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floridian1

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Posts posted by floridian1

    Difference Between Yacht Club Med Cruise vs Carib Cruise?

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    We have a med YC cruise planned for the new Grandiosa in March roundtrip from Rome (civi). We sailed in the yacht club on the Seaside this summer and really enjoyed the experience.

     

    Is there any differences in service and experience between a Yacht Club Caribbean cruise and a Mediterranean cruise?

     

    I had read on here a few months back that YC cruisers get seats saved for them on buses with MSC excrusions on a med cruise? 

     

    Looking forward to reading your feedback.

    MSC Barcelona Excursion Gaudi's Experience?

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    Our family will be taking our first MSC Med. Cruise next March. I was looking for feedback on the MSC Barcelona Excursion Gaudi's Experience? Has anyone ever took it? I do read the spain port boards here on CC but I am specifically wanting to hear from those that took the MSC excursion though. How did you like it? What time was the excursion?

    Mini Club age exception

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1

     

    Possibly..they let our friends child move down to the mini club and the child was a year over the age limit. The staff just said sure, no hesitations. Your looking to have your child move up, so different from our scenario however our experience shows Msc is clearly not as strict as other cruiselines regarding the kids club ages.

    Seaside Yacht Club Dining Room was a HUGE let Down

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1

    7 hours ago, shukapaw said:

    HI,

     

    My wife and I were in the YC on the June 8 sailing ......

    Not to discredit the OP's experience, but I have to say our dealings with the Maitre d were excellent. I have never really understood the value added by a Maitre d. This one was so good and so attentive that I wrote a positive review for him and provided it to the YC Director. 

     

    ~Brian

     

     

    Hi Brian I'm glad your dining experience was better than ours, your right...Complete opposite! It was unfortunate for us that they didn't provide the same service at dinner.  Do you remember what the name is of the maitre d?

    • Like 1

    Sorry but it’s aweful

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    You may have seen my post about the poor experience we had with food..even in the yacht club. 

     

    We did LOVE the pizza though on the seaside and the very fresh baked goods. 

     

    Did you try another pizza?..they had like 6 different ones on our cruise...

    Seaside Yacht Club Dining Room was a HUGE let Down

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    Sure taste is subjective but quality food and quality service is not. I wish our experience would have been different. We were really looking forward to the YC dining room and expected better. Like I mentioned we received great service and food at the speciality restaurant and the restaurant manager there was friendly and visited everyone from what i saw so MSC has what it takes to excel. 

     

    Adding to my dissapointment was how our big group was treated. We usually cruise as a group of 8 or 9 and it has NOT been an issue on any other cruise line. I really think this is because YC is understaffed, which is unfortunate for both the cruiser and the staff. Everyone in the YC including our servers were very nice (except maitre d - does someone have his name?) I really think this is a leadership issue 100%.

     

    The purpose of the post was just to make people aware that it is possible that they may not get "spectacular" experience in the YC restaurant and I hope MSC improves, Im rooting for them! I don't doubt those of you that had a great experience....I hope it becomes consistently good for EVERY passenger in the YC. The dining room needs to be consistently good like the rest of the YC experience which we can all agree is fantastic! MSC needs to strive for consistency and better leadership in all areas.

     

    We had a fantastic cruise otherwise. We really liked the ship and the rest of the YC experience was great. We will sail YC again soon. 

    Seaside Yacht Club Dining Room was a HUGE let Down

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1

    23 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

    A rather discouraging review for a booked guest on MSC Meraviglia's YC in January.  But, if there is anything that I have learned from my decades of cruising, its the management and Executive Chef of the dining facility in which I am patronizing that will have a major influence on my dining experiences.  Some are great; some are OK; some should have sailed on the Titanic.

    Despite this poor review on the dining room we would sail msc yc again...our expectations of the food in the YC would just have to be significantly lower going into it than what it was going into this cruise.  The rest of the experience was very good.  

    Seaside Yacht Club Dining Room was a HUGE let Down

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1
    spelling errors

    Early this month we sailed in the Yacht Club on the Seaside. I read the cruisecritic boards for about a year before our cruise and I found most other peoples experiences true for our cruise, except for one big thing: The Food in the Yacht club was not good - and the service in the restaurant was terribly slow. Also,  the matire d was absolutely horrible. Hands down the worst cruise food we have had in a dinning room on a cruise ship before (have sailed NCL, RCCL, Disney, Carnival, Princess)! We live in a major city and travel frequently, we are foodies who love good food whether that is at a mom and pop shop or an expensive restaurant. Yacht Club food was not good. We loved the rest of the YC experience though, even more so than the Haven. However, Haven's restaurant is much better than Yacht Club.
     
    I was expecting so much better, we were really let down:
    Food was tasteless!
    Food did not always match description in the menu.
    Some dishes were prepared wrong.
    Service was painfully slow - even after bringing it to the servers attention many times.
    We had to practically beg for refills of our drinks - reminding our serving team over and over.
    The servers were nice however you can tell they are understaffed and overworked.
    The maitre d only checked in and visited with select tables - not everyone!
     
    Speaking of the maitre d - the one currently on the Seaside has a very unfortunate attitude. We were a table of 9. On the first afternoon when we boarded we were asked our preferred dining time for our group of 9 and we agreed on 730pm. We showed up at 7 and checked in to let them know that we would be in the lounge and to let us know when the table was ready. 7:30 came and went, 7:45 came and went, at 8 I went up to see how much longer. I was told maybe in another 10 minutes. Now it's 8:30pm. I go back upstairs and was told sorry, our group would have to eat at separate tables, that they could not accommodate our large group. WHAT!? After an hour of waiting past the time we were told? At this point we are starving and we have a show we need to catch in an hour so we sit down at two separate tables and were pretty shocked. After a few minutes  I notice a row of four 2 tops no one is sitting at. I point this out to the maitre d and ask if he could move those together to accommodate our group, and that we are likely now going to be late for the show. His response to me with a very annoyed attitude was "No that won't work, we would have to move those tables together, that would not work. We will try to accommodate your group tomorrow. It is not my fault that another large party that got here at 5:45 is taking so long" at this point I am flabbergasted at his response. I am unsure if he is just having a bad night or if he just should not be employed in the hospitality industry, but I was upset.Not the way I envisioned my first dinner in the YC. That is not the way to be treating guests. I sit down and tell my husband I'm going to concierge to ask for the Yahct Club Manager. As soon as I finished my sentence the Maitre D shows back up and says. "we will move those tables together if that's what you want" I said absolutely that's what I want - thank you! As we stand up to move the couple dining at the table next to us tell me "good for you!". After dinner he asked us how our dinner was, and we said good thank you as we raced to meet a butler to take us to the show. That was it - he never approached our table the rest of the cruise. Unacceptable!!
     
    We opted to eat at the Teppenyaki and Butchers Cut that week - received excellent service at both and the food was in a whole different level than the Yacht Club Food.
     
    The buffet on the pool deck was nice, but also nothing special. We checked out the main buffet towards the end of the cruise and we thought the food tasted pretty good there! Infact we all felt the pastries in the regular buffet was alot fresher than what they were serving in the Yacht Club!
     
    To end on a positive note: The server we had  for lunch the first day(I wish I kept his name!) asked us how dinner was going, and said he wished he was our server. We said we were pretty unimpressed to say the least. He asked if we liked Indian food? We said yes. He told us to come to the restaurant the last night of the cruise and that he was going to have the chef prepare something special for us. The last night, true to his word, they brought out several indian dishes as appetizers. This was the best tasting food we had in the YC dining room the entire week!
     
    • Like 1

    Grandiosa Deck Plans

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    4 hours ago, StolidCruiser said:

     

    It's to keep YC capacity controlled (and charging top dollar for each guest) which is what patrons of the YC want.

    It appears grandiosa yc has about the same amount of yc suites as seaside yc and with ALOT less rooms for 4 I am assuming the grandiosa YC is going to feel even more empty than our June seaside yc cruise! 

    Grandiosa Deck Plans

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    I guess I'm lucky I grabbed a grandiosa YC room for my family of 4 since there was so few. We were recently on seaside yc and loved it. Got grandiosa for under 4k march spring break week. Have never done a med cruise before. Looking forward to it. 

    Grandiosa Deck Plans

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1

    Thanks I didn't realize they were so similar. I think its weird that grandiosa yacht club barely has any cabins that fit 4 people (according to the symbols) 

    Spa newbie question

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Midnights Mom said:

    This is confusing.  I had read a post some months ago that clearly stated not to tip at the salon as a 15% gratuity is automatically added to your account and you don't want to double tip.  Also, I was under the impression that after your spa services you could use the facilities in the thermal area.  Is that not correct?

    Depends on the cabin type you booked. Not everyone gets free access. They do sell day and weekly passes for those that don't have it included in their cabin type.

    Spa newbie question

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted

    1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

     

     

    ??  Who takes  cash with them for a spa appointment?

    Exactly it was strange they don't allow you to charge it. I went back and left the cash later in the day..they handed me envelopes.

    San Juan on the seaside

    in MSC Cruises

    Posted · Edited by floridian1

    We were there last week. The Seaside arrived early. I want to say we were off the ship at 430. We hopped in a taxi and got to the fort at 5pm and it closed at 6pm. Enough time for a general overview of the fort but not enough to be able to read all of the informational signs. It was only $6 and we enjoyed it. Than we walked back near the port and had dinner. 

     

    The ship passes the fort on the way to the port. It's very beautiful and the ship gets close. This happened around 410pm i believe ..so be ready early for a possibility of an early arrival and taking in the sites as the ship approaches.

    • Like 1
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