Since my short solo experience in 2022 on Meraviglia, I’d wanted to come back to MSC on a longer sailing. The Ocean Cay marine reserve, a port exclusive to the cruise line, was an excellent and relaxing time at no additional charge. The polarizing and negative reviews about the ships, food, service, and entertainment just seemed wildly different compared to the decent experience I’d had. And the value-for-money was certainly appealing.

In late June 2024, we had the opportunity to take the immediate family on MSC Seascape (easily confused with – but distinct from: MSC Seaside, Seashore, and Seaview.) On this booking, I made a minimum upgrade bid to a Yacht Club balcony cabin that was accepted, so we spent most of our week in the premium areas of the vessel.

There were certainly many perks and features that came with the Yacht Club experience, but we’ve had similar high-quality service on other cruises when staying in a “regular” cabin. Outside of Yacht Club, the early evening shows at Cabaret Rouge and the Chora Theatre entertained our children, but the kids club did not work as well for us as Camp Discovery on Princess.

We came out of the experience with a desire to try the MSC product again but wouldn’t necessarily spend the extra money to stay in the luxury area. While we did enjoy many premium amenities such as the restricted-access pool deck, flexible dining, and Top Sail Lounge – the butler service, “upscale” food selections and the YC-exclusive beach area weren’t as worthwhile for us.

Booking and planning

The first week of July had traditionally been a maintenance/shutdown week for our kids’ childcare operator, so we’d planned to take a family vacation then. In late 2023 they cancelled the summer camp offering for 2024, and we started looking elsewhere for care. On this week, many local children’s camps and programs had limited spaces, didn’t start until the second week of July, or charged more money. With this in mind, we decided to spend the first week of July on a cruise and return in time for the kids to start camp the next week.

There’s also a price premium for these sailings, as they overlap with the American 4th of July holiday and many Canadian schools letting out, but the whole summer can be expensive. NCL’s “3rd and 4th person sail free” promotion all but disappears during these months, and a standard Caribbean sailing on a recent-gen Norwegian ship could have easily exceeded $10,000 Canadian in fare and Free at Sea gratuities.

Two frontrunners emerged during the planning process: first was a repeat sailing on Carnival Celebration, but with an upgrade from a standard Oceanview to an Oceanview Family Harbour cabin. The main perk of Family Harbour staterooms is access to a lounge that has breakfast, snacks, drinks, board games, and some other distractions for the kids. Given that Carnival’s Camp Ocean was a non-starter for our children last time, we weren’t counting on it for supervised childcare. We’d anticipating doubling down on our time in the swimming pools, eating at the casual venues, skipping some nights of main dining, and being more lenient about “tablet time” for the kids during the sailing.

The second choice was a slightly more expensive sailing on MSC Seascape which raised the total price by $700CAD, but that put us in a balcony cabin rather than an Oceanview. It also included a medium tier “Easy Plus” drink package, Wi-Fi and $50CAD equivalent onboard credit. The kids would get the “Minors Package” which would let them get sodas, mocktails, and soft serve ice cream – which is not consistently free on all MSC ships, sailings, or times of day.

Over the 7-day sailing, a $100CAD/day increase seemed worth it to be more flexible with beverages, have access to the Internet in case we needed it, and let the kids try out a variety of sugary drinks. I also valued sailing on a different ship, and the Seascape itinerary also made a stop at Ocean Cay – even though it wasn’t an overnight, it was effectively a “free” beach day with food and drinks. I also started getting my hopes up that the MSC version of kids’ club would potentially be more to our children’s liking.

In mid-March, we cancelled the Carnival reservation and made final payment for Seascape. I also booked a 1-bedroom suite at Residence Inn Miami Airport. We’ve stayed before here in the past, but the 1-bedroom suite has a door that separates the living area (where the kids would sleep on a sofa bed) from the bedroom. We find it very desirable to have a small amount of privacy before the proximity of a cruise cabin for a week, and our children also fall asleep faster if they don’t have us in direct sight. The Residence Inn also includes breakfast, whereas the other two hotels in the Marriott complex do not.

For flights, I’d booked WestJet to get into Fort Lauderdale one day prior to the cruise, and then Air Canada had a better-timed, closer-to-PortMiami flight from MIA back to Toronto on disembarkation day.

Upgrayedd

80 days before sailing, I received the Plusgrade Premium Upgrade email, with different bid options to extract more of our money. The cheapest upgrades included balconies in theoretically better locations and Aurea benefits, which didn’t especially interest me at the time.

The next highest-priced group was six different types of suites, which have a variety of layouts and sizes. If you want a very large balcony, wraparound aft or forward balcony, balcony with whirlpool, or a two-bedroom cabin with balcony, these all land in the MSC suite categorization. Comparatively, they fall in between a mini-suite and the highest-end suites on other lines – but all these suite options do not have access to the private Yacht Club facilities.

The pricing and configuration on the suites added confusion, and I scrolled past them to note that I could also bid on three Yacht Club options:

• an interior suite, which gets lots of praise online from cruisers who don’t want or need a balcony, but want access to the premium areas, service and dining options
• a deluxe suite, which is the baseline balcony cabin in the Yacht Club area
• a deluxe grand suite, which adds a walk-in closet and more square footage in both the cabin and balcony

There are also two more categories of higher-trim Yacht Club suites, but they didn’t appear in the bidding interface for me; there’s a limit as to how many tiers you can bid up to, based on your booked cabin type, which has been consistent with my NCL booking/upgrade emails.

Here is where, depending on your viewpoint, I either made a mistake or a deliberate splurge on this family vacation. While I was very conscious that the upgrade program does not charge for 3rd and 4th guests in a cabin, the bid shown is multiplied by two when you submit the offer, presuming double occupancy. (This x2 multiplier also affects solo sailors engaging in the bidding program, so it’s a very calculated approach and presentation.)

I did know intuitively about the doubling on bid amounts, and had experienced it with our successful upgrade on Discovery Princess, but I only ever selected the minimum amount. The single-passenger number staging me in the face, especially considering the Yacht Club features and ongoing online chatter about crowding on the rest of the ship, led me to pull the trigger.

One other factor was that I was also somewhat worked up about dinner times: online reports were showing three evening slots (5:15, 7:30, 9:00), our existing Fantastica booking only permitted requests for dining time, and I’d been skunked into eating at 8:15pm on Meraviglia. With our children along, there would be no way any cruise dinner service starting much past 6pm would be a positive outcome. In retrospect, I should have considered bidding on a relatively cheaper Aurea cabin for the anytime dining option, but it also wasn’t clear that all Aurea benefits would apply to those who used the Plusgrade program.

I received the confirmation email after putting in my bid that Friday evening, noted the final column had pricing at double what I’d expected, considered cancelling, and promptly put it to the back of my mind over the weekend. It didn’t seem like something urgent to deal with as we were still over two months from sailing. I’d selected the absolute least amount of money MSC/Plusgrade were willing to take for the upgrade, and every other upgrade attempt I’d made had been rejected or accepted only days before embarkation. It just didn’t seem likely.

Monday passed uneventfully and Tuesday morning rolled around, and just before lunch I checked my phone to a congratulatory email from MSC. The upgrade offer to a Yacht Club Deluxe Suite had been confirmed and balance charged to my credit card. For those counting, that was 3.5 days (including two weekend ones) from bid submission to acceptance, so bid turnaround can absolutely happen that fast.

At this point, we were locked in, so I scrambled to load my booking on the MSC portal and figure out where our newly assigned cabin would be. Like any other upgrade, it’s possible that you get a less desirable location on the ship – and while all Yacht Club cabins are in the forward complex on decks 16, 18 and 19, there are some closer to the restaurant and prep facilities, under the (private) pool deck area, and very far forward.

To my delight, we’d been assigned cabin 18011: in between cabins to the left and right, cabins above and below, closer to the forward end but not at the extreme, and nothing but an interior wall across the hallway. I would have been happy to select this cabin myself prior to sailing.

With the upgrade secured, I switched my YouTube viewing specifically to include Yacht Club reviews and reports on Seaside-class ships. I read all I could about the features, experiences, and procedures prior to sailing so we could try to get the most out of the extra money spent. While I’m not totally comfortable putting exact dollars on a public post like this, the upgrade cost added 73% to our total cruise fare.

I feel somewhat relieved that it wasn’t a literal doubling of the cruise cost. At that threshold I would have regretted the experience, because I would have thought of it as “we could have sailed twice” – even though that wouldn’t have exactly been true with transportation and hotel. Hopefully this story resonates with anyone out there who may have overpaid for something even if it was pleasant. I’m not going to say it was a mistake, because I did enjoy Yacht Club and got lots of material for this review, but this is also a cautionary tale about what happens when you end up spending more than initially intended.

To address both rumors that go around about the upgrade process:

• if you bid for, and get an upgrade to a Yacht Club cabin, you absolutely do benefit from all the Yacht Club amenities such as the private restaurant, lounge, sun/pool deck, spa access, premium drinks and Wi-Fi, curated embarkation, and flexible disembarkation. Apart from anything included in the Aurea package, you don’t get these things if you book or upgrade to a suite (S-prefix cabin type). This is a source of confusion from some YouTube videos as well – your cabin type must start with Y to be in the right spot and have the right perks.
  
• Check-in and shipboard staff absolutely can determine that you have gotten your cabin through an upgrade bid rather than paying for the YC cabin type at booking. There is a block on page 2 of the Cruise Ticket PDF that references “PLUSGRADE”, and the MSC mobile app shows a Plusgrade line item, with its full cost, as a Day 1 amenity. It’s in the system and follows you electronically.

Travel and pre-cruise

The biggest set of unknowns as the end of June approached was around our WestJet flights. The negotiations with AMFA, the union representing aircraft maintenance engineers and similar roles at the airline, were not going well. Throughout June, there seemed to be a new mainstream news article and communication from WestJet every few days. A strike deadline had been set for June 28 at 7:30pm Eastern, but WestJet had been pre-emptively cancelling flights in the days beforehand to avoid having aircraft in locations where it would be difficult to get them back.

At the time, there weren’t many great alternative options. Air Canada had flights into Miami available earlier in the week, but they quickly filled up, and Google Maps estimates were 22 to 24 hours straight to drive to the port from our house. The night before our flight, we received an email that “labour action has been avoided”, and the next day’s journey from Lester B. Pearson to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was smooth with no obvious signs of trouble at the airport or onboard. It was several hours after we’d arrived at our hotel when we learned a strike did take effect that evening, disrupting 1171 flights over the days before and afterward.

It doesn’t seem like the general advice to “fly in one day in advance” will save you from all situations that can happen pre-cruise, especially with Canadian airlines and airports in the mix. I think a backup plan for next time will involve a last-minute flight from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, or Detroit airports, all of which are reachable in a few hours by vehicle assuming the weather is OK.

Similar to our routing the previous year, we made our way from FLL to the Marriott Miami airport complex using Tri-Rail and various buses and shuttles. It was on the train that I’d reviewed my email. A message was waiting from the assistant GM at the Residence Inn property, noting that our reservation had been transferred to the Courtyard Miami Airport property in the same complex. This is what I’d call a milder version of a “walk,” where a hotel can’t provide the booked room and must send you to a different property. In this case, they didn’t have to send us to a competitor or even outside the complex, so it didn’t change our overall travel plans.

While the email reassured us that we would still receive the complimentary breakfast buffet and offered a pittance in Bonvoy points for the inconvenience, the available rooms at the Courtyard are not comparable to the 1-bedroom suite over at the Residence Inn. We were assigned to a suite, which is the highest publicly available room type at the Courtyard property. It does feature a 1 king/sofa bed combination, but no separation between the sleeping areas.

I pressed the issue somewhat at check-in but was told we were not allowed to see the replacement room prior to accepting it. When I asked about a discount, there was an offer of a reduced rate for the room. The next day, I received a $99US+tax invoice on checkout, which was a discount from the original price that I was fine with.

However, that amount was never processed, while the original room charge still had not fallen off my credit card after a few weeks. I exchanged some emails with the AGM about a month later to sort it out but wasn’t totally happy with the conclusion.

Like in 2023, the kids really enjoyed the swimming pool, and there were a few interesting beers/coolers available at the in-house “MIA’s Pantry” that we could take back to our room after dinner. While the beverages were priced at a premium, I didn’t feel like walking out to the gas station or liquor store, so that trade-off seemed worth it.

While I still like the convenience and features of the complex, there are many other options in Miami for a pre-cruise stay that I’m slightly more motivated to investigate. And as our kids get older, staying closer to downtown or South Beach might provide more interesting (and expensive) dining and entertainment options.

Embarkation day

After making sure we did acquire our “free” breakfast at the Residence Inn, we took an UberXL from the Marriott complex to the port. Last time on Carnival we’d circled back to MIA for a coach bus, and honestly didn’t find that route to be too terrible. MSC doesn’t make it obvious how to buy airport transfers through their booking portal. I’m sure it’s something we could have asked our travel agent to coordinate – but we did have lightweight booster seats along with us, and they were OK for the short ride. Traffic to PortMiami was light and we arrived at 10:07am.

This was a little earlier than when we usually aim to arrive at the port, but because of the Yacht Club upgrade, we wanted to make sure we got the most out of the experience. MSC’s new terminal AA/AAA was still under construction, so they’ve been using other terminals at PortMiami in 2024. In our case, Seascape was docked at Terminal C, which we’ve used before on a few Norwegian sailings prior to their new Terminal B completion.

The first key thing about Yacht Club is that there is a separate tent with a check-in area, and you need to take your luggage to this location for priority delivery. As you’re exiting your taxi or Uber, you need to dissuade the nearby porters from trying to immediately grab your tagged bags with the friendliest possible “No thanks… YACHT CLUB!” Everyone was polite about it, but when they see a family of four hauling suitcases across the parking lot, there are lots of folks who want to help and potentially secure a tip.

At the tent in question, our paperwork got a cursory overview and then our suitcases were stacked on a designated cart. Within a minute or two, we were then escorted over to the Terminal C entrance, asked to show passports, then routed inside to a separate line on the left side of the building. We were mildly entertained as this line was close to the table of confiscated items, and people from the previous cruise kept slipping past us to collect their clothes steamers, irons, and surge protectors.

Everyone (Yacht Club and not) was held here until 10:30am when security opened, and people were stopped from entering the building once the lines were full. If this timing is consistent, a 10:45 or 11am arrival time at the port might be a better choice – that way the initial backlog of folks should be cleared through security, you probably wouldn’t have to wait outside long, and you wouldn’t lose much time at check-in.

Once security arrived and started their procedures, we were routed toward a room for priority check-in on the left side, which was actually very busy. There were couches and other furniture to sit on, but it was hard to get around and past people to actually sit down. After showing documentation at the front desk, we received an envelope with our cruise cards and MSC for Me wristbands, and then sat down to wait for our escort onto the ship.

Unfortunately, this envelope was missing a card and wristband for one of our kids, and there was a slight commotion as they tried to figure out what to do. We were eventually instructed to scan the barcode on our cruise documentation to get on the ship, and they would reprint the card and issue a wristband once boarded. This is where it was helpful to have a printed copy.

A butler from the staff then collected us and a few other groups, and walked us through the terminal to the escalator, then to a side area on the second floor. We were offered champagne and non-alcoholic drinks, and the kids enjoyed some chocolate peanuts. We also received the daily program so I could start planning.

Within 15 minutes, boarding began, and butlers began to escort groups of people towards the gangway. The port staff at the gangway, as expected, were confused about the lack of a cruise card and request to scan the check-in documentation barcode instead. We explained and didn’t incur too much delay or pushback, and proceeded onto the ship.

First steps onboard

Before we were able to get to our cabin, we were ushered toward the forward end of the ship, assigned to an elevator and sent up to Deck 16. From there we entered the Yacht Club complex and made a quick stop at the concierge desk. In an example of good service, the folks on shore had radioed up to the ship, so there was a replacement cruise card already printed and ready for pickup. The wristband took a few extra steps but was also quickly made available.

Next, we proceeded down the hall to the Top Sail Lounge. This lounge includes a full-service bar, an area with light snacks and canapés, seating with tables, and an exterior area with couches. It was busy when we arrived; we couldn’t easily find a seat that would fit all four of us and our remaining carryon luggage. The outside area was unfortunately in the blazing overhead sun, so we milled around awkwardly inside until our butler escorted us to our cabin. That happened only 20 to 30 minutes after we’d gotten to the Top Sail Lounge, but it seemed to be a somewhat disorganized start.

We were shown to our cabin and then our butler had to return to shore to retrieve other guests – we were fine with this and agreed that he could come back later to describe the benefits of Yacht Club.

Cabin

Our Yacht Club Deluxe Suite was a very pleasant cabin. It was certainly spacious with a modern design and a few nice features. One was the shelf at the front of the cabin where you could put used glassware and dishes to make it clear that you were finished with them. For a 4-person setup, we were able to keep the main beds pushed together, and have the kids sleep on the pullout couch. The couch is advertised as a double bed size, but that seems like a generous interpretation. I agree with many reviews that claim it might be too cozy for teenagers or platonic individuals – in those cases you may have to split the main bed and put the most appropriate couple on the sofa.

The balcony was wide but not overly deep, and featured standard chairs, not full loungers. The bathroom was also nicely sized – you weren’t cramped around the toilet or navigating between the sink, shower, and door. The shower had room to move, a bench and a very nice rainfall head. As with most cruise cabins, there’s a single sink. Counter to some reports about MSC, tissues and washcloths were in the room by default.

A nice feature of the Yacht Club rooms was the fully stocked minibar, replenished every day (except for the Toblerone bar, a one-time only amenity.) The Internet assured me we could have certain beverages changed out if we asked our butler, but the defaults were fine for us. If we ever return, I think I’d look to bump up the sparkling water as we went through that much more quickly than the soft drinks, and maybe add another kind of beer; I would regularly drink both Heinekens during the afternoon.

Noise was not a concern, but we felt more ship motion in this cabin versus other sailings. I attribute this both to being on a higher deck – I think it might be the highest we’ve ever stayed on a ship – as well as us trying to outrun Hurricane Beryl. We also had an early maintenance issue where our cabin door required significant force to completely shut, but a quick word to our butler (who claimed he had also noticed it) and it was fixed in a few hours.

There were advantages and disadvantages of this cabin location on Deck 18. Being on the port side on this deck meant that you had to follow the hallway to the central lift area, then head back down the same distance on the starboard side to get to the dining room. You also had to descend a level and use the starboard side to get to the Yacht Club lounge if you didn’t want to traverse the sparkly stairs in the restaurant. The port passageways on the deck plan were crew-only, and this is a common theme with MSC plans.

One thing I think that could be improved easily would be the installation of a curtain between the sofa bed area and the primary bed. I’ve seen this design on Princess mini-suite cabin layouts, and it would help our children get to sleep more quickly without a visible reminder of their parents.

Ship

The guest capacity of Seascape is inconsistently reported all over the Internet, ranging from 4560 to 5877, while not being clear on whether that top number is double or maximum capacity. Regardless, it is a large ship, but also certainly feels very busy with the number of people in public areas. We also sailed on one of the peak summer weeks for 3rd and 4th guests in cabins. Many US schools had been out for a month already, and this was the first full week public Ontario schools were closed. I’d put our actual occupancy closer to the 5800 number.

Lower decks of the ship were easy enough to navigate, with a clear path between venues. I would say that the shininess of the ship in public spaces can be the main disorienting factor, with silver, crystals, and mirrored surfaces abound. There are also lots of little alcoves with interactive art features, like a hot air balloon you could get inside, backed by a set of screens that made it look like you were floating above a city.

As with Meraviglia, Seascape includes a deck 13 but excludes deck 17. The aft panoramic elevators only go between decks 8 and 18, so that was an obvious sign that if you needed to get to a main dining room, you would have to go to midship. On passenger decks, there were no middle/interior hallways in comparison to Meraviglia – this was a more conventional layout with inside cabins mostly being across the hall from balcony cabins.

All the central areas on decks 6 through 8 (Times Square, the Atrium, Liberty Plaza) were bustling – I wouldn’t say too crowded or cramped here, as we had an easy time with the scavenger hunt activity in the indoor sections, walking through the shops, art gallery and Chef’s Court area. What was extremely packed were the outdoor areas on these decks, such as the Waterfront boardwalk and aft Infinity Pool area. Loungers and chairs on this whole deck were at close-to-full occupancy, with many passengers toasting themselves in direct sun.

In contrast to Discovery Princess, we didn’t find any issue with smoke coming from the casino. It wasn’t in the critical path for any venues (other than the theatre lower level) and the smell wasn’t apparent near the circular staircases – so while smoking is permitted while gambling, we didn’t notice it.

Pool-wise, the Jungle Pool area was novel and a very good indoor option considering the sun. It too, got busy, especially on sea days. The Pirates Cove Aquapark was unfortunately not enjoyed by the kids: it was also busy but noisy, and the dumping bucket feature did not appeal to them. Despite the children’s enjoyment of all things pool, we never actually made it to the aft Marina Pool on deck 18 and spent most of our water-related time in “The One Pool” within the Yacht Club area: more on that later.

Kayla took advantage of access to the Aurea Spa area, which is included either with Aurea-level or Yacht Club cabin. It is a nice feature that would nearly always cost extra on other ships. She enjoyed her time there but was irritated by the volume and duration of other people’s conversations.

Entertainment

On this sailing, the kids were well-behaved and not always entirely tired after dinner. They often got to stay up and attend shows in part or full, depending on interest and energy level. We really enjoyed the singers and acrobats in Le Cabaret Rouge, and you could still get seating between 7 and 9pm (although maybe not in prime locations.) The only regret with Cabaret was that the acrobatics often didn’t start until half an hour or so into showtime – our kids, who were more interested in gymnastic or aerial feats, would have really preferred that those happen earlier in the performance schedule at least on some nights.

Similarly, the theatre shows were moderately captivating for them, but at least one child usually wanted to head back to the cabin for bed before the performance was over. I take this as a complete win – knowing one’s limits is a very useful life skill and certainly a proactive approach to bedtime was very good of them.

The shows themselves had slightly more of an amateur feel than the very polished ones we’ve seen on Celebrity or in previous years on NCL. The stories they try to tell are a little weak in terms of plot and not always obviously coherent, but the singing, dancing, and sound were nothing to knock.

Yacht Club

An overwhelming number of the live and post-trip reviews on the CruiseCritic MSC forum have been from people who stayed in Yacht Club accommodations. This is certainly a skewed number just purely based on the number and types of cabins onboard. On a positive note, there is lots of information out there about the Yacht Club amenities, process, and dinner menus! But I also get that this can seem uninteresting and pretentious for the larger set of passengers or prospective cruisers, who just want an inside room or maybe will splurge on a balcony.

Deck 20 – sundeck, pool, bar and grill

The first highlight of Yacht Club for me was the sundeck on Deck 20. There is a decently sized pool (The One Pool) with shallow and deep ends, plenty of lounger seating, a whirlpool/hot tub at the front of the ship, and a bar/grill. With how busy the Jungle Pool got, and the contention that the Infinity Pool on aft deck 8 was adults-only, the One Pool was a nice feature for our week. Our kids tend not to scream, splash, or run into people when swimming, so I don’t think we ruined anyone else’s week by being there. Plus, there were lots of other families with kids around using the same facilities – so we weren’t the only ones.

While the bar had excellent service (and there were usually plenty of roaming servers), the grill attached to it was sort of a confusing and less appealing element. It’s more of a buffet configuration, and is open for breakfast, lunch and mid-afternoon snacks. Perhaps this is personal preference, but it was quite warm outside every day, and we couldn’t really tear our minds away from food safety issues that might result from temperature control. I’m not saying that this was necessarily the case – the buffet was reasonably well supervised, and I expect that the team was paying attention to required rotation and safety checks. In any event, I wouldn’t shy away from a burger or hot dog here, but the chicken and fish options just seemed less appealing.

Similarly, it would have been nice to fully enjoy the casual breakfast option as opposed to going to the Yacht Club restaurant, but the outside temperature, even early in the morning, was oppressive. Depending on which way the ship was facing in the morning, you got blasted by the sun from the port side, even with the area being covered overhead. There is another set of tables on the starboard side – but this is a designated smoking area as well, and certainly smelled like it every time we got close to it, so that was not an appealing option.

One major drawback of Deck 20 was that the covered cabanas seemed to all be reserved by guests in more premium staterooms, even though they weren’t actively in use all day. When we had a few moments to ourselves with the kids at the club, Kayla and I found that there was often an unoccupied, covered lounging area near the Top 19 Bar, and went there a couple times for some afternoon drinks and reading. This is an area you can get access to with an Aurea-grade booking or upgrade as well.

Top Sail Lounge

My next favourite experience was inside the Top Sail Lounge, after the busy environment from embarkation had calmed down. There was quick drink service right to your table, a good selection of canapes and appetizer items (maintained in a much cooler environment), various types of seating, and a relaxing atmosphere. We spent time here together as a family playing card games, having snacks, and trying new kinds of drinks – with zero-proof options for the kids included. There was also a nicely presented tea service on one afternoon.

I didn’t feel like Yacht Club was too stuffy or required a more upscale set of clothing than I prefer to wear on vacation. Most days, I would be in shorts and a t-shirt at the indoor venues and for breakfast and lunch, or just in a bathing suit on the pool deck. For dinner service I did wear “long pants”, and a golf or collared shirt based on various recommendations, but I’m generally fine with making that change at the end of the day for the meal and any subsequent activities.

“Privileges” and butler service

There are a few “privileges” mentioned in the Yacht Club marketing material. We had selected a few of these from an online portal before boarding, but none of that information appeared to make it to the ship. As examples, we never received newspaper delivery, the selected pillows from the “pillow menu”, and our choices for included bottle of champagne or spirits were ignored. Our butler did ask about the booze which came on Day 2, but the options went from the online menu that had four different types of champagne, some of which were tagged as “exclusively available on Seascape”. We were offered “champagne.”

The butler did not proactively indicate the other amenities. I’m sure we could have pushed the issue, knowing what is supposed to be included, but honestly it didn’t really seem worth it to bother.

With there also being a room steward, it wasn’t like the butler seemed to be doing a lot of heavy cleaning tasks either. There’s a good thread called What does a butler in Yacht Club actually do? where a lot of the job responsibilities seem to be around escorting you to places, cutting lines, and delivering room service pizza – none of these were things that we exceptionally wanted or needed. A dinner table was always ready for us in the restaurant, which is a perk of Yacht Club with guaranteed anytime dining. There were no problems exiting at Ocean Cay on our own, and theatre and cabaret shows always had seating when we went. I wonder whether we got profiled by age (perhaps as people who don’t read physical newspapers), for having kids along, or something else.

If we do get the opportunity to try Yacht Club again, or any of the other upscale cruise offerings that include butler or “genie” service, I will be certain to compare how it works versus MSC and specifically our experience on Seascape. Maybe we just had a butler that didn’t match our style on this sailing, or it will at least become clearer that the butler benefits are not valuable for us.

Yacht Club Restaurant

While we did eat at other venues around the ship, most of our meals were at the Yacht Club Restaurant. Dinner was available from 5:45 to 9:15pm. That time window started slightly later than we’d liked for the kids, but the prompt and attentive service meant that bread and the kids’ meals came out in a way and at a pace where this wasn’t a problem. We were always greeted with a smile and friendly conversation by Nelly, the restaurant host, who must have had incredibly long days – she was there at every meal and starred in some other ship activities!

As you might expect from the dedicated restaurant for Yacht Club guests, food and service were very good. We were asked for drink orders right away and refills were proactively offered, and only once was a virgin pina colada forgotten (to great apologies from the dining team.)

For my tastes, I found some of the options to be somewhat too upscale, or at least trying too hard to seem luxurious. This is coming from someone who really enjoyed the Chef’s Table experience on Ascent. As an example, the beef tenderloin one night had foie gras escalope and truffle shavings, but they were overpowering and basically suppressed the taste of the meat. The sauces and dressings on many appetizer options were novel and premium, but not necessarily a good pairing for the food.

This isn’t to say that all the Yacht Club menu options were too fancy – we had some good seafood choices, and don’t ignore the options on the “Deliciously Healthy” section on the second page, under desserts; to me, they were often the more appealing dishes. There were some lunch and dinner menus where the offerings in the main dining room would have been more aligned with my palate, and those of the kids. If doing Yacht Club again, I think I’d try to see if dining in the anytime/Aurea restaurant some nights would be possible.

Other Yacht Club notes

I interacted with the concierge desk twice more in addition to our first day keycard pickup. The first was to determine whether we could get shore transfers back to MIA, but I was shut down and suggested that a taxi might be better, as our return flight was scheduled before their cutoff time of 2pm. The second interaction was when we were missing the room service menu and wanted to see what options might be available.

The concierge was very helpful, offering to take an order right then and there, but didn’t have a guest-facing menu at the desk. She was able to let me take a photo of the order form while apologizing greatly for the inconvenience – maybe this is something the butler could have helped with instead? We didn’t end up taking advantage of room service (a nap won out over food) but here are the options from our sailing.

2024-10-31 addition: Kayla mentioned that in my original version of this post, I failed to mention one of the least luxurious things about the Yacht Club area. In our cabin hall, and in other cabin hallways within the complex, there were perpetually linen carts, bedding bags, small vacuums, and other obstructions of a similar nature taking up space, even at hours of the day when cabin servicing would have been completed.

The hallways on Yacht Club floors seemed slightly wider than on other passenger decks, but these items still took up half the width. They caused chokepoints and certainly would have made it unpleasant for anyone with a mobility device. While this does happen on other ships during cabin servicing hours, we couldn’t remember these obstacles staying out well into the evening on any of our other sailings.

Food

We also tried the Marketplace Buffet on deck 16 for one dinner meal and main dining room (Green Wave, deck 5) for brunch. The buffet layout was large, but somewhat confusing with various sections either being decorative or actively in use. The kids enjoyed the options, but there was some confusion about ice cream availability. I thought the food quality was average and had a hard time remembering where certain interesting-looking items could be found. Kayla enjoyed some Mexican food, but was upset that key ingredients were located at entirely different stations (cheese, guacamole, chips).

The brunch served in Green Wave was good. We were able to be seated right away but put in an odd table location sandwiched between a pillar and a few larger tables. It was immediately obvious that the serving staff were very busy, and this brunch was a popular option. I was thrilled to be able to order “breakfast pasta” and was pleased with the quality and temperature of the bucatini carbonara.

Drinks

This was probably the least notable category because we didn’t have any issues, nor are there any significant conditions or exclusions compared to other lines’ drink packages. Sure, with the Yacht Club wristbands we effectively could order anything we wanted, outside of some super-premium stuff that I wouldn’t appreciate. The nicest thing, and not YC-specific, was that the kids were able to get non-alcoholic drinks with the Minors Package and legitimately be entitled to them. This included things like the virgin pina colada, but they could also get things like virgin mango or peach daiquiris, which was a fun experience for them and useful in the very warm temperatures.

There were some interesting gin cocktails within the Premium Extra package that we tried to get at Cabaret Rouge, but it was hit or miss whether they’d have the correct signature gin for a specific drink available. They also tended to over-pour the liquor in these, and I left most of an “Aloe & Cucumber” G&T because it was just that strong.

Even at our originally booked Easy Plus level ($10US/drink), there was a good selection of spirits and cocktails priced right at that $10 mark – in contrast to Celebrity’s recent upward nudging of prices to put many items out of reach without an additional fee. Wine selection was certainly weaker within the package limits, but that seems like a common theme across all cruises these days. There’s no stated cap on the number of drinks per day, and I never had issues ordering two drinks at a time, like on NCL.

Ocean Cay

None of the other ports on this itinerary really appealed to us, but we hoped Ocean Cay would be one that we could make. It was a beautiful but scorching day, and we did take advantage of the Yacht Club benefits to get on a golf cart over to the Ocean House area.

This section of beach, though, is not what I’d consider the best spot on the island. It is very rocky getting into the water, so water shoes are a must. On land, there was drink service right to your lounger, although waiters seemed to be assigned to a particular row or section – so you were subject to the pace and order complexity of the people before you. The paid cabanas behind the beach also certainly got more attention from the staff, but that’s somewhat to be expected.

The Ocean House food was good, but again slightly more upscale than I think we wanted or needed for a beach day. I enjoyed the lobster roll, and we were able to convince the kids to have some carne asada. One of the children did order the hamburger but it was just way too much food.

In an experience that I can’t really fault MSC for that much, the table next to ours was assigned to a party of YouTube personalities – I’d seen some of their prior videos before boarding, so even had a reasonable understanding of who they were and their type of content. They alternated between taking video and reviewing the food at a reasonable volume, to having a much louder, family-unfriendly conversation in between filming. Our kids were oblivious, and I’d say we’re far from prudes, but it just seemed obnoxious – especially in the more upscale venue – to be talking at high volume about sexually transmitted infections and similar topics. This also puts the staff in a difficult position; if they were to say something, they might end up unfairly bashed on the Internet from someone with an audience.

Connectivity and app

I didn’t really put the premium Wi-Fi through its paces, as we don’t do a lot of heavy lifting from the Internet on this type of vacation. We were able to do standard email and photo uploads, synchronize music and books, and scroll social media. I didn’t test the streaming capabilities. Coverage seemed appropriate wherever we went.

The MSC app is a little less polished than those of Royal Caribbean Group or the Carnival properties; it seems closer to NCL’s 2023-era offering where it is functional but not cohesive in terms of design. Many in-app links call out to a PDF viewer rather than a native iOS/Android UI component, and the activity schedule was not great to use. I did appreciate that it had menus for all restaurants available all the time. For basic functionality such as statement review, it worked well enough.

Kids club – Doremiland

The children’s care offerings on Seascape were well-attended on our sailing and seemed slightly more play-focused than on Princess. There’s a Lego partnership, and the Mini Club group our kids were in had Duplo blocks readily available for creations. There were also a few tables for colouring activities and comfortable seating areas, but the focus of the room was the televisions used for Nintendo Switch games. Thankfully, the kids seemed to like Mario Kart enough.

Like Discovery Princess, there are distinct time blocks where the program is offered, so you’ll have a lunch and dinner closure each day. There did seem to be more availability of the option to have your kids to eat a meal in the buffet with the group – there is a kids-specific section in Marketplace with fries, chicken nuggets, and pasta that they would take the children to.

One interesting change from Princess and Carnival is that the Mini Club and Juniors Club participants (ages ranging from 3-11) would often be escorted as a large group out of the Doremiland area and taken to another area on the ship for an activity. Parents would be told to arrive close to the end time of the session at these venues. One time, we ended up in Le Cabaret Rouge for a kids’ game show, conducted both in English and Spanish by a high energy leader. Children had to guess between fake and real paintings shown on the large screen and try to find the art forger with clues given out. I’m not sure our kids knew what was going on entirely, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a great activity for the younger ones, but at least ours didn’t seem to be too upset – we were perched in a section over top of them for most of the show.

During some of the afternoon sessions, groups of kids are corralled to The Studio, which is a theatre venue inside Doremiland that shows movies on a large screen. One of our kids made it about 25 minutes before they called our stateroom so we could perform a rescue. After that, we were deliberate about checking the schedule every day, and it meant that we usually skipped the afternoon offering and went swimming instead. Better tolerance to movies is a thing we’re working on with our kids but having no other option than staying in a dark room and watching a film for over an hour may also be a problem for your little ones.

Given that we did get some reasonable use from the program, I’d have to rank the kids clubs we’ve experienced so far as Discovery Princess > MSC Seascape > Carnival Celebration (ignoring our experience with NCL’s Guppies Nursery program that was only available on Escape, pre-pandemic.) Since this feature is becoming a key part of our family sailings, I place a high value on something our kids like, that has active staff engagement with the children – not just a screen time replacement.

Disembarkation

This is a very Yacht Club-centric experience as well; we were asked to leave our cabin by 8am (an hour later than the rest of the ship) but could still enjoy breakfast in the YC restaurant until 8:30. Due to our later flight and NEXUS cards (which include TSA PreCheck), we were able to have a relaxing meal and leisurely exit. This was the only time we really took advantage of a butler escort anywhere. After leaving the ship shortly after 9am, we took a taxi to MIA, dropped a checked bag at the Air Canada counter, were through security, and arrived at our gate by 10:20am.

Retrospective

I spent a lot of time at the beginning and throughout this post talking about the Yacht Club experience. I was glad we tried it, but I think we came off the ship with a mixed perspective when it came to total value.

MSC does do things differently than other cruise lines. Communications everywhere used slightly formal or unusual English, and elements of the experience just didn’t seem as polished. Carnival, conversely, leans heavily into a North American-focused experience with informal language, professional signage, and straightforward communication (perhaps on the simple side.) I think this is where people get caught up about MSC being an Italian-focused or international-focused line, and certainly experiences like a late, late dinner – potentially as a forced time – play into that.

Another example: The kids club mascot is a character called Doremi, essentially the line’s sun-like logo with eyes, nose and mouth in the inner circle. It appears on ships as an actual costumed mascot like one you might see at a large sporting event and walks around the ship offering to take pictures together. They also have a Lego figurine mascot with a sailor hat that does the same thing, which raises further questions about who and why and what this is for.

These differences make it harder to separate what is an MSC-specific experience, and what is specific to the Yacht Club. So, without a personal point of reference to the ship-within-a-ship offerings on other lines, I think anyone reading should look at this as a first-timer’s experience in one of these premium sections, maybe where we were somewhat out of place and less assertive than other passengers who do this more frequently.

Suffice it to say, I think I need to try NCL Haven, the Sanctuary on Sun Princess, or Celebrity’s Edge-class Retreat as a true comparison to Yacht Club. It is also worth mentioning that MSC’s Yacht Club offerings – especially if you include the inside cabin choices not available on other lines – cost significantly less money, on average, than other ships that do include a full complex of private amenities. This then leads to a key question: whether MSC is offering a watered-down luxury experience versus everyone else, or whether other lines are just charging more for something very comparable – and Yacht Club is truly a “deal.” I have a suspicion that the answer is somewhere in between.

Going forward

We were finally able to status match MSC with our NCL statuses, and did collect the increased number of Voyagers points for a Yacht Club sailing, but we’ll need to complete a cruise on the line again within 36 months of disembarkation to keep Gold (or any) membership level. It will probably be 1 to 2 more cruises before we reach Diamond status, which comes with a few extra perks. Certainly MSC is still a line I’d like to book, but with our highly positive experience on Discovery Princess just a few months prior, it is harder to commit to the MSC sailing when a non-Yacht Club cabin might have all the negative elements that come up in reviews – bad food, overcrowded ship, poor service – even if I don’t think that will actually be the case.

What I think the best option might be for us with MSC is to look for best value – so booking something along the lines of an Aurea-class experience on one of the ships, with a bundle including drinks and Wi-Fi, and choosing a ship and sailing like Meraviglia out of New York, Seaside or Seascape again out of Miami, or Seashore out of Orlando where there is highly competitive pricing at certain times of the year. That way, we’d have dining flexibility, and the adults would have access to a more secluded area on deck 19, but without the steep price uplift to Yacht Club.

I mentioned in the Discovery Princess review that at the time we’d made final payment on Seascape, we’d also booked Enchanted Princess for a week in August to wrap up our summer vacation plans. After returning from Alaska there were great expectations for the follow-up on Princess, even if we’d be returning to a less-optimal sleeping arrangement. Join me next time to see how that went, and if Princess continues to meet our family cruising needs.