Inside Look: MSC’s Luxury Ship Within a Ship (MSC Euribia) #ad

I’ve been cruising with MSC for years, and I’ve always wanted to go through those MSC Yacht Club doors to the luxurious “ship within a ship” area.

I’d heard about it, I’d seen pictures but never stayed inside. On my last cruise, I finally had the chance.

I tried everything, from the private lounge and pool deck to the butler service, the very fancy little ketchup tubs, and afternoon tea.

There were perks I didn’t even know existed, and I learned a lot about cruising in a completely new way

When I said I would be staying in MSC Yacht Club, the main comment I got was, “You won’t go back” ( to a normal MSC cabin) – I wanted to see if that was true. 

Before I’d even stepped on the ship, it was clear that this would be a very exciting cruise.

Our Butler met us in the terminal and took us past all of the queues. We stopped only for a quick glass of champagne – which I was more than happy to do.

We were sat in a little corner of the terminal with snacks available and comfortable seats. We were given our cruise cards and wristbands, and the crew even put my wristband on for me, which really was a sign of things to come.

It really hit me at this point that this would be unlike anything I’d ever done before.

I was already having so much fun – and that isn’t something I normally say about cruise terminals! Normally, it’s just a thing you have to tolerate – but this was so exciting. 

MSC Yacht Club guests have priority embarkation and disembarkation too. At the end of our cruise, our Butler also escorted us down to our taxi. 

We went into an MSC Yacht Club specific entrance, which they do have in some ports.

This would always be towards the front of the ship so we could head straight up as we had priority in the elevators, meaning that they didn’t stop for anybody else on the way up. 

I don’t normally use the elevators much when I cruise but it turns out that when you have priority, it is much more tempting. I did use them most days on this cruise. 

MSC Yacht Club is located at the front of the ship and is split over decks 16, 18 and 19.

Interestingly, there is no deck 17 onboard as in Italy, the number 17 is considered unlucky, the same way 13 is considered unlucky in many other countries. 

Find out more about that in this article:

The Real Reason Why Many Ships Miss Deck 13

There are some more cabins which are part of MSC Yacht Club but located on other decks, but the majority are in here. Lower down, there are a few double-level suites, which just looked incredible.

As soon as we got to deck 16, we passed through those magical doors and into the concierge area. This is like a reception desk, and the team are here 24/7.

Our cabin was located just to the side, and it was lovely to know that if we ever needed anything at all, we could just ask. Every time we’d walk by, the crew would say good morning, and it was just a lovely atmosphere. 

We could ask them to book speciality meals or excursions – anything really.

Our Butler could help with those things too and did book both for us. I’m used to booking things myself when I cruise, so that did take some getting used to, but it was really nice to have somebody else confirm when the booking was.

Whenever I do it myself, I always doubt that I’ve got it right, and when I’m waiting for a speciality meal for example, I’m always wondering “Did I book it for the right day? did I book it for the right number of people?” On here, though, no such worries… 

Our Butler shared his story with us about working his way up in the company, and I could tell how much he loved it. He loved buttling or whatever the word is. 

As our Butler showed us around, he took us into the Top Sail Lounge, which is a space with the most amazing double-height windows.

We saw some beautiful views of Norway from here, and for me, this is really what cruising is all about. 

Sitting here in the afternoon with a drink was the most relaxing thing. 

This lounge has 167 seats, and the sofas were my personal favourites. Everything was so shiny and clean.

Over on the left-hand side, there was a stage, and the seating went right the way around the outside. This seemed like a clever design to me, to have the seats with the views and parts like the bar in the middle. 

Speaking of the bar, there are loads of different types of drinks, more than I could ever mention. I never found anything I wanted that wasn’t on the menu, and I tried a few new things here too. 

As we had just boarded the cruise and were getting everything set up our Butler sat with us in the lounge and helped us to log onto the Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi is included for guests staying in MSC Yacht Club, which is a great perk.

We really enjoyed that and had fast enough speeds to watch videos and for me to keep up with my work while away.

Each person has two devices that they can use, and I imagine if you weren’t very tech-savvy, having somebody who could help you with this would be a big benefit. 

We would always have the choice of lots of seats in here, but there was one event where most of the seats were filled.

That was the welcome onboard party hosted by the captain and the cruise director, and I’m pretty sure all the guests, or at least the vast majority, did attend this.

Everybody who came in the lounge was shown to a table by their Butler and the crew welcomed us onboard. The Butlers were introduced and came out to wave at everyone, followed by the Captain and Cruise director speaking. 

On our cruise, there were 68 different nationalities in total. That meant lots of languages were spoken. The Captain and the Cruise Director effortlessly switched from language to language. It was seriously impressive. 

All guests who stay in MSC Yacht Club have a premium plus drinks package. This meant that we didn’t have to think at all about prices or getting a bill at the end of the cruise.

Because everybody inside MSC Yacht Club had the drinks package, they didn’t even need to take our cruise card when we ordered a drink, which was nice.

It made coming back to this lounge a great option once we were done with the entertainment out and about around the ship.

They always offered us snacks with our drinks, and I found out that the crisps given out by default were actually caviar-flavoured! I don’t think I’ve ever had caviar-flavoured crisps before.

My favourite drink was the mango mojito, and the service in here was always so fast.

They’d put down little coasters when they had taken your order just so that the other waiters knew you were being served. Even these had the MSC Yacht Club branding, which is present in the cabins, too. 

Every evening they would have live music in the Top Sail Lounge. It would normally be either a pianist or a vocalist – or both. They were always very good, singing a range of different music. All the music I heard played onboard on our cruise was sung in English. 

During the day, they served afternoon tea in this lounge – it was fabulous. There were only a few of us on the day we chose to come so we pretty much had our own dedicated waiter.

We were offered lots of different types of tea, cakes, and scones. I decided to go for a tea called “First Romance.” I’ve never heard of that type of tea before, but it was lovely. It was the kind with real tea leaves, of course.

We could have had as much tea and food as we wanted, and other snacks were available in this lounge everytime we were there.

They had a little preview area with the snacks as you went into the lounge which I thought was a nice touch, that way you could see what you fancied before being offered or asking for it. 

We could also eat the free snacks in the mini bar, which was a nice treat. The drinks in there were also included – and these were constantly refilled.

You can ask for whatever you’d like in your minibar, and they’ll remember your preference.

When we arrived, the cabin also had a bottle of champagne and fruit. I brought the bottle of champagne home and gave it to the person who looked after my dog and cat while I was away.

It’s totally fine to take it with you if you want to.

The same goes for the scent diffusers, which are a gift to guests staying in MSC Yacht Club. MSC cruises have a very distinct smell, and for me, every time I walk onto an MSC ship, it’s so familiar. Now, my bathroom at home smells like it, too. 

We were onboard the cruise for a week, and we could choose a litre of spirits for our cabin. I personally don’t drink a lot, but if you add up the value of all of the perks like this, they really do add up fast.

We did the majority of our eating in the MSC yacht club restaurant which is located one level up on deck 18.

In between the lounge and the dining room is a Swarovski crystal staircase and I loved walking down this after dinner. Especially on formal night, it felt like gliding down the stairs of a big country house or going to prom or something. 

The dining room has 140 seats and there are no fixed dining times, you just show up when the restaurant is open and are seated.

On our cruise, it was open for breakfast from 7 to 9, lunch from 12 to 2, and dinner from 6 to 9.30 pm. Of course, lots of other food was available outside these times; the food never really stopped. 

We never had to wait even for a second and the crew always knew our names which is very impressive. 

We were always asked about intolerances and allergies and one night I had a lady sat next to me who was gluten free.

She was so happy when they bought her multiple gluten-free bread options for her starter. They brought us a bread basket before every meal. 

The bread was a particular favourite of mine. It was fantastic, but all the food was good. A lot of effort had gone into the presentation, and the portion sizes were perfect for me. 

Every night, the menu in here changes with extra special menus for Formal Night and Mediterranean Night. The service really couldn’t have been better, we never felt rushed but also didn’t feel like dinner took any longer than it needed to.

The best part about eating in a restaurant on a cruise line is that when you are done you just stand up and leave. Your food all included in your cruise fare so theres nothing else to do – you just go. 

My personal favourite area in MSC Yacht Club is the pool deck. It felt absolutely huge for the number of guests and it was the best place to hang out. I personally think having access to this pool deck makes the MSC Yacht Club upgrade worth it. I could have stayed there all week. 

The pool deck spans 1225 square meters which is about the same size as four full sized tennis courts. Theres a good sized pool and whirlpools too with over 100 places to sit, it never felt crowded up here.

It only took a couple of days for us to feel like the crew knew us. They’d always stop to chat about whatever we’d been up to that day and would offer us refills all the time. 

We’d often spend time here after we came back from exploring the port or from taking an excursion. The excursions meet down in the Top Sail Lounge and there are excursions available just for MSC yacht club guests. 

Sometimes on cruises in some ports you have to use what is called a tender boat to get to land.

It’s basically either a lifeboat or a local boat that is used to transport guests to shore. We didn’t have any of those ports on this cruise but on some itineraries like the british isles there are often multiple. 

Find out all about tender boats here:

Cruise Ship Tendering – Hints, Tips & Everything You NEED to Know

Guests staying in MSC Yacht Club have priority access to the tenders so we could have been some of the first people off the ship in that case.

Not having to get tender tickets and to wait for the number to be called is a massive benefit I’m sure I’d have enjoyed if we needed to tender. 

When we took an excursion in Nordfjordeid, it was raining, so our butler bought us an MSC umbrella to use.

These are on loan from MSC and I thought that was a very nice touch. I wasn’t sure how I’d like having a Butler before this trip but it was fantastic. I’m convinced we could have requested something that didn’t even exist and the team would have made it happen.

I did request cookies for my cabin a couple of times actually, and they arrived soon after. It must be a fairly common request. Who knew?

I did speak to other people on the cruise, and I asked them what kinds of things they asked their Butlers to do.

Some said that they requested a pre-dinner drink in their cabin each day, some had their Butlers unpack their suitcases on embarkation day, and some even asked that their pillows be arranged a certain way. None of those things were a problem at all. 

On the top deck there is a bar and a grill too, where we enjoyed multiple lunches. The food here was always cooked freshly and there were loads of options, including the famous MSC mozzarella which is made onboard. 

One day, when we were relaxing on the sun loungers with the adorable towels, a crew member brought around little tubs of ice cream, which was a lovely surprise. They were like the ones you might order in the theatre, in the little cardboard pots.

The crew would bring us tea or coffee anytime, too, as well as soft drinks and alcoholic drinks.

I’ve personally never had a cup of coffee so I can’t comment on the quality but we did have a coffee machine down in our cabin with little coffee pods, which I’ve heard are very good. If we had wanted a kettle we could have just asked our butler for that too, but I mostly stuck to fizzy drinks. 

We could have asked our butler for a few other things that we didn’t like daily newspapers which can be delivered to your cabin or even a wake up call. They actually have a newspaper menu so you can pick your favourites. 

Some people do like their Butlers to unpack and repack their cases, and I got the impression they’d be more than happy to do that.

Ironing was another thing. Our Butler offered to iron a few items for formal night but I’m so used to cruising and not having access to an iron that I usually bring clothes that don’t need ironing – like my formal night dress that was mostly sequins. 

We made use of the pool deck area when it came to breakfast time, it was a relaxing quiet place to grab a quick bite. The speed at which they’d take away our dirty plates after putting them down was incredible.

The small touches like the butter being in these little tubs made it all feel very luxurious. My personal favourite MSC breakfast is the iced buns, couple of these and I’m good to go for the day. 

There is actually a way to get in and out of this area onto the main pool deck. I certainly confused a few people when I disappeared into that door, but being able to do that was so much fun.

In the past I’ve always been the person who is looking longingly that those with the power to open the doors, so it was great to be on the other side of that. 

I’d either use my cruise card or more frequently my wristband to open these doors. The wristbands also acted as a way for the crew outside of MSC yacht club to know where we were staying. This meant that we could make use of other benefits outside of this area of the ship without having to always explain. 

One of my favourite perks was the dedicated seating area in the theatre. Because we had this area of seats reserved for us, we didn’t have to book the shows or arrive early to get a seat.

Sitting behind the rope did take a bit of getting used to but I very much looked forward to going here each night and we always had a great view. There was a gap between us and the next rows of seats so we could see right over everybody’s heads.

They do release the seats in this section at showtime, so nobody misses out, which is good. I wouldn’t want to deny somebody a chance to see a show while sitting in my most empty row!

The shows were always entertaining and usually only around 30-40 minutes long. Each had a different theme and we saw lots of things like singing, dancing, knife throwing and acrobatics. 

Another perk outside of MSC Yacht Club is free access to the Spa’s Thermal Area.

This gave us access to the saunas, steam rooms, cold showers and more. I decided to visit early on a port day, and we were the only people there!

This was on the advice of our Butler and having him to ask things like this was so helpful. We told him that we wanted to go to the thermal suite and because I’d be filming a few things we really wanted to go when it would be as quiet as possible.He was absolutely right with his suggestion. 

I braved the cold shower walk in the spa which was very refreshing, I definitely did prefer the warm jacuzzis and things.

Afterwards though I did have a nice warm shower in the changing rooms where they had lockers and towels. I wore my MSC Yacht Club robe with the gold on the front which made me feel very special. 

They put gold luggage tags on my suitcase too – which I’m sure made them feel very special. 

Our butler escorted us to the spa, and the team was always available to take us anywhere.

I imagine it would be great if you didn’t have a good sense of direction. MSC Euribia is a big cruise ship, but if you have a Butler with you, theres really no risk of getting lost. 

The Butler service is available 24/7 – as is free room service. We made use of that multiple times during the cruise and enjoyed it as we had a luxurious cabin to enjoy it in.

Normally, eating room service in my inside cabin isn’t so much fun, but this was great. One day we ordered sandwiches and another time we ordered pizza, which came in a proper little pizza box.

We’d also order room service breakfast too, and that was a fantastic way to start the day. 

The MSC Yacht Club public areas take up 1955 metres² of space out of a total of 35,000 metres² of public space for the entire ship.

To find out what we got up to in the other 94% of the ship, including all of the entertainment, food and more, check out this video next:

Before You Go

Find out about the money-saving tips you won’t want to miss when cruising with MSC here:

19 Essential MSC Cruise Tips That I Use Everytime (Freebies, Money Saving & More)

Find out all about MSC’s great loyalty status match programme here:

MSC Status Match – What Is it And is it Worth Doing? A Step-by-Step Guide