jules815

26 minutes ago, islandgirlejfan said:

very uninspired by the itineraries being offered to the Caribbean.

This is us. We just did a 2 week eastern/western Caribbean itinerary and feel so burned out by those ports. Really looking forward to our crossing in April. All new ports and a cooler weather cruise.

Same boat here. Love Celebrity, took a detour for the past 3 cruises and sailed with MSC (Caribbean) in their Yacht Club and loved it. Don't love the entire ship though and as nice as the Yacht Club is, we miss really enjoying the rest of the ship. We'll be on Nieuw Statendam in April for a transatlantic crossing to Rotterdam. We're both really excited to try HAL. 

9 hours ago, dobiemom said:

I may have some HAL stationery. 😉 I also remember the Dutch hats, white for women and blue (different shape) for men. But I was never lucky to have mine painted/decorated. 

I have pictures of my parents wearing Dutch hats on board a HAL ship in the 1980's. HAL was their favorite line. Raved about it in fact. Now my husband and I are newly retired and sailing on our first HAL ship next year. 

9 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This clip is 26 seconds of the surf and sand with a swath of pebbles and seaweed on the only worst beach on Ocean Cay (YC beach).

 I guess not too many YCers actually go into the surf anyway.

 Do you know the best time of year to even go into the surf?

 

March to August is sea lice/ jellyfish season.

May to October is seaweed season

February March and August September is red tide season.

So it appears the best time to swim in the Ocean is November December and January.

Our first week when we were there on 9/11, the water was perfect. (We missed it the second week due to weather) We did have our water shoes on and once we navigated past the rocks it was so nice. Very calm and clear. We were surprised at how much time we spent in the water that day. 

Shame they can't do something about the rocks. I lived in south Florida as a child from 1970-1980 and spent a lot of time at the beach and don't ever remember rocks. Looks more like a Great Lakes beach.

16 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

they don't have TCM

Wow. We're kinda surprised that HAL doesn't have that channel. Not the end or the world. Funny though, on our cruise last week, they had a very limited channel selection (unless you spoke Italian), but did have TCM. Not like we spend a lot of time holed up in our room watching tv, but this is going to be an April crossing, so we'll have more time than usual.

Fresh off of a 2-week cruise with another line. Included internet wasn't great, so I paid extra for a browse and stream option. Mostly to be able to FaceTime with family. We have internet included with our package (Have it All is the package, I think). Is there an option for upgrading, or is the included package pretty good? Also, do they happen to have TCM (Turner Classic Movies)? Kind of a cruise ritual for us to watch an old movie before bed. 

Thanks.

On 9/27/2023 at 7:22 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

The key card elevator over ride has never worked on the Seascape. My guess that we will have to wait for the new World America to retplace Seascape 

It definitely worked for us when we were on last week. Not all the time though. My husband had to go to concierge to have his card reprogrammed once and then it worked for us again. We would scan our card or wrist band. Wait for the VIP message to appear at the top, select floor. It would then tell us the car, but it wouldn't light up. Sometimes when it wouldn't work, we'd go around the corner to the other bank of elevators. There were some times though, that it just didn't work at all. I wonder if they could have turned it off?

Thanks for the info and photos. This is exactly the type of promenade we missed so much on our last couple of cruises. Particularly the one we just disembarked from last week. It was an MSC ship and we did a B2B. Ship had a confusing layout and no real walk around promenade. It took me until the second week to finally know my way around. We still had a great time, but always miss being able to take a proper stroll around the outside without having to dodge tables with people eating their breakfast and loungers on a pool deck. 

My husband and I will be doing the April TA on Nieuw Statendam. We just came off of a cruise on another line (this will be our first with HAL) and the one thing we missed on this ship was an outside promenade that went all the way around the ship. Do the HAL ships have that? 

On 9/26/2023 at 3:15 PM, RuthC said:

My records live in the same folder as my passport, and I see no reason to remove them. They have to be somewhere, and if I leave them where they are I always know where they are. 
If I need them for any reason I can't fathom now when I am travelling, then I have them with me. 
Just makes sense to me. 

Same. We also have them on our iPhones. We just returned on Sunday from an eastern/western Caribbean b2b on an MSC ship. I had brought the cards and when we went to fill out the pre-boarding questionnaire it actually mentioned proof of vaccination. Got to the port and they never asked for it. We figured it was an old form. Anyway, can't hurt to have it.

11 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Tonight we saw a really bad act in Le Cabaret Rouge called "Sweet and Sour Circus". This gentleman was doing a routine reminiscent of a trained seal with balancing a red ball on his nose and head. Doesn't MSC prescreen these acts ? This act can be missed as well as the"Guiness Book of World Records" night which they throw in to give the 'real' entertainers a night off.

Yikes. It's a shame they have this nice venue but can't seem to get some decent acts. 

After dinner for the first week of our b2b we'd take a walk into Le Cabaret Rouge just to see what was going on. We had the contortionists doing their same routine each night (BANG! BANG!), a pretty bad prop comic and one female singer that was so bad when she'd go for the high notes we'd cringe. If you saw her doing "I'm Walking on Sunshine" you'll know who I'm talking about. There was another female singer who was from Australia who wasn't bad and a male who was sort of the emcee. 

36 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

The Sports bar removed tables for eating and replaced by 38 of these new machines still being programmed. I think it is now a non-smoking gambling venue/Sports Bar.

Interesting!

Do you think MSC ever regrets having all of those shiny tile floors in most of the common areas of their ships, particularly near the elevators? On Seascape you couldn't help but notice the many "caution, wet floor" signs there were, in addition to dryers going 24/7. It's really bad around the forward elevators nearest the YC entrance, definitely due to the Jungle Pool being there. Made us wonder how many times people have fallen. There's no way people aren't falling sometimes.

On 9/23/2023 at 5:41 PM, jules815 said:

 

I didn't want to comment while we were still on board. 

We both thought Captain Tuvo was fantastic. Probably the most visible captain we've ever had before. Almost always made his way around the YC restaurant at breakfast time, stopping at every table. On our last day, the morning it was storming and we missed Ocean Cay, my husband and I were out on the One Pool deck having breakfast. It was raining, but they were still serving. Only a handful of us there. Here comes Captain Tuvo and his entourage walking the pool deck in the rain. We were eating our breakfast at the bar, which was the driest spot. Every so often the wind would blow and the rain would hit my back. Captain got a beach towel and wrapped it around my shoulders.

As far as the YC Director goes, I guess he was nice enough. Fairly visible and did come around to greet us  most days, but not the warmth we got from Captain Tuvo. He truly is a gem. "BYE BYE!"

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Also took a 5 minute video walk through at a brisk pace 360 degrees of the Market Place buffet this morning showing that 7 am is the time to go to breakfast. NO lines, plenty of tables, very few guests, immediate service.

You could never do a "brisk pace" walk thru the Market Place buffet while it was busy. So many people and very slippery floors. 

Home is the sailor, home from the sea. 

We had a fantastic 2 weeks on board Seascape. I really have no complaints. In fact, if we didn't miss our dog so much, we probably would have inquired about staying on for another week. Service was top notch in all areas of the YC. Somehow my oatmeal didn't taste as good this morning without having a few pastries with my morning cuppa. Morpheus, please say hello to the ladies working in the Top Sail from us (Lemon Drop Martini and Meyer's and Coke). They really made our week special. And of course Arthur and his hostess in the YC restaurant. Always keeping a window seat available for us and bringing us our favorite things, even if they weren't on the menu.

We were in 19003. Almost all the way forward and next to the Owner's Suite. We only heard the pool deck chair dragging  couple of times during our 2 weeks, but we were both sleeping so well, we could just roll over and fall back to sleep. It really didn't last very long at all. The only negative that comes with this suite is the longer walk back to the cabin, but we looked at it as getting in more steps. That walk-in closet with drawers was awesome. Water pressure in the shower was very good. A/C worked well. Really no complaints about that room at all. Our stateroom attendant brought a lounger on the first day, and when it was removed on the last night, our balcony felt so empty. I don't understand why they don't just include a lounger. There's ample space, even with the 2 chairs. We already miss being out there watching the sea birds diving for flying fish.

Next up for us is a transatlantic in April on a Holland America ship. It will be our first time sailing with them and we're looking forward to all those sea days and new ports. It will also be our first time sailing in an aft suite. (Neptune Suite)  We have a wedding in Ft. Lauderdale on April 6th, and this particular cruise popped up when looking for something on the 7th. Our goal is to try some different itineraries on our bucket list, and we've both been itching to do another TA.  I guess I should start reading the HAL boards and get planning.

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Today is Monday and Ocean Cay day. It is 6:40 am and we are docked. Heard that the Captain could not dock a couple days ago due to weather conditions.

Yes, we missed Ocean Cay on Saturday and had a sea day instead. The prior week we had a great day there. My husband and I surprisingly spent a lot of time in the water at the YC beach. We had our water shoes on, but once you got past the rocky bit, it was perfect. Calm, clear, like a chlorinated pool. 
 

20 hours ago, KNBCruising said:

We are eating lunch at the restaurant you mentioned at Bayside LaCanita….

 

Best Cuban sandwich my husband said and I had the chicken empanadas!!  Mojito’s are pretty amazing too!!

I’m so happy you went and enjoyed it too.

6 hours ago, Fighterone said:

Nice of the captain to be around every morning! Who is it and who is the YC Director Jules?

Just now, jules815 said:

I don’t want to butcher the spelling, so I’ll get that once we’re back in the room. We’re having lunch in the YC restaurant and they’re serving the Ocean House menu. 
 

We did a little onboard shopping and I cashed in my voucher in the casino. Stopped in Le Cabaret Rouge and sat for a while at the very aft windows and watched the water sloshing down the windows from the aft infinity pool. 
 

Just got an update on the MSC app about a refund for today’s missed port. 

1 hour ago, Fighterone said:

Nice of the captain to be around every morning! Who is it and who is the YC Director Jules?

I don’t want to butcher the spelling, so I’ll get that once we’re back in the room. We’re having lunch in the YC restaurant and they’re serving the Ocean House menu. 
 

We did a little onboard shopping and I cashed in my voucher in the casino. Stopped in Le Cabaret Rouge and sat for a while at the very aft windows and watched the water sloshing down the windows from the aft infinity pool. 
 

Just got an update on the MSC app about a refund for today’s missed port. 

12 minutes ago, lcpagejr said:

Nice little disturbance East of Miami!  Well atleast you had the chance to enjoy on your first leg!!  Feel bad for those on this weeks cruise.

Last night it stormed while we were in the TS after dinner. TS was packed until the guitarist’s shown ended at midnight. Came back to the room and watched the storm from our balcony and could still hear thunder during the night. 
 

29 minutes ago, Whinenowine said:

Bummer...I love planned sea days but not forced ones (which usually means too much bad weather to enjoy the sundeck/balcony).  I hope you guys make the best of it (based on this thread, it sounds like you will).

Breakfast at the bar this morning in the pouring rain was an adventure. Tables in front of the buffet were mostly kept dry and the bar seats were completely covered, so that’s where we sat. Only a few of us were up there and the captain made an appearance and stopped to chat with everyone. He’s done this every morning in the YC restaurant as well. 
 

We’ll make the best of it. 

It’s official. Sea Day today. 
 

Per the captain, too windy at the moment to dock at Ocean Cay.  It’s also pouring with lightning. We could smell the bacon from our balcony, so trekked up to 20. Only 5 others up here.