YC Seaside 4/27-5/4

[alyssamma]

Apologies in advance for no pics. I wanted to give some brief comments on my YC experience – things that may have been posted here before but I could not find them. So…

 

First, we stayed in an inside cabin. We liked it – we are booked again on the Seaside in an inside cabin on February 8^th 2020. However, for those thinking about it, understand the cabin is very, very small. There is about a foot on either side of the bed (two doubles pushed together). The bed takes up half of the room (not counting the bathroom). The TV is small (maybe 32 or 35 inches), there is a single chair and a small table taking up the other half of the room. There is very little closet space. Basically a single closet and three drawers. The bathroom is beyond tiny – I had to get wet, turn off the water and soap up, and then turn it back on to rinse off. We were told that some women find it difficult to shave their legs in there (basically the shower door needs to be open). But all of that was fine for us because we saved maybe $1500 over an outside room. If like us, you only sleep and get dressed in the room, it is fine. And, as mentioned, we are booked in it again in nine months.

 

Next, drinks. We were told a very simple rule – less than $13, it was included. $13 and up we would have to pay the ENTIRE amount. So a $12 drink was free, but a $13 drink was…$13 (not simply the $1 over the $12 limit). This applied to everywhere (including Venchi).

 

I’ve seen some posts that state the theater seats reserved for YC members are not great because they are in the back of the theater. While they are in the back, we found them to be perfect. Very easy to see, and the first ones out once the performance is over. We also never had problems getting one – we saw three shows, no reservations, and arrived only a couple of minutes before showtime.

 

The pizza is, as advertised good. I personally went to the non-YC buffet often for it (instead of ordering via the butler) because I could get multiple slices of different types. If you do this, make sure you get one that is fresh (they come out pretty quickly).

 

Speaking of the buffets – we found the non-YC buffet to have a very large variety of food. There is the pizza station which is always the same, and the grill station which has burgers, sausages, and hot dogs and will only vary by some type of other meat, but there is a large salad bar, different pasta every night, different carved meat every night, cold cuts, deserts, some type of grilled chicken, fresh vegetables, and an “ethnic” station (mostly Mexican food). There is more I am forgetting, but there is also a kids station (which does have the same food). We ate here for lunch and dinner (we ate multiple meals many days – i.e., both there and in the YC).

 

The YC buffet (basically the outdoor grill) is simply amazing. You can always get burgers and sometimes hot dogs, but otherwise there will be rice, lamb chops, minute steaks, a carved meat, some type of curry, some type of fish dish (often salmon), and one other dish (usually some type of chicken).

 

We tried milkshakes both from the YC and from Venchi and hated them. Basically tasted like flavored milk.

 

We called MSC and were told we would not get Venchi crepes and gelato for free. However, once on the ship we were never charged for these. The crepes are…amazing. And the gelato tastes like gelato I’ve had in Italy. Note that there are THREE places to get gelato – decks 16, 7, and 6 (and only ONE to get crepes – deck 7). We found each gelato place had different flavors.

 

We found the show quality to be…ok. We did not like the Michael Jackson show. Most of this was the dancer – we felt he was too stiff. More dancing like Janet rather than Michael. But there was a different MJ who sang Dirty Diana and we really liked him. Also, the music mixing was poor, e.g., start one song, go to a completely different song, and then maybe come back. A specific example is a single zombie shuffled across the stage to Vincent Price speaking in Thriller. And then…Smooth Criminal. After that song it went back to Thriller. To us, it made no sense. But the other shows we liked enough to be happy we went, but not enough to go again on future cruises.

 

Music in the YC lounge varies based on who you have. We had Chris the piano player and Maurice and Iryna (sp?) as Iris Duo singing and playing bass. They were simply amazing.

 

Canapés are plentiful in the lounge and are changed in variety throughout the day. They have them from breakfast until late at night (midnight or so). Very tasty.

 

The ship is gorgeous. You have to work to be someplace where you cannot see outside. Interestingly enough, the “ugliest” part of the ship is the YC area.

 

The hot tubs bubble so much they are hard to sit in – water constantly splashes in your face. But the one in the Thermal Spa is perfect. And while you are there, you can do all of the rooms (aroma, salt, snow, heat, etc.). We were here 5 of the 7 days. Very relaxing.

 

Lastly, I want to mention the YC party and the seafood lunch. One night the grill was open and there was a nighttime party. The food was simply amazing. Then, on the last formal day (when lobster was served for dinner) they had a pasta cooking demonstration at the YC grill for lunch and basically a seafood buffet – lobster, kebobs (with fish, scallops and shrimp), head on shrimp, and pasta with mussels (from the demo earlier).

 

I’ll close with this thought. I am not a cruise person. Before this year I had been on 4 RCCL cruises over 10 years. But MSC changed me. I’m hooked. If I hadn’t eaten and drank so much I could have easily stayed another week. My body said no mas, but my mind wanted more.

 

[dolphin1313]

Thanks Alyssmma for your review!

[floridian1]

Thanks for the review 

[Linda the Book Lover]

Thanks for the review. I am more excited about adult beverages and food than the cruise itself. Well ok also excited about spending the "guy birthdays" with our friends Nancy and Steve. Getting closer for us!

[floridian1]

Was this an eastern or western cruise? How were your excursions?

[alyssamma]

Eastern...but we didn't get off the ship (except for a couple of hours in PR). We chose this for the ship and not the ports.

[Cruisergal1208]

Enjoyed your review. 

[TrinaLC]

I wonder if the YC party is new. Either it is or we missed it!

[floridian1]

What day is the yacht club party 

[alyssamma]

Can't 100% remember but I think it was Tuesday. Note there is also a "party" during the day which is basically a meet and greet with the crew. I am talking about a nighttime party outside at the grill. It was late...maybe 9pm or so.

[dexddd]

The night time party for us was Thursday IIRC at 9 pm.

[seapad]

Was the night time YC party and the pasta cooking demo both listed in the Daily Planner? Just want to make sure where I can find them and not miss it...thanks! Onboard YC-YIN  5/11 ...yay!  

[floridian1]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

The night time party for us was Thursday IIRC at 9 pm.

Was ur cruise eastern or western 

[alyssamma]

3 hours ago, seapad said:

Was the night time YC party and the pasta cooking demo both listed in the Daily Planner? Just want to make sure where I can find them and not miss it...thanks! Onboard YC-YIN  5/11 ...yay!  

They were not in the daily planner since those are for the entire ship and this was just for the YC. We were told by our butler and at dinner.

 

I see above that dexddd had their party on Thur...this is weird (for us) because Thur was the second formal night and the seafood day. So now I am curious if they had a separate day for the seafood or both were on the same day.

[Beamafar]

43 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

They were not in the daily planner since those are for the entire ship and this was just for the YC.

 

MSC always has a dedicated daily planner for YC;  the times of opening for the restaurant, for example, would not be of use in the rest of the ship.

[alyssamma]

3 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

MSC always has a dedicated daily planner for YC;  the times of opening for the restaurant, for example, would not be of use in the rest of the ship.

You are 100% right...thanks for the correction. Now I am wondering if they were in there. We were definitely told by the butler

[dexddd]

19 hours ago, floridian1 said:

Was ur cruise eastern or western 

Western so maybe why different night.

[JAGR]

36 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Western so maybe why different night.

Does seem odd.  We didn't have a YC party when we were on (different YC Director!), but it would be surprising to have the party on the second sea day, since that would be a formal night, and Thursdays on either itinerary has been the lobster prime rib night.  That would be some serious eating along with a deck party!😋

[dexddd]

6 hours ago, JAGR said:

Does seem odd.  We didn't have a YC party when we were on (different YC Director!), but it would be surprising to have the party on the second sea day, since that would be a formal night, and Thursdays on either itinerary has been the lobster prime rib night.  That would be some serious eating along with a deck party!😋

So I finally looked at the Daily and it was actually Wednesday at the YC Grill from 9 pm to 10:30 pm - weather permitting (this was the Western).  We had Robert as the YC Director.  Great guy.  I don't recall seeing any special demos by the pool during the day and were there quite a bit especially around lunch time.

 

Yeah, we had dinner at 8 ish, went up there after dinner, and I was kind of wishing we would have just skipped dinner and gone there.  I actually had some pictures I'll post.