jules815

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Passengers started a riot outside Terminal C and police were called.

Did they think this would speed things up for them? I hope they weren't allowed to board.

1 hour ago, cml4958 said:

And have been since those two cruises.  I've always cruised on NCL in the studios.

Not to hijack the thread either, but the other night my husband and I were watching cruise related videos on YouTube and saw one about the NCL studio. Thought it was a really smart concept for solo cruisers. One thing though that would bug me. Is there ever a problem with stateroom attendants accidentally walking in while you're showering? I know you can turn on the dnd light, but I think I'd still be taking quick showers. Is there some type of privacy curtain that we missed?

Happy boarding day! 

Thank you so much for taking us along on your week on Seascape and for the fantastic review with pictures. Safe travels home.

8 hours ago, gtaylor said:

Could this possibly be the world famous, renowned ARTHUR of days gone by?

 

gary

I believe that it is!

One of the best things my husband and I decided to do years ago was to NOT be loyal to any one cruise line. 

12 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

And that would be why I rarely venture out of YC unless most of the rest of the ship is on shore.  Obnoxious parents and kids in the gen pop.  And far too many of them.

This is why we only cruise now while school is in session. We're not anti-children, we've successfully raised two. I will say that when we have seen children on Celebrity in Luminae, or in the YC, they've all been very well behaved. Our preferred cruising time is September and October, or that sweet spot following spring break before schools get out for the summer.

Following along! Will you be in the RS again?

Have a great cruise.

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I was thrown out of the MSC Yacht Club Forum for posting this. Some Travel Agencies "Can't handle the truth !"

I tried posting on it earlier in support of your comments and the thread's been locked.

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I was thrown out of the MSC Yacht Club Forum for posting this. Some Travel Agencies "Can't handle the truth !"

I understand they're trying to promote a product, however, if I were trying to sell the YC, I'd especially want to know if there were any issues. Imagine you're selling this exclusivity and your clients finally are on their much awaited cruise, and then can't get a seat by the pool or at the YC buffet, I would think they'd be complaining to their travel agent.

I'm glad you posted on the FB page. You never know, but maybe that's the reason there was a noticeable increased presence of officers and security at yesterday's Seafood Extravaganza. Or, to quote my husband, "maybe they like the shrimp!"

Our daughter interned for a major fast food chain (ba da da da da) and most of her job was to monitor their Twitter feed. They took it very seriously and anything negative was brought to the attention of management and handled.

2 hours ago, GenerationX said:

I did book it through MSC.  I did notice that closer to my sail date, a few more excursion options popped up in the cruise planner, so if you’re sailing in September maybe check again at the end of this month?

 

Here’s the title and code for our excursion if it helps.

 

Overall though, I think for me MSC doesn’t have the same volume/variety of excursion options that Celebrity offers.  But MSC’s non-sale excursion pricing is a little better.

 

Thank you!

3 hours ago, momofmab said:

I'm always amazed to read about passengers on various cruise lines getting mad about suite-level guests getting escorted about, brought to the head of the line, etc.  YC, Haven, Retreat, Star Class, et al have been around for a while now.  Are there still people who are unaware that cruise lines offer different cabin classes?  I'm a bit worried about this on my upcoming Seascape cruise and will probably limit the amount of escorting that I accept (it's not something I'm super comfortable with anyway).

 

Charla - there have been complaints in an MSC FB group this week about many non YC'ers being in the YC areas of Seascape, and the staff refusing to ask them to leave or police them coming in (allegedly, there are some family groups who are pulling in non-YC family members).  Have you noticed any of this?

I saw that FB post as well. (they even used the word "interlopers") It sounded like a number of them were family members of officers who were sailing outside of the YC, but allowed in to use the facilities. That really puts the YC crew in an awkward position. Others are sharing their YC wristbands. 

Did you book your tour in Puerto Plata thru MSC or 3rd party? My husband and I will be there for the first time in September, and that sounds like something we'd enjoy. I was just checking excursions available to us thru MSC, and none of them sound like yours.

Loving your review! Thanks again.

36 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Old threads like " Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away". Gen Douglas MacArthur

You've got another cruise coming up this month, right?

7 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Yes, Flight Ease is HAL’s air programme.  

If flights are domestic - not usually a great savings but if international - there can be.  Prices have been whacko lately.

the good thing about Flight Ease is as long as you book Flexible (the way to go) you don’t pay until Final payment date for your cruise so it leaves other options open.

 

Hope this helps.

Very helpful, thank you!

5 minutes ago, kazu said:

I often use points and check pricing to gage.

 

6 months out used to be a good rule of thumb.

 

Airfare has skyrocketed over the past year and from what I have seen, the sooner you book, the less you pay.  that’s just my experience though.

 

Are you planning on using Flight Ease?  If you are, the sooner you book the better as they only have so many seats on each flight and once they are gone, they are gone and your options diminish.

Is Flights Ease thru HAL? I know when we booked flights home on our last ta we went thru Royal Caribbean's air program and international flights were a better deal thru them. Maybe we'll need to make that decision sooner than later!  (this is our first time cruising with HAL)

My DH and I are booked on the April 2024 transatlantic from FLL to Rotterdam. Still haven't decided which country we'll be flying home from, although my husband is leaning toward a few days in Amsterdam followed by a few in Brussels. I'm happy with whatever he decides to do. (I've always taken care of all of our travel plans, but have thrown this leg of the trip at him to do the research and planning.) We have some travel this summer that we want to get thru and then planned on focusing on this next big trip after that. That puts us 6 months out. Is that adequate? 

We've done one transatlantic back in 2016, and I'm pretty sure I booked those return flights farther out. 

On 7/7/2023 at 4:23 PM, Stem to Stern said:

My new motto:  If I can’t be on a cruise this week, I will most certainly find someone on Cruise Critic that is and follow along.  Even better that she is GenX.  Bon voyage you two!

Same. You know when it's time to cruise again if you wake up, look at the clock and think "*insert name of total stranger from CC* should be boarding right about now", and then get that same butterfly feeling that most of us get on cruise day. This is my first GenX review and these reviews and pictures help pass the time until our next one in September. 

16 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

You know if I could just stop having these extravagant avocado toast breakfasts (with Cuban mimosas featuring a passion fruit liqueur), I could probably afford to sail Silversea. lol

 

We are all dressed and on our way to port!

 

 

 

Love the matching outfits and your daughter's hair bows.  

Have a great boarding day. So excited for you.

Following along! We'll be on Seascape in September. We're also Celebrity suite cruisers who made the jump over to MSC in 2019 (Seaside) to try out the YC and love it.

Have a great time.

6 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Well actually I reported on one of my past exploits here on CC of a similar occurrence of a drunk (had to be) slamming his fist on the elevator key board in front of us and our butler. Thought for sure our butler would call security with us and himself being witness to the abuse of the keyboard. Our butler just rolled his eyes and said nothing. We took our cue from him and said nothing.

  Unfortunately whether one is near or far sighted one is not in need of a loooong nose to see what is right in front of them.

I didn't know that happened in front of you. (and your butler) Yikes!

We've only been on Seaside and Meraviglia, both times in the YC and had great cruises. I think layout wise I almost preferred Meraviglia because having that promenade area made it a little easier to navigate the entire ship, however, we really loved all the sea views from the multi-level atrium on Seaside. On Seaside though, it felt like just as we were learning our way around the ship, our cruise was almost over. 

23 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Our favorite thing about an MSC cruise is that they are an Italian cruise company. We've spent over 150 days in Italy on land-based holidays. Cruising MSC out of Florida is a much shorter flight and costs less frequent flier miles. We still get to practice speaking Italian on the ship, but also sometimes get to practice Spanish depending on what ports we choose to tour. On our last two cruises, the YC staff that we encountered were mostly from the Philippines so now we've learned a few phrases in a new language too. (And we love their risotto!)

The risotto!!  Yes!