Hutcha

After dinner, we sat in the Topsail for a little and listened to one of my favorite performers of the week. I didn't get his name, but he plays guitar and has a great voice. I know you have to consider the setting, but overall, the music in the topsail was very somber (for lack of a better word). Very mellow and soothing. A mix of something just a little more upbeat would be nice. The best part of the Topsail at night would be when the other performers, from around the ship, would would finish their set and come to the Topsail. There was a great female singer from Australia and the male half of the dueling pianos that showed up a couple of nights. They'd take turns, singing duets and performing off the cuff. I loved this seating area outside of the Topsail. After sitting for a min, Nate (the newly 21 yr old mind you) decided to go to bed. Carly and I explored the ship a little more and wound up in Le Cabaret Rouge. We caught the end of the "variety show". The contortionist duo were pretty good, and the host/singer was just ok. After that, Carly turned in, and I decided to donate some money to MSC on the blackjack table. It was nice to see that MSC pays 3:2 for blackjack on all of their BJ tables. I was on Royal in June, and 3:2 was only on their $25 and up tables. Caesars (all properties) in Vegas only has 3:2 in the high rollers area. After my all to brief stop in the casino, I looked around the ship some more, and ended up back in Le Cabaret Rouge, where the DJ was now playing. All three levels were packed with people dancing and having a good time. I was quite impressed with the turnout. The only place I saw more people was at the Marketplace Buffet. The Casino Bar 20230912_010708.mp4

Do not let the threat of interlopers deter you. If it's the loss of a balcony, that's one thing, but you will not be able to "enhance" your bella balcony to get anywhere close to the level of YC. I just got off of the Seascape, and the YC area felt like it was booked to 50%, even though it was at 100%. The rest of the ship, not so much.

I just can't believe that they would be able to hide some kind of criminal activity from the public. It seems like you hear about every incident aboard a cruise ship.

That is the YC buffet. It is available everyday for breakfast and lunch. The food was unbelievably good for a buffet. It was our go to for breakfast, but great for lunch also. We only had lunch in the dining room on the first day and breakfast on the last.

We really enjoyed Ocean Cay. I'd like to do an itinerary that overnights there. The landscape was beautiful, and the beaches were very nice. I wish we would have explored it more, but that was how I felt about the whole week. We're pretty chill and not the go-go-go type. A B2B would have been great. It would give the chance to do things the 2nd week that you could not the first. Reboarding the ship was smooth and quick. There was no need to be escorted by one of the waiting butlers. Back onboard, we took another look around the ship and then back to the room for a nap 🥱 The ship is really beautiful. There is an abundance of lounges and out of the way places to stop and have a drink or relax. Off to dinner. Arthur and Cazy are an amazing team in the dining room. They always make you feel welcomed and bend over backwards to get you seated at a table of your preference. The dining room was usually crowded, but we barely had to wait for a table all week. There were a few times that I saw Arthur go down to the Topsail to retrieve guest, so I guess there was a slight wait at times. Caribbean Fish Soup. Pretty good. I thought that the flavors would pop a little more. A solid 4/5 Broiled Amberjack. Carly is not a fishy fish lover, if that makes sense. I thought it was good, but there are other items I'd prefer. 4/5 Chicken Kiev. A little bland. I was hoping that it was "stuffed" with a little more flavor 3/5. Paccheri pasta. Very good and worth ordering as your main entre. 5/5 Tiramisu. I wish they would have had the tiramisu from the embarkation lunch. This was mostly a creamy custard with a little bit of lady finger at the bottom. 3/5 Overall, this was our least favorite night in the YC dining room. That being said, I'm sure it beats any night in main dining. If you are planning on doing a specialty restaurant on your cruise, this might be a good night to do it. Please don't take that to mean I did not enjoy the YC restaurant. They can't hit it out of the park for everyone, every night.

Makes sense. That being said, don't ever show up at my house, in the dead of winter, with a clam risotto 🤣

I forgot to mention my embarkation lunch. They knocked it out of the park and set my expectations high for the remainder of the cruise. The cobb salad was fresh, crisp and delicious. The rockfish stew was very good and I would not pass on it. The trio desert was fantastic. It had the best tiramisu offered for the week. All a solid 5 out of 5!!

I'm sorry if I'm painting with a negative brush. That is not my intent. I'm not loyal to any brand, so I make sure not to sugarcoat things. I've done 4 suites, on three cruise lines, in the past 18 months. This one was the cheapest, and by far my favorite. Royal's star class was great, but it's expensive and they haven't caught on to the "ship within a ship" concept. NCL is getting there, but they still have things that could be improved (alcohol in cabin, service on the sun deck, including all drinks in the Haven). We didn't book this cruise for the butler, and had I not done so much research, into how good the butlers "can" be, we would have not known what we were missing and would have been fine. Hearing stories of how other people's butler wowed them left us disappointed in our butler, but left us hopeful for our future cruise. Also, this is all just my opinion. You may love the things I did not and hate the things I loved.

Today is Ocean Cay. First, we are going up to the YC buffet for breakfast. This would be our go to for the week. I was very happy with the selection of food laid out and the cook to order options. Some more fresh fruit would have been good. After breakfast, we head down to the island for the wave runner excursion. The excursion is well worth the price. We were a little worried, at the start, because there was a lot of waiting around in the sun. Once we got to the actual watercraft, we were assigned a number based on if we were comfortable going fast or not. Slow pokes in the back! It was almost an hour of going full throttle, zig zagging back and forth, as we made our way to three different spots around the island. At one stop, we could jump off and spend some time in waist deep water. You did have to stay in line, but there was usually 50-100 yards between each other. After the excursion, we headed to Ocean house for lunch. The service and the food were top notch. The Ocean Cay salad was very good. I put some lobster salad on it too (not pictured) 4/5 As a lover of ceviche, this was a little disappointing. It was more like a crab salad than ceviche. 3/5 The lobster roll was good, but Caribbean lobster is a little chewy and there was a lot of mayo in this. 4/5 The carne asada was excellent. 5/5 After lunch, we made our way down to the YC beach. They had a place to pick up towels, and cold water and cans of beer. Do not take the reports of a rocky beach too lightly. It is almost unbearable to walk into the water without water shoes. You have to walk across about 30 feet of large rocks (golf ball to softball sized) before making it into waist deep water, where you're able to stand comfortably. We didn't stay long before heading out to find another beach. The transportation between the restaurant and ship was pretty lacking. They only had 2 carts that could hold 7 total. It took about 25-30 mins to get a ride. We wound up on Bimini Beach. It's between the ship and lighthouse. No rocks, just crushed shells. It wasn't overly crowded.

After dinner we went to the show in the main theater. Tonight was Imagine Ocean. It was both our favorite and least favorite of the cruise. In other words, it was the only production show we saw. I knew what to expect going into this cruise. Singing and dancing, with an implied story line. This isn't our cup of tea, but we gave it a try. The male lead was a great singer. The female lead was good. The acrobats were entertaining. The cast members running through the audience, dress in unitards and carrying fish puppets, was a bit over the top. The show was fine, it just didn't inspire us to make sure we made a different show later in the week. I'm not sure where the Yacht Club seating was. Would have been nice to have someone to point that out to us.

Pics from the embarkation lunch buffet.

The daily from the first day Daily 0910.pdf

No bacon. There was a finely chopped mushroom filling. They were smart in the prep of it. Normally, you would layer the pastry, mushrooms and then prosciutto. Then role the filet up in this. This method requires a perfect baking technique to get the temp of the steak right. Here, they cooked the pastry and mushroom separate, carefully sliced the pastry, and wrapped the cooked filet in it. No prosciutto, that I noticed.

Why is it you think it's a valid charge?

I think they would be glad to not give your TA credit. I would definitely ask.

Looks like 9.

Just booked while onboard. We were told $200 per cabin for the YC booking and $50pp for the loyalty bonus (though not future cruise specific).

Lots of chatter on the FB group for our sailing that just finished. Reports of screams, security running through the hallway, the hallway being blocked off with yellow tape, and people told to return to their rooms. One cruiser said they couldn't get to their room, and when they finally did, there was blood splattered onto their balcony. A B2Ber said that when they reboarded, they were notified that the sports bar would be closed for the week (not sure if it's connected).

I'd rather not out him totally here. He was pretty young, so he probably is on the newer side. If I didn't have my expectations set high, from so many great reviews like yours, I probably would have been content. We did hear one family, in the hallway, telling him how wonderful he was. I also could have pulled him aside, on day 2 or 3, and told him he wasn't meeting my expectations. I will say that I was on 16, port side. It's been a long travel day. I'll try to knock out some more tomorrow.

At dinner, we mentioned to the maître d, Arthur, that we had not yet seen our butler. He said he would call him right away. Still didn't see him so we stopped at the concierge after dinner to ask. They called and told us to have a seat. After a few minutes, he showed up. We went to our room with him to ask about a couple of things. Pillows, our bottle of alcohol, and the mini fridge. We tipped him $50 right there, hopping to set the expectation that good service for the week would be rewarded. This was my first time tipping someone ahead of time. Excluding running into him randomly in the topsail lounge or up at the pool, we saw him 2 other times during the week. Once when he dropped our laundry off, and another when he was looking for us, because he thought we left our excursion tickets in the room. We're not high maintenance, but we did expect him to at least make his services known to us. What he could do, how to reach him, and so on. Once, in the topsail, we were looking to be escorted to the tender. They asked who our butler was, and then called him. We left after about 10 mins and made it on our own. My wife is convinced that he still does not know that she is in one of his rooms. He'll look at her and smile, but never engages when they pass each other.

You are correct. If you go to the back, it is not as crowded. It is still the worst that I have seen. For us, it's normal to have to seek out a table, however that's just the beginning. If one holds a table, while the other grabs their plate, by the time the second is back with their food, the first is finished.

We watched the sail away from the infinity pools, at the back of the ship. They were not too crowded. I think most were probably at the marina pool for the sail away party. 20230910_175041.mp4 After taking a break in our room, we got ready for dinner at the YC. The YC seems smaller than I had imagined from the pictures and video. The lounge was never crowded, but the restaurant was usually pretty full and noisy. Normally not a tomato soup fan. Followed the previous reviews, and it was a 5/5 These were just ok. A little dry. 3/5 Risotto with clams. Too fishy for us. One bite and done. 2/5 Filet 5/5 Veal chop 5/5 Coconut pasticcio dacquoise 5/5. Carrot cake consistency.

First impressions.... This is the week after Labor Day, so school is back in session. All of the rooms are booked on the ship, and there are 4800 passengers on board. There may be a few hundred kids on board. Most are under six. In YC, I see maybe 5 or 6 families with minors in the YC. If I had to guess, I'd say that 50% of the passengers are from international destinations (mostly Europe), 30% are US, and 15% are Canadian. The ship is beautiful, but the layout is difficult to navigate. Lots of dead ends, where you'd think traffic would normally flow. Weird flows, like walking from the main atrium, on 5 where guest reception is, through the photo area, only to come to an area where you are forced to take the stairs up to 6. If you want to stay on 5, you have go from reception down a long hallway of cabins, to make it to the front. I'd hate to have one of those cabins. There are a lot of pools, and even more hot tubs. The bad part is that they all close down by 10 or 11 at night. They really need to leave some hot tubs open for the late night crowd. The main buffet. The crowds are real. Not only do you need to wait for a table, at peak times, you then have to wait in line at the different stations. It gets very congested. The selection of food is probably the best that I've seen. Lots of choices, and definitely geared towards an international crowd. There is no need to leave YC. I could spend the entire week in the enclave, and be happy.

No, I was nervous about that, but they just deleted the extra. I still need to check on the service charge.