mica178

I was driving by the Tampa port, and that is a good looking boat.

If I recall correctly, the buffet on floor 16 was the one with the free soft serve in the afternoons.

Was your MD Ercan? I had him on Seaside last year. It was my first time sailing on MSC, and he was so lovely to my family. We're even Facebook friends, and he wants to show us around Turkey or Panama, his and his wife's home countries. I have two adorable and polite children (objectively!), so staff tends to hover and stick.

I've read that you can request that the butler replace the two chairs with a lounge chair in YC, if having a lounge chair matters to you. I haven't tried it myself.

I'd imagine that if you were planning on mostly drinking "fancy" drinks that would ordinarily cost $14-15, then you'd only have to drink 6 drinks to cover your costs. Also, I think if you pre-purchase your package, there's a 15% discount, so then you're down to only needing to drink 5 fancy drinks per day. Which is still a lot according to the American Medical Association, but on vacation... There's a reason most people who buy drink packages choose the Easy Plus. If you are mostly a beer and soda drinker, or if you're okay with well liquor, the math doesn't support purchasing the Premium Extra package. Because I've already previously admitted that I'm a brat, I'll say that it's nice to not think about whether my drink is covered by my package and it's nice to try drinks without worrying if I'll like them or not. Certain conveniences are worth extra $$$ to me, even if they make less sense on a calculator.

I think there was only one time the photographer came into the YC, so I don't think most YC denizens would benefit from the photo package, unless you plan on spending a lot of time outside the YC. On our last trip, we booked a photographer to photograph us for an hour, and he did an awful job. Barely usable pictures, really horrible pose recommendations. I don't recommend using that service.

There are rude people everywhere, but if you don't go about looking to be offended, generally you'll be okay. My N on MSC is only 1 right now, but other than hearing a couple miffed comments as the butler whisked us past the lines of people waiting to disembark, I did not notice any problems when outside the YC. We went to the main pool with the kids daily, went to trivia daily, braved the main buffet a couple times when we missed lunch at the YC (in the summer, it's just too hot to eat at the YC buffet for lunch). We had no problems with any of our interactions. Having known a lot of Italians in my life, I find them no worse than most Asians (not Asian-Americans, mainland Asians) and Latin Americans, who also generally look at lines as funny things that other people bother with. No one's meaning to offend. It's cultural. When I'm on vacation, I can laugh about it.

B2b?

So sorry that you left with a negative feeling about MSC. I've only been on one MSC cruise, and I'll be on the MSC Seashore in a couple months (YC). So I am by no means an expert. However, my experience last year was vastly different compared to yours, and I'm curious to see how it'll be on the Seashore after reading your review. I wonder if there's a difference because you were on a 4 day sailing. (Again, not making excuses for poor service!)

We tip as we go for waiters and bartenders. For the concierge, maitre d, and butler, usually we give a tip at the beginning (AFTER receiving a service, so it's hardly a bribe) and then a bigger one at the end of the trip. It's rare that I've ever encountered poor service, but that is probably due to who I am (polite, friendly, gracious) rather than the tip that the server is expecting. My husband and I are both Americans, so we're used to the culture of tipping. Is it the best form of payment of service industry staff? I'm not sure. I do believe that generally, service is better in the US than in Europe, although it's better in Asia, and there's no significant culture of tipping there. Hard to say.

Love this live review! I'll be on the Seashore in YC in August, and you are making me very excited.

No prizes for winning trivia???? What limited MSC swag I have is from winning trivia on our MSC Seaside cruise last summer. 😞

Does strawberry shortcake ever show up on the YC menu? My kids love it.

Anyone want to recommend their favorite meals (and dishes to avoid) at the YC restaurant? I recall most pasta dishes being excellent. I also recall not enjoying the cioppino.

I wonder what they will substitute if Ocean Cay isn't ready? I'm not cruising until August, so it'll probably be open by then, but I love hypotheticals.

I went to Nohoch Kay last July, and while they tried to sell me the AI, when I dithered, they let me do PAYG. We (family of 4) were supposed to do a fishing excursion that left from the Nohoch Kay beach, but then my daughter refused to go, so she and I stayed at Nohoch Kay. As we had already paid for the excursion that included lunch at the restaurant, I did not want to double pay for food. We paid for drinks and snacks while we waited for my husband and son to return. The guacamole was excellent, and the drinks were icy cold.

I'd rather tell the waiter that everything is fine and send him/her on his/her way than not have an attentive waiter! I hate having to flag waitstaff down because it decreases my enjoyment of the meal to have to focus on that instead of the food or the conversation

Last year, on Seaside, my husband and son waited until the last day at sea to try to do the zipline. They ended up not being able to do it because the line was so long, and the attendant said he wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone before closing time. When they returned to the YC, our butler scolded my husband for waiting in that line (as opposed to going to the front and showing his YC band) and/or having the YC staff arrange everything in advance. Prior to our (first) MSC cruise last summer, we thought we were low-key travelers and did not anticipate needing the butlers for much of anything. However, we came to realize that we probably miss out on experiences because we aren't utilizing our resources. So now our plan is to discuss our plans with our butler to maximize the likelihood of accomplishing everything. We had such a lovely experience on MSC last summer that when it came to planning this summer, everyone wanted to go on another MSC (YC) cruise.

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).