Brief Seaside YC review (6/8/19)

[jcathers1]

My wife and I just got off the SS, our second time on the ship. Some things that stuck out to me:

 

• The staff (inside and outside the YC) were very nice/friendly. We didn't have one issue with someone being dismissive or rude. That said, my wife and I agreed that service felt significantly slower than our previous experience, especially in the YC (and we are not needy or high-maintenance). It feels like they have fewer staff than they did a year ago. Everyone seems to be working hard; there are just too many passengers per crew member. This was especially apparent in the Top Sail Lounge. We could wait for more than 20 minutes with empty drinks/no drinks before someone would some attend to us. Many times, I would simply go to the bar myself. There was only one (or at most two) bartenders, and often the wait staff would be lined up at the bar waiting for drinks.
• Our butler (Glen) was very attentive and we saw him multiple times throughout each day. This was not the same for others on our cruise with different butlers. We made friends who told us they had waited two days to get an additional pillow, and finally had to stop by the concierge desk to get one.
• The YC concierge is far less effective/powerful than the concierge in the Haven (in our experience). We were often given confusing/conflicting information. There also were more communication/English language issues than we experienced in the Haven.
• Our toilet would not flush for periods of several hours during the first few days due to maintenance issues. Apparently, someone had flushed something they shouldn't have. Our room steward, butler, and the concierge all assured us it was not a big deal because "it wasn't just us, but the entire deck in the YC that was experiencing the issue". The messaging was coordinated, and strange (as if we wouldn't mind not having a toilet, as long as others didn't have one as well). We also found out that friends were offered $100 OBC for their toilet issues; we were offered nothing. That lack of consistency was frustrating.
• We found the food to be very tasty, both in the YC, at the specialty dining venues, and the couple of times we ate lunch at the buffet. The pizza is great.
• The YC pool only felt crowded once throughout the trip, on the final sea day. They had a seafood extravaganza buffet at the grill for lunch that day (quite good).
• We did see some rude/boorish behavior at times, including perhaps the most disgusting treatment I've ever witnessed toward weight staff. He was rude, mean, and sarcastic toward three (that we witnessed) different individuals. I was going to say something to management, until I saw him behaving this way toward an officer, so I knew they were aware of it. 
• Venchi and crepes were included.
• My wife had to visit the health center (she had been fighting a head cold for most of the week and couldn't get over it). It was $132 to see the doctor and get antibiotics and cough medicine (which seemed like a fair price to pay for something we really needed at the time). This was our first experience at the health center on any cruise we had been on.
• Embarcation was the fastest we've every experienced--we were on the ship and had a cocktail by 11:15am.
• The ship is beautiful, the ports were fun, and the weather was great. We had a really nice time.

 

We will be back in the YC in July with our kids and 10 other family members in July. Hoping for another fun cruise. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer if I can.

 

[flag fan]

Very helpful information; thank you for posting.  

[mafig]

Thank you.

Have to say I'm a little disappointed that there seems to be some slippage in the excellent YC experience.  Hope it is corrected.

 

Happy you have a good time.

[GA Dave]

Currently considering cancelling my 2020 Haven cruise on NCL due to their new “open door” policy with the Haven restaurant and lounge.   A few quick questions:

- Does MSC include adult beverages and specialty dining in their YC packages?

- Do you get priority boarding and disembarkation at all ports, or just at the start and end of the cruise?

- Is the Top Sail Lounge/YC restaurant restricted to only YC guests?  Or do they include their high-level loyalty members like RCCL?

- Any chance you could post some YC menus?  My DW and I tend to pretty basic steak/chicken meals with shellfish the only seafood we care for.

 

Any information will be appreciated!

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Currently considering cancelling my 2020 Haven cruise on NCL due to their new “open door” policy with the Haven restaurant and lounge.   A few quick questions:

- Does MSC include adult beverages and specialty dining in their YC packages?

- Do you get priority boarding and disembarkation at all ports, or just at the start and end of the cruise?

- Is the Top Sail Lounge/YC restaurant restricted to only YC guests?  Or do they include their high-level loyalty members like RCCL?

- Any chance you could post some YC menus?  My DW and I tend to pretty basic steak/chicken meals with shellfish the only seafood we care for.

 

Any information will be appreciated!

Yc is an experience level on MSC - the only way to access YC benefits is to book a YC cabin. It's not open to top tier Voyager's Club members or anyone else (they do sell day passes, so I've heard, if YC isn't at capacity- howvwer it's pretty much always at capacity).

YC benefits include Top Sail Lounge, One Pool deck, YC restaurant, butler service, free room service and pizza delivery, minibar items, concierge,  and drinks in the YC lounge - virtually any and everything with a few exceptions of connoisseur items (serious top shelf whiskey or champagne, etc). All your normal too shelf brands included inside YC and outside YC, it essentially covers the same things as the Premium Package (all drinks $12 and under, which is pretty much everything but connoisseur selections again).  YC does not include specialty restaurants - although the UC restaurant is sort of like it's own Specialty restaurant as it is only for YC. 

Yes, YC has priority boarding at ports and embarkation, in that a butler will escort you towards the front of the line and there's "priority" disembarkation at ports in that butler will escort you towards  the front of the disembarkation line.  One some ships there's also priority elevator service.  

You'll have plenty of food choices, there's steak and chicken available, lobster at least one night, shrimp and such.  And if there's something you want that's not on the menu - they'll do their best to provide it, if available..

 

There's tons of Haven versus YC reviews on here, I'd suggest scrolling through and reading them to see the comparisons.. 

[floridian1]

We were on this cruise too and we also had Glen (he was not helpful the first few days but shined the 2nd half of the cruise). I agree with most of your review except for the part about the YC dining room food being good. We thought it was very poor and also poor service. In fact we all agreed it was hands down the worst food and service we have had for dinner on a cruise. The maitre d was also pretty terrible...ill touch more on that with my own review. The speciality restaurants were good though.

 

We also had the bathroom issues too on deck 18..we did get the $100 credit. 

[jcathers1]

9 hours ago, floridian1 said:

We were on this cruise too and we also had Glen (he was not helpful the first few days but shined the 2nd half of the cruise). I agree with most of your review except for the part about the YC dining room food being good. We thought it was very poor and also poor service. In fact we all agreed it was hands down the worst food and service we have had for dinner on a cruise. The maitre d was also pretty terrible...ill touch more on that with my own review. The speciality restaurants were good though.

 

We also had the bathroom issues too on deck 18..we did get the $100 credit. 

 

Out of curiosity, did you have to go to the concierge to get the $100 OBC offered to you, or was it automatically added? We complained to the butler and concierge, but were never offered anything.

[xznwfd]

We had Glenn as our butler as well, and loved him.  My husband got a bad cold as well, and Glenn offered to escort him to the medical center and bring him hot tea with lemon and honey.  Better service than he got from me!  😉

[floridian1]

1 hour ago, jcathers1 said:

 

Out of curiosity, did you have to go to the concierge to get the $100 OBC offered to you, or was it automatically added? We complained to the butler and concierge, but were never offered anything.

It was automatically added to my account