Av8tor

Gusti & Maronette are the BOMB! We loved them!

Update on the wonderful AQV attention to details... After finding out that our Empress itinerary for Oct has been changed with no notice to me or even being posted on the website (fairly minor changes involving one different stop and timing differences for others), they finally posted the tour I am interested in. I got it booked, but then noticed the tour is posted for 1-4:30pm which will be interesting since our time in "port" is only scheduled for 8:30a-2p.

But now the cruise price with the promo has probably increased by $300 😲

Thanks for reporting your experiences and thoughts on the cruise, I've enjoyed them all. So happy that you both finally got the breakfasts you've been so diligently trying to obtain!!! 😋

Looking to book our first SD cruise... Have SD1 & SD2 both received recent renovations? If not, which do you think is better? Thanks

I had the same issue. If you have a cruise mate, try logging in with their info and see if it gives you full access. That worked for me...

Yeah, i'm experiencing the same thing for my Empress cruise in October. The antique aircraft & auto tour I'm interested in shows up on the general info for the Columbia River cruises, but when I go to the booking page for my actual cruise date, it's not listed as a choice. I chatted with the AQV agent and she checked with the development team to see what the story is. They told her that it SHOULD be available to book and they'd work on it. The agent took my e-mail address and said she'd notify me when the problem was fixed. I checked other cruise dates and that tour was available to book for cruises through September, but not for October onwards. It's inside the 180 day window so hopefully it'll still be an option and right now it's only a question of them actually loading it into the website. Another potential issue I saw was the issue of cancelling tours and getting refunds. The general tours & excursions page says that if you cancel a tour at least 48 hours in advance, you will get a full refund. However, the actual Terms & Conditions page that you must agree to before booking, only says that if cancelled before the 48 hours, the cost can be applied to another tour if available. That difference concerned me, but the AQV agent confirmed that both options are available and the choice is yours. I'm not sure how that really works out since tours booked in advance are not charged at the time of booking, but are just placed on your onboard account to be paid at the end of the cruise. With all the posts about how slow AQV is with refunds (granted most of those complaints are for complete cruises) but I'd rather not find out the same is true for tours...

Going in after pasting to add line breaks shouldn't take too long and if you loose internet before posting, you haven't lost much time. Just try the pasting process again after regaining internet.

Try typing your entry using a word processing program or app while off-line since those can do auto saves periodically and you don't have to be on-line while doing it. Then just copy and paste the completed product into the Cruise Critic window while on-line & hit submit. Easy Peasy

When we were at OC in Jan and Feb this year there was NO scuba diving available. Even though some older promotional descriptions mentioned scuba, I asked at the excursion center and the dive shack and was told both times that it's snorkeling only - no scuba.

That the address I used. Make your reservation and e-mailo that address with your booking # and proof of service ASAP (before final payment) and they should revise the price downwards if that particular cruise is eligible for the discount (I hear some cruises won't get it). This has to be done for EACH cruise even though other lines might only make you submit your proof of service once...

My YC butler on Seascape said the override only works if you are the first to "call" the elevator. If all the elevators in that bank have already been "assigned," you will be notified which one to get on, but there won't necessarily be any priority to your chosen floor.

MY experience at the AYCE Sushi on Seascape was that the 45 minute limit wasn't enforced - I was there for at least an hour and wasn't ever prompted to leave. YMMV depending on ship's personnel and if there are others with reservations waiting to eat...

Personally, I would have NO problem with replying, "Sure, I'll let you into the YC. Just as soon as you show me your key card or wrist band." Granted, that would only limit "pure" interlopers trying to piggyback through the door, not those that have been loaned cars/bands from other paying YC passengers...

They're afraid that if you're in the YC enjoying that experience, you won't be in the casino gambling 😁

Didn't notice the others on the starboard side. Did any of those have mangled railings around the platform?

Thanks Sealynx & 2Wheels

Earlier this month while leaving Ocean Cay I snapped this quick picture of a damaged channel marker. I believe it was on the south side of the channel (port side if heading west). I know it's a crappy picture, but you can see the whole thing is listing at an angle and the safety railing around the platform the light is mounted to is all bent up. This next photo is of the next undamaged channel marker. Anybody know the story behind this damage???

where?

Here's the in-cabin laundry slip and non-package prices as of Feb 2023: Sorry, tried 3 times to get this posted right side up, but the image wouldn't cooperate...

This was from our stop earlier in the month. Hope the files loads properly and forgive the cinematography (or lack thereof) as the photographer is not an expert... 20230130_193135.mp4

A few general YC restaurant observations that typify MSC's inconsistencies: Tables set for guests would sometimes be missing napkins, wine or water glasses for some of the place settings. Sometimes the table settings would include butter knives and sometimes they wouldn't. Sometimes water bottles would be left at the tables for self-refills and other times you'd have to wait for the servers to come back by. Empty cocktail glasses were never removed from the table (well except for after we left). Granted, these are minor things and they certainly did not detract from our overall MSC YC experience, but I think it does indicate a lack of training, supervision and attention to detail. While it could also be proof of the tremendous work load the crew is under, they rectify the situations quickly and recover rather efficiently. It's just that I've never observed so many examples of such "lapses" on our other cruises. It certainly wasn't enough for us to say we'd never cruise MSC again! We had a late flight out of FLL on Sunday, so we stayed onboard in the Top Sail Lounge at Miami having breakfast and relaxing until they made us leave by escorting the last group of YCers to the ships exit and bidding us a fond farewell and safe travels home. Ran into Gusti, our "own" butler, on the terminal's gangway and had one more chance to say goodbye and thank him for such great service. They told us our luggage would be in a special area for YC with "96" signage. We looked for it as we walked through the terminal but never say any "96" signs. The YC luggage was finally found after all the other luggage number areas right near the exit. Lines for CBP clearance weren't very very long and it didn't take a lot of time to clear with the facial scan. We walked across to the street from the terminal to the drop-off/pick-up island and called for an Uber. One of the porters was very vocal and determined to not let cars pick people up at the east end (beginning) of the island and would try to force them to go to the west end. She only wanted drop-offs at her end probably because that's where she gets her tips. I had already set my pick-up location as the east end so that's where we stayed. There were no posted signs and she had no legal authority so I was prepared to "do battle" if she tried to block our Uber's arrival. When the Uber finally arrived, that porter was down aways doing something else and by the time she came back we were already loading the bags into the back of the Tahoe. Nothing was said and I declared that a small win. I heard that cellphone coverage could be spotty or signal-jammed at the Port of Miami, but we didn't experience that. I had good signal from the moment the ship arrived in port. Just a heads-up, our Uber driver spoke almost no english at all so it's a good thing I had a translator app on my phone so we could understand each other's texts and comms. The Uber dropped us at the FLL terminal 2 skycap area at about 11:40am where we curbside checked our luggagge for our 5pm flight. On cruise turn around days, Delta at FLL usually won't let you check-in your bags at the normal counters until about 3? hours before your flight since they don't have room to hold them for all the later outbound flights. This means that the pre-security area gets quite crowded as cruisers wait until they're allowed in. That restriction does not apply for First Class or Sky Priority and I'm not sure if it even applies to skycap service either. Either way we were covered and checked ours in 5 hours early. We took another Uber to from the airport to Southport Raw Bar, our favorite oyster/seafood place just north of FLL's Port Everglades. We had a nice relaxing lunch and then Uber'd back to the airport with plenty of time for our flight. Flights home went smoother than our outbound travels and I even got to watch the first half of the Superbowl live while in flight. 2nd half was available just about everywhere in the MSP terminal during our layover. Didn't arrive home until after midnight PT so it was a very long 20 hour day. It's nice to be home, but we miss YC!

Wednesday was an enjoyable seaday spent pool-side in the cabana. Thursday morning was very interesting as we approached the San Juan harbor. It was quite windy and the waves were really crashing on both side of the channel. I was on the pool deck as we approached, when the ship suddenly listed and began the tightest turn I've ever experienced on a cruise ship. The harbor pilot must have not liked something and abandoned his approach to the harbor. We circled back around and made it into the harbor on the second try. No problems experienced for the actual docking or the departure later in the day. I heard that later a NCL ship delayed their approach in and there was still a NCL ship sitting outside the harbor when we departed, so maybe that was true. Friday saw a much calmer entry into the harbor at Puerto Plata. It was the only port we haven't been to yet, but looked small and didn't really hold any interest for us, so we just stayed onboard again and enjoyed the pool & cabana. I had to check out the water slides before ending our 2 weeks and since I'd yet to do that yet, today was the day. I wanted to see how fast/scary they'd be for our granddaughter in case she accompanies us on a future cruise (at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it 😁). The 3 slides (1 is a double side-by-side) certainly weren't tame (I saw one crying boy come out with his mom), but I think she'd do fine since roller coasters don't phase her anymore. Late in the afternoon some sort of a marching type band concert was going on in the park at the mouth of the harbor. It was nice listening to it from the pool deck and our balcony as we waited to depart and as we got underway. Saturday was our last seaday and again we maximized use of the cabana. I only left for an hour to get my AYCE sushi lunch and then rejoined my DW in time for the tail end of the YC seafood extravaganza even though I only had room for a few grilled scallops. Early that evening I checked our folio charges and noticed something odd. Our daily gratuity charges had been backed out and with only 12 hours remaining until disembarkation, we still had $200 of OBC. I checked with the concierge and they said that for some reason either a VC or military discount that we were entitled to wasn't applied to our second week. Their remedy was to remove the DSCs. I'm not sure if they "made that amount up" to the crew tip pot, but I certainly wasn't going to turn the refund down. With no real time left to spend it onboard, I simply went to the casino, gambled some, lost a bit of it, and cashed out the rest. That was a pleasant surprise and made the end of the cruise a bit less bitter. Also gave us more cash to hand to our fantastic butler team! TBC

On Tuesday, we awoke in Nassau and I headed up bright and early to grab a cabana on the One Pool deck. I was able to get a cabana every morning for the rest of the cruise, but unlike some "hogs," we actually used ours for the entire day each time. At least one of us was always there, so while it was unavailable to others, I don't consider that hogging. That evening was Gala night and there were so few gowns & tuxes last week that we didn't bother to don our formal wear again this time and just went casual chic. During our second week, we noticed that while the YC dinner menus did vary daily, they were pretty much the same "rotation" from week to week. Portions weren't huge, but did satisfy. Seconds or extra items were always available. Especiallly loved their scallops. prime rib and filet mignon dinners plus the chocolate ice cream for dessert was smooth & delicious.We took almost all lunches at the buffet up on the pool deck so can't comment on the YC restaurant lunch menu/service. Only exception to that was the two lunches I had at Kato for Alll You Can Eat Sushi. For $33 +15%, you get a loosely (or not at all) enforced 45 minutes to get what you want from the revolving belt system. Nigiri, sashimi, rolls and handrolls were amply supplied. It was all quite good. Only "problem" was that the YC Seafood Extravaganza was always held on an AYCE Sushi day. Had to go for early sushi lunch and the hit the extravaganza just before they closed up by the pool. Maybe next time it'll be better if I start with the extravaganza at lunch and save the sushi for dinner. Can you tell that I love my seafood? It's too bad my wife feels that she couldn't do an AYCE sushi deal the "justice" it deserves so I'll just have to continue going AYCE solo! The theater production shows also repeated the second week, and since we didn't really enjoy them that much on the first week, we didn't go during the second week. I did see the comedian's shows both weeks and even though they were similar, there were differences and I enjoyed them all. DW didn't attend the 2nd week's late night "adults only" comedy show since it did tend towards the raunchy end of the spectrum. In addition to the AYCE sushi lunches & dinners and their2 or 3 meal speciality packages, they also periodically offered 20-30% discounts for speciality restaurant dinners, $60 Surf & Turf at the Ocean Cay retaurant, $12 Butcher's Cut lunch, and cocktail/drink specials. Except for my AYCE sushi, we did not partake in any of those. We didn't eben use or Voyagers Club speciality restaurant "tasting" benefits - we ate all dinners in the YC restaurant except for two nights of room service. I was surprised that the YC room service menu did not even include hamburgers or fries. While MSC pizza was good, I don't think it is as good as Princess' pizza was (4 years ago). TBC

Well I'm back home again and somewhat caught up to "normal life." We really enjoyed or 2nd week on the Seascape. YC is thoroughly enjoyable, especially after not cruising at all for 4 years. Liked it so much we didn't even get off the ship at the non-MSC ports. 2nd visit to Ocean Cay was as enjoyable as the first except for a bit more breeze and rougher waters at the YC and Bimini beaches. After a week in the sun during the 1st week, I was less concerned with shade this time at Ocean Cay. Did another counter-clockwise swim around the north island except didn't swim under the bridge this time due to currents and rough water on the east side. Did get a bit hasseled by the safety patrol roving around on jet skis - seems they don't like you swimming anywhere else than right along the beaches' shore lines. Even though it's listed in the "Welcome to Ocean Cay" printed program, I found out that there is no Discover Scuba Diving Center on the island. They only do snorkleing. There was no light house light show the second week because we left the cay too early. My wife got a video of the first week's performance and I'll see if I can post it later. Also will post some photos of a channel marker on the south side of the ship's arrival/departure channel that appears to have been hit and damaged at some point in time. Wonder what the story behind that is??? TBC...