raino144

Not working for me either. “The Server cannot be reached”.

In better news, 3 weeks to departure! 👏👏👏

Hi all,

As you might have seen on my prior posts we are travelling on Grandiosa next month in a YC Duplex (we are excited!). Last time we travelled on Seaside, there was almost no childcare for under 3s due mainly to Covid.

Our daughter is 2 and 9 months, happily goes to nursery etc…. Is there any facility for her to be looked after for a couple of hours per morning?

We’ve been on Seaside last year. The only baby care was for 1 hour on a sea day. We are hoping for better when we travel next month (kids 5 and 2 3/4) - our 5 year old did love the kids club.

We’re in a Duplex suite next month on Grandiosa which is outside YC (12004) - only the duplex / royal / owners suites could be outside the YC gates.

edit: full YC benefits as the suite is above a standard YC1.

MSC voyagers club benefits are not strong compared to YC benefits. We love YC, you’re going to have an amazing time!

On 3/24/2023 at 10:47 PM, raino144 said:

IHG Diamond Ambassador matched to Gold (seems a bit stingy).

 

I’ll take it though, my 4,300 points seem to have been restored even though we had been expired pre COVID due to two small monsters arriving!

Can’t edit but will quote. Just checked Voyagers Club and I have 8,300 points! Seemingly 6600 from the match and 1700 from our last YC cruise. Next YC cruise will put me into Diamond 🙂

Further update… we have a hold on the Duplex on Grandiosa in October this year as well! As long as work holidays are approved we’re sailing this year too 🙂

I checked Voyagers Club after my Gold status match… sat on 8300 points (?!) so the October cruise will send me over the threshold to Diamond (1500 for cruise plus some random on board spending for sure). 

Thanks @Two Wheels Only. The deck plan was inconclusive and the ship so new there was little info available.

In fact the MSC renders didn’t even show the full height glass on the front, which panicked us for a while, given why we chose this cabin with the kids!!!

Edit: We’re in 16006 which is next door to the duplex reviewed by our German friends on YouTube. Seeing the review calmed our nerves.

IHG Diamond Ambassador matched to Gold (seems a bit stingy).

I’ll take it though, my 4,300 points seem to have been restored even though we had been expired pre COVID due to two small monsters arriving!

Hi Amy, we weren’t able to take Grandiosa this time (working in Asia this Easter) but have got the duplex on World Europa next year. 
 

It looks like we can exit from the upstairs onto Deck 18 and stay in YC zone… we will see!

Postscript: kids will be 5 and 3 next year, full usage of DoReMi kids club is planned!

Popping up again to update…

Grandiosa didn’t work out, I’ve been sent overseas with work which conflicts with cruise timing. World Europa duplex booked for Easter’24 instead.

We did worry about the kids near the balcony, but the balcony is about 1m20 high so unless the kids climbed on the furniture they weren’t getting anywhere near it. One of us was watching the kids like a hawk (on the balcony) whenever they were there.

Please be aware that since Jan’21, you can’t import meats or dairy into the EU from the UK. Sad state of affairs but Brexit….

Late update: we have reserved a YC Duplex on Grandiosa next Easter. Same itinerary but in reverse. Reason for going for the Duplex: it’s on the front of the ship and has full height glass on the balcony so safer for the kids. And jacuzzi. Will be strange doing YC but not staying in the YC ‘zone’!

Hi!

Take a look at my recent thread - we were on Seaside in YC 3 weeks ago with a 3 (nearly 4) year old and an 18 month old.

Staff loved our kids and we had no problems at all. Baby club (0-2) was open every day but 1hr total of unaccompanied supervision only on the day at sea. Kids club (3-7) was generally 3 hours in AM, 2 in PM, 3 in evening should you choose.

My toilet trained 3 year old was with us in the YC pool and also tried the hot tub, and 18 month old (with swim pants) in the pool with me, nobody had the slightest problem, in fact the lifeguard was pushing the 3 year old round the deck in an empty towel trolley!

There’s a few threads on Twitter (mainly in Italian) confirming it.

I was onboard last week and there was an overnight breakdown after Marseille, the ship hasn’t made better than 15kt since (design speed is 22). 

Seaside seems to still be a bit out of sorts. Late into Civitavecchia this morning and now still doing no more than 15kt with 200 knots still to run to Palermo. 

Postscript…. Ship broke down (‘technical issue’) overnight delaying our return to port this morning by 2 hours or so.
 

Clearly not all is well right now as we are moving at 14 knots against a top speed of 22, and they have had to cancel all excursions today for the non-departing guests!

Not this time, meals in the YC restaurant usually take about 2 hours, so from 6:30 sit down, 8:30 finish for meal so we put the kids to bed and sit on our balcony until lights out about 10:30 ish. Rock ‘n’ roll!

Just pulling in to Marseille - last day already!

Lots of positives to report from this YC cruise:

- Kids club a massive hit with our 3 year old: 3 hours AM, 2 hours PM daily. (Evening also offered but too late for us)

- YC staff amazing with the kids

- All Inc. drinks now much improved: hard pushed to find a drink which isn’t included anywhere on the ship (barring half a dozen cocktails, and super premium alcohol)

- YC drinks options in Top Sail / sun deck excellent

- Dining in Top Sail really good quality and decent choice (menu threads exist so will not copy). Mainly casual dress code.

- Internet much improved cf. prior MSC sailings

Some (not negatives) but things to be aware of on the itinerary:

- Ship is so big, only uses big docks far from town. Of this itinerary, Civitavecchia, Valencia, Marseille need buses from the port into town. Palermo (10 min) walkable as is Ibiza (30min).

- Port days are not full days in Ibiza (1pm-10.30pm), Valencia (8am-2.30pm) and Marseille (2pm-9pm) so there is more sea action (personally quite like this)

- Baby club (under 3) - only one hour morning / afternoon offered with babysitting on the sea day only. Would have been good for more time as older one was in kids club much longer

- Casino - didn’t play this time as with kids but high table minimums (25e blackjack, 5e roulette per spin) and card tables have autoshufflers (house edge increases)

Downsides (not major)

- Room service speed patchy. 3 pizza delivery orders at lunch (over the week) arrived in 30, 60, 70 minutes as they got busy

- Butler service a bit confused - first reorganised the minibar to our liking then half way through reverted to standard offering. Newspaper selection missed first couple of days, when we enquired it was because out selection on their printed from was ‘not available’.

-Onboard ‘future cruise’ pricing is higher than getting an online quote 🙂

All in all very enjoyable week. Looking to book a repeat trip (with a bit more notice) for next year!

Hi Nunagoras,

The only part about Covid which bothers us now is the pre travel test requirement which means you don’t know if you will actually travel until 2 days before. Having travelled and tested a few times ( pre travel and pre return journey) in 2020/1 to see family it made travelling stressful.

We’re vaccinated, boosted, and have also had Covid. For the adults it was minor cold symptoms, for the kids it was gastro symptoms for 3/4 days. We’re happy to ‘get on with life’ now as we’re as protected as can be, and with the kids at creche / school  it’s impossible to dodge these things.

Thanks!

Hi Rossco!

Ship is close to capacity this week.

Staff all wearing FFP2 masks, guests not really wearing masks at all (maybe 10-20%). Does state in the cruise planner to wear them while moving around but zero enforcement.

Apart from staff mask wearing it does feel like we are back to 2019 again on board. They are all happy to high five the kids (this is becoming a thing with Alex and all the YC staff!) so the masks seem like more lip service to the rules than anything else.

Cheers! (Photo from tonight’s departure, see if you can spot me on top of the bridge wing with a pint 🙂 )

Posting from somewhere on the approaches to Palermo… today we will hop off in the port and have a look round the town. 

Journey down Saturday was relatively calm (as far as can be blasting down the Autostrada!) until exiting in Genoa. Cue 1 hour jam with push and shove everywhere…  two ferries departing at the same time!

We had an additional concern that the tickets hadn’t been issued at the time we had arrived at the port, but thankfully the YC checkin was smoothly done with the MSC confirmation number emailed on the Friday (and Covid certificates, test results and hastily filled out health details as we hadn’t been sent them)… all safely on board about 14:30.

Seaside YC and the overall YC package appears to be a step up from what we have been used to; more included outside the closed off area, no navigating to the back of the ship for the restaurant etc.

We skipped Civitavecchia as a port (been many times before) in favour of winding down a bit after a stressful couple of days. 
 

There are a few families travelling in YC this week, the staff absolutely love our kids,  our 18 month old was almost constantly entertained by the waiters during dinner making animals from napkins etc!

Excellent so far, really glad we made the effort to come. 

If I can get Alex on the behind the scenes ship tour, and see the engine room and bridge, I think he would explode with excitement! Will ask the YC concierge if there is any chance tomorrow!

My 3 year old has been excited all day. I think he is going to have the time of his life 🙂 he loves all big things mechanical!

Now we are packed and I’ve had a couple of beers now feel a bit more calm about it all. Paperwork is in order, everything we can think of is packed… and for everything we didn’t think of there’s Mastercard in Civitavecchia 😂

So… as the thread title says, we originally were looking at a potential end August cruise out of Genoa. We’ve been in YC on Preziosa and Divina before and loved it.

When we checked the Covid rules, there was a risk that if we tested positive, couldn’t board… money down the pan (and with a few travels and events in July /Aug, it’s not inconceivable we could catch it again, even being boosted)… Cue a brainwave…

8am this morning we were at the pharmacy to get the Covid tests done, once they were passed, it was on the phone to book for tomorrow’s departure!

At this point, even booking parking at the port is tricky (thanks to my Italian friend for calling them up for me as online bookings close at T-72 hours)!

So we have a 7am departure tomorrow for a 4hr drive Geneva-Genoa, for a week’s cruise on Seaside in YC, and first cruise with the little monsters! Today has been a bit of a whirlwind…