Hi everyone!
I thought I'd come back to complete
Day 15 - Ajaccio, Corsica (France) but in doing so I realized I have very, very few pictures. I am somewhat regretful that we didn't book an excursion. Some of MSC's excursions were actually fairly well priced, and if you book them online ahead of time you usually get a discount. However, we didn't book anything partly due to port fatigue. The one-port-per-day pace of the latter half of the transatlantic was a bit exhausting and I couldn't find anything I really wanted to do in Ajaccio. We ended up walking around (it was a bit drizzly that day) and we got to utilize our French at a local restaurant ordering some crepes and coffee.
So maybe I'll use this post to talk a bit about MSC's Yacht Club and our experience. MSC's Yacht Club is their version of concierge. I haven't sailed concierge with Disney, and may never due to cost, and how spoiled we were in the YC on MSC. But here are my thoughts.
1. On the big ships like the Seaview, the Yacht Club takes up about 3 decks in the forward section of the ship - so it's HUGE. The indoor spaces for YC include the Top Sail Lounge and Restaurant. I think I shared a picture earlier; these spaces are large and never feel crowded. In the evenings there is often live music. In the afternoon, the butlers offer a high tea type of service. And at almost all times of day there is a variety of snacks available. Oh, and key for many people, the Lounge has a bar, and all alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks are included except for some very top shelf liquors. The private lounge and restaurant and bar are a pretty key feature of YC; you really do feel like you're in a ship of your own once you buzz into the YC.
Here's the lounge again, you can also see a lot of outdoor couches and space:
Some of the snacks:
2. Another key feature: the YC-exclusive pool deck. There is a small pool only for YC guests and another bar with grill-type restaurant. You can see the pool behind my kid here. It is pretty deep (most of the pools are 6' deep!) but has a bit of a wading area around the edge. I believe the pools are also saltwater. Anyway, there was plenty of outdoor space for YC guests. Even the pool towels are plushier for YC guests than for the rest of the ship! You could always find a lounger, and the staff were also circulating to offer drinks frequently. There are also two hot tubs.
We enjoyed several breakfasts and lunches here on the top deck and this was a perk not to be missed. I should mention that we went to the main buffet a couple of times as well and it was massive, but also very packed. So being able to enjoy a more quiet breakfast was excellent.
You can see the many loungers behind my DH here. You can also see that he's wearing an MSC wristband, these are YC wristbands that are kind of like "magic bands" in WDW. You can have them scanned to get into the YC and your own room, to get priority in the elevators (more on this later perhaps), for room charges, etc.
3. The service in the YC is excellent. This isn't really a perk compared to
DCL since DCL's service is, of course, amazing. But as I may have mentioned, MSC is a European line and I get the feeling that their customer service in general is not quite what we might 'expect' as North Americans. Their guest services desk, even in YC, was not supremely helpful - but all of the butlers and staff in the YC itself were perfectly lovely, friendly, and helpful to us. Our room was always very clean and we had chocolates every night plus random gifts like these:
4. Yacht Club comes with length-of-cruise thermal suite access which is kind of like the rainforest room on DCL - but we didn't take advantage of this, sadly! The cruise is just too busy with so many ports.
5. Priority embarkation - oh my goodness, this perk could literally not be beat. In the Barcelona cruise terminal it was generally packed, but YC guests had a separate check-in area (no line) AND there was a separate lounge area with snacks and drinks (in case you weren't sure if you were going to have enough food on board?? lol) and a butler came down to escort you right up past the "commoners" (I'm kidding, but YC did seem to really embrace the class system) up to your room. You can see how happy my DH was about this separate sitting area
Of note, some of the ports had YC priority lines to get back on board too, but not all.
6. Unlimited gelato!! I don't know why I don't have a picture of this, but YC perks included unlimited gelato served around the ship. Other guests had to pay separately for gelato, but not YC guests. There were several gelato places on board and we just had to show YC wristbands or cards.
More to come, I hope!