amygutman

Cruised on the Getaway in April and can vouch that the buffet was wonderful - especially the Indian offerings. Kiddo thought the pizza was better than MSC, and gave two thumbs up for the fries (considering how many plates he ate of them, I think he can give an honest review). Never ate in the MDR though, but hope that helps. Warmest Amy

@Nikita4 Respect your opinion, but also respectfully disagree. Perhaps it's because we've never sailed with true luxury lines, but on both MSC and NCL in the YC and Haven, we have had outstanding personalized service. Although some have different experiences, we've always had a positive response from our butler letter (and from the comments on @Sthrngary's postings, it seems to be the consensus). For a true butler experience, I suppose that relates to what your definition of a butler actually is. According to https://www.britannica.com/topic/butler-servant, the definition of a butler is: "chief male servant of a household who supervises other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services. The title originally applied to the person who had charge of the wine cellar and dispensed liquors, the name being derived from Middle English boteler (and various other forms), from Old French bouteillier or “bottle bearer.” On our non-luxury line cruises, this seems to fall well within the realm of what the butler staff actually do - some better / more successfully than others. Perhaps we just have more reasonable expectations as we are not paying double or triple the price as we would on Regent, et al. We love the personal attention - and yes, it truly is personal so we will stick with our modus operandi. Feedback much appreciated, though! Warmest Amy

@PompeySailor and I must have spent too much time at Woodstock. 'Tis another term for marijuana, among many others

@Sthrngary Your advice has made cruising so much easier and stress free for so many people. Unlike the person in the bar you most recently met claiming to be your dear friend 🫢 I would love to meet with you and buy you a drink plus your favorite almond croissant. Perhaps our paths will cross but know that we appreciate you and I'm sure if the YC cruises headed over to your NCL Haven thread would also appreciate your great advice on the suite-within-a-suite and "Haven-Lite" experiences. Warmest Amy

Agree completely. Thanks!

LOVE THIS!!!!! I hopped onto your Seascape Poop Deck posting. Have to admit i'm disappointed in your current staff's response to the hordes of people interloping into the YC. We were lucky to have the exact opposite experience. Any funky bud yet? Warmest Amy

@Nikita4 Not only is our letter real, it has always been read and responded to within a day. Yes, each butler has a large group of cabins and you will often seen them writing down specifics of you and your family, but this written letter has always been greeted with a positive response. We cribbed the body of the letter from @Sthrngary on his "Haven 2022" thread over on the NCL Boards and modified it to our family's needs. On NCL, the pre-concierge is way more involved in pre-planning than on MSC, but still a real-time "hey, this is who we are and what we like, and thank you in advance for working so hard to give us a fantastic vacation" is so helpful on any cruise. Agree re: cultural and language differences in the Kids Clubs. Heck, I'm an awkward introvert in my 50s and could not imagine being thrust into a similar situation as a 14 yo, spectrum or not. Hope you have a great cruise! Warmest Amy

@V8cruiser 100% possible. There was not a single request that was not honored (or at least attempted to be honored). Even to the point of offering to take our family in the service elevators to shows / trivia as kiddo doesn't do well in crowded spaces. I think the only difficulty you would have in ordering a special meal is perhaps in the steakhouse as it's unlikely they have easy access to PB&J. But maybe if you called ahead? Having been on Disney, RCL, NCL, Celebrity and MSC, I have to say that MSC and NCL treat these cruisers and families very well. The only difficulty is in the Kids Clubs (for every cruise brand we have sailed with), but by no fault of the staff (who are all very well trained, and most have 4 year education degrees, some specializing in special needs populations). It's honestly the challenges in overcoming the often overwhelming task of meeting new kids who already may have their own social group / family group, who may speak a different language, and may not share the same interest. Have a wonderful time - can think of no better way to experience a family vacation and see the world! Warmest Amy

@no1talks THIS IS FREAKING HYSTERICAL. Not to hijack at all, but on our Seaside YC last week (seems like a year ago) an older woman accidently grabbed my husband's tush in the pool. She was not mortified at all, and as we all were laughing about it I asked her in jest "Are you one of those pineapple people?" and her answer, straight-faced was "No, but my husband is.". We almost drowned laughing. Life apparently does get more interesting after 70!!! Warmest Amy

@morpheusofthesea Interlopers, Weed and Velociraptor Pirate Shows OH MY!!!! Not our favorite class of ship, but I do love a good Morpheus review. Following happily! Warmest Amy

I'm sorry - no recent ones. I will say it's been very well marked where you have to go. You can go to www.portcanaveral.com the day before (or even the morning of) your cruise to see where your ship is docked. The best indicator of which dock is eyeballing the ships whilst driving in - just look up 😁. All the ships are very well marked and it becomes immediately evident where you are boarding. If taking a shuttle from a parking lot, they will take you directly to your specific port. Another poster here also noted the much newer and bigger Miami terminal which I believe has even a bigger and shinier NCL area + the older and smaller secondary dock. Due to influx of so many ships daily, RCL "brands", NCL "brands" and other groups of ships may have rotating docks. Sorry to not be more helpful, Warmest Amy

@morpheusofthesea Great to know. I remember how much you like the RS and thought - what the heck. It's kiddo's first trip to Europe (good Lord that sounds bougie), and with the exception of Paris, none of our family have been to the other ports. So, splurging on a trip that already is quite expensive to ensure that everyone is happy and comfortable is worth it to us. Knowing the room will be warmer is actually a bonus to me: I routinely wear long-sleeves in the Florida summer whilst hubby would happily walk around in a speedo in the upstate NY winter. Curious - which ship are you on right now? You always have great insight into ships, rooms and experiences. Warmest Amy

The "New" NCL terminal at Port Canaveral is wonderful for both Haven and Suite guests. Smaller / older NCL ships are often relegated to one of the older Carnival terminals (still with the delightfully garish signage) if the port is busy. Although the "secondary" terminal has the same priority line / waiting area, it is small and not adequate for the number of Haven / Suite area guests. Apologies for not recalling the secondary NCL terminal number. Warmest Amy

Lovely review - Really appreciate the balanced nature and honest opinion re: your experience. Warmest Amy

One final critique that actually caused me to change an upcoming MSC booking. The YC Deluxe Penthouse had NO outlets by the bed or couch. None at all. If you wanted to plug in your devices, you had to use the desk area across the room and / or obtain an extension cord. Inconvenient for us, but if you are someone who needs a CPAP this would be very difficult. We looked everywhere - honestly, thought there may be some hidden plugs but no luck. Very bad design flaw. On the desk there were 2 plugs (American) for which we used our cruise-compliant multi-six. There was another plug by the near side of the desk (European) for which we were able to use an adaptor. Apologies for no photos of the set-up. It was frustrating as even though we don't have a lot of electronics (3 lap-tops, 3 cell phones, 1 camera), we spent a lot of time fighting for plug space even with 5 charging slots + USBs. The old "put a hotel card in the room slot to keep the electricity on" did not work as the butler specifically asked us to not do that; he and the room attendant had both been instructed by the YC director to remove any cards in unoccupied rooms (perhaps for energy-saving?). Long story, but we ended up changing our YC Deluxe Penthouse to @morpheusofthesea's favorite Royal Suite on our Feb 2024 Euribia European cruise. The RS has plugs everywhere (at least on the YouTube videos of the Meraviglia RS which has a similar layout) plus kiddo will have his own desk / more private area for the longer cruise. And yes...have to admit that the hot tub on the balcony will be lovely in the cold European winter weather, but that is more of a perk than a reason to book the RS. Still baffled at the lack of at least a second 1/2 bath in such a big space. Was able to parlay a casino credit into a decent discount that our TA used to re-book our original room (the casino credit had to be used for a "new" booking). So that is the end of my review, and once again, thanks for the kind comments and happy to help out if any questions do arise. Wishing wonderful and safe cruising to the lovely folks we met on board. Warmest Amy

@MagnoliaBlossom Have never sailed Princess but had been looking at them for Alaska prior to choosing NCL. Apparently they caused quite the kerfuffle this week when they changed a lot of the previously free dining options on the ship and radically changed the drinks and wifi packages. Quite a lot of the cruise vloggers are commenting on this negative change and how it could cost hundreds if not thousands of unexpected charged for those with current bookings. Just a heads-up, because it sounds like you got a heck of a deal and I hope it works out well for you. Warmest Amy

@shipgeeks I agree. Although Ocean Cay is not our favorite island (layout and amenities of NCL's Great Stirrup Cay make that our favorite place), one of it's charms we do enjoy is the unspoiled nature without a "theme park", well, theme. Will be interesting to see what actually happens. Warmest Amy

@elliotlake12 Have never seen them on the buffet. We usually bring our own travel mugs but I've seen people ask for "take-away" style cups + lids at the main restaurants or Starbucks. Most are pretty sturdy cardboard and can be used more than once. Warmest Amy

@jules815 and @morpheusofthesea a number of our waiters on our Seaside cruise this past week said that they were planning to install a slides area and a recreational area for kids in the center of the island. I'm not sure this will ever be on the level of Coco Cay or Great Stirrup Cay but it sounds like they are making at least one part of the island a more kid friendly area. Warmest Amy

We are disappointed about the short stop in Victoria as well, but will make the best of it with a Beaver Tail or two. My bet is that the bottomless pit stomach my 14 has will be able to take down a full one without taking a breath! Warmest Amy

@PompeySailor Ohh dear Lord... are those raisins with pickled onions? @JAGR This is worse than gooseberries next to onions!!!!!!

@JAGR Gooseberries rock. Pickled onions...let's just say that if I thought I was biting into a gooseberry and got a pickled onion instead I would be unhappy. Let's not give MSC any ideas because putting a snacking plate of gooseberries next to a plate of pickled onions could lead to chaos in the YC. Would be highly entertaining however! Warmest Amy

@8420PR Thank you for the kind words. I Will humbly say in all of my travels I have never seen such vocal and photographic support of the lowly pickled onion. I feel like I may just buy a jar of them to keep in my refrigerator so I'm kept in good company with the clearly much cooler Europeans like you, @Daniel A and @PompeySailor Warmest Amy

@Seas2mountains Great advice regarding the iphone. Will try that on my next cruise. We love NCL And especially the Haven and have 4 more lined up in the coming two years plus one more MSC YC in February. It just takes so much of the stress away. On the last post with final thoughts I summarize the entertainment. It's hit or miss, but super weird, not bad weird necessarily just... for any show that puts pirates and velociraptors together you've got to give kudos to that creative team for the sheer trippiness. Warmest Amy

The fact that you have not just one but multiple types of these onions is freaking hysterical. Clearly, I'm an American heathen without any taste in snack-food. I do approve of the jalapenos however...🥰 Warmest Amy