mica178

Love Ercan!

You are so lucky to have Arnold. He is the best! I had a different butler, who was fine, but Arnold made sure to take care of everyone in YC.

If you want to reduce how much you pack, you can send off laundry. I bought a laundry package before I sailed for 20 pieces of clothing. I informed my butler of the package, and I was able to split the laundry into two batches. It was very easy, and they did a fine job cleaning. It's not free, obviously, but it's not too expensive, all things considered. My butler alluded to laundry packages after you board, but we had already purchased our package, so I don't know how good of a deal I could have received. Also, you don't have to dress up that much in the YC dining room. Even on gala night, there were men were in polo shirts with khakis and women in the female equivalent (sundresses, nice tops with slacks). I wore flip flops on casual dinner nights (my flip flops do have sparkles on them, but they are hardly fancy), and no one said boo to me. I'd guess that as long as you are clean and polite, they'll let you get away with pretty much anything at YC. 😉 My family managed with the equivalent of a backpack and a rolling carry-on suitcase each. I did have a separate duffle bag for dirty laundry for the way home since we didn't send everything to get cleaned on the ship (and then I forgot about said duffle bag when we were exiting the ship -- oops!) and I didn't want dirty laundry making the clean stuff smelly. If you are a wine drinker, ask to speak with the sommelier at the YC (Mayur, I believe, is his name). They usually serve wine by the glass, but if you know what you're talking about, the sommelier has YC only bottles that he can bring to tables that are included in the YC cost. Most are superior to the stuff they pour by the glass.

I recommend taking a 10 minute taxi ($4 per person each way) to Nohoch Kay. There's a restaurant and beach. There's an AI rate of $50/pp ($25 for kids) that includes open bar and use of their water equipment. Or you can order a la carte and still use the nice beach with white sand and warm, shallow water. Sodas were ice cold and $2, their excellent guacamole was $6.

Did you notice any of this hubbub when you disembarked? I think it trumps the pot smell the 7/30 Seasode passengers complained about!!! https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/2-sisters-allegedly-smuggle-40k-worth-of-cocaine-on-florida-cruise-ship/

They found my duffle! I just got a text from chargerback.com. It'll be about $40 to have FedEx ground shipping bring it back home, but that certainly beats a road trip back to Port Canaveral and/or having to replace all those items.

Have you joined the FB group for your cruise? I know that there were meets ups planned (I missed ours because the rain delayed our boarding).

For the 7 day cruise I was on, the seafood buffet was the last full day (the seaday).

Paradisus Playa del Carmen is a favorite. Atelier at Playa Mujeres used to have a family section called Estudio, but they shut that down, which is too bad as they had the BEST kid's club. Majestic Elegance in Playa Mujeres was pretty good, although their premium product is adults only.

You can definitely be in shorts and a tee shirt at the TSL.

The white outfits varied. I wore a black and white patterned dress. There were people in shorts and a tank top, especially at the main party. Many of the YC guests did not wear white but still attended the white party. On non-gala nights, pretty much anything goes. My husband and son definitely went wearing shorts and a tee shirt a few nights, although my preference was for them to wear at least a polo with khaki shorts. (I mean, the waiters were in tails!) My daughter and I wore dresses most nights, but on the casual nights, they were ordinary sundresses. Jeans and a nice top would be perfect!

So, parting thoughts now that we're a day off the Seaside. We had a nice vacation. My kids loved the novelty of the cruiseship. We received excellent service from pretty much everyone in YC. The kids club was great for my 5 year old, but my 7 year old didn't love it. The drinks were fine. The cooked food was very good, although temperature was occasionally an issue. The visual appearance of the Seaside was beautiful, and while our deluxe YC balcony cabin was small (to us), it was very functional and stylish. The beds were comfortable, and the shower's water pressure was surprisingly excellent. We've travelled to a bunch of similarly priced AI resorts in Mexico, where we also get excellent service. I'd say that the food on the cruise ship was about on par with higher end AI food, although on MSC, you get Italian food, and at the AI, it's Mexican food, so it's a preference thing. The fruits are better at an AI, where they can get the seasonal, local fruit. On MSC, most of the fruit was underripe melon and pineapple, presumably chosen to last the duration of the 7 day cruise. At an AI, the fruity drink mixers are also fresh fruit (fresh passion fruit margarita with chili pepper rim? While sitting in the pool at the poolside bar? Yes please). Most of the fruit drink mixers on MSC were pre-made and not fresh, and therefore not as varied or tasty. My son was disappointed not to be able to have fresh mango during our cruise. I will say that the wines served on MSC were much better than what I've had at any AI. While cruises go to several cities for a few hours, when we go to an AI, we get to stay in that community for several days. Granted, we often do not leave the AI, but then again, many people do not leave the ship. We had some a couple great excursions in Roatan and Costa Maya. And we didn't mind getting out into the town of Cozumel, although we didn't love the dolphin excursion. However, when we go to an AI in Cancun, we can take a longer excursion without worrying about an all-aboard time. On the other hand, cruiseship kids clubs allowed us to leave the kids there for the day if we wanted to go on shore alone, whereas most AI kids clubs do not allow both parents to leave the resort without the kid. There are pluses and minuses to both. I think while my kids still enjoy kids clubs and don't want to do museum hopping, we'll continue with the convenience vacationing of cruises and AIs, depending on location, weather, and deals.

I called MSC again today, and apparently they outsource their lost and found to Chargerback.com. So the claim has been filed, my fingers are crossed. The monetary value of the missing items isn't huge, and I got the duffle bag for free more than a decade ago. But if this service works, I'll still be thrilled.

Arnold is the best! I had Alexis, and he was fine, not great. But I interacted with Arnold daily, and he was the adopted favorite of pretty much everyone I knew in YC. During the YC cocktail party, he got the most cheers compared to anyone else, including the captain and YC director.

Just arrived home... and realized we left a duffle bag full of dirty laundry at the port. And there I was, thinking about how easy disembarking was. We remembered the rolling bags, and forgot the laundry duffle. Probably not a huge deal if we never recover it (mostly kid clothing, socks and underwear), but add to my reentry back into the real world tomorrow- sorting through the responsibility chain of a bag that likely made it off the ship and is now wandering around a port. I already tried MSC CS, but it is only open on weekdays.