pirate4me2

Just experienced our first YC dining room breakfast. I was a bit apprehensive going as I was in jean shorts, a hoodie, and flip flops, but I asked the hostess “do I need to dress up for breakfast here, or go to the buffet?” She laughed and said no and escorted us to a table. Whew! I got the eggs Benedict with no Canadian bacon, a grilled tomato, and hash browns. Oh and a chocolate twist to start, which was DIVINE!! The eggs Benedict were awesome, they put Carnival’s to shame, and the tomato and hash brown were good. The coffee brought out was actually drinkable and fairly good, as opposed to Carnival’s ick that I always say no to. However, I did find myself kind of missing Carnival’s Sea Day Brunch menu, that’s always something I look forward to. But I understand that they serve both breakfast and lunch in YC restaurant, so really there’s no need for brunch. So we will see what lunch holds for us! We are now having some balcony time until the YC cocktail party at 11 in Top Sail. That sounds like fun!

It was SO DANG GOOD!!!

So @Lillabee4me(aka mom) and I both agree, we miss Carnival’s Sea Day Brunch. We got up in time for breakfast in the Yacht Club dining room today, and it was good, but we both missed the good ol’ Carnival brunch. They have buffets and sit down breakfast here, but nothing quite like that. Plus one for Carnival!

So Divina has the mirrored walls too?! Darn, I was hoping it was just Seaside…the mirrors keep telling me to go on a diet, or skip dessert. 😂 Just kidding. But in all seriousness, they are a bit much!!

At 9:00 we met Arnold at the YC concierge to go to the 9:15 theater show, Rock It. It was ok, on par with Carnival’s theater shows. I liked the volume better in the MSC theater, sometimes Carnival’s volume blows my ear drums, and the dancers in tonight’s show were very talented. The singers were nothing to write home about, which I have said about Carnival’s more than once. After the show we decided to grab a drink from the Top Sail Lounge, and call it a day from there. Tomorrow is our first sea day…kinda crazy!

We went to the 8:00 rock star game show in the Haven lounge, and that was a lot of fun! It was high energy and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. If I had not known better, I would have almost thought I was “back home” on a Carnival ship. When it ended, I told mom I wanted to ride the panoramic elevators up to deck 16 to experience both the cool elevators and the Bridge of Sighs. It was all cool, but honestly, I think I need to redo it in the daylight for better views.

Mom and I hung out all afternoon until dinner time on our balcony. We finally decided at 6:15 to go to dinner, and neither of us were thrilled with the menu offerings tonight, but dinner actually ended up being great. Mom got the asparagus app, I got the oyster risotto, and my choice was the winner. For mains, mom got the chicken Kiev, I got the Jamaican Jerk Patties, and her entree blew mine out of the water. That chicken…so moist and tender, and an excellent breading. Mom got rum cake for her dessert, which she liked, and my chocolate soufflé was freaking amazing. Sorry for the sideways picture of it.

Oh I bet Halloween will be fun onboard! Have a great cruise!! Thank you!

Today is all about the ENTERTAINMENT! We attended a few evening activities in “gen-pop,” and I gotta say…at the Rock trivia type event they had in one of the lounges, if I had not known better, I would have swore I was on a Carnival ship. The host was super upbeat and got the crowd going, and the event itself was high energy and FUN! I had a blast. As far as the theater shows, I attended Rock It, which I thought would be a fair comparison to Epic Rock. The shows are about the same length (35-40 minutes), and I would say they are on par with each other. I wasn’t a fan of some of the song choices in tonight’s show (Police’s Do Do Do, Da Da Da Da….WHY?????) but the dancers were excellent, and the volume in the theater was better than some of Carnival’s where my ear drums have been blasted out. The singers…they were ok, nothing to write home about, which I’ve said about a few of Carnival’s casts before. I would say honestly the 2 lines are equal here.

I did like the fact that they swap the YC lunch menu up on the island, I was expecting the same thing as yesterday, so the change up was nice! We left right after lunch to come back to the ship. We both burnt some, even with SPF 50 reapplied, and we don’t want to miserable tomorrow. We showered, went to Topsail Lounge for frozen tomberlones (I know i didn’t spell that right, but whatever) and are back on the balcony chilling out. The drinks are great, and I feel like the Ocean Cay experience has been fantastic. I honestly think this is my favorite private island I have been to, and I want to come back!

The water in the lagoon was so calm, and the beach was so nice…why is this not part of the YC area? They gave YC such a rough, not feet friendly beach, this surprises me. But whatever. I spent 45 glorious minutes in the water there, just lying on my back and not a care in the world…except that the itty bitty fishes may bite me, or a seagull poop on me. Around 11 we made the short hike back to the YC beach for drinks (rum punch, yum!) and to get in the ocean again. We hung there until lunch was served, about 12:15, and lunch today knocked it out of the park. I got the shrimp Caesar salad, which was fresh and crisp with 3 giant shrimp and a nice creamy dressing, and then I customized the burger. I took the advice from here and asked for it with the lobster roll meat on it, and OMG y’all…that was SO GOOD!!!

We got up and going at 9:05 this morning, and did breakfast on the pool deck again. It was the same offerings as yesterday, so I won’t bore you with pics. I think tomorrow we *may* try to get up and have breakfast in the YC dining room…but I make no promises. We debarked the ship at 10, we didn’t utilize the concierge service to do so. I didn’t see a need to…we knew to go to deck 4, and it just seemed unnecessary. We walked off, no line whatsoever, and immediately hopped on the YC shuttle to the YC beach area. From there we made the short (like, 3 minute) walk to the lagoon, and found some chairs in the shade. I waded into the water, and I was immediately in Heaven…this was PERFECT!!

It really was cool! And both shows were different, which was a nice touch I thought.

We won’t be returning to the buffet either. One and done!

I wish Carnival would as well, it really helped with my packing choices!

That’s why I wanted to do the review….I kept looking for info on them, how they compared to Carnival, and such. Figured I’d try and help out any others in the same situation!

Thank you for following along!

Last comparison for today, and it’s a biggie…has to do with FOOD. Mom and I didn’t really want to dress to Yacht Club standards for dinner after our day on the island, so we wandered down to “gen-pop” to check the buffet offerings on deck 8. We made a few rounds and picked up a few things to try…and promptly proceeded back to the room to freshen up for YC dinner. I was so disappointed in MSC’s main dining buffet. Carnival always has a wonderful salad bar, and MSC’s was about half the size and just not as diverse in ingredients offered. I also love Carnival’s deli, and the “sandwich” station here had tuna salad, egg salad, or chicken salad to offer. I would have loved a Carnival caprese sandwich tonight! The pizza was good, I absolutely loved the flavor of the sauce, and the cheeses on the meat & cheese board were good, but overall I CAN see why people may complain about the food on MSC if this was all they experienced. Carnival definitely wins the food war as far as buffets go. I DO like how MSC has their buffet set up though! They had multiple stations all around, with 2-3 offering the same things, so you do not have to wait in a line like on some Carnival ships. That was a nice touch.

After dinner, we headed back to the room to change back into shorts and flip flops since mom wanted to go walk on the beach at night. It was about 8:15, so we headed to the area near the lighthouse to catch the 9:00 show. It was cool to see! When the show ended, we came back onboard and changed into our PJ’s, then watched the 10:00 show from our balcony. Now I’m talking to you guys, before I call it a day.

Mom and I didn’t really want to dress to YC standards for dinner after our day on the island, so we wandered down to “gen-pop” to check the buffet offerings on deck 8. We made a few rounds and picked up a few things to try…and promptly proceeded back to the room to freshen up for YC dinner. I was so disappointed in MSC’s main dining buffet. Carnival always has a wonderful salad bar, and MSC’s was about half the size and just not as diverse in ingredients offered. I also love Carnival’s deli, and the “sandwich” station here had tuna salad, egg salad, or chicken salad to offer. I would have loved a Carnival caprese sandwich tonight! The pizza was good, I absolutely loved the flavor of the sauce, and the cheeses on the meat & cheese board were good, but overall I CAN see why people not in YC may complain about the food on MSC if this was all they experienced. Dinner in the YC was a huge success. Mom got the crabcake app, which was phenomenal, while I got the veggie spring rolls, which were yummy but nothing spectacular. She got the salmon for her entree, and raved about it, while I got the lobster pasta, which was amazing. The sauce was awesome! She finished off with the tulip dessert, which was ok, while I did the Apple strudel, which was great.

Thanh you!! Yes, we ate at the YC restaurant, and it was delicious!

Mom and I were saying today that the lobster roll “innerds” would be so delicious on a salad!

Time for today’s thoughts/comparisons. We are docked at Ocean Cay, MSC’s private island. So I’m going to compare it to Carnival’s HMC. *First off, I love that we are docked, not having to tender in. I hate tender rides. *I love that my drink package works on the island! I still don’t get why Carnival cannot do that. *Both islands serve guests lunch onshore, a buffet style. Typical cookout stuff. *Overall, the island is gorgeous, with so many beach choices. I do think HMC has nicer sand…the 2 beaches I visited today had shell pieces in them, so you did need to be careful. *I know not every MSC itinerary does this, but I’m thrilled to be overnighting here! It’s cool to have evening activities to look foward to and not feel rushed to get back onboard. Both islands are just perfect beach days…so much nicer than the beaches back home! I kinda think Ocean Cay has an edge over HMC though, simply for the ease of getting onto the island. Here’s a rare photo of me, I’m posting it simply because I think it’s my best selfie ever, and truly embodies “beach hair, don’t care.”

I remember reading your review on the MSC boards and read that!! I’m not comparing the overall cruise experience, but the common areas/private island/onboard entertainment, which so far I’m enjoying. I realize on Carnival I don’t get the butler service, private restaurant, etc so I’m trying to not let that weigh in on this comparison.

After lunch we hiked to the beach across from the YC beach area, and that one was so nice! Not very rocky or shelly, you can get away without water shoes. It was also much calmer waters. We spent about 30 minutes there, then went back to the YC beach to finish out our day. We were in the water until about 2:45, and decided that we were sun kissed enough by that point. We opted to hike back to the ship on foot, and a few of our fellow YC passengers seemed bewildered that we didn’t want a ride back. Why is that? I figured with all the carbs I ate yesterday and today, I needed the exercise. A rare photo of me…I only am posting it because I think it’s my best selfie ever, and truly embodies the term, “beach hair, don’t care.”