Dskiba

It was great meeting you both and having dinner together!

We are not avid cruisers but loved our 2 previous cruises with our 2 kids. With a 10 year age difference, Carnival provided a reasonably priced option with something for everyone to enjoy. This was our first vacation as a couple (me 53 F & DH 56 M) since our kids are grown. I wanted it to be a more relaxing, elevated cruise so I did a ton of research on the ship within a ship concept. My more frugal DH was not totally onboard with the extra cost and was actually uncomfortable by the extra butler services. As a blue collar guy, he just didn’t see the need for the extras. I found a good deal on a MSC YC cruise that was significantly less than the other options & eventually convinced him to give it a try. We booked a Seascape cruise from 12/9-12/16 out of Miami sailing to Nassau, San Juan, Dominican Republic, & Ocean Cay. We stayed in a Grand Suite cabin 19018. We stayed at the Holiday Inn at the Port of Miami after 2 days of driving from WI. The hotel lacked signage which resulted in circling the blocks many times before finding the valet parking behind the hotel. Arriving later than planned & more frustrated than expected, we ditched our plans to walk over to Bayside to grab a very late dinner & chose to grab a quick bite at the in house restaurant. They were not thrilled to serve us 20 minutes before closing time & made it very clear. The room itself was comfortable & we enjoyed being able to view the port from our window. The staff wasn’t overly friendly compared to our prior overnight stay in Atlanta where we were welcomed by a smiling face, which made a huge difference after a 12 hour drive. Bottom line, we would probably explore other hotel options at the port next time but for the price, may book again since it was so easy to get to port & had plenty of dining/shopping options across the street at Bayside. We arrived at the port around 10:45am. The signs were easy to follow & we easily found the YC tent. My DH dropped me & our luggage off then parked the car at the terminal C parking garage. We were quickly ushered to a room to provide our embarkation forms & received our wristbands. We were then escorted past the room where it appeared that we would normally receive drinks & snacks & were escorted directly on the ship & directly to the Top Sail Lounge. As we sat, my frugal DH declared that the speedy embarkation was worth the extra cost alone! It was an hour before our room was ready & we received our luggage around 4:30pm. Our Grand Deluxe Suite cabin 19018 was very spacious & having the walk in closet was well worth the small additional price. The shower was large, water pressure great, & the rainfall shower head was phenomenal! The balcony was spacious. We quickly met our butler Rakesh & junior butler Masduki. I had printed up a list of our requests for the mini fridge with our preferred drinks as well as lemon wedges & cranberry juice, which remained stocked daily. My husband is a bit of a coffee snob & REALLY enjoyed the Nespresso machine in our room as well as the coffee available at the YC bars. He’s already pricing the units to purchase for our home. We would normally run into Rakesh in the hallway daily where he would let us know any special events or time changes. We saw Mas several times a day & he would deliver delicious treats in a glass box every afternoon as well as chocolates bedside every evening. He also left an extra plate of macaroons one night & a 2ply tissue box another. During the cruise, one of the prongs on my wedding ring diamond was bent. My husband went to the concierge & jewelry store to try & find suitable tools to fix it to no avail. After mentioning it to Mas, he had 2 individuals from ship maintenance come to our room to help. Really above & beyond on his part! He was amazing the entire week! The bed was very comfortable with high quality linens & towels. The only thing they could have upgraded was toilet paper. We weren’t disturbed by any pool deck noise above us. We had our first lunch at the One Pool deck buffet. I thought we would have more breakfasts & lunches at the sit down restaurant. I didn’t understand why we would pass up a more elevated restaurant experience. I was so wrong! Having breakfast & lunch at the pool deck buffet ended up being our go to & didn’t end up going to the restaurant except for dinner. The food on the pool buffet was very good quality, had longer hours, & had excellent service. We mostly ate at the tables on the smoking side. LK & Chandan took very good care of us all week. I chose to tip $1-$2 per drink at the time of service but ended up still giving them an additional tip at the end because they really went above & beyond. There was always an abundance of cushioned loungers, room in the hot tubs, rarely had people in the pool. The main restaurant was a bit of a disaster the first night but much better every other night. The food ranged from good to excellent. It was a bit harder to get a table than anticipated. There were a couple nights we had to wait. Unfortunately, that led to being seated in different sections each night. I’m sure that we could have requested the same section & waitstaff if we chose to wait longer. In hindsight , I wish I did for tipping purposes. I enjoy dressing up more than my husband. On the first evening, he was turned away for wearing cargo shorts. It wasn’t a big deal & I refrained from saying “I told you so” more than once. We did see females in shorts that evening so I think it was enforced more for the males or the particular host that sat us. We loved sharing a risotto or pasta plate each evening. Just about every dessert was phenomenal! Coming from WI, we have high quality dairy products. The butter they served was absolutely delicious! We enjoyed spending time at the Top Sail Lounge. The electric guitarist & the solo acoustic guitarist were great! You have to try the Salted Caramel Espresso Martini! It was delicious & went down too easy. They usually had 2 bartenders & 2 waitstaff so getting drinks was always quick & easy. We enjoyed playing cribbage with a drink & music. We did venture out of the YC section to watch the Packers play Monday night football at the Sports Bar. There are multiple slot machines at the Sports Bar & a smoking slot room with about 16 machines in a room behind the big screen accessible from the Sports Bar or the main hallway. The main casino no longer has a smoking section. We had better luck at the Blackjack table than the slots but they were hitting for others. We also went to see the comedian Ken Boyd in the Chora theater, which we enjoyed. My husband has never had a massage so I booked a couples massage for us. They did a proper deep tissue massage & found knots that neither of us knew we had. He thoroughly enjoyed it! We stopped by Venchi for a chocolate martini. I am really missing the delicious Venchi chocolates!!! Nassau-During my research, I saw that Ocean Cay was difficult to dock in windy conditions. I knew I would be very disappointed if I didn’t have a beach day so I researched the beaches in Nassau, just in case. I was concerned about the aggressive vendors & crowds at the free beaches. We ended up chancing Junkanoo beach since it was within walking distance & could easily return to the ship if it wasn’t for us. We had a lovely day & was very glad that we went. We rented 2 chairs & an umbrella for $40. Beach vendors walked around taking drink & food orders. Bahama Mama’s were $15 for their largest cup size, which was a regular sized cup. We had fantastic jerk chicken & peas & rice. The crowd was a reasonable size but not overwhelming. There were bracelet vendor kids that walked around but they weren’t overly aggressive with a simple “no thank you”. I have some mobility issues walking long distances. The walk was doable with a couple of rest stops. San Juan-we chose to just walk around in port. It’s an easy walk to a variety of shops, restaurants, & the fort. We found much better cuts & quality of tanzanite at Blue Diamond across the street from Diamonds International. We had mufungo at Raices. A first for me & I really enjoyed it! Beware that the garlic chicken is very garlicky! Puerto Plata-we secured a private driver through Alfredo Taxi Services for a couple of hours. My husband wanted to roll cigars, purchase some rough Larimar rocks, & have an authentic lunch. I think we would have been overwhelmed navigating outside of the port without Alfredo & he took us to some great places that we wouldn’t have found on our own. The Taino Bay port was large & very well done. It was about a 15 minute walk (for me with mobility issues) to walk through the port to the city. We planned on hitting the lazy river upon our return to port but ended up going back on the ship where the drinks are included & enjoyed the quieter ship. Ocean Cay- my planning was well founded. We were experiencing gale force winds of up to 70mph & unfortunately had to skip Ocean Cay. I was very disappointed but happy that I still enjoyed the ocean in Nassau. This Wisconsinite would have been much more disappointed if I hadn’t put my feet in the sand & ocean in Nassau. Even with the high wind speeds, the ship was very stable. I thought it was rockier early in the week. Even though they weren’t classified as gale force winds earlier in the week, it was the windiest cruise we’ve been on. My husband can get motion sickness easily but was fine all week with the help of patches from his doctor. We left our cabin at 8am & ran into Rakesh on our way to TSL. He escorted us & another family through to customs. Again, well worth the cost to bypass the lines. A porter, George from Jamaica, met up with us & took our luggage all the way to the parking garage. We didn’t immediately find our garment bag & he even checked a couple other sections. He deserved a much higher tip for walking us all the way to the car. We were on the turnpike by 8:45am & heading back to the cold. Summary-We would most definitely sail MSC Yacht Club again. My husband was blown away by the service & realized the butler’s are not intrusive. We ran into the YC Director one evening & had a lovely chat. He truly cares about the guests & the biggest thing he asks is to let him know if your experience does not live up to your expectations so he can make it right. He does browse the boards. He found out that we were not champagne drinkers & instead delivered 2 YC pool towels & a Venchi chocolate bar to our room. Again, over & above! The exceptional service, smaller crowds, & perks are well worth the cost. Even my frugal DH agrees & can’t see going back to regular cruising.

Thanks so much! Great to hear about Rakesh! As our first time in YC, we were really hoping for a good butler! Like you, we like to identify our favorite servers and express our gratitude early since I appreciated the same when I was a bar waitress in my youth. And yes, I always provided stellar service but definitely had my regulars that I developed a deeper relationship.

Thank you for letting us tag along on your vacation! We will be in room 19018 in 36 days. Our first time in Yacht Club & first time MSC so I’m following along excitedly! How’s your butler? Can you share the server’s name so we can show our appreciation early, as well?

Correct. That’s why I said we would use the portable safe for other beach days outside of Ocean Cay where we will need credit cards, cash, ID, etc. I just wanted to give the original poster a recommendation of what we bought for our belongings at Ocean Cay OR any other beach day at another port of call. I understood why they may want to keep their items safe but I guess we are in the minority.

I bought it for medications and cash for tips. We will use it for other beach days outside of Ocean Cay where we will need identification, credit cards, etc. I will use it to store my cell phone because people do still steal them and it would be a huge inconvenience to replace it.

We just ordered this from Amazon. http://SAFEGO Portable Indoor/Outdoor Lock Box Safe with Key and Combination Access (Blue) https://a.co/d/gYhM2h8

Please check in when you find out any information or after you sail. We are in the same cabin in December. I was under the impression that all Grand Deluxe Suites on floor 19 had walk in closets.

I booked 19018 on Seascape for 12/9. I figured they wouldn’t put an excessively loud product in Yacht Club. We’re pretty heavy sleepers who like to sleep later when on vacation. We probably won’t hear anything anyway. I may have booked another floor, if it was available, but I wasn’t going to miss out on YC just because of the floor.