MSC Yacht Club: What Is Included and Which Ships Have It

MSC Yacht Club is a gated area on the upper decks of certain MSC ships, reached by key card. Inside are its own lounge, restaurant, sundeck and pool, staffed by a butler and concierge around the clock. It is often described as a ship within a ship, and on the larger vessels that is close to literal: you can spend a whole day without leaving it.

The part that matters most when you are pricing it is what comes bundled. The Premium Extra drink package is included and works everywhere on board rather than only inside the Yacht Club, along with unlimited browsing Wi-Fi and unlimited thermal suite access. Those three together account for a large share of what most people would otherwise buy separately.

What the Yacht Club Is

The Yacht Club occupies the forward upper decks, typically decks 15 to 19 depending on the ship, behind a key-card door that only Yacht Club guests can pass. Inside are a private lounge with a bar, a dedicated restaurant, and an outdoor sundeck with its own pool, whirlpools and bar service.

The arrangement runs from the terminal onwards. There is a separate check-in desk at embarkation and boarding in the first wave, with an escort from the gangway to the lounge. Lunch is served there while the rest of the ship is still finding its cabin. Disembarkation works the same way in reverse.

What it does not do is confine you. Yacht Club guests use the whole ship exactly as anyone else does, and the drink package works in every bar on board. The private areas are an addition rather than a boundary, which is the distinction that decides whether the money makes sense: you are buying somewhere quiet to retreat to, not a separate holiday.

Before You Board

The Yacht Club starts in the terminal rather than at the gangway. Guests are met in a dedicated area of the cruise terminal and offered premium snacks and drinks, champagne and prosecco among them, while the main check-in queues form elsewhere.

A butler then escorts the party through the security checks and aboard, and on to the Top Sail Lounge, where the concierge gives a personal welcome and the first drinks arrive. Luggage goes straight to the suite. For anyone who finds embarkation day the least appealing part of a cruise, this is the single most noticeable thing the money buys.

The same applies at every port, not only at the start and end of the voyage. Yacht Club guests have priority for going ashore and returning, with a butler escorting them between the Yacht Club and the pier. At a tender port that is worth a good deal more than it sounds.

What Is Included

MSC publishes the list, and it is worth reading closely because several items are things people commonly buy separately.

1. Butler and concierge, 24 hours. A butler assigned to your suite handling unpacking, reservations, in-suite dining and the small arrangements of the day, with a concierge desk for excursions, dining and anything ashore.
2. The Premium Extra drink package. Included, and usable in every bar and restaurant on the ship rather than only inside the Yacht Club. This is the highest of MSC’s drink tiers, covering premium spirits, better wines by the glass and craft beers.
3. Unlimited browsing Wi-Fi. Valid for the whole cruise at the browsing tier, and covering two devices per person rather than one, which is more generous than the Wi-Fi bundled with most fares.
4. Private lounge, restaurant, sundeck and pool. The panoramic Top Sail Lounge, with a bar, afternoon tea service and a light food selection running 20 hours a day, and live music every evening. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner from its own menu, and the sun deck has a pool, whirlpool, solarium and a grill and bar.
5. Unlimited thermal suite access. The spa’s heat and relaxation rooms for the whole cruise, which is otherwise sold as a per-cruise pass.
6. Priority everything. A dedicated check-in desk, boarding in the first wave, priority tender and disembarkation, and an escort between the gangway and the lounge.

What It Costs

MSC prices Yacht Club suites per sailing, like the rest of its fares, so there is no fixed figure. The gap against an ordinary balcony varies by ship, season and how well the sailing is filling.

The more useful way to look at it is what the fare absorbs. A Premium Extra drink package booked separately runs to around £65 per person per day. Wi-Fi for a week and a thermal suite pass are both chargeable extras. On a seven-night cruise for two, those inclusions alone represent a substantial sum before the suite is priced at all.

Promotions move it further. MSC runs Yacht Club offers with onboard credit and, on selected sailings, included flights, and those come and go through the year. A fare checked in one month and the same sailing checked in another can look quite different, so it is worth watching rather than pricing once.

The Suites

The Yacht Club runs from ordinary suites up to some of the largest accommodation MSC sells, and the range is wider than most people expect.

At the top are the Owner’s Suites, at roughly 78 to 104 square metres with balconies of 48 to 65 square metres. Below them sit the Royal Duplex and Royal Suites at around 51 to 58 square metres with balconies of 42 to 51, some with a private whirlpool on the balcony. Duplex suites with whirlpool come in around 46 square metres. Entry-level Yacht Club suites are considerably smaller but carry exactly the same inclusions and access. All of them sit in the foredecks, and every suite comes with a bathrobe, slippers and a pillow menu.

That last point matters more than the square metreage for most bookings. The butler, the drink package, the Wi-Fi, the private areas and the priority boarding are identical whichever Yacht Club grade you book. If the appeal is the experience rather than the floor space, the entry grade delivers all of it.

The Services People Do Not Expect

The published inclusions are the drinks, the Wi-Fi and the thermal suite. What is less advertised is the layer of service around them, most of it arranged through the butler.

• Unpacking and packing. The butler will unpack your cases on arrival and pack them again at the end, which on a formal-night itinerary with a lot of luggage is a genuine service rather than a flourish.
• The minibar, included and refilled. The suite minibar is included in the fare and restocked daily, and the contents can be set to your preferences by asking the butler rather than taking what arrives.
• A spirit bottle of your choosing. Delivered to the suite, alongside daily amenities that run from fresh fruit to macarons and chocolates.
• Nespresso and East India Company teas. On selected ships the suites carry a Nespresso machine and a range of East India Company teas.
• Reserved theatre seating. A section of the theatre is held for Yacht Club guests, reached with an escort and without booking ahead, so the routine of reserving a show slot does not arise.
• Shopping out of hours. A personal shopping session in the onboard boutiques outside normal opening times can be arranged, as can a private jewellery viewing brought to the suite. The arranging is the service; whatever you buy is charged as normal, and MSC lists tailor-made excursions and shopping experiences as not included in the fare.
• MED by MSC amenities. An organic bathroom range produced for the Yacht Club rather than the standard suite amenities.

A few smaller things sit alongside them. Room service runs 24 hours and is included rather than carrying the tray charge some lines apply. There is a newspaper service, a fresh fruit basket in the suite, and one free cruise change under MSC’s terms. Access to the thermal suite in the MSC Aurea Spa is included, and Yacht Club guests get 10% off spa treatments bought on board.

One more is easy to miss if you sail MSC regularly: a Yacht Club booking earns more MSC Voyagers Club points than any other experience level. If you are working towards a tier, the fare does double duty.

Which Ships Have It

Not every MSC ship has a Yacht Club, and this is worth checking before you fall for a fare. It appears on the larger and newer vessels, including MSC Virtuosa, Grandiosa, Preziosa, Splendida, the Seaside class (Seaside, Seaview, Seashore, Seascape) and the World class. MSC Poesia joined them in 2026, when a major refurbishment added a 69-suite Yacht Club with its own restaurant, lounge and private sundeck.

For sailings from Southampton, MSC Virtuosa is the ship to know, since it is the vessel MSC has based in the UK for its no-fly season. Its Yacht Club sits on the upper forward decks with the full complement of private areas.

Most of the older and smaller ships still do not have one, but Poesia shows that a refit can change the answer. Check the specific ship rather than assuming from its age. If a Yacht Club sailing is what you are after, the ship matters more than the itinerary, and the fleet list is the place to start rather than the destination.

What a Day Actually Looks Like

Breakfast is served in the Yacht Club restaurant or on the sundeck, without the buffet queue. The Topsail Lounge runs all day with pastries in the morning, light lunch, afternoon tea and canapés before dinner, and the bar is open throughout.

The sundeck is the part regular guests notice most. Loungers are not reserved by towel at seven in the morning because the deck is limited to Yacht Club guests, and there is bar and food service to the lounger. On a sea day in the Mediterranean in August, that is the single most tangible difference from the rest of the ship.

Evenings are more flexible than the arrangement suggests. The Yacht Club restaurant has no fixed sitting and no queue, but plenty of guests eat in the main dining rooms or the speciality restaurants instead, and the concierge handles those bookings. The theatre, the bars and the entertainment are the ship’s own, used by everyone.

The Yacht Club restaurant runs its own kitchen and its own menu rather than serving a version of the main dining room card. Menus lean Mediterranean and international, and shift with the region the ship is sailing. There is also a sommelier on the floor, which is unusual on a mainstream line and the detail Yacht Club guests mention most often.

Once a week the Top Sail Lounge does a full afternoon tea with butler service and champagne on arrival: East India Company teas, scones, sandwiches and pastries, in the British fashion. It is worth knowing it happens once per cruise rather than daily, because it is easy to miss.

Who It Suits

The sum is not really about the suite. Start with what you would buy anyway. If a Premium Extra drink package, cruise-long Wi-Fi and a thermal suite pass are all things you would purchase separately, a large share of the difference is accounted for before the accommodation is considered at all.

It tends to suit people who want space away from the busiest parts of a big ship. MSC’s larger vessels carry a great many passengers, and the Yacht Club is the most direct way to have the scale of the ship available without living in it. On a full sailing in school holidays that is the difference most guests mention.

It suits less well if you are ashore most days and aboard mainly to sleep. A port-intensive Mediterranean itinerary leaves little time to use a private sundeck, and the inclusions that justify the fare are largely used on board. The same booking on a sea-day-heavy itinerary works much harder.

Families are worth a mention. The Yacht Club takes children and the suites accommodate them, but the private areas are quiet by design and the ship’s own family facilities sit outside the gate. It works for families who want a calm base and the run of the ship, rather than everything in one place.

Beyond the Ship

Two of the less obvious inclusions happen off the ship entirely, and both are recent additions.

There is now a range of Yacht Club shore excursions sold only to Yacht Club guests. They run in small groups with private transport and their own guides, and most include lunch or dinner. The published examples give a sense of the format. One is eight hours in Antwerp taking in the MAS rooftop, the Grote Markt and the Rubens House, with a praline stop and lunch. Another is a five-hour run from Tunis out to Carthage and Sidi Bou Said. Seats are limited by design rather than by demand. Tailor-made excursions with a private guide can also be arranged through the concierge.

In the Caribbean the arrangement extends to Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island. The Yacht Club has its own reserved beach area and restaurant there, known as the Ocean House, staffed to the same standard as the ship. It is the one place the ship-within-a-ship idea leaves the ship.

The Yacht Club is not on every itinerary either. It sails from Southampton and across the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, and MSC has been adding regions steadily. The Canary Islands and Madeira, Alaska and South America are all recent additions, alongside the Caribbean, the Antilles, Asia and the Grand Voyages.

Frequently Asked Questions