Observations from the Poop Deck Seashore September

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, zackarykeef said:

 

Is this a thing? I've only sailed YC, so I guess I didn't realize they leave things out of the planner? Will have to look into this for our upcoming sailing.

 

 

Oh, man. Happy to hear about the chef as you mentioned, but I hope things improve before our sailing 10/22. We've only sailed once on MSC, which was YC on the Mera, and we were blown away...and that was only a 4-day. The YC sommelier completely made our trip that time. We're really looking forward to spending an entire week in YC...

 

 

May I ask what room or deck you're on? Wondering if we'll have the pleasure to experience the wonderful Ana Lisa soon! (although, tbh, I'm not sure how exactly they're assigned)

We are in cabin #16026 with 5 other cabins leading out and she had 8 cabins to attend to last month (same cabin). This time she is reluctant to tell us how many she has, but we found out that she also attends to #16043 on the port side as well. We hope to be on in October 8th for a week and will report more observations then. Well the important stuff is always listed in the YC Daily Program, but we discovered on one cruise that the Specialty Restaurant FREE tasting tour was not listed in the YC DP. This week it was conspicuously absent all together. In our walkabout this morning around the Jungle Pool Lounge we saw white tables set up and asked. The 7 pm Family Buffet of every imaginable sweet treat, cookie, cake will be out. We will miss this as we prefer to get a table early for the Le Cabaret show. 

[morpheusofthesea]

This morning at the Long Island pool I saw the soft serve ice cream machines filled and ready to serve (7 am). I inquired. The cones of soft serve are $5, Pina Colada or Strawberry Daiquiri ...Or a blend of both called a "Miami Vice". All non alcoholic. The soft serve at the Jungle Pool does not open until 1 pm.

[morpheusofthesea]

This is interesting and one can draw their own conclusions. Last evening's  'incident' occurred exactly at the time Ms. Ana Lisa was supposed to pick us up at the YC restaurant to escort us to our seats at the Madison Theatre. It appears that the wife of the drunken husband (young couple), not in the YC, was missing and the wife had bumped into  Ana Lisa in a hallway worried.  Ana Lisa called security and maybe facial recognition used? to locate him so quickly at the Bar on deck 19. Ana Lisa knew nothing of a bar on 19. We found out in our Daily Planner there are two, the Horizon Bar at the other end of the ship and the Aurea Bar accessed by both Aurea guests or Yacht Club guests with Key card. We checked the Aurea bar this morning on our walkabout. What we find so interesting is the total lack of knowledge YC staff have of the rest of the ship and living on board. Last cruise the YC hostess mentioned she knew nothing of the Le Cabaret Rouge and what it looked like.

Edited September 7, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

P.S. This morning while booking a couple more cruises on Seascape for 2024 the veteran future cruise consultant mentioned she has never seen the great Madison Theatre production "Coast to Coast".

[parallax]

3 hours ago, zackarykeef said:

 

We have 16015 as of now, so I guess we'll see!

We were on the Seashore a couple weeks ago.  We were in the room right next to you and we had Abi as our butler.  Hands down the best butler we have ever had on MSC (6 cruises).  He provided impeccable service the whole cruise.  He had to the uncanny ability to show up just at the right time and seemed to come out of nowhere.  

[perakcruiser]

2 hours ago, no1talks said:

Brazil is not a bastion of multilingualism. You have to staff based on passengers' communication abilities.

Sure, but as far as I know Portugues speakers can communicate with Spanish speakers. And for cruise lines it is not easy to hire Portugues speaking staff, but maybe their middle america workforce went to a language school for a few weeks before boarding. 

[no1talks]

4 hours ago, perakcruiser said:

Portugues speakers can communicate with Spanish speakers

"Spoken Spanish and Portuguese are less mutually intelligible than their written forms. In other words, on paper, the two languages look very similar and speakers of either language can generally read the other language without too much struggle. But when it comes to the spoken forms, or the phonology, things get a bit more complicated as the pronunciation is more different than you’d expect."
-- Diana Lăpușneanu, European languages blogger at Mondly.com

This being the case, I vote they stick with Spanish-speaking crew and just issue note pads to all of them, as well as the passengers. There would be so many written notes flying about, it would look like an oceangoing ticker-tape parade.

[morpheusofthesea]

Does anyone know what the character with the face and no body in Mystic Forest represents?

[no1talks]

43 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Does anyone know what the character with the face and no body in Mystic Forest represents?"

I viewed some clips from the show, posted by other cruisers on YouTube. My $0.02...

The character is clearly head-to-toe steampunk in design, starting with the de rigueur begoggled top hat, down to the Victorian spats.

A common theme in steampunk lierature is travel to a primordial place or time by elites from the world of industry and science. Such travel provides the plot in some well-known works by H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and other authors in the steampunk canon.

Therefore, I propose the character is meant to be an observer from the "real world" who has come to the Mystic Forest to see the sights.

Why? Who the hell knows! 😆

 

[morpheusofthesea]

6 hours ago, no1talks said:

Why? Who the hell knows!

I knew if anyone knows anything about anything it would be you. Thank you again.

[kbnovak]

20 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We found out in our Daily Planner there are two, the Horizon Bar at the other end of the ship and the Aurea Bar accessed by both Aurea guests or Yacht Club guests with Key card. We checked the Aurea bar this morning on our walkabout. 

Do YC members have access to the Aurea Solarium area and its amenities?
(We're sailing Seashore YC on 9/24).

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, kbnovak said:

Do YC members have access to the Aurea Solarium area and its amenities?
(We're sailing Seashore YC on 9/24).

Yes.

Edited September 8, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, kbnovak said:

Do YC members have access to the Aurea Solarium area and its amenities?
(We're sailing Seashore YC on 9/24).

But it is literally and figuratively a step down.

[morpheusofthesea]

From ones vantage point on deck 20 YC One Pool Deck one 'looks down upon' the Aurea  area and the both Aurea and YC 'look down upon' the Jungle Lounge pool area. It is a nice experience.

Edited September 8, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[kbnovak]

7 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

But it is literally and figuratively a step down.

Thanks!

[morpheusofthesea]

We have waited all our lives for this world class treatment, we have found it on board MSC Yacht Club, only to be labeled "snobs" when reporting of our experiences. It is still hard work living this lifestyle. Ran across this quote by Russell Lynes "The true snob never rests; there is always a higher goal to attain, and there are, by the same token, always more and more people to look down upon." Russell Lynes (1966). “Confessions of a dilettante”

Edited September 8, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

Oh, this is 'rich' (as filled with 'juicy' information). Bumped into Dave the cruise director on the stairs. This was our second chance meeting in 8 cruises. Dave begins every cruise in the first night's Madison Theatre show by describing his encounters in the hallways with passengers passing by him never stopping him to talk. Well let me tell you of Dave's real life encounters with passengers as we have just finished our second. Firstly, he hides out most of the time and no one really gets an encounter. And on that rare occasion when one happens upon him unexpectedly he stops for a moment checks his phone and says he is on his way to a meeting. Last encounter it was "I have to see my kids". (The same retort used by the Hotel director Yannis when we tried 'pumping ' him for information).

[frank808]

3 hours ago, kbnovak said:

Do YC members have access to the Aurea Solarium area and its amenities?
(We're sailing Seashore YC on 9/24).

Yes, we enjoyed it a few days. Most people did not know it was there, even Aurea guests. It is a little Oasis with no one in area except your private bartender. But of course you have to walk the 10 steps to bar to get another drink as there is no butler service. I found the Casita to be more comfortable than the YC one.

[morpheusofthesea]

 The One Pool Deck is all abuzz at the present moment preparing the seafood extravaganza. About 30 minutes ago a group  of about 9 were escorted through the One Pool Deck on a tour. There is a group of 4 women that have 'access' for this buffet not in the YC. One gets conflicting information depending on who one 'pumps' for information. We tend to 'pump' everyone. Today the same source that told us that there was a replacement chef on board getting out of quarantine yesterday now says still no YC chef, maybe one will get on in Miami on Saturday. Funny how the food tasted better last night when I thought there was a chef..Power of suggestion..(Tonight, indigestion?)

Edited September 8, 2022 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

Well ,unfortunately, I am forced to report the bad along with the good news. Still no lobster tails at the One Pool Deck seafood extravaganza.

[mafig]

17 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Well ,unfortunately, I am forced to report the bad along with the good news. Still no lobster tails at the One Pool Deck seafood extravaganza.

Well I don't want to miss this (even w/o the lobster).

Is this advertised.  Today is a Thursday.  On your itinerary is it a sea day? 

 

 

[JAGR]

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Oh, this is 'rich' (as filled with 'juicy' information). Bumped into Dave the cruise director on the stairs. This was our second chance meeting in 8 cruises. Dave begins every cruise in the first night's Madison Theatre show by describing his encounters in the hallways with passengers passing by him never stopping him to talk. Well let me tell you of Dave's real life encounters with passengers as we have just finished our second. Firstly, he hides out most of the time and no one really gets an encounter. And on that rare occasion when one happens upon him unexpectedly he stops for a moment checks his phone and says he is on his way to a meeting. Last encounter it was "I have to see my kids". (The same retort used by the Hotel director Yannis when we tried 'pumping ' him for information).

Better than, "Ciao, Ciao.  For now!"

[Two Wheels Only]

On 9/7/2022 at 10:50 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

This morning at the Long Island pool I saw the soft serve ice cream machines filled and ready to serve (7 am). I inquired. The cones of soft serve are $5, Pina Colada or Strawberry Daiquiri ...Or a blend of both called a "Miami Vice". All non alcoholic. The soft serve at the Jungle Pool does not open until 1 pm.

 

Strangely, we didn't get charged there. It might be one of those things where beeping a Yacht Club bracelet nullifies the cost.😉

[Two Wheels Only]

5 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We have waited all our lives for this world class treatment, we have found it on board MSC Yacht Club, only to be labeled "snobs" when reporting of our experiences

 

Labeled by whom?

 

We appreciate the info, humor, and photos.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, mafig said:

Well I don't want to miss this (even w/o the lobster).

Is this advertised.  Today is a Thursday.  On your itinerary is it a sea day? 

 

 

Just checked the Daily Planner. No mention or advertising the Seafood Extravaganza.  We just knew from past experience. Today is Thursday and a sea day.