Lanierain

33 minutes ago, Av8tor said:

Glad it worked out so positively for you!

 

Thank you so much for confirming the way! 

10 minutes ago, psmarkle said:

You can just charge it to your room. The cashier's cage or a pit boss can help you out.

Yes! Thank you! I played about $10, won $70 so got the cash I needed at casino. Too easy! 😊

8 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@Lanierain  Thank you for sharing your adventures with us.  I really enjoyed your commentary and pictures.  Looking forward to your next live review.

 

Thank you! It was fun to do. Good luck on your next cruise as well! I saw some additional selections of tea at each of the bars in YC.  And the tea service in the lounge was wonderful- introduced me to a great tea that I can’t wait to find and have shipped to my house. 

Sad to say goodbye today! Rishi (Butler), Dorry (Jr. Butler) and Sarah (waiter in YC) really made our week wonderful. It was always nice to see the YC Director step in as needed- Taylan. Very friendly and always checking in on folks. Now onto customs, find a post office to send some stuff home, and to airport. Have a day and a half with family before the 9 hour drive back home and work on Tuesday. Honeymoon trip over. 

we did sneak into the last show last night- dreamscape. The contortionists, and aerial performers were the highlight of the show. 
 

until next time, Bon Vogaye my CC friends! I’ll continue to answer any questions you may have. 

Dinner in yacht club restaurant was just ok tonight. Had the potato flan and the lamb. DH had the dumplings and scallops. We shared the shrimp risotto.  Photo pick up was an absolute nightmare. Not well organized- even the staff didn’t know where to get photos that were set aside.  Hopefully debarking will go well tomorrow 

10 hours ago, Av8tor said:

If I remember correctly:

 

Find a slot machine and use your cruise card to "put money onto the machine"

Play a few pulls then select the "cash out" option

Take the ticket to the casino cashier and get the remaining amount in cash

 

I've only done it on Caribbean cruises so the cash is in USD, not sure what type of cash you'd get from the casino on cruises in other locales that use other onboard currencies...

Well that worked beautifully!! I won some money while taking some out 💕

25 minutes ago, Lanierain said:

Restaurant accommodations are laughable.  Very limited seating at the YC restaurant.  If you’re not early and waiting for them to open you may be relegated to an uneven eating area on sand away from the restaurant or a two foot high table inside that is barely appropriate for an afternoon tea or coffee service. Very disappointing. I’m willing to wait for a stable, appropriate table surface and being treated like I’m crazy 

Edit to say the short table is maybe 18 inches high. Now that I’m sitting at a normal table I can see I was off in the height measurement. Happily sitting at a normal, stable table. It’s still cold here in Ocean Cay but I feel like I can eat without hurting myself of losing all my food on my clothing. 

Restaurant accommodations are laughable.  Very limited seating at the YC restaurant.  If you’re not early and waiting for them to open you may be relegated to an uneven eating area on sand away from the restaurant or a two foot high table inside that is barely appropriate for an afternoon tea or coffee service. Very disappointing. I’m willing to wait for a stable, appropriate table surface and being treated like I’m crazy 

Ocean Cay is COLD! 72 degrees with sun mostly behind clouds. Windy off the water. Water is chilly. Very few people braving the water.  I’d say to anyone sailing in the next month or so down here to keep an eye on the weather. While I’d normally love 72 degrees the wind and cloudy day make it cold and I wish I had a sweatshirt instead of a towel and coverup 

can anybody following my post remind me on how to get more cash from the casino? I never bring enough cash even when I take more it’s still not enough 🥹 or if there is another way, please inform me. 

Let me say Le Caberet Rouge was HOT! And not in the good way. I generally get chilly and wear layers so the air conditioning must have busted in this area.  We went to the show and it was so hot we left early.  of course, the rude people who would stand directly in front of your seats where you couldn’t see the stage anymore didn’t help.  We ventured back to Le cabaret rouge for the silent disco. Which was really cool, in the Fonzie way- not that AC had been worked on.  So again, didn’t stay til the end. Not sure why they didn’t do this out on deck or in the atrium. Think a better place could have been found for it. The silent disco is a neat concept, had fun until I couldn’t bear the sweat anymore from DH or myself.  Hope they work on the room. It’s a nice venue but not when it’s hot. Also the wait staff aren’t very helpful there. I may be YC spoiled already but even the staff of the casino bar were way more on point with drinks than Le Cabaret Rouge. 

12 hours ago, Jorhammer said:

Probably the 80+ extra kids that are on board the YC this week. We talked with our butler and he said to expect delays in service because of the amount of 4 tabletops they have to have on the restaurant to accommodate the families with children. Last week there were 16 kids. Week before 6. Service was excellent unless it was embarkation day or Gala night. 
 

I wish the YC was adults only…

Ugh yes. Peopling has gotten difficult today and my DH said “I wish we could be on and adults only cruise”… 

It’s lobster night!! And burgundy snails! Yay for gala night menu 😊.  Now we did chat with a lovely couple who had an amazing dinner at Ocean Cay restaurant last night. They showed me pictures of the seafood feast and it looked wonderful! Maybe next time for us. My DH is eyeing an MSC cruise in January 2025. I think I may have gotten him hooked 🤣  he has run off to the show at Le Cabaret Rouge- hopefully he’s saving me a seat.  Here are tonight’s menus- 

Whirlwind of an afternoon/evening! Had high tea in top sail lounge which was delightful! Tried a new tea called “Romeo and Juliet” on the suggestion of one of the butlers. It was fantastic.  Chatted with  lovely family next to us originally from Brooklyn. Then got ready for gala night pictures with our photographer. We went all over the ship and it was a great experience except for a family hogging the beautiful stairway  and argued with our photographer about it. In the time they argued, we could have been done. I think we managed to get some great pictures though and will see them tomorrow night. On to dinner. 

Planned Sea Day on our way to Ocean Cay.  Hoping the weather will be nice for the Ocean Cay day. It’s been pretty windy since leaving Cozumel. Last night’s white party was moved from outside on deck 18 to the atrium. Wasn’t as fun as it may have been outside.  We also went to the “Young at heart” show. It had the same challenges the other shows had. One truly good singer and the others took time transitioning/going flat until they hit the parts in the songs that their voices were better for. I’m hoping I can convince DH to skip tonight’s show. I’m not sure I can subject my ears to the other 3 trying to sing Cher. It’s purely subjective I know- the crowd seems to really like 2 of the singers that make my ears hurt 1/2 the time.  🤷🏻‍♀️

 I was confused about what clothes to bring since there seems to be theme nights but don’t tell you in advance what to pack. So I’m going to attempt to list them out:  1) casual 2) Tropical- your best floral, Hawaiian, etc. 3) 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s,90’s throwback attire 4) white night 5) gala… expecting Friday night to be casual as well but I’ll add if I’m wrong.  Not sure I could have fit anything for throwback attire in my suitcases but some people went all out disco with wigs and platforms! 
 

we are going to hit up the thermal spa suite today. Then I hear from 330 to 430 there will be high tea in yacht club. Looking forward to that.  Then DH got snookered into photo session at 6 with a ship photographer- hopefully we will get some nice photos since we will be dressed for gala night (the real gala night). Glad I brought back up outfits since I mistakenly already wore my planned gala attire. 🙈

now let’s chat a little about yesterdays excursion in Cozumel- we chose the dune buggy and snorkel.  It was not what Americans consider a dune buggy at all. But a Volkswagen vehicle from what seems to be the 90’s without doors and windows that is road legal. We did not take it off road/on the beach at all. We drove them around Cozumel streets on the way to snorkel beach, lunch beach & tequila tasting, and to a maya tribute area. We spent more time traveling point to point in the “dune buggy” than anything else. On the way back from the Mayan tribute area we drove through some areas of Cozumel that quite frankly tourists don’t belong driving in. Multiple circles where no one knows how to yield, stop or go. A few accidents seemed to occur, one in which we had to bypass in order to get back to the ship on time.  
 

another observation from the Jamaica excursion and Cozumel’s that we chose is they really don’t have appropriate shopping for souvenir time built in.  I’m going home without souvenirs for family and friends I had hoped to get.  My DH grabbed one bottle of vanilla but we really needed at least 2. He wanted a Cozumel tshirt and that was also a fail. Not sure it was the excursions themselves or just that we had large family groups with us that seemed to slow us down- but it shopping for souvenirs for yourselves or others is important I would definitely suggest shorter excursions or a shopping specific one. More later! 

50 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Thank you.  We are going to be brining our own green tea.  We drink more of that than coffee at home but on a cruise, I usually have coffee after dinner and sometimes lunch, if there is red meat in my meal. 

 

The coffee is very strong on ship- just a warning. Nespresso machines in the room and the pods for them are pretty strong. I like a dark roast with creamers and sweetener but it’s definitely stronger than I’m used to and I generally can’t finish a whole cup 

Just wanted to post this since I saw it on Reddit. Very nice of them to offer this for you all! Discount at a Brew Pub in St. John, Canada 

Oh and we had the opera cake and apple streudel.  Opera cake reminded me of a less moist tiramisu kind of cake. The apple streudel was great! Here are tonight’s menu pics 

Dinner tonight in yacht club restaurant.  Another slow service night in the restaurant.  It’s not crowded so not sure what’s going on.  DH ordered the Maryland crab cake (very good) and I got a salad since I ordered the lobster ravioli. The salad was a bit watery but I knew I wasn’t getting vegetables with the pasta.  And sadly the lobster ravioli was watery too and I totally wish I had ordered the pork medallions or the prime rib. Oh well.  DH got the sea bass and it’s done well so he’s sharing that.  The wait staff are flustered and slow tonight.  Not sure what’s going on but the usual can’t empty my glass before it’s filled I experience is not happening tonight. Oh well.  I really can’t complain. 

As promised but better late than never is the dinner menu from Ocho Rios port night. 

16 hours ago, Lanierain said:

These are the three in our room. I’ll check the top sail lounge later and see if there are any others. Hopefully the photo will post. If not, I’ll type it out 

the 20th floor pool deck had some additional non-caffeinated teas like an orange spice and chamomile. English breakfast is the only black tea I’ve seen so far 

After dinner YC had a tropical party on the 20th deck.  The butlers got a few people to do group dancing and a conga line. We cut out early after being late from dinner so we could go to the show…  And oh my- the show last night was rough.  They have maybe one or two truly good voices in the shows depending on which songs they pair the singers with. Two of the singers frequently go flat in their songs. Was it entertaining? Yes. Would I do the “in concert” again? Probably not unless new singers are there.  DH has enjoyed the shows which is better than him being bored- so in the end, I’ll do shows as much as he wants.  
 

This morning we docked early in Cozumel and there are at least 5 ships in port. So even though we docked early, they didn’t move up the excursions. those who want to brave the port before excursions are allowed.  My DH is one of them as he’s had nervous energy for hours.  I told him I’d meet him at the pier for excursion as I’m munching on some of the breakfast pastries in Top Sail Lounge and still waking up lol. 

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Thanks.  That sounds like pretty much what I have been told to expect so I'll be asking for horseradish on the side when I order the shrimp cocktail. 

 

 I also always ask for horseradish on the side when I order prime rib.  

 

That’s a good idea- I didn’t think of it. I’ll try that if I order the shrimp cocktail again. Thanks 

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Was it served with a true cocktail (with horseradish) sauce or the other sauce MSC normally serves?

I didn’t taste horseradish in this one.  I’ve had blander but not the kick that horseradish brings. They had put some jalapeño slices in it as well. 

Just now, Lanierain said:

Dinner tonight in YC was yum. We both had shrimp cocktail for appetizers and split the Caesar salad. He ordered the lamb shank which was super tender. I had the surf and turf, surf being shrimp. The filet was a perfect medium. We both had some wine and our waiter had been very heavy handed with it tonight. Breno is performing in top sail lounge again providing a very pleasant background aesthetic.  Waiting on our cherries jubilee and tiramisu.  Dinner has been a little slower tonight. 

Tonight’s menu