no1talks

11 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"If we do not spend what we have worked so hard to accumulate, our heirs will."

By the way, in case you were wondering, that's why I haven't bothered to ask you and Mrs. Morpheus to adopt me.

35 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"We booked one of the three Owners Suites..."

Oooh! I remember reading about those suites, while Vista was still being finished. The decor and furniture is from Ralph Lauren Home. Be sure to wear your Chaps. (The fragrance, not the leather.)

8 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"I have already been accused of eavesdropping by a fellow poster."

When someone hits you with the ol' J'Accuse! just make like Samwise and say you were cutting the grass under the window, er... cabana.

47 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Next Spring Break we plan to exhaust the last vestige of hope on the Oceania Vista."

Vista, eh? I hope you've done your homework, Morpheus, because there is some controversy regarding that ship. Have a look at what G. Bembridge had to say, even though he is a huge fan of Oceania.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aOXEYQXQW0

1 minute ago, abbeydoo said:

"As a two night cruise it was literally a booze cruise. My daughter referred to it as Butlins on sea."

This is not uncommon for short cruises on MSC and other low-cost lines.

Typically, a better experience would be found on a 7-day (or longer) cruise. The "weekend warriors" are less likely to participate.

I'm not in a position to watch the video at this time, but I do hope you were able to have for cabin properly cleaned shortly after you arrived.

13 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I yam what I yam what I yam what I yam." said Morpheus the sailorman 

But in the US and Canada, you're sweet potatoes. 

1 minute ago, morpheusofthesea said:

And that's a malaprop.

When I feel the onset of malaprop, I just drink more gin and tonic. 🦟 

9 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"That's an alliteration."

And that's irrelephant. If I were you I'd elemonade that post.

Just now, morpheusofthesea said:

Description 'fits me to a t.'

I think you mean, "Fits me to two pair of t's," because he said, "pretty snotty." 🧐

56 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Never mind... I was getting off-topic.

Sometimes the best stuff on this board is the off-topic stuff. 😁

29 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I haven’t used a tub since I was 6 or so…we just ripped out two of them in my casa for nice large showers..

Ah, but one should never underestimate the motivational power within the simple gesture of arranging a surprise, scented bubble bath for one's significant other. (Especially when including a favored adult beverage.) 😉

Color me intrigued. This could pull some YCers to the MDR on sea days, especially if weather has closed YC's pool deck buffet.

21 hours ago, WildWanderers said:

"In case any of this helps"

Very helpful, indeed. My first QM2 cruise is on the books for next year. Thank you very much.

17 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

"We very much enjoyed the high tea daily."

Is that the cart-served loose tea? Not bagged tea dust?

If so, I have another reason to eagerly anticipate the time we shall branch out to European port YC cruises.

1 hour ago, ajoneen said:

"Could I ask for a tea service in the lounge on the first sea day?? 
Not the full tiered set up- just a pot and scones/fixings?"

This is one of the bullet points on the printed request sheet we give our butlers. Please let your butler know early in your cruise.

We select our excursions with an eye on being back on the ship for afternoon tea in YC so we can have tea service every day.

•You will have multiple bagged teas from which to choose.

•The butler will serve a three-tiered assortment of available YC bites.

•Scones are only baked for the big afternoon tea, which should happen on the last sea day.

17 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Waiter could take an order, but kitchen could not deliver an order with no salt all week."

Fortunately, we have no dietary restrictions requiring, as you say, repeated explanation to a dining room server. 

If we did, I would add such a necessity to the printed requests we prepare for each cruise.

In the case of YC, both butlers, the maître d' & assistant, the sommelier, both server teams (breakfast and dinner), and the concierge desk receive the printed requests applicable to their specific billets before the first dinner.

Of course, the most comprehensive research and preparation can still fail to prevent miscues. Cruises, regardless of the line or ship, whether they cost three, four, or five figures per week, can have disappointments.

Incorrectly provisioned.

Inadequately staffed.

Marginal entertainment.

The list of things that can be less-than-ideal on a cruise is indeed long.

Regardless of the most thorough preparations, any cruise can go a little (or a lot) sideways. Ultimately, we all are playing the percentages.

34 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The Duplex Suites have 2 full bathrooms. Downstairs has a shower, toilet, and sink while upstairs has a tub/shower, toilet, and sink. 

I'm a traditionalist and only consider a bathroom to be full if it has both tub & shower with the sink and toilet.

Of course, other traditionalists might correctly point out that "three-quarters" more correctly describes the lower bathroom of a YC duplex suite. I would agree, but still not use the term for two reasons:

• The use of "three-quarters" in the description of a bathroom leaves open the question of whether the tub or shower is omitted.

• A good many people would scratch their heads over the unfamiliar use of "three-quarters" bathroom.

So, I use one-and-a-half baths colloquially to convey a meaning of one bathroom being full and the other less-than.

8 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Nothing beats MSC Yacht Clubs, not even Explora Journeys, its sister company, for butler service."

This depends entirely on what one might want from one's butler.

Dining in one's cabin, if they happen to have a proper table, is rather curtailed in YC. Only a few of the YC cabins even have a suitable table, and even then the official policy is for the whole meal to be brought in one trip, not course-by-course. If you order ice cream for dessert, you will need to eat it first or drink it last. On top of all that, the in-room dining must come from the room service menu. Official policy allows ordering from the restaurant menu only when the passengers are confined to their cabin. This is one factor that dissuades me from getting a top suite in YC. (Only one bathroom is another, but at least some YC's have the one-and-half-bath duplex suites.)

Meanwhile, Regent allows in-room dining from either the room service menu or the main dining room menu during the hours of its operation. Course-by-course service is provided upon request.
 
While I enjoy YC a great deal, I fully understand there are many niceties enjoyed by cruisers of luxury lines that MSC cannot deliver at the YC price point. That's just their business model.

I also fully understand that luxury services and amenities widely provided by the likes of Regent, Seabourn, and others may mean zip to some cruisers. This is perfectly okay. We should all be informed cruisers and use due diligence in selecting accommodations that suit us at a price with which we're comfortable. After all, luxurious cruising to one group may be entirely unsatisfactory to another.  

 

7 hours ago, tofubeast said:

"And unless you fall in love with someone from YC on your cruise, you won’t experience any Jack and Rose situations."

"Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your Bella Guarantee girls."
- Rose DeWitt Bukater

37 minutes ago, peder said:

"Incomes for top millennial earners have been very high."

Their student loan debt is also very high. Their retirement savings is also rather low when compared to the traditional bench marks of 1x annual income by age 30 and 3x by age 40.

I see too little black ink to offset the red in the overall cohort. Millenials are unlikely to keep luxury cruising from undergoing some amount of contraction (fewer lines and/or fewer ships) once too many of the Boomers have disembarked for last time. 

24 minutes ago, peder said:

"Top quartile of millennials are probably doing better than any generation's top quartile before them."

But are they? Or, are they putting on a bougie lifestyle as the Potemkin village of their generation?

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/25/affluent-millennials-more-likely-to-exaggerate-finances-to-appear-wealthy.html

1 hour ago, Whipsnade said:

"But there seem to always be another larger cohort of fossils who appreciate and can afford luxury."

The upcoming cohort is Gen-X and there are far fewer of them than the cohorts that supported luxury cruising these many years.

Also, if the financial projections are even somewhat accurate, Gen-X will have significantly less disposable income in their golden years than their predecessors.

9 minutes ago, Gamppy said:

And they really let you take home what you don't use??

@morpheusofthesea can comment on that topic. He and his wife return home with all their bottles, if I recall correctly.

1 hour ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

"All YC rooms on MSC are in the YC."

Meraviglia and ships of the same class have duplex suites well outside the YC perimeter on decks 9 and 10. As I understand it, these were originally Aurea suites, but they were "annexed" into YC.

The duplices are back in the World ships and they look even better. Compare the videos.

Here is video of the earlier version. 
https://youtu.be/WwDbjk4TDRg

Here is a duplex on World Europa, now inside the YC on decks 16 and 18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOjBChiCWs