Morgsmom

Tipping (at least in the US market) is ALWAYS welcome.

Yes

It's like telling the airlines not to fill to capacity, or a hotel. After 2+ years of hemorrhaging money they are going to capitalize on revenue when they can get it. Are they going to lose some customers over it? Yes, but overall they are trying to recoup the losses.

Island Buffet will be chicken, wings, some jerk bbq, salads, etc. This is NOT the same as what might be offered in the ship buffet. All food trucks (caveat her) offer the same: hamburger, veggie burger, etc with the exception of the few "pay for" trucks (if they are open) which charge for upscale food. This is clearly listed.

Answers: 1. You pay for movies, not sure how much because I'm not going to pay for a movie in 2023 🙂 2. Google it; they YC menus are the same throughout the system and are very, very limited 3. NO Clamato (insert gagging face here, but to each his own) 4. Muster is done via an in cabin video, you then have to ring a specified phone number to let them know you've seen it, THEN you have to go in person to your muster station to get your card scanned. You do NOT need to take life jacket.

BCN is likely the easiest if you are coming from Florida

That would be a "no." The YC concierge is not going to reach out to you before sailing. If you need excursion advice, ask here on the boards.

Starboard side.

Go to buffet right when they open.

NO thank you to mini golf or water slides! They are actually developing the open areas but as with most things (or shall I say "tings") in the Bahamas it takes twice as long and costs 4x as much. I've heard rumors of a hotel, moving the Ocean House to another location, etc. In any case, keep it like it is. For those who want Coco Cay, please go there and I'll just sit under the palm trees

Nope, not one bit. Bella Balcony cabins are in less desirable locations; that's why they are cheaper. Best bet if you are concerned is to pay and upgrade to Fantastica and pick your balcony.

Run to MCO and then return and park? Your wife will be three champagnes in at Topsail by the time you return 🙂 ... or taking a nap in your cabin

Wow, Those are solid bids!!! Enjoy.

Yes, in the Caribbean

this would be a RARE occurence; since you are before sailing what you can do is a "mock" booking to find another cabin you'd like in the SAME class and ask to be switched.

Just to note that they ARE pouring Moet as the standard Champagne in the YC on Divina now (yummmmmmmm). On the Mera they were pouring Jacquart. Hendricks IS included in the YC package.

Actually I rather enjoyed the Drink ticket Booklets. It made you think twice about whether you really wanted that drink

Found the bar situation to be chaotic on recent Mera cruise. Too many uneducated cruisers with super cheap bar packages looking to maximize their return. In my opinion these were folks who came over from Carnival because it has a 15 drink/day maximum. They were looking for way more than that. As far as frozen drinks, IMO these packages should include liquor + mixer drinks (gin/tonic, vodka, soda) etc. Frozen drinks are made to order, take a lot of time and then the blender needs to get cleaned out. My opinion only as I know a "pina colada" means holiday to some folks. ALTERNATELY, MSC needs to invest in dedicated frozen drink machines (like at Bahama Breeze) so that they just just "pull" from the handle and serve.

Yup, the starting bid on the upgrade email we got was just about the same as booking outright

If you added the Easy Plus after booking and paid for it you can TRY to get it reimbursed. If it was included a part of the cruisefare you will not get any credit for it. You should keep the OBC

Would you mind letting us know what your bids were?

Correct; they offer upgrades even when there are technically no cabins available in order to see what people might be WILLING to pay. On our upcoming sailing the upgrade offer is equivalent to what we could pay to book it outright.

Tissues, yes. Robes, no. There's no way a ship would have enough robes to supply everyone. They are allocated for yacht club, aurea, and Diamond Voyagers.

This sums up MSC yacht club perfectly. While the overall product is a great bargain, the experience differs significantly from sailing to sailing and ship to ship. On a 7 night with a great YC director? Wahoo! Go for it. A 3 night with a lousy one, sorry, nothing for you. On my last 4 night YC I asked for the Kettle One as my bottle of spirit; was told that for 3 & 4 nights you could only get Absolut. The Ketel was now for 7 nights. Pizza on the One Pool deck? Yes, it can be done. In TopSail, no... unless, of course, the crew thinks you are a vlogger... in which case all bets are off.... On some ships you can wear shorts and flops to dinner in Le Muse. On other sailings you are stopped at the door.