MSC and those negative reviews. (Seascape YC)

[morpheusofthesea]

20 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

 

There are many cutbacks if you are not in the YC. However, the crew and the look of the ship are great. The food outside of YC is really mediocre. I've never eaten so many burgers on a cruise! You won't starve is a good summary.  They have also moved away from an Italian flair to more Hispanic.

Perhaps it is a race to the bottom ?

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2009/10/articles/crime/cruise-ship-brawls-a-problem-that-will-get-bigger-with-bigger-ships/

[DCGuy64]

I also watch quite a few cruise vloggers on YouTube, and all I can say is this: the ones who do it for money are always amping up the drama to get clicks and subscribers. Maybe I'm getting cynical as I get older, but I see lots of YouTubers posting videos with clickbait headlines like "major cruise line goes BANKRUPT" with 32 exclamation points. I guess no one wants a video showing how great MSC is, but people jump at the chance to see someone complain about everything.🙄Let 'em. I'll keep sailing MSC with my wife and have a great time. If others balk because of a video, good: that leaves more room for us! 😝

[perakcruiser]

32 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Perhaps it is a race to the bottom ?

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2009/10/articles/crime/cruise-ship-brawls-a-problem-that-will-get-bigger-with-bigger-ships/

That is not correct from my view. 

 

Other then in America and Asia the cruise business in Europe always (OK, in the last 20 years, not always) was much more "democratic". Americans and Asians cannot believe this, but especially MSC had quite a huge number of "poor" guests, unemployed people with their families. And these days also a lot of Ukraine refugees. 

 

The main problem maker is definitely the all you can drink packages. 

[DCGuy64]

40 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Perhaps it is a race to the bottom ?

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2009/10/articles/crime/cruise-ship-brawls-a-problem-that-will-get-bigger-with-bigger-ships/

That article is from 2009... I'm guessing the "race to the bottom" failed to materialize. 😉

[L1211]

19 hours ago, jules815 said:

 

LOVED Meraviglia too! We had actually booked another cruise on Seaside, then covid happened and that cruise got canceled and rebooked a couple of times. Then they changed ships on us and I was worried I wouldn't like Mera as much as Seaside, but we absolutely loved it. We were also on deck 16, 16001, all the way at the front next to the lounge. 

I’m in 16004 in March, one cabin away from the lounge.  Was worried about late night sounds but have been assured by others that doesn’t seem to  be a problem. I only asked because it was the only cabin on 16 available when I booked. That got me wondering!  Would you book that close to the lounge again? 

[L1211]

18 hours ago, jules815 said:

Thank you! I look forward to your review!

Just remembered another thing he said about YC which was not ever our experience on Seaside or Meraviglia. He was walking around the pool deck and pointed out the buffet. He said something like "they offer breakfast and lunch at the poolside buffet, but they choose not to eat there because they don't offer very much." That wasn't our experience on either ship we've sailed on. We had breakfast out there several mornings and I know I'm not imagining the made to order omelets we had, or all the other food on the buffet. We had lunch poolside on Mira and Seaside almost every day and there was so much food to choose from, including really good burgers with grilled onions. (My husband and I would split a burger every day in addition to all the other food. I know, bad, but we're on vacation.)

Question on the poolside offering in YC- is there a grill along with a buffet? Does the grill do made to order at breakfast and lunch? I’ve only watched YouTube videos of the experience- won’t actually experience it myself till mid-March! 

[jules815]

14 minutes ago, L1211 said:

I’m in 16004 in March, one cabin away from the lounge.  Was worried about late night sounds but have been assured by others that doesn’t seem to  be a problem. I only asked because it was the only cabin on 16 available when I booked. That got me wondering!  Would you book that close to the lounge again? 

We absolutely would! We were on the end of the hall right next to the lounge and never heard any noise.

 

[jules815]

12 minutes ago, L1211 said:

Question on the poolside offering in YC- is there a grill along with a buffet? Does the grill do made to order at breakfast and lunch? I’ve only watched YouTube videos of the experience- won’t actually experience it myself till mid-March! 

Yes, there's definitely a grill.  In the morning they'll do made to order omelets, etc. In the afternoon, they'll grill burgers and some other things, in addition to the many offerings on the buffet. 

 

If you're still around the pool later in the afternoon, they'll come around with treats. Bowls of strawberries, cookies, etc.  

[DCGuy64]

41 minutes ago, jules815 said:

Yes, there's definitely a grill.  In the morning they'll do made to order omelets, etc. In the afternoon, they'll grill burgers and some other things, in addition to the many offerings on the buffet. 

 

If you're still around the pool later in the afternoon, they'll come around with treats. Bowls of strawberries, cookies, etc.  

Yes to this! They would always have a specialty item at the One Pool grill each day for lunch. In the mornings, I would usually order an omelet. Without the silent stare.*

I found there to be a plethora of things to eat there, especially at lunchtime.

 

 

*On most lines I've cruised, there's an omelet station in the buffet. It never fails: I can see several people talking while in line, but the moment the chef starts preparing the omelet, all goes quiet and people fixate on the omelet preparer, like he's going to toss cement or horseradish in there. 😝

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, L1211 said:

I’m in 16004 in March, one cabin away from the lounge.  Was worried about late night sounds but have been assured by others that doesn’t seem to  be a problem. I only asked because it was the only cabin on 16 available when I booked. That got me wondering!  Would you book that close to the lounge again? 

Yes..

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, L1211 said:

Question on the poolside offering in YC- is there a grill along with a buffet? Does the grill do made to order at breakfast and lunch? I’ve only watched YouTube videos of the experience- won’t actually experience it myself till mid-March! 

Yes..fresh omelets at breakfast…fresh hot dogs and burgers at lunch…along with a big hunk of some type of roast beast for carving 

[jules815]

I watched more of the second video last night. The one thing I will agree with them on is I found Seaside to be more difficult to navigate than Meraviglia. We haven't been on Seascape yet, but layout looks very similar to Seaside. That said, what they failed to mention were the beautiful ocean views on both sides of the atrium spanning multiple decks. Meraviglia had that promenade area (on RC I think they call it the promenade and they kept comparing Seascape to the new RC ship with Central Park, etc.) and we've sailed on many RC ships and those ships, to me anyway, seem easier to navigate and they usually have all the specialty restaurants and shops there as well, just like Mira does. 

 

They really complained about the 24 hour concierge in the Yacht Club. I think they called it a joke. After the first 3 dinners in the YC dining room with such poor food and service, they complained. Also complained about plastic chairs in the YC restaurant at Ocean Cay, although the chairs they were sitting in didn't look plastic at all? They were comparing Ocean Cay to CoCo Cay. "There are no water slides or pools" That's actually what most of us prefer about Ocean Cay. Maybe if we were still sailing with children that would be an issue, but we really like what they've done (of haven't done) with Ocean Cay.

[jules815]

7 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Yes..fresh omelets at breakfast…fresh hot dogs and burgers at lunch…along with a big hunk of some type of roast beast for carving 

Yes. My husband and I would split a burger at lunch time, in addition to the other things on the buffet. they were really good!  One day they had coconut shrimp on the buffet at lunch and they noticed my husband was enjoying them. They brought another large plate with a mound of shrimp to our table. This is how the service was on both our YC cruises on Seaside and Meraviglia. They couldn't do enough for us.