizes for more room space and additional accommodations. So complete your NCL e-docs and get aboard its luxurious services. 

Both NCL Haven and MSC Yacht Club offer a 24-hour concierge and butler service. With the experienced and capable service of a butler, your every need and assistance will be met on both cruises. 

Moreover, for any additional bookings or purchases, the concierge can help you anytime you need. With the world-class services of the concierge of both NCL Haven and MSC Yacht Club, it’ll be worth it.  

Dining & Entertainment – MSC Yacht Club VS NCL Haven

MSC Yacht Club offers a private dining area for its guests as part of the ship-within-a-ship experience. Their dedicated restaurant will provide sophisticated à la carte menus for you to taste. 

On the other hand, NCL Haven offers priority reservations for all its customers in all dining and entertainment facilities. Compared to MSC Yacht, NCL Haven offers specialty menus brought directly to your suite from any of the restaurants fleetwide. And so, NCL Haven is superior to NCL Suits . 

For entertainment, MSC Yacht Club offers a theater and a casino, a Parisian-Inspired Cabaret, MSC Aurea Spa, and more. Also, you’ll have a dedicated water park and a robotic thrill ride called Robotron. 

On the other hand, NCL Haven offers an exclusive cocktail party with the ship’s officers, Broadway shows, musicals, etc. NCL also offers exotic entertainment options with its variety of comedy and night events. The night is never dull onboard NCL Haven. 

MSC Yacht Club offers a separate pool, restaurant, and lounges for its guests. On the other hand, NCL Haven also offers a dedicated section of the ship for its cruisers. 

NCL Haven’s self-contained area is specifically designed for a one-of-a-kind experience for its passengers. This dedicated space includes special and separated entries, venues, dining, and entertainment facilities. 

Also, both MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven offer priority embarkment and disembarkment for their passengers.  

In terms of price, NCL Haven is a bit more expensive than MSC Yacht Club . For example, the interior cabins on MSC Yacht Club cost $2800 for 2 people with a balcony that costs $4100. 

On the other hand, NCL Haven costs $3000 per person on an average weeklong trip in its suits. But this price may vary based on availability, time of the year, last-minute sailings, etc. And the larger the suits, the more it will cost you. 

So, now you have an idea of both MSC Yacht Club and NCL Haven’s services. It’s time for you to decide which one is best for you. At a glance, NCL Haven offers more freestyle cruising with exciting and exotic entertainment options. 

Conversely, MSC Yacht Club’s Parisian-inspired Cabaret and Aurea Spa are wonderful entertainment options that can compare with the Haven. Also, NCL Haven is a bit more expensive with similar services to MSC Yacht. 

But the exclusive and specialty menu service in your suite can only happen in NCL Haven. So, choose which you like. 

For more luxury cruise options, you can compare Norwegian Cruise Line with Holland America . Holland America also provides many premium and luxury cruise services.  

Yes, Haven guests can have visitors. But the visitors must be pre-registered with the Haven concierge at the reception. Also, the guests need to provide details of the visitor’s arrival time and departure. 

Yes, children are allowed in NCL Haven. Many of its areas are children-friendly while some areas are only for adults. The Haven Sundeck is only for guests above 16 years of age while the courtyard pool is for all. 

The guests enlisted in the NCL Haven suits don’t have to pay for room services. But there’s a 20% gratuity and additional charges for non-complementary beverages through room service. 

So, now choose a pick for your next sailing between MSC Yacht Club vs NCL Haven. 

There’s always something missing in one while the other has it. Choose a cruise line service that you see fit with your preference and trip goal. But if you’re a solo cruiser and love activities, go for the NCL Haven. You’ll have a much good time. 

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• MSC Cruises

Yacht Club versus more prestigious cruise line

By Markanddonna , February 8, 2023 in MSC Cruises

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Markanddonna

I have been in the Haven, but never the Yacht Club. I can't understand why anyone would book an MSC cruise when you can get a wonderful experience on a more prestigious cruise line for at least the same cost. Even though you are isolated from the riff raff (that includes me) an MSC passenger still has to endure the inferior MSC experience. I've priced it out and think perhaps others haven't done their research!

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sverigecruiser

We started with NCL and really liked the Haven but when they raised the prices too much we looked at MSCs Yacht Club and for a much lower price we get something much better.

My recent YC sailing on Meraviglia couldn’t have been better.  All the while I had the other options of various entertainment on the ship when I wanted to partake.  I think my wife and I would be bored stiff on one of the “luxury” lines. We are 57 & 59.,

We booked a cruise next January for 3 nights YC Interior for $499 per person.  I just checked the Haven for the same time same nights it is $2349 per person.

I have always found NCL to be expensive.

deweytrader

I have been on 5 MSC sailings - Yacht Club, Aurea Suites and regular balcony.  Enjoyed them all!  Have 6 more MSC cruises booked as NCL prices are crazy high!

20 minutes ago, Markanddonna said: I have been in the Haven, but never the Yacht Club. I can't understand why anyone would book an MSC cruise when you can get a wonderful experience on a more prestigious cruise line for at least the same cost. Even though you are isolated from the riff raff (that includes me) an MSC passenger still has to endure the inferior MSC experience. I've priced it out and think perhaps others haven't done their research!

Where to start.  We regularly cruise on Seabourn, but also enjoy the Yacht Club on Caribbean cruises.  DW and I could probably write a long chapter "why we love the Yacht Club" but not going to bore folks with that kind of detail.  In some ways you are comparing apples to oranges.  We have no desire to cruise on MSC in Europe since there are many better options that meet our wants.  I also do not like how MSC operates like a ferry company in Europe (embarkation/debarkation at nearly every port) which is not an issue with the Caribbean itineraries.

As to cost, we have done our research (and also many bookings) at the YC normally prices around $400 per person/day a typical Deluxe YC Suite (more like a large cabin than a real suite).  It is difficult to get that kind of price (or anything close) on what you call a "prestigious" cruise line.  We did once snag a great deal on Seabourn (out of Barbados) but the hassles of flying to Barbados, spending a few pre-cruise days in a resort, etc. cost us a lot more than simply flying to Miami for MSC.

One big advantage that MSC has over luxury lines is with entertainment.  In the YC, you get many of the advantages of a luxury cruise experience, but always have the ability to go through those electronic doors and mix with the "riff-raff" as you enjoy the nightly Production Shows, multiple music venues, etc.  That is quite different from the entertainment one gets on the luxury lines.

morpheusofthesea

42 minutes ago, Markanddonna said: I have been in the Haven, but never the Yacht Club. I can't understand why anyone would book an MSC cruise when you can get a wonderful experience on a more prestigious cruise line for at least the same cost. Even though you are isolated from the riff raff (that includes me) an MSC passenger still has to endure the inferior MSC experience. I've priced it out and think perhaps others haven't done their research!

I like your choice of the word "prestigious".

Prestigious Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

prestigious: [adjective] of, relating to, or marked by illusion, conjuring, or trickery.

Just perfect for 'some' cruise line.

  Get on board and find the best (most expensive) entertainment cut.

  Daily room cleaning  cut to once per day.

  E muster drills cut, forcing guests back into cramped spaces for 30 to 40 minutes enduring coughers and sneezeers in a not yet all clear pandemic.

      Raising gratuities and drink package prices while still charging $5 per can of soda even with a drink package.

  Gamblers required to pay additional 3% if using their credit cards instead of bringing cash to gamble with.

   First try a MSC experience in their Yacht Club and see how wonderful a less "prestigious"  cruise can be.

My family was in Haven, 2 BR family cabin, twice. Then we tried YC on Seaview in the Med and were more or less blown away. The outdoor space and meal options don't compare. Free Wi-fi (2 devices/pp) and drinks, yes please! Free use of the thermal spa, sign me up!  My husband and I just finished another YC cruise on Divina in the Caribbean. It was wonderful, although we did prefer Seaview.  We just booked another YC for spring 2024 in the Med. We booked an interior because we feel there is plenty of outdoor YC space that we will still enjoy it tremendously.

I wouldn't particularly consider NCL prestigious. 

We've sailed in the Retreat on Celebrity, and in MSC YC. For June this year we compared 2 cruises - 1 week on Celebrity in Sky Suite with 2 weeks on MSC in YC Duplex. MSC is cheaper. So, twice as much cruise, great itinerary (both were sailing from Southampton). MSC does the ship within a ship concept better. So, we're sailing in the YC this summer.

Two Wheels Only

As a family of 4, Haven and Yacht Club work best for us. 

We like the big ship " stuff " like water-slides, go-karts, zip-lines, bumper cars, dance parties, etc. but we also like the " less crowded/better service/exclusive areas " of the " ship-within-a-ship ". 

Celebrity Retreat and Explora Journeys are currently in the " maybe....wait and see.... " category for us. The lack of " stuff " and smaller ships will have to be balanced with better service or some sort of other wow factor. 

For more " stuff " but less " ship-within-a-ship " service, I'm also looking at RCCL's Suite Neighborhood on Icon OTS. 

In the meantime, we're sticking with MSC Yacht Club and hopefully in the future NCL's Prima Class (Prima/Viva, + 4 unnamed). We've either been on or have booked both Seaside EVO ships (Seashore/Seascape) and I'll book World America as soon as I can. 

Since when has NCL been a prestigious cruise line?  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy cruising on NCL.   Trying MSC in the Mediterranean in May.  I have never been on a cruise ship that I didn’t enjoy.

We've been in the Haven on NCL Joy, YC on Seaside, Meraviglia, and Seashore, the Retreat on Celebrity Apex, and Aqua Theater Suite (Sky suite category) on RCL Allure and we think Yacht Club is the best experience of the 4. Yacht Club has better public spaces, better restaurant, and better dedicated pool deck. Of the others we almost liked Celebrity's Retreat as much as YC but would still give the edge to YC.

Now, as to the rest of the ship, we'd agree that MSC is a mixed bag. On average we like their entertainment options less than other lines, and their buffet and specialty restaurants are not quite as good as the other lines. However, we still find all those things good enough that, combined with all the amenities and wonderful spaces of YC have made for very enjoyable cruises on all 3 MSC trips we've been on.

We were on the Celebrity Apex recently and loved the ship, thought the specialty restaurants were fantastic, and the entertainment was better than expected too. If you consider the overall ship experience in addition to the "ship with a ship" areas Celebrity may pull slightly ahead of MSC, but we'd be very happy to go on either line again. Given current prices MSC is definitely the cheaper of these two!

We're still rounding out our "tour of the various cruise lines" with an upcoming cruise on Virgin Voyages we are REALLY looking forward to as well after all we've heard. 

But, yeah we very much do our research and really love the Yacht Club on MSC and think it has some of the best 'bang for your buck' of any higher end suite experience on other mass market or premium lines.

From where would I to start?... Both MSC or NCL are not "prestigious" lines, or at least not prestigious on the OP's way...

That said: Me thinks that both the "ship within the ship" concepts on the mainstream-to-premium lines and those mid-to-full-luxury small ship lines on the likes of Oceania/Explora/Viking/Seabourne/Silverseas/Regent alike are different products for different needs.

Let us to face reality: It will be difficult to find such a less than 10 nights cruise on those mid-to-full-luxury lines, the same way there are few more than 7 nights cruises on the mainstream-to-premium lines. That on itself may sort out where would you go. Do you have more than 7 nights to go on a cruise?

That said, it is a far different ambiance to stay into on both cases. Larger ships will have more activities and better entertainment. Are you very active, desiring that entertainment, or you want to have your dinner, mingle a little bit on a lounge and call it a night?...

And of course destinations: Do you want your typical destinations, or are you ready for the more exotic ones?

Those are the questions one must to answer before even considering to book anything else. YC or Haven will to give you just perhaps the best of 2 worlds in consideration. YC typically less expensive than Haven, even though their prices are quickly raising lately. Whatever your choice, you'll to have a great time.

Did the OP really mean NCL when he said "prestigious"?

I like the Haven also, , but NCL  is NOT a prestigious cruise line.

My husband and I were just talking about some of the new, smaller ship 'prestige' lines, like Explora or Ritz-Carlton... and we realized that they were double the price of YC for a YC-style experience. I'd rather go on 2 cruises than 1, even if that 1 is a bit nicer. YC is awesome, so we'd hardly be 'settling'.

MsTabbyKats

5 hours ago, Markanddonna said: I have been in the Haven, but never the Yacht Club. I can't understand why anyone would book an MSC cruise when you can get a wonderful experience on a more prestigious cruise line for at least the same cost. Even though you are isolated from the riff raff (that includes me) an MSC passenger still has to endure the inferior MSC experience. I've priced it out and think perhaps others haven't done their research!

If you haven't been in the Yacht Club how do you know that it's an inferior experience?

I'm doing a YCI in April for 8 nights; the cost was a few dollars less than a 7 night gurantee balcony on NCL to Bermuda....same week. 

What I'd like to know is why anyone would pay Haven prices and get so much less than the YC?

As a Diamond member of MSC, I consider the rest of the ship experience (non YC) inferior to other cruise lines I have been on. I have no experience in YC. Of course, if you stay in the Yacht club all the time, you might not agree. 

6 minutes ago, Markanddonna said: As a Diamond member of MSC, I consider the rest of the ship experience (non YC) inferior to other cruise lines I have been on. I have no experience in YC. Of course, if you stay in the Yacht club all the time, you might not agree. 

Diamond... through a status match though, right? I'm not sure the weight that's supposed to be attached to "as a diamond member."

If you go to the Celebrity forums for instance, there's a lot of agita right now and talk of ship-jumping *to* MSC and yacht-class

None of that's to say that the "rest of the ship" comparison you're making concerning MSC wouldn't be valid, but even in that context there's still a strong value proposition case to be made regardless. And then specific to the Yacht Class discussion taking place here, well, maybe give it a shot ;)

22 minutes ago, helenb said: My husband and I were just talking about some of the new, smaller ship 'prestige' lines, like Explora or Ritz-Carlton... and we realized that they were double the price of YC for a YC-style experience. I'd rather go on 2 cruises than 1, even if that 1 is a bit nicer. YC is awesome, so we'd hardly be 'settling'.

I doubt I'll be experiencing either of those lines myself ever (unfortunately), but there's yacht club style... and then there's just straight-up yacht style :)

I think Ritz at least is trying to achieve more of the latter with these new ships of theirs, and Explora certainly must be somewhere on that spectrum as well because they clearly know what they'd have to do to differentiate from their existing (and very successful) YC product. I'm sure the cuisine, itineraries, service, and clientele (and price) will reflect that accordingly.

To be honest....if I wanted to spend the money the Haven costs ...I would go on more prestigious line.

I never understood the lure of the Haven.  You're not getting that much more but you're paying a lot more.

Oh well.... that's why there are choices.

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said: As a Diamond member of MSC, I consider the rest of the ship experience (non YC) inferior to other cruise lines I have been on. I have no experience in YC. Of course, if you stay in the Yacht club all the time, you might not agree. 

We venture outside the 'Ivory Tower' everyday. Find the outing quite 'quaint'. The dichotomy is what gives the Yacht Club its 'je ne sais quoi'.

We are inclined to agree, which is why the only way we cruise on MSC is in the Yacht Club.  With MSC one must decide whether they want to keep down their costs (lots of options outside of the YC) or are willing to pay for a luxury cruise (Yacht Club).   But your post has me scratching my head.  If you believe what you say why would you ever cruise on MSC?  Simply go on any of those "superior" cruise lines that you like.

2 hours ago, Hlitner said: We are inclined to agree, which is why the only way we cruise on MSC is in the Yacht Club.  With MSC one must decide whether they want to keep down their costs (lots of options outside of the YC) or are willing to pay for a luxury cruise (Yacht Club).   But your post has me scratching my head.  If you believe what you say why would you ever cruise on MSC?  Simply go on any of those "superior" cruise lines that you like.   Hank

My past 17 days has convinced me that MSC is not a cruise line that appeals to me. We are very pleased with lines like RCL, Celebrity, NCL, and HAL and have had two cruises with them this past year. MSC started out as a nice experience several years ago but no longer. This was our worst cruise by far, mostly because of my fellow passengers.. The crew was great, but the passengers were rude and overbearing. We had lovely tablemates and met some other nice folks but this was not good.

7 minutes ago, Markanddonna said: My past 17 days has convinced me that MSC is not a cruise line that appeals to me. We are very pleased with lines like RCL, Celebrity, NCL, and HAL and have had two cruises with them this past year. MSC started out as a nice experience several years ago but no longer. This was our worst cruise by far, mostly because of my fellow passengers.. The crew was great, but the passengers were rude and overbearing. We had lovely tablemates and met some other nice folks but this was not good.  

Argh!  I think that anyone who cruises long enough will get one voyage with less desirable ship mates.  We have rarely had problems with shipmates, but in Dec 2021 we cruised on the Enchanted Princess for back to back 7 day cruises (in the Caribbean).  The first 7 days had DW and I laughing about the old saying, "they must have been raised by wolves."  We are talking "wife beater" shirts and backward ball caps in the MDR.  We finally saw a few turned away from the MDR (on a dressy night) but that was rare.  The 2nd week it was like a whole different world with mostly pleasant folks who had a little fashion sense and also knew how to complete a sentence.

On MSC, we have only met fascinating folks in the YC.  It is a very international line, so in the YC we interacted with folks from many European countries and made a few good friends.  Outside of the YC we met quite a few folks and most were enjoyable.  But we are seniors and tend to hang with other older passengers.  We did not meet anyone who we would call "rude or overbearing" but that is luck of the draw.

Having cruised on 16 cruise lines (the 17th will happen in September) friends have often asked us on which line we have met the best shipmates.  We normally say it is more about the itinerary and lenght of cruise than the cruise line.  The folks you meet on a 70 day HAL cruise and much different than what you meet on a 7 day HAL cruise.  But if we had to choose a specific cruise line where we have consistently met interesting folks it would be Seabourn.  One theory is that on a luxury line, folks do not feel they have anything to prove or need to impress anyone (many of these folks are actually quite impressive) so folks are just nice.

20 minutes ago, Hlitner said: Argh!  I think that anyone who cruises long enough will get one voyage with less desirable ship mates.  We have rarely had problems with shipmates, but in Dec 2021 we cruised on the Enchanted Princess for back to back 7 day cruises (in the Caribbean).  The first 7 days had DW and I laughing about the old saying, "they must have been raised by wolves."  We are talking "wife beater" shirts and backward ball caps in the MDR.  We finally saw a few turned away from the MDR (on a dressy night) but that was rare.  The 2nd week it was like a whole different world with mostly pleasant folks who had a little fashion sense and also knew how to complete a sentence.   On MSC, we have only met fascinating folks in the YC.  It is a very international line, so in the YC we interacted with folks from many European countries and made a few good friends.  Outside of the YC we met quite a few folks and most were enjoyable.  But we are seniors and tend to hang with other older passengers.  We did not meet anyone who we would call "rude or overbearing" but that is luck of the draw.   Having cruised on 16 cruise lines (the 17th will happen in September) friends have often asked us on which line we have met the best shipmates.  We normally say it is more about the itinerary and lenght of cruise than the cruise line.  The folks you meet on a 70 day HAL cruise and much different than what you meet on a 7 day HAL cruise.  But if we had to choose a specific cruise line where we have consistently met interesting folks it would be Seabourn.  One theory is that on a luxury line, folks do not feel they have anything to prove or need to impress anyone (many of these folks are actually quite impressive) so folks are just nice.   Hank   Hank

There were fights at the pool deck, a passenger drowned, and several incidents of bullying because of significant overcrowding on the pool deck. I witnessed eight incidents of supervisors reprimanding crew members who were generally kind and overworked.  I usually give four and five star reviews but this was unreal. I never witnessed these sorts of things on any of my other cruises. 

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NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club Which To Choose

Love the idea of sailing off on a luxury cruise but hate the idea of crowded spaces, long lines at the buffet or elevator and busy pool decks? The ship within a ship experience offered by many major cruise lines is just the ticket to enjoy an exclusive mega-yacht cruising experience without completely breaking the bank. Here we will compare two major cruise lines’ VIP offerings – as we go head to head with NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club.

NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club – The suites

Ncl haven vs msc yacht club – butler and concierge, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – restaurants and food, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – bars and lounges, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – onboard perks, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – private islands, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – other considerations, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – upgrade bids, ncl haven vs msc yacht club – the conclusion.

NCL and MSC Cruise Lines

Before we start with the head to head NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club here is a brief overview of the two cruise lines.

NCL is a US-based cruise line, known for its Freestyle Cruising style, no set meal times in any cabin class, less formal dress codes and excellent vibrant entertainment. On the newer ships in particular you can expect to find exciting features such as karting tracks, vast waterpark areas, outdoor cinema, sports decks and gaming areas. NCL is also renowned for its fine dining speciality restaurants with international flavours, along with numerous bars serving a wide range of beverages including NCL’s famous cocktails. Some of NCL’s older ships do not have Haven but some offer suites with the same perks as Haven. Find out more about crusing with NCL here .

MSC is an Italian cruise line which has grown exponentially in recent years, expanding its sailing from the Mediterranean to the US, Caribbean, South America, Africa and the Middle East. MSC ships are elegant and beautifully decorated, featuring classic Italian marble, elegant artwork and a sumptuous luxurious feel throughout. The new, recently launched ships feature internal promenades with ceiling light and sound displays and to compete with the US lines, waterparks, zip lines and a range of other high-octane activities. The older and smaller MSC ships do not have Yacht Club. All MSC ships have Aurea Class which includes some non-Yacht Club extras including a dedicated sundeck. Find out more about MSC cruises here .

Whether you choose NCL Haven or MSC Yacht club you are going to get a beautiful luxurious suite, spacious and sumptuously decorated, with the best linens, high-end branded toiletries, mini bars and coffee makers. On the newer MSC ships, huge duplex suites are available with private hot tub while NCL’s Garden Villas can accommodate up to eight people. Both lines offer the highest end of luxury with the Owners Suites boasting huge wraparound terraces and spacious entertaining areas. MSC also offers inside suites within its Yacht Club programme, a perfectly cost-effective option.

The Lowdown

So which cruise line has the sweetest suites? NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club. Difficult choice really as much depends on the ship. I personally love the 2-bedroom suites on NCL Epic – the bath tub and separate shower with floor to ceiling windows are something special (careful if you’re in port!) On MSC’s older ships the Yacht Club balcony suites offer excellent value for money while on the newer ships the large balcony suites and duplex suites are simply fabulous.

It’s time for battle of the butlers – NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club, in both you will enjoy the services of dedicated butlers and concierge facilities. This VIP service starts from the moment you drop your bags at the port. You wil be whisked through security into the dedicated check in area. Once you’ve checked in you can enjoy drinks and snack (depending on the port) in the emabarkation lounge and then be escorted to the ship. You will ride up in the special elevator to the Haven or Yacht Club lounge where you can relax or take a tour of the facilities before being escorted to your suite.

The role of the butler is similar on both cruise lines although with NCL the concierge or assistant concierge plays more of a role in escorting guests off the ship on port days and to theatre shows etc. With MSC this is included in the butler’s role.

In both cases the butler is your go-to for any requests, a particular snack you would like delivered in the afternoon, room service delivery, extra pillows or towels, while your room steward is responsible for general cleaning of the suite.

Butlers vary in visibility, some cruisers complain that they never see their butler, others comment that they see them too often! Remember it is hard for them to know exactly what each guest prefers so don’t be afraid to let them know. Have a chat with them and get to know them, having an excellent relationships with your butler can make all the difference.

NCL Haven and MSC Yacht Club provide guests with portable phones they can use to contact their butler from anywhere around the ship. Fancy a burger poolside? Your butler will be happy to oblige.

The Concierge desk is the place to go fo dinner and show reservations, questions about your suite if your butler isn’t around, help with setting up onboard wifi, assistance getting on and off the ship on port days. In NCL Haven the concierge and his/her team are more hands on, where on MSC they operate more as a front desk for Yacht Club.

So which cruise line offer the best butler for your buck? It’s a real tough one. I have enjoyed the services of all my butlers on both NCL and MSC. Some have been more visible than others but no big deal for me. A female butler on NCL Epic was amazing when I picked up a flu virus on a cruise, bringing me chicken noodle soup every day. Butlers with MSC also double up as attendants in the Top Sail Lounge so you find yourself interacting with other butlers not just the one allocated to your suite.

As previously mentioned concierges on MSC generally provide a desk-based service, with the butlers escorting guests to shows etc. On NCL the concierge and assistants will perform this duty.

If pushed, I would say the personal attention from the butlers in MSC Yacht Club is possibly more noticable but I think it is more because the specific roles on the two cruise lines is slightly different.

Food is such a subjective topic so I am going to just share my own thoughts here and leave it for you to decide.

NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club and food. Both have dedicated restaurants where you can dine at any time during the opening hours. There is no need to make reservations and you will be seated at a table just for your party – unless you request to sit with another group. The restaurant is located in the main Haven/Yacht Club area in most cases but be aware on a couple of the older MCS ships, the Yacht Club restaurant is at the other end of the ship. Some cruisers do not like this but I always quite enjoy the stroll on deck or through the main decks of the ship on the way to and from the restaurant.

NCL Haven’s dedicated restaurant is calm and serene with no reservation required although at peak dining times (which vary greatly depending on the route) you may need to wait a short time for a table.

The food is excellent and you can usually request small adjustments to the dishes to suit your taste. The menu in the Haven Restaurant does not rotate and is the same every day, although there will usually be a daily special offered. As with other restaurants throughout NCL ships you can order extra dishes or swap appetizers for entrees etc.

The wine list is varied and the staff are happy to make suggestions or let you sample different wines.

The Haven Restaurant is open breakfast, lunch and dinner. All meals are table service although at breakfast there is also a small buffet serving pastries, cold meats/cheeses, cereal etc.

MSC’s Yacht Club Restaurant has a similar exclusive atmosphere and again is open breakast, lunch and dinner. There are tables to suit all group sizes and it is all table service.

The menu in MSC Yacht Club restaurant changes daily and often features themed dishes from the port of call for that day. There are also options such as steak and salmon that are offered daily. As with NCL special requests can usually be accomodated and you can order extra dishes.

There is an extensive wine list and most MSC Yacht Club restaurants have a dedicated somelier to help you choose the perfect wine to accompany your meal.

Up until recently NCL Haven restaurant food would have won hands down but on a recent NCL cruise I thought the quality wasn’t quite the same as on previous cruises. Anyway the choice is always excellent, portion sizes are about right and there is usually a tasty fish/seafood option but the same menu every day gets old quickly on a cruise longer than two weeks. We usually intersperse with speciality restaurants to break the monotony.

The fish and seafood on offer can be destination specific and I have been disappointed on NCL cruises in Europe but on a Caribbean or Transatlantic cruise the shrimp dishes are amazing and the chance to eat Mahi Mahi, (a fish not available this side of the pond) every day makes my cruise.

MSC Yacht Club

MSC is a European cruise line and the food reflects that, don’t get me wrong – I am European – but some non-Europeans may find the portion sizes too small, easily fixed, just order a second dish. The variety is great and there has always been a dish to suit my taste and that of my husband.

However, and this is where I get to the subjective part, I like my food packed with flavour, if it’s described on the menu as spicy shrimp, I want that shrimp spicy. To me I think MSC plays it a little safe, erring on the side of bland. Many times I’ve ordered what is described beautifully as though lots of passion has been put into the thought process, but when it comes to the execution it is somehow lacking. The exception is when it comes to pasta and pizza, both freshly made to perfection reminding you that you are on an Italian cruise line.

The above mostly relates to the appetizers and entrees, the desserts however are amazing, Italians know how to make decadent pastries, rich creams, mousses, gelato and of course the Tiramisu is to die for. I rarely eat dessert but on an MSC cruise it’s well worth a few extra hours in the gym not to miss out on a taste sensation.

Other Restaurants Onboard

Guests in NCL Haven and MSC Yacht Club can of course eat at the other restaurants on the ship. NCL usually includes a couple of speciality restaurant meals in your cruise package whereas MSC only includes this for loyalty card holders. You can still pay for a la carte though. Suite guests can also take advantage of the main buffet. Personally I find the buffet on MSC ships a little manic and I don’t love the food choice. On NCL ships the buffet is excellent and it’s often where I will head to grab a quick breakfast or lunch rather than opt for the table service in the Haven restaurant (things to do, places to go!)

As I said earlier, whether food is good or not so good is very subjective and depends on a persons taste so no winner or loser here, give them both a try and make your own judgement.

When it comes to recreation areas in the battle between NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club both cruise lines are winners. Both offer exclusive bars, lounges and sundecks. The sundecks are themselves worth their weight in gold especially for sunlovers on a cruise with lots of sea days. No rushing early in the morning to secure a comfortable cushioned sun lounger, dedicated bar staff and drinks served in glass rather than plastic. Located at the front of the ship to make the most of the ocean views. Haven and Yacht Club sundecks are a real treat.

When it comes to the exclusive bar/lounges on both cruise lines, I have rarely found them busy, except on the evening of the officers’ cocktail party. In fact on most MSC cruises, we’ve been the only ones in the Top Sail Lounge for pre-dinner drinks which is a pity as the setting is beautiful and piano music or a singer sets the tone for a wonderful evening. Maybe its purely to do with timing, in southern Europe we eat very late so maybe when we are enjoying pre-dinner drinks everyone else is tucking into dinner.

The MSC Yacht Club Top Sail Lounge has snacks available all day up until midnight, breakfast is pastries, cereal and juices but other breakfast items are available to order. The pool deck has a sit up bar, a small buffet plus a chef cooking a daily special on deck and other items are available to order.

The Haven bar is usually a little busier and has its regulars sitting up at the bar both before and after dinner and the atmosphere is slightly less formal. Any snacks will be in the form of savoury crackers. The cocktails are more elaborate than on MSC. It is unusual to find live music in the Haven bar.

Food and drinks can be ordered in the Haven pool area throughout the day.

Both cruise lines are winners here, the exclusive bars and sundecks are worth every penny spent on the cruise. Elegant and sophisticated and with the feel of a private club. On sea days or when you prefer to stay onboard the sundecks on both cruise lines are a world away from the hectic atmosphere of the main deck.

Disclaimer here! You should check what is included with your cruise fare, offers vary and perks can also vary. Depending on your booking location the info below may not apply to your particular offer.

Guests booking NCL Haven will have similar general perks included to those of guests in the main part of the ship. These can include, two or three speciality restaurant meals, a number of hours free internet, beverage package, a small discount on an excursion and sometimes some onboard credit.

Haven-specific perks include a higher end beverage package, snacks delivered to your room daily, discounted laundry service, bathrobes, high-end toiletries in the bathroom, chocolates on the pillow at turndown service, fresh flowers, priority emabarkation/disembarkation, priority tenders, priority disembarketion on port days, special seating area in the main theatre, the aforemention butler and concierge service, dedicated Haven pool deck, Haven bar/restaurant, stocked mini bar, Nespresso coffee maker, souvenir cruise card wallet and Haven cocktail party with the ship’s officers. Guests who book one of the Owner’s Suites are also able to choose a bottle of spirit for their bar. Guest who book Haven Spa Suites also have access to the Mandara spa.

MSC has fewer general perks outside of Yacht Club. A bonus for those booking in the UK is that gratuties are included, which means there will be no daily charge appearing on your account. Loyalty card holders at a certain level will receive a meal in a speciality restaurant.

Yacht Club-specific perks are plentiful and include, free daily newspaper, chocolates on your pillow, box of macarons, a free bottle of spirit or champagne in your room, daily in-room snacks, bathrobes, pillow menu, priority emabrkation/disembarkation, priority tenders, priority disembarkation and embarkation on port days, high-end toiletries, dedicated seating in theatre, butler and concierge service, priority show and dining reservations, free internet for the duration of the cruise, officer’s cocktail party, room service included, Lavazzo coffee maker (not on all ships), stocked mini bar, still and sparkling water refreshed daily, Yacht Club bar/lounge and restaurant, dedicated pool deck and access to spa facilities.

While both cruise lines offer excellent perks to their VIP guests, MSC has the edge with the free internet and daily water. That being said the free speciality dining is a great offer on NCL although this is for all guests (depending on offer available at time of booking).

Both NCL and MSC have private islands in the Caribbean or Bahamas which are the for exclusive use of their cruise passengers.

NCL Great Stirrup Cay

Great Stirrup Cay is located in the Bahamas. This is a tender port and Haven guests will be given priority boarding. Drinks packages are accepted on the island and there is food available free of charge. There is no dedicated Haven area on Great Stirrup Cay but there is an area called Silver Cove where cabanas can be rented with prices starting at around $450 dollars per cabana.

NCL Harvest Caye

Harvest Caye is NCL’s private Island off Belize. Due to an agreement with the Belize goverment, drinks packages are not accepted on the island and food is not included. The idea is that the island helps the local Belize economy. Food and drinks can be purchased using US Dollars. There is no dedicated Haven area on Harvest Caye.

MSC Ocean Cay

Ocean Cay is MSC’s private island in the Bahamas. There are a total of eight beaches on the island, one – Ocean House Beach, is exclusive to Yacht Club guests along with a restaurant, sun loungers and parasols. Yacht Club guests can also pre-book cabanas from $450 and these include, food, drinks, fruit skewers, snorkel gear and floating mats. A tram will take Yacht Club guest to the beach from the port and back again.

Who doesn’t love a private island? All three offerings are excellent but MSC’s Ocean Cay takes some beating especially when it comes to facilities and services for Yacht Club guests. The service is as great as it is on the ship and the exclusivity is something not offered on NCL’s private islands.

Here are a few tips and things to consider when choosing between the two ‘ship within a ship’ offerings and what to look out for on each cruise line when selecting your suite.

If you want the luxury of the serenity and luxury of the ehanced service and being far from the madding crowd, MSC probably offers the best deals price wise, the Yacht Club inside suite options have a good lead-in price and the perks included such as free internet throughout the duration of the cruise can add to the cost effectiveness.

While I have always been a big fan of NCL Haven, the pricing has gone overboard (pardon the pun) in recent years. A transatlantic crossing in NCL Haven in spring 2023 cost almost double that of a similar crossing in MSC Yacht Club for a comparable balcony suite.

Choosing Your Suite

As I mentioned at the start of this piece, do your research before you book and make sure the research is specific to the ship. On both cruise lines there are suites without a balcony that instead have wall to wall, floor to ceiling windows, great views but if you enjoy the ocean breeze from the privacy of your balcony, these are not the suites for you. Front facing suites usually have balconies enclosed in glass for obvious reasons, again these will not suit some people.

NCL Haven offerings include aft-facing suites, if big balconies and fabulous views are your thing, these are often the lower prices Haven suites but be aware you will be located at the opposite end of the ship to the Haven proper and on the large ships that can be quite a treck.

Haven Spa suites are also usually outside of the Haven proper, instead located on the same deck as the Mandara Spa. On some older and smaller NCL ships including NCL Dawn, there is no dedicated Haven area, instead you can book a large luxury suite, enjoy breakfast and lunch in two of the speciality restaurants and still enjoy most of the Haven perks including butler and concierge service.

Be aware, NCL also has a category of accomodation called Club Balcony suites (formerly called mini suites) these are in the main part of the ship, are often slightly larger and with bigger balcony plus usually a bathtub. These are not Haven suites and include none of the perks.

MSC also has some suites located outside the main Yacht Club area, on some ships the Duplex Suites are in the main part of the ship as are the spa suites.

I couldn’t complete an article on NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club without mentioning upgrade bidding. Both NCL and MSC offer an upgrade programme subject to availablity. A few weeks or more before your cruise you may receive an email offering you the opportunity to bid for a higher category of cabin or suite. There is usually some kind of guideline as to what is a good or poor bid but it’s mostly up to you what you want to offer.

Many cruisers rely on the upgrade programme on all their cruises and are often successful. Personally it’s not for me, I like to hand pick my suite on a certain side of the ship and the anticipation and waiting would drive me crazy. I did try it once and it worked out great but I was probably unbearable to live with while I was waiting to see if my bid was successful!

Things you should bear in mind. If your bid is accepted, the money will be taken from your credit card immediately and there is no going back. You can not specify a particular cabin/suite, deck or location. With MSC if you already pre-paid for internet when you booked a regular cabin, you won’t get that fee refunded even though you now get free internet as part of the Yacht Club perks. On both NCL and MSC, if your bid to upgrade from a regular cabin to a Haven or Yacht Club suite is successful you will receive all the perks related to that.

You will only be offered to bid up to a certain level of cabin or suite, so if you book the lowest cost inside cabin you won’t be offered an upgrade to a Haven or Yacht Club suite. You could bid for a balcony cabin.

Really there is no conclusion to this NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club showdown, it is all down to personal preference, price or even itineraries on offer. Loyalty to a particular cruise line can also play a part especially when it comes to loyalty points and status levels. Bear in mind MSC status matches you from your status level on another cruise line so you can get in at a higher level from your very first booking.

My personal opinion when it comes to NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club is I love both and I wouldn’t cruise any other way. Price is definitely a consideration for me when I book, so with Haven becoming further out of reach I am leaning more to booking Yacht Club. That being said, I’m certainly not done with NCL yet and you will definitely see me at a Haven bar in the near future!

Visit Cruise Critic to book your NCL Haven or MSC Yacht Club cruise

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Reader Interactions

September 30, 2023 at 10:24

Those Yacht club premium benefits sound incredible! I have heard any stories about how expensive is the interent during the cruise, so it is good to hear there are offers where this is included along with other perks. I have never been on a cruise myself yet, but your post really makes me want to try it!

September 30, 2023 at 14:45

Thank you! I hope you give it a try!

September 30, 2023 at 14:22

We usually travel on smaller cruise ships. But have been interested in looking at NCL’s Haven. Good to read to read this review of the Haven versus MSC’s Yacht Club. Free internet and water might be a swing factor for us with MSC. And interesting to read that the Haven pricing has gone a bit crazy. Good to now have another option with MSC.

September 30, 2023 at 14:44

We enjoy the ship within a ship experiences as it makes you feel you are on a smaller ship. We are booked in Haven on the NCL Joy transatlantic in January, can’t wait!

September 30, 2023 at 14:56

I’ve never been on a cruise ship and we’re planning to book one. You gave me a lot of idea what to look for. Thanks for the tips!

October 3, 2023 at 07:41

Thanks Gladis! I hope you find a nice cruise!

September 30, 2023 at 21:49

Both look amazing! I do hope to someday try out these ship-in-ship offers – unfortunately they are often a bit out of my price range. But I am definitely keeping my eyes open for a good deal. Thanks so much for this informative post!

Thanks Kitty! Keep an eye on MSC, they often have some good prices.

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NCL Haven vs MSC Yacht Club

Which is better, norwegian’s haven or msc’s yacht club.

Since our trip on the MSC Seaside, this has been the most asked question and I can understand why. They both look similar but which cruise line does it better? In my opinion, after sailing on the MSC Seaside, MSC does the “hotel in a hotel” experience the best and the Seaside has quickly become my favorite ship of 2018. Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the Haven (we have sailed with NCL 16 times) and there are some areas where the Haven shines but keep reading if you want to see why I think the Yacht Club does suite level the best…

Embarkation from Port Miami – (Yacht Club Wins):

Yacht Club:  Embarkation in the Yacht Club was a breeze and is truly a first class experience. First, there is a special loop to drop off your luggage. We simply pulled into the special loop and there was a dedicated Yacht Club porter there waiting to take our bags. After parking the car in the garage, we came back to the same area where we dropped off our bags and a butler escorted us into the terminal. We were escorted through a private security line to the concierge waiting area (the waiting area was huge! Lots of chairs and space for everyone) .  While we were waiting to take our picture for our cruise card, we were handed champagne by our butler and asked if we would like any snacks from the snack table. Talk about a great way to start your vacation. After about 5 minutes, we had our cruise cards and our butler was leading us onto the ship. From there we had a direct butler escort all the way to the Yacht Club lounge (Top Sail Lounge) and again we were handed a glass of champagne as soon as we sat down. First class all the way.

The Haven:  Embarkation on NCL is the same for everyone, until you get past the security line. You drop your bags off with the porters and then proceed to the security line, like everyone else. We have waited in Norwegian security lines for up to 30 minutes. I am not complaining about the wait because it never bothered us but I did want to mention it because it is very different from MSC. After proceeding through the security line, you are directed to a small room dedicated just for Haven guests. It’s a small lounge where they have cookies, water, coffee and juice ( this area is very small. We have been forced to wait outside the lounge many times because there was no seating or space to stand inside the lounge ). After you receive your cruise card, you are then escorted to the ship by an NCL employee with a sign. They take you up to the ship security point and hand off the escort to a ship employee. The ship employee then escorts you to the Haven Courtyard where you gather for a group orientation about Haven perks from the concierge.

Overall Embarkation: Both companies have a completely different view on boarding the ship. MSC seems to take the stance that your vacation starts at bag drop off and NCL seems to believe your vacation begins once you arrive in the Haven Courtyard. Both are acceptable and great perks at the suite level but MSC seems to have embarkation perfected.

Staterooms/Cabin Size – (Haven Wins):

Before I start comparing, I want to point out that we stayed in a Yacht Club Inside Cabin on the MSC Seaside. This is the smallest cabin in the Yacht Club and something that the Haven does not have. We did make friends with a couple who let us tour their Yacht Club Deluxe Suite. I would compare the Deluxe Suite to a Courtyard Penthouse on a Breakaway Class ship so I am going to compare those cabins to each other and not our interior YC suite.

The Haven: Cabin space in a Courtyard Penthouse Suite in the Haven is wonderful. The cabins are a great size for a suite. They are not huge ( we still talking about a one-bedroom room ) but they are large when you compare them to other cruise ship cabins.  You get a king bed, a huge closet and a really nice bathroom. The storage is also plentiful in the Haven Courtyard Penthouse. I love the layout especially with the walk through closet and I love that the bathroom comes with a bathtub. Very nice overall space (except the balcony. The balcony is very small. Enough room for 2 chairs and a small coffee table.)

Yacht Club: Cabin space in the Yacht Club is small. The Deluxe Suite is much smaller compared to the Courtyard Penthouse. There is a queen bed, a small closet and a decent size bathroom. The bathroom has a shower (no tub combination) and the sink is made of marble, which is nice. I believe the Yacht Club bathroom is a little larger than the Haven but the tub is nice to have to soak in and I don’t have to do a split in the shower to shave my legs.

Overall Cabin Size: The Haven wins this category but just by a hair. The rooms may be smaller in the Yacht Club but I don’t really spend a lot of time in the room, so this one is not that important to me. If you can only sleep on a king bed, then the Haven is for you. If you need the tub, then the Haven is for you. I liked our Yacht Club cabin very much (even though it was an inside cabin) because we got access to all the Yacht Club amenities but if cabin size is really important to you ( as in, you never leave your room, EVER ), you may want to stick with the Haven.

Amenities – (Yacht Club Wins):

Let’s talk stuff you get with your suite. This category is all about the extra perks you get with your suite and hands down, the Yacht Club wins this by a mile. There are so many perks that you get in the Yacht Club and here are just a few:

• Private, exclusive area – Stating this is putting it mildly. Not only do you get a private area, you get the whole front of the ship on Deck 16, 18 & 19. Seriously, the entire front of the ship. Deck 16 – You have access to the Top Sail Lounge. This lounge is the largest, private lounge you have ever seen and it is absolutely gorgeous. There is a full length bar, a piano, plenty of seating and to top it all off, floor to ceiling glass windows that overlook the front of the ship. And there is even an outside portion to the lounge. There are loungers and chairs so you can enjoy the sea air and you still get served by the Top Sail Lounge Staff. And I cannot say enough great things about the staff in the lounge. They were always attentive to your needs and very friendly. We always love talking to ship crew and the Top Sail Lounge crew is top notch. Deck 18 – You have access to the gorgeous and huge Yacht Club Restaurant. The restaurant sits on top of the Top Sail Lounge and has views that look out the front of the ship. If you time dinner just right, you will have the most amazing sunset meals and you can even catch a sail away if you leave a port a little later in the evening. We were even able to see sail away from Miami with the wonderful later time that MSC leaves the port ( it was raining when we left Miami but I can imagine how amazing the Miami sunset would be leaving on a nice day. Sail away from Miami is beautiful during the day but a sunset sail away would be even better ). Deck 19 – The pool area in the Yacht Club is the largest area I have ever seen dedicated to suite level guests. The pool area features a nice size pool, a huge sundeck, a full length bar and a grill that serves breakfast, lunch and snacks. If you walk closer to the front of the ship, there are two additional hot tubs (with the most amazing views) and there is plenty of tables and loungers throughout the entire deck. This area is so pretty. Pictures do not do it justice. Again, I can’t believe there was so much space dedicated to the Yacht Club. MSC really got this one right. Plenty of space for everyone to relax and soak up some sun. ( speaking of sun, if you don’t like the sun, there isn’t a lot of shade on the sun deck. They don’t have umbrellas or anything like that to cover you. They do offer private cabanas that have a cover. This is an upcharge but, if you are a pool person, the amenities are pretty cool. There is a sign at concierge that explains al the benefits you get by purchasing a private cabana. )
• Dedicated concierge – the concierge is different from NCL. The concierge is run more like a front desk rather than a private person helping you out. I liked this concept a lot. It added to that “hotel in a hotel” feeling. We have met some amazing concierges on our NCL journeys and they were wonderful. You do not get that same interaction on MSC but we do not use the concierge a lot on NCL so this was a great way to ask questions
• Mini-Bar Included – this was a HUGE perk for us in the cabin. It was really nice to grab an orange juice or soda in the morning or mix a drink later at night. The mini-bar also came with a handful of snacks like mixed nuts, Pringles and assorted chocolate snacks which was so great. I didn’t know I needed the mini-bar until it was included with the Yacht Club.
• Chocolate – Oh the chocolate. So much chocolate. From chocolate ships to chocolate pillow snacks, you had access to chocolate galore. If you love chocolate, MSC is definitely for you.
• Gelato – Yep! All you can eat gelato is included with the Yacht Club. This is typically an up-charge item on a cruise ships but it is included on MSC. And it is truly the best gelato I have ever tasted (yes, I have been to Italy and this is still the best gelato ever) .
• Pizza – Ok, this one is for everyone on the ship but it was hands down the BEST pizza at sea so I consider it to be an amenity. I think the only thing better than pizza on the Seaside would be New York City pizza. Seriously, it was the most amazing snack. The pizza was available at the regular buffet and it was also available at the family buffet during late night. I can’t tell you how many times we ended the night with a fantastic slice of pizza and sat out on the deck in front of the Top Sail Lounge watching the stars. It was the perfect way to the end the night.
• T op Sail Lounge Snacks – there were snacks in the lounge available morning, noon and night and these were in addition to the snacks and food offered at the pool. Breakfast snacks had everything from pastries to mini-pancakes. Lunch had mini-sandwiches, vegetables and fruits. Dinner had sushi, sandwiches, and they would later bring out small desserts. Usually more chocolate. Yum!
• Priority Elevator – MSC allows Yacht Club guests to use their key card to make the elevator a private access elevator that will be called directly to the floor where the card was used. We used this feature time and time again and it was so nice to have direct access to floors, instead of stopping on every floor as you go.  (we are aware of such perks in the Haven but it is not talked about. We have used this feature twice on the Epic. However, we were instructed on how to call the priority elevator from our butler on MSC)
• Afternoon Tea – I didn’t know I liked afternoon tea until we experienced it. It was such a lovely thing to do on a ship. Tea was served at 4pm in the Top Sail Lounge. A butler would come over, offer you a nice selection of teas, you chose your tea and then he/she would proceed with the service. We were also served an arrangement of awesome snacks and pastries with our tea. It was truly delightful and something that I recommend everyone try if available.
• Priority Seating in Theater –  this is a great perk on NCL and one that I wish MSC would adopt. It is really nice to know that you have a dedicated area in the theater that you don’t have to wait in line for. I like how the seats are opened to everyone at the 5 minute mark and I think this could easily be implemented on MSC. Waiting for the shows was the only thing that really made me feel like I was not in a suite level room. I am not above waiting in line for anything but I do not like when I arrive 35 minutes before the show begins, stand in line and then get pushed out of line 5 minutes before the doors open by someone who is impatient and feels like they don’t have to wait.
• Private Concierge – the Haven concierge is a totally personal experience. The concierge knows your name, your schedule, if it’s your birthday, etc. These are important things and a very nice amenity on NCL. The concierge on MSC is like the front desk of a hotel. They are always eager to help with any information or anything you need, but they do not know who you are. It is a far less personal experience.

Service – (Yacht Club Wins):

We absolutely love the crew on NCL and we have made many, many lifelong friends but the service in the Yacht Club was top notch. The servers were always attentive and you were always being asked if there was anything more that you needed. We never had to wait for a drink, food, snack or any cabin related items. It was truly a first class experience. This service is hard to put into words. I guess it was a feeling that we were important and our vacation mattered. Service in the Haven is a little different. We have always received great service but after experiencing MSC, I can now say that service felt a little forced in the Haven comparatively speaking. More like “this is what I have to do” versus “what I want to do for you”.

Service is one of those areas that is not really quantifiable. It is hard because every week can be a totally different experience based on the mood of the crew. Maybe they are having an off week or maybe something happened at home. Whatever the reason, the crew cannot be on their A game all the time. We had a great week on the Seaside but I know this could be different with the exact same crew during a different week. Everything just came together perfectly for our Seaside cruise.

Food – (Yacht Club Wins)

Food is always an interesting topic because it is subjective. What I like, you may not like and vice versa. I want to point out that we are not foodies at all. We like good tasting food but it doesn’t have to be fancy. I just want food that tastes good and is cooked well.

Yacht Club: Food in the Yacht Club Restaurant was amazing. Breakfast was ok (although I was brought Fruit Loops without ordering. That goes back to the amazing service)  in the Yacht Club but lunch and dinner were always wonderful. I especially enjoyed how the dinner menu would change nightly but there was a fixed side to the menu as well. I had always head on NCL people complaining about how the menu never changes. This never bothered me until MSC. It really is nice to have the change but it is also nice to know that there is a fixed menu so I can always have something that I like, even if I don’t like the new menu items. There was also something awesome about being surprised each night for dinner and getting to decide what delectable dish you were going to order (they do have the menus posted by lunch time but I never wanted to read them because I liked the surprise) .

Talking about the food I loved the most – I had the most amazing lobster I have ever had on a cruise ship or even on land. It was cooked to perfection and had the best sides. Sean had an amazing steak that night as well and I saw a bunch of people order them together. Perfect surf and turf!

The Haven: Food in the Haven is great and it is always great. You never have to worry about will my steak be cooked correctly, will I need to send this back or that back. Nope. NCL is consistently great when it comes to the Haven Restaurant. Like I just mentioned, I never knew I would like a changing menu until MSC but now I understand the frustration that the menu never changes. One thing that hands down NCL does better – Breakfast!! The best eggs, bacon, breads, etc. NCL does breakfast right!

Disembarkation – (Yacht Club Wins)

Disembarkation is probably the biggest reason we like to sail at the suite level. There have been more times than we can count where we have been included or have seen some kind of violence while guests are waiting to disembark the ship, standing in the walk off line. Shoo, there is nothing worse than having your vacation ruined by some idiot who is mad at the world and thinks they deserve to get off the ship before everyone else. Priority disembarkation solves all of this. You get to wake up in the morning, leisurely have breakfast and then casually walk off the ship. Both NCL and MSC have great disembarkations but MSC is a little more personal.

Yacht Club: On the last day of our cruise, we walked out to the concierge area (the front desk) and the concierge called our butler. Our butler and room steward took our luggage (we did walk off) and escorted us to the gangway to leave the ship. That’s right. We had a personal walk off from our butler and room steward. It was amazing. They walked us right past the walk off line and we were out the door just like that. It was a nice way to say a final goodbye to these 2 people that took such great care of us all week.

The Haven: Disembarkation begins by everyone waiting in the concierge, lounge area. Once the order has been given, the concierge walks a group of guests down to the gangway. The concierge uses the crew elevator and escorts you down to the security line. This is where you merge into the big line of guests who are doing non-priority walk off. I always feel a little bad cutting in line in front of these people. There are usually words thrown at us like “must be nice” or “why do they get to cut in front of us? We have been waiting for 2 hours”. These comments make disembarkation a little less than enjoyable but you don’t have to deal with it too long and you are off the ship.

Overall Disembarkation: Overall, I really like the way MSC handles leaving the ship. It is a first class experience and you get to go through security by yourself, while they keep the mass line farther back from the exit. There is no mass merge with the crowd and therefore, no harsh words heard at the end of a great week. I also really liked saying goodbye and hugging our butler and room steward at the gangway. It was just a nice way to end our cruise and had me walking away with a smile.

Overall Feelings

We love both NCL and MSC. We have a lot of history on NCL (16 sailings to date) but MSC has opened our eyes to some things that we absolutely love but didn’t know we loved until this cruise. We always like to compare our experiences to other things in life for reference. Overall I would compare the service on the Seaside to be first class and I would compare the Haven to be business class. Both will give you an amazing experience and provide you a great vacation but MSC does the “hotel in a hotel” experience a little bit better than NCL. We love both cruise lines and I cannot wait for our next Haven and Yacht Club cruises!

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Anthony Fontenot

Thanks for this great revue Stef. I love NCL and always stay in the Haven. But in ‘19 I’ll stay in the Yacht Club twice, and I’m really looking forward to it. In addition to the things you mentioned, the Yacht club is apx. $3,000.00 cheaper than the Haven. So while I truly love NCL, MSC just might win me over. Thanks again!

I agree. NCL Haven has gotten WAY too expensive for us. Yacht Club seems to be the same price as the Club Class on Princess. I’ll choose Yacht Club.

Linda Sisco

Looking forward staying in YC on Splendida in Septmber of 2020. Thanks for the wonderful comparison.

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I tried a ship-within-a-ship cruise experience and it was worth it for the endless perks—here’s why

The MSC Yacht Club affords travelers a totally different cruising experience, but you’ll have to splurge.

I heard tales of luxury from people about the ritzy MSC Yacht Club , the ship-within-a-ship concept where discerning passengers enjoy their own area of the cruise ship that includes a dedicated restaurant, private lounge, separate pool and sundeck as well as private butlers and concierges to take of any whim while cruising. The elevated Yacht Club boasts priority everything while sailing MSC.

I sailed on a four-night cruise on the new MSC Seashore, a glitzy ship with Italian flair intermingled with references to New York City at every turn. Although the ship was well-appointed and had amazing dining, drinking and entertainment venues, and a bountiful Top Sail main buffet, thousands of passengers made the ship feel crowded at times, elevators were slow, and as I strolled through the general pools, they were boisterous and crowded.

RECOMMENDED: 10 things about cruising on an adults-only ship that might surprise you

Switch gears to MSC Seashore’s Yacht Club, passkey-protected for lucky guests, and is a 180 from the ship’s general spaces. Once you scan your handy Yacht Club wrist badge, or your room key, you’re instantly given entrance to a breathtaking retreat of 131 staterooms and suites. All this luxury does come at a price. Cruise fares will vary based on destination, time of year, and cabin category, but generally speaking you can expect to pay double for the Yacht Club. And from my experience, it’s worth it. Read more about why you should splurge.

You’re fast-tracked through everything

The Yacht Club’s exclusivity and impeccable service standard started from the moment I got dropped off at the Port Canaveral cruise terminal. There were hundreds of people waiting to board at 1pm on embarkation day. I saw in the distance a canopy that said MSC Yacht Club. My husband and I wheeled our carry-on luggage to the representative under the canopy. I gave her my name and within two seconds, she gave me a sticker to wear and up we ascended on the escalator to check in. Just five minutes later, I was directed to the dedicated check-in area for Yacht Club guests. To my right, I saw about 1,000 people serpentine through ropes to do general check-in. I felt a sense of relief; who wants to wait in that line? Five minutes later, a butler from the Yacht Club insisted on wheeling my luggage to board the ship and I was in my room in a total on 12 minutes from the time I stepped foot out of the car to my stateroom in the Yacht Club.

Relaxing and streamlined

In addition, Yacht Club guests have the freedom to get off the ship first for excursions. Your butler will happily escort you off the ship with a smile. Guests also can disembark on the last morning first, which is a big convenience. Your butler walks you right to the place you disembark, bypassing crowds and hassles. Port Canaveral is about an hour away from Orlando International Airport, and we took a 10 am flight home. We didn’t have to linger around until the afternoon for our flight home.

Another perk is that there’s a special seating area in the theater for shows. All the shows were excellent during my voyage. All other ship passengers have to make reservations in advance for shows but that’s not the case for the privileged Yacht Club passengers. As long as you arrive about 10 minutes before any show you choose, a crew member from the Club will allow you entry into a special roped-off section. Again, no rushing through dinner—you have the flexibility to plan your evenings your way.

Your Yacht Club package is packed with remarkable value

The price tag may sound daunting, but there’s lots of value there. All Yacht Club cabins and suites include a premium drink package that covers beverages up to $15. You can use this perk both in the Yacht Club and throughout the ship. In addition, your package includes a two-device Wi-Fi package, which worked well during my sailing. Finally, you get access to the thermal spa suite, which is a place to indulge after a day in port or a sea day. Commonly, there’s a taboo regarding mini-bars, but not in the Yacht Club. It’s stocked each day with the beverages you want; just tell your butler and consider it done.

You get perks ashore too

If your sailing includes a call to Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island, Yacht Club guests get an elevated experience there too. Yacht Club guests enjoy a private area, and a dedicated restaurant called the Ocean House. While other ship guests were hosted to a buffet of predictable fare, I enjoyed a lobster roll, and my husband chose carne asada. In my opinion, one thing that could be improved was the tram service to the Yacht Club’s private area. We were told the last tram back was 3:30pm if we didn’t want to trek a 15-minute walk in the heat. Since we were docked in Ocean Cay for the evening and weren’t sailing, I was a bit dismayed by this logistical quirk. I felt like I was keeping an eye on my phone to make sure I didn’t miss the last tram.

You have private areas with curated food and drink and outdoor spaces

Within the Yacht Club complex, there’s the Yacht Club Restaurant, Top Sail Lounge and the One Pool Buffet, which are all exclusive to Yacht Club guests. Obviously, the food and service are steps above other dining venues of the ship, I can vouch for that. Although the food is delicious, if you don’t want to pay extra to dine at the specialty restaurants or fuss in the main buffet, eating three meals a day in the Yacht Club restaurant can get a bit monotonous. The breakfast is the same daily, and lunch and dinner offer a menu with daily specials plus a few standby selections like a hamburger or pasta each day. Although the Yacht Club Restaurant concept is desirable, I would strongly suggest dining in other venues on board, especially for dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed specialty dining in Ocean Cay Restaurant, Butcher’s Cut, and Kaito Teppanyaki. I also want to mention that late afternoon high tea is offered daily at the Yacht Club Restaurant. It was one of the nicest I have experienced at sea.

Also available exclusively to Yacht Club passengers is the Top Sail Lounge, which offers panoramic water views and has chef-curated selections from morning through late night. We enjoyed popping into the lounge at all hours to try finger foods and sweets. The One Pool Buffet offers a more casual option for breakfast and lunch by the pool. The buffet has grilled fish, sandwiches and lots of delicious options if you want to dine outside.

There’s also an exclusive area with a private pool and two whirlpools for Yacht Club guests only. The sun deck loungers are very comfortable and I never had to worry about finding a lounger, there are ample. One issue I had was that there was almost no shade on the sun deck; there were shaded day beds for Royal Suite and Owners Suite guests, but beyond those, I couldn’t find any shade, which was disappointing.

You can justify the price at the end of your cruise

Overall, the best way to explain my enthusiasm for my MSC Yacht Club experience is this: it’s better to book an interior stateroom in the Yacht Club than a luxe cabin outside the Yacht Club. It’s worth the splurge and you return home feeling truly pampered and it’s money well-spent. And I make this prediction: Once you try a ship-within-a-ship concept like the MSC Yacht Club, you won’t want cruise any other way. Bon Voyage!

• Erica Lamberg

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How MSC’s private island experience is different for cruisers in suites

Do you enjoy large cruise ships but still want to feel like you're in the lap of luxury? Passengers booked in MSC Cruises' Yacht Club cabins and suites have access to high-end amenities – both on the ship and off.

Butlers, exclusive dining and a private pool delight guests on board, but perks also await on MSC 's private island, Ocean Cay Marine Reserve , in the Bahamas. You can expect dedicated trams, towel service and a chance to book the nicest cabanas on the island, among other extras.

Read on to find out how the MSC Yacht Club Ocean Cay experience differs from that of the average cruiser.

For more cruise guides, news and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

MSC Ocean Cay Yacht Club beaches vs. regular beaches

MSC's Ocean Cay Marine Reserve private island is home to seven (soon to be eight) beaches, and all are public, except one — Ocean House Beach, which is the Yacht Club's exclusive swath of sand. Beyond its exclusivity, the beach has a few other differences from the island's regular beaches.

There, use of lounge chairs and umbrellas is free. Chairs at the other beaches are also free and available on a first-come, first-served basis; however, umbrellas come with an extra cost.

Passengers must sign out towels on board the ship before heading ashore to Ocean Cay's main beaches. Yacht Club passengers can skip that hassle and ask for towels at the towel tent found on Ocean House Beach.

Interestingly, I found that several of the public beaches were less crowded than Ocean House Beach. At the latter, chairs were positioned much more closely to one another. If you're willing to walk or hitch a ride on one of the island's trams, you'll find fewer crowds on the farther beaches than if you stick close to the ship.

MSC Ocean Cay Yacht Club food vs. regular dining

Free lunch is included for all cruisers who visit Ocean Cay. For Yacht Club travelers, the Ocean House Restaurant — an exclusive waiter-served dining venue where passengers enjoy their meals on a shaded porch — exudes upscale beach vibes.

During my visit, the menu included starters like crab ceviche, charred octopus and a salad with romaine, tomatoes, jicama, a poached egg and candied bacon in a citrus dressing. Mains featured locally sourced blackened mahi-mahi, lobster roll, carne asada, a grilled portobello mushroom sandwich and one of the best burgers I've ever tasted during a cruise — a blend of Angus chuck, short ribs and grilled brisket with red onion jam and Monterey Jack cheese. Desserts consisted of creme caramel, mango cheesecake and chocolate cake with coffee sauce.

The meals at Ocean House are definitely superior to the fare found at the Seakers buffet, which is where cruisers not staying in the Yacht Club can go for a beach barbecue that serves hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, macaroni and cheese, red beans, roasted potatoes and a slew of salads, drinks and desserts.

The food is tasty, but lines can be long. An alternative is to head to one of several food trucks throughout the island. Some are free and dole out the same items offered on the buffet but with shorter lines. Others sell entirely different menu items — lobster grilled cheese, fried calamari, shrimp with watermelon, Caribbean ceviche and octopus salad — with the cost charged to cruisers' onboard accounts.

Additionally — and also for an extra fee — a stand near the ship offers specialty coffee and ice cream. (If you're a coffee lover, trust me when I say you won't want to miss the Coco-Nilla Latte.)

MSC Ocean Cay Yacht Club cabanas vs. regular cabanas

There are three types of cabanas on Ocean Cay: Ocean Cay Beach Cabanas, Ocean View Yacht Club Cabanas and Beachfront Yacht Club Cabanas. All three types are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

They can hold up to six people each and include cold water, beach towels and chairs, as well as floating mats for use in the water. As the prices increase, so does the number of inclusions. The last two types are only available for booking by Yacht Club passengers.

Ocean Cay Beach Cabanas, found on South Beach, North Beach and Bimini Beach, are the most affordable on the island at $250 for the day. They've got walls on three sides, and they're outfitted with cushioned couches. They include the basic amenities mentioned above, and anyone can rent them.

Next up are the Ocean View Yacht Club Cabanas, which cost $400 for the day and also entitle you to free lunch and drinks, as well as fresh fruit skewers, four sets of snorkel gear and four floating mats. They're found on the Yacht Club's private Ocean House Beach, so they're off-limits to non-Yacht Club guests.

The most expensive, however, are the Beachfront Yacht Club Cabanas, located in a different section of the Ocean House area. They carry a $450 price tag but offer all the same extras as Ocean View Yacht Club Cabanas.

The draw? They're closer to the water and, therefore, have better views. Although they aren't on the main part of Ocean House Beach, they are still in the exclusive area, near the restaurant, so you don't have to go far to grab food.

Ultimately, the only thing being in the Yacht Club affords you in this case is the option to book more expensive cabanas.

MSC Ocean Cay Yacht Club trams vs. regular trams

At 95 acres, Ocean Cay is sizable. If you're fit, you can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes, but if you don't have great mobility or if you're easily overheated, reaching some of the island's more remote beaches can be difficult on foot. That's why MSC offers tram shuttles.

Passengers in standard cabins will find tram stops with shaded waiting areas throughout the island. However, waits can be long, especially if many other people are also in need of a lift.

Yacht Club cruisers can take advantage of trams exclusively for the Yacht Club. They run between a special tent (with free cold water to sip while you wait) set up just inside the entrance to Ocean Cay and the Ocean House beach and restaurant area.

You can make special requests for stops, which the regular trams usually won't accommodate. For example, you might ask to go straight from the tent to South Beach for a volleyball game without stopping anywhere else first.

MSC Ocean Cay Yacht Club activities vs. regular activities

This is the one category where the island's public spaces beat the Ocean House area by a mile. If you're looking for something to do other than eating, drinking or lazing by the beach, you'll have to head back toward the ship because there's not much going on in the exclusive areas.

Everything from massages, lighthouse tours and water sports equipment rentals to beach parties, volleyball games and shore excursions takes place elsewhere. However, perhaps that's by design. The Yacht Club is generally quiet, even on board, and the line likely prefers to keep the raucousness to other locations.

Bottom line

The MSC Yacht Club experience is more exclusive than the standard one at Ocean Cay, with extras like butler service, dedicated trams, towel service, access to pricier cabanas and a private beach and restaurant with better food and shorter waits.

However, all of the action — shore excursions, pickup volleyball games, beach parties, the lighthouse show — happens in the areas that are accessible to everyone, which significantly levels the playing field.

Additionally, items like specialty coffee, ice cream and for-fee food truck orders cost extra for everyone — even Yacht Club passengers.

Overall, Ocean Cay offers a great day for anyone who enjoys the beach, regardless of cabin type.

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• Norwegian Cruise Line

MSC Yacht Club vs Haven ?

By 2boyzmom , December 15, 2022 in Norwegian Cruise Line

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We are considering the MSC Divina for an Italy trip this summer and see they have an area similar to the Haven. Has anyone sailed this ship and can compare with the Haven for me? Thank you!

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22 minutes ago, 2boyzmom said: We are considering the MSC Divina for an Italy trip this summer and see they have an area similar to the Haven. Has anyone sailed this ship and can compare with the Haven for me? Thank you!

 I've sailed in both. The biggest difference of MSC is that the restaurant has a different menu daily. I'm sure it varies by staff/ship, but I found the butler on MSC absolutely useless. I had requested room service menus, they never showed, he offered to escort us off the ship but never showed up to do so.

  I personally found the staff on MSC Yacht Club restaurant amazing compare to NCL, but the sailing I was on also had only 45 people in the Yacht Club which may have made a big difference.

  I did enjoy the lounge on MSC a bit more that NCL, the bar was in the front facing lounge so it was much less crowded, they also had live music in the evenings if that's your thing.

  I sailed on the Meraviglia which has a different Yacht Club layout than the Divina, so there may be some differences.

cruiseny4life

Thanks for asking this! I really want to try out MSC Yacht Club. My husband...he loves NCL's Haven. I need to find something to entice him, so maybe someone on here will have that magic bean for him.

45 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said: Thanks for asking this! I really want to try out MSC Yacht Club. My husband...he loves NCL's Haven. I need to find something to entice him, so maybe someone on here will have that magic bean for him.

Look at the ship tours of the area. Yacht Club area is very well put together and is different than what NCL really offers with the Haven.

Possibly looking at the layout you might find that its better suited to how you might want to cruise.

CruizinSusan70

Not knowing what your thoughts are regarding balconies, but the Yacht Club does have inside cabins as well that are a cost savings.  The category is YIN.

nonchalant_muse

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said: Thanks for asking this! I really want to try out MSC Yacht Club. My husband...he loves NCL's Haven. I need to find something to entice him, so maybe someone on here will have that magic bean for him.

I'm a huuuge fan of MSC Yacht Club! Will be sailing in YC (on the Seaview) in early Feb 2023.

I'll start off by saying that I have never sailed in the Haven (or on NCL, first-ever sailing with them will be in mid-April) but, from what I've read about it, it's a similar concept to the YC with the private section of the ship closed off and dedicated only to Haven guests (i.e. "ship within a ship" concept). I love this as I can enjoy all the benefits that come with cruising on a very large vessel while at the same time enjoy a more private and less crowded space to retreat to when I need a breather 🙂

Anyways, this is what I've learned as far as the positives of MSC YC over NCL Haven:

1. YC restaurant menu rotates day to day; there are a select core of entrees that remain the same throughout the cruise, all the rest change on each day of the cruise, lots of variety. My understanding is that the Haven restaurant menu does not change.

2. YC guests are allowed unlimited access to the MSC Thermal Spa area; this is one of my favorite perks regarding YC, you automatically get free, unlimited everyday entry to their Thermal Spa (and it is sweeet!!!) As a Haven guest, access to the NCL Thermal Spa requires an additional charge unless one is booked in a Haven Spa suite. 

3. In YC, room service is included and is free, including delivery of alcoholic beverages for free. My understanding is that Haven does not allow for delivery of alcoholic beverages without a fee (although room service for other items is free and included). 

4. High tea service in the YC Lounge every late afternoon (roughly 4 pm). Another one of my favorite perks of the YC, you receive personalized high tea service in the YC Lounge every afternoon of your cruise. I love tea and absolutely adore their high tea service; they bring a cart with a selection of various teas and brew it in front of you, along with a tiered plate setting of scones, clotted cream, jams, tea sandwiches, and petit four desserts. I do not believe this type of tea service is offered in Haven. 

5. This is something new and I think may only be offered on the newer MSC ships (Meraviglia-class and newer) but YC guests are given a wristband in addition to a room key card. The wristband works just like the card; you use it to unlock and enter your cabin, to scan and receive beverages from the bar/cafe, to unlock and enter private YC areas of the ship, etc. It's great because one can just wear the wristband without having to carry around a room key card (I found this especially useful while lounging/swimming in the pool, and yes, wristbands are waterproof). To my knowledge Haven does not have this feature, but correct me if I'm mistaken. 

As an aside, you DO need your room key card whenever disembarking the ship while at port. Only the room key card will allow you to disembark/embark the cruise ship. 

That's all that comes to mind for now, hopefully you and your husband will be able to try out MSC YC at least once. It's generally a hecka lot cheaper than NCL Haven, too, if price point matters to you 🙂  

28 minutes ago, nonchalant_muse said:   I'm a huuuge fan of MSC Yacht Club! Will be sailing in YC (on the Seaview) in early Feb 2023.   I'll start off by saying that I have never sailed in the Haven (or on NCL, first-ever sailing with them will be in mid-April) but, from what I've read about it, it's a similar concept to the YC with the private section of the ship closed off and dedicated only to Haven guests (i.e. "ship within a ship" concept). I love this as I can enjoy all the benefits that come with cruising on a very large vessel while at the same time enjoy a more private and less crowded space to retreat to when I need a breather 🙂   Anyways, this is what I've learned as far as the positives of MSC YC over NCL Haven:   1. YC restaurant menu rotates day to day; there are a select core of entrees that remain the same throughout the cruise, all the rest change on each day of the cruise, lots of variety. My understanding is that the Haven restaurant menu does not change.   2. YC guests are allowed unlimited access to the MSC Thermal Spa area; this is one of my favorite perks regarding YC, you automatically get free, unlimited everyday entry to their Thermal Spa (and it is sweeet!!!) As a Haven guest, access to the NCL Thermal Spa requires an additional charge unless one is booked in a Haven Spa suite.    3. In YC, room service is included and is free, including delivery of alcoholic beverages for free. My understanding is that Haven does not allow for delivery of alcoholic beverages without a fee (although room service for other items is free and included).    4. High tea service in the YC Lounge every late afternoon (roughly 4 pm). Another one of my favorite perks of the YC, you receive personalized high tea service in the YC Lounge every afternoon of your cruise. I love tea and absolutely adore their high tea service; they bring a cart with a selection of various teas and brew it in front of you, along with a tiered plate setting of scones, clotted cream, jams, tea sandwiches, and petit four desserts. I do not believe this type of tea service is offered in Haven.    5. This is something new and I think may only be offered on the newer MSC ships (Meraviglia-class and newer) but YC guests are given a wristband in addition to a room key card. The wristband works just like the card; you use it to unlock and enter your cabin, to scan and receive beverages from the bar/cafe, to unlock and enter private YC areas of the ship, etc. It's great because one can just wear the wristband without having to carry around a room key card (I found this especially useful while lounging/swimming in the pool, and yes, wristbands are waterproof). To my knowledge Haven does not have this feature, but correct me if I'm mistaken.    As an aside, you DO need your room key card whenever disembarking the ship while at port. Only the room key card will allow you to disembark/embark the cruise ship.      That's all that comes to mind for now, hopefully you and your husband will be able to try out MSC YC at least once. It's generally a hecka lot cheaper than NCL Haven, too, if price point matters to you 🙂  

Thanks so much. We just got off a 14 night Haven Breakaway cruise and that same menu everyday is nuts. One night i requested some pasta with tomato sauce and they said special items need to be ordered 24 hours in advance! I realized it's time to widen our experiences with our cruise lines

I preferred the Yacht Club to the Haven.  Number 1 reason was the pool.  I don't like indoor pools, and the YC is outside.

I also liked that they never asked for a room card while in the YC.  

I loved the Top Sail lounge, especially at night with light entertainment.

I though I'd have enough to choose from in the Haven restaurant to not get bored with the same menu every night....but I did.  DH, on the other hand, had lobster every night and still talks about that!

In the YC you don't have to upgrade your drink package to get water!

Sounds like I didn't like the Haven...but I did.  Just prefer the YC more. 

However, Prima has an outdoor pool, so that'll be one of my next bookings.  😊

Not going to reiterate what others have posted here.

Generally speaking, Haven has better Concierges.  They seem to be able to get you into sold out shows, restaurants, make billing problems disappear and solve internet problems, seemingly like magic.  YC Concierges are good.  But, if you want reservations anywhere that you can't get on your own, neither can they.  Still, they're polite and helpful if they can help.

YC Butlers are around all the time.  From the time you drop off your luggage at the sidewalk YC tent at the pier, to serving drinks at the YC Lounge, they are very visible and willing to help.  Haven Butlers are a strange bunch.  Sometimes they're always around, sometimes they disappear for days.  Sometimes the follow instructions to a "T".  Sometimes they just ignore them.

If you've booked a Haven Spa Suite, you also get unlimited access to the NCL Spa.  Depending on the ship, the spas on NCL are some of the best at sea.  Again, YC spas are nice (depending on ship).  I just like NCL's better because of the varied areas of the spa.

Bottom line...both are good.  They do have differences, however.  

Let us know your priorities and we'll recommend which like does it better.

We’ve cruised in both extensively, although not on the Divina. The YC is much better value. The Haven is getting way overpriced. We prefer the YC restaurant because the portions are smaller and more manageable. I get turned off getting portions I can’t possibly eat. As others have said the YC lounge is a lot nicer and the pool deck has a bar and patio serving breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. We think the butlers are better in the YC. The bartenders are much better in the Haven. You are able to use multiple devices with the free wifi in the YC. The thermal spa is included free of charge in the YC. The Haven has a larger variety of cabin choices. I would rank the booze package superior in the YC. As others have said you can order drinks delivered to your room and the mini bar fridge is restocked each day with juices and the beer of your choice. You also receive a free bottle of liquor. The DSC is way less on MSC. I know you’re planning a cruise in Italy, but I’ll end by saying if you’re planning on booking a Caribbean cruise, every MSC itinerary includes a stop at their private island, Ocean Cay Marine Reserve where YC guests can dine at a private restaurant overlooking breathtaking vistas. Ocean Cay is hands down the best private island in the Caribbean. If you sail out after dusk, you can also watch the lighthouse show from your balcony.

Dr. Cocktail

I have sailed on both many times and they are both very different especially as we're comparing not only different cruise lines but different classes of ships.

While we loved the YC and made it work, we won't return for one very big reason - no shade outdoors whatsoever. The decks on Divina are slightly hotter than the surface of the sun whereas the Seaside class ships offer some shade if you're willing to constantly keep moving and jump when someone else moves.

The Haven outdoor decks severely lack a bar but have ample shade with the pool with sliding glass roof and the many umbrellas offered.  I absolutely HATE the disposable NCL plastic glasses for any drinks served outside - soooooo much waste.

The Haven menu does indeed never change but while food is extremely subjective, the quality of the raw ingredients is far superior to those served in the YC.  As an example, YC Prime Rib is .... likely beef cut to resemble a Prime Rib but actually ridiculously awful. Nearly everyone who sails on NCL will have a dining package and will get a few dinners out - that's NCL's brand - eat at different places at different times.  I like the specialty restaurants on both.

The main shows on NCL are generally Broadway lite and superb but .... there's usually only two different shows on any giving sailing. MSC offers click-tracked "extravaganzas" that have to be seen to be believed - but not in a good way. While they have many different titles, they're uniformly bewildering, noisy and frenetic.

The Top Sail lounge is great in that it offers live music all evening to late at night.  I also like not having to ever take out my key card or sign for anything.

Again - both are great but the lack of shade is a deal breaker for me on warm weather cruises.

Much already covered but like Havens on NCL, the YC on MSC has evolved too.  The first class of MSC ships having YC includes Divinia and our first trip was on Divinia as was our last on MSC.  Divina YC is very good.  Main complaints is restaurant is in back, not a big deal but fixed on newer class and lack of shade by pool which also partially corrected on Divinia but more so on newer classes.

Grill by pool.  Butlers have always been great vs NCL who are so so.  On Divinia behind YC is jungle pool with movable roof if weather bad.

Overall rooms smaller but nicely appointed.  Note Divinia does not have YC interiors but on the newer ships they are small and shower is literally coffin sized.

So I can't bring myself to follow thru with an MSC YC cruise.  The two hurtles I have are the small balconies/no loungers with the vast majority of YC cabins AND I'm a little concerned that we won't like the Europeanish food choices.  I'm not saying we won't ever do an MSC cruise but I know what I'm getting with Norwegian and Royal.

51 minutes ago, chill6x6 said: So I can't bring myself to follow thru with an MSC YC cruise.  The two hurtles I have are the small balconies/no loungers with the vast majority of YC cabins AND I'm a little concerned that we won't like the Europeanish food choices.  I'm not saying we won't ever do an MSC cruise but I know what I'm getting with Norwegian and Royal.

Wait till the MSC World America comes out in 2025.  It will be built specifically for the US and should be more to your liking.

Georgia_Peaches

My understanding with Divina is that the YC restaurant is not in the YC area. Kinda like some older NCL ships that added a Haven after the fact. However, since this is an itinerary in Italy, chances are you will spend a great deal of time off the ship so the YC facilities may not matter as much. In general, I have come to enjoy and appreciate the YC experience more than the Haven.. and we loved the Haven. But the pricing on NCL had us looking elsewhere.  One final thought, sailing Divina in Europe is going to be a much different experience than sailing Divina from USA. English will not be the first language spoken…. Or the second, third,… don’t get me wrong, I love a multicultural vibe but when we cruised in Europe, it was very comforting to be able to land at the end of the day where English was the first language (we were on RCCL). 

Hearthosesteeldrumsplayin

We sailed the Med in the MSC YC on the Belissima.  Fabulous trip.  We have sailed almost exclusively in the Haven on NCL.  I loved the experience on both.  YC generally less expensive than Haven.  Haven has gotten ridiculously high, but I notice that YC is trying to catch up.  Loved the live music in the YC area in the evenings.  I had asked at restaurant if they were going to serve a dish I like.  They were not, but the Maitre 'd actually had it prepared specifically for us the next night.  We were in the largest suite with a hot tub on the deck, so no issues with outside loungers, etc. (this was back when MSC was trying to break into the US market, so VERY reasonable price!)  Something I have not seen mentioned (sorry if I missed it), those arm bands also give you priority on the elevators.  We usually take stairs, but were spoiled by the rapid elevator to the YC.  Downside was all announcements in multiple languages, so it took a while to get through them.  And embarkation/disembarkation at every port, as opposed to everyone getting on/off at a single point.  My overall thoughts were YC is certainly an experience that I enjoy.  Not sure I would appreciate an MSC cruise outside of the YC.

Have a cruise on Divinia coming up in May; YC.  Then depart her to board NCL (suite, no haven on ship).  So, both cruise lines offer an enjoyable experience!  I'm hoping that when everyone has finally spent all the pandemic FCC, that prices will ease back down!

Right, on Divinia the YC restaurant is in the back.  People complain about having to walk outside to get there or having to go down to seven then back up (which is how butler takes you first night)

Just go down to 13 and walk aft then back up.

The funny thing is the restaurant overlooks the aft adult pool.  Our first lunch people were changing into swimsuits to go swimming.  There is an outside bar port side just outside the restaurants.  That is also a smoking area fyi.

Divina is not a smart ship so it does not use the wristbands.

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• Cruise Podcast

The MSC Meraviglia Yacht Club Experience Review

Doug Parker

• February 3, 2024

Contents Show

Doug talks with Mark and Rocky of TheCruiseLife this week about their nine-night cruise aboard MSC Meraviglia.

They dive into their bougie MSC Meraviglia Yacht Club experience, from exclusive embarkation to dedicated amenities like a butler, private lounge, dining room, and sun deck. They discuss the superior dining options, including specialty dishes and a unique cheese trolley, and the benefits of their status-matching loyalty program status.

One of MSC Cruises’ larger vessels , Mark and Rocky also touch on the onboard entertainment, the ship’s atmosphere, and ports of call, including a visit to MSC’s private island, Ocean Cay.

Find Rock and Mark’s coverage of MSC Meraviglia :

• ThisCruiseLife YouTube channel features their cruises across all lines.
• The MSC Meraviglia playlist has several videos from their sailing.
• Read the MSC Yacht Club experiences on ThisCruiseLife website .

MSC Meraviglia Review Transcript

Doug (00:01:01) – Mark and Rocky had just returned from a nine-night cruise aboard MSC Maravilla. It was out of New York City, in the Bahamas, Florida area, and staying in the yacht club. They join us on the line right now. Hey, guys, how are you?

Guest (00:01:16) – Good, Doug.

Doug (00:01:17) – I’m excited to talk about this because we haven’t had an MSC Yacht Club experience in a long time. We’ve had the ones that were like three-nighters and were fast, but I’m excited to hear what it’s like spending extended time beyond seven nights in that yacht club. So what we’ll do here before we get started, we’ll get some pre-cruise thoughts. You’re in the Phoenix area. What made you want to take this nine-niner out of New York City.

Guest (00:01:40) – Honestly, it was just the idea of getting to check out a new cruise line. We’ve been looking at MSC for a long time, and the idea that sailing out of New York in the heart of January, when it is very cold outside, uh, the pricing was very lucrative to get ourselves onto that ship, as well as to fly across the country to New York.

Guest (00:02:01) – So all the stars aligned and just made it worthwhile for us.

Doug (00:02:04) – Now, there were some, uh, a little bit of weather going through the country about the time when you all boarded. It might have missed you by a day or two. Did that impact your flights going into Manhattan?

Guest (00:02:14) – It did not impact the flights at all. It did impact sail away a bit. Um, as you can imagine, uh, the storms, uh, it was pretty rocky on the seas. Uh, it was really cool because it was the first time ever.

So we’ve been to Alaska several times, but it was the first time ever we’ve actually seen snow on a cruise ship. And so to see the crew, it was the first time many had seen snow on a cruise ship. And they were out running out, uh, TikTok ING and taking selfies. It was a really special experience, uh, being able to see that snowstorm.

Doug (00:02:48) – That is so cool.

Doug (00:02:49) – So did you any pre cruise time in the city before boarding in Brooklyn?

Guest (00:02:57) – You know, we always suggest that the best way to do it is to fly a day ahead of time. Uh, this time we flew in two days in advance to take some time and explore Brooklyn, because that’s where the cruise terminal is for MSC. And then we also took the subway into Manhattan and just kind of hung around Times Square, went to a couple of bars, a couple of restaurants, and, uh, just kind of got ourselves situated in New York before we set sail. We met up with we met up with one of, uh, the solo’s that I met on board, uh, Norwegian Cruise Line. So I did a Norwegian cruise line earlier in 2023. Uh, we met a bunch of solos in our solo cabins, and we actually met up with them to hang out, and they showed us New York, which was a ton of fun.

Guest (00:03:36) – You see.

Doug (00:03:36) – You never know what connections you’ll make on a ship, right? Right.

Guest (00:03:39) – Exactly.

Doug (00:03:40) – Yeah. It’s it’s so awesome. So you make your way to Brooklyn the following day and you go to embark MSC Maravilla. How was that embarkation process? And, did you get any kind of special treatment embarking since you were in the Yacht Club?

Guest (00:03:54) – Goodness gracious. It was an embark like none that I’ve ever experienced. We’ve all been through embark. We know the lines, we know the queues. We know all of the seating areas. Um, the moment that we got there, immediately there was signage for yacht club. And so the, the, the porter, the luggage porter whisked us over and tagged our bags with yacht club tags and pointed us to his colleague standing at the door with a yacht club sign. They literally escorted us through the terminal to our own dedicated security line for yacht club. Um, they didn’t have a they didn’t have us waiting in the general queue.

Guest (00:04:28) – And so we went through that security queue, uh, very quickly. And another, yet another Yacht Club representative whisked us to our private lounge, where they did one on one check ins with us, um, and then handed us glasses of champagne and canapés and sparkling water. Um, and it was a private area, very quiet, very secluded from the rest of the terminal. And we enjoyed mimosas and, uh, sparkling water, uh, that as we waited to board the ship.

Doug (00:04:57) – How long did it take you from curb to ship, then?

Guest (00:05:00) – It took us about an hour and a half. So unfortunately the the sailing before ours was the New Year’s cruise. And so they had a lot of passengers to disembark from that ship. So they were slightly delayed on clearing the ship down to zero counts for us to start the embark process. So yeah, about an hour and a half from when we arrived. Fortunately, the lounge was great. We had butlers in there waiting on us, so it was a really pleasant experience getting to stand around and wait until the ship was ready.

Guest (00:05:28) – Literally. Butlers, butlers, refilling our champagne glasses, walking around with bottles of champagne, saying, oh, would you like a refill on your champagne? Well, okay. Yes, we would love that.

Doug (00:05:38) – It’s like being stuck in an airport and being able to be in an airline lounge instead of in the regular common area, right? Just kind of, uh. Yeah, yeah, living it up in there. So you make your way on board the ship. You’re mentioning this was your first time on the ship. So what were your first impressions of MSC Meraviglia?

Guest (00:05:54) – So it’s kind of funny you ask that we didn’t actually get to see the whole ship for the first four hours that we were on board when they when the yacht club boards, we get priority boarding service. So they bring us into the main atrium, and that’s about the most of the ship we get to see. From there, we walk down a corridor of rooms to the very forward of the ship, where they have elevators that they can badge in, giving you priority access to the elevator.

Guest (00:06:21) – They loaded us into these elevators and took us up to the 16th deck where the topsail lounges, which is the exclusive lounge space for the top or the yacht club. Uh, and they put us in there with, again, more champagne and more canapés and live music that was being performed for us. So we spent most of the first four hours on board in that topsail lounge. Well, they took us from the Topsail Lounge. Then they opened up the Topsail Restaurant, the exclusive restaurant for yacht clubbers. And so we literally went from canapés and champagne up to the lunch in the Topsail restaurant.

Normally we run around taking pictures and exploring the ship. We literally were just kind of in the lap of luxury those first several hours onboard. Oh, we met our butler as well during that time. And so we didn’t actually leave the yacht club as Rocky mentioned, until about four hours after boarding.

Doug (00:07:12) – So a lot to unpack here. So I want to actually take a step back.

Doug (00:07:15) – And I want to ask, um, we were chatting before we started recording here, and you mentioned you had an upgrade offer. So how much of a premium, um, once you accept that upgrade, is it for the yacht club against just staying in a regular balcony cabin?

Guest (00:07:29) – So that’s exactly what we had booked. We booked a balcony cabin and received an offer to bid on an upgrade. Now, because we had already booked that balcony and paid for a balcony, the upgrade amount was not wildly expensive. I think it was. We we could have started the upgrade process offer at $300 per person. Wow. And Rocky was like, okay, should we just start there? And I was like, how often will we get to stay in the yacht club? We are maxing that bit out. And so I think we each maxed our bid out at about $600. So for another $1,200 or so plus tax and all of that stuff, um, we could move from the balcony we had into.

Guest (00:08:09) – We actually dug and bid for an interior yacht club cabin because we were like, okay, we’re just gonna make sure we get into this thing. Well, they were they must have been sold out because our dreams were answered. We got the upgrade and they put us into a deluxe suite.

Doug (00:08:24) – I love it. Let’s discuss that deluxe suite in the yacht club and give us all the details.

Guest (00:08:30) – As you walk in, the first thing that meets your eye is the size of this cabin. I would say that this cabin is the same depth as your standard balcony cabin that you find on any cruise ship. However, the width is probably equivalent to one and a half to anywhere up to two times the width of a standard balcony cabin. Huge space, um, between the foot of the bed and the credenza and wall units that they had where all of the minibar was located. There was probably a good 4 to 5ft of space between those two areas. Um, inside the bathroom, it was upgraded amenities.

Guest (00:09:05) – You had marble tile throughout, a very large, spacious walk in shower with a rainfall head, uh, or the rain shower head. Um, the balcony was the same width as the room, so it was a pretty sizable balcony. They only put two chairs and one side table out there, but you could have easily had another two. Uh, very large and spacious room.

Doug (00:09:29) – So the question is, how do you use the butler on your cruise? Well.

Guest (00:09:33) – You know, because we often have butlers on our cruises. Uh, I kid, um, it was the first experience. And so literally the butler introduced himself. We were in the room. He he knocked and came in and he said, what questions do you have for me? And we said, well, we don’t even know what questions to ask. And so he’s like, well, let’s start with your pillow selections. Are your pillows up to your liking? And Rocky joked, he’s like, well, we’ll sleep on him tonight and let you know.

Guest (00:09:59) – Um, but but the. Butler took care of our minibar, so he asked us specifically for our preferences in terms of sodas, juices and beers.

He asked for our liquor selection because the yacht club comes with a bottle, comes with bottle service, a single bottle. And so we, uh, we shared our, uh, bottle selection with him, and then he just let us know that he would be the person that would escort us to dinners if we wanted. He would escort us to the theater for shows.

He would arrange our bookings if we wanted to go to any specialty restaurant. And so it was, you know, Rocky and I asked as we were getting ready, we’re like, is this just going to be an upgraded room steward, like a room steward that wears a suit? Um, and no, it was it was significantly more than just a room steward. In fact, we had a junior butler as well and, and a third person who helped service the room.

Guest (00:10:50) – So there were three people servicing the room. But that Butler experience was really unique and new to us. Yes, I love it.

Doug (00:10:58) – So you were on there for nine nights. Was there enough space in your room to put everything?

Guest (00:11:01) – Yeah, there was um, I think one of the challenges that we discovered when we were unpacking our room was the closet space was a little bit smaller than what we’re used to on some of the other balcony rooms that we’ve had in the past. Um, the way it’s set up, you walk in and the, the closet space is your entrance to the bathroom.

And so it’s kind of a strange layout. We discovered that there were some challenges with that. However, there was a three-drawer storage space in the main room area that was part of the main. I don’t know what you call it. Credenza. Yeah. And so that actually made up for some of that lost space. And fortunately, these beds were designed to hold luggage under or suitcases under them.

Guest (00:11:41) – It was easy to unpack our room and get moved in for those nine days. Oh, and don’t forget both of the nightstands next to the bed. So there were additional storage tables next to the bed as well. And so there was plenty of storage. But to Rocky’s point that the closet seemed to be a little bit smaller than than other rooms.

Doug (00:11:59) – ThYacht Club is like Norwegian’s Haven, a ship within a ship concept. So outside of your room, what amenities did you have within your ship?

Guest (00:12:07) – I’m telling you, they design it so you don’t have to leave the yacht club. They tell you when you’re going through the booking process. They say it’s exclusive and it’s private. And that is very true. And so the entrance to the yacht club on each of the floors are glass doors. Truly. They look out into the elevator bank. I think MSC has designed it so that people can see in and you can see out, but you have to badge in and out to get in.

Guest (00:12:33) – And so the spaces are beautiful. They’ve got those crystal staircases. What are those crystals? The Swarovski, Swarovski, uh, staircases, the spiral staircases. So we would leave our room and take the staircase up to the next deck. Uh, the 16th deck, which is where the concierge was at the Topsail lounge. Topsail lounge was windows all at the front of the ship.

The view of of New York, we commented that was probably the best view of New York we’ve ever had in that topsail lounge. Oh yeah, the canopy. Like, there’s just so much to unpack in that, um, the full bar.

And then again, you take up another spiral staircase and you are there at the exclusive restaurant, and then one more spiral staircase up, and you are at deck 19, which is your dedicated, uh, lounging space, pool, and hot tub. There’s a daily buffet that they put up there for, for just yacht club guests, along with a bar.

Doug (00:13:23) – Let’s talk about some of the food on MSC Maravilla.

Doug (00:13:26) – Once you get out of your haven complex and go to the buffet with the common folk, how was the buffet and the food throughout the nine days?

Guest (00:13:34) – So we didn’t discover the buffet area until that first night. It was the second day that we discovered it. Yeah. Uh, now that I think back on the experience, um, we like to refer to those areas as Jen and Pop. And, uh, as we walked in to the buffet, we were we kind of felt like we were in someone else’s place. We didn’t feel like we knew that our way around, because we had spent so much time on the ship before we found the buffet. But once we did find it, I’ll tell you, Doug, we spent a good amount of time there, especially for late-night buffets. Uh, this was the first time that we’d really seen a cruise line dedicate a late-night buffet to its passengers consistently. Every night from midnight until 2 a.m..

Guest (00:14:14) – They served food. And we’re not just talking about just, you know, a quick little grab here and there. They have their pizzas available. They have little small sandwiches that you could grab. They had burgers and hot dogs. They sometimes had nachos. Sometimes, they would do a breakfast with some scrambled eggs and bacon every night. I think I got scrambled eggs and bacon every single night of the cruise.

They had the healthy corner like they had salads. And so it wasn’t even just that fried stuff that you sometimes find on the late night buffet. They had salads in a healthy corner. I mean, it was the largest. So we’ve seen late night buffets right on Carnival. We’ve seen it on, uh, we’ve seen it on the other lines. This was the I mean, it was the size of a regular buffet at from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m.. It brought me back to old days of cruising.

Doug (00:14:57) – Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds like it. So for your main. You were mentioning.

Doug (00:15:01) – You had your dining room in the topsail area. So how was the dining in the yacht club, and was there much of a selection like, do they rotate the menus? How does that play out?

Guest (00:15:12) – Very much a dedicated menu for the, uh, those that were in the yacht club. Um, the options that they, they had on the menu, there was some mirroring that happened to the main dining rooms on the ship, but they were elevated to a different level with the offerings and the types of food. Uh, there was a selection of classics that were served every night.

For example, you could get your classic filet mignon, or a salmon would be available. And I think they also had a lobster on that classics menu. On the classics menu, you had lobster and filet mignon. I mean, this is this is next level here. Right. And then uh, for the regular offerings every day they had a rotation of several different items. Usually there was a daily result of that was available.

Guest (00:15:53) – There was also a different daily lamb that was on the menu. Uh, so definitely a higher caliber of food offerings on the menu. And the way that they were prepared and plated were very beautiful. Uh, you had, of course, your main waiter and then you had your, your waiters’ assistants and they would all work in harmony together to deliver your breads, appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

Speaking of desserts, don’t forget that the maitre d would flambé the dessert. So we had cherries jubilee one night where he flambé and served that, um, they, they did the cheese trolley where they would literally, they literally had a cheese trolley where you could choose the cheeses and, and jams and jellies that you wanted as part of your dessert option. It was it was definitely. Where do you find a risotto on a cruise on the difficulty to actually prepare that correctly for the masses. Um, you can’t do that. But you can in a private small restaurant that’s dedicated to a subset of your passengers.

Doug (00:16:53) – And how were the lines up there?

Guest (00:16:57) – We don’t know what you mean by lines.

Doug (00:17:00) – Fair enough.

Guest (00:17:02) – Yeah, because there was such a small capacity within the yacht club itself on the ship. Right. And because you only have those people that have access to it, our dining times for dinner was available from 6 p.m. until 830.

That was when you could get seated, and it was open to your time. Whenever you wanted to go in, you would show up. There was one knife that I can think of, and I believe it was the second gala night. We had to wait maybe three minutes, maybe get seated. Yeah. Um, overall, the amount of seating that they have both in the lounge and the restaurant are ample for the number of people that are in there, and they know that they’re going to turn over tables throughout the evening from guests that are doing early versus later dining.

Doug (00:17:42) – Did you enjoy any specialty dining on board this one?

Guest (00:17:45) – So this sailing specifically, we chose to stick to the yacht club so that we could capture each of the menus and actually record some reviews each dinner. We actually are right now looking at booking, uh, another MSC cruise, we committed to ourselves that we would do a yacht club and we would do non-Yacht Club. And so that is where that’s sailing, where we plan to actually explore some of those additional, um, upstairs upcharge specialty restaurants. But for this sailing we literally stuck to the Yacht Club restaurant. That exclusive restaurant.

Doug (00:18:16) – I meant to ask you, before you sailed, did you do the status match with them?

Guest (00:18:20) – Yeah, both of us actually ended up doing status match. Um, with Mark having diamond status with Carnival and I have platinum status, we were both able to match into their gold status or gold level with the Voyagers club.

Doug (00:18:33) – So you stepped right into gold. So do you know, like what that gets you compared to just being a first-time MSC cruiser?

Guest (00:18:39) – Great question.

Guest (00:18:40) – Because, uh, MSC is not known for their loyalty program having the strongest perks, but what it did get us is it it got us a welcome back reception where they had cocktails, which when you’re in the yacht club, it doesn’t really have a huge impact. Uh, because we had champagne up and up in our private lounge.

We also got a little gift. It was a little backpack or drawstring backpack that we got. There’s also when you’re part of the when you’re part of the loyalty program, you get a discount on sailings with MSC, and on future sailings with MSC. And so I think it’s a 5% discount that you get as, as a member of that level. And so there are some perks.

They don’t actually do priority. Like many lines have priority boarding and don’t do that until you hit their very top level, which is diamond. And that’s the only group with priority boarding and demarcation. So that’s our goal. My goal is to hit Diamond on Carnival and MSC.

Guest (00:19:36) – We’ll see how long it takes.

Doug (00:19:37) – Double diamond. There you go.

Guest (00:19:39) – I like it I like.

Doug (00:19:40) – That. How about around the ship like you mentioned Carnival. So we’ll stick with that. Uh, they have the guys burger joint, which is complimentary dining. Does MSC have anything like that around the ship? Kind of a grab and go type place. Yeah.

Guest (00:19:52) – So, uh, it was kind of surprised. And that was one of the conversations that we had at Post Cruise is the fact that there really aren’t those. Types of grab and go quick serve restaurants on board. You do have the buffet, which is very well divided. They have their ethnic corner and they have their pastas, and they have a pizza spot and some burgers, but it’s really only confined to that area as well as the main dining restaurant restaurants. Aside from that, everything is upcharge. They have a Mexican place that’s an upcharge. They have, uh, I can’t remember all of them. There’s a there’s a couple other ones.

Guest (00:20:27) – One thing that I would call out that was unique, that I’ve never seen before on any of our sailings, is they had a kid’s buffet, a dedicated buffet for the kids so that they didn’t have to be in the main area of the buffet. And then the only other kind of separate areas that they had were out on the lido deck.

They had that kind of they had like side buffets. It was the same buffet food on the inside of the buffet, but it was just right outside on Lido, so you didn’t have to go in. But there was no you know, I think about even Celebrity Apex had the burger and fries station and Carnival and all of their side restaurants that they have that are included. None of that. It is focused on the buffet and their and their main dining room for the included options.

Doug (00:21:10) – Let’s discuss the entertainment on board Maravilla. I know that MSC gave up the Cirque partnership located at the back of the ship. What’s going on back there now?

Guest (00:21:22) – So I will say that we were pleasantly surprised with the show performances that were put on in the main Broadway theater, which is their main theater in the forward of the ship. We actually attended one of the Meet the cast type of, uh, presentations, if you will, and we had a really great interaction with them.

We found out that all of the shows in that forward lounge were designed specifically for that cast and this ship. So in all, we were very impressed and enjoyed all of the shows we saw in that forward lounge. Now, going to your question about Cirque du Soleil partnership, you can see that there still is some residual, um, design with the shows that they have in that back lounge that does still exist, they still do aerial acts, and we very much enjoyed those performances. But one thing to be aware of is MSC still continues to consider that an upcharge and add-on type of experience.

Guest (00:22:20) – So if you buy it on the ship, it’s $18 a person to get into one of those shows. The nice thing is they sweeten the deal because they throw a drink at you that you can enjoy during the show, but it’s definitely a bit different of an experience than what we’ve seen on most of the other cruise lines.

Doug (00:22:37) – Gotcha. And did you guys, uh, like, what kind of show was you mentioned? It was like an acrobatics thing, but it was just an MSC-branded show.

Guest (00:22:47) – Yeah. So they put on a magic show. Houdini is the name of the show. And so there’s a lot of singing, dancing, acrobats flying through the air, and a little juggling and jumping out into the audience. And so definitely had, I would say Cirque vibes, but just not with the branding. But to Rocky’s point, they’re still charging that upcharge for the Cirque like show.

Doug (00:23:10) – Gotcha. Okay. Historically, MSC Cruise Entertainment is more visual and less like comedians because of the international audience. Is it like this on MSC Meraviglia?

Guest (00:23:22) – Actually, no. I feel like there was a lot, a lot of the presentations that we saw were done primarily in English, surprisingly. Okay. Uh, the one thing that caught us off guard was the overhead announcements.

Anytime the captain would make his announcements, it would always be done by the captain. Again in Italian. Uh, during the safety briefings when we were on the embark day, they were doing announcements in both English and Mandarin. For safety reasons, there were so many Mandarin-speaking passengers on board. But overall, most of the shows were done and performed in English leading up to the show’s start.

They would do a couple of announcements in Mandarin and Italian and English and German. So they did do several pre-calls for those shows. But overall the actual shows themselves were primarily in English, if there was any speaking at all. Yeah, it turns out it turns out those songs are universal. You know, the journey is universal across all languages.

Doug (00:24:19) – Let’s talk about the sea days. As far as crowds and congestion, I know that you were up there in the yacht club for probably most of it, but as you made your way further south, you mentioned the snow on the sail out, but that it eventually warm up once you got around the Carolinas or Florida.

Guest (00:24:36) – Warmed up is relative. Uh, it was warmer than than the snow, but we there weren’t a lot of folks spending time out on deck or making use of of the water slides. Um, it was still pretty chilly until, honestly, the nicest day we had was in Nassau. And so it took us, uh, five days into the cruise before the weather was, was to a point where you would want to actually be out on deck or layout, you know, you could be out. I mean, we were like, jackets and jeans, uh, throughout the sailing. Uh, but but it wasn’t it didn’t get really warm until we got down into the Bahamas.

Doug (00:25:07) – As far as the crowds and congestion around the ship, was there any of that since everyone was inside?

Guest (00:25:16) – Really? Honestly, the only crowds we experienced were in the Meraviglia Galleria Meraviglia, which is a domed area. If you deck six and deck seven, it’s a two-story area. They’ve got a beautiful dome, similar to the Fremont Experience in Las Vegas, where they’ve got that led that runs almost the entirety of the ship. That’s where they would do many of their dance parties and events, because it was too cold up on deck to do it.

We didn’t feel that space was designed to host those parties. And so it’s a throughput for traffic on the ship. And so you’ve got people trying to make their way throughout the ship and people dancing and singing. And that was really the only time we felt like we were crowded, or that we were kind of annoyed a little bit by the traffic flow of the ship. Otherwise I would I would tell you, we didn’t feel crowds, even the buffet, the buffets, were sometimes a little bit busy, but but not to the point where we’ve seen it wear on other lines.

Guest (00:26:12) – What did you think of that promenade area with the ceiling that lights up?

Guest (00:26:15) – Beautiful. Uh, we were stunned by the design and how gorgeous that space was, and they really maximize the usage of those LED screens throughout the sailing, including on Embark day, when they’re showing you where all of the different muster stations are located. But overall, that space was beautiful.

It was definitely wide enough to walk through it when there wasn’t an event happening, you could easily take yourself up onto the next deck up and look down from the mezzanine and really enjoy the sights and the and sounds and even the smells coming from the chocolate factory. As you were sailing along, so it was very enjoyable.

Speaking of speaking of those multi-use screens, remember, even on the welcome back party, they played the Welcome Back video that that that MSC sizzle reel. They played the video thing. Welcome back. I appreciate your loyalty. They played that up on those screens. And so literally everyone at the Welcome Back party headed to the sky watching them talk about what a great experience MSC is.

Doug (00:27:11) – The casino. How was that as far as the smoking situation in and around it?

Guest (00:27:17) – They had a smoke-free casino. It appears that it was an afterthought based on our conversations with the other passengers on board. The smoke-free casino was nice. However, they didn’t have any gaming tables for the smoke-free gamblers.

Now, the exciting thing was the placement of the Cirque theater. You have to walk through the smoking casino to get to the theater, which was kind of a strange setup, but the way the casino was set up. They put the main bar in the center of it. So you’re not diving into the main casino itself. Overall, the casino seemed like a pretty ample size, comparable to what we’re familiar with on some of Carnival’s Vista ships .

Doug (00:27:59) – Okay. Very cool. So, let’s talk about the ports of call you hit on this nine-night cruise. And what we’ll do here is hit the first one, give us a highlight, then we’ll go to the next one and so on.

Guest (00:28:10) – The first cruise port we visited was the exotic location, Port Canaveral in Florida. We had something else arranged. We have some really good friends that we’ve also met through going on cruises who live in the Orlando area, they ended up picking us up, and we had a fun day at SeaWorld for the day. So, it’s definitely a little bit different. We didn’t book anything through MSC because we’ve been to Port Canaveral before, so we wanted to check it out through the locals.

Doug (00:29:01) – So what was after Port Canaveral?

Guest (00:29:04) – Next was Miami and the day was unexpected. Icon of the Seas was scheduled to arrive in Miami the day before.

However, due to the weather, they kept her out for an extra day. And so we literally got to see icon of the seas sail. And we did a live, uh, we did a YouTube live where we streamed her sailing into Port Miami for the first time. We watched her turn around in the basin, return, and dock at the Royal Caribbean Terminal. There.

We got off the ship, and we hiked our excursion that day. We hiked about a mile up to the Royal Caribbean Terminal, climbed up to the very top of the parking garage, Royal Caribbean parking garage, and we just took pictures and filmed a bunch of stuff up there because it was like such a wow moment for for a couple of cruise nerds.

Doug (00:29:53) – Yeah. No, definitely. So after Nassau, you headed over to the Bahamas. Uh, what was the first Bahamas port?

Guest (00:29:59) – We first stopped at MSC’s Private Island, MSC’s Ocean Cay Marine Reserve. It’s a beautiful private island destination.

You can tell that MSC put a lot of thought and consideration when they were designing this port. It’s huge. It is massive, huge. And it’s nice because the ship can dock directly onto the port there, instead of you having to do a water shuttle taxi service to get in.

It is a very large and sprawling island, with tons of places for people to go out and lounge and layout, grab food, and have a nice relaxing day. Now. Now they don’t have, you know, big water parks and they don’t have hot air balloons that go up in the air like some, you know, private islands do. But but I mean, it had everything that you could want.

Guest (00:30:48) – It had many different beaches. Uh, to Rocky Point food trucks, uh, included food trucks throughout the island, as well as some upcharge food trucks where you could get, you know, seafood, you could get your lobster rolls and some of that fresh seafood.

Doug (00:31:00) – You were in the yacht club, right? So I know they have that yacht club area on the other side of the island, like on the other side from where the ship docks. How was that space, or I guess, did you utilize that space? And would you think of it if you did?

Guest (00:31:12) – Yeah, we actually, uh, as soon as we got off of the ship via escort from our butler. It’s just fun to say that. I’m sorry. Uh, we were escorted over to the yacht club’s meeting point, where they picked us up by golf cart and drove us to that exclusive area. It just made it a little bit easier to get there so we can maximize our time. Uh, the area is referred to as the Ocean House.

And so that’s actually where they serve lunch. And it’s a lovely, large colonial-style building. Uh, the lunch there included amazing bites from a lobster roll to crab ceviche. The ceviche was so good. The beach was delicious. Uh, they also had your standard fare of burgers on the menu, and then a couple of salads and other options.

Overall, it was a great area. As you approached it, there was signage, so you knew it was reserved for the yacht club guests. Uh, there was a private beach. And that’s the one downside that I would say about the exclusive area is the Yacht Club’s Ocean House. The beach is probably the least nice of the beaches that are found on the island.

It’s a little bit rough. Uh, there’s some larger sand bits, if you want to call them that. Uh, so getting in the water makes it a bit tough. And due to the weather that we encountered, we really didn’t even touch the water because we touched the water.

We just didn’t get into the water. It’s it’s rocky, says sand. But I would say sharp rock. So the folks that had been there before had water shoes and were in the water. That was a that’s a great tip. If you’re going to Ocean Cay and in the yacht club, make sure to bring water shoes because. It will make your day better.

Doug: .That’s a good tip. There are a lot of beaches around the island so you get to explore most of them?

We did. We met people on the cruise, as we always do on cruises. And so we went out and we got to explore a little bit with them. In hindsight, I wish we had done the exploration first because it started to pour. Uh, it started to downpour and it was a cold downpour in the Bahamas. And so we we didn’t get to explore as much as we’d like, but we got to see several of the lagoons.

Guest (00:33:15) – We got to see the lighthouse. We got to enjoy one of the food trucks. We did eat at one of the food trucks just so we could say we, you know, ate with our friends. Um, Rocky. Rocky always says we ate with the common people. Um, and so we enjoyed the food on the mainland. And then there’s shops, there’s shops, there’s you can buy ice cream cones and various things on land as well. Before we headed back to the ship. And, and unfortunately, that was the only we were this point spoiled us, Doug. Um, we were looking for our butler escort back onto the ship, but but there was not one on to the ship. And so we had to wait in the rain with the rest of the ship that had all run back to get onto the ship as well.

Doug (00:33:55) – Oh, no. Horrible. Did you get to stay at night to see the lighthouse lit up? Yeah.

Guest (00:34:01) – Back on board wasn’t scheduled until 8:00 that evening. Uh, most of the passengers had embarked on the ship by about 330 or 4 due to the weather, but we stayed docked there, and we were wondering about that lighthouse show because we’d heard about it. And so we went to the concierge, who gave us a great recommendation on where to go to view it, so we could also hear the music playing through the show.

Uh, and so we had the opportunity to watch it and it was impressive. We enjoyed it. And hopefully, we’ll be able to return to Ocean Cay again in the future, where we won’t encounter poor weather. We can be on the beach and see the light show from the ground.

And because of the concierge tip, we know the crew smoking area on MSC Meraviglia. And so it was a great tip and we got to hang out with crew as they watched the light show.

Doug (00:34:54) – He probably know this, but if you’re ever feeling energetic or you want to work out, you can climb that lighthouse. It’s like $15 or 20 maybe, but you got some great views up there and there’s quite a few steps, so, uh, yeah, pack your energy. Yeah.

Guest (00:35:06) – No. And that’s another reason why we want to go back. You know, I don’t think, uh, the weather was really in our favor to be able to do that type of an excursion, but definitely in the books for us to do it again.

Doug (00:35:16) – So your final port of call was Nassau. How was your day there?

Guest (00:35:19) – Nassau was great. Uh, as Mark had mentioned, it was the best weather that we saw on the entire cruise, and we were a little bummed that it was our final port day, but we made the most of it. We were docked in Nassau with four other ships. So a standard busy Nassau day. Uh, nothing unusual there.

Guest (00:35:36) – Uh, we have a tradition whenever we’re in Nassau, where we go visit a rum distillery in a little bit deeper into town. And so we decided to do that at this time. We took the trek and walked around and checked out the updates that they made to the port of Nassau, because that was our first time there since they did all the construction since they finished the construction.

Yeah, we’ve been several times during. Yeah. And then from there we walked up to the distillery and enjoyed a little tasting up there before returning to the port and getting on the ship. It was a pretty quiet day, but we’re looking forward to the opportunity to get to lay out on deck on the cruise ship before sail away took place.

Doug (00:36:12) – Yeah, perfect day for it. So you leave Nassau for a couple of days and you head back to Brooklyn. How were your sea days going up?

Guest (00:36:19) – The weather, I will say, was more cooperative on the way back, but. So it wasn’t as bumpy and rocky, but there were times when you would sleep at night and roll on or you would.

Guest (00:36:31) – You knew you were on a ship. You know, when Rocky and I first boarded, one of the things we commented as we were sitting in, I think it was the topsail restaurant. After spending time in the lounge, we said, we don’t feel like we’re on a cruise ship, but you just felt like you were almost at an all-inclusive resort.

We knew we were on a cruise ship on the sea days out and on the sea days back. The weather was left, the ocean a bit rocky. We had some. You saw some gale-force winds. There were some swells, but they had the magnetic, uh, bags out, the thick bags out in the elevator banks. They had those out for, for all of the passengers. We did talk to several folks who said they might not sail again in January, but but we liked it. But I know the sign us up.

Doug (00:37:18) – So it’s time to get off the ship in Brooklyn.

Doug (00:37:20) – Was the process as smooth and bougie as that embark?

Guest (00:37:25) – I love that you say the bougie because it continued through. Uh, we always go for a very relaxed, dark morning. We try to stay on the ship as long as possible.

We book later flights knowing that there’s always the possibility that a ship could be delayed returning to port. Uh, and fortunately for us, the ship did arrive on time, however. We didn’t end up disembarking from the ship until much later.

We we decided to go down and have breakfast down in the main restaurant, the topsail restaurant, in the yacht club area. And once we were done eating there, we went down to the lounge and enjoyed a quick beverage and a couple of little canapés. You know, just trying to get our last bits in and chatted with the bartenders.

The bartenders were tremendously friendly the entire sailing, and we just hung out with them and enjoyed some coffee and drinks. Yep. And then once we were ready to get off of the ship, we went to the concierge and actually, we ended up seeing our butler at the concierge desk, and he offered to help us get off the ship.

Guest (00:38:26) – And so he took Marc’s two suitcases that he was carrying from his hands and wheeled them to the elevator, took us down to the lower deck, and wheeled us over to where they take you off the ship. Or they scan your card to say you are officially disembarked from the ship. So we continued that experience as long as we could.

And the cool thing about the luggage program, if you decide to put your luggage out the night before the cruise ends, all of the yacht club luggage gets delivered to one specific spot, so you’re not rushing to get off.

You’re not rushing to go find where your luggage was placed. When it’s in that terminal building, it’s very easy to locate and get to pick up your suitcases and you’re on your way. Once again, those yacht club signs. Right this way. Um, a dedicated area, even for your luggage.

Doug (00:39:16) – Awesome. Very cool. Does Brooklyn have facial recognition for the dark?

Guest (00:39:21) – Yes they did. We were very excited when we saw that we’re getting off the ship.

Doug (00:39:25) – Yeah. It sure makes a difference. Looking back here as first-time MSC cruisers and in the yacht Club, do you have any first-time tips to offer anyone sailing MSC or sailing out of Manhattan?

Guest (00:39:39) – Uh, goodness gracious. If you get that upgrade offer and it’s within your means, you bid that upgrade offer up. Suppose you can get into the yacht club from a balcony. That would be my biggest tip because not only does it include all of those amenities that we’ve talked about. They grant you into the premium drinks package as well.

So the premium drinks package on this sailing would have been 790 a person, a person. We paid less for the entire yacht club experience, including those premium drinks. It included Wi-Fi on each of our devices, and it included all of those exclusive amenities that we’ve talked about.

And so that would be my number one tip is if you get that offer to upgrade to the yacht club, really look at what it would cost you to have that experience and just individually and take that for serious take.

Guest (00:40:29) – Be serious about that. And if you can get that upgrade and it’s in your means, do it. Yeah, absolutely. And then I would also say the other thing is that this cruise ship departs out of the Brooklyn terminal.

So instead of paying the 60 plus dollars that it would cost to get an Uber or a lift, you could take the subway, and the train system, all of which will be super easy to get over there. And there’s a water taxi or ferry. Ferry, I guess it is, uh, that takes you from Wall Street.

If you were to go into Manhattan and stay the night out there, you can quickly get onto the ferry from Wall Street over to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Easy. And it’s quite cost-effective.

Doug (00:41:09) – Yeah, that’s one thing I’ve heard over the years is that a lot of people who are doing cruises out of either Brooklyn or Manhattan, they kind of get taken by surprise how much it actually cost to get from the airport to the cruise port.

Doug (00:41:20) – But a little extra research can save you quite a few bucks, and it’s not that bad. I think it’s.

Guest (00:41:25) – Scarier being in New York traffic. Quite honestly. When we the Uber, we took an Uber from the hotel to the cruise terminal. I think that was scarier than the subway was, you know, the night before when we had flown in. And so, yes, I think it’s great.

Doug (00:41:41) – Well, looking back, what was your biggest highlight of this cruise?

Guest (00:41:56) – I would say the biggest highlight was probably being in the yacht club. What a treat it was for us to be able to experience that. Um, it was so exciting walking into the Topsail Lounge in that exclusive yacht Club area, no matter how many times a day we walked in there, we always discovered new canopies that were waiting for us to try.

Guest (00:42:17) – The bartenders and servers in the topsail lounge were all very friendly. They started to get to know us, what drinks we enjoyed the most, and they would start making recommendations based on the spirits we were drinking to make our journey that much more enjoyable. I think for me, um, one of the best bites of food I’ve had on a cruise ship was, uh, in the Eden restaurant onboard Celebrity Apex.

And I would say fast forward. That was a couple of years back now for Thanksgiving. But fast forward to this. To have that daily rotating risotto to me was a surprise and delight that menu in Topsail restaurant. You just don’t see food like that on a cruise ship. And it was fantastic.

And it was included in that experience. It wasn’t we weren’t, you know, dropping 150 for the meal. It was included in that yacht club experience. That, to me was a surprise and delight.

Guest (00:43:10) – I did not expect how good and high-quality that food would be.

Doug (00:43:22) – Well, uh, in closing here, your final thoughts of MSC Maravilla.

Guest (00:43:27) – the MSC Meraviglia is a gorgeous ship. MSC did a great job in designing and developing this class of ship. The size of it was great. We did have a lower capacity on the ship during our sailing, but we still managed to have a great time. We met a lot of great friends.

We found places to call our own that maybe we’re not in the yacht club specifically. Still, we discovered the Sky lounge as a great place to meet people and to be able to enjoy the company of others that were not a part of the yacht club, and really just kind of put ourselves with the rest of the population that was sailing. Very good. The Champagne Bar was another one of my favorites. That the Edge bar.

Guest (00:44:09) – The champagne bar, you know, that looked out over the water as the ship was sailing. That was great. Those champagne cocktails were excellent. And that’s the beauty, right? When you have. We would flash our yacht club bracelets and I will tell you, I joke. I’ve made this joke now lines would disappear and people would just randomly appear.

Servers would appear, you flash that yacht club bracelet and it didn’t matter what bar we were at, if we were at the horizon bar, after the champagne bar, or at the Sky lounge, they just showed up and took such great care of us. You can tell that even the rest of the ship is trained to pay attention to yacht club guests, because it was just such a fantastic experience.

I’m excited to go back on MSC Meraviglia in in the in the standard amenities in the non-yacht club amenities to be able to experience it truly and compare and contrast to be able to talk about what does that value look like and how it feels to sit down in the main dining room each night for dinner versus in your dedicated restaurant? And so I am excited to get back on the ship.

Guest (00:45:10) – We’ve looked we’ve booked on the inaugural on MSC World America, World America. And so it was it was a great experience and great sailing. And so MSC gets a lot of bad rap out there. There’s a lot of negativity about people who love or hate it. And I will tell you from our experience where we’re looking at booking two more already. So it was it was in it was in a really good category for us.

Doug (00:46:34) – Awesome. We’ll link to it also in the show notes at Cruise Radio dot net. Mark Rocky, thank you all so much.

Guest (00:46:40) – Thank you so much, Doug.

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MSC YACHT CLUB: THE ULTIMATE LUXURY CRUISE EXPERIENCE

Feel the finesse/elegance of luxury cruises with MSC Yacht Club , an exclusive haven of refined indulgence .

Surround yourself in unparalleled comfort and personalized service as you embark on an astounding voyage aboard our finest ships.

Discover a world where  privacy  meets  luxury , where every detail is meticulously crafted to exceed your highest expectations.

Savour the sophistication  and  elegance of luxury cruises from the very first step onboard.

Our  dedicated staff  will cater to your every need, ensuring that your  journey  is nothing but sensational.

Welcome to  MSC Yacht Club , where every moment is designed to surpass all your desires and create memories that will last a lifetime.

Attentive butler service around the clock

Enjoy the exceptional service of your butler, who will attend to your every need and ensure unforgettable moments throughout your exclusive cruise. From personalized recommendations to organize services onboard or ashore, from shoeshine to 3am treats, always with a meticulous attention to detail, your butler is dedicated to enhancing your voyage and creating cherished memories. Indulge in a privileged journey of luxury, where your desires are met with impeccable service.

The Essence of Luxury, Delivered

Immerse yourself in the essence of luxury aboard MSC Yacht Club. With a private lounge, priority check-in, and seamless embarkation and disembarkation, every moment of your private cruise is tailored to provide exclusivity and tranquility. Experience a dedicated sun deck adorned with a pool, whirlpool, solarium, the possibility to organize a tailored shopping session and private excursions and a curated selection of refreshments. Discover a sanctuary of luxury, where privacy and indulgence harmonize.

A Culinary Journey of Exquisite Delights

Embark on a culinary journey like no other within MSC Yacht Club. Delight in gourmet creations and five-star service that will tantalize your taste buds. Our world-class chefs and attentive staff will ensure each meal is an extraordinary experience, where every bite is a moment of pure pleasure. Savor the finest flavors as you indulge in a gastronomic adventure curated exclusively for you during this high end cruise.

Endless Privacy and Pleasures Await 

Immerse yourself in a world of endless pleasures and privacy within MSC Yacht Club, where luxury, relaxation, and entertainment converge. Taste our selection of cocktails or other drinks among our offered beverages available in all onboard bars and restaurants. As a guest of The MSC Yacht Club, indulge in exclusive amenities such as the complimentary use of Thermal Suite and MSC Aurea Spa: elevate your luxury cruise experience to unparalleled heights of privilege.

Unrivaled comfort and exquisite luxury

Experience the finest luxury accommodation during your  MSC Yacht Club luxury cruise . Discover lavishly appointed suites designed with meticulous attention to detail .

Immerse yourself in the epitome of comfort with  luxurious amenities and elegant touches .

From Myform Memory mattresses to Egyptian cotton bedding and mattresses and a Dorelan pillow menu ,  marble bathrooms to complimentary minibars, your every need is catered to for a truly exceptional luxury cruise .

Live an high end accommodation on our newest ships , featuring innovative options like  Interior Suites, Executive and Family Suites , Deluxe Suites, Duplex Suites , and our remarkable  Royal Suites and Owner's Suite .

Enjoy exclusivity savoring panoramic views from your private balcony , immersing yourself in a five-stars cruise cabins that brings you closer to the sea while enveloping you in an unparalleled sense of premiumness .

• Surface 26 sqm, balcony 5 sqm, deck 14-18
• Sitting area with sofa
• Spacious wardrobe
• Bathroom with shower or bathtub , vanity area with hairdryer
• Comfortable double or single beds (on request)
• Wifi connection included
• Interactive TV, telephone, safe and minibar
• ZOE - in-cabin Bluetooth speaker

The image is representative only: displayed cabins from MSC Bellissima, MSC Meraviglia and MSC Euribia Size, layout and furniture may vary (within the same cabin category)

• Surface 58 sqm, balcony 39 sqm, deck 15
• Balcony with private whirlpool bath and dining table
• Separate living area and dining room
• Walk-in wardrobes
• Bathroom with tub and shower, vanity area with hairdryer
• Wifi connection included; ZOE - in-cabin Bluetooth speaker
• Surface 59 sqm with a balcony 23 sqm, deck 9-12
• Two-deck-high cabin
• Easy access to the Yacht Club areas
• Open living/dining room with sofa that converts to double bed
• Bathroom with shower

Second level

• Master bedroom with double bed which can be converted into two single beds (on request)
• Two walk in wardrobes.
• Bathroom with tub

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• **The free cruise change is applicable either on the cruise dates or on the destination. Such change needs to be performed up to 30 calendar days before departure, for a new cruise to sail within 90 calendar days from the original departure. Any cruise change shall be requested through MSC Book or our contact centers.
•  You can discover the ultimate in MSC exclusivity with the MSC Yacht Club, available on board of all our ships except: MSC Armonia, MSC Lirica, MSC Magnifica, MSC Musica, MSC Opera. MSC Orchestra, MSC Poesia and MSC Sinfonia.
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7 Things I Learned On An MSC Cruise Ship

When I have a client who has never cruised before I always start with MSC. But since they are the “new” ship on the block, inevitably my clients ask “Is an MSC cruise good?” I went on a 3-night voyage on the MSC Meraviglia to the Bahamas. I then went on a 7-night cruise from Brooklyn on the same ship. Here are the 7 things I learned while I was on my MSC cruise ship.

Organization Is Not A Strong Point

Unfortunately, the organization of MSC is very subpar. I think that they need to revamp their embarkation process. They had a lot of issues with getting guests onto the ship. One of their issues was their method of managing all mandatory requirements before sailing. It requires passengers to bring their travel documentation with them.

I even saw entire families waiting in the holding area because they were being denied entry! That’s why I encourage all of my clients to get travel insurance either through the company or better yet with my personal choice Safety Wing !

Inevitably, there were many passengers who didn’t, and that immediately created lines. Luckily we arrived a couple of hours earlier so we didn’t have to wait too long. Unfortunately, others were not so lucky. Our ship was supposed to leave Port Canaveral, Florida at 4 p.m., and there were still lines at 6 p.m.

There needs to be a different more streamlined process because it created a bit of chaos and a little bit of disorganization. Another one of their disorganization issues revolves around the mandatory evacuation drills. Most cruises that I’ve been on have a seamless process, MSC not so much. Disney Cruise Lines shines in this department .

During the chaos of embarkation, they made several shipwide announcements to all passengers to voluntarily report to the muster station. A good portion of the travelers on the ship had never heard of this drill before!

Travel Tip: Muster Station Safety Drill

MSC’s muster drill was a series of announcements over the ship’s system demanding that “all passengers report to their muster station.” If you didn’t know what that was, you were not reporting. Even if you did know where it was, you didn’t know where to find it! This only added to the chaos that was embarkation. This is absolutely NOT one of the things that make MSC cruises good.

Cleanliness, Beauty, and Dining Are Where They Shine

The MSC Meraviglia is beautiful. There really isn’t any other way to describe it. It looks like it’s brand new, and has never been used. It smelled new, it was shiny and it literally sparkled. And by literally, I mean that the stairs literally sparkled! Seriously, they are made of Swarovski crystals and are absolutely breathtaking.

The rooms were very clean too. Honestly, it oozed “modern.” We stayed in a standard balcony stateroom and it was slightly larger than other cruise lines we’ve sailed. The bathroom was spotless, and for me, that is a big win. As with all cruise staterooms, the bathroom was on the smaller side, but it was overlooked because of how clean it was.

Travel Tip: Make sure you bring an adapter if you want to blow dry or straighten your hair in the bathroom. Since it is a European ship, they only had Euro power outlets in the bathroom. These are the ones I recommend .

The Food! Things I Learned On An MSC Cruise Ship–EAT ALL THE FOOD!

By day two we were loving every bit of food we ate. I don’t remember having one piece of food that I did not like. The quality is fresh and the variety is acceptable in the buffet area. I particularly liked the breakfast options. The variety of pastries alone made me wish I was back.

Their main dining hall was at the back of the ship and offered spectacular views. We ate there for what we affectionately called “dinner” at the earliest time 6 p.m. and found that the menu did not change, at all. That made our ventures into the specialty restaurants which we called “supper” that much more eventful.

We ended up eating at several of their specialty restaurants, and they are worth every penny of added expense. The options were:

• Hola! Tacos & Cantina
• Butcher’s Cut
• Kaito Teppanyaki and Sushi
• Main Dining Buffet

One of the negatives was the bars/lounges. Most of them were closed for our cruise. We were told that it was because of a staffing issue. I think that they need to improve this in order to improve their US-based customers.

Travel Tip: Try a drink when you are on a cruise that is different than anything you’ve ever had! If you like it, at least you’ve found a new drink! If you don’t, at least you tried!

They Are Very Family Friendly

Some cruise lines excel at family-friendly activities. MSC is one of them. First, moms of littles, you will be happy to learn that MSC offers a fun playroom for children under 3! Most places don’t offer that service!

They also have plenty of amenities that cater to older kids. There is a basketball court that converts to a teen nightclub at night, an ice cream bar, a virtual reality arcade, LEGO rooms, computer labs, and more!

What sets them apart, however, is that they have activities for families that like to think outside the box. I call these families “learning families” because they try to have moments with their kids while on vacation. MSC offers that with multiple “teaching with experiences” activities.

They aren’t just fun and games, they offer cooking classes, language classes, and immersive cultural tours while on location.

But when it comes to fun and games, they offer enough varieties to keep the kiddos entertained.

I Like How They Are Growing Their U.S. Fleet

MSC will have 2 new ships in 2022, the MSC Seascape and World Europa. They will then have 5 ships sailing in the USA throughout the year. Each of these ships has that unique new “flair” that MSC ships seem to offer. The word that comes to mind is sophisticated.

They are building a new port in Miami which will be the furthest and last built in a state-of-the-art cruise terminal that will open in late 2023. The key takeaway I got was that MSC is a higher-end cruise line. Their amenities and services are not for those who are looking for budget or party cruises.

In April of 2023, they will start sailing from New York City, which is such a benefit to my fellow northeast peeps! MSC Seascape will make its home there. MSC also announced that they will be launching World Europa, their largest ship in the fleet, and her sister ship MSC Americana.

I’d be cautious about booking cruises on those first cruises out of either new port. I’m sure it is not going to be organized. You’ll definitely want to avoid booking after they’ve been returning from a foreign country as the entire crew has to be inspected and the crew has to participate in Coast Guard drills, etc. That means lines, and waiting and we already know they aren’t good at that.

The Yacht Club Upgrade is Essential

MSC’s Yacht Club is an exclusive white glove service upgrade. They market it as a ship within a ship. It’s geared towards the more open-minded explorers w/higher education or more experience with travel. Yacht Club members are the travelers who when they arrive at a destination experience it. They go to museums, visit locals and eat at dive restaurants.

The Yacht Club amenities are worth taking a look at. Not only do you have access to your own wing of the ship in larger staterooms, but you also are treated like royalty!

On the ship, the Yacht Club experience is designed to give you 360 sea views at all times. In their private area on board, Yacht Club members receive:

• Private white-glove butler service
• Espresso machine (in-room)
• Pillow menu
• 20-hour private concierge
• Premium open bar
• Private area for shows
• Priority boarding and disembarkation (which allows them to avoid the lines)
• A dedicated private beach area at Ocean Kay (private island)
• Yacht Club Only restaurant with Michelin star chefs
• Private pool and whirlpools
• So much more!

In my opinion, it represents the future of cruising. On some of the newer ships, the Yacht Club is going to feel like you are in a 5-star resort in the middle of the ocean.

The Private Island is…Spectacular

There really isn’t much more to say than that. It’s the Bahamas, so you can already assume that the island was going to be nice. But MSC made it a mission to repurpose this island into the beautiful paradise it was.

The private island has a wedding venue and a pavilion. I would definitely be adding it to the list of best places for your destination wedding or honeymoon . Bimini Beach is on the list and I try to visit it as much as I can!

I highly recommend choosing a cruise that spends the night on the island so that you can witness the lighthouse light show!

Their Customer Service Leaves A Lot To Be Desired

It seems like a lot of the staff was not knowledgeable about certain things. It was almost as if they were new to the ship and didn’t know how to properly do their particular job. Throughout the entire trip, I heard guests complain about the customer service. One passenger stated that a staff’s response to a customer issue was “oh well.”

I didn’t personally have any issues, but whenever I had a question, I did find it a little unprofessional that the staff I asked usually couldn’t answer it. I spoke with a logistics coordinator for MSC in the shipping sector who was also on this cruise and she stated:

One of the issues people were having was with the credit card on file. Most cruise lines allow guests to use the credit card that they used to book their cruise for additional expenses. If you purchase anything you’ll just get a bill at the end of the cruise, and that’s it! Again, MSC does things differently.

They require clients to add a card either at check-in or at one of their kiosks for charges on board. This caused confusion, especially for travelers who are used to just having their card added for them automatically.

The credit card situation came back again when we were checking out of the ship. Passengers couldn’t disembark until they “settled their bill” prior to leaving. Most cruise lines do that for you. Very chaotic.

If you are sailing to the Caribbean, my answer is not quite yet. I think they need to get a year or two into the U.S. market before they are ready for the accolades of other companies. On the other hand, if you are cruising in Europe, I wouldn’t go with any other brand.

I do think that if you are a seasoned cruiser, you’ll definitely like the “up-scale” nature of MSC. If you would like to book your MSC cruise at some AMAZING rates! Click here to schedule a consultation with me!

The post 7 Things I Learned On An MSC Cruise Ship appeared first on Teach Travel Discover .

To see discounted sailings on this line, use the Find a Bargain box on the left.

MSC is one of the world's largest and fastest growing cruise lines, operating some of the newest vessels at sea. Their ships are tastefully decorated with exquisite Italian marble and fine wood accents. Guests will find plenty of amenities, including magnificently decorated lounges and showrooms, grand casinos and nonsmoking dining rooms.

MSC specializes in Mediterranean itineraries which showcase its familiarity with the region, both on and off the ship. Transatlantic voyages are also offered, as are itineraries to Northern Europe, the Caribbean, South Africa and South America.

Onboard guests will find a primarily European ambiance and clientele, and cuisine designed for European palettes. To accommodate international clients, announcements are made in four languages. The staff service philosophy is more reserved than what guests might find onboard a North America cruise line, and on European itineraries, restaurants follow the European custom of serving dinner later in the evening.

Keep in mind that the currency used onboard MSC ships can vary by itinerary. Typically the onboard currency in the Mediterranean is the euro. Please confirm the onboard currency with your Vacations To Go cruise counselor at the time of booking.

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Discover all The Bahamas & Caribbean has to offer. Immerse yourself in white sand beaches, turquoise waters and Caribbean cuisine. Spend a full day, or two, on our exclusive private island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve .

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From the picture-perfect beaches of Bermuda to the breathtaking fall foliage of Canada and New England, book itineraries aboard MSC Meraviglia now.

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Experience old world charm on a cruise to Europe . Stroll through the cobblestone streets and picturesque French & Italian towns in the Mediterranean  or experience the Northern Lights, sailing through enchanted castles and glaciers under the midnight sun in Northern Europe .

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See breathtaking volcanoes and giant, colorful reefs in South Africa . Indulge in a luxurious stroll  in the streets of  Dubai . Visit the world famous Copacabana Beach on one of our South America  cruises. Discover timeless beauty in Saudi Arabia. Experience the charm of the Far East , including, Shanghai, known as "the Paris of the East". Or perhaps you want to discover parts of the world only accessible on our Grand Voyages. 

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MSC World Cruise

Who hasn’t dreamed of traveling around the world at least once? With MSC World Cruises you can fulfill this dream! Choose from two cruise odysseys around the world in 2024, 2025 and 2026 and elevate your adventurous spirit to new heights. Discover the globe’s beauty with MSC World Cruises!

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Mordomo, champanhe e piscina sem confusão: como é área de luxo em transatlântico que está no Brasil

'primeira classe' está presente em três embarcações da companhia durante a temporada brasileira 2023/2024.

14/03/2024 03h00 Atualizado 14/03/2024

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Assinantes podem presentear 5 acessos GRATUITOS por dia.

O passageiro mal tinha entrado em sua cabine do navio MSC Seaview pela primeira vez quando três toques na porta tiraram sua atenção da ampla varanda, com vista para o mural “Etnias”, do grafiteiro Kobra, no Porto do Rio. O culpado era o mordomo, que perguntava se o hóspede gostaria que ele desfizesse a mala — que ainda nem havia sido entregue — e arrumasse as roupas nos armários.

• Icon of the Seas: conheça os detalhes do maior navio de cruzeiros do mundo, cinco vezes maior que o Titanic
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A cena não faz parte do roteiro de uma hipotética temporada de “The White Lotus” passada em território carioca. É apenas mais um dia na vida do Yacht Club , o espaço premium das embarcações da MSC Cruzeiros. Esta espécie de “primeira classe”, “área VIP” ou “iate dentro do navio”, segundo a definição da própria companhia, oferece serviços especiais, espaços exclusivos e uma experiência de luxo que faz o viajante esquecer que está a bordo de um transatlântico projetado para o turismo de massa.

Mordomias em alto-mar: veja como é o Yacht Club, a área VIP dos navios da MSC Cruzeiros

Tudo isso por um preço que pode ser de duas a três vezes maior que o de cabines convencionais, dependendo do navio e do roteiro. Para os cruzeiros ainda disponíveis no site da companhia para esta temporada no Brasil (que termina em abril), é possível encontrar pacotes a partir de R$ 5.228 para uma viagem de três noites no MSC Seaview, saindo do Rio com parada em Ilhabela, até a R$ 17.580 em sete noites a bordo do MSC Grandiosa, com embarque e desembarque em Santos e paradas em Búzios, Salvador e Maceió. As tarifas são por pessoa em cabine dupla com varanda.

Serviços como este estão presentes em outras operadoras de cruzeiros voltadas para o público geral, como Royal Caribbean e Norwegian Cruise Line, mas no litoral brasileiro é exclusividade da MSC — mais precisamente nos MSC Grandiosa , MSC Seaview e MSC Preziosa . No total, dos 22 navios da frota global da companhia, o Yacht Club está presente em 15 deles. A demanda por essa experiência de luxo vem aumentando, segundo o diretor geral da MSC para o Brasil, Adrian Ursilli:

— O número de hóspedes que optam pelo MSC Yacht Club está em constante crescimento em cruzeiros que navegam em diversas regiões do mundo e isso não é diferente quando se trata do público brasileiro. Uma curiosidade sobre os hóspedes brasileiros em comparação aos outros mercados é um perfil mais jovem, a partir da faixa dos 35 anos.

A convite da companhia, o GLOBO embarcou num minicruzeiro de três noites para contar como é essa experiência cheia de mordomias em alto-mar.

Embarque preferencial

E elas começam já no embarque. Quem esteve nos portos de passageiros do Rio e de Santos sabe que é preciso ter paciência para encarar as filas para despachar a bagagem e para entrar no navio. Hóspedes do Yacht Club têm direito a acesso preferencial em ambas as etapas.

Já dentro do galpão de embarque, enquanto espera pelo check-in, o passageiro é recebido com espumante, refrigerante, suco ou água numa área separada. O processo não demora, já que o número de hóspedes desta área é bastante reduzido. No MSC Seaview, navio para cerca de cinco mil passageiros baseado no Rio nesta temporada, por exemplo, o Yacht Club corresponde a apenas 86 cabines, de um total de 2.066.

Áreas exclusivas

Uma vantagem que se percebe imediatamente num ambiente compartilhado com milhares de pessoas é a presença de um elevador exclusivo. Não que ele transporte apenas hóspedes Yacht Club, mas a partir do momento em que alguém com o cartão desta área seleciona o elevador, ele não para para mais ninguém.

A porta do elevador se abre praticamente em frente à entrada do Yacht Club, normalmente localizado na parte da frente (a proa) do navio. Neste momento já é possível perceber o isolamento, especialmente o acústico, em relação ao restante do navio.

Após a recepção, que conta com ao menos um concierge 24 horas por dia, um corredor leva o passageiro ao Top Sail Lounge, um área de convivência exclusiva que conta com um ótimo bar (e apresentações de voz e piano à noite) e um janelão de vidro que faz dali um dos melhores pontos para se observar o mar, sem abrir mão do ar-condicionado e das confortáveis poltronas do salão. O visual, praticamente o mesmo da ponte de comando do navio, até ajuda a esquecer as redes sociais por um instante, mesmo que a tarifa premium dê direito a um pacote de internet ilimitada (mas não tão rápida, afinal, estamos num navio) para até dois dispositivos.

Há, em geral, três categorias de cabines no Yacht Club, incluindo internas e com varandas. O tamanho varia de acordo com o navio, mas são maiores que suas equivalentes nas áreas convencionais. Em dias de sol e noites frescas, no entanto, o passageiro provavelmente não irá querer passar muito tempo nelas. É mais agradável aproveitar o solário exclusivo, ao ar livre, onde não é preciso batalhar por um espaço na piscina ou nas banheiras de hidromassagem, e muito menos nas numerosas espreguiçadeiras espalhadas pelo deque.

Se o hóspede quiser relaxar em outros ambientes, também tem acesso ilimitado à área termal do Aurea Spa, com saunas e piscina aquecida. Massagens e tratamentos não estão incluídos no pacote, mas podem ser agendados através de concierges e mordomos.

Os mordomos, aliás, têm papéis importantes na experiência no Yacht Club. Além de desfazer e arrumar as malas, eles podem ajudar os hóspedes com os mais variados serviços, desde levar até a cabine artigos à venda nas lojas a bordo, até reservar horário nos restaurantes especiais e guiar os menos localizados pelos labirínticos corredores do navio.

Comes e bebes

Um atrativo do Yacht Club é o acesso ao pacote de bebidas premium (que, para passageiros de outras categorias, custa cerca de R$ 430 por noite a bordo). Ele dá direito a drinques em todos os bares e restaurantes do navio. O pacote inclui ainda uma garrafa de cortesia por cabine (champanhe, vinho ou destilado), bebidas no frigobar e serviço de quarto gratuito. Por isso mesmo, vale a pena pedir o café da manhã no quarto, pelo menos uma vez.

— De acordo com nossas pesquisas, podemos dizer que, assim como outros mercados, o público brasileiro valoriza bastante o restaurante exclusivo, a prioridade para o embarque e o desembarque, o Top Sail Lounge e a área de piscina dedicada, mas um ponto de destaque que podemos citar é que o brasileiro valoriza mais do que outros mercados o pacote all-inclusive premium de bebidas, que inclui também o minibar da cabine, e a área externa com a piscina e buffet exclusivo — afirma Ursilli.

O Yacht Club conta ainda com um restaurante exclusivo, no mezanino do Top Sail Lounge, aberto para café da manhã, almoço e jantar, sem necessidade de se escolher um turno para comer. O menu tem sempre pratos de carne, frutos do mar, receitas italianas e mediterrâneas e opções vegetarianas. Para quem quiser algo mais despojado, uma ótima alternativa é o bufê do solário. Porque, mesmo com tanta sofisticação, há momentos em que luxo mesmo é um simples hambúrguer com batata frita e vista para o mar.

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