Live from Seaside 4/27

[Morgsmom]

19 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Followed up with the concierge, it's a total lockdown in the favor of Expedia. No one else on the ship will be enjoying specialty dining.

 

Screwed....

OH, DANG, I'd be pissed

[clemsonlori98]

Will be in YC on the Seaside in June.  This will be our 3rd YC cruise in 4 years (we are hooked).  Husband is Diamond where as I am still Gold!  I do all of the planning/booking for the cruises and he gets all the credit!  LOL.  We will hopefully be enjoying the Diamond specialty restaurant perk during that week.   Looking forward to your review!  

[Essiesmom]

I’ll be on Seaside in August in a fantastica inside gty.  At least they let me book as a solo.  EM

[APDMOM]

2 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

I’ll be on Seaside in August in a fantastica inside gty.  At least they let me book as a solo.  EM

Hi @Essiesmom!

 

The “solo” booking is one of the things we have loved about MSC.  We used to find amazing deals to book 2 adjoining balconies for 3 of us - less than the price of one balcony on pretty much any of our frequent cruiselines… Have not seen the single special since Dec 2022… hoping they did not catch on to the “single supplement” 🙂

[Best Cat Mom]

On 4/27/2023 at 12:16 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

This is our first cruise with MSC.

Enjoy! I just booked us a cruise for September on Seaside. Our first MSC cruise was back in 2018 on Seaside in YC when the ship was only a few months old. We loved both the ship and the service and we've been exclusively cruising MSC YC ever since. We're looking forward to seeing it again now that it has been able to settle in. In 2018, we had Alesandro as our YC Director; he was swapped out in the last few days of our cruise as he was only there to get things started. Guiseppe (Pepe) was the YC maitre d'/restaurant manager. And those were the days of the infamous YC server Arthur, who was quite the presence every meal.

 

I saw that you're having some atypical difficulties dining in Butcher's Cut. I hope that you've been able to speak with the YC Director to voice your concerns and have some alternate accommodations made to allow you to enjoy that menu. If you get a chance, can you tell us the name of current YC Director and (maybe) when their time on Seaside ends? Thanks!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

23 hours ago, wayne_trisha said:

How rough was your embarkation yesterday? I work on CCSFS about a mile from the port and we were in a tornado warning. Crazy wind, rain, thunder lightning, hail, and tornadoes! 

 

It was a breeze - dropped off our luggage at about 10:30, then literally as we were about to sit in the YC waiting area in the terminal, they started boarding. Stepped onboard at 11.

 

Lots of phones could be heard going off (weather alerts) though the afternoon.

 

We were the only ship in port, scheduled to leave at 6, but ended up leaving closer to 6:30.

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 4/27/2023 at 5:05 PM, tony s said:

Have a conversation with YC Director. They will go overboard to make you happy. We had a similar situation and they got us in one restaurant and for Butchers Cut arranged the dinner to be served in the YC dining room 

 

They ended up opening a couple of 5:30 spots in Butcher's Cut last night, and were able to enjoy dinner there. I was under the assumption that they normally opened at 6. Even with the "fully booked" comments, it wasn't until 6:30 that we saw any number of people being seated. Even at that point, the place was certainly less than half full.

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 4/28/2023 at 10:14 AM, mscdivina2016 said:

Fyi,

 

The specialty restaurants are usually open on sea days for lunch.

 

I would also point out as a diamond member one of your perks is a specialty dinner, so ask the YC director to sort that out.

 Another thing you might want to do is have the specialty food served in your cabin or in YC restaurant.

 I am currently on Splendida and I have been having the same lobster as the specialty restaurant in our restaurant. 

The first evening in there (Thursday), I did ask the Maître d' if it might be possible to have (at least) a starter or two from Butcher's Cut - after explaining the reservations situation there. He said something along the lines of "I'll check" or "we'll see", and then never came by again.

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 4/27/2023 at 7:22 PM, Fissues said:

X2, Dinner Menus Please!!

 

I'll be on Seaside soon.

 

I'm collecting photos (for the YC) of the menus.

 

Also, will upload images of the dailies (or whatever they're called here). 🙂

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:36 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

Would be even more interesting if this Expedia group has "Access" to the YC venues as a courtesy of MSC, (those with cabins not in the YC). Good luck finding an available pergola. Sometimes the course of events, like large groups that are not advertised, force one to "play games" in order to get service one has normally become accustomed to in the YC.

 

It does not seem to have impacted the YC - great service, and not too many people (lounge or restaurant) even though we were told the ship, and YC, are totally booked.

 

Now, trying to get a drink at any other bar onboard --- that's a totally different matter (CRAZY).

 

I've heard, many times already, we don't have that... can't make that. Champagne bar has no Veuve, Lighthouse bar can't make their signature drink, etc..

 

Tom

[Best Cat Mom]

7 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

The first evening in there (Thursday), I did ask the Maître d' if it might be possible to have (at least) a starter or two from Butcher's Cut - after explaining the reservations situation there. He said something along the lines of "I'll check" or "we'll see", and then never came by again.

Chase him! You've got a free meal from status matching, right? Between him and the YC Director, they have to come up with some type of solution. There are probably dozens of other passengers in the same situation, and likely some in YC. They have got to figure out something here.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

23 hours ago, herdfans4 said:

Also Tom-n-Cheryl I noticed you had Canaan Valley listed for home town.  Is that Canaan Valley, WV?

 

You betcha - our vacation home overlooking the valley, eventual snowbird summer base 🙂

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

16 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

... If you get a chance, can you tell us the name of current YC Director and (maybe) when their time on Seaside ends? Thanks!

 

It's Raj - he managed a spot for us yesterday. I also have a group cruise I put together (through Expedia) on the Seashore next year for my office staff. I contacted our guy there about it as well - who said he was in touch with the North America VP and looking into it. Not sure where the change/help came from.

 

Tom

[Best Cat Mom]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

It's Raj - he managed a spot for us yesterday. I also have a group cruise I put together (through Expedia) on the Seashore next year for my office staff. I contacted our guy there about it as well - who said he was in touch with the North America VP and looking into it. Not sure where the change/help came from.

Sounds like you've got some people moving on it so that's good. And great that you had at least the one meal there. Good luck on getting some more if needed. Enjoy YC! 🙂

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Never had this happen... but currently we're LOCKED OUT ON OUR BALONY...

 

Butler must have locked it out of habit after them finishing up the room (and speaking to us out here).

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

4 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Never had this happen... but currently we're LOCKED OUT ON OUR BALONY...

 

Butler must have locked it out of habit after them finishing up the room (and speaking to us out here).

Tom

 

That only lasted about 15 minutes - have a friend onboard who we texted. I thought about trying to flag someone down on the bridge, LOL

 

Perhaps they'll now find a spot to squeeze us into Ocean Cay this evening... 😄

 

Tom

[APDMOM]

2 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

That only lasted about 15 minutes - have a friend onboard who we texted. I thought about trying to flag someone down on the bridge, LOL

 

Perhaps they'll now find a spot to squeeze us into Ocean Cay this evening... 😄

 

Tom

I would definitely say thay owe you an Ocean Cay dinner seating 😄

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

I would definitely say thay owe you an Ocean Cay dinner seating 😄

 

 

Raj just indicated that it's highly unlikely

[tony s]

22 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Raj just indicated that it's highly unlikely

This where I tell the head ofExpedia on board if he can’t assist then they don’t want my business.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

31 minutes ago, tony s said:

This where I tell the head ofExpedia on board if he can’t assist then they don’t want my business.

Just saw that in the yacht Club tonight it's escargot and filet mignon. I'll probably enjoy that more than I would the limited menu options in Ocean Cay.

[wayne_trisha]

5 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

It was a breeze - dropped off our luggage at about 10:30, then literally as we were about to sit in the YC waiting area in the terminal, they started boarding. Stepped onboard at 11.

 

Lots of phones could be heard going off (weather alerts) though the afternoon.

 

We were the only ship in port, scheduled to leave at 6, but ended up leaving closer to 6:30.

 

Tom

WOW! The weather was very severe. I am surprised you didn't notice. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

3 minutes ago, wayne_trisha said:

WOW! The weather was very severe. I am surprised you didn't notice. 

Oh - we noticed. It just didn't rain on our parade (smooth embarkation, prior to rain).

 

Tom

[wayne_trisha]

Just now, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Oh - we noticed. It just didn't rain on our parade (smooth embarkation, prior to rain).

 

Tom

Glad to hear that.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Just saw that in the yacht Club tonight it's escargot and filet mignon. I'll probably enjoy that more than I would the limited menu options in Ocean Cay.

That's not the point, when we are sold "a world of exclusivity". We are supposed to have more options not less. 'Sour grapes' is not our standby option for booking Yacht Club. We should have the option of knowing when any large group is going to be on board and being able to change date or refund. This is not just MSC.

 

 

[jules815]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:10 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

Followed up with the concierge, it's a total lockdown in the favor of Expedia. No one else on the ship will be enjoying specialty dining.

 

Screwed....

Well that stinks!