There was never a wait to talk to someone at the Yacht Club's 24-hour concierge desk, and both the desk and the butler handle any spa and restaurant reservations, which in the end gives guests more time to vacation. But we learned right away that just being in the Yacht Club doesn't get you to the front of the disembarkation line Pereira does.īut it's not only the butler who saves you time and offers personalized service when you're a Yacht Club passenger. When we booked a ship excursion on Mexico's Costa Maya, Pereira insisted on escorting us through the disembarkation area, where we cut a long line of people, and off the ship entirely to be sure we got to the correct waiting area.Īs grateful as we were, when we headed out on our own on a later excursion on Roatan, Honduras, we felt silly asking to be escorted off the ship. Our butler, Manoj Pereira, let us know that whenever we wanted to go somewhere - whether it be to the theater, a specialty restaurant or even off the ship - he would escort us. Once aboard, we learned that the butlers' line-cutting superpowers extended shipwide.

Related: MSC saves the day after pre-cruise Covid testing options fall short.

MSC Yacht Club guests had an exclusive check-in and waiting area, with butlers on hand to check us in and escort us to the gangway. I heard from quite a few people who said they waited two hours to get onboard. We arrived at the Port of Miami for our pre-holidays Western Caribbean sailing to find a boarding bottleneck, owing to processing all of the additional requirements Covid tests create. Let's face it, a lot of vacation time gets robbed doing just that, whether at the airport, at terminals or even on ships.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise CollectionĮvery Yacht Club guest has a butler, and while I've had butler service on several luxury cruise ships, having one on a contemporary vessel adds a new level of value in that the butler enables you to avoid some big-ship hassles.Ĭhief among them is waiting in lines.The going is good at the new Hilton Vallarta Riviera The all-inclusive resort is one of my top recommendations in Puerto Vallarta.In defense of souvenir shopping It turns out that there's surprising co-dependency between the experience economy and the material world.What's happening with Covid policies at river cruise lines? For the most part, protocols and insurance policies adopted by many of the major operators in Europe remain intact, although.You can still get federal pandemic relief There is more federal assistance available, even if you've used PPP funds.

Msc seashore ship