PennyHofstader

We appreciated that the YC didn’t rush us off the ship. Sitting on our balcony while sailing into Istanbul was amazing; so was watching the ship parallel-dock. After we finally vacated our cabin, we had mimosas and snacks in the Top Sail. On our way out, the chief butler said something like, “write nice things about us.” That might have been a “rate us on Yelp!” kind of remark, but I think it may have meant that they had identified me as having written this. (Which is fine. If I wanted anonymity, I should have made more of an effort.) When we finally disembarked, we thought that our luggage would be right there, with almost everyone else having departed. Ha ha no. It was a total zoo. The luggage was late getting off the ship. (This seemed to be MSC’s fault; the porter who helped us on embarkation day was annoyed about it.) The porters were taking bags off the belt and putting them on and under the lines of shelves, so you didn’t know if your bags had come off the ship or not. People were wandering the rows looking for bags, sometimes with bags in tow. There wasn’t a separate section for YC bags. We talked to our fellow YC passengers more than we had all week. One guy thought he might miss his flight, and was mad that he hadn’t been told that he could just walk off the ship with his bags. On the plus side, the taxi stand is very close, and it was much easier than embarkation. We had a fantastic time on the cruise, and hope to be raising a glass in the Top Sail again soon!

Yesterday was a quiet sea day. I avoided eating much because we were going to Butcher’s Cut in the evening. I think that the food at Butcher’s Cut is better than in the YC restaurant. Maybe it’s just that I’m American and it’s a very American restaurant. The bread and butter is very good; don’t fill up! I had the goat cheese tart, which was excellent. The filet was the first meat I’ve had on the ship that wasn’t overcooked. We were too full for dessert. The back room with the open kitchen is extremely loud; try to sit in the front room. We went to Ephesus today and haven’t done much since we got back. Disembarkation tomorrow morning, sadly.

We spent the afternoon lazing around the pool deck, where the pours are generous. Important PSA: They have changed the rules regarding internet access devices. At the time of our last cruise, you could disconnect a device and connect a different one. Now you can’t do that. Decide in advance which devices you will use, and don’t casually connect both your phone and tablet if you know that you will need to use your laptop later. In the evening there was a “cocktail party” in the Top Sail. (They didn’t encourage people to interact.) A pianist was playing and there were cocktails already made; we liked the MSC signature martini and the Aperol spritz. There were also hors d’ourvres. Two Yacht Club managers were going around talking to people. I mentioned the WiFi issue and they said that the rule change happened because some YC passengers would give their logins to friends who were not in the YC. The gala dinner in the YC restaurant was okay. Unfortunately we had filled up on the food in the lounge. I went to the show for the first and probably only time on this cruise. It was “French Follies,” which is a good theme for MSC’s usual mishmash of music, dancing, and acrobatics.

Room service dinner after my last post. Oddly, the cheese balls with the prosciutto are Parmesan, not mozzarella. The pizza was okay. I like a more well-done crust, more toppings, and smaller slices. Yesterday was a third port day in a row. We booked an excursion to Ljubljana. We liked it very much; I’ll write it up in ports of call. A few points of general interest here: - They won’t let you bring flowers back to the ship!! They could have told us that in advance, so I could have avoided wasting money, carrying them around, and upsetting my mother. - In the future, I’ll look for cruises that don’t have more than two port days in a row, especially if Mom’s along. We were exhausted. - YC has you meet up in the concierge lounge before your excursion. Our butler said we should be there about five minutes before the excursion time. That seemed like not enough time, and I hate watching the clock, so we were there maybe 10-15 minutes before 9:00. The lounge was almost full. Some people were disembarking and things seemed to be running late. I heard someone say that he was going to miss his train. When they escorted us off the ship, I realized that YC isn’t saying the quiet part out loud. The other buses pull away, everyone else boards your bus, and then you get to roll up at the last minute. That may make the more anxious among us a little nervous, but rest assured, you won’t miss the excursion. (But you might miss your train.) - The dinner buffet doesn’t open until 7:00! That’s very late for a kid-friendly dinner for Americans. We had missed lunch and couldn’t face the formal YC restaurant. No one stopped me from taking food back to the cabin, though I think it’s officially discouraged. The food was good and there were a lot of options. - The Yacht Club will not make iced tea! They have bottled tea and they will make iced tea with it peach syrup, but apparently they can’t grasp the concept of tea over ice. Maybe you could DIY it if you really want it. I had iced coffee instead, and it was very good. - Today’s lunch, from the pool buffet. Scallops, green beans, rice and beans, and something that looks like an empanada but doesn’t have any filling.

I spent most of yesterday on Corfu, and we spent this morning in Bari. I’ll write them up later and post on the port of call thread. I enjoyed both ports. Dinner last night went fairly well. My starter was spring rolls, which were okay, but not spring rolls. Mom ordered lobster ravioli as a starter (it’s technically a main). My main course was pumpkin risotto, which was good, but there was a massive amount of it, so the waiter was concerned that I hadn’t liked it. Also, it didn’t taste like pumpkin. Mom had prime rib. They don’t give out steak knives, so we felt like it was tough, though maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know if the difference was in butchering, cooking, seasoning, or the animal itself, but it somehow wasn’t prime rib. We had breakfast in the cabin. I was exhausted at lunch and just woke up from my afternoon nap. Our starters were burrata for me and asparagus salad for Mom. The mains were seafood spaghetti for me and king prawns for Mom. The spaghetti has hot peppers in the sauce. The pieces of seafood were very small. Mom also had an apple crumble for dessert, which I thought needed salt. This feels like a good time to mention the television in the cabin. The stations are mostly Turkish and Italian, and any American shows are dubbed, so there’s a surprising absence of American cultural dominance. We watched the news on an English-language Turkish station this morning. There’s no BBC, CNN, etc. The on-screen guide doesn’t work. There are six or seven channels constantly showing the safety video in different languages. There’s also a channel where you can see the view from the bow of the ship. Then there are some “Splendida TV” channels that are mostly ads for stuff on the ship, usually without any audio. I wish they would do something a little more informative.

Today we had requested croissants and danishes for room service breakfast, thinking that they would be full-sized and enough for a meal. Instead the croissants were small, and instead of danish we got donut holes with lemon filling. This was just after 10:00, and the breakfast buffet by the pool goes until 11:00, so I went to get more food. The buffet seems to be unofficially organized by passenger nationality: British, German, and American. For the Brits, baked beans, broiled tomatoes, bangers, and thick bacon. For Germans, sliced fruit, meat, and cheese, plus yogurt with German labels. For Americans, pancakes and …I didn’t pay attention there. Bread was available as slices or rolls. There were packets of cereal. Eggs are made to order and not on the buffet.

Today we had breakfast in our room. The French toast came with chocolate sauce rather than maple syrup. We had requested mixed berries, assuming that we would get raspberries, blueberries, etc., possibly as a topping for the French toast. Instead they had a side dish of red currants (decorative but insanely tart), large blueberries, and - get this - ground cherries, which are unusual in the US. It was a sea day, and beautiful weather for lounging around the pool deck while cruising the Adriatic. The buffet lunch at the pool was just okay. The salad bar and veggie sides didn’t look good to me. I had some shrimp (fine), roast beef (okay; no horseradish), and a bite of Mom’s veal (tough). There was also a curry with rice, because that’s what you eat by the pool. We saw several people eating pizza that they had gotten from the main buffet or had delivered. There was a variety of small desserts, and the chocolate one that I had was good. So I wasn’t full when “afternoon snack” time rolled around. Aside from the absence of scones (and tea), it’s basically Pool Deck Teatime. Smoked salmon, cucumber, and other sandwiches; fruit salad; and sweets. Meanwhile, of course, everyone was keeping the bar blender running. I recommend the Mango Tropical Trooper. Dinner was gala night. Despite the recommended “elegant” dress, most of the YC guests did not dress up (though no one was really casual). Mom’s seafood bisque was terrible. My shrimp cocktail was good, though the four large shrimp were between a boring salad base and a pile of inedible garnishes. The lobster tail and potatoes were excellent; there was rosemary in the melted butter. The cherries jubilee was flavorful, but so hot that the ice cream melted very quickly. I liked the “After Eight” chocolate mint cake. (Do they still make After Eights?) There was a pretty little box of fruit gummies in the cabin. I also checked out the midnight snacks in the Top Sail Lounge. They’re mostly sweets, with some standard snacks like nuts, dried fruit, crackers, and chips also available. In addition to the elegantly presented sweets, there’s a savory snack or two. Tonight one was extremely strange - a macaron with smoked salmon as the filling! It fell apart and tasted too sweet for the salmon. Did I do anything besides eat today? Not really, no.

YC customization options… 1) Pillows. I did get the email, and we do have the down pillows that Mom wanted, but that might be a coincidence, because they apparently didn’t get my slightly late reply to the email. Both the guy who showed us to the cabin and our butler asked about the other two things. 2) The bottle of booze. It didn’t turn up until late afternoon on day two. Not a problem with all of the other booze. 3) The newspaper. Mom and I had different preferences. I snagged the form first and we got mine today (she chose last cruise). She asked at the concierge desk today if we could have two, and he said sure. We’ll see if we get both for the rest of the cruise. Also, there were a few papers on the printed list that were not on the emailed list. They use PressReader to print it out, so it seems like if you ask nicely, they might make other papers available as well.

Our cabin, looking towards the balcony. The closet. An A+ walk-in closet at sea. Includes robes and slippers. The bathroom. There are some odd things about the bathroom. There’s a soap dish over the toilet paper, nowhere near the sink or shower. Possibly it’s to put your phone on, even though you could easily put it on the counter. I’m still not used to a fixed half- partition in the shower instead of a curtain or door. And the shower wall is a mirror! I don’t need to see that much of myself. The shelves. There’s a mirror to the left, and then another structure that looks exactly like the shelves look with the door closed, but the left side doesn’t have shelves. It’s a bit confusing. Quibbles aside, it’s a very nice room with tons of storage. However, we had asked two staff members to make up our beds as singles, and that hadn’t happened when our butler finally turned up. (It turned out that he had had the day off in Istanbul.) They made them up while we were at dinner.

After boarding, we went to the Top Sail lounge. I’m not sure if our cabin wasn’t ready, or if they wanted to offer information and beverages before we went to the cabin. Maybe both. There was a fabulous view of Istanbul. (It’s almost impossible to take photos because of reflections in the glass.) I overheard someone requesting afternoon tea at the bar, and ordered it for us as well. Before it arrived, someone came over and spoke with us about the YC. Here’s the tea cart: And the food: MSC really, really needs to send someone to the UK to learn how to make afternoon tea. The sandwiches are too big. The one cucumber sandwich was good, but why only one? In the photo below, isn’t that the most pathetic scone you’ve ever seen? And yet there’s lots of clotted cream and jam. Also, no pastry, even though they have tons on board. The coconut macaroon was very good.

Hi! This is our second YC cruise, the first having been immediately post-Covid, and therefore odd in various ways. We boarded yesterday in Istanbul. I took this photo of the Splendida from the cab on the way there. Both the airport and the cruise terminal in Istanbul are brand new, shiny, enormous, and rather confusing. The boarding process is underground, and there’s lots of space for vehicles, but it’s not clear where the entrance is from the street. Our cab driver certainly didn’t know. Maybe it’s because they want you to go through security. Anyway, there’s a pedestrian entrance on the sidewalk, where you have to wrangle your own luggage through security, then drag it to a badly marked entrance, where you go down the elevator or escalator. Downstairs, there’s someone who checks your boarding pass and passport, and can tell you your “gate” number. At this point I left the luggage with my mom and fetched someone from the Yacht Club tent. He brought it over and got us checked in quickly. We went inside the terminal to the Yacht Club area. A terminal employee saw that my mother had a cane and offered to take her to the ship in a wheelchair. There were snacks and beverages available. We had a quick glass of champagne, then hustled onto the ship (with a quick stop for a passport check).

How do you hear about these events? Daily schedule? Paper invitation left in your suite? Signs?

I was in the YC on Divina with my mom in 2021, and we’re going again next month. That was a weird post-Covid cruise, so maybe some things will be different. We did not get an email in advance last time (I think - maybe she overlooked it?). Would they only email her, as the primary name on the reservation? Anyway, I found it very odd that we had to ask for the beds to be separated. We’re two women with a 30-year age difference; the odds are that we are not a couple. It’s odd that isn’t a question in the email. Does the email give options for newspapers, pillows, and booze? We were never told of pillow options on Divina (they were fine). We talked to our butler and Mom chose the newspaper and booze. I was fine with gin, but annoyed that she picked my usual newspaper instead of having the novelty of a foreign newspaper. The YC really can’t manage to deliver two newspapers to a room?

Has anyone been able to get room service for breakfast after 9:00? (9:30?) Our butler insisted that he couldn't bring it any later. This was in 2021, on a 25% occupancy cruise - maybe it's a Covid thing that has gone away?

None of those past benefits were available when I was in the YC on Divina in 2021. Our butler brought tonic and lime slices so we could make G&Ts with the big bottle. We were told that it was one newspaper per cabin, and my mother requested the one I subscribe to, so I didn't get to read a different one for a change as I had hoped.