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Why the ultimate luxury cruise experience — especially in the US — may be on an MSC Cruises ship
As TPG's cruise team lead, Gene Sloan oversees the site's cruise content and also writes many of TPG's main cruise guides. He has spent nearly 30 years writing about cruise ships and cruising, and he is one of the world's best-known authorities on the topic.
March 13, 2025 • 10 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
MSC Yacht Club offers an exclusive, luxury retreat within select large cruise ships, featuring private suites, dedicated butler service and exclusive dining venues.
Guests enjoy priority access to ship amenities, including reserved seating at shows, premium dining reservations and a private sundeck.
The experience extends to MSC's private island, with Yacht Club guests receiving special access to exclusive beach areas, restaurants and amenities.
MSC Yacht Club is now available on more ships sailing from North America, expanding options for travelers seeking a high-end cruise experience.
What to consider
MSC Yacht Club fares are higher than standard cabins but include premium drinks, Wi-Fi, spa access, laundry services and more.
Exclusive areas and services are only available to Yacht Club guests, offering privacy and personalized attention throughout the voyage.
Yacht Club suites can be a strong value compared to small luxury ships, while still providing access to the extensive amenities of a megaresort-style vessel.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed look at the onboard and private island perks, plus firsthand insights into the personalized service and unique value proposition of MSC Yacht Club.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
I am sitting at the MSC Yacht Club Grill, an exclusive open-air eatery atop the 2-year-old MSC World Europa, when I begin to wonder if my butler, Lanto, can read my mind.
Sure, it would seem to bend the laws of science, but it might be true. How else could he know that my companion and I were feeling a chill? He has just arrived, unrequested, with sweaters from our suite six decks below. That is just what I was thinking we needed.
Whether Lanto really can read my mind or is just the most observant and diligent butler in the history of cruising — did he see us walk out of our rooms underdressed for a chilly morning, enter our room to find the perfect pullovers and then track us down to deliver them? — it is a remarkable display of service (or mind reading). And it’s not an outlier.
Time and again on this seven-night sailing around the Western Mediterranean on MSC World Europa — one of the world’s biggest and most venue-packed cruise ships — I have been wowed by both the personalized service and the luxury touches.
I am notably staying in the MSC Yacht Club, the exclusive “ship within a ship” luxury retreat found at the front of MSC World Europa and more than a dozen other MSC Cruises ships.
It is a high-end hideaway only open to top suite guests that’s home to luxurious suites with round-the-clock butler service, a stunning private bar and lounge overlooking the ship’s bow, exclusive dining venues and a secluded private sundeck.
It also comes with priority access to all the many venues and attractions spread across the rest of the massive vessel, from premium seats at shows to hard-to-get, prime-hour dinner reservations at top eateries.
For a vacationer who loves a big-resort experience and is willing to pay a bit more for that extra "first class" experience, it may be the ultimate cruise offering. And the best part? The MSC Yacht Club is available on more ships sailing out of North America than ever before, making it even easier for U.S. travelers to indulge in this luxurious experience.
Coming to a port near you
Top Sail Lounge on MSC World Europa. IVAN SARFATTI/MSC CRUISES
MSC World Europa isn’t the only MSC Cruises ship where you’ll find an MSC Yacht Club, and the Mediterranean isn’t the only region where you can sail in one.
As of April, MSC Cruises will have a record 15 vessels with exclusive MSC Yacht Club areas sailing in regions around the world ... and that includes the U.S.
The list of ships with MSC Yacht Clubs will soon include seven vessels sailing in North America, including ships sailing out of such close-to-home ports as New York; Miami; Port Canaveral, Florida; and Galveston, Texas.
This will include the new, much-awaited MSC World America — the biggest MSC Cruises ship ever to sail out of a U.S. port. A sister ship to MSC World Europa, it’ll be operating seven-night voyages to the Caribbean, including stops at MSC’s private island, Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, out of Miami starting in April of this year.
The arrival of MSC World America, which is nearly 20% bigger and even more venue-packed than any other MSC Cruises ship that has sailed in North America, is a milestone moment for the brand in the region. It caps several years of dedicated investment in North America, as Europe-based MSC Cruises continues to strengthen its presence and compete head-to-head with the largest North American brands.
The perks aren't limited to the onboard experience, either. If you're booked in the Yacht Club during a voyage that visits Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, MSC Cruises' private island getaway in the Bahamas, you'll receive red-carpet treatment there, too.
For starters, passengers can access a special shaded seating area with water while they wait for dedicated trams to take them to Ocean House Beach, which is exclusive to Yacht Club guests. There, they can take advantage of a towel stand (something to which non-Yacht Club cruisers don't have access ashore) and free use of sun loungers and umbrellas.
Nearby, also in an exclusive section, is the Ocean House Restaurant, which provides a delectable lunch menu only for Yacht Club travelers. (I still daydream about the cheeseburger I had there on a recent visit.)
Additionally, two of the island's three types of cabanas — Ocean View Yacht Club Cabanas and Beachfront Yacht Club Cabanas — are open for booking only by Yacht Club guests.
If you’re looking for a luxury experience in North America on a big venue-filled ship, you’ll soon have more options than ever from MSC Cruises.
A luxury retreat on a big ship
Twenty decks high and more than 1,000 feet long, MSC World Europa is one of the biggest and most alluring megaresorts in the world — and we’re not just talking at sea.
With more than 2,600 rooms, dozens of restaurants and bars, and every sort of amusement known to humans — from a sprawling deck-top water park and a bumper car pavilion to giant showrooms with glitzy shows — it’s bigger and more lively than the biggest resort hotels in theme park mecca Orlando.
But thanks to the presence of the MSC Yacht Club at its front, a voyage on the ship — and other MSC Cruises ships like it — can offer a serene luxury experience, too.
As I saw during my seven-night stay in the MSC Yacht Club on MSC World Europa, it allows for a cruise experience that offers the best of both worlds. In my mind, it’s both one of the world’s greatest megaresorts and a luxury retreat — two things that rarely exist together.
During the daytime on our sailing, my companion and I often would venture out from the tranquility of the MSC Yacht Club for fun-filled playtime around the ship — from zooming down its giant waterslides to riding its next-level Formula One race car simulators. But at any time, we could — and often did — retreat to the pampering of the MSC Yacht Club’s private sundeck.
At night, we’d often head out for, say, a pub crawl down the Galleria — the sprawling, three-deck-high promenade with restaurants, bars and lounges at the heart of the ship — or a show, only to end the night with a nightcap at the MSC Yacht Club’s private Top Sail Lounge.
We had a similar array of choices when it came to dining. Some nights, we would dine at the MSC Yacht Club’s private, high-end restaurant, the MSC Yacht Club Restaurant — one of three eateries that are exclusive to MSC Yacht Club guests. On other nights, we would head to the ship’s main areas for dinner at a premium restaurant such as the Butcher’s Cut steakhouse and fresh fish-serving La Pescaderia. The best tables reserved by the MSC Yacht Club’s dedicated concierges would await.
A VIP experience
LUC SELVAIS/MSC CRUISES
No matter what we did on board MSC World Europa, our membership in the exclusive club for guests staying in the MSC Yacht Club brought a VIP experience from the very moment we walked up to the vessel.
Arriving at the Port of Marseille in France for the sailing, our soon-to-be-familiar butlers whisked us onto the ship through a private entryway after an expedited check-in process that barely took a moment.
Once on board, a flash of our MSC Yacht Club keycards let us breeze into fully booked shows. When we ordered drinks across the ship, there was no bill — drinks were included in the MSC Yacht Club fare.
In addition to the MSC Yacht Club Restaurant and the open-air MSC Yacht Club Grill, both located within the keycard-access-only MSC Yacht Club compound, we had exclusive access to the ship’s Brasserie Restaurant at night for a different menu.
During the day, the private Top Sail Lounge served as our own private European-style coffee bar, with tuxedoed waiters serving finely made espresso drinks and pastries. At night, it morphed into an exclusive bar and lounge venue with live music just for us.
Meanwhile, a couple of decks up, the exclusive MSC Yacht Club Sundeck offered us our own private pool, whirlpool and an abundance of plush lounge chairs.
It was the perfect retreat from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the ship — our own private and exclusive hideaway.
Luxury for less
An Owner’s Suite on MSC World Europa. MSC CRUISES
As you might expect, you’ll pay more to stay in the MSC Yacht Club on an MSC Cruises ship than in a standard cabin on the vessels.
But compared to what you’d pay for a cruise on a small luxury ship, such as the vessels operated by MSC Cruises’ luxury-focused sister brand Explora Journeys, it’s still an unusually good value. You might even call it the best value in cruising.
As of the publishing of this story, MSC Yacht Club suites on seven-night MSC World Europa sailings started around $2,700 per person for a voyage in January 2026 — nearly three times the rate for a standard balcony cabin on the ship.
But that’s still significantly less than the cost of the typical seven-night voyage on a small luxury vessel. And, as noted above, it allows for a big-ship experience with a diverse array of activities, dining and drinking options, and entertainment that you just can’t find on a smaller vessel.
The MSC Yacht Club fares, moreover, come with a huge number of inclusions and extra services that you don’t get with less pricey cabins on MSC Cruises ships.
As noted above, you’ll get free drinks wherever you are on the ship — a premium drink package that normally costs extra on MSC Cruises vessels is included in the MSC Yacht Club fare.
MSC Yacht Club fares also come with free Wi-Fi, unlimited access to the thermal areas in ship spas, complimentary laundry pressings and such in-room perks as a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine, nightly turndown service with a plate of chocolates, and free minibar drinks.
Plus, there’s that 24-hour butler service, as well as concierge service.
Additionally, during port calls, you’ll be able to breeze off and on the ship through a private VIP entry and enjoy your own dedicated areas and amenities at Ocean Cay.
Bottom line
The exclusive MSC Yacht Club areas found on MSC Cruises ships deliver a personalized luxury experience where privacy, exclusivity and tailored service take center stage.
For discerning travelers, they offer what just might be the ultimate luxury experience at sea, providing access to all the allures that only the biggest cruise ships can offer with the sort of elegant and upscale touches that typically only can be found on the most intimate luxury vessels.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
