Observations From The Poop Deck (Seashore)

[morpheusofthesea]

16 hours ago, alohayall said:

 And I am not a YC cruiser - I don’t like the hovering help.  At dinner, I just want glasses to not go empty.  And a look over to see that I am not trying to flag down the waiter. 

We were not YC or suite cruisers for 45 years. This past 5 years has us doing an 'about face'. Waiting for 2 hours for our meal in the Haven (NCL) is worse IMHO than looking to have my glass refilled or to send over the bread tray ( that's where the hovering comes in handy). RCCL's Coastal Kitchen we had to wait for a table even with standing reservation because non-suite Pinnacles took precedence. Now Celebrity's Retreat is hard to beat and would be our favorite if not for the attentiveness of the YC butlers. Our recommendation is to try the Yacht Club just once and allow the 'service' to flow. It is difficult after a lifetime of delayed gratification. There is simply not enough reasons any longer to delay gratification any further.

[morpheusofthesea]

Spoke with Mr. Balla this afternoon and asked him where he is going to be in the months to come. He said he is still being kept 'in the dark'. That he is leaving August 20th. Sorry ,no 'scoop' to report.

[alohayall]

I am trying to Not come up with reasons to cruise more. And, really, I am a very content mainstream cruiser.  (With the caveat that Disney pricing bumps it out of the pricing of Royal and Carnival).
 

Having done MSC once, during return to cruising, I am not sure I know what it would be like with the crowds. I did 3 cruises last fall and was probably very spoiled by having big ships with low passenger counts - somewhat a private cruise experience. I liked it and somewhat dread having thousands onboard. 

 

Not inviting YC cruisers to the tasting does seem a bit odd. Sure, they have their own dining, but is there a YC discount in Specialty?  Or truly just not likely to opt out of YC dinners?

 

Have all these tasting lunches involved Q&A time?  I wonder if anyone brings up telephone customer support or IT?

[alohayall]

13 hours ago, publicpersona said:

 

We are in the same boat, or not on any boat at all as it were. My spousal unit had a dreaded second pink line on the antigen test so we are not on this sailing as planned.

 

I'm looking forward to following @morpheusoftheseaposts instead. Not quite the same as being there, but it will have to do.

Missing an actual cruise is so much worse than my just testing positive. I am truly fortunate so far that it is basically just a case of viral bronchitis. Just happens the virus is Covid. 
 

Best wishes that theirs doesn’t spiral into anything bad and you get to make up the cruise. 

[travelwide]

12 hours ago, TwoAdriftAtSea said:

I received an invitation to the specialty dining sampling in the daily papework thats placed on the room door.... Today (sea day) 1:30pm Deck 8 aft Cocktail bar is the meeting spot.

If the MSC President of US operations is still onboard they will have a lunch on Thursday seeking input from the invited guests. It was pleasing to hear about some changes coming to Voyagers Club.

What changes did they mention are coming to the Voyagers Club?

[morpheusofthesea]

We have another duo headlining the Cabaret Rouge, the Rockin' Divas. Not everything is a 'hit' and this will be a 'miss' later in the week when they perform again. The Madison Theatre had 3 shows tonight of "Paris", singing, dancing, acrobatics. DW wished we sat through two Madison Theatre shows instead. The only annoyance one will experience in the Madison Theatre performances are the unending late comers to the shows. One must get up to allow the late comers to slip past in search of available empty seats. A gentleman in back of us on an end seat, got up so many times during the performance that he raised his voice to those pushing by him "to get to the theatre on time". A moment later he got up and walked out, his seat only taken by another late comer. This does not happen in the Cabaret Rouge as the venue seating is around tables and not rows. 

[morpheusofthesea]

When we got back to our cabin last night this was waiting for us on the living room table.

 

[morpheusofthesea]

12 hours ago, alohayall said:

I am trying to Not come up with reasons to cruise more.

'To each his own', "that other people are free to like different things." What you bring up are real concerns. We too took the plunge in July 2021 on the second sailing of the Celebrity Edge. A Celebrity Suite opened up 48 hrs before sailing and had such a good time on board with 1500 on board that we booked more Celebrity cruises while on board (no mask policy). Found that MSC Yacht Club does a better job of keeping 300 guests separate from the general population. We have gone from no maskers to wearing masks on every cruise regardless of ship policy. Due to the unhygienic practices we have encountered on board by fellow passengers. Enjoy the fact that MSC has greater concentration of many nationalities, which tend to keep to themselves. The less fraternization the less spread of contagion. Only ate in buffets when no self-service and plates and wrapped silverware were also handed out individually. Sure we have limited a great many offerings everyone takes advantage of when on a cruise. But we are not going to dwell on what we are missing, only enjoy the things we still have left.
 

 

[travelwide]

Very well put. 🥂

[bac513]

40 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

'To each his own', "that other people are free to like different things." What you bring up are real concerns. We too took the plunge in July 2021 on the second sailing of the Celebrity Edge. A Celebrity Suite opened up 48 hrs before sailing and had such a good time on board with 1500 on board that we booked more Celebrity cruises while on board (no mask policy). Found that MSC Yacht Club does a better job of keeping 300 guests separate from the general population. We have gone from no maskers to wearing masks on every cruise regardless of ship policy. Due to the unhygienic practices we have encountered on board by fellow passengers. Enjoy the fact that MSC has greater concentration of many nationalities, which tend to keep to themselves. The less fraternization the less spread of contagion. Only ate in buffets when no self-service and plates and wrapped silverware were also handed out individually. Sure we have limited a great many offerings everyone takes advantage of when on a cruise. But we are not going to dwell on what we are missing, only enjoy the things we still have left.
 

Concur with everything you said.

 

[FLCruiser97]

Hello Mr. Morpheus and the Mrs. 

So glad to read another one of your Observations from the poop deck. I will be following your posts. 

I had not seen any posts from you over on the "X" blogs. I was searching for other cruises on other lines, I found your "Observations from the poop deck" here on MSC. 

Fair winds to you on this sailing.

[morpheusofthesea]

24 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

I had not seen any posts from you over on the "X" blogs.

Yes, we have switched over a bit from Celebrity. Celebrity has a really good product. Have always loved the Equinox, but found during the pandemic that staying in Retreat cabins on deck 16 (or 12 I already forgot) and not wanting to take an occupied elevator we had no choice but to take the stairs down to deck 3, the dedicated Luminae restaurant. Now that we are in the twilight of our lives we switched to Edge class to alleviate this. Then MSC started up again and we had a super time with grand service in the Royal Red Sophia Loren Suite on Divina (2018 ?). The butlers on the Divina escorted the Yacht Club guests from the Top Sail Lounge to the (at that time) the only gangway, butting in front of every line of 4000? passengers to get us off first.  In 10 minutes, DW and I walked around the pier and decided to return to the ship, and instead of waiting for the ship to unload the remaining 3990 passengers still pouring down the gangway, a butler on the pier radioed security to stop the flow of passengers so we could re-board immediately. Where on earth can one be treated like Royalty ? We never experienced such service like we received and are still receiving on MSC ships in the Yacht Club.

P.S. We are going to try out the Beyond the end of this year in the Retreat. Got a Pinnacle suite booked on HAL, a Grand Suite on Explora 1, and a Master Suite on Regent and Grand Suite on the Regent Grandeur. Hope to compare these to the Royals booked on Seascape.(Now we just have to live long enough).

P.S.S. Thank you for all your kind words over the many months (years). It has been posters like you that have made my observations worthwhile.

[alohayall]

18 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

…Not everything is a 'hit' and this will be a 'miss' later in the week when they perform again. …

Great witticism!

 

[phissy]

7 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

When we got back to our cabin last night this was waiting for us on the living room table.

 

Oh my! 
That looks fabulous. What a nice gesture. 

Was card included to provide information of sender ?
Just wondering……

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, phissy said:

Oh my! 
That looks fabulous. What a nice gesture. 

Was card included to provide information of sender ?
Just wondering……

No, just the standard trifles of Diamond status.

[phissy]

22 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

No, just the standard trifles of Diamond status.

NICE!
We will be sailing YC again in October.

MSC Divina-, which is a new ship for us.

Also, New YC category suite for this cruise.

Executive Suite ( Starboard)

We do enjoy the Diamond perks.

Cheers to you.

Also, Really have enjoyed your postings on all your recent cruises.
Keeps the “cruising state of mind” going for us.

[morpheusofthesea]

This evening we were treated to a great cabaret act. “Welcome to my cabaret with Galy “. This young lady epitomized everything good about cabaret. Astonished. Delightful. A real ‘hit’. 
  I waited to hear DW’s impression before expressing my feelings. Did not want my two thumbs up to influence her. Galy got all thumbs up for her performance. Hoping she has another performance this cruise.Must seek out CD Dave and commend him for this cabaret act.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, phissy said:

Also, Really have enjoyed your postings on all your recent cruises.
Keeps the “cruising state of mind” going for us.

Thank you as well. You are always very simpatico.

[morpheusofthesea]

Another observation. This time it was DW who brought this observation to my attention. On  prior cruises, there are moments when the entertainment is missing from the daily program. During the pandemic the phrase 'the show must go on' was on hiatus. When this occurred one could always find extended hours of karaoke and other passenger games listed in the daily programs. This cruise they are conspicuously absent. A good 'sign'.

Edited August 2, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[FLCruiser97]

19 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Yes, we have switched over a bit from Celebrity. Celebrity has a really good product. Have always loved the Equinox, but found during the pandemic that staying in Retreat cabins on deck 16 (or 12 I already forgot) and not wanting to take an occupied elevator we had no choice but to take the stairs down to deck 3, the dedicated Luminae restaurant. Now that we are in the twilight of our lives we switched to Edge class to alleviate this. Then MSC started up again and we had a super time with grand service in the Royal Red Sophia Loren Suite on Divina (2018 ?). The butlers on the Divina escorted the Yacht Club guests from the Top Sail Lounge to the (at that time) the only gangway, butting in front of every line of 4000? passengers to get us off first.  In 10 minutes, DW and I walked around the pier and decided to return to the ship, and instead of waiting for the ship to unload the remaining 3990 passengers still pouring down the gangway, a butler on the pier radioed security to stop the flow of passengers so we could re-board immediately. Where on earth can one be treated like Royalty ? We never experienced such service like we received and are still receiving on MSC ships in the Yacht Club.

P.S. We are going to try out the Beyond the end of this year in the Retreat. Got a Pinnacle suite booked on HAL, a Grand Suite on Explora 1, and a Master Suite on Regent and Grand Suite on the Regent Grandeur. Hope to compare these to the Royals booked on Seascape.(Now we just have to live long enough).

P.S.S. Thank you for all your kind words over the many months (years). It has been posters like you that have made my observations worthwhile.

So many cruises..I'm not sure you and the Mrs. ever get to enjoy your home on land. But honestly, if me and my Mr. had the opportunity, means and time, we would be doing the exact same thing that you are doing and enjoying every minute. Being treated like royality is ALWAYS a good thing. 

[morpheusofthesea]

Service ! One is only limited by ones own imagination. Butlers are genies, "beings capable of granting wishes." Anything on board is at ones disposal. Want a reservation at any fully booked venue, voila ! Want to get to the head of any line/queue. Want a particular theatre seat. The key to any luxury cruise line is instant gratification, now found on any MSC ship with a Yacht Club. 

[FLCruiser97]

Service! Yes. Very Important. Way back when I was a young pup and in the airlines (still in aviation but not as young anymore), all the air fares from point A to point B were regulated and the same price. One chose an airline based on the service they gave. Not anymore, price is the name of the game and service went out the window. It's good that some of the cruise lines take pride in the service they give.

[wcook]

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Service ! One is only limited by ones own imagination. Butlers are genies, "beings capable of granting wishes." Anything on board is at ones disposal. Want a reservation at any fully booked venue, voila ! Want to get to the head of any line/queue. Want a particular theatre seat. The key to any luxury cruise line is instant gratification, now found on any MSC ship with a Yacht Club. 

What if you want to steer the ship 🙂

[morpheusofthesea]

28 minutes ago, wcook said:

What if you want to steer the ship 🙂

Join the Navy.

[no1talks]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Join the Navy.

They want you!

They want you!

They want you as a new recruit!