KittyCruz

Enjoy your cruise and thanks for letting us all follow along, we'll be on this later in the year and I am already starting my prep.

On 4/18/2024 at 10:11 PM, no1talks said:

30 years ago, I was a newlywed dad and not close to being able to get on a cruise ship. Nowadays, I study the history of cruising to be a better-educated passenger.

Please correct me if my interpretation of cruising history is off the mark because, afterall, I wasn't on the ships.

I don't think shoddy treatment should have been a shock on a Princess cruise 30 years ago. The brand had a huge expansion in the 80s. Owners P&O rebadged some of their own ships over to Princess to accommodate the growth. P&O acquired another cruise line and rebadged more ships to Princess. Then the 90s started.

Recession. Oil spikes. American cruise market maybe not so hot. Now, Princess ships are getting transferred to P&O. No sooner does the century turn than P&O spins-off Princess into a standalone and Carnival grabs it just a few years into the millenium.

Again, those who were cruising and following the industry closely back then can point out my errors, but I think your Australian experience was simply a case of a cruise line that was losing its way after a decade of Laissez les bons temps rouler.

This makes me recall growing up with the Love Boat and conversations with my husband after our first cruise regarding cruise attire and how no one, and I mean no one was walking around the lido deck in their swimwear and high heels.  

50 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Some have reported complimentary second and thirds of even these items. I am guessing that if one does not take advantage of every amenity offered on a daily basis, like some used to OVERLOAD and CLEAN OUT the mini fridge of the miniatures every day and pack them away in suitcases with towels and robes, then exceptions are made.

  Thanks for your interest.

 

When researching our Seascape cruise we found it humorous that folks said the Toblerone was a one and done treat but everything else was replenished as needed,  in fact our butler did a fine job of keeping our room in water and ginger beer. 

I will say I really wanted to take home a set of YC beach towels, but sadly they did not sell them in the gift shop.

On 4/18/2024 at 7:35 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

"The only way to stop this theft and its consequences is to raise prices and/or just make everything in the cabin provided as complimentary or just remove 'for charge' items altogether.  In the meantime traveling only in suites like the Yacht Club will be the only 'safe' way to travel as everything is complimentary and no need to 'steal' and replace."

Except for that second Toblerone, I can already see the YouTube video hacks now.

I jest of course.

Happy Sailings!  looking forward to hearing about your trip.

Our next sailing is NCL to Alaska and the conversations between myself and my husband have been while we prefer MSC, NCL has upped their website game.

On 2/7/2024 at 5:29 PM, Bgwest said:

Incorrect. On Seascape now:

 

 

Don’t drink so can’t speak to the wine guy. 

The sommelier is Christopher, a youngish ginger lad from Texas.  We found him incredibly entertaining and loved watching him work the room.  As fellow Texans he made a couple of restaurant recommendations for dry land

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We purchased the "Back Home Clean - 20 Pieces" pacakage so I can pack only half of the t-shirts, under wear, shorts, jeans, socks, and polo shirts needed for an 11-day cruise.  I noticed that MSC has a 50-lb limit on the weight for luggage so will need to keep a close eye on that since our large suit cases can accommodate a lot of items.  

We've never been nicked for an overweight bag from MSC, the airlines yes but not MSC.  

On 2/2/2024 at 8:14 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

It's hard to believe I am only 9 days away from my next MSC sailing on the Divina. This one really snuck up on me! It doesn't help that work has been CRAZY busy for the past couple of months and I have been horribly sick for the past week and a half. Between those two things, I really haven't had much time or energy to even think about cruise planning. I just started working on my packing list about two days ago!

 

 

Have a great trip! Will be following to soak up all the tips as the Divinia is our next cruise

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

This review will be covering our first ever MSC cruise.  As the title indicates we will be sailing on MSC Divina out of Miami on an 11-day adventure. 

My wife and I are somewhat experienced cruises but have previously only sailed, with the exception of a single Carnival cruise in 2006, on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  

 

We have been disappointed by all of the changes and the pricing on Celebrity recently and after reading @generation-x and other reviews of sailing in the YC aboard MSC we decided to give it a try and see if it was more to our liking.  You can see links to reviews of some of our previous cruises in my signature below.

 

We have been to all of the ports that we will be visiting on this cruise at least once and do not have any scheduled shore excursions.  My post will be more about our shipboard experiences than about the various ports and activities.  @JamieLogical is also doing a live review of this cruise and between the two of us and with contributions from our fellow cruisers should give a pretty thorough review of life aboard Divina during our time onboard.  Jamie's review can be found here:

 

 

Thanks for following along. 

 

Looking forward to following along, we're on the  Divinia in YC about a year out - happy sailings to you

My review finally got approved, here is a link to the review

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=710584

also sadly i think the video might of killed my camera, because I had IT (husband) look at it and of course its dead.

I always pack a small Pair of fiskars that fold up - they get through airport security and msc 

13 minutes ago, Cruzinforpeace*** said:

I just read our cruise ticket information and it says that we cannot bring scissors on board.  I like to crochet while cruising and I need to bring a small pair of scissors (4 inches or less). Does anyone know if they were able to bring scissors on board and if so would it be better to bring them in my checked luggage? I don’t even want to waste my time, asking the customer service reps. They will just parrot whatever is written on their website so I thought I’d ask in the forum to see if anybody has any experience with this type of thing.  I’ve never had a cruise line say scissors were completely prohibited but guess MSC is truly a different animal.

For those not super familiar with Galveston 

When planning your cruise look to see what is happening on the island, because it can effect ones ability to get a room the night before.  example the first weekend in December is Dickens on the Strand and most decent hotels/VRBO type offerings start getting booked in July.

For those flying the best airport to fly into is Houston Hobby

Food - there are lots of awesome places to eat in Galveston: Star Drug (does a great breakfast, but is a local fave and gets busy so plan on getting there early)  besides that our faves are Black Pearl, Katie's Seafood, Mosquito Cafe, Gaido's and Cajun Greek 

Drinks - Daquiri Time Out will get you ready for vacation and that drink package

Besides the seawall there is lots to see/do in Galveston 

https://www.visitgalveston.com/plan-your-trip/maps-neighborhoods/seawall-district/

Moody Gardens https://www.moodygardens.com/ 

Bishop's Palace https://www.galvestonhistory.org/sites/1892-bishops-palace

Railroad Museum https://galvestonrrmuseum.org/

Ocean Star Museum https://www.energyeducation.org/

Galveston Naval Museum https://www.galvestonnavalmuseum.com/

Bolivar Ferry https://www.galveston.com/trip-planning/transport/galvestonferry/

19 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Thanks. 

I got it but the video is, uhhh.....🙃

Well... Dang it.  It sounds like my troglodyte ways struck again

Still waiting on CC to approve my review, so in the meantime I thought I would add some photos we took and hopefully (fingers crossed the video of our room)

13 hours ago, Rudyard said:

Looking forward to trying MSC. Been wanting to try them for a few years now but my wife won't fly unless it's absolutely necessary. If the cruise I have booked for December of '25 wasn't a 10 day Panama cruise I'd cancel in a heartbeat and book MSC. Hoping maybe I can book a spring '26 cruise. The itinerary doesn't worry me as Seascape looks nice enough that I probably won't want to get off the ship. 

We were on Seascape this past november/december and its a beauty!  I'm hoping they also have some short 3-4 day cruises added since those make for a nice need to get away trip

15 hours ago, KittyCruz said:

I just received the email from MSC about this today.  As a Texan this makes me happy because I can quite possibly talk my husband into more cruises, since we won't need to book additional flights or hotels to/in Miami.

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/Search Result?embkPort=GLS

I also realized that with this Port I could aspire to @morpheusofthesea dear wife and bring along 12-14 pieces of luggage... 

I just received the email from MSC about this today.  As a Texan this makes me happy because I can quite possibly talk my husband into more cruises, since we won't need to book additional flights or hotels to/in Miami.

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/Search Result?embkPort=GLS

4 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Were you not aware of daily service charges?  Almost all lines work this way.  It is usually in the FAQ areas of a cruise lines website.  

Our last MSC cruise we pre paid for gratuities upfront at time of booking, so having something show up later while we were at sea was odd.  Either way it was money well spent as well as the last evening issuance of the green.   We really did enjoy the YC.

18 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This is the first sign you got a good butler.....

we didn't get a bad butler by any means, both he and our jr butler were pretty awesome with the service and it was determined our first, but not last YC cruise.   I employed many of the tips I've learned from reading your poop deck reports and they worked like a charm.  

On 12/28/2023 at 11:54 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

   It all depends on your service. What would you feel you would appreciate for the service you provided if the shoe was on the other foot?

 

I was unsure about a lot of things, so I went in search of information and found this university study on tipping. "The common feature of all forms of tipping is the voluntary and discretionary nature of the tip: the consumer is free to choose how much to tip, if at all. This definition excludes service charges, imposed gratuities, and imposed tips which have nothing in common with voluntary tipping."

Being one's first time with no past experience of what to expect from a butler it can be a challenge. Let us take the example mentioned here. Some of us have experienced the assemblage of YC guests meeting in the TopSail Lounge for a 'group' escort off the ship to "fend for themselves" on the pier, while others are approached the night before by their personal butler (a good one) asking one's plans and setting up an appointment to be picked up at one's cabin and escorted (without a group) personally to one's seat (coach or private car). 

  Then the steward (jr butler), $20 /day; waiter $40/day (we eat all 3 meals with them), $2-3 every drink delivery, etc. Concierges generally $20 each unless something special was requested.

  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23748777_The_Social_Norm_of_Tipping_A_Review

I concur to all of this!  

Our second night we noticed a charge added to our bill, it was not clear what it was so we asked the butler and he explained it was the gratuity, we thanked him for the explanation and shut the door.  

We had already planned and budgeted for additional tips, but seeing that amount really gave heed to the situation.

Although after reading this, I now know that ones butler needs to be asking us the night before about our plans... 

On 12/17/2023 at 9:22 AM, rollie said:

Service is where Yacht Club lagged way behind Celebrity.  The restaurant was especially slow.  Now wine stewards and waiter were not very friendly.

 

Rollie

we loved our wine sommelier... he worked the dinner crowd like a vegas pro

On 12/9/2023 at 12:17 PM, xcell said:

Thanks... 20 days and counting...

 

Any tips on excursions?

 

Anything you wished you had done? or done more of?

@xcell  

not sure if you meant "tipping" on excursions or tips for excursions, so i will offer both.

We tipped both our guide and driver on our excursion.  I have no idea if this is normal behavoir but its something i picked up years ago and just continue to do so.

As for tips for excursions. 

Our choice is to always book through the cruise, for that piece of mind of not being left behind.  We didn't do as many this trip- mostly because what was offered was not our cup of tea.  I have noticed in a post covid world they pack way to much into an excursion and its not always worth it because one feels rushed or too worked over.

If you are mobile Puerto Rico is defintely walkable and there was loads to do/see in old San Juan.

On 12/9/2023 at 1:09 PM, MsTabbyKats said:

@KittyCruzExactly how dressed up were people for dinner?  

@MsTabbyKats  with the exception of gala night I would say the bulk were dressed 'smart casual' for dinner.  

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Just to belabor the point once again. There are quite a few 'requests' of cruise lines made of passengers that are not followed and seldom enforced. Attire is one of them. Most these low cost mega lines are attracting a "wider audience" who look at cruises like a camping trip, roughing it, bivouacking. They throw their soiled everything out the cabin door into the hallway (Instead of calling room service to pick it up) and hang their wash out to dry on the balcony. As one pays more for suite class one 'sometimes' finds a more respectable clientele that respects others and themselves. Will see in a couple of weeks how Explora 1 compares to Yacht Club and will report.

Oh my... I will clip our swim suits to the back of the chairs in the  evening but I've never to that degree

We returned from a week at sea and after a week to settle back into the 9-5 routine I wanted to provide some thoughts about our recent cruise.

1. Interlopers - interesting enough I walked behind a family that had managed to break through and were attempting dinner in the YC restaurant only to be turned away because they showed up an hour early to dine.  (I caught this because we might have also showed up early, but we had the option of going downstairs to have a pre-dinner cocktail, the interlopers were shown the door) We also saw people try unsuccessfully to access the doors to YC and we like most others just ignored them.  

2. The pool area was not packed, and this was pretty great!  We only had 270 on this cruise.  Smokers tended to stay in the correct areas, and one felt they had ample space to lay out, read, talk, relax, etc... we tended to stay towards the bow so service wasn't great, but I didn't have a problem getting up to grab myself a beverage, besides when I did, they would always ask where I was and bring it out.

3. Food -In general food was excellent and I wanted, asked for and received shrimp cocktail each evening as my appetizer, one lunch the choices were for lack of better words, frou frou so we chose that day to order a pizza.  If I wanted to have gone up a pants size, I would have ordered at least one of everything on Italian night, the lasagna was a thing of beauty- the pasta melted in your mouth.   Sadly, there was no seafood buffet but one day for lunch the buffet had scallops          (I might have eaten what in the states would equate to $100 worth of scallops) on that same day the dining room had shrimp, but it was a sunny sea day, and I needed my vitamin d.  Service wise things were good, we had a decent head waiter/jr waiter there were a few hiccups in order that were odd but we just went with it.  Dinner shined, breakfast was always a little odd and lunch was slow so we usually just did the buffet.  I learned a YC perk which was to go downstairs pre breakfast and order a cappuccino - this gave me the caffeine needed to be able to order breakfast like a real human being.  

4. Dress - the first day there were some casual outfits in the YC restaurant, but after that it really only seemed like one table that didn't get the memo for dinner.  We enjoyed dressing up and seeing everyone else's attempts.   Although next time I'm tempted to channel my inner dude and come to breakfast in my pjs, robe and YC slippers with sunglasses

5.Service - with the exception of high tea, which we did not get good service at, service was across the board excellent.  Our Butler/Jr. Butler knocked it out of the park. (I worried a bit because we are not high maintenance but did want to be treated like YC folks) I used the tip from @morpheusoftheseaand had a list for our butler. We got a few bits that showed up throughout the trip bowl of fruit, chocolates and we would get a small glass box of treats each night.  This of course led us to the Chocolatier and why we are still enjoying fine Italian chocolates.  In the TPL and pretty much everywhere on the ship, we experienced great service.  In gen pop for Gala Night I hit the champagne bar the staff were filling it so there was a moment of which fine champagne do you get and trying to find it, and I stopped them to say the processco would do nicely and they obliged. 

6. Entertainment - we didn't do much entertainment outside of TSL -shows either didn't interest us or were too late for our lifestyle.  

7. Tips - we tipped extra (butler, jr. butler, waiter, jr waiter, bartenders, tpl wait staff, outside YC bar tenders, excursions) I had a great vacation that was made possible by a slew of people who kept smiles on their faces and calm composure 24/7.

I will get around to posting a real review, uploading photos and of course adding to the unofficial, official room directory kept by @Two Wheels Only for suite 19010