OBSERVATIONS FROM THE POOP DECK SEASCAPE SEPTEMBER

[morpheusofthesea]

My favorite night of the cruise...TIP NIGHT.  Bittersweet. Not much bitter when one has another booked and paid for just around the corner. Its been great on the ship. The heat is mother nature, but no matter, we come for the ship, the air conditioning and the Royal Treatment. The Royal Treatment far exceeds the treatment one receives on MSC's other venture Explora Journeys and for half the price comparing stateroom to stateroom. Hoping Explora positions a ship in the Caribbean year round to take when school is out June, July, August.

[kelleherdl]

6 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Took this from ship docked at Ocean Cay. The progress of the new pier.

Trolley driver said that this island will not only house another ship but also that villas are going to be built for guests to rent while here. Perhaps an option to rent a villa overnight ?

This is so funny.  When this came up two days ago I was going to post this. A little birdie had also leaked this to me. I was told this was part of the plan to maximally use Ocean Cay even when a big ship was not in. Take the ship island concept out of the box and include the possibility of short destination type stays. Even more out of the box, educational, research, and conference stays.

Edited Saturday at 01:08 AM by kelleherdl

[morpheusofthesea]

This is unique. We like to get to the Loft Cafe 1/2 hour early to get good seats for the BB Jazz Quartet as the guitarist was finishing the last two songs of his set. Now every time we have seen him he is a soloist. But when we arrived he had a female vocalist accompanying this one song. Figured right away it must be a guest on board. She was too professional to be just anyone on board to be allowed to accompany a staff member, outside karaoke. We applauded her performance at the end of the song and he introduced her as she left the stage as Cordelia Marley. I googled her and she really is a professional singer, daughter of Bob Marley, traveling as a passenger this week.

[Mommapadraig]

Thanks again for taking us along. I would love to hear Bob Marley’s daughter sing. What a treat. I’m too lazy to look back..when is your next cruise? Safe travels home to you and the Mrs.

[morpheusofthesea]

27 minutes ago, Mommapadraig said:

Thanks again for taking us along. I would love to hear Bob Marley’s daughter sing. What a treat. I’m too lazy to look back..when is your next cruise? Safe travels home to you and the Mrs.

God willing in 4 weeks. 

[DaKahuna]

It loos like my calculations were off. It seems you guys docked while I was still sleeping. It’s difficult to really be sure as I cannot make out anything clearly yet but online they are showing Seascape as already docked. 

 

It is a shame that I am not going to have the pleasure of meeting you face to face but maybe in the future. 

 

Thank you again for sharing your observations with us and a special thank you for the gift you have left for us. 

 

I hope you and your wife have a safe and uneventful trip home. 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

It loos like my calculations were off. It seems you guys docked while I was still sleeping. It’s difficult to really be sure as I cannot make out anything clearly yet but online they are showing Seascape as already docked. 

 

It is a shame that I am not going to have the pleasure of meeting you face to face but maybe in the future. 

 

Thank you again for sharing your observations with us and a special thank you for the gift you have left for us. 

 

I hope you and your wife have a safe and uneventful trip home. 

 

Captain announced last night we’d be arriving around 4:30 am. We will not clear til 7 am. I remember a time at port Everglades we cleared but facial recognition crashed and there was only one customs inspector on duty at 7am. It took an hour for more to arrive. In mean time waiting to be interviewed a gentleman in front of us left his family on board while he was leaving ahead of them for some reason and took his wife’s passport. She had his passport. Instead of the inspector having the gentleman step aside and continue processing the 4000 other passengers he stopped and waited for security to arrive to escort the gentleman back onto the ship. 

[morpheusofthesea]

Already home at 8:30 am. Got off ship at 7:17 am, got porter and he walked us over to parking garage and loaded car. Might have gotten off sooner had it not been for the single and only “downliner” ( a down liner is a passenger that boards somewhere down the line,) one of the other ports of call. Well CPB decided this one downliner needed special attention. As the porter guided us out of the terminal DW poked her head in room off to the side and saw our downliner emptying her purse for the inspector.

  I asked DW what possessed her to peek into a room she had no business to do so. Her reply, she was hoping to see Police officer who so kind to her on a prior trip when she passed out from the heat waiting to board under the white tent.

[billc23]

Thank you for the review. When I was on the Seascape in July, I mostly stayed in the YC areas. On my next sailing I will try out some of the venues around the ship that you have described so well. I sounds great to arrive home in a little over an hour!

[Cjkfree]

Thanks for the live review and information.  Glad to hear you both made it home safely!

[Best Cat Mom]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Already home at 8:30 am.

Glad to know that you are home safe and sound. 

 

It was a pleasure for BCD and me to meet you and your lovely wife. We enjoyed our conversations immensely, though they were too brief. Thanks again for your generous gifts. We can only hope for the opportunity to spend another holiday at sea with you both again. 

[morpheusofthesea]

45 minutes ago, billc23 said:

I sounds great to arrive home in a little over an hour!

I highly recommend people seriously start thinking about moving to a port city. One that caters to cruisers rather than attacks them.

[morpheusofthesea]

31 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Glad to know that you are home safe and sound. 

 

It was a pleasure for BCD and me to meet you and your lovely wife. We enjoyed our conversations immensely, though they were too brief. Thanks again for your generous gifts. We can only hope for the opportunity to spend another holiday at sea with you both again. 

You know I'd love that.

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."

Mark Twain

Edited Saturday at 02:32 PM by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

So my DW continues her curiosity in the baggage pick up area. While I flag a porter and begin locating her suitcases she recognizes the terminal manager directing passengers to facial recognition and mentions to him she can't wait for the new MSC terminal to open. He tells her it is delayed.........................

[Best Cat Mom]

44 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

He tells her it is delayed

Yet again 😞 I was just saying to one of the other B2Bers that maybe, just maybe, it would be done in time for our late March sailing.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Yet again 😞 I was just saying to one of the other B2Bers that maybe, just maybe, it would be done in time for our late March sailing.

The latest forecast I have seen is now November 2025. 
 

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

The latest forecast I have seen is now November 2025. 
 

Say it ain't so.............🫠

[Bgwest]

5 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Already home at 8:30 am. Got off ship at 7:17 am, got porter and he walked us over to parking garage and loaded car. Might have gotten off sooner had it not been for the single and only “downliner” ( a down liner is a passenger that boards somewhere down the line,) one of the other ports of call. Well CPB decided this one downliner needed special attention. As the porter guided us out of the terminal DW poked her head in room off to the side and saw our downliner emptying her purse for the inspector.

  I asked DW what possessed her to peek into a room she had no business to do so. Her reply, she was hoping to see Police officer who so kind to her on a prior trip when she passed out from the heat waiting to board under the white tent.

Yet another cruise on which we've vicariously joined you and the Mrs. 

Looking forward to the next one!!!😃

Be safe. 

[morpheusofthesea]

12 minutes ago, Bgwest said:

Yet another cruise on which we've vicariously joined you and the Mrs. 

Looking forward to the next one!!!😃

Be safe. 

I am saving a bottle with your name on it.

[morpheusofthesea]

Now that we are home, the first thing DW demands of me is to get on the scale to see how much weight I have gained in just one week of cruising. I refuse. She already told me on the way home she is feeding me bread and water until I lose 10 pounds. If I get on the scale it will be 1/2 rations of bread and she will increase the loss to 20 pounds.

[DaKahuna]

@morpheusofthesea Thank you again so much for your generous gift.  Picked it up just a short while ago from @Best Cat Mom. Have it safely stowed away in our room and will take great care in packing it in two weeks. 

 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

42 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@morpheusofthesea Thank you again so much for your generous gift.  Picked it up just a short while ago from @Best Cat Mom. Have it safely stowed away in our room and will take great care in packing it in two weeks. 

 

 

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough."

Mark Twain

P.S. And for those times between posts. 

"The light music of whiskey falling into glasses made an agreeable interlude."

James Joyce

So heed his advice for better posts.

 

Edited Saturday at 08:46 PM by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

@DaKahuna is entirely correct about the arrival at Terminal C POM. When compared to where MSC used to dock at a larger terminal. Here are photos of what we had. A nicer spread and December we had Christmas carolers. Notice the bigger room, the space, the more comfortable furniture. On the right, the edge of the checkin table in the caroler photo. Today we are grouped in the same room with steerage watching us down champagne and munch on chocolate nuts. Just wait til the new terminal. MSC will bowl all Yacht Clubbers over with opulence (I hope). We were impressed on our first MSC YC cruises in the other terminal. We had nice background music when no carolers. Also I recall that when the ship was ready to board they called the RS & OS to come forward first to board with a separate butler. A nice touch. I dressed for the part.

Edited Sunday at 12:03 AM by morpheusofthesea

[phissy]

12 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I highly recommend people seriously start thinking about moving to a port city. One that caters to cruisers rather than attacks them.

One reason it is nice to live in Seattle. After Alaska cruise, we are home in 20 minutes.  Actually, makes memory of cruise end much too soon. Wish MSC comes to west coast soon😁

[Bgwest]

8 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I am saving a bottle with your name on it.

You are tooooo kind. 😀