Georgia_Peaches

Yes! I’ve followed your remarks on NCL over the years. You have quite the line up on the books! We have a Celebrity Mexican Riviera cruise set for March and I’m seriously wondering if we are going to be disappointed after being pampered in the YC.

Sitting on Ocean Cay and have to say, it’s just beautiful! YC area is very quiet with lots of empty loungers and umbrellas for shade. We snagged 2 loungers on the hill next to Ocean House in the shade of some awesome palm trees. A minor irritation about ocean cay is that you have to log out of the ship’s wifi in order to set up island wifi. I say a minor irritation because I was several cocktails in when I set up the original account and couldn’t remember my username or password. And if you’ve done MSC before, you can’t use past usernames. I guess I should say I got an error message when I tried. I think I used to be much more tech savvy before retirement. Now there seems to be less of a need to keep such technical know how clogged up in my brain 🙃. We walked from the ship to the YC area instead of taking the shuttle. The walk took about 15 minutes. Have to say, with the ship at half capacity the island feels pretty empty. some differences between this visit and our last when on the Seashore: 1. We walked off today without a butler escort ( which was just fine) 2. We set up our own chairs/towels (which was just fine) 3. Had to go In search of water (a little annoying)

Honestly, we haven’t missed it because as you say, it takes up a lot of space which is at a premium in YIN.

Awe, thank you! Heading out soon. Weather is beautiful today and not very hot.

Checked it out last night on our walk about. First dinner seating was at 6 pm. They had sort of a procession line of wait staff greeting guests at the entrance of one of the MDR’s. One server was actually strumming a guitar singing “Take it Easy” by the Eagles. Looked like fun!

Yesterday afternoon we tried out the spa’s thermal suite. We’ve always enjoyed the thermal suite on NCL but weren’t too impressed with MSC’s version on Seashore. I’m happy to say we like Meraviglia’s much better. The suite is well light and seems over all to either be laid out better or perhaps a little bigger. There are only 3 stone loungers but there are other loungers in a relaxation area and in a salt room. A few observations: 1) the floor is wet with no sign of anyone keeping up with the water…step carefully! 2) the robes provided in our room run small. I’m not a terribly big person and my robe barely met in the middle. So much for my morning doughnut. 😂 Last night we spent some time outside of YC but skipped the theater show and opted for some live music on deck six instead. We also caught a ceiling show on the promenade…very cool. Dinner in YC was my least fav of any night thus far on MSC. We had prime rib and shared lobster ravioli. Neither were very warm and both were lacking flavor. Sorry, no pics of the food last night. We went to dinner at 8 and the restaurant closes at 9. Not sure if that was part of the problem. After dinner we went to the champagne bar before heading to the casino. At the champagne bar There are at least 5 different bubble options with one being true champagne that are included in the YC drinks package….so no up charge for us there. If one doesn’t have the premium package, champagne by the glass wouldn’t be included at the champagne bar. Lady Luck paid is a little visit last night in the casino which made up for the deposit we made the night before. Casino as a whole, like the ship vibe itself was very quiet. Although allowed, there was no smoke last night. Today is Ocean Cay….

I guess it could be he didn’t actually know. I’ll see what others might know and report out anything different.

So this afternoon DH and I decided to check out the sport complex and the simulators. We bought a package that allowed us 3 simulation experiences each. So far we’ve done an intense roller coaster sim and the race car! I had the fastest single lap time but DH won the race. There are 2 cars side by side so you can race against someone or against yourself. Note to self and others: don’t do the roller coaster simulator on a mojito stomach 🤮. Made me feel sick afterwards so I was forced to remedy myself with some fries from the main pool deck grill. Later we strolled around the inside decks before heading back up to the YC grill for a salad. Odd thing: no salad dressing. Several of the crew behind the countered seem baffled by the request. I ended up using a little of the juice from the seafood salad. It was just ok. Edit: I should add that one crew member offered to round up some salad dressing for me but I declined as I was ready to eat and didn’t really want to wait.

Actually, yes! Just spoke with assistant YC director who indicated a sold out YC on the next cruise and not counting any last minute bookings, around 2200 pax.

Just pulled into Nassau. I loved having the Captain’s eye view as we entered the berth. working on our first drinks of the day: mango mojito and the rock lobster. Random observation: all announcements have been made in English only.

Thank you! Yes, complimentary soft serve is available at the main pool grill. It is not self serve and comes in a cup, no cones. But looked good! We strolled through the buffet and noticed an ethnic station with Indian cuisine. Some options were vegetarian.

You can arrange a dinner reservation for the MDR via your butler. YC Menus have been very nice as well. I think you will be pleased. 😊

thank you! YC pool/hot tub closes at 8 pm

No regrets! We really only used our balcony for morning coffee sits but that was easily accomplished on deck 19 this morning. I thought I might feel claustrophobic but I really don’t. DH says we get all the perks of any other YC guest but in our case we spent almost 1k less. On a 7 nighter it’s an even bigger savings. Now granted, everything is smaller…bathroom, closet, living space…but we are making it work.

Like you, gg we have spent a lot of time on NCL both in and out of the Haven. Our 2 YC experiences on MSC have us doubting/wondering if we will do another NCL…especially with current pricing. Met several NCL folks yesterday who are MSC converts. Sea class ships are awesome! thanks for following along! 😊

Let me lay to rest any troubled thoughts you may be having. YC personnel are bending over backwards to ensure we have a great experience. Outside YC has been great too. We plan to spend some time in the public spaces today so will have a better overall feel for the cruise experience as a whole.

Made our way up to YC sun deck (19) around 8 am this morning and was greeted by Romeo, our pool deck hand and safety person. He promptly set up two loungers for us while Derik arranged for our cappuccino and OJ. We ate freshly prepared, made to order omelets and my favorite little chocolate covered doughnuts. I read the daily to DH and by the end have concluded that MSC are not skimping on entertainment options on this 4 night cruise. Tonight’s theme is “Flower Power” with an homage to the disco era. Side note: I’ve been very happy with the wifi. I’m posting from my phone in open water and haven’t experienced a single delay in service…even uploading photos has been super fast.

After lunch we returned to our room to unpack and watch the safety video. Our room is compact. Storage is minimal but should be fine for 4 nights. My suggestion for anyone trying to maximize space in the closet would be to use your own hangers instead of the ones provided. The ship hangers are very bulky and take up a lot of space. You’d get more mileage from skinny wire hangers. There is not a coffee machine and we didn’t get a bucket of bubbly. Maybe because it’s a 4 - nighter, IDK but I’m going to ask when/if we meet our butler. Otherwise the room is very comfortable….and dark! Best of all, the a/c works great! DH has kept his key in the slot the whole time so maybe that helps? The muster drill was no problem and although people seemed to be everywhere, it was an organized chaos that went pretty quickly. We spent a good bit of time in the top sail lounge meeting new people in the evening and by the time sail away occurred, it was already dark. I have to say drink service has been excellent. Servers have been attentive and quick. we went to the 7:30 show in the theater and then off to dinner. The show was fine and dinner was fabulous. I had filet and scallops. I must confess, I can’t for the life of me recall what DH had for dinner 😳. overall yesterday’s embarkation day was one of my favorites!

Found out that YC is at 200 passengers and the rest of the ship is at 1900.

Our lunch entrees: I had the Cobb salad with chicken. It was very good and perfectly portioned. DH had the lunch filet and it was excellent. I might have had just a tad bit of food envy…but I was trying to be good. Tonight I will eat with reckless abandon! oh and that’s DH’s traditional embarkation shirt you see in the background 💁‍♀️ Because nothing says love like a face shirt!

Ok I’m in love with this ship. It’s so different from Seashore, which we loved as well. We are currently in the YC restaurant having embarkation day lunch. Service is exceptional. My only complaint is that I feel like our table is situated on top of our neighbors…our very chatty, potty-mouthed neighbors. I’m not antisocial at all but I also don’t want to hear the conversations of my fellow guests. I think at dinner we might seek out a more quiet table. I started with the cheese plate.

From luggage drop off at pier 10 to Top Sail lounge Prosecco in 20 minutes! Fastest embarkation ever!!!

Embarkation day at last!!! But first let me conclude our stay at the Inn at Cocoa Beach. After returning from dinner we popped into the honor bar and made ourselves a nightcap. Cocktails are self serve and are priced at $6 bucks. There was a nice selection of liquors and mixers to choose from. I had an Absolute and tonic while DH had some Makers on the rocks. We then returned to our little patio to round out the evening. With a DAWGS win under our belts, it was off to sleep. The bed was comfortable and the room temperature was, well… COLD! DH will tell you that my ideal A/C sweet spot is quite narrow. Insert eye roll, I deserve it 🙄. So I might have adjusted the temperature a tad too low because we both woke up shivering. The bedding consisted of a sheet and a light weight coverlet….not snuggle material at all. Not the fault of the hotel though, most normal folks don’t need a down comforter in Florida! On our way to breakfast this morning we encountered several water features Around the grounds that we hadn’t seen yesterday. One of them serves as a sanctuary for a couple of beautiful birds! Breakfast was nice and included a muffin and egg cup with choice of fruit and yogurt, coffee and juice. It was just enough to lay the foundation for my first embarkation cocktail, which I hope to have in hand very soon. To be certain, we enjoyed our stay very much and will definitely be back! We are off to the pier….

That’s what I thought!! We just waved them off from cocoa beach. Hope all turns out well for the passenger.

My last cruise on the fantasy resulted in my now 27 y/o daughter. Ahh the ice sculpture and midnight buffet days….💁‍♀️