We chose this cruise primarily to try out MSC’s Yacht Club experience (this was our first MSC cruise), and we were pleased with it across the board. Essentially, it’s comparable to NCL’s “ship within a ship” Haven experience but, at least when we booked, significantly more affordable.

Embarkation - We felt the worth of the Yacht Club from the moment we arrived: the escalators at the Miami terminal had broken during disembarkation of the prior cruise, which had caused a backup in boarding passengers for our sailing and resulted in some pretty horrendous lines (not MSC’s fault, but waiting in line for hours just to board would certainly have started the cruise off on a frustrating note). But as Yacht Club guests, we had a curbside tent we could walk right up to, with butler service to greet us and escort us to a separate lounge inside the terminal where we could wait for the few minutes it took to check us in, and then an escort onto the ship to the Club’s private onboard restaurant and lounge. If you are a Yacht Club guest, look for that tent curbside! It wasn’t easy to spot with the enormous crowds everywhere, and if we hadn’t known to look for it, we might have missed it and added several long and unnecessary hours to our embarkation process. Last note on embarkation: I had read prior reviews that complained about announcements being made in several languages. My general take on that is, it’s an Italian line and has a fair number of European cruisers, so that’s to be expected. The only place I really noticed it was during the mandatory safety drill, which took longer than usual since they had to provide the same safety instructions in four or five languages. If you really think this will bother you, my advice would be, get there early, grab a seat (I think most muster stations were indoors in places like the casino, with chairs), grab a drink before they close the bars for the drill, and just relax and enjoy practicing your very rusty Italian (or French, or Spanish, or...?).

The ship: The ship itself is (and feels) quite new - we actually celebrated her first birthday during our sail, complete with birthday cake and confetti. Onboard activities include a zip line that runs most of the length of the ship, several water slides, and an arcade area that includes interactive 3D movies and a race car simulator (where, depending on your skill level, you can get the feel of racing a Formula 1 car at 200 mph or, if you’re me, crashing it into a few walls, but either way, it’s a blast!). If cruising with people who enjoy these types of activities, go early and get a “Fun Pass.” Each experience (other than water slides, which are free) is $10 per person, and you’ll get credits the more you buy (ex., a $100 Fun Pass purchase got us $160 worth of rides). Lines were pleasantly not long, even on at-sea days. Read more