Seas2mountains

The documentation from a doctor is critical to get reimbursed from insurance. Has your husband been seen at urgent care or your doctor office or a medical care facility? Have you contacted the insurance carrier to find out what they need to start the claim? Hope he feels better soon.

We were on Divina last month. We really enjoyed the YC experience and will cruise in YC again later this year. As mentioned, the service in Le Muse was almost perfect. We’d definitely cruise Divina again because of Le Muse and One Pool and the service we received there.

Yes, absolutely!

In the atrium? 🤷‍♀️ They were dancing in the atrium near their seats and didn’t leave the area. Did you think they went to another lounge?

Excellent review! Glad to hear you had a great cruise! We know what you mean about embarking out of New York. We have learned to expect a little more assertive/aggressive personality types when choosing cruises out of there and don’t hear “excuse me” or “I’m sorry” quite as often as other ports in the US. At the same time, we have witnessed some funny responses from NYers such as the guy who had no shirt on who insisted his camelback was a shirt when he tried to get seated at Le Bistro. He was probably a little drunk, too. We have also had people try to take our seats when we are dancing especially in the atrium but on all ships. Thank you again for sharing so many helpful details. In this time when some are reporting about cutbacks it’s great to hear others are making the best of their experience.

If you skip it. The escargot in Le Bistro are soooooo good. The French baguettes are perfect to dip in the leftover butter.

Thank you for taking the time for this wonderful live review! Do you know if your VIP status will get you any other perks for hosting the M&G? I believe a few years ago the M&G hosts were invited to eat breakfast and lunch with the non-Haven suite guests on ships that had non-Haven suites.

We stay at Cocoa Beach for cruises departing from Port Canaveral. There was a restaurant at the Cocoa Beach pier that had delicious lobster rolls. I can’t find the name of the restaurant. The service wasn’t great but the lobster rolls were good and the view was also nice as it was oceanfront.

Yes, we tip with cash. I don’t think the staff get tips left when we fill out the paper receipts after dining at a specialty dining restaurant or if paying for drinks not covered by a drink package. We have also had some nice servers get us wine from other bars/restaurants when ordering wine on the P+ plan.

We also tip the servers/bartenders $1/drink. We know it isn't required but by day 2, they get to know us and when they see us walk into the lounge or by the pool, they will quickly come over to confirm our drink order. They also are so quick to come back before our drinks are empty to provide refills. We drink a lot of San Pellegrino with the P+/FAS+ packages so it's not just for alcoholic drinks for us.

I’m excited to read this live review on the Prina! I’ve not read a post from the famous @sid_9169 until this week. I love his very honest and vulnerable yet real posts. It looks like the hundreds of followers have known @sid_9169 posts which are wonderful are on this NCL post and those of us who practically worship NCL are asking who is @sid_9169 who seems to be very famous on many CC boards. In any case, I’m enjoying this post and look forward to the responses.

Sweet! (Pun intended) 😀 https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/cruise-accommodations/cruise-suites-and-penthouses Skip the lines and be personally escorted on and off the ship at the pier and at ports-of-call Distinctive keycard 24-hour trained and certified suite butler. From unpacking your suitcase to pouring your champagne our butlers are at your service Champagne, custom selection of liquor**, fruit, bottled water and sodas Sparkling wine, bottled water and fruit on Embarkation Day Nespresso Coffeemaker and Tea Forte tea bags 24-hour Room Service Invitations to an exclusive breakfast and lunch Specialty dining delivered to your suite from any restaurant (cover charges apply) Cocktail party with ship's officers Treats delivered right to your door each night Bliss Collection by Norwegian pillow-top mattress Fine linens, feather duvet and pillow menu Plush bathrobes, slippers and oversized bath towels Luxury bathroom products Have a wonderful cruise! The breakfasts and lunches are often in Moderno or Cagneys on deck 13. They tend to use menus similar to what is provided in Haven restaurants. Breakfasts tend to have a nice fruit, cheese, cold cut, salmon and capers, with pastries buffet. It really is quite sweet to be in a suite with Jewel class suite perks even if it’s not the Haven.

We have done this with National for drop off and pick up at this port for two different cruises. We arrived between 9am-10am and still had a line but it wasn’t too bad.

We tend to tip using the same guidelines as the Bird when in the Haven or Suites with Butler/Concierge service. After meals, we may leave $5 or more in cash for the server especially at specialty dining restaurants. The $1/drink tip results in very fast bar service throughout the ship by day 2-3 when we return to the venue.

Yes, agree! Thank you to all who take us along. I’d like to add @YVRteacher and @CruzinMel for their most recent Live reviews, too.

We typically choose NCL but most recently sailed in YC on MSC Divina earlier this month. We sailed in the Haven on NCL Getaway in September. MSC excels with YC embarkation as you get escorted after dropping luggage at the YC tent to a special YC security line and then to YC check-in. We also liked how the YC experience included premium wines like Oberon Cabernet with no need to pay for P+ and also included unlimited but sloooooooow wifi. On MSC Divina, the YC restaurant is in the aft area of the ship in Le Muse. The food and service were equal or slightly better than Haven. The menu does change daily for lunch and dinner. The dress code was not enforced. People came to dinner and were seated with tank tops, shorts and flip flops. If you don’t want to eat lunch at Le Muse, the YC One Pool area can make a burger cooked to order and had buffet items. There were more food options in One Pool on newer MSC ships like we experienced on Seaside. While we had better YC entertainment on Seaside in Top Sail than we experienced on Divina, it was still nice to be in the lounge rather than in other areas of the ship. The common areas of the ship outside of YC were a nightmare at times as it was so crowded. I’ve never seen people pack in a hot tub on a ship like we saw on MSC. The bar service was close to not existent or had long waits at the bar at entertainment venues. We absolutely loved Ocean Cay and the special service at Ocean House. Our next two cruises are on NCL in Club Balcony cabins but we will cruise MSC YC later this year knowing the the trade off with entertainment in the evening. Here are some photos of Ocean Cay and room service menus. The room service pizza on MSC is amazing!

MSC in Yacht Club or not? We just got off MSC Divina in YC last month. The areas outside of YC were packed and reviews posted by those not in YC make it sound like it was not a pleasant cruise due to the crowds, lines for food and the food quality. The reviews might be helpful to know what to expect. Was your last NCL cruise before your October cruise in 2010? That’s really a long time and I can imagine a lot changed in 12-13 years.

Yes, for NCL. See article below. No for other cruise lines. https://www.travelmarketreport.com/Cruise/articles/Cruise-Lines-Return-to-Traditional-Muster-Drills

@CruzinMel Thank you so much for taking the time to provide so many details and photos! So glad to hear you had such a great time! We will be on the Escape at the end of May with one of our sons and his fiancée. Your review is super helpful to know what to expect. For your Jewel cruise, will you be going Seward to Vancouver or vice versa? I highly recommend doing the harbor tours to glaciers and wildlife when in Seward. We have done that cruise three times - twice from Seward and once from Vancouver. It’s my favorite cruise destination for sure. You and your DH will have a fabulous time.

If you are in the Yacht Club, you will have an amazing experience especially with the YC restaurant, Top Sail and the One Pool. If you aren’t in YC, you should read the recent reviews on CC for the ship so you know what to expect. We are frequent NCL cruisers and we love the YC but would not cruise MSC without being in YC. We will be back on NCL and while we love the Haven experience, we tend to choose Club Balconies and feel comfortable without the Haven, too. We have never seen so many people packed in a hot tub and it can get really crowded in lounges and common areas compared to what we have experienced on many NCL cruises. The buffet on MSC did not seem to have as many options as we saw on NCL.

Thank for your suggestions. I considered that this was only a 3 night cruise but Generation X only has one more night on a 4 night cruise. By night one, the special treatment she received from the butler on day one surpassed what we experienced throughout the cruise. We still had a wonderful cruise and will return to YC. My husband is one of the sweetest and kindest people I’ve known and he goes out of his way to treat people with respect. While only my husband met our butler on day one, it was difficult to build the relationship when we didn’t see him again until day three. While the butler offered the bottle of booze to take home during all conversations with him and he asked if we wanted anything special in the refrigerator, other than directing my husband to the room service and pizza delivery menu, we didn’t know that they could provide surprise drinks and surprise treat plates not requested. We definitely will be asking for daily cheese plates in the future now that we realize it is an option. When in Top Sail, we asked the butler on duty there if we could have a pizza delivered to be enjoyed in the lounge. The butler said they would be happy to have the pizza or other room service items delivered to our room but discouraged guests from having food delivered to Top Sail. I mentioned that we remembered guests on Seaside having food delivered to Top Sail but he was firm that it was not something they did on Divina. I do not remember seeing any guests in Divina Top Sail with any food delivery. Just a few days later, Generation X posted a photo of her pizza ordered and enjoyed in Divina Top Sail. It’s the inconsistency that is making me wonder about the difference in treatment. On our cruise, some guests wore shorts, tank tops and flip flops to dinner in Le Muse which also made me wonder how the staff chooses to enforce policies or not. How do they choose when to say yes and when to say No to the identical question is the mystery here that I am trying to figure out.

@Norwegian Cruiser 73 you are very welcome. There was a QR code in the room that we scanned to bring up the room service menu in many languages. I only saved the English version. Have a wonderful cruise!

Do you have any suggestions for how you communicate to the butler so you receive those special somethings each day? Or do you tip up front?

Thank you for responding as it is very interesting that we had similar experiences. Was Kevin your butler, too? We did see him on Friday but not on Saturday. We did see him at Ocean Cay on Sunday. That is too bad on the Coke Zero. I am also a little confused with the roles on MSC YC as we thought we had cabin stewards but some are calling them the junior butlers. We were disappointed that the dress code was not enforced at Le Muse. The kids sure were dressed nice and in many cases much nicer than some adults! You will have to read the review of the person who is on the ship now and is posting her experience on the Celebrity boards. Her experience is so much different than ours with the same butler. I'm afraid she is setting the Celebrity people up for disappointment as she is making it seem like everyone gets VIP treatment including invites to private cabanas without having to pay for it. It sounds like she is having a great time and I am happy for her.

You are welcome! I thought it might be helpful as on our first YC cruise, I don't remember seeing a menu but we did have pizza delivered but didn't know what kinds were offered. We ordered pizza at night and it was delicious. When we asked the butler in Top Sail on this cruise if we could have the pizza delivered to Top Sail like we saw occur on Seaside, he said that they discouraged this and would deliver the pizza to our room but did not want us eating it in Top Sail. The concierge took the order and coordinated it with a butler who wasn't always our assigned butler. The person who is posting on the Celebrity board who is doing a live review on Divina posted a photo of her with a pizza in Top Sail so I don't think this "rule" is consistently followed.