EMc&DrS

How awesome that you could stay for another week! We'll be in YC on Seascape in 2 weeks sailing the same itinerary you have this week, so we're looking forward to reading more updates along the way. We've cruised over 20 times, but our friends going with us have never cruised, so we went them to have a great experience. Despite all of those cruises, we've never had a 7-day itinerary that started with two ports before the first sea day. I'm curious when the "elegant nights" are going to be held. Will they have a "seafood extravaganza" at the YC pool, and if so, which day? Any insight you can provide will be appreciated. Enjoy your bonus week!

Try completing all of this on the MSC for Me app rather than on the website. We have cruised with MSC many times, but almost every time I try to view my next booking on the website, it says there is a problem with my booking number. This has been a problem for years....

Per your advice I checked with Decanter Hotel. The rooftop is available to non-guests, but unfortunately, they don't open until 4 or 5 PM, and we have to be back onboard by 4 PM. Maybe next time....

I'd be interested, too. When I looked it up on Google Maps, I realized that it's not directly on the beach. Looks like a long walk to the ocean.

They did the same thing to us when we were flying ATL to Vancouver via Seattle last summer. No sooner had I booked and they changed the departing flight from ATL giving us 35 min between flights. Because they caused the error, they changed the outgoing flight for us to a more expensive earlier flight at no cost to us.

I live in Atlanta, so every flight I've ever taken has originated at the word's busiest airport. Despite how crowded the airport always seems to be, the place is typically very efficient. In your case, however, proximity from one gate to another would definitely determine whether or not you made your connecting flight. Flying on Delta, there is a high likelihood that you will arrive at Concourse A which is closest to the main terminal. The problem is that the international terminal is the farthest from the main terminal. Not sure if you've ever flown into ATL, but regardless of terminal, all foot traffic must move to the middle of the terminal where you get on the escalator to take you to the train under the airport that runs from terminal to terminal. Concourse A is ALWAYS crowded because it is 100% Delta flights, so running to the escalator is challenging. (And it never seems to fail--we always seem to arrive at a gate at the end of the terminal meaning we have to walk the maximum distance to get to the escalator. I've told my wife many times that I think all of those people sitting at the gates near the center of the terminal are just paid actors pretending to wait for a flight and that Delta really only uses the gates at the ends of the terminal for actual flights!) Once on the train, you'll have to stop at B, C, and D terminals before arriving at the international terminal. As KennyFla said, all it would take is for your flight to arrive on time, but then have to sit and wait for the gate to open, and you'd be out of luck.

Is Butcher's Cut the only specialty restaurant on Seascape where you can claim your free dinner as a diamond member, or are there other choices?

You are most welcome. Bet if you check the website, it will still tell you that there is a problem with your booking number! 🤣

I can never get it to work on the website, but have had no trouble checking in for our February cruise using the "MSC for Me" app. My travel agent emailed me our e-ticket exactly 30 days before the cruise.

What is the current daily gratuity fee for YC passengers?

Crewsweeper! You answered so many questions for me back in 2011 when I first joined CC and was planning a special surprise cruise for my wife on Carnival Dream. We even met a few times during that cruise. So good to see a post from you again! Now I'm working on cruise #23 next month and was looking for a good recommendation for a rooftop bar or restaurant in San Juan to visit in the mid-afternoon while we're in port. The bar on top of the Decanter Hotel looks perfect. It's open to anyone, not just guests of the hotel? No reservation needed?

Have enjoyed reading about your experiences--thank you. We will be joining you in YC on 2/19 and are really looking forward to it. We are diamond level, but are bringing some friends who have never cruised before. After so many cruises for us, it will be fun to experience this one with the enthusiasm of first time cruisers. Our friends have always been very hesitant to cruise, so it will be interesting to see if they hate it, or if they'll be hooked for life after a week in YC as their first cruise experience.

Thanks

Thanks

I know there are “Ocean View” and “Oceanfront” cabanas in the YC area at Ocean Cay, but which are which? There are some located on the beach behind all of the free lounge chairs, and then there are some on the other side of Ocean House up on top of the rocky hill overlooking the ocean with no direct access to the ocean. The ones on the hill are more private, but are they the “ocean view” cabanas since they have no direct access to the water?

We used it two weeks ago for our Koningsdam cruise and there was no line at check-in for us. Prior to the cruise, our issue was not with uploading any of the documentation, but the four health questions you have to answer last before you are "verified." I kept answering "no" to all the questions, but when I would hit submit, I would get an error message. Because of the short Covid testing windows before a cruise, you can't do any of this in advance, so of course, it was 11 PM the night before we were flying to Vancouver when I was fighting with the app. I sent Verifly tech support a message through the app explaining my problem, and by the next morning they had fixed the issue and we were good to go. We had such a great cruise out of Vancouver that it was worth it in the end, but checking off all the boxes for regular on-line check in, Verifly, Delta FlyReady, and ArriveCAN the two days prior just about put me over the edge!

We are used to tipping at the end of excursions on Caribbean cruises, but we are new to Alaska. Some of these excursions are $300-$400 a person. I'm curious--what do most people tip after an excursion that cost several hundred dollars per person?

I wouldn't have paid full price for one, but considering we got it for just a few hundred more than a regular balcony room, we were happy to grab it. Yes, the balcony is small, but the room is huge with a window looking out the front of the ship. We had already pre-paid for access to the thermal suites at the spa, so now we just have to walk down the spiral staircase and we are at the spa.

We received an email with an upsell offer this morning for our cruise to Alaska in 10 days. We went from a category V balcony to a Neptune Spa suite and saved about $4K over the cost if we had upgraded on our own. First time we've received such an offer from HAL.