Seaside YC now has fixed dinner seatings?

[abdawson1]

A Facebook group is reporting that as of today the Seaside Yacht Club restaurant has two seatings of 5:30pm or 8:45pm.  Can anyone else confirm this or provide any similar experiences in other yacht club ships?  I really don’t like this inflexibility but want to plan if that’s the case. 

 

Thanks in advance

Edited July 13, 2019 by abdawson1

[goodml]

I was reading that post too. I’m not pleased.

[KyleClark]

Not good.

[mafig]

Although we usually ate dinner at the same time each evening, that was OUR choice, not because we had to.  

Wonder what the reason for this is?

[Cruisergal1208]

28 minutes ago, mafig said:

Although we usually ate dinner at the same time each evening, that was OUR choice, not because we had to.  

Wonder what the reason for this is?

They say it’s due to complaints about slow service. 

[GMS4771]

I would be very surprised by this. On average about 250 guests in the YC and you’re telling me 125 at 530 and 125 at 845?  That place won’t even hold 125 at once.  

[goodml]

5 minutes ago, GMS4771 said:

I would be very surprised by this. On average about 250 guests in the YC and you’re telling me 125 at 530 and 125 at 845?  That place won’t even hold 125 at once.  

 

 It makes no sense but the person reporting it boarded today and they told her they were implementing it starting with this voyage. 

[CruisingFox27]

Sincerely hope not, that's not what we've booked YC dining for and isn't what our dining option Is listed as. If true, it'll result in an awful lot more complaints. 

[kba1988]

That’s ridiculous... I thought one of the many perks of paying for yacht club is to enjoy the freedom of dining whenever you want as a YC guest. Are they taking that away from us now ? So what happens if neither of those dining times works for you 😳😳

[abdawson1]

35 minutes ago, GMS4771 said:

I would be very surprised by this. On average about 250 guests in the YC and you’re telling me 125 at 530 and 125 at 845?  That place won’t even hold 125 at once.  

Exactly. They’re painting themselves into a corner by defining dinner service as two distinct seatings.  If you get a few people deciding to eat on the early side, those tables can be used three times.  Now Mr and Mrs Earlybird are stuck waiting until 5:45pm.  And as GMS4771 pointed out will be joined by up to 123 of their fellow passengers. 

[GMS4771]

Maybe just for the first night??

[rattanchair]

Dear all, We will let you know on the Seaside this weekend July 20,2019. We are booked in the Yacht Club, and our first order of business will be to see the Maitre D and find out. We will report daily our observations. Please stay tuned.

 

 

 

[mafig]

Yes, please, rattanchair, let us know.

 

When we were on Seaside (last July), there was no problem with slow service then.

 

Staff has changed.  Maybe that's the problem.

 

Perhaps they should try to ascertain what has changed and try to fix their  problem.  I don't feel this is the solution.

 

 

[BermudaBound2014]

I think this is a typical MSC blunder and while i genuinely feel bad for those sailing now, i doubt it will last long. Kinda like the experiment with all Bella in the buffet for dinner, or charging for buffet on ocean caye. iMO- This too shall pass.

[rattanchair]

Just now, mafig said:

Yes, please, rattanchair, let us know.

 

When we were on Seaside (last July), there was no problem with slow service then.

 

Staff has changed.  Maybe that's the problem.

 

Perhaps they should try to ascertain what has changed and try to fix their  problem.  I don't feel this is the solution.

 

 

Dear Ma,  Thank you for all your posts on MSC. You and several others convinced us to try MSC. We loved the service on the Divina for Christmas last year in the Sophia Loren Suite. Which the CC failed to publish my review criticizing  certain aspects of the cabin in particular. But the cruise did not stop us from booking this cruise and 7 more on MSC through March 2021, in the Yacht Club. MSC should give you a commission.

[SailBreakaway]

This really is not a good sign. The new VP for food and bev was a concern due to their previous experience and there was a concern their challenge was going to be to cut costs and streamline. I heard first the menu choices changed right after he arrived now this. Need to get the facts on this and if other ships like Div and Mera are having the same thing. This is not cool at all. Stuff like this will start to make the cost of Haven look good again, and that’s significant. 

[mafig]

Rattanchair, What a lovely post.  Thank you.  You've made my night.💗

[SailBreakaway]

My wife just reminded me that when we boarded June 1 in SS YC rest for dinner they asked us to pick a seating time for just first night, and she’s right we did. After that we sat whenever. Maybe this is what was misunderstood today. They just left two hours ago so let’s give it a chance to get the facts... Fingers crossed. 

[mafig]

Yes, I remember that too.

 

Also on Divina I remember the hostess asking us at breakfast what time we'd be coming to dinner.  It never dawned on me at the time that she really wanted to know what time we'd be there.  I thought it was just conversation.  LOL.

[modes]

2 hours ago, kba1988 said:

That’s ridiculous... I thought one of the many perks of paying for yacht club is to enjoy the freedom of dining whenever you want as a YC guest. Are they taking that away from us now ? So what happens if neither of those dining times works for you 😳😳

You eat at the buffet.

[modes]

530 is perfect for us.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My guess is that the person misunderstood.  A common occurrence.  Or there was a staff member who didn't know which end was up.  Also, sadly, a common occurrence.  No way those two seatings would work.  I'm on in November and if that's the case, it's bye bye YC.  Neither of those times works for me.  I haven't done fixed seatings for years and I don't plan to start.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, SailBreakaway said:

This really is not a good sign. The new VP for food and bev was a concern due to their previous experience and there was a concern their challenge was going to be to cut costs and streamline. I heard first the menu choices changed right after he arrived now this. Need to get the facts on this and if other ships like Div and Mera are having the same thing. This is not cool at all. Stuff like this will start to make the cost of Haven look good again, and that’s significant. 

 

His previous experience was with Celebrity, which has one of the smoothest 'anytime dining' operations of the mass market lines.  And Celebrity's Luminae and Blu upper-cabin restaurants have always been strictly anytime dining.  So his experience is actually good insurance against this rumor being true.

[dexddd]

I too hope this is misunderstanding.  On Divinia and Seaside you'll get hounded once onboard for a preferred dining time, at least in the past.  Normally that time worked for us and it was after one of the show times.

 

Divinia it was busy but worked out well plus we had Arthur.

 

First Seaside it was not a problem and not very busy and service good.

 

Few weeks back, it Very busy and service was hit or miss.  They made it feel like they were doing you a favor by getting a table at the time they initially requested from you.  

 

Maybe they just need to have Arthur in charge.

[goodml]

Robert Balla who I believe is the current Seaside YC director just posted on the Facebook group that this info was incorrect and anytime dining is still allowed going forward.