MSC Yacht Club: Merită încă în 2026 sau Explora Journeys a schimbat totul?

20 thoughts on “MSC Yacht Club: Merită încă în 2026 sau Explora Journeys a schimbat totul?”

1. Very much enjoyed this video Alex. Great analysis of the difference between the two.

2. I absolutely love Explora Journeys. I have traveled with them twice now, but hope to sail with them again soon. Although I have traveled a lot with MSC, I have never been in the Yacht Club so I can't compare. Thanks for this video, so now I understand more.

3. I am doing YC in 10 months, Just got off Explora II. The main issue was main dining room. The cruise was full enough that getting in to Fil or Med at a decent hour was difficult. Paying luxury price and being forced to the buffet (even a GREAT buffet) is not really acceptable.

4. I have my first YC coming up in Oct. 2026, solo. It will be my 30th cruise to celebrate a milestone, and my second glorious solo cruise. I have experienced 3 bedroom cabins, amazing suites that ruined me from general cabins. LOL So, I try to "treat" myself these days when I can. I am in Texas, 2 hours from Galveston, and I do not ever want to take a plane somewhere again. LOL So I am stuck with the same ports, and ships, for now. On that note, from cruises to land vacations, I am really done with excursions. It has been done over and over. Dec. 2025, on the Regal Princess, I basically stayed on the ship besides going ashore to walk around a little. These days, there is no culture to experience unless you are in Europe, because the Cruise lines own everything now, colonized everything. 🙂 The chaos is what my budget allows, and hate of airlines limits me too. Yes, you are not talking to me in your videos, I am outside your circle, lol so I do know my place. Yet, I watch you to try to see if I should cruise or stay home and save even more. It is the bubble for me as a solo, since $6,600 plus is a little more easy to swallow than $10,500 plus with the travel expenses from flights, hotels, transportation, food, etc. To further sound like a curmudgeon, is walking through a ship to sit in a different lounge, or pool, or bar that necessary? Is a butler escorting me that necessary? Meh As an old man, single, been doing everything for myself forever, I just someone else cooking and making my drink, and all I have to do is say thank you. Do I need to spend thousands for that…maybe. LOL

5. Great video that clearly explains why explora journeys is better.
   While i agree there are hindreds of loungers, finding a cabana or a lounger in the shade on explora on a sea day is extremely difficult to impossible. More shady seats are needed.
   BTW i really love listening to your voice and accent!

6. We’ve booked an Explora Mediterranean cruise for 2027. Our TA highly recommended the line and this video is perfect!

7. In knapp drei Wochen beginnt unsere 15-Tage-Reise auf der Explora II. Wir sind aus Europa und für uns war die 2-Klassen-Gesellschaft auf anderen Schiffen schon immer unangenehm und abstoßend. Wir mögen es nicht, auf Menschen hinabzuschauen.
   Ganz bewusst haben wir uns für die Explora II entschieden. Wir sind Gourmets und freuen uns sehr auf die unterschiedlichsten kulinarischen Highlights auf der Explora. Das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis erscheint uns sehr gut und wir haben uns sehr über Dein Video gefreut.

   In few weeks our 15-day trip on the Explora II begins. We are from Europe and for us the 2-class society on other ships has always been unpleasant and repulsive. We don't like to look down on people.
   We deliberately decided on Explora II. We are gourmets and are looking forward to the most diverse culinary highlights at the Explora. The price-performance ratio seems very good to us and we were very happy about your video.

8. I’ve booked a birthday cruise on Explora I in February 2027. I’m traveling solo. I’ve traveled solo exclusively and can’t believe how much I’ve paid to travel on a cruise, and when I cruise get a drink or dining package because I like a good meal and drink on my vacation. When I looked into Explora, initially to see what I couldn’t afford, I was shocked on the dates I were interested in, that Explora has some of the lowest solo supplements, and my cost for everything was LOWER than booking with a main line cruise! Needless to say, I jumped on it and booked! I am so looking forward to February 2027!

9. Putting Explora 1 to the test shortly on a TA after having done a Yacht Club this past Nov.

10. Great video Alex! I'm going to try "the bubble" of Yacht Club for the first time this month. But I think an Explora cruise is in my future 😀

11. This January my wife and I went on the MSC Seaside and stayed in the Yacht club. This was our first test with MSC and I'll have to say that it was a very good one and it was successful. However, We also went on an Oceania Cruise which of course was much longer it was staying in a penthouse which includes a butler and instead of being a 4-day trip it was a 12-day trip. And certainly there was no comparison Oceania was certainly a higher-end experience. I believe MSC Explora appears to be a direct competitor with regent seven seas and silver seas. Which certainly depending on the itinerary appears to be more expensive. We have spoken about Oceania in other comments on other videos. One day we will probably give MSC Explora a chance. But it's certainly will depend on the itinerary for us. I believe it makes a difference if you're in a place like the Caribbean. You may want to have a ship that is bigger has more entertainment and more energy which would make you lean towards the MSC world America or the MSC seaside or even the MSC seashore in Caribbean market. I may have a different feeling about being on a ship as large as those if I was in the Mediterranean market. And I really feel like if I was in the Asian market that I'd want to be on a smaller more comfortable ship. Those are just my food for thought. Obviously prices important but My wife and I are appointed our lives that we really want to enjoy our experiences and if we have to step up a little bit to do that we're fortunate enough that we can!

12. My apologies for a common and possibly insulting question. I have MSC YC at the end of May from Galveston. I see comments about people making off menu request for food items or meals, and it will be a yes or no response. What is your opinion regarding making special request to that degree? For example, if it turns out that the chef has caved to Americans, and is offering American dishes like veal parmesan, lol is it bad taste to say to the Butler, will you put in a personal request for cacio e pepe for me? I know they want to please us, but this seems a little to much. If it is normal, then I still will not abuse it. Do you have guidance or feelings about making personal dinner request?

13. Thanks! I rewatched this one for your expert comparison. We are booked for Yacht Club and I have my eye on a future Explora Journey, but now we are just graduating from the chaos of commercial lines. Secretly I want to be escorted past the crowd tee-hee!

14. Wow Alex, I love the way you analyzed these two cruising experiences. As I told you on another one of your videos, we're thinking about a Ritz-Carlton cruise. But I think I have too much grit right now for me to have a proper voyage on the other side of the gateway. I really do enjoy the MSC Yacht Club experience, and the other people that I have had the pleasure of meeting & interacting with over the years. The Yacht Club crew members we've met have become our friends and it does still feel like I'm arriving back at my private vacation home every time I step into the embarkation terminal. And I don't think I've graduated to the next level yet; I'm not sure if I ever will. And that's okay with me for now.
    Thank you for putting together another great video – you've given me something else to think about.

15. THE WEBPAGE FOR MSC Yacht Club IS THE WRORST EVER.

16. All your videos are spot on. You have a refreshing voice in the social media word of cruising. We already had 2, 26 day cruises booked with EJ. We just finish a total of 54 cruise days on EJ 1 & EJ2 this past fall. The product was designed for my style of cruising. Your statistical analysis in this video reminds me of Diogenes of Sinope carrying a lantern search for the one honest man. You content is full appreciate. BTW, we had two Yatch Club cruises booked and after this video we decided the bubble is not for us. We will not cruise less, thanks to you we will cruise better. I hope our paths will cross one day and I can show my appreciation for all you do.

17. Hey Alex. We are on MSC World America. Just doing our own comparison of the Yacht Club vs Explora Journey! This is such a great video. ❤❤❤

18. I enjoy watching your videos. However, I’m fairly certain you have the Yacht Club drink limit wrong. There is no drink limit. In fact, in the YC, they never even ask for any ID when you order a drink.

19. We did a Yacht Club a year ago. Wasn't that great. Frankly The Retreat is much better

20. Thank you for pointing me to this video! I'm just starting to look into cruising, so a lot of my thinking revolves around being a "newbie" so to speak. I've for the moment decided NOT to go with Yacht Club, or MSC in general. I don't want to do MSC (especially the "mega-ships") without Yacht Club because I strongly dislike crowds, but the price of Yacht Club, even for shorter sailings, seems too high for a first time cruise. On the other hand, I have heard that short cruises in general tend to attract the "party hard" crowd, and that is also not at all what I'm looking for. Explora is now definitely on my bucket list, but when I looked, I couldn't find anything shorter than 9 days, and again, for a first time cruise, that ends up being too expensive overall, even if the per-day price might be reasonable. I have neither generational wealth, nor high working income, so I'm basically saving up for it $100 at a time, so the eventual price will matter. So, at the moment, I'm exploring other options, notably smaller ships with shorter sailings on ships with quieter reputations (like the Explora, but, again, shorter). Maybe that doesn't exist and I'll have to compromize on one of those three criteria, but for now, that's what I'm looking for 3-7 days max on not-a-mega-party ship. I'm also traveling solo, so that will also be a factor, though to be honest, it seems weird in general that cruises tend to go with "price per person assuming two people" instead of "price per cabin/room" like hotels do. According to cruisers, I'm paying a "solo supplement" every time I stay in a hotel room!

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