Seascape - 10 Sep 2023 - First Time MSC - Yacht Club Review

[Hutcha]

Today is Ocean Cay. First, we are going up to the YC buffet for breakfast. This would be our go to for the week. I was very happy with the selection of food laid out and the cook to order options. Some more fresh fruit would have been good. After breakfast, we head down to the island for the wave runner excursion.

 

The excursion is well worth the price. We were a little worried, at the start, because there was a lot of waiting around in the sun. Once we got to the actual watercraft, we were assigned a number based on if we were comfortable going fast or not. Slow pokes in the back! It was almost an hour of going full throttle, zig zagging back and forth, as we made our way to three different spots around the island. At one stop, we could jump off and spend some time in waist deep water. You did have to stay in line, but there was usually 50-100 yards between each other.

 

After the excursion, we headed to Ocean house for lunch. The service and the food were top notch.

 

 

The Ocean Cay salad was very good. I put some lobster salad on it too (not pictured) 4/5

 

 

As a lover of ceviche, this was a little disappointing. It was more like a crab salad than ceviche. 3/5

 

The lobster roll was good, but Caribbean lobster is a little chewy and there was a lot of mayo in this. 4/5 

 

The carne asada was excellent. 5/5

 

 

After lunch, we made our way down to the YC beach. They had a place to pick up towels, and cold water and cans of beer. Do not take the reports of a rocky beach too lightly. It is almost unbearable to walk into the water without water shoes. You have to walk across about 30 feet of large rocks (golf ball to softball sized) before making it into waist deep water, where you're able to stand comfortably.

 

 

 

We didn't stay long before heading out to find another beach. The transportation between the restaurant and ship was pretty lacking. They only had 2 carts that could hold 7 total. It took about 25-30 mins to get a ride. We wound up on Bimini Beach. It's between the ship and lighthouse. No rocks, just crushed shells. It wasn't overly crowded.

 

 

[loge23]

Interesting and thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

We're on the 10/22 sailing also in the YC. Apparently there is more to come with your review and hopefully it will be a little more favorable going forward. It's only seven days we keep saying - how bad can it be? So far it looks like a one and done, but we'll shall see.

 

[paddy1112]

Thanks for the wave runner review.

Just booked that for our second week of a B2B in October 

[lcpagejr]

9 hours ago, Hutcha said:

After dinner we went to the show in the main theater. Tonight was Imagine Ocean. It was both our favorite and least favorite of the cruise. In other words, it was the only production show we saw. I knew what to expect going into this cruise. Singing and dancing, with an implied story line. This isn't our cup of tea, but we gave it a try. The male lead was a great singer. The female lead was good. The acrobats were entertaining. The cast members running through the audience, dress in unitards and carrying fish puppets, was a bit over the top.

 

The show was fine, it just didn't inspire us to make sure we made a different show later in the week. I'm not sure where the Yacht Club seating was. Would have been nice to have someone to point that out to us.

 

Your Butler could have assisted you...or just ask Concierge and another Butler would have brought you to YC seating area.

[lcpagejr]

3 hours ago, loge23 said:

Interesting and thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

We're on the 10/22 sailing also in the YC. Apparently there is more to come with your review and hopefully it will be a little more favorable going forward. It's only seven days we keep saying - how bad can it be? So far it looks like a one and done, but we'll shall see.

 

I think your being a bit negative.... Don't overly worry and wait until you have chance to experience MSC and YC. Everyones expectations and views are different

[Hutcha]

16 hours ago, loge23 said:

Interesting and thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

We're on the 10/22 sailing also in the YC. Apparently there is more to come with your review and hopefully it will be a little more favorable going forward. It's only seven days we keep saying - how bad can it be? So far it looks like a one and done, but we'll shall see.

 

 

I'm sorry if I'm painting with a negative brush. That is not my intent. I'm not loyal to any brand, so I make sure not to sugarcoat things. I've done 4 suites, on three cruise lines, in the past 18 months. This one was the cheapest, and by far my favorite. Royal's star class was great, but it's expensive and they haven't caught on to the "ship within a ship" concept. NCL is getting there, but they still have things that could be improved (alcohol in cabin, service on the sun deck, including all drinks in the Haven).

 

We didn't book this cruise for the butler, and had I not done so much research, into how good the butlers "can" be, we would have not known what we were missing and would have been fine. Hearing stories of how other people's butler wowed them left us disappointed in our butler, but left us hopeful for our future cruise. Also, this is all just my opinion. You may love the things I did not and hate the things I loved.

[Hutcha]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:43 AM, Hutcha said:

 

 

 

I forgot to mention my embarkation lunch. They knocked it out of the park and set my expectations high for the remainder of the cruise. The cobb salad was fresh, crisp and delicious. The rockfish stew was very good and I would not pass on it. The trio desert was fantastic. It had the best tiramisu offered for the week. All a solid 5 out of 5!!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Hutcha

[morpheusofthesea]

9 minutes ago, Hutcha said:

 

I forgot to mention my embarkation lunch. They knocked it out of the park and set my expectations high for the remainder of the cruise. The cobb salad was fresh, crisp and delicious. The rockfish stew was very good and I would not pass on it. The trio desert was fantastic. It had the best tiramisu offered for the week. All a solid 5 out of 5!!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel the same way every time.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/04/cunard-reveals-why-chocolate-tastes-better-at-sea/?feed_id=2358&_unique_id=64307c875311f

 

"Professor Spence, a gastrophysicist from the University of Oxford, said that food and drink taste better when having a good time. This is known as the ‘Provencal rose paradox’ which, according to Spence, everyone has experienced at some point in time.

“It relates to the fact that food and drink seem to taste so much better when we are on holiday, whether this is with our family in the Mediterranean, or traveling solo with the sun on our backs,” said Spence. 

“So nice in fact, that we are even tempted to buy a few bottles of that same holiday wine, to bring back home and share on a cold winter’s evening. Only it never tastes the same; it is disappointing somehow.

“The reason is that when we are on holiday, we are likely to be relaxed and in a better mood, and food simply tastes better when we are in a better mood. Given that people don’t often cruise for work, they are likely to be happy and relaxed on their cruise hence making food and drink taste better.”

Salt is known as a flavor enhancer, helping to mask bitterness in certain foods or drinks such as tonic water or grapefruit, while enhancing the taste of many other foods including chocolate. However, according to Spence, salt is not the only factor that enhances the taste as even seeing, smelling, and hearing the sea may also conceptually prime notions of saltiness too, thus enhancing the sensation even more."

[Hutcha]

9 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I feel the same way every time.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/04/cunard-reveals-why-chocolate-tastes-better-at-sea/?feed_id=2358&_unique_id=64307c875311f

 

"Professor Spence, a gastrophysicist from the University of Oxford, said that food and drink taste better when having a good time. This is known as the ‘Provencal rose paradox’ which, according to Spence, everyone has experienced at some point in time.

“It relates to the fact that food and drink seem to taste so much better when we are on holiday, whether this is with our family in the Mediterranean, or traveling solo with the sun on our backs,” said Spence. 

“So nice in fact, that we are even tempted to buy a few bottles of that same holiday wine, to bring back home and share on a cold winter’s evening. Only it never tastes the same; it is disappointing somehow.

“The reason is that when we are on holiday, we are likely to be relaxed and in a better mood, and food simply tastes better when we are in a better mood. Given that people don’t often cruise for work, they are likely to be happy and relaxed on their cruise hence making food and drink taste better.”

Salt is known as a flavor enhancer, helping to mask bitterness in certain foods or drinks such as tonic water or grapefruit, while enhancing the taste of many other foods including chocolate. However, according to Spence, salt is not the only factor that enhances the taste as even seeing, smelling, and hearing the sea may also conceptually prime notions of saltiness too, thus enhancing the sensation even more."

 

Makes sense. That being said, don't ever show up at my house, in the dead of winter, with a clam risotto 🤣

[Itchy&Scratchy]

23 hours ago, Hutcha said:

Pics from the embarkation lunch buffet.

is that a regular buffet or some kind of a YC buffet?

looks great.

[Hutcha]

We really enjoyed Ocean Cay. I'd like to do an itinerary that overnights there. The landscape was beautiful, and the beaches were very nice. I wish we would have explored it more, but that was how I felt about the whole week. We're pretty chill and not the go-go-go type. A B2B would have been great. It would give the chance to do things the 2nd week that you could not the first.

 

Reboarding the ship was smooth and quick. There was no need to be escorted by one of the waiting butlers.  Back onboard, we took another look around the ship and then back to the room for a nap 🥱 The ship is really beautiful. There is an abundance of lounges and out of the way places to stop and have a drink or relax.

 

Off to dinner. Arthur and Cazy are an amazing team in the dining room. They always make you feel welcomed and bend over backwards to get you seated at a table of your preference. The dining room was usually crowded, but we barely had to wait for a table all week. There were a few times that I saw Arthur go down to the Topsail to retrieve guest, so I guess there was a slight wait at times.

 

 

Caribbean Fish Soup. Pretty good. I thought that the flavors would pop a little more. A solid 4/5

 

Broiled Amberjack. Carly is not a fishy fish lover, if that makes sense. I thought it was good, but there are other items I'd prefer. 4/5

 

Chicken Kiev. A little bland. I was hoping that it was "stuffed" with a little more flavor 3/5.

 

Paccheri pasta. Very good and worth ordering as your main entre. 5/5

 

Tiramisu. I wish they would have had the tiramisu from the embarkation lunch. This was mostly a creamy custard with a little bit of lady finger at the bottom. 3/5

 

Overall, this was our least favorite night in the YC dining room. That being said, I'm sure it beats any night in main dining. If you are planning on doing a specialty restaurant on your cruise, this might be a good night to do it. Please don't take that to mean I did not enjoy the YC restaurant. They can't hit it out of the park for everyone, every night.

[Hutcha]

36 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

is that a regular buffet or some kind of a YC buffet?

looks great.

That is the YC buffet. It is available everyday for breakfast and lunch. The food was unbelievably good for a buffet. It was our go to for breakfast, but great for lunch also. We only had lunch in the dining room on the first day and breakfast on the last.

[Best Cat Mom]

11 hours ago, Hutcha said:

I forgot to mention my embarkation lunch. They knocked it out of the park and set my expectations high for the remainder of the cruise.

The octopus soup is incredible! Love to start a cruise with octopus. 🙂

[Best Cat Mom]

9 hours ago, Hutcha said:

Overall, this was our least favorite night in the YC dining room.

The vitello tonnato is one of our favorites. We can't get enough of that one.

[Whinenowine]

On 9/20/2023 at 9:27 AM, Hutcha said:

That being said, don't ever show up at my house, in the dead of winter, with a clam risotto 🤣

Or with a bottle of rose!  Strickly summer drinking.... 😇

[Bgwest]

Loving this thread!!

[Hutcha]

After dinner, we sat in the Topsail for a little and listened to one of my favorite performers of the week. I didn't get his name, but he plays guitar and has a great voice. I know you have to consider the setting, but overall, the music in the topsail was very somber (for lack of a better word). Very mellow and soothing. A mix of something just a little more upbeat would be nice. The best part of the Topsail at night would be when the other performers, from around the ship, would would finish their set and come to the Topsail. There was a great female singer from Australia and the male half of the dueling pianos that showed up a couple of nights. They'd take turns, singing duets and performing off the cuff.

 

 

I loved this seating area outside of the Topsail.

 

 

After sitting for a min, Nate (the newly 21 yr old mind you) decided to go to bed. Carly and I explored the ship a little more and wound up in Le Cabaret Rouge. We caught the end of the "variety show". The contortionist duo were pretty good, and the host/singer was just ok.

 

After that, Carly turned in, and I decided to donate some money to MSC on the blackjack table. It was nice to see that MSC pays 3:2 for blackjack on all of their BJ tables. I was on Royal in June, and 3:2 was only on their $25 and up tables. Caesars (all properties) in Vegas only has 3:2 in the high rollers area. After my all to brief stop in the casino, I looked around the ship some more, and ended up back in Le Cabaret Rouge, where the DJ was now playing. All three levels were packed with people dancing and having a good time. I was quite impressed with the turnout. The only place I saw more people was at the Marketplace Buffet.

 

The Casino Bar

 

 

 

 

 

[Hutcha]

The first sea day

 

Sea days are probably my favorite. The clocks went back an hour last night, so I'm up early. Carly is sleeping in. I go up to the pool deck to take a look around and find a cabana to use. It's 7:30, and there are only a few people up here. I check out all four corners of the pool deck, looking for the perfect cabana. They're all empty. Out of the 14 cabanas, the 4 immediately around the pool are reserved for the owner's and royal suites. The rest are first come, first served. We were at the pool until about 1:30-2:00. I don't think all of the cabanas were taken at any given point. I definitely did not see anyone dropping their things, to claim a cabana, and then disappearing for hours. We felt bad about the 60-90 mins we sat at the buffet, by the pool, for lunch. 

 

 

The YC pool deck is a big part of the reason I will sail on MSC again. Below are some pics for comparison to the rest of the ship. The first set were taken at 9:00, and the second set at 1:30. We sailed with all of the rooms on the ship filled. Total passengers onboard were 4,800.

 

The YC pool at 9:00

 

The Jungle pool

 

 

The main pool

 

The YC pool at 1:30

 

 

The Jungle pool

 

 

The Main pool

 

 

Top 19

 

 

Kids area

 

 

I'll say that I did not notice one interloper the entire cruise. Maybe it had something to do with the ship having a lower percentage of Americans. I'm not sure. I did confirm that the seafood extravaganza is gone, and they did not hint at it's return.  I'll save my comparison to Royal and NCL (mostly NCL here) until I get around to doing a comparison thread (hopefully), but I will say that the number of servers, and their attentiveness, around the pool deck was impressive. You rarely had to look for them, and often a 2nd and 3rd would come by, while the 1st was off getting your drink.

 

 

[Fighterone]

17 hours ago, Hutcha said:

The first sea day

 

Sea days are probably my favorite. The clocks went back an hour last night, so I'm up early. Carly is sleeping in. I go up to the pool deck to take a look around and find a cabana to use. It's 7:30, and there are only a few people up here. I check out all four corners of the pool deck, looking for the perfect cabana. They're all empty. Out of the 14 cabanas, the 4 immediately around the pool are reserved for the owner's and royal suites. The rest are first come, first served. We were at the pool until about 1:30-2:00. I don't think all of the cabanas were taken at any given point. I definitely did not see anyone dropping their things, to claim a cabana, and then disappearing for hours. We felt bad about the 60-90 mins we sat at the buffet, by the pool, for lunch. 

 

 

The YC pool deck is a big part of the reason I will sail on MSC again. Below are some pics for comparison to the rest of the ship. The first set were taken at 9:00, and the second set at 1:30. We sailed with all of the rooms on the ship filled. Total passengers onboard were 4,800.

 

The YC pool at 9:00

 

The Jungle pool

 

 

The main pool

 

The YC pool at 1:30

 

 

The Jungle pool

 

 

The Main pool

 

 

Top 19

 

 

Kids area

 

 

I'll say that I did not notice one interloper the entire cruise. Maybe it had something to do with the ship having a lower percentage of Americans. I'm not sure. I did confirm that the seafood extravaganza is gone, and they did not hint at it's return.  I'll save my comparison to Royal and NCL (mostly NCL here) until I get around to doing a comparison thread (hopefully), but I will say that the number of servers, and their attentiveness, around the pool deck was impressive. You rarely had to look for them, and often a 2nd and 3rd would come by, while the 1st was off getting your drink.

 

Wonderful! 

Edited September 23, 2023 by Host Kat
Per request.

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, Hutcha said:

We felt bad about the 60-90 mins we sat at the buffet, by the pool, for lunch. 

I would respectfully suggest to you that an hour and half is an hour too long to be away from "your cabana". 

Most would agree that being gone anything over 30 minutes is Chair Hogging.  

[Hutcha]

20 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

I would respectfully suggest to you that an hour and half is an hour too long to be away from "your cabana". 

Most would agree that being gone anything over 30 minutes is Chair Hogging.  

Thanks for the input. We were in sight of it, and did go back to occasionally to drop off or pick up something. The rationale I used was, if one were in the pool for an hour, they wouldn't be expected to vacate.

[awatt]

Am confused re cabanas. On Meraviglia you rented them. Not so on Seascape?

[Best Cat Mom]

5 hours ago, Hutcha said:

Out of the 14 cabanas, the 4 immediately around the pool are reserved for the owner's and royal suites. The rest are first come, first served.

Is this different on Seascape from Seaside? On Seaside, you reserve the "extra" cabanas with the YC concierge for the entire day. Only one cabin gets each cabana each day and a sign is put on the cabana stating "Reserved."

[jules815]

On 9/19/2023 at 3:42 PM, loge23 said:

Interesting and thank you for taking the time to post all of this.

We're on the 10/22 sailing also in the YC. Apparently there is more to come with your review and hopefully it will be a little more favorable going forward. It's only seven days we keep saying - how bad can it be? So far it looks like a one and done, but we'll shall see.

 

You’re in the YC so no worries at all. Our time on board has been fantastic. 

[ajusaf]

Hello all, I'll be going on board Oct 15, which is roughly 22-23 days out.  I'll be doing the 15 day/ 14-night cruise and just got notified yesterday that i was accepted into YC.  I bided for interior stateroom YC but I got upgraded to Balcony YC 🙂  originally I had regular balcony before my bid.  In 2022 I did  NCL Haven (loved it), MSC seashore and Divina non YC balcony which embarking and disembarking was a nightmare.  I'm looking forward to the YC experience.