Seaside YC 4/14-4/21 Random Thoughts

Just got off the ship yesterday after a trip to San Juan, St Martin and Nassau. There are some good reviews by others, but here are my random thoughts of our experience.

Boarding - we arrived later than we wanted at around noon and it looked like we missed the initial rush. We parked in the garage across from the last terminal. The white tent was easy to find where we signed in and waited 5 minutes for a butler escort to the waiting room where they had refreshments available. This step of the process took another 10 minutes at most and then we were escorted to the Concierge desk on Deck 16.

Cabin - we had #18034 and do not recommend this area due to location reasons only. The Aurea deck is above and they regularly woke us up every morning slamming chairs and tables around. It was also noisy in the evening when they put up everything. One evening at dinner the loud booms could be heard in the restaurant. Get a cabin on the 16th deck if possible! The balcony seemed twice as wide as a normal one...recommend asking for a beach style chair that has a high back and reclines back - way more comfortable.

Butler and Assistant - we were assigned Jee and Ana Lisa. We only saw Jee a handful of times, but we also never requested any special services or deliveries. Ana Lisa was awesome!! She asked what our favorites were and would make sure the mini-bar was stocked. I loved the cans of chocolate peanuts and bed time chocolates so she always brought extras. She also left towel figures with notes on the bed wishing us a good night or 'hope you have a good day in port' note.

Top Sail Lounge - very relaxing and the butlers here were very personable and friendly. Thanks to Ivonne and Judith for keeping our glasses full and insight on places to see near Cozumel/Playa del Carmen!!

Casino - sorry to say that we spent too much time here. We played black jack solely, but some friends we met played a lot of slots - we saw one hit $900 while we were at a nearby table. Many of the dealers I recognized from the Divina last year and were fun as usual. One thing we definitely didn't like was the auto shufflers...these add suspicion that they're programmed when things go south, but more importantly - I think they really take away the opportunity for interaction between you and the dealer while they shuffle which to me makes the game a lot more fun, plus if gives you a break.

YC Restaurant - there have been many kudos given to Arthur and we can't agree more! We initially sat in another section on the other side of the restaurant and service was lacking that day - to the point that a couple next to us complained that none of us were getting served. After that...all requests were to sit in Arthur's section. He provides his recommendations and brings extras that he thinks will enhance your experience. On lobster night, he actually took the time to remove the tail from shell. We noticed that other waiters just delivered it on the plate and left you to your own devices. William - he busted is butt clearing/setting up tables, but for us, he made sure we had Newcastle to drink. He was very interactive and fun. Guisseppe - the Maitre D', some have criticized his tactics, but I have to say he was the best MDs we have seen. He made sure tables were cleared, meaning he would help if necessary and got folks seated.

Grill - only ate here a couple times, but decided to go to the regular restaurant afterwards. It's windy and by the time we got to eat, the food was warm/cold.

Heading back to the Seaside in December, but in a regular balcony room...that's going to be a lot different!

Thanks for your review!

Thanks for the review.

How did you find booking shows and availability of show times?? I loved the fact on NCL I could walk up to the concierge in the late morning-plan my day and have them book for me. I love to see the daily planner in the morning to see what my day may bring and if it is a show i would like to see.. I'm reading i should do all bookings day one? My preference would be the later show times. I think that is around 9ish???-do they fill up that quick??

I'm wondering about show times too and what time to book if we eat around 6 PM.

There are 3 show times...6:30, 8:00 and I think 9:15? The 8 pm show books up fast - if you think this fits your schedule, I'd suggest booking it ASAP. We didn't go the first night and by the time we went to book for the 2nd night, that 8pm was already booked so we went to the 6:30 show and had the concierge reserve the remaining 8pm shows for us. We actually ended up changing our show times to 6:30 (never a shortage of seats) and then going to dinner. This let us get to the casino after 8pm while a lot of folks were in the show.

They do have staff checking cards/bands to confirm you have a reservation. The middle section of the theater filled up the fastest and you can enter off the 6th deck (at the bottom) or 7th.

Surprisingly, the after the show was over we found that the elevators by the theater were not painstakingly slow to arrive. We sat in the 4th or 5th row from the bottom and generally waited for the crowd to lighten up before getting up to leave.

Thank you for your great review. I do however have to say....I have been on Celebrity, Carnival, NCL, RCCL and have an up and coming MSC. The many, many cruises I have been on, never once, have I ever had to remove the lobster from the shell. It has always been done by the server...even on Carnival!

Agree about removing the lobster from the shell. It's always been done for us.

Yeah, a fellow casino enthusiast I can ask questions! Did you happen to be offered a 30% off your next cruise letter in the casino? If so, do they come find you out of the blue or do you have to inquire about it? Do they have a players club card like on NCL or do you just use your room key for player tracking purposes? Thx in advance!

A casino player, yes, but not exactly a high rolling enthusiast :) When you start playing at the table they ask for your cruise card and log you into the system at the table. I think they keep tabs on what you started with and try to log what you cashed out with (if any) as the pit boss would come check every so often and look at the players and compare them to the screen. The dealers also kept them up to date when someone left and with how much. We

are not high dollar players, but I happened to be sitting next to one near the end of the cruise. A casino staff member came to her carrying a big 'rewards' binder and said she needed her signature. Based on the number of $100 bills she had put down and other comments, I easily got the impression that she spent well more than enough to qualify for any rewards. I also remember seeing something that said with 9,999 dream points that you could get a cruise for 2, but I'd guess that was more for slot play.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. A few of my own:

1) It's great that Arthur has such a large fan club. I ate most of my meals on the other side and had Phillip and Lyndon. They were professional, courteous, friendly and a real joy. Nothing I asked for was a problem for them, and they also offered seconds on lobster. (I can't believe I turned it down, but I was full.)

2) Giuseppe was great. He introduced himself the first time I went into the dining room and told me to let him know if there was anything I needed or if there were any issues.

3) Lobsters in shells. A non-issue for me as I was brought up in New England. Based on the quality of service I saw throughout the cruise, I imagine that a simple request to the waiters would have yielded deshelled lobster tail.

4) Shufflers in casinos. They're pretty much everywhere nowadays. The few exceptions are Mohegan Sun in CT and some higher limit games (e.g. $50 min BJ)

5) As mentioned, your cruise card is your player's card. Their slots are $2.50-$3.00 coin in for each point. Table games are all kind of opaque. I played tables every night and earned a free Bella oceanview for 2. I had met the casino managers/hosts at a reception they had earlier in the week, and simply asked what the process was to find out if my play had earned me anything. They told me yes, and brought me an envelope with two documents in it - one was a general cert stating what I had earned, and the other a numbered certificate that is good for one year.

6) Boarding process: It's amazing how screwy this is... to me. There is no signage anywhere for the YC. If you take a taxi, Uber or Lyft they have to let you off at the far end of Terminal F and then you have to hike back through all of the departing and arriving passengers to get to the YC baggage drop-off. Just a few signs would make this a lot more clear. I kind of knew what to expect after reading reviews on here, but it was still a cluster.

7) A food / dining tip - Bring some non-iodized, coarse grain Kosher or Sea salt with you. I've found most cruise companies underseason their food, and US customers tend to like their food saltier than Europeans. This makes sense as you can always add spice, but you can't take it out. Large grain Kosher / Sea salt packs more of a flavor pop than table salt. Using some of it, plus a little butter can make a bland dish a lot more flavorful.

Interesting feedback, thanks!

Thanks for the review...Couple of comments.

Our waiter Irwin....removed the lobster tails from their shells on Lobster night.... He was fantastic and in my opinion just as good as Arthur who just seemed to be running all over the place lol.

We had cabin 18011 and it was quiet the whole cruise...My wife is a light sleeper and retires around 10pm...never heard her complain to me about anything the whole week. This cabin is more towards the front of the ship.....I agree cabins heading towards the back portion of YC could have some noise above from moving chairs (Aurea section)

Dining Room was always quiet...There is really nothing above it but the front portion of the YC Sun Deck where the 2 whirlpools are....so not sure how there could be much noise at night???

Our butler (Victor) was everywhere and very accomodating. Saw him daily by our room and all the time in the Pool/Grill area. He served our drinks to us each afternoon up top....

Can't say enough about our experience in YC during our March cruise!!

LC - you're correct, the noise was mostly towards the cabins nearer to the back on the YC area....we were by the sliding glass door that led to the elevator banks. We could feel the humidity during the day coming from the Jungle pool area.

The noise in the dining room was really only that one night for some reason, otherwise, as you stated - it was quiet and relaxing for the most part. I watched in amazement every night how the waiters busted their butts to serve everyone and always with a smile. Let me clarify on the lobster deal...Arthur removed the tail from the shell, no request needed. I may have mistakenly assumed this was special treatment because the waiter in the adjacent section did not do this for his tables (that we noticed) and we couldn't see the other sections that night easily.

We enjoyed the YC experience so much that we're trying to figure out how to return. We lucked out in being able to have this experience through an upsell offer and we're now hoping to find something in the same ball park - mostly unlikely :(, so we'll be returning in the winter amongst the masses (but at least cruising!!).