I&J Cruisers

A couple of years ago I had the best filet minion I ever had at Qusine. It's a fun place

I've never been able to figure out the rhyme or reason for these things. We have been on 39 cruises. We were upgraded once on Cunard from a princess grill suite to a queens grill suite. The second time was an up sell that we took. Once we were offered an up sell that we turned down. We always book thru a TA. On Cunard it was our first time. The up sells were both on Regent. The cruise lines just want to fill cabins. They probably had waitlisted cabins in less expensive categories.

We always get a better deal from our TA not only on Oceania but on other cruise lines as well.

My dear friend's children each have multiple allergies and carry epi-pens at all time and there has never been a problem. Shoreside is trained to tell you that they can't guarantee anything. And DCL on board CMs are trained to meet your needs.

 

 

 

They have soy milk on all cruises. It is a good idea to notify them of the allergies in advance because if they get enough notifications' date=' they will put extra supplies on board. If your son needs soy milk at night, your dinner server will be able to supply a covered cup at dinner for you to place in your refrigerator or they might give you a carton that you can keep in your cabin. Tree nuts is a very common allergy that they deal with on every cruise.

 

 

 

Since your son is 2, you will need to supply any food that will be given to him in the nursery (you supply it from elsewhere on the ship unless it is something you bring from home.) OR you can ask that they not feed him and just call you if that is needed. They have a procedure for the epi-pens both in the nursery and in the OC/OL. Again, this is not an uncommon issue. The Dream and Fantasy have a separate "allergy kitchen" where foods are prepared for guests with allergies. On the Magic and Wonder, there is an area, but not totally separate from the main galley areas. The idea is to make everyone super careful about cross contamination.

 

 

 

I would avoid the fast food outlets on the ship. This is frankly the hardest place to deal with allergy and contamination issues. If you choose to eat at the buffet, a head server or chef will walk the line with you to advise you on safety issues. If you choose an item, they will get a serving for you from a fresh bowl in the back--again avoiding any chance of cross contamination.

 

 

 

And no, there is no problem with bringing packaged foods for your child provided they are in the unopened, original packaging.[/quote']

 

 

Just off Magic. My granddaughter is allergic to peanuts all tree nuts and sesame. Agree with everything Moki's mom said. all servers were very careful to tell s what she could and could not eat. Our server even reminded all of us not to give her tastes of things we were eating.

 

 

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Be careful what you wish for. We are getting closer and closer to eliminating the mdr. The only food included will be the buffet.

Thanks for your response. That's pretty much what I thought but though this will be our 39th cruise this is our first time on DC!

I've googled it but don't see plain matti is listed. DH only drinks very dry martinis straight up. Anyone know what kind if vodkas they have and prices. DH prefers kettle one or titis.

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Sounds great. But we all have to remember that all mass market lines have the same amount of $ to spend. X obviously spends more money on food and entertainment. Carnivals production shows are lip synced and the food is so highly salted that my ankles looked deformed by day 3 the last time I sailed with them. I do think eventually all cruise lines will have that kind of feature but be prepared to pay more for your cruise or see some things you love watered down or eliminated.

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They do know where you eat. If you have Select dining, eat in a Speciality restaurant, bistro on 5, Blu or Luminae or order from Room Service you provide your cabin #. If you have traditional dining your are assigned a table and they know if you are there or not. So if you never show up to dine at any of the above they can pretty well determine you are dining in the Oceanview cafe.

They may know but I don't think they care other than to statistically determine how much food is needed in each venue

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As stated, if you have select dining you cannot remove the tip. If you do not, you can. And YES, the entire amount of the tips is paid to the staff. Celebrity does NOT take a cut. They are distributes by your stateroom number and dining room table number and server. If you only ate in buffet it is distributed among all workers in buffet.

They don't know where you've eaten. The collected gratuities are distributed between all service personnel both those that are visible and those behind the scenes that you never see.

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I really appreciate hearing why you did not care for MSC YC. Thank you for taking the time to answer. I will add it to my list of pros and cons for MSC YC.

 

 

 

Questions: Would you compare the room size in the YC to a sky suite on Celebrity?

 

 

 

Will the restaurant prepare food to your specifications? Such as "no sauce" or "grilled simply".

 

 

 

Do you know if the balconies can be opened between suites?

 

 

 

How was it when you got off the ship? Did someone escort you off the ship or just throw you out (the way it is usually done ~giggle~)?

 

 

 

Where there any standard provisions made for drinks in other parts of theythe ship - such as coupons? Some people report they received coupons and/or OBC. I'm confused.

 

 

 

Any children in the YC?

 

 

 

Thanks again.

The standard caBin was comfortable but smaller than a sky suite. It did have a walk in closet which I like. It gives you a place to store things you by and makes the cabin feel neat all the time. I didn't care for the bathtub. Sides were very high. Had non moveable glass on Halfof it. You had to twist awkwardly to turn the shower on.

They try to accommodate any requests you make. The pasta dishes were terrific but they lol seemed to have tomato bases sauces. I asked if they ever had pasta with a garlic oil based sauce. He brought the matre'd over who said he'd make me whatever I wanted. He did and it was delicious.

I never asked about opening the dividers between the balconies but I'm sure someone on the MSC board could answer that qx.

Debris tigon was a dream. The butler told us to ignore the instructions that were on the TV and in the daily program. We had room service for breakfast and when we were ready to leave went to the concierge and they called a butler to escort us. he took us thru decks that were empty then opened a door we'd never seen and magically we were at gangway.

We had purchased 12 vouchers to use in other parts of the ship but the drinks were not very expensive. When was the last time you saw $8.25 for a cocktail on a ship. After shows I usually drank Irish coffees and they ever only 5.50 I think. We easily could have done without them.

On our sailing there were a couple of babies. I did see a couple of older kids.

By the way the extra charge pizza they talk about is excellent. Well worth the money.

The problem was that when they did have Italian offerings on the menu they were excellent but they did not always have Italian offerings. They seemed not to be able to do fish or seafood well at all. Both of those are not strangers to Italian cooking. I think it had to do with the quality of the fish and seafood they were using.

After 5 straight Celebrity cruises (we book suites), we decided to book a cruise in the MSC YC for next year. That decision was based on so many favorable reviews of the MSC YC including those who sail Celebrity.

 

 

 

I'd love to hear some specifics about why you did not like the YC.

 

 

 

Thank you.

I avoided doing this on the MSC board to avoid being flamed by loyal MSC cruisers but I'll give you my honest opinion. Positives first. The setup of YC in terms of space was nothing short of amazing. A huge space was allotted to a relatively small number of people. The Lounge was large comfortable. Snacks available throughout the day and evening were a nice touch. Pool area was never crowded but there is absolutely no shaded area around the pool. My tablet got so hot while I was reading that it shut off. I knew going in that there was no shade up there except in the bar area where they serve breakfast and lunch but thought that on port days I could snag some shade around the main pool. There are no shaded ahead there either. The overhang areas are filled with tables and chairs ostensibly for al fresco dining from the buffet area which has no out side seating. They really want these used for extra charge items like gelato and the Nutella stand. If everything else was perfect this shade issue alone would have been a deal breaker for me.

Yacht club restaurant:

On Divina it is all the way aft on deck 15this is a big ship. It is quite a hike. In the evening to avoid the wind on the open deck you have to go down to deck7 and walk across therewhich gets you tangled up in the bottle neck where they display and sell photos. You gave to do this twice because after dinner the show lounge Is all the way forward.

The Italian food is delicious, the best I've ever eaten and I'm from NY and have eaten in some of the best Italian restaurants. Other food not so good. They couldn't make Anerican breakfast. One day I ordered oatmeal and asked for heavy cream. They brought me whipped cream. The bacon was deep fried and comes out looking like a ball. The eggs were always over done. The lobster tail on the next to last night was dry and tasteless. If you like meat and cheese for breakfast you'll love it.

Service:

The service in the YC was very nice. After embarkation the Matre,d was in the concierge area and asked when you wanted to eat and made a big deal about telling you this would be your table for the whole cruise and that you,d have the same waiter etc for the whole cruise. This is not open seating. One night we arrived at our usual time and someone was sitting at our table. The Matre,d ushered us to another table in a different section of the dining room served by a different waiter who didn't know us or our preferences. Our waiter tried to intervene but we were out of his sight lines. We spoke to the matre'd afterwards he told us the other passenger had "demanded" that table.

This is getting too long winded. If you have specific questions I'll answer them for you.

We tried MSC in the yacht club. We were grossly unimpressed and will not do it again. We were on Divina. They built a beautiful ship. The yacht club space was amazing but they don't have the panache to pull it off.

I don't think there is anything new here. I am one of those that often refers to the "old " days. About 20 years ago those of us that had been cruising for 10 yrs more started seeing changes and were very verbal about where the cruise product was going. Newbies laughed at us and couldn't understand what our problem was. Now those same people are seeing their beloved product change and are reacting the same way. The only thing you can be sure of in this life is that everything changes eventually. I still love cruising. I think the current climate on these boards will calm down as everyone adjusts to the new reality.

What used to be gratuities has morphed into a service charge regardless of what they are now calling it. I've never seen or heard a good explanation of how these funds are distributed among the staff. The party line is that it is not only distributed to those that you see but also to those behind the scenes that you never see. If someone stands out a as being particularly helpful or performs over and above the expected level of service we give them an additional cash "tip".

Go for it!!! our first trip to Europe was a 7 day western med cruise. I remember those ports and details of those shore excursions more than any other since. Even though we now take longer more exotic trips I wouldn't trade those memories. Go and enjoy.

How is it less labor intensive?

 

(why am I feeding into this?)

It requires someone to assign tables. All the traditional hoopla only exists in the MDR.

Celebrity already confirmed on a different thread that they have no intentions of getting rid of traditional dining. Once again, that thread was closed for a reason.

 

 

 

For the OP, just do what the others have suggested. Get your preferred seating time waitlisted, and have your TA check back from time to time.

I don't believe it. They are making the traditional seating area progressively smaller. I do believe they would love to eliminate traditional dining altogether. It will come sooner or later. The more vocal fans of traditional dining become the longer it will last. I don't think it has anything to do with prepaid gratuities. Select dining is less labor intensive for the cruise line.

Thanks for the responses. From what I am understanding for all of you is that if you choose "traditional", you do not have to pay upfront. If we are given "select" which is the same as "open", you have to prepay. I still do not understand the logic of not allowing an "open" seating passenger on a daily basis since the cruise company will be the one distributing the funds (and not me)....

There isn't much to understand. Cruise gratuities have become a service charge. If some staff member stands out as special during the cruise you tip that person accordingly. Most cruise lines are doing this today if you choose select dining or whatever the different lines call non traditional dining. I think they are all trying to eliminate traditional dining as an option. RCL has been converting to "dynamic dining" on some ships. I don't particularly like it but it is what it is. You go with the flow or you stop cruising.

Thanks for the reply. We've done Blu before and love it but I recall the odd day with items we could do without. I'll take your advice and check daily.

Anyone know where I can find daily menus for Blu. Trying to plan specialty restaurant reservations.

The issue here is what are the price points for the various bundles

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You're right...Janewe is overnighting in a different port, so their post must have been hypothetical.

 

 

 

I'm overnighting in Cartagena, and I thought that the five evening options posted so far provide some nice variety for people who want to get off the ship. I've booked independently, but what we're doing is similar to the guided wall walk Celebrity is doing -- but ours includes more and costs less!:D

My experience has been that when a ship is in port overnight there isn't much going on on the ship. It's a cost saving issue. You pay for a shoreside experience they provide less food and entertainment.

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I think this was an error. The op handled it well but X did not. There should have been a letter or an email apology. But X is not known for good customer service.

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