Boarding the MSC Preziosa via the MSC Yacht Club

After a rain soaked start to the day, when I spotted the MSC Yacht Club awning at the entrance to the cruise terminal in Venice, I wasn’t sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me.  I had read online that there didn’t seem to be a point of arriving before 1:30 pm because they wouldn’t let you on the ship.  Apparently, everyone had also read this because the lines were extremely long as people waited to get inside the terminal to board the ship.  I produced my paperwork for the person at the MSC Yacht Club table and then we were whisked away without ever needing to stand in that long line.  As we passed the waiting passengers, I could feel their eyes on us as we passed them and shuffled off quickly into the building.  

Once inside the building, we were escorted to a special private area for MSC Yacht Club guests where we could enjoy a glass of champagne and a little nibble or two, all while checking in for the cruise.  After presenting our passports and a credit card, it was no more than a few minutes before we were off to enter the terminal through security before boarding the ship.  

As you can see from the picture above, the terminal was incredibly packed.  The lines for check in were long and if you know me at all, I tend to be somewhat impatient and fidgety while standing in line.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the butler service, but if for nothing else, getting through the terminal and ahead of the line at security all while sipping on a glass of champagne had me thinking I might actually enjoy this butler service!  Once through security, we simply had to follow the butler holding his “MSC Yacht Club” sign as he escorted us onto the ship. 

Everything was looking good until we got onto the gangway, as you can see in the first picture above. The line had come to a grinding halt and I was thinking that we’d probably spend the next hour standing there waiting to get onto the ship.  That was until the butler carrying his sign was able to get through the line and push right through to the front with us right behind him.  Admittedly at this point I felt incredible guilt for pushing past families with children and some older passengers, but then again, this was one of the benefits of the MSC Yacht Club and I realized then that I had better start to enjoy it or it would be a total waste and I’m not into wasting anything.  

Once through security where we had to present our MSC Cruises cabin card, we followed our butler to the MSC Yacht Club on deck 15 for some final check in procedures and then we were off to our cabin.  It couldn’t have been any easier!  Stay tuned as I detail my MSC Preziosa experience in the MSC Yacht Club along with all of our ports of call here on the blog.  I’ll try not to give too much away now, but come closer.  Closer.  Ok — it was AMAZING!!!!