**LIVE** from MSC Seascape YC (Yacht Club) - Caribbean & Bahamas from Miami 14 September to 28 September 2024

[DaKahuna]

 

I wrote this last night but I guess it never went through.  

 

@Best Cat Mom  I call foul — Both your and @Best cat Dad lamb chops were totally different than mine.  

 

Mine was served to me a one very large chop — three bones wide.  Whereas you received individual chops.  

 

I did win out on the wine thought.  While La Cream Pinot Noir is quite nice and I have enjoyed it a few times, I think my Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon has a slight edge. 😎

 

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

On 9/26/2024 at 6:09 PM, Best Cat Mom said:

Thanks!

 

We really liked it. I try not to say that something is delicious, fantastic, etc., because so much about food and wine is subjective. We have our favorites, though, and I'd say it is now on that list for us.

 

Rodin has been so helpful each night. We tell him what we're ordering and tell him to surprise us. We have never had the same wine at dinner and that's including when we sometimes we have 2 different wines for starters and mains.

Love that you have a great sommelier! It really makes a difference.

Edited Saturday at 06:51 PM by cruisebeachgirl703
spelling

[Georgia_Peaches]

@Best Cat Mom wishing you and @Best cat Dad safe travels home.  I'm already having cruise review withdrawals ...thank goodness for @DaKahuna who will keep me hanging on for another week.

[cruisebeachgirl703]

47 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

@Best Cat Mom wishing you and @Best cat Dad safe travels home.  I'm already having cruise review withdrawals ...thank goodness for @DaKahuna who will keep me hanging on for another week.

I feel the same.

[Cjkfree]

Thank you so much for sharing your vacation with us. I continue to learn so much from these fantastic posts. Hopefully re-entry back into the real world won’t be so rough!

[DaKahuna]

@Best Cat Mom & @Best cat Dad We’re still not up to the next level of champagne, but they did not go backwards yet either.

 

Going to miss having my morning Holiday Coffee with you.

 

BTW, the TSL was a little louder than last week.  Some 30-35 year olds feeling enjoying their first night.  It was much quieter for Bernard’s last set.

 

 

[DaKahuna]

@Best Cat Mom & @Best cat Dad Again, thank you so very much for training the staff in the TSL so well.  We came down stairs and occupied your favorite corner in the TSL after having our breakfast.  We had hardly had time to sit before Etta came over and asked “two holiday coffee’s”.  Of course I said yes please.   After 15 minutes later she came by again and I gave her a thumbs up for 1 more.  Another 15 - 20 minutes later she brought over a bottle of water with out us having to say anything.  

 

My wife mentioned out quiet and lonely it was without the two of you around to chat with this morning. 

 

[Best cat Dad]

@DaKahuna We are humbled beyond words. It was indeed a pleasure to meet you both. We miss the chat too.  

[Best Cat Mom]

11 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

It was much quieter for Bernard’s last set.

I really wish that Bernard had been in TSL for our last night. The duo that was there was great, and had a very different sound that was still great for TSL atmosphere. We've had the pleasure of Bernard now for three sailings and would have loved to thank him and wish him well.

[granger]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

@Best Cat Mom & @Best cat Dad Again, thank you so very much for training the staff in the TSL so well.  We came down stairs and occupied your favorite corner in the TSL after having our breakfast.  We had hardly had time to sit before Etta came over and asked “two holiday coffee’s”.  Of course I said yes please.   After 15 minutes later she came by again and I gave her a thumbs up for 1 more.  Another 15 - 20 minutes later she brought over a bottle of water with out us having to say anything.  

 

My wife mentioned out quiet and lonely it was without the two of you around to chat with this morning. 

 

I'll be there in December.  Do I just need to say "Holiday Coffee" and the servers will know what I mean?

[DaKahuna]

24 minutes ago, granger said:

I'll be there in December.  Do I just need to say "Holiday Coffee" and the servers will know what I mean?

 

No promises.  Not all of them do but the ones on the morning shift definitely do. 

Romano, the morning bartender knows it.  Dina and Etta two of the morning wait staff in the TSL both know it.  One other young lady, I think her name is Madeleine (BCM / BCD can correct me) also knows. 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

28 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Dina and Etta two of the morning wait staff in the TSL both know it.  One other young lady, I think her name is Madeleine (BCM / BCD can correct me) also knows. 

Is Dina new?

 

I think you mean "Ekta" instead of "Etta" -- at least Ekta is how we spelled it on her envelope. And I think you mean Marelin, instead of Madeleine -- again from the Concierge Desk from when we wrote it on the envelope.

 

Or maybe we got it all wrong -- they accepted the envelopes though! 😁

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 15 concludes…

 

After a little while, we were joined in TSL by @DaKahuna and we chatted for a bit. Interspersed with our conversation, we were able to give out some more thanks to the wonderful staff. Dani stopped by and BCD continued his tradition of offering a car to each YC Director, as he had with Peppe and Tiziana on previous cruises. BCD approaches the subject cautiously, because he never wants someone to feel that they must accept a car to be polite. Dani had not hinted that he desired one, but seemed very honored to receive one. He is always pleasant whenever circulating amongst the guests, so we hope that he did not feel obligated to accept. We laughed with him that if we see a car on eBay, we'll know it was his. 🙂

 

Tarsha and John, a new duo of singer and keyboardist for TSL, began their first set and soon DaKahuna retired to his cabin to prep for dinner with his lovely wife. We knew that he had something special planned this evening from some mysterious references he had made and were looking forward to seeing it unfold.

 

We eventually went back to the cabin to change for dinner, choosing to be more dressy for our last night even though it was a casual night on board. We put off packing until after dinner, knowing that we could just toss everything in our suitcases and sort it out at home as we've done in the past.

 

We arrived to a very busy TS restaurant where a corner table in Edgar's section was awaiting us. We were a few tables away from Mr. and Mrs. DaKahuna, who were just finishing their entrées.

 

Rodin approached us with our "champagne" for this evening, a California Chandon:

I asked if he'd mind if I would post a picture of the "man behind the hands" in all my wine images and he graciously consented:

We discussed our meal selections with him and he removed himself to retrieve our wine.

 

We both began with foie gras, and this night was just like last week -- we were so eager to eat that we forgot to take a picture. So sorry! It was a triangle slice of foie gras terrine, served with brioche (for BCD only) and apricot preserves. It was a nice, light starter for the more heavy choices to follow.

 

We have commented many nights about how so many people have had birthdays on this sailing, including Mrs. DaKahuna whose celebration began while we were finishing our starters. Aha! We now knew what Mr. DaKahuna had been plotting. (You can find out more in his thread.)

 

We moved on to the next course and BCD chose the surf and turf:

I opted for the lamb shank:

 

We also had the truffle risotto to share (yes, that is a forkful already taken by us LOL):

Rodin brought us a Robert Mondavi cabernet sauvignon to pair with our entrées:

The wine worked well for both our dishes, as it had only light tannins but was quite full-bodied.

 

As we ate, we agreed that this had been our best dinner yet this cruise. I think that is saying a lot, given that this was our 14th dinner. What a great way to end a great holiday!

 

Marian, the maître d', joined us to share a small glass of our wine as well. We commented to him how much we'd enjoyed our 2 weeks on board and how all of his staff, especially Chef Lisa, had made our cruise such a wonderful experience. He is from Romania, and speaks the other 4 main romance languages as well: Italian French, Portuguese, and Spanish. He excused himself after a few minutes, as dinner service was still going strong and his hands-on approach wouldn't allow him to be away from the action for too long.

 

After our table was cleared and as we were finishing our wine, the Happy Birthday singing began once again. However, this time they approached us and it became clear that DaKahuna was not the only spouse who had been plotting something for this evening.

 

I was presented with this beautiful cake, which was GF. I cannot recall the last time I had a true "cake" that was GF. Usually, I've received a flour-less torte or a pudding-type pie. This was a real cake:

Edgar cut me a lovely heart-shaped piece, that was as delicious as it looked:

 

He did the same for BCD and we had a nice dessert while BCD told me about the preparations he had gone through for tonight. When DaKahuna had earlier mentioned that there'd be a surprise tonight, BCD had thought he'd been talking about us. Those two were really in sync after only 7 days together.

 

Edgar joined us for a little while and we chatted about him being excited to go home tomorrow. He excused himself after a few minutes. We finished up and as we were heading to the Swarovski staircase, he intercepted us and insisted on being my escort down the stairs, with BCD muttering something like, "What am I, chopped liver?"

 

Once we were seated, Edgar brought us our limoncelli and bid us goodnight. We thanked him and settled in to listen to some great music. After only a little while, we were joined by the other schemer and laughed about the eventful evening. They both revealed the trials they had gone through to pull off their respective surprises.

 

I announced that I was going to change into something more comfortable and retreated to the cabin, allowing them to keep going on about their machinations today.

 

I opened the cabin door and was greeted by this:

 

I should have known there was more! There was a laser light projector that flashed on and off, scattering a pattern of light and dark, plus a Happy Birthday banner over the bed. BCD had asked Yogesh for some "simple" decorations, so there were no balloons and streamers like BCD had for his birthday in April. Since disembarkation was tomorrow, BCD had thought it would be much easier to tidy the room if they kept it more low key.

 

I changed clothes and returned to TSL and the two cohorts were both laughing.

The three of us had a few rounds of nightcaps and then retired, DaKahuna to sleep and us to pack, agreeing to meet in TSL tomorrow morning. There were still quite a few suitcases in the passageway when we returned to the cabin, but by the time we put ours out, they were all gone. I called the Concierge Desk and they said that the person would come get our bags when they returned from dropping some others. We checked the hall after we'd finished washing up for bed and the bags were gone.

 

We fell into bed to rest up for the trip home tomorrow.

 

Day 15 (boo hoo!) is next...

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

 

Or maybe we got it all wrong -- they accepted the envelopes though! 

It really is the thought ($) that counts.  "You doesn't has to call me Johnson.' And then, 'You can call me Ray, or you can call me Ray Jay, or you can call me R.J., or you can call me R.J. Junior, or you can call me R.J.J...."

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Is Dina new?

 

 No, that is my dyslexic way of spelling Dian !! 

 

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

I think you mean "Ekta" instead of "Etta" -- at least Ekta is how we spelled it on her envelope. And I think you mean Marelin, instead of Madeleine -- again from the Concierge Desk from when we wrote it on the envelope.

 

 You are correct on both counts.  I never said I could spell or type good. 

 

1 hour ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Or maybe we got it all wrong -- they accepted the envelopes though! 😁

 

I highly doubt you got it wrong.  More of me going by memory than my notes. 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

23 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

'You can call me Ray, or you can call me Ray Jay, or you can call me R.J., or you can call me R.J. Junior, or you can call me R.J.J...."

Loved those commercials! Those and the "Pittsburgh's perfect Pete" for Fedex.

[Best Cat Mom]

6 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

I highly doubt you got it wrong.  More of me going by memory than my notes.

Well, now you are ahead of where we were on the same day for the envelopes. LOL

[Best Cat Mom]

Oops, forgot these!

 

Day 14 Dinner menu...

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 15 - Disembarkation Day

 

We had received luggage tags and disembarkation information in our room midday the previous day:

 

 

Our arrival time in Miami was scheduled for 7am, but since we were so close already at Ocean Cay, we arrived in the early hours of the morning. Before 8am, they were calling the first groups for disembarkation.

 

We made our way to the TS restaurant with our two carry on bags and one small roller suitcase, saying goodbye to Yogesh on the way and wishing him a good a group of guests on this next sailing. We were really impressed by his service and told him that we hope to see him as a Butler in the near future.

 

We had a quick breakfast of omelettes, along with 2 mimosas and 2 cappuccinos. If we did not order those, I'm sure there would have been many crew stopping by our table to see if we were feeling well. 😉

We then headed down to TSL to seek out Mr. and Mrs. @DaKahuna. We chatted with them for a bit then reluctantly realized that we should start our trip to the airport. Hugs were exchanged and we wished them well for their turnaround logistics and next week on board. We knew exactly how they felt, as we had be in their place just one week ago when we bid Mr. and Mrs. @morpheusofthesea goodbye. BCD commented to DaKahuna as we left, "Thanks for being normal!"

 

We had a 12:15pm flight, with a plane change in Atlanta so we were not in a rush, but did want to have lunch in the Delta lounge before boarding our first flight.

 

We were escorted from TSL at 9:15am to a YC-only security line exit. Then we merged with a line of other passengers exiting the ship as we entered the gangway. The line of people flowed quickly, never stopping until we reached the areas where the luggage could be retrieved. We continued through the rooms to the YC luggage area, which is closest to the customs area. We immediately spotted our bags there and a porter was on hand to offer assistance. We had learned from past cruises -- and from Morph -- that a porter escort is the key to not having to wait in the customs line. The porter piled our 4 rolling suitcases onto his trolley, he asked what type of transportation we had and led us to the 'special' customs line, where port personnel opened the retractable belts to allow us to walk right up to a customs facial recognition machine and breeze through. He then led us outside to the Uber area, found an area close to the curb and unloaded all the bags for us. BCD tipped him as I checked the status of our Uber. Our driver was only a few steps away, loaded our bags and we pulled away from the curb at 9:38am.

 

We arrived at the airport, walked right up the Delta counter and checked our bags through to Cincinnati. There was no line at Clear or Pre-Check, so we went through Clear and security very quickly. We were seated in the Delta Sky Club by 10:10am. Total time from TS lounge to Delta lounge was 55 minutes. Really nice!!

 

For those of you who are Delta customers, I'll share an update on the Miami lounge. We were last there in April and they have expanded since then. There is a new section in the back, with its own beverage stations. The food area has also expanded into a U-shaped buffet line.

 

I grabbed some beef and broccoli before our flight and it was quite good -- but a stark difference compared to YC!

 

We boarded and ordered vodka/cranberry and rum/orange juice for our PDBs and began our journey home:

 

We arrived home at 9:30pm and were in bed just before 10:30pm, a few minutes after DaKahuna texted us to say he was in TSL for a nightcap. If only…

 

I'll add some closing thoughts in one more post. If anyone has questions, please ask away! We're so happy to help everyone have a great time like we did.

[mnpurple]

Thanks for sharing your trip! I never picked up on having the porter help getting through customs faster. I'll have to remember that because the only time we had a terrible wait was Miami and the facial recognition was down. It was a looong wait.

 

What's next on the travel agenda?

[Best Cat Mom]

@mnpurple I think that Miami one was the one we were on with you, where we couldn't dock at Ocean Cay because of wind, even though they tried 4 times. And there were non-YC bodies simply everywhere.

 

We have a transatlantic next month from Civitavecchia to Miami on Seaside. We're flying to Rome on 21 October and board on 27 October for 21 nights. It sounds crazy to say we're dying for a cruise, but we had to make our own coffee and breakfast today so...

Edited 9 hours ago by Best Cat Mom

[morpheusofthesea]

5 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

we had to make our own coffee and breakfast today so...

What a drag.

[SpareBrew]

3 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Is Dina new?

 

I think you mean "Ekta" instead of "Etta" -- at least Ekta is how we spelled it on her envelope. And I think you mean Marelin, instead of Madeleine -- again from the Concierge Desk from when we wrote it on the envelope.

 

Or maybe we got it all wrong -- they accepted the envelopes though! 😁

Ekta also makes a great key lime pie martini 🍸 😋

[Georgia_Peaches]

8 minutes ago, SpareBrew said:

Ekta also makes a great key lime pie martini 🍸 😋

Between the Holiday Coffee and the Sidecar and now this one to try, I should stay pretty well sloshed...😂

[mnpurple]

Re-entry into "normal" life is hard! Glad it will be short-lived. 

Edited 9 hours ago by mnpurple