Today is the day!!! 😁 Sailing on the Seaside

[MsTabbyKats]

Glad your DH likes it.

We did YC ONLY because DH's health issues.  He was really not at all enthusiastic (he's a DIY guy...the idea of a butler made him feel old and invalid).  But being the great wife I am...I booked it anyway.  He had the best time of his cruising life!  I'd never do MSC outside the YC.......

 

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

4 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I told you. 🙂. 

You were right!

 

3 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

😀. It sometimes takes two mornings to convince YC Restaurant and Pool One Grill ‘that yes, I want my pancakes or waffles fresh and hot, I want butter to actually melt.’ 😀. This is one time when the buffet can outshine YC. You can generally have the cooks make them fresh right while you are standing there.

I didn’t know I could request that at the poolside grill. 
 

3 hours ago, phissy said:

I feel like I should comment on one of,the perks mentioned above.
Ability to change dates multiple times-  This seems to be a verbal promise, not policy.

  It has been reported here on CC that others who booked onboard and were told they could reschedule multiple times , were denied .
MSC did not allow them to change beyond the 1 change/ 90 day contract YC policy. 
Confirmation from someone onboard would help clear this up.
Can you get it in writing before putting down deposit?

 

I don’t think we would need to change dates unless something came up and we will have trip insurance. 
 

3 hours ago, Steff79 said:

wish you a great cruise,

MSC is not perfect but love the Seaside and the yachtclub there very much. Great area with the private sun deck and lounge and great staff.

And you can walk from the sun deck to the aurea sun deck and the middle/aft are of the top deck.

 

At gala dinner the ice pyramid is my favourite dessert.

 

And if you are hungry you can order more courses, for example 2 entrees or so, that is no problem.

 

It’s been absolutely wonderful so far!  
 

What is an ice pyramid dessert?

 

3 hours ago, Selion said:

Once you go Yacht Club, you can't go back!

100% agree!  I even overheard my husband say that to someone today. 
 

2 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

I am following along, as we will be on our first MSC cruise, on the Seaside, in the YC, in August. I am so excited! Wishing you a wonderful cruise. 🙂

 

Thanks!  You too. You are going to Love it!!

[Steff79]

ice pyramid

.with ice cream in the middle

 

[sbcs5390]

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I didn’t know I could request that at the poolside grill. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for other items - I think they get from there if restaurant has already closed. I don’t like doing the door hanger (as a teacher I’m sure you get it… I want no schedule on vacation) but the one time I wanted breakfast I just called and said “can I have two eggs over easy?” and there they were. 

[kelleherdl]

1 hour ago, sbcs5390 said:

Don’t be afraid to ask for other items - I think they get from there if restaurant has already closed. I don’t like doing the door hanger (as a teacher I’m sure you get it… I want no schedule on vacation) but the one time I wanted breakfast I just called and said “can I have two eggs over easy?” and there they were. 

At the One Pool you don’t have to wait for the YC Restaurant to close. I’ve been able to order pancakes or waffles on all ships. Remember the Restaurant on the Seaside is right below the One Pool.  On Divina and Preziosa I think they had a waffle iron in the One Pool kitchen. The YC Restaurant was aft, so big distance away from One Pool.

[kelleherdl]

1 hour ago, Steff79 said:

ice pyramid

.with ice cream in the middle

 

In America that dessert is called a Baked Alaska.

[sbcs5390]

14 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

At the One Pool you don’t have to wait for the YC Restaurant to close. I’ve been able to order pancakes or waffles on all ships. Remember the Restaurant on the Seaside is right below the One Pool.  On Divina and Preziosa I think they had a waffle iron in the One Pool kitchen. The YC Restaurant was aft, so big distance away from One Pool.

Definitely - I meant that’s where breakfast room service seems to come from for off menu items. 

[Mark_T]

6 hours ago, phissy said:

Ability to change dates multiple times-  This seems to be a verbal promise, not policy.

  It has been reported here on CC that others who booked onboard and were told they could reschedule multiple times , were denied .
MSC did not allow them to change beyond the 1 change/ 90 day contract YC policy. 

We did keep the promo card they had onboard a couple of weeks ago...

The 'Flexibility' bit is where the Future Cruise rep made the comment about changing multiple times, and as presented it was not specifically a Yacht Club perk, just a direct consequence of booking onboard.

 

[jules815]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

We did keep the promo card they had onboard a couple of weeks ago...

The 'Flexibility' bit is where the Future Cruise rep made the comment about changing multiple times, and as presented it was not specifically a Yacht Club perk, just a direct consequence of booking onboard.

 

Is that $200 obc per person or stateroom?

 

[amygutman]

Following along happily!!! 

 

About a month out from our Seaside cruise. Having been on the Meraviglia and Seashore, am very curious as to the differences in the ships. We loved the ship and YV layout of the Meraviglia > Seaside, but I am very excited to try the zipline!

If you have a moment, could you say what the shows are and any recommendations? There's really nothing online about current offerings. 

Enjoy being spoiled...we love taking the deep cleansing "vacation" breaths once aboard. Somehow the sea air is just better when you are in the YC!

Warmest, Amy

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 2 was fantastic too!  It’s day 1 of 2 at Ocean Cay.  We enjoyed our lunch at Ocean House. We both had the lobster rolls. I also had the crab ceviche and dh the grilled octopus. The beach was absolutely beautiful!  Thank God we had purchased water shoes because it was quite rocky, but no issue with our Tevas on. We walked back up the Ocean House to get a ride back around 3:00.  There was one couple there waiting and the gentleman working informed us he had already called for transport. As the minutes went by, more and more people came. He apologized and said the batteries were low. By the time they finally sent a large vehicle for us, there must have been around 30 people waiting. The employee was kind enough to get us, and the couple that were there first, to make sure we had a seat. All in all, that couple waited about an hour and my husband and I, 50 minutes. We should have just walked back, but dh said his feet hurt a bit from the sand being in his shoes. He stayed in the water almost the entire time. All in all, a wonderful day and we met some really nice people at the beach. 
 

Dinner was excellent!  Dh had the seafood salad for an app, another seafood dish for his entree and rum cake for dessert. He really loved it all. He said the rum cake was the best he’s ever had!  I had a Caesar salad, filet and a chocolate soufflé. Dh and the man, Shannon, at the table next to us (I’d call them cruise friends at this point) both requested to have the rum cake again tomorrow night and they were happy to accommodate. 
 

We weren’t interested in tonight’s magic show, it’s just not our thing. We are planning on attending tomorrow nights “Rock it” since we both enjoy that type of music. We watched the light show from the outside deck of Top Sail Lounge. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken our friend up on her offer to watch from her balcony. 
 

Again today, we were completely impressed with the level of service we’ve received.  Dh even agrees it would be hard to cruise any other way going forward. So much so, that we sat down and discussed a future cruise before dinner. We’ve decided to cancel our Celebrity retreat Barcelona to Rome for next summer. Instead, we are booking a round trip Naples-Naples on the Europa. I’m a bit concerned with this ship, as I’ve read about the size of the YC and the amount of guests. However, given our dates and the itinerary, it’s the winner. We are pairing it with a NCL cruise we had already booked with our friends. The timing works perfectly. It’s an 8 day Athens to Venice, with a port every day. The itinerary is fabulous!  We would get off that and 4 days later get on the Europa in Naples. This way we can have a blast with our friends seeing Greece, Croatia and Venice, then venture off on our own to see Rome and Florence, followed by the MSC cruise. Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate our 30th anniversary to me!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

2 hours ago, amygutman said:

Following along happily!!! 

 

About a month out from our Seaside cruise. Having been on the Meraviglia and Seashore, am very curious as to the differences in the ships. We loved the ship and YV layout of the Meraviglia > Seaside, but I am very excited to try the zipline!

If you have a moment, could you say what the shows are and any recommendations? There's really nothing online about current offerings. 

Enjoy being spoiled...we love taking the deep cleansing "vacation" breaths once aboard. Somehow the sea air is just better when you are in the YC!

Warmest, Amy

Nothing special as far as shows go so far, but I know some good ones are coming. I will report back on them. 

[stp_mmh5]

Glad you guys are having a great time!

 

Can't wait to hear how day 3 goes, especially the rock show as we missed it on our trip.  The upcoming shows that we would recommend are the Peter Punk (It's weird and the story makes no sense, but some of the side acts are incredible) and Starwalker, the Michael Jackson show. I am not a huge fan, but thought the show was very well done.

 

Also be sure to ask Raj and/or your butler when they will do the seafood buffet as that is something you don't want to miss.

[Mark_T]

7 hours ago, jules815 said:

Is that $200 obc per person or stateroom?

 

Per stateroom.

 

There was also an OBC promotion on all bookings at the time, so we got that as well.

 

In total we will have around $1,200 OBC.

[Mark_T]

5 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

So much so, that we sat down and discussed a future cruise before dinner. We’ve decided to cancel our Celebrity retreat Barcelona to Rome for next summer. Instead, we are booking a round trip Naples-Naples on the Europa.

It is hard to resist isn't it? 🙂

 

You are one step ahead of us, we booked another MSC cruise but we have not yet cancelled our Celebrity cruise to Japan as it is the following year, although it seems likely that we will do that.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

6 hours ago, Mark_T said:

Per stateroom.

 

There was also an OBC promotion on all bookings at the time, so we got that as well.

 

In total we will have around $1,200 OBC.

Wow!  How did you get so much?

 

6 hours ago, Mark_T said:

It is hard to resist isn't it? 🙂

 

You are one step ahead of us, we booked another MSC cruise but we have not yet cancelled our Celebrity cruise to Japan as it is the following year, although it seems likely that we will do that.

Always!  But the yacht club rocks!!!

[miched]

6 hours ago, Mark_T said:

It is hard to resist isn't it? 🙂

 

You are one step ahead of us, we booked another MSC cruise but we have not yet cancelled our Celebrity cruise to Japan as it is the following year, although it seems likely that we will do that.

I have an about 10 cruises booked on X over the next 2 years and will be trying MSC Yacht Club.  It is a short cruise and actually will end 1 day before a cruise on X in the Retreat.   We were discussing the same about cancelling the other X cruises if enjoy MSC more.

 

All of our X cruises have a non refundable deposit of $200.   I wonder if it is possible to change to refundable and then cancel?   Something we will have to look into if we decide to do that.   If not $200 isn’t much to lose compared to the price of the cruises
 

Those cruises are a long time away so there is no rush and won’t  know until we have sailed on MSC. 
 

I have seen many on this board that were X passengers and are  finding MSC to be better than  the product they are getting on X.  

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

[Mark_T]

28 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Wow!  How did you get so much?

There was a UK 'Onboard Credit Promo' at the time we booked, we got £780 OBC for booking Yacht Club on an 11 night cruise, then the extra $200 for booking onboard... Pure good fortune, had no idea the promo was on.

 

25 minutes ago, miched said:

All of our X cruises have a non refundable deposit of $200.   I wonder if it is possible to change to refundable and then cancel?   Something we will have to look into if we decide to do that.   If not $200 isn’t much to lose compared to the price of the cruises

We only have the one booked at the moment, and only $150 deposit so not much at risk.

 

We won't do anything until after our 2nd MSC cruise though, as the Celebrity cruise is in April 2025 so we have plenty of time.

[amygutman]

14 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Day 2 was fantastic too!  It’s day 1 of 2 at Ocean Cay.  We enjoyed our lunch at Ocean House. We both had the lobster rolls. I also had the crab ceviche and dh the grilled octopus. The beach was absolutely beautiful!  Thank God we had purchased water shoes because it was quite rocky, but no issue with our Tevas on. We walked back up the Ocean House to get a ride back around 3:00.  There was one couple there waiting and the gentleman working informed us he had already called for transport. As the minutes went by, more and more people came. He apologized and said the batteries were low. By the time they finally sent a large vehicle for us, there must have been around 30 people waiting. The employee was kind enough to get us, and the couple that were there first, to make sure we had a seat. All in all, that couple waited about an hour and my husband and I, 50 minutes. We should have just walked back, but dh said his feet hurt a bit from the sand being in his shoes. He stayed in the water almost the entire time. All in all, a wonderful day and we met some really nice people at the beach. 
 

Dinner was excellent!  Dh had the seafood salad for an app, another seafood dish for his entree and rum cake for dessert. He really loved it all. He said the rum cake was the best he’s ever had!  I had a Caesar salad, filet and a chocolate soufflé. Dh and the man, Shannon, at the table next to us (I’d call them cruise friends at this point) both requested to have the rum cake again tomorrow night and they were happy to accommodate. 
 

We weren’t interested in tonight’s magic show, it’s just not our thing. We are planning on attending tomorrow nights “Rock it” since we both enjoy that type of music. We watched the light show from the outside deck of Top Sail Lounge. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken our friend up on her offer to watch from her balcony. 
 

Again today, we were completely impressed with the level of service we’ve received.  Dh even agrees it would be hard to cruise any other way going forward. So much so, that we sat down and discussed a future cruise before dinner. We’ve decided to cancel our Celebrity retreat Barcelona to Rome for next summer. Instead, we are booking a round trip Naples-Naples on the Europa. I’m a bit concerned with this ship, as I’ve read about the size of the YC and the amount of guests. However, given our dates and the itinerary, it’s the winner. We are pairing it with a NCL cruise we had already booked with our friends. The timing works perfectly. It’s an 8 day Athens to Venice, with a port every day. The itinerary is fabulous!  We would get off that and 4 days later get on the Europa in Naples. This way we can have a blast with our friends seeing Greece, Croatia and Venice, then venture off on our own to see Rome and Florence, followed by the MSC cruise. Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate our 30th anniversary to me!

@NCteacherlovescruising Oh my gosh that sounds amazing! Not only a back-to-back but a back-to-back on a fantastic itinerary. What a wonderful way to celebrate your 30th!

 

Warmest, Amy

[NCteacherlovescruising]

13 hours ago, miched said:

I have an about 10 cruises booked on X over the next 2 years and will be trying MSC Yacht Club.  It is a short cruise and actually will end 1 day before a cruise on X in the Retreat.   We were discussing the same about cancelling the other X cruises if enjoy MSC more.

 

All of our X cruises have a non refundable deposit of $200.   I wonder if it is possible to change to refundable and then cancel?   Something we will have to look into if we decide to do that.   If not $200 isn’t much to lose compared to the price of the cruises
 

Those cruises are a long time away so there is no rush and won’t  know until we have sailed on MSC. 
 

I have seen many on this board that were X passengers and are  finding MSC to be better than  the product they are getting on X.  

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

10 cruises in 2 years?!!  That would be awesome!  
 

We’re forfeiting the $200 deposit with X. 
 

11 hours ago, amygutman said:

@NCteacherlovescruising Oh my gosh that sounds amazing! Not only a back-to-back but a back-to-back on a fantastic itinerary. What a wonderful way to celebrate your 30th!

 

Warmest, Amy

I agree!  

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 3 was much like day 2, only today we slept in till almost 9:30. Then we headed to the poolside grill for breakfast before going back to the YC beach. I had a shrimp Caesar salad and filet for lunch there and dh had Ahi tuna salad and a lobster roll, plus the shrimp from my salad. We didn’t have much of a wait for the shuttle this time. As soon as we got on I headed straight to the concierge to schedule a blow out. I had just enough time to take a shower and head down. We enjoyed our dinner again. I really don’t know why so many people complain about their food. I have found it very comparable to Celebrity, if not better.
 

Before dinner, we met with the future cruise consultant in Top Sail Lounge and booked the Europa for next summer. As I mentioned earlier, we’re doing Athens to Greece with our friends on NCL, then 4 days later we will get on this cruise in Naples. 
 

We went to the “Rock It” show at 9:15. It was completely packed with some people standing!  I enjoyed it more than dh did. We headed to Top Sail Lounge for a couple cocktails after, where dh informed me I’d used up all our onboard credit and then some. However, my hair looked much better after the blowout and I also have a beautiful pair of earrings for a souvenir from our first, of many, MSC cruises. 
 

Tomorrow is our first sea day and gala night. 

[sbcs5390]

14 hours ago, miched said:

 

All of our X cruises have a non refundable deposit of $200.   I wonder if it is possible to change to refundable and then cancel?   Something we will have to look into if we decide to do that.   If not $200 isn’t much to lose compared to the price of the cruises

Can’t change it like that. Because you have $100pp deposit (I guess booked onboard?) the $100pp change fee is a wash: https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/CEL_2_23_23_FLY_Non-Refundable_FAQs_Trade.pdf

 

When I fell in love with MSC, I canceled several on X. We are keeping the Edge to Hawaii so I can roll FCCs from canceled NRDs onto that one as additional payment. 
 

So glad you booked @NCteacherlovescruising

- it can be tiring and time consuming doing the bookings onboard but it is worth it. I do wish they had open bookings like X/RCL. I lost a day of vacation (between coordinating with others back home) and a set of AirPods while making four bookings during my April MSC cruise! I had a feeling you might cancel your X cruise when you started posting a few months ago. So happy for you!

 

 

 

[titangas]

Thanks for keeping up us all updated, from a fellow NC teacher.

 

We are leaving on Seaside non Sunday 7/2. It will be DW and my third Yacht Club cruise (Seashore 2021 and Meraviglia this past April).

We loved both ships for different reasons, will be interesting to see how the Seaside compares to the revised Seashore version.

 

We have 3 YC cabins - taking my DD and husband, my son and father in law. Will be first cruise for FIL, this is why taking short cruise, he has been resistant but we know he will love. In over 20 cruises have never been on one less than 5 nights.

 

Can’t wait.

 

Interesting note I have gotten several upgrade emails for the Royal Suite for all 3 rooms. Another one this morning. $1400 per person - no thanks!

[Mark_T]

4 hours ago, sbcs5390 said:

it can be tiring and time consuming doing the bookings onboard but it is worth it.

At least in Yacht Club the Future Cruise Consultant will come to meet you in the lounge, so it does make it a bit easier.

 

Spent about 5 mins telling her what we wanted as we saw her in the lounge on our way to dinner, and she had a booking on hold for us with the printed details in our suite a couple of hours later.

 

Confirming and paying the deposit took about 15 mins a couple of days later.

 

... but yes I can see it taking longer if you need to coordinate with others ashore and for multiple cruises.

[Mark_T]

5 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

dh informed me I’d used up all our onboard credit and then some. However, my hair looked much better after the blowout and I also have a beautiful pair of earrings for a souvenir from our first, of many, MSC cruises

Sounds like perfect use of OBC... I'm sure my wife will similarly solve the problem of how to spend all of our OBC 🙂