pirate4me2

Thank you!

I spent the morning reading (and finishing, yay!) my book on the balcony. Around 11:30 the urge for a frozen toblerone drink hit, so we went up to the pool deck bar. We took the drinks down to Topsail and chilled there for an hour, then decided to check out the famous seafood extravaganza on the pool deck. All I can say, is YUMMY! I perused the offerings and settled on the scallop salad, which was PERFECT. Absolutely loaded with scallops, a light dressing, and nice crisp veggies. I took a generous portion, and am now back on the balcony digesting. I think I may go check out the hot tub situation in a moment.

Yes, I am very glad we drove!! Thank you! Thank you for the birthday wishes!

Sitting on the balcony reading, and an announcement just came on that Seaside is experiencing an engine issue and we will be delayed a few hours getting into PC tomorrow. They expect walk off to start around 9:30. Sailing with mom is bad luck…first hurricane Irma, then a tropical storm hit home while we were away, an earthquake in Mexico while we were there on another…she’s cursed!

No…I will admit to that! I’m too spoiled now, and after wandering thru the “general population” buffet, the food there was lacking. I really enjoyed the private lounge to get away to if I wanted a quiet area out of the room, and the private pool deck. i didnt mind venturing out into the rest of the ship, but having “my” area to go back to was Nice. I think I remember seeing your name on the roll call group for that sailing. We have friends that rave about Celebrity!

I tried to sleep in today, but my dang phone kept dinging with text messages starting at 7 am. I really gotta shut that thing off at night on vacation. It was friends wishing me a happy birthday, and while I appreciate them thinking of me, they all know I’m not a morning person AND I’m on vacation…couldn’t they wait until wine o’clock to send the wishes? Anyway, I finally gave in to the fact that I wasn’t going back to sleep and got up. I put on my birthday “crown” (yes, i was THAT person, but only because mom dared me to) and we went to breakfast at the pool bar. I was suprised how many fellow passengers actually took time to wish me happy birthday and engage in conversation! Then, as I was making breakfast, the cooks and bar waiters sang to me! It was so sweet. I sat at the end of the bar, munching my mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and sausage, and then one of the cooks came over…with a breakfast ”cake!” I was blown away, that was so sweet. And if I had known how good the pancakes were (the “cake”was a pancake with whipped cream, grapes, a donut and cherries) I would have eaten them earlier this week!

Thanks for following along! I hope your Seaside experience is as awesome as this one has been. YC is amazing!! Haha we have our moments for sure, then we have a lot of quiet downtime (like right now). I love that YC has both “fun” areas (like the pool bar) but “quiet” areas too. Hopefully we meet up on a future YC trip!

I miss the fact that Carnival doesn’t change time to match the ports they’re visiting, they just stay on homeport time (for the most part). We fell back an hour the day we headed to Mexico, then jumped foward an hour today. However, my phone has been very slow about making the changes, so I’m having to make a conscious effort as to what time it really is. I guess when I cruise MSC again, I need to invest in a cheap watch.

After dinner, we just wandered the ship. We went to the atrium (I’m still in love with the sparkly stairs and can’t help but take a pic of them each time), checked out the bowling alley, took the panoramic elevators, and walked the bridge of sighs. We are really rocking tonight, but I love it…I sleep like a baby when the ships rocking! At 8 we watched the Red vs.Blue challenge in the Haven Lounge, and it was amusing. When it was over, I was ready to come back, enjoy my awesome shower, and settle in for the night. I’ve got 100 more pages in my book, I think I may actually finish it!

Mom and I decided to go to dinner tonight at 6:15. Tonight’s dinner I think was the best one I’ve had onboard. The Chinese dumplings were super yummy, and mom and I split the scallops entree. They were tender but flavorful, BUT the winner, by far, was the butter chicken entree. Y’all…the flavors in that dish were phenomenal. The chicken was so tender. Everything about it was just perfect! I would order this every single night if I could!

I’ve yet to have that luck…tried 2-3, sometimes 4 times, and it never works. Tried with the wristband and the card…nothing worked. Others in YC were complaining too, and we even had a butler look at it and it wouldn’t work. I gave up on that perk.

I love my Havana rooms on CCL (actually have one this Dec, next April, and next Nov!) but you may honestly be able to snag a YC room for the price you paid with adding in the drink package. And if you can…GO FOR IT!!! I have no regrets doing this cruise, and will be back again.

Here is the menu with the frozen toblerone drink on it. All the way at the bottom.

I think that may be exactly right! Good point.

It’s alcoholic, but I think you can get them all around the ship. However, Derek on the YC pool deck makes the best one mom and I both think! White chocolate, macadamia (or maybe Havelnut) syrup, and something else. ITS AMAZING!!

Today’s comparisons: First, the positives: I wasn’t sure going in how I would like the wristband technology of this ship. They issue YC passengers both a wristband and a Voyager’s Club card, but once on the ship, you only need the wristband…you can leave the card until you get off in port. The band works to open your cabin door, purchase drinks, etc. I carried my card out of habit the first few days, then ditched it. I LOVE THE WRISTBAND. I don’t have to either use a lanyard or make sure I’m wearing shorts with pockets at all times to keep up with the card…it’s on my wrist. Sure, you gotta take it off now and then to avoid tan lines, but all in all…I’m converted. Speaking of drink purchases…I love that they scan my band (or card) and that’s it for drinks…no receipt to sign, since I’ve got the drink package. I wish Carnival would do this if you have the Cheers package. The ship appears to be VERY well maintained, I’ve not seen any rust/broken glass/etc. Public areas are all clean. Balconies were cleaned the other day in port. One last positive, I love their “do not disturb” system onboard. instead of snoozin/cruisin’ signs to hang on the door, your key card inserted into the light slot next to your cabin door activates the system here. When your card is inserted, a small red light is outside your cabin, letting the attendant know you’re inside. When you take the card out, the light turns green, letting the attendant know you’re out and they can clean. Pretty nifty! Now for a few negatives: This one isn’t huge, but that light slot and keycard system also annoys me as far as lights are concerned. When I toss my Voyager’s Club card onto the bed/desk and then come back at night, it’s kinda hard to locate the card and insert it in a dark cabin with no lights! MSC seems to take longer than Carnival when it comes to getting back onboard from being in port. Each time we have come back, mom and I have commented that they just seem slow. We are not coming back at high traffic times either. I don’t get it. The elevator system onboard sucks. They take forever, and although supposedly my fancy YC status is supposed to override them/take priority, but I’ve get to figure that out. Other YC guests have said the same thing.

We finished lunch and headed off the ship, and the weather was perfect…for a bit. Nice and breezy, but not too hot. As we exited the duty free area it began to drizzle, bit nothing bad. We darted in and out of shops looking for trinkets (I found the PERFECT $2 magnet for my uncle’s beer fridge to remind him of our dysfunctional family vacation a few years ago), and after we were tired of being harassed (I was actually offered a Mexican boyfriend. Um, no thank you, I’ve got someone back home) we headed back onboard. It was about 2:30, and the rain had started to get more steady. Now for one negative I’ve noticed about MSC this trip…they seem to take longer than Carnival when it comes to getting back onboard. We didn’t come back onboard close to final boarding time today, or yesterday for that matter, but we had a significant wait. I am not quite sure why, but they just seem a lot slower about it. Not a deal breaker, but I wish they could figure out how to speed the process up.

Welcome to Cozumel! As much as other cruisers may not like Cozumel, I love this port stop. I was super excited to learn that MSC docks at a different pier than I’m use to…that meant a new area to get off and explore! However, today started off RAINY, and it’s been off and on so far all day. Yuck! Mom and I got up and got breakfast at 9:30 from the YC pool deck buffet, and just as we were about to head down to get off the ship, the skies let loose. Grrrrr! We settled in to read on the balcony for a bit (I loooove my balcony overhang that provides shade and protection from the rain!) then moved to the Topsail lounge for an iced tea. It finally began to let up around 12:30, so we grabbed a quick lunch from the YC pool buffet…more of the yummylicious Greek salad and a burger, and a delicious little eclair for dessert. Can I also just say, I love these cute mini bottles of Ketchup?

I will definitely be back at a YC bar, next September on the Seashore with my husband! He needs to experience this level of cruising. 🙂

It is! they have been! That may be her name, the person I asked had a very heavy accent so I may have misheard. I’ll try and confirm tonight!

We finished dinner and walked around the ship for a little bit, then headed back to the cabin to change into shorts. Arnold and his team had decorated for my birthday! It’s not until Saturday, but he said he did it today so I could enjoy it. They really went all out to make me feel special. At 9:00 we headed up to deck 19 for the YC pool deck party. They had live music, some desserts, and of course, drinks. We met up with the couple from earlier and chatted for a bit, and another cruiser recognized me from on here and introduced herself. That was a treat, I feel famous now. 🙂 After all our “fun” from earlier, Mom and I started to crash about 10:00. We said goodnight to our new friends, and came back to the cabin to clean up and let down. I have a feeling we will sleep GOOD tonight!

I really don’t know how many shots of Fireball we consumed…3 or 4 I think. Along with those, Arnold made us what we have now named the “Arnold Special”, it’s rum, raspberry liquor, and strawberry syrup. We had 3 or 4 each of those, enough that we finished off a bottle of raspberry liquor. We then moved on to frozen rose wine drinks (rose wine, vodka, strawberry syrup)…yeah, we were THOSE people. I told mom about 3:00 that we HAD to leave, this wasn’t going to end well. We came back to the cabin, and promptly took a nap…or maybe some would say, we passed out. We finally woke from our slumber at 5:30, and realized we needed food. We made ourselves presentable (I think) and staggered to the YC restaurant at 6. When asked what did we want to drink, any wine, we both probably turned green and said just water please. I ordered the cheese fritters, which were yummy, and the leek and ricotta cheese tart with a side of grilled shrimp. The shrimp were nice and yummy, but the tart was a huge disappointment. It was the first thing I’ve ordered this week that I didn’t eat, it was just blah.

Me too! And the stuff on the ship this week has been SO GOOD!

Ok, sorry for the delay, I got sidetracked by the YC cocktail party on the pool deck. I’m back now tho! Mom and I hung out on the balcony reading (my goal of finishing my book MAY happen, I’m halfway thru!) until 1:30ish. We debated lunch options (brave gen pop buffet? Pizza? YC buffet?) and in the end the YC pool deck buffet won. And THAT’S when things got interesting. We went up and I made a salad (side note: the Greek salad in the salad station up there is SO GOOD!) and ordered a cheeseburger from the grill. Yum! I sat at the end of the bar, in the shade, and Arnold brought me a water and I inquired on this green drink another lady had. I honestly don’t remember the name, but it had fresh mint blended up in it, and was good. Mom got one of those, I got the frozen chocolate bar drink, and we munched our food. We were soon joined by a couple we had met at Ocean Cay, and somehow, I’m not really sure how, we ended up with shots of Fireball…and they just kept coming.

Today has been…interesting! Mom woke me up at 6 (WHYYYYYYY???!!) to see the Royal Caribbean ships come in. We then proceeded to go up above to the pool deck for breakfast (they had goat cheese and blue cheese on the buffet, score!!!!) and proceeded to disembark around 9 to walk the port area. Mom was looking for a hat for a coworker. With Allure OTS, Serenade OTS and Grandure OTS in port with us, it was pure insanity in the port area, so after doing a quick walk around, we headed back to the safety of the YC. We were back onboard by 10:45.