Av8tor

Could it be a change in port fees/taxes?

Same for me today on Seascape

I agree about having to submit every time. We're onboard right now and decided to extend our cruise for another week. They had space available, so we booked onboard for the cruise starting tomorrow. Even though they had approved the military discount for this cruise with the DD214 I sent in 2 months ago, they wanted the proof again. Good thing I had a photo of that 214 on my phone! Later the future cruise consultant said she could probably get it approved by just using my military ID. YMMV...

According to a form a got from the YC concierge there are only 2 laundry packages available on board. Package L2 is for 20 items @$45 and L4 is for 40 items @$64. These prices are higher than if you purchased pre-cruise (I forget the specific prices). Also, there is no 10 item package once onboard like there is for pre-cruise. The form says the item allowance must be used all together in a single delivery. 48 hour turnaround. It also said "washed and folded (dry cleaning and ironing not included)". The regular laundry slip in the cabin has options for dry clean + iron / wash + iron / iron only. The per item prices are listed and depending on the clothing type mix would normally be more expensive than the package(s). The per item costs are subject to Voyagers Club discounts. Black/Diamond gets 15% off - lower levels get smaller discounts but I don't know those specifics...

Yes you do need a reservation. It will be listed in the daily planner (a small item) but I'd check with concierge/guest services ASAP on board to find out when it'll e offered and get your reservation. I went at 1:30pm and I think there are a total of 24-30 seats along the sushi belt and about 20 people were there.

Ill try to continue the review for a bit while my DW gets ready for dinner. We just sailed away from Grand Cayman heading to Ocho Rios tomorrow. Cozumel was yesterday. I haven't been taking notes so this rambling will be from memory and any random thoughts that pop into my thick skull... Our butler team did not get the pre-selection info we submitted on line but our choices for newspaper, pillows, distilled water & in room liquor bottle were quickly accommodated. We really enjoyed our Monday at Ocean Cay. Don't know why they set up the YC area where and how they did since it could've been so much better. That being said, it is what it is and while not perfect, it is a very nice experience. Weather was very nice and winds weren't strong. Meals have been good - not a big choice of entree selections in YC's top sail dining room but the food is good and portion size, while smaller than I remember from Princess, is adequate for most folks. While dinner menus change daily for lunch & dinner, the dessert choices seem to stay the same day after day except for one item and maybe the ice-cream flavors available. YC One Pool breakfast buffet is pretty much the same each day but the lunch one does change. I hear that the seafood extravaganza will be on the 2nd (last) seaday. On the 1st seaday, I did go to the all-you-can-eat sushi special and was quite happy. All sorts of nigiri, makai, sashimi and other temptations circled around on the belt and empty spaces were quickly filled. One of the servers restocking the belt noticed I liked salmon so plenty of that was provided with numerous plates of salmon nigiri and sashimi handed directly to me bypassing the belt. I ate a ton of "bait" that afternoon and the $33 price was well worth it. A few Kirin and Asahi beers washed it all down and were no charge due to the YC drink package. Shows at the theater have been OK (other that the first night) but not on par with Princess's productions. These are somewhat short and not quite as intricate (costumes, vocals, coreography), but to be fair, this is our first cruise since the pandemic. The show we went to last night at Le Cabaret Rouge lounge was odd and not very entertaining to us - YMMV.. The Ken Boyd comedy show at the theater was funny and he's doing another one (adults blue humor) late tonight. We'll certainly be staying up for that! One thing I do find odd is that while we can bring drinks into the theater, there is no bar service in the theater. In fact, our butler told us that on other MSC ships they don't allow drinks in the theater at all! Our butler said that since they couldn't get me my first choice for in-room liquor that he'd just see to it that I had a large glass of Crown Royal in the cabin for me to mix my own cocktails if I didn't want to walk "all the way" down the hall to the Top Sail lounge for a drink (a whole 7 cabins). Now that's an example of what a butler can do for you... Anyway, time for dinner. More to come later...

US papers offered this week on Seascape were USA Today, Washington Post, New York Post, LA Times & Wall St Journal. Other countries and corresponding number of paper choices: Austria 4, Belgium 3, Brazil 5, Canada 4, China 4, France 5, Germany 7, Italy 7, Ireland 3, Mexico 3, Netherlands 4, Portugal 3, Russia 5, Saudi Arabia 5, So Africa 4, Spain 6, Swiss 6,& UK 8. The papers themselves seem to be like photo copies of the originals and many (if not all) of the USA Today pages we got were cut off at the bottom. Unfortunately, that meant you "lost" a few lines of text for every column. Our butler apparently did not get our preferences in advance. The asst asked what pillows,, paper & booze bottle we wanted. The butler team never got the special request I had submitted for distilled water either but they did me a liter bottle of water. The cap was unsealed and there was no label on it, so I hope it actually was distilled water and not just poured from the tap. For the one bottle of in-room booze, you have your choice of 2 red wines, 2 white wines, 2 bubblies, Absolut or Belvedere vodka, Tanqueray or Bombay Sapphire gin, Glen Grant scotch or Jack Daniels whiskey.

I went by the other YINs there (19019 & 19022?) and those could be OK, but I'd didn't check out 19016. Looking at the diagram I'd be very suspicious of that one...

The Pool Room has one table with a card reader attached to it but it wasn't operative and those playing said it was free for them. A pinball machine in there costs $2.50. There is also a shuffle board table, but I didn't see any pucks (perhaps you need to ask for them back in the sports bar)...

They have "Sweet Temptation" snacks in TS lounge from 9pm to 1am. Just little dessert type stuff with maybe some nuts. I did ask for and got some potato chips though. Out in "GenPop" the Market Place buffet closes at 9pm and the Pizza area there is open until 1am. Venchi Chocolate (extra cost) is open until midnight. No other late night food venues that I know about unless you can get snacks at various bars (but I don't think so)

I don't think those in YC are held to the automatically generated check-in times. Ours was 11am, then changed to 11:30am, but due to the marathon we didn't check-in until about 1:30 and there was no problem.

The NE 5th St entrance & exit to/from the port probably won't open until after 11am abd access to anything east of Miami Ave from the southern Wynwood area down through Brickell to Coconut Grove will have very limited to no access. Best bet would be to stay out of those areas and stay somewhere that has access to I95 & I395 so you can use the tunnel entrance to the port.

Walked by 1809 and 19009 and can't imagine noise would be a problem, especially since the "blank space" you are worried about is across the hall and is the One Pool. Food quality is good but taste is subjective...

No

Nice day at Ocean Cay today. The weather was great with light breezes and fair seas. After a quick breakfast up by the One Pool I headed off the ship around 9 and got to Ocean House beach around 9:30. Some of the carts that shuttle YC passengers around actually have large solar panels on their roofs - nice. The beach wasn't crowded then and never reached full capacity all day. After setting up loungers under an umbrella and a small palm tree for my DW and me I went for a swim. It was a bit rough off the YC beach so I started over at the east end of Bimini beach and swam CCW around the north island. Smoother water in the lagoon but had to go over the nets at each end. Lifeguards were present at most beaches I saw except for Bimini. Not sure about Paradise Sands or Sunset beaches. Lighthouse beach has free umbrellas and adarondack style chairs but no loungers. There are some what look like beanbag type sacks available that I THINK are also free. Drink service at YC beach was OK. Even though the servers worked their hearts out, the set up is less than ideal. Only one or two bartenders at Ocean House were making the drinks for 8+ servers. The servers had a hard time getting to the bar & the folks on the beach because people kept stopping them to place more orders. Another bar at the other end of the beach would really help or maybe have a plan where the YC area has geographic sectors each served by a wait staff team cycling between the bar(s) and the passengers. Lunch was good and there wasn't really a wait for tables. Besides the tables on the patio of Ocean House, they also had tables on the lawn area next to the kitchen building and in front of OH itself. Lobster roll was too "mayonaisie" for my taste and I was told they couldn't make it mayo free as it was prepared in advance. Salads used fresh ingredients. Nothing very interesting in the shops on the island. Local Bahamian shop items must be purchased with cash instead of using your cruise card. Not sure if credit cards were accepted. All on-island purchases were subject to Bahamian tax (13% I think). I've seen various mention of scuba being available on OC and even though there is a so called Scuba Center building on the island, there is NO scuba available - only snorkeling. Back aboard we relaxed for a while reading on the One Pool deck (nice cushioned loungers) and then got ready for dinner. Watched the Lighthouse light/music show from our balcony at 7:15 and while it was something fairly unique, the pulsing lights weren't in sync with the music. That was only for the 1st :15 minutes because then the real show started and it was actually quite good but that only lasted 5 minutes then it was back to the "disco" music and non-sync'd pulsing lights. Supposed to be another show in an hour and I'm expecting the same or similar. Sailaway is sometime between 9 and 10pm. Anyway, going to dinner now and see the comedian later in the theater. Seaday tomorrow & I'll try to get answers for some of the questions that have been asked...

Embarkation Day!! Oh so glad it's over and the cruise is under way. Sitting in Top Sail lounge now trying to post this update before they close at 1am and in time to get some sleep before a hopefully sunny and relaxing day tomorrow on Ocean Cay! The transportation options from our hotel to the port were MUCH worse than we expected due to the marathon. Due to the race route itself, streets around the hotel were closed for at least 4 blocks in every direction. Trying to get an Uber would have been very problematic. Prices were about 4 to 5 times higher than expected and whether or not we could determine a suitable pick-up location to walk to and whether or not the driver could actually get there, was in doubt. At 10:50, we opted to take a shared shuttle arranged thru the hotel concierge rather than try to continue with the Uber option. Our check-in was at 11:30 (not too important since we're YC) but the 11:00 shuttle was full. We booked the noon shuttle and waited in the hotel lobby for an hour and a half. We "only" had to walk 2 blocks to meet it, but due to traffic tie-ups, the actual shuttle arrival was at 12:50. So much for the early boarding. Didn't reach the ship until past 1:30, again due to traffic. Once off the shuttle, check-in processing was fairly quick & smooth. No temperature checks at all and they didn't even ask to see the health forms. While moving to board the ship after check-in, they asked our group if we wanted to stop in the pre-boarding lounge for champagne/sodas before proceeding up the gangway. While I think that's great for those arriving before actual boarding begins, that late in the day, who would really want to sit in the terminal for a drink when they could go onboard to the top sail lounge or one pool bar and have more drink choices there? Everyone said no thanks and we went right onboard. Escorted to Top Sail lounge for drinks and then to the cabin by 2:20... It's now 12:45am and I'm the last one in Top Sail lounge. Crew says they have to stay until 1am, but if I leave, maybe they can get some rest early. Think I'll call it a night. TBC...

We're on deck 16, so I can't say for sure, but looking at the deck plan for 19 you posted I wouldn't worry about it since the "white space is actually across the hall then above from from your cabin...

My wife would not have been happy without her straightener, She packed her primary one (110V) in her checked bag and put the backup (220V) in my checked bag hoping at least one would get through. Both made it without a problem. Seascape today...

Oh no, the pre-cruise saga continues... This weekend is the Miami Marathon. I was aware of that when I was researching pre-cruise hotel possibilities since prices were high and availability in the area I wanted was limited. I love to get up on cruise morning and (hopefully) see the ship already docked and waiting for us to board. The hotel I booked is located downtown along Biscayne Blvd so it's insight of POM, but from what I saw on-line, it wasn't actually on the race route. HOWEVER (isn't there always a however?), it is in the gap between the start line and the finish line which isn't part of the race itself. What I didn't realize is that the blvd would be completely closed to traffic on for the morning of our embarkation. We're going to have to drag our bags one or two blocks from the hotel to meet an Uber - - - oh the horror... Thank goodness for wheeled luggage!

Yeah, they might have to call MY name at the end of the next cruise 😉

I board on Sunday - I'll let you know about outlets as I review. Eating in YC so not sure about regular kids menues

We boardr cruise ight after you on the 29th. I expect you to make sure there are no yahoo's trying to stay on the ship past last call - we don't want our boarding to be delayed! 😁

Traveling to MIA right now (or at least getting closer)! Had all the bags packed and waiting to leave home for the airport when we got notice that our 1st flight was delayed and we'd miss our connection in SLC. Delta "graciously" rebooked us thru ATL but not until the next day getting to Miami 24 hours later than planned, but still 36 hrs before boarding... Uh.... No! While researching other options and after being on hold for 15 minutes I was finally able to get us the last 2 seats leaving 5-1/2 later also thru SLC but getting to FLL via a red eye with 53 hours until boarding. After a 6am uber to our prepaid Miami hotel, we will be relieved to have that aspect of the journey over! More to follow...

I have tried for the last 2 days to use the website and add a laundry package to our booking which now leaves in 3 days. I could add the package to the cart, but when I tried to checkout, the website would just show the ship icon (thinking pause icon) but would never proceed to a page allowing me to add my credit card info. I finally called MSC and the agent told me I'd have to go through my TA to add the package. I find that silly or typical MSC bs. I guess I'd have to also go thru the TA if I wanted to add excursions or anything else also. I can understand having to go thru the TA for any substantial change (such as dates, ship, or cabin category changes - but not just a package addition to an existing booking). I could still go thru TA to add it, but think I'll just wait & do it on board since the consensus is that room attendants don't know how to use the proper pre-paid package form anyway. I'll guess I'll see if I can get the VC discount added to an on-board package purchase and go from there. I'll report back...

Typical MSC...say one thing in one place and do something else in another!