YC not what I imo

[Scot born]

Only my opinion. 

Cruised a lot in the med first time in the Caribbean and first time in the YC. 

We are a married couple in our 50/60 years 

I booked this for my HD for his 60th birthday as a surprise. 

What we liked was that we could find a quite place to relax, however it was not what I was expecting. 

On the first day at sea we could not find sun beds on deck 19 my HD likes to lie in the sun coming from Scotland we don't get much sun so it is nice to see some sun. 

We did get everything that was promised, champagne, food , drink, etc.

Not the butler experience that was advertised or the spa experience. 

Butler , more of a friend than a Butler, was expecting taken to restaurants, theatre and off and on at  ports. Never happened. Used the same line as everyone else. (We did not have an issue with that)Also when returning to the ship went to YC tent and was told no you can not use this gang way as we are not ready. ( everyone has an opinion on the European cruisers however one American lady was clear on saying in the lift "oh my god what is it with these people in the YC taking the elevators" where I had said "come on in the lift is for everyone"come on we are all here for a break chill out. 

Went to the Spa, my expectations was, butler would take you down and that you would be shown what is what eh no, got ready bathing costume on robe on went to YC service desk and asked about Spa told" take lift to deck 8 and go to Spa in robe embarrassing was expecting special lift as advertised not happening. Given 2 towels which were grubby and ripped and had to find dressing room and everything else for my self, Spa was nice but smaller than expected. 

We are not cruise snobs however now that I know what to expect yes we would only consider cruising YC on MSC as you pay for the peace and quite and a space to relax. Not much else. 

 

 

[Beamafar]

I'm going to assume that you were on Seaside, SB for the simple reason that on Divina (and other Fantasia-class ships) there IS a private elevator to take you to the Spa (which is more than likely why you were expecting one).  Also, the butlers escort people to the restaurant - for the FIRST time only - again, only on Fantasia-class ships as it's located outside of the enclave which necessitates being accompanied ...  A) to show the best route and B) to ensure that the restaurant staff know that you're a YC guest.

 

I'm really surprised to hear that there were no sunbeds available on a sea day, or that you didn't get accompanied off the ship at the various ports (I've never been accompanied back on anywhere - though I haven't sailed YC in the Caribbean).  It seems that MSC does things differently in the region.  I get the impression that there are less crew onboard Seaside and are therefore stretched in their duties.

[emmas gran]

Hi we did 2 weeks on Preziosa in January/February and were  not escorted on or off the ship -the ports were familiar to us so it was not a deal breaker. However if people wanted escorting off they went to the YC concierge desk and waited until there was a group of 8/10/12 people and a butler would take them off the ship. We never had trouble finding a sunbed either.

Maybe things should have been explained to you more thoroughly

[ready2cruzagain]

Op, what is HD?

[Scot born]

2 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I'm going to assume that you were on Seaside, SB for the simple reason that on Divina (and other Fantasia-class ships) there IS a private elevator to take you to the Spa (which is more than likely why you were expecting one).  Also, the butlers escort people to the restaurant - for the FIRST time only - again, only on Fantasia-class ships as it's located outside of the enclave which necessitates being accompanied ...  A) to show the best route and B) to ensure that the restaurant staff know that you're a YC guest.

 

I'm really surprised to hear that there were no sunbeds available on a sea day, or that you didn't get accompanied off the ship at the various ports (I've never been accompanied back on anywhere - though I haven't sailed YC in the Caribbean).  It seems that MSC does things differently in the region.  I get the impression that there are less crew onboard Seaside and are therefore stretched in their duties.

Hi Bea 

You assume right, we were on the fabulous Seaside. Don't get me wrong we had a fabulous time and the extra you pay for YC was worth it for the peaceful surroundings. 

[Scot born]

7 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Op, what is HD?

Sorry DH lol

[ready2cruzagain]

19 minutes ago, Scot born said:

Sorry DH lol

 

LOL okay.  I thought it was a new lingo I did not know, which is not surprising.🤣

[Scot born]

I call myself the crazy Scottish lady, now you know why. What I will say is that we met lots of very nice people on this cruise from all over the world and that's what made it a cruise to remember. 

[Beamafar]

37 minutes ago, Scot born said:

Hi Bea 

You assume right, we were on the fabulous Seaside. Don't get me wrong we had a fabulous time and the extra you pay for YC was worth it for the peaceful surroundings. 

 

Delighted to hear you enjoyed it.  I thought you may have been a bit disappointed that it didn't live up to the hype.  With cutbacks in the numbers of crew onboard, service is beginning to suffer as a result.

 

I'm finding it very difficult to not book YC these days (on ships with YC, of course).  It's such a better onboard experience, overall.  Our next 3 cruises are in YC.  However, the way prices are going, we'll either be cruising less (which I'm trying to achieve, anyway, so we can do some more land-based holidays) or foregoing doing YC.

[gimletgal]

4 hours ago, Scot born said:

 

On the first day at sea we could not find sun beds on deck 19 my HD likes to lie in the sun coming from Scotland we don't get much sun so it is nice to see some sun. 

 

 

I am amazed that your DH was unable to find available sun beds on the One Pool deck. I have sailed Seaside twice now in the YC and there were always many, many sun beds available - everywhere. Everyone in the YC must have been sunlovers on your particular cruise! 

[sverigecruiser]

4 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 Also, the butlers escort people to the restaurant - for the FIRST time only - again, only on Fantasia-class ships as it's located outside of the enclave which necessitates being accompanied ...  A) to show the best route and B) to ensure that the restaurant staff know that you're a YC guest.

 

 

As I have said before we were not offered an escort to the restaurant on Divina.I do think that if we had asked for it they would have escorted us every time but why should we need/want that! 

[Scot born]

10 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

 

Delighted to hear you enjoyed it.  I thought you may have been a bit disappointed that it didn't live up to the hype.  With cutbacks in the numbers of crew onboard, service is beginning to suffer as a result.

 

I'm finding it very difficult to not book YC these days (on ships with YC, of course).  It's such a better onboard experience, overall.  Our next 3 cruises are in YC.  However, the way prices are going, we'll either be cruising less (which I'm trying to achieve, anyway, so we can do some more land-based holidays) or foregoing doing YC.

 

It was just that I booked this over a year ago and followed the boards on CC and you tube,  maybe I expected a more personal experience. We did enjoy everything so no complaints. Can I just say that anyone no matter what experience you took that even in the YC in the top sail lounge I had to go to the bar after waiting over 1/2 hour for a drink and it was not busy, so yes the staff is stretched,

 

 

[Linda the Book Lover]

Hi Scot born! I wish we ran into each other earlier as I would have scooped you on some of your issues. Our guys had a great birthday too! My DH enjoyed his 75th birthday and there was much singing etc. in the YC restaurant to celebrate his special day. We celebrated our friend's birthday in the Butcher Cut.

 

Al found plenty of loungers on the sun deck on either side around the back of the bar/buffet area. One day we went up and there were towels and no people. The Butler asked someone else and they said the towels had been there at least one hour, the towels were removed and we laid out in the bar area loungers until it got too hot.

 

Our sweet Butler Glenda was terrific! Anything we asked promptly and magically appeared and when she had pool area duty she always asked if everything was still to our satisfaction and don't forget to call her if there is anything at all we needed. Our friends who had a different Butler wanted to steal her. Glenda told us to go to the YC restaurant to get escorted off of the ship on port days or have the concierge call her. The first show another Butler escorted us down and he pushed us aside when we entered and made sure his guests were seated first and then pointed where we could sit. Another Butler noticed his behavior and said something to him and apologized to us and found our seats. We always returned to ship via the YC line on our own.

 

We went to the Spa on our own and like you found it lacking in customer service. I needed help with the lockers and was lacking a towel and there are none in the spa areas. Another person told me I need to go to the front desk to get one, I used my DH's as I felt I should not drip water everywhere. There was an elevator (lift) was by itself before you leave the YC area only went to 16, 18, 19. We just took the main elevator outside the YC to the spa.

 

We loved everything about the ship and the YC and plan on booking a cruise for my "big birthday" in 2021. Those hiccups we had did not change how we felt about the overall experience. Again sorry we did not get a chance to meet until the last day! 

 

[CruisingFox27]

On our Caribbean YC sailings, we were always escorted back onto the ship. We were escorted off, even if we weren't looking to be. 

Thank you for the insight into Seaside YC, we're just looking at a sailing on her. 

[Hobby3333]

All I can say is that YC on Seaside was great last year and looking forward to our July sailing.   We know more what to expect and what to ask for.   25 days can’t get here soon enough.  

[modes]

We always found plenty of empty sun loungers at all times .