CarolnLarry

We have done 4 BTB on MSC and always gotten the 40 item laundry package.  We usually send 6 to 8 items at a time till we get to the 40 items.  Never have we done 40 items at one time...We send the travel clothes we wore to the ship plus the second day for the first laundry bag, then every couple of days we send a few more.  Great service and they do a great job for everything on hangars. 

10 hours ago, Stadleter said:

 

Hi guys,

 

I need your input as i am a first time cruiser on what to do.

So basically this is the situation.

I booked an inside Bella room on MSC Bellisima since we were booking 3-4 weeks ago, prices were insane and room availability was low.

2 weeks ago, I received the cruise cards and to my surprise it stated that we were upgraded to Balcony exp. Aurea, deck 13.

Yesterday, while browsing various forums and Trip advisors, I found out that the room I am in is a dual family room, connected via door to another room (which we don't mind) but the problem is that the room in question is for kids, and does not have a normal fixed bed, rather a sofa that turns into bed which by default is smaller than normal bed and less comfortable.

 

So instead of a normal bed in an inside cabine that looks like this:

 

https://imgur.com/a/ZMcXTgf

 

Me and my wife are getting this:

 

https://ibb.co/9sc26Bd

 

Does not look very comfy, does it?

 

To be honest, balcony is nice but we have 7 days of cruise and we have only one sea day, and 5 port days, so I need a normal bed, and would rather have a normal bed on a inside cabine, then a sofa on a balcony cabine.

Should I complain to my agency, or should I wait until I board the ship and complain then ?

 

Thx for the replies

I would discuss this with my TA and tell them it is not acceptable.  Change now as you will not be able to change once on the ship as they will tell you there is nothing else available.  Good luck.

19 hours ago, Russ_MT said:

 

 

Thanks for the tips Larry.  We'll do that.  Gotta get some friends to enjoy the big cabin. 

 

When are you and Carol cruising next?  Would love to connect. 

 

We are doing RCL Symphony the week prior in a crown loft suite.  So nice.   Then finishing off in MSC RS the week after.   MSC yacht club is sooooo nice.   I hope they don't raise prices.  It's a hidden gem. 

 

--Russ

Hey Russ we would love to join you but we just got off a BTB the first of July.  

Sounds like you will have a great time in the RS.  Make sure you have the butler bring you breakfast on the balcony.

One other thing our butler did for us the last trip was get me American coffee in a to go cup from the bar.  He knew I didn’t like the strong coffee so he recommended this , It is a coffee mixed with hot water. The  to go cup is the only cup they had that was Big enough todo this.  I would hit the make up the room switch and he or the room steward

would know I was awake so they got my coffee. Since you will always have a card in the slot you will use the room status switches as a code to the butler and room steward.

They always  seemed to know where we were most of the time.

be sure and ask about the noon seafood buffet in the Top Sail, only one day, it was great.  First time I had grilled lobster  tail.

I am really getting spoiled sailing in the YC.

The YC is getting harder to get and no price deals, Carol got 30% off from  a casino deal and a discount from my TA. So our little Social SEcurity checks covered the rest.  Have fun Larry

On 8/21/2019 at 9:51 PM, Russ_MT said:

 

Larry, we had an awesome cruise and enjoyed meeting you both.   However we booked the Royal Suite this time and generally are low maintenance.   But we're thinking, what else should our butler do for us?   Marco and Ing. had a sail away party in their RS and butlers provided snacks and drinks. 

 

Last time our butler brought, opened and poured a bottle of wine.  That's all nice.  But what is expected of butlers?   Especially in the RS?  I hear they will bring dinner to balcony.  That might be nice.   But besides minibar, extra towels, bottles of water, what should we expect from the butlers?   We don't want to be demanding, but maybe there are things we should ask for. 

 

On NCL, our butler in Haven brought us daily snacks, sandwiches, gummy bears, M&Ms and such.   We didn't ask but was nice to have provided.   I'm sure other YC guests want to know what butler services adds to their experience. 

 

And we really don't want escorts to anything or my shoes shined.  But maybe other perks would be nice for the up charge of YC.  MSC seams to push butler service in YC and I was wondering what they provide.  

 

--Russ

We thought and thought about your poor delema of being in a RS.  After the butler escorts you to your suite tell him and the room steward:

1,You want an extra key card to keep in the slot so the electricity doesn't shut down when you leave your room

2,  Take the duvet off the bed for your whole trip as it gets in the way and the room steward will love not having to throw that 

         big. heavy thing around

3.  Get an extra ice bucket that fits on the bottom shelf for all guests you will have visit

4  Tell him the wine/ alcohol that you like and he will see to it is there for you.  I had a glass of Titos vodka in the mini bar every day. 

Anything that is not illegal or immoral that enhances and makes my cruise better.

Hey Russ we were on the cruise with you on the seaside, did you feel like you missed something?

We always buy a laundry package since we do btb cruises.The forty item package for $50.  MSC does a good job on the laundry shirts and pants on hangars the rest folded.

we also buy any excursions we know we want to do.  That way we know we will get them and they won’t sell out.

13 hours ago, lucy1969 said:

That’s great to hear, we are booked in this cabin for 2/29/20. Did think about it briefly before booking though but thought the trade off with passing footfall was worth it. 

You will enjoy it but you will miss Lezle as he will be on vacation.  All the butlers are great on the Seaside.

WE spent two weeks in 16001 in June.  It is a great room with 0 noise on the forward wall but there is occasional noise in the hall with the door to the service area across the hall.  But it was never a problem or was there any noise from above which is another room 18001.  I would book that room tomorrow as the butler. Lezle, was the best butler we have had on any of our 8   YC cruises.  We thought it was quiet for a cruise ship.

I am sure it depends on what ship you are sailing on as we had different entertainment on different ships in the YC.

45 minutes ago, Cruisergal1208 said:

Not a very kind thing to say!!

What was not a kind thing to say?  If you don't quote the reference we have no idea what you are referring to.

45 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

Can someone walk me through the process for YC at the port in Miami. We will be driving.

 

• Can we arrive at any time? (our tickets say 2pm) would like to arrive earlier
• How far is the YC tent from the parking garage?
• Will the YC tent butlers tag our luggage with their own tags(the tags that are in our edocs are just plain black and white)
• Do YC passengers have a separate line for security?

 

Anything else we should know? What time it lunch served until in the YC restaurant?

 

 

 

Yes, you can arrive anytime.  I would suggest between 10:30 and 11:00 to make sure the ship has been cleared and the YC is ready to accept passengers.

Don’t know the answer to this but have read that it is not far.  We use cab from Hotel.

The tent butlers will verify your boarding info and remove any tags you have on your luggage and put on their own.  We stick the paper ones on before we get to the tent but you don’t need them

The tent butlers will take you through security and to the YC terminal lounge where you will get your picture taken and receive your wrist band and cruise card.  Drinks and snacks available. You will be there until the YC is ready to receive guests.  You will be escorted to the YC lounge where you will make dining room arrangements and see what is going on in the lounge until your cabin is ready. They will have drinks and snacks there.

Someone else can give you the exact times for lunch but we think it was 11:30 to 1:30.

We love sailing in the YC and know you will enjoy your cruise.

Sorry, I don't know what dress jeans are but I would never take my jeans on a cruise.  

On ‎5‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 3:02 PM, Fogfog said:

Yesterday I could find YC rooms on many sailings in 2020 and today they are booked out.

I realize there is a US "Memorial Day sale"... but that was for balcony upgrades...

 

May wait til the 120 days out and see if we can snag something 

I had specific sailings in mind to avoid kids

 

I realize that YC does get kids. Can anyone confirm if only the Royal Suites can bed down more than 2..or is it likely that families will put kids on the sofas in the YC bal rooms? 

Really want to avoid the spring break family vacay

 

TYIA

 

 

On our last cruise we had a cabin that had a drop down bunk bed and a fold out coach bed even though there was only 2 of us so I would say that numerous cabins can have multiple people.

The taxi in St Marteen is the best way to go.  Tell the driver where and what you want to do and they will make it work.

I like the excursions of both sides with a stop at the airplane beach,

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 1:00 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

I typed this in response to another thread, but thought it may be hijacking so I'll start my own thread for discussion about the size of ocean cay:

 

I'm a bit concerned about there being a YC area on Ocean Cay when it's all said and done simply due to size restrictions. In fact, I'm a bit concerned about the size of Ocean Cay even if MSC does not dedicate space to YC. According to MSC, Ocean Cay is only 65 acres. That's tiny. Teenie-tiny.

 

For comparison sake,  Half moon Cay (CCL) is 2,600 acres, Great Stirrup Cay (NCL) is approximately 270 acres,  Coco Cay (RCL) is 140 acres. Granted, these islands aren't entirely developed,  but even if the developed area is close to the total size of Ocean Cay, there isn't any wiggle room for people to spread out. Example, on Half moon cay, approximately 60 acres are developed, but there are an additional 9 miles of beach for people to spread out on (even if just walking/exploring). 

 

I recently returned from CocoCay on Anthem of Seas. Even thought the ship is slightly larger than Seaview (168 gt vs 153 gt respectively), they hold virtually identical amount of passengers at double occupancy (4132 vs 4180 respectively).  I would estimate that CocoCay has about half of it's 140 acres developed, maybe slightly less. If my logic holds true, that means the developed area of Coco Cay equals the total amount of area available on Ocean Cay (with no wiggle room).  Based on persnal experience, It's going to be super tight even without reserved area for MSC. 

 

If MSC reserves some area for YC, it couldn't be more than 10-15 acres could it (25%)? Taking the total amount of usable space down to about 50 acres for the remaining 4000 or so guests. My home sits on 10 acres. I can't imagine 150 YC guests stretching out on my lawn. Our cabin up-north lies is 100 acres. I can't imagine 4000 people fitting there either.

 

Of course, I'm just playing a numbers game that doesn't tell the whole story. Add to that, my calculations could be off so I welcome additional mathematicians to chime in.  Perhaps the space available on Ocean Cay is much more user friendly than the usable space on competition islands, which would make this discussion nothing more than a null hypothesis. However; it's been MSC's business practice to pack more people into less space (as identified by space ratios on all the new builds), so I do think space is going to be a restraint with or without a dedicated YC area. 

 

I'm headed to Labadee (RCL's little slice of Haiti) in a few weeks. It's 240 acres. We're coming in on an Oasis class which is significantly larger than any ship in the MSC fleet. I'm interest to see if it feels as crowded as Coco cay did. 

 

I've been following the development of Ocean Cay since MSC announced (4? 5? years ago). Getting close to the actual opening is exciting. The final product is anyone's imagination, but it's interesting to me and I thought it may be interesting to other cruise buffs :). 

 

No, I am not concerned about things I can't control.  It will be what MSC wants and I will either like it or not. No big deal.

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

If not, then nothing to stop you taking a carrier bag with previously stored minibar drinks and a couple of glasses....they are your entitlement as a YC guest.....don't forget the minibar snacks also, so you have something to 'wash down'!!

Totally agree as no one knows what MSC is going to do and all the hopeful positive comments  comments =0 as no one has any idea except what they want to see.  Ask your butler when and if the time comes for the private island.

 I can't believe all the replys to this topic but we have only sailed 4 yacht club cruises  on the Divina and two on the Seaside in the yacht Club and I didn't even know there was a Yacht Club Package.  I must not be drinking the right alcoholic beverages that require a package .Hope I make it through our next cruise in June without a package because I have no idea what it would be..

8 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Nice hometown. 🙂

Thanks PTC Dawg, but there are no Dawgs here in the compound, go Jackets

Thank You bluefish 17, appreciate your and Modes replies and help.

Thanks for the reply

We will be doing our second BTB on the seaside in June.  We have had great waiters and servers on our cruises but we are sure they have moved on.  Doe s anyone have a favorite/recommendation for a waiter for our June 15 cruise .  The recommendations we have had in the past have been the best. Thank You in advance for your help.

Your choice but I would think a tiger would want to show his/her strpes.Enjoy your cruise.

The embarkation form is on page 2 of my cruise ticket that I received electronically

Sorry but I am confused as to what year you are talking about?  Last Nov and Dec we sailed on the Seaside in the YC and had

all the Gelato + from Venichi and anywhere else we wanted.  

We have always put something on our door on the Divina and Seaside.

we use a strip magnet and it holds a piece of 8x10 paper in place for the entire cruise.