Live from MSC Divina YC 01/13/23-01/16:/23

[Seas2mountains]

12 hours ago, mnpurple said:

It is so interesting to see the different experiences people have, even in YC. I will also find it interesting to see how MSC YC experiences are different from our Med trip to the Caribbean sailing next week.  We were also in the Haven on Getaway last March. My family and I really enjoyed YC so much more. I'm just happy to sail and experience new places too!

Yes, I completely agree how different the YC experiences seem to be as it seems to me that in the Haven most seem to experience much more similar experiences with the butlers especially with the fairly consistent daily snacks.

 

If you look at the NCL boards, you might find a great post by @Sthrngary that suggests giving a written letter to the butler on the first day. I think the communication is so critical in getting the extra perks.  Since the person who is currently on Divina in YC posting on the Celebrity board seems to be very experienced in the Celebrity Retreat, she may have a system with how she communicates what she wants is what I assume.  I don't think I expect as much as she is posting about getting as special perks.

 

I think I may consider putting those requests in writing as even in the Haven it took a few days before the butler realized we really meant that we only wanted a cheese plate each day.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise! I look forward to reading about it!

[Seas2mountains]

12 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Thank you for posting the pizza menu.  I was going to ask if pizza was available in the YC, or if it would require a trip to the buffet.  Seems like "the butler will bring it"!

Just another reason to book YC.....

You are welcome! I thought it might be helpful as on our first YC cruise, I don't remember seeing a menu but we did have pizza delivered but didn't know what kinds were offered.

 

We ordered pizza at night and it was delicious. When we asked the butler in Top Sail  on this cruise if we could have the pizza delivered to Top Sail like we saw occur on Seaside, he said that they discouraged this and would deliver the pizza to our room but did not want us eating it in Top Sail.  The concierge took the order and coordinated it with a butler who wasn't always our assigned butler.

 

The person who is posting on the Celebrity board who is doing a live review on Divina posted a photo of her with a pizza in Top Sail so I don't think this "rule" is consistently followed.

[Seas2mountains]

11 hours ago, hiccups said:

We were also on this sailing in Yacht Club as well—our first MSC cruise.

 

Our experience mirrored yours fairly closely.  I’m glad to see the YC room service menu, as we didn’t have one in our room so had no idea what was available.  We knew pizza was an option so did request that Sunday afternoon after we were back onboard.  Our neighbors mentioned the pizza they received on Friday must have been brought up immediately from the oven because it was so hot, but ours was lukewarm.

 

Agree that Le Muse was quite good, especially the filet!  I was disappointed to see that the dress code was not enforced, though—lots of shorts and T shirts at dinner.  But not enforcing rules seemed the norm—I saw people smoking/vaping all around the ship.  Someone was even vaping on Deck 6 outside the shops!  I also saw children in the adult pool area.  So many kids everywhere, as you said, with lots of them treating the hot tubs as their private pool.

 

My husband ventured to the buffet on Saturday at 2 PM for a slice of pizza, and I came later to find him.  We were both surprised at how absolutely packed the buffet was—long lines and no seats available.  Like you, we were glad to be able to retreat to the Top Sail lounge.

 

Our butler was MIA—we saw him Friday and then not again until he delivered our pizza on Sunday.  Friday he asked if we had any requests, and I asked for a couple cans of Coke Zero for the fridge, but never received them.  Not a big deal as I could walk to the lounge, but given what I’ve read here about the butler service, that surprised me.

 

Agree that embarkation and disembarkation were very nice!  We wouldn’t have minded leaving the ship a bit earlier, though.  At 9:55 I finally went to the concierge and asked if we had to wait to be escorted, or if we could leave.  She had just called our cabin steward and he escorted us out.  He did a great job with our room the entire time.

 

We’d sail on MSC again, but only in YC.

Thank you for responding as it is very interesting that we had similar experiences. Was Kevin your butler, too? We did see him on Friday but not on Saturday.  We did see him at Ocean Cay on Sunday. That is too bad on the Coke Zero. I am also a little confused with the roles on MSC YC as we thought we had cabin stewards but some are calling them the junior butlers.

 

We were disappointed that the dress code was not enforced at Le Muse. The kids sure were dressed nice and in many cases much nicer than some adults! 

 

You will have to read the review of the person who is on the ship now and is posting her experience on the Celebrity boards. Her experience is so much different than ours with the same butler. I'm afraid she is setting the Celebrity people up for disappointment as she is making it seem like everyone gets VIP treatment including invites to private cabanas without having to pay for it. It sounds like she is having a great time and I am happy for her.

 

[hiccups]

1 hour ago, Seas2mountains said:

Thank you for responding as it is very interesting that we had similar experiences. Was Kevin your butler, too? We did see him on Friday but not on Saturday.  We did see him at Ocean Cay on Sunday. That is too bad on the Coke Zero. I am also a little confused with the roles on MSC YC as we thought we had cabin stewards but some are calling them the junior butlers.

 

We were disappointed that the dress code was not enforced at Le Muse. The kids sure were dressed nice and in many cases much nicer than some adults! 

 

You will have to read the review of the person who is on the ship now and is posting her experience on the Celebrity boards. Her experience is so much different than ours with the same butler. I'm afraid she is setting the Celebrity people up for disappointment as she is making it seem like everyone gets VIP treatment including invites to private cabanas without having to pay for it. It sounds like she is having a great time and I am happy for her.

 

We didn’t have Kevin—our butler was Dineesh (sp?).  I have been following the thread on the Celebrity board, and have been impressed by the level of service she received.

 

I wasn’t aware that the cabin stewards in YC are known as assistant butlers.  Ours did a great job with our cabin and we saw him daily.

[mnpurple]

A rule of thumb I generally use is to keep my expectations fairly low and then I am more pleasantly surprised if things are better than that. I know some of the basics that come with YC and will make a few small requests. 

 

I will say that we always had too much food being delivered in the Haven and I felt bad for wasting it.  We also tried giving the Butler "the letter" and it worked for a few things and not for others. I just felt a little awkward about it.

 

I did a status match and should be Gold, but that was never reflected in my account, so I don't get those perks, but YC far exceeds that anyway and we'll be on for 11 days!  Only one week to go!!!

[BoundForSea]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:42 AM, hiccups said:

 

 

Our butler was MIA—we saw him Friday and then not again until he delivered our pizza on Sunday.  Friday he asked if we had any requests, and I asked for a couple cans of Coke Zero for the fridge, but never received them.  Not a big deal as I could walk to the lounge, but given what I’ve read here about the butler service, that surprised me.

 

Agree that embarkation and disembarkation were very nice!  We wouldn’t have minded leaving the ship a bit earlier, though.  At 9:55 I finally went to the concierge and asked if we had to wait to be escorted, or if we could leave.  She had just called our cabin steward and he escorted us out.  He did a great job with our room the entire time.

Thanks for this report. Of all the times we’ve been in the YC, somewhere like 6 or so, one of the things that is consistent, is the inconsistency of the Butler staff performance. We have been on sailings where it was just beyond amazing and then there were the times where I felt like I needed to file a missing persons report like in your case. I’ve been told repetitively by YC Directors to report these issues early in the voyage so he can address them. Sometimes it’s a brand new Butler and they just don’t get what the job is. Other times it’s just burnout or laziness. So next time if this happens just go find the YC Director and share it with him or her in the first day or so. 
 

the reason why you were sitting around waiting to disembark is because your Butler was supposed to ask you the day before when you wanted to go down and follow up in the morning and then meet you in the Top Sail or your room and bring you down at your desired time. So those two experiences were actually the same root cause. 
 

so glad you had a great time. We will be back on Mera in a month on a B2B and it’s the first time in Mera since Feb of 2020 (Divina and Seashore after that since) so interested to see how things are. It seems the majority of issues come out of Mera these days. 

On 1/19/2023 at 9:42 AM, hiccups said:

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by BoundForSea