MSC Divina Transatlantic - Barcelona to Miami, 28 November to 14 December 2023

[Beachin2]

Not shiny new & glitzy, but the Divina is our favorite YC ship.  Just the right size.

[Best Cat Mom]

11 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Interesting about using Deck 7.  Is that the way the Butler takes you or did you learn that one on your own?

Our butler Rodwin taught us that on our first Divina cruise. 🙂

[Best Cat Mom]

1 hour ago, Beachin2 said:

Not shiny new & glitzy, but the Divina is our favorite YC ship.

We've heard a lot of the crew say that Divina is their favorite as well, even when we were on Seaside. They mentioned that getting to know all the YC passengers was easier in the smaller footprint.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Best Cat Mom

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 2 begins…

 

Today was a sea day as we sailed to Cádiz, Spain. The temperature was okay for a quick walk outside to Le Muse for breakfast, though it was a bit windy. There were no people in either the regular main pool or in the adult aft pool just outside the Le Muse windows. Loungers were set up all around both pools and we thought the staff was quite optimistic, given the not-so-tropical temperature.

 

We had already had coffee with Baileys Irish Cream in the room, delivered exactly on time. We needed to hustle a bit to get to Le Muse before they closed, per our usual morning time challenges (that's my nice way of saying that we're always running late). At breakfast, we each had a mimosa and a cappuccino. BCD had Eggs Benedict with a few pastries; I had an egg white omelet with ham and cheese and some grilled ham on the side.

 

After breakfast, we made a quick stop in the cabin to pick up our paper (Wall Street Journal, as requested) and devices to go to the TS lounge. Our Assistant Butler Jewell had already serviced the room while we'd been enjoying breakfast. Since we've been on Divina before, we have a few tables in the lounge that we prefer over others. There is one table in the exact middle of the front-facing windows, with love seats on both sides and a single chair in the middle, facing the stern. I sat there so I could soak up the beautiful view of the open ocean.

 

We had a few rounds of drinks and then it was lunch time. We dropped our stuff in the room and headed back to Le Muse. Such a busy morning!

 

For lunch, I started with pea soup. I remembered it from a previous cruise where I did not care for the mint and plain yogurt dollop served in the middle of the soup so I only ate the soup and did not mix in the yogurt. BCD had L'Olivio salad. Then we both chose beef for our entrees: he had a burger from the Always Available section of the menu and I had Roasted Veal, which was a selection from the Gluten Free menu. There is a GF menu that they share with me when none of the "regular" YC selections are easily altered to be GF or they don't seem appealing to me. (I don't have an image of the GF lunch menu unfortunately.) We each a San Nicolas Chilean Sauvignon Blanc with the starters and changed to a chianti with the entrees. BCD had the Apple crumble pie for dessert (unlike our usual skipping of dessert -- maybe starting a new trend for himself).

 

After lunch, we headed back to the TSL for some drinks and relaxation. After all, two meals had made for a very busy day so far. LOL 

 

I think it was after lunch that Pepe, the YC Director, stopped in and made the rounds to greet and chat with every guest in the lounge. When he came by us, we asked him if he was the same Pepe that had been our maître d' on our first MSC cruise on Seaside back in 2018. He confirmed he was and even said that he remembered us. I'm not sure if he was just trying to be gracious but he did seem sincere. Regardless, it was a nice gesture.

 

At some point during the afternoon, I stopped at the concierge desk to inquire about our butler. We'd already been told that Elvin was our butler -- don't ask me who told us that because I cannot recall -- and asked if maybe he could come by when we dressing for dinner around 7:30pm to introduce himself. I also asked for 14 more hangers as we did not have enough between what we brought from home in our garment bag and what was already in the closet.

 

YC breakfast and lunch menus will follow (I'll only attach the breakfast menu this one time since it does not change).

 

More to come…

[Best Cat Mom]

Breakfast menu:

Edited December 1, 2023 by Best Cat Mom

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 2 Lunch Menu:

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 2 concludes…

 

We spent a few hours in the TSL with some drinks and our newly discovered Truffle Chips. I'm sure that they have been available before, but they never caught our eye. Now we are constantly on the look out for them. Yumm!

 

By 7pm, it was time to change for dinner. I went back to the cabin to get started and shortly after that our Butler Elvin knocked on our door with the requested hangers and to introduce himself. I found out that he had just boarded in Barcelona as well and was starting a new contract. He asked about our complimentary bottle of alcohol and I couldn't recall what BCD had wanted. Last cruise we took home a Glen Grant (part of the same Scotch family as Glenlivet) but I did not want to choose incorrectly so told Elvin that BCD would have to let him know later. I also reaffirmed our desire for coffee and Baileys each morning and asked for our ice bucket to be kept full. After confirming these desires, Elvin left me to continue prepping for dinner.

 

Even though the evening was designated as "casual" dress, BCD and I had already decided that we'd get dressed up since it was a sea day and we had enough time and energy for the extra effort. BCD donned his suit and tie and I chose a dress and heels. We arrived at Le Muse via the inside path of Deck 7 so we would still look decent for dinner.

 

We enjoyed our waitstaff last night and had indicated that we would be pleased to sit in their section each evening. We were seated in the back in the raised section that belonged to Glenn and Ryan. We again sipped champagne while we made our selections from the menu.

 

Steak tartare was a past favorite of ours so we both chose that as a starter. Some of the sauce needed to be eliminated from my portion to keep it GF, but it did not diminish the dish at all. I could have eaten several more and skipped my entrée!

 

BCD had prime rib and I chose a GF pasta with a pesto sauce for entrées, with an added risotto to share. We had a pinot noir with the tartare and continued drinking it throughout the meal because we liked it so much.

 

Dessert for BCD was crème brulee and I again had some grana padano.

 

Then we headed back to TSL for some drinks and live music.

 

Day 3 next…

[DaKahuna]

Is there a fixed wine list for Le Muse or is there a sommelier that will assist with selections.  I am not normally found of Chianti but I do enjoy a good Primitivo. 

 

[Heartgrove]

The MSC Divina and Queen Victoria on the webcam in Funchal today.

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 3…

 

Today we were scheduled to port in Cádiz, Spain, at 8am. Our tour tickets that had arrived the night before stated that our time to meet in TSL for the tour was 8:10am, so we scheduled our coffee and Baileys in the cabin at the ridiculous time of 5:45am! This would give us time to get to Le Muse for breakfast at their opening time of 7am so we could eat before the tour.

 

We had our coffee and then headed to breakfast. BCD had the MSC Express with some flaky pastries and I had an egg white omelet with ham and cheese and some more ham on the side. We each had 2 mimosas and 1 cappuccino and headed back to the TSL to meet the butler for our tour.

We were a few minutes early and the ship was still docking when we arrived in TSL so we ordered cappuccinos. The ship was a bit behind schedule so it was a few minutes past our 8:10am time when the butler led us and a few others to our tour buses.

 

We had purchased a half-day panoramic tour with a tasting at a local sherry vineyard. Within minutes of boarding the bus and while we were still waiting to depart the parking area, rain began pouring down quite heavily and then stopped in just a few minutes. The rest of the morning was like that -- rain, stop, rain, stop. It did not affect our tour too much since most of it was on the bus or in buildings at the vineyard. The tour was informative and allowed us to see a lot of the area so we were pleased that we purchased it.

 

As we were returning to the ship, it was nearing 1pm. Le Muse had been listed as being open until 1:30pm so we were worried about getting there before closing time. We went through security in the port building with all other cruise passengers and then headed for our ship. There was only one gangway open and people were still exiting so we had to wait. There was not a separate line for YC at all at this point. As the last few people were exiting the ship, a YC staff member (holding a paddle so everyone could see he was YC) walked by us and asking if we needed anything. We asked him when Le Muse was closing and he told us 2pm. Perfect! We had time to go back to the room and freshen up.

 

We proceeded to Le Muse for lunch, arriving at nearly exactly 1:30pm. It looked like everyone else either had not left the ship or had half-day tours as well since many tables were already filled.

Nothing on the YC lunch menu appealed to me so I asked for a mixed green salad with grilled chicken as my starter. BCD had a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. BCD had fish and chips for his entrée and I had a burger (sans bun, of course). We had a pinot noir with the first course and BCD changed to a Heineken for his entrée while I continued with the wine.

 

We wondered if the One Pool area had been open today for breakfast or lunch since the weather had been so uncooperative. Pepe had told us on boarding day that the One Pool was temporarily closed while he made it "perfect" for everyone and he hinted that there would be some noticeable improvements up there. We had not heard if the area was finished with its facelift yet but if it was and today was the day for the unveiling, the weather might have postponed it.

 

We spent the afternoon in TSL with drinks and snacks. When dinner time rolled around, we were content to change into casual clothes as was the suggested attire for today and head back to Le Muse for dinner. We arrived around 7:45pm and there were hardly any tables occupied. Our server Glenn told us that many people had eaten early, which seemed strange given that we were turning the clocks back one hour giving everyone an extra hour to stay up.

 

We had our usual glasses of champagne with our menus and then both ordered the vitello tonatto as our starters and filet mignon as entrées. We have always loved the vitello and this night did not disappoint. The filets were cooked as ordered (we like ours medium).

 

BCD again is trying to make me sound like I don't know him -- he ordered the black Forrest cherry gateau for dessert -- LOL. I ordered some grana padano so he wouldn't eat alone. We had a Fantinel cabernet sauvignon with all the courses.

 

Pepe stopped by our table during dinner and told us that the One Pool Deck had been ready this morning and that he had been looking forward to everyone seeing it. But then it started to rain and he had to remove all the chair cushions (cushions? Divina never had cushioned loungers before; this could be good). Then the rain would stop and he'd have the decks squeegeed and the cushions placed on the loungers again. And then the rain would start again and the cycle would continue -- well, it sounded like Deck 18 was never quite ready for the YC guests all day. We were very intrigued though and are looking forward to seeing it on a nice day in the near future.

 

We headed back to TSL for live music. I had 3 sidecars and BCD had 3 old fashioneds and we called it a night just before 11pm.

 

More to come...

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 3 Lunch menu:

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 3 Dinner menu:

 

[Best Cat Mom]

19 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Is there a fixed wine list for Le Muse or is there a sommelier that will assist with selections.  I am not normally found of Chianti but I do enjoy a good Primitivo.

In our sailings in general, we've never seen a "fixed" wine list. Usually, the wines will vary depending on availability and whims of the staff of Le Muse. We were told there is no sommelier in Le Muse for this sailing. Our last two times on Divina, the maître d' was a former sommelier in Napa Valley, California, and chose the wines himself (that's Mauricio, if anyone knows him as well). He would often bring us "special selections" depending on the food we were eating or conversations we'd have with him about the grapes we preferred.

 

According to our maître d' now -- Mehmet from Turkey, the food and wine on this sailing are not the typical ones for a Caribbean sailing, as the ship is still stocked from the Mediterranean supply chain right now. Once the ship is home ported in the US, the supply chain will change and other foods/wines will start to appear and the menu may be tweaked.

 

We've enjoyed this chianti though I cannot recall the house. I'll try to get an image to share if we have it again. Primitivo is not a favorite of BCD, but I will have it when I'm having a dish where a tannic cabernet sauvignon is not what I want. I'll see if I can find what they have stocked for that grape.

[Best Cat Mom]

3 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

The MSC Divina and Queen Victoria on the webcam in Funchal today.

Indeed! We walked past the Queen Victoria on the way back to the ship. I have always like the look of the Cunard "ocean liners" -- as they call their ships. I have always wanted to sail from Hamburg to New York the way my immigrant Lithuanian great grandmother did, but I've never found an itinerary that worked for us. However, I'm not giving up the search! 🙂

Edited December 2, 2023 by Best Cat Mom

[DaKahuna]

11 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

In our sailings in general, we've never seen a "fixed" wine list. Usually, the wines will vary depending on availability and whims of the staff of Le Muse. We were told there is no sommelier in Le Muse for this sailing. Our last two times on Divina, the maître d' was a former sommelier in Napa Valley, California, and chose the wines himself (that's Mauricio, if anyone knows him as well). He would often bring us "special selections" depending on the food we were eating or conversations we'd have with him about the grapes we preferred.

 

According to our maître d' now -- Mehmet from Turkey, the food and wine on this sailing are not the typical ones for a Caribbean sailing, as the ship is still stocked from the Mediterranean supply chain right now. Once the ship is home ported in the US, the supply chain will change and other foods/wines will start to appear and the menu may be tweaked.

 

We've enjoyed this chianti though I cannot recall the house. I'll try to get an image to share if we have it again. Primitivo is not a favorite of BCD, but I will have it when I'm having a dish where a tannic cabernet sauvignon is not what I want. I'll see if I can find what they have stocked for that grape.

 I was rather looking forward to a nice selection of non-American wines so it will be interesting to see what the change over involves.  I will remain hopeful but will go with the flow. 
 

 Do you know what champagne they have onboard?  I have noticed that you mentioned having it pre-meal a couple of times and was wondering what they might have for selections?

 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Do you know what champagne they have onboard?  I have noticed that you mentioned having it pre-meal a couple of times and was wondering what they might have for selections?

We do have champagne every night in Le Muse while we're deciding what to order. I also like it during the afternoon when we are in TSL. They are currently pouring Nicolas Feuillatte. We've also had Moët & Chandon as the house champagne on previous Divina sailings from Florida.

[DaKahuna]

34 minutes ago, Best Cat Mom said:

We do have champagne every night in Le Muse while we're deciding what to order. I also like it during the afternoon when we are in TSL. They are currently pouring Nicolas Feuillatte. We've also had Moët & Chandon as the house champagne on previous Divina sailings from Florida.

 

 Thanks for that information.  I'll just try and take more patience pills and then just see what is offered on our cruise.  I do like most Moët & Chandon champagne's though. 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 4...

 

Another sea day today. We like the cadence of days at sea in between port days when the ports are new to us. The Caribbean doesn't offer as many new places for us, but the stops before the crossing on this cruise were all new to us, which was one of the big draws that led us to book this cruise.

 

Today we are heading to Funchal, Portugal, for our stop tomorrow. There was much ship movement overnight with doors slamming and other miscellaneous noises. We're not light sleepers so it was fine for us. Our walk-in closet door was one of the slamming sounds but we did not choose to secure it. We like to leave it open because the closet light is motion-activated and acts as our nightlight. I'm sure others do the same.

 

We had coffee and Baileys in our room and arrived at Le Muse just before closing time at 9am. We had 2 mimosas and 2 capuccinos each. BCD had the MSC Express with some pastries again and I had an egg white omelet with cheese and onion with a GF chocolate chip muffin.

 

As we ate, the sun started to come out but the seas were still quite choppy. We walked back to our cabin, picked up the newspaper and went to TSL to await the YC Cocktail Reception where all the ships' officers and YC staff are introduced at 11am.

 

They started with a "special" show for us -- a professional belly dancer. She danced quite a long routine and I felt that her glitzy style of dress (well, very little dress actually -- but quite glitzy) was a great fit with all the Italian style and Swarovski crystal of MSC.

 

Then the Cruise Director introduced the various YC staff, the ship's Hotel Director and the ship's Captain and we had the typical toast. I had champagne and BCD had a Bloody Mary for the toast.

This was one of the best receptions we've seen because after the formal presentations most of the staff hung around to visit each table in person, even each of the butlers. Every one of them tried to have a personal conversation at each table, which was a nice touch. Since we are only at ~50% capacity it was a doable undertaking and a pleasant surprise.

 

We were ready for lunch after the reception so we dropped our newspaper and devices at the cabin and proceeded to lunch. The walk aft to Le Muse was still a bit windy but there was much less chop in the water and the sun was shining brightly. There were even a few occupied loungers around the pools.

 

For lunch, I ordered the Mediterranean octopus and seafood salad and BCD had a Caesar salad with chicken. My salad was absolutely wonderful. I expected to enjoy it because of the octopus, but there were also shrimp, mussels, bay scallops and clams dressed with a light lemon vinaigrette. I would have loved to have another two for my entrée -- it was that good. But we had already ordered the grilled tuna so I resisted asking for more. The tuna in our entrées were both thick sliced and cooked how we each preferred. We again had the San Nicolas Sauvignon Blanc, 3 glasses each. BCD tried the Sour Cherry sundae for dessert and I had some fresh blueberries so he wouldn't be eating alone.

 

We headed back to the room afterwards and saw quite a few more people relaxing in loungers in the sunshine. BCD decided that he needed a short nap and I headed to the TSL for some champagne -- since it had been almost 3 hours since my last dosage. 😉

 

BCD joined me after a little while and we hung out in TSL until it was time to change for dinner. Tonight was Gala Night and we planned to dress accordingly -- he in a suit and tie and me in a dress and heels. One of the annoying things about having to walk back to Le Muse is passing all the photographers. Since we eat so late, they always try to stop us but we tell them that we're on the way to Le Muse and maybe we'd find them afterward. Usually when we're heading back to the YC it's around 10pm and they are no longer out in droves.

 

Dinner was excellent. We started with our usual glasses of champagne while we evaluated our menu options. We both opted for the scallops for a starter -- though in my dish they needed to omit the sauce to keep it GF. We both ordered the surf and turf for entrées and I was delighted that I could even have the béarnaise sauce (since the chef assured our server it was GF). We also shared the risotto with shrimp, courgettes and saffron, which was a risotto preparation we'd never had before and really liked. We had a cabernet sauvignon with our dinner. We were pleasantly full by then and headed back to TSL for some after dinner libations and live music. After 3 sidecars and 3 old fashioneds, we headed to bed.

 

Day 5 coming next…

Edited December 3, 2023 by Best Cat Mom

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 4 Lunch menu:

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 4 Dinner menu:

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 5…

 

We had a tour scheduled for our port stop in Funchal, Portugal, today. We were disappointed to see when the tickets were delivered last night that our meeting time was the same 8:10am as in Cádiz but nevertheless set the alarm at a crazy early time so we could have a leisurely breakfast at Le Muse when they opened at 7am.

 

I forgot to mention that the evening before when we exited Le Muse, Mehmet was putting up a Christmas tree just outside the entrance. When we returned to TSL, there were the beginnings of decorations there as well. When we booked this cruise, I had never thought that we'd see any of these types of decorations. I am surprised that Italians are starting to decorate so early, given that they celebrate until the Epiphany on 6 January. I guess all the world is starting early these days. Oh well…

 

At Le Muse, BCD again ordered the MSC Express with some pastries. I again had an egg white omelet with ham and cheese with ham on the side. We had 2 mimosas and 1 cappuccino each. We headed back to the room at 8am to pick up our IDs, etc., for our tour and then went to TSL to meet our butler to be escorted down to the bus.

 

We really enjoyed the tour content. There were lots of stops for sightseeing and the tour guide delivered an ongoing speech on the bus about Funchal and also about Madeira in general and the history of the area while we were motoring around the island.

 

One thing about the tour that was less than ideal was that when we boarded the bus, there were no two seats together. There were, however, 5 solo people with open seats next to them. BCD and I sat in separate rows, thinking that at the next stop we would move to different seats side-by-side. When we did that, the solo person next to BCD also moved to another row to accommodate us. But at the next stop that solo person moved to a still different row and the people there complained that she was in "their" seat. Tour tickets clearly do not specify any type of assigned seats, just that you have seats for the tour. She said loudly in Italian how there are no permanent seats and moved to a different row, calling them pazzo (crazy).

 

We were ultimately dropped in the city centre at ~11:30am and we could either walk around and return to the bus a bit later for a ride back to the ship or explore completely on our own. We walked a bit and then decided to walk back to the ship ourselves for lunch. It was a longer walk than we anticipated but we persevered and made it back to Le Muse by ~12:45pm. We were on the elevator with another YC couple that we knew from YC who were also returning from port and they agreed when I said that "ho bisogno di vino" -- I needed wine.

 

For lunch, both BCD and I had the capri salad with sauvignon blanc to start. BCD chose the BBQ chicken legs for his entrée and paired it with Heineken, while I chose the turbot fillet and had 2 more glasses of sauvignon blanc. We both enjoyed our dishes and were happy to find that they were quite light, given that we felt the night's dinner menu would be on the heavy side for us.

 

We found out later that only one cabin boarded for YC in Funchal; I'm not sure if any disembarked, so we are likely still about only 50% full in YC.

 

After lunch we went up to the One Deck since the weather was so nice, thinking that we'd sit up there for a while. However, the sun was already starting to dip lower, with the result being that there were no seats in the shade at that time. We did get to see some of the improvements that Pepe has implemented up there. It is very nice. There are cushions on all the loungers, and several cushioned loungers for two. The tables are also new, with stone toppers, and new cushioned chairs. Divina is a Fantasia-class ship with the pool and the two hot tubs mostly covered and the area by the bar has more tables under cover. We think it makes for a better outside dining experience. There are still plenty of loungers in the sun. Even when we've been on much fuller Divina sailings, we've never seen people forced to be close to each other on loungers. There really is that much space up there.

 

We hung out in TSL until it was time to dress for dinner. Tonight was Mediterranean Night and we were very much anticipating some great food.

 

One of the first things we noticed was the changed attire of the staff in Le Muse. We had been used to seeing tricolored ties and cumberbunds and instead there were muted green ties and aprons. Not sure if that was because of the continent difference or a more permanent change. The napkins were all white, though festively folded, and not the previous normal of alternating green, white and red (il Tricolore, the colors of the Italian flag).

 

As we reviewed the menu choices, we had our usual champagne. I asked about the preparation for both the lamb chops and the ossobuco, hoping that they were the customary MSC recipes which I know from past sailings were GF. I was pleased to find out that they were indeed still GF and I could indulge in both. BCD and I both had the beef carpaccio to start as it is one of our absolute favorite dishes, whether on an MSC cruise or elsewhere. Then we both ordered the lamb chops and shared an ossobuco as our entrées. I also had bread with dinner for the first time, a GF roll to make sure that none of the delicious ossobuco sauce went to waste. I rarely have bread and butter at dinner, preferring to have bread with the sauce in my courses instead.

 

We had an Italian cabernet sauvignon with dinner, Cicogna, that we've had on previous US sailings. We finished our liquid grapes as dessert and headed to TSL for live music and a few more drinks, where we saw that the decorations were being augmented by lights and other details. We each had 2 rounds of our usual sidecar and old fashioned and headed to bed.

 

Day 6 next…

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 5 Lunch menu:

 

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 5 Dinner menu:

[Best Cat Mom]

 

Day 6…

 

Today we ported in Tenerife. We had a tour scheduled but were happy to learn that our meeting time was a little over a hour later then the two previous (way too early) tours. After coffee and Baileys in the cabin, we arrived at Le Muse at a much more decent 8am with the sun already peeking out from the horizon. We really don't like being up before dawn while on holiday, though just about every time we've had to fly back from land-based holidays in Europe we do need to be up that early.

 

I had booked us only half-day tours so that we'd always be back on the ship in time for lunch in Le Muse. However, when booking MSC tours, you don't know when the tour begins until your butler leaves your tickets in your cabin the night before. While we were happy to sleep in today, we did not think about how this would make the end time of the tour later as well.

 

The tour was very good, with a guide that had his own tour business in the Canary Islands. He packed a lot of information into our tour, both on the bus and when were were exploring on foot. As we approached the last stop, he told us what time to be back on the bus -- and then spoke of the next stop. Next stop? We would miss lunch in Le Muse. 😞 We knew that the hot buffet on the One Pool Deck stayed open until 3pm and hoped that we'd at least make it back to the ship by then. We had taken note of the path back to the ship when we left in the morning, learning from our long walk the day before in Funchal. Today we saw that there were no sidewalks near the dock and our last stop wasn't even close to the ship. We were resigned to staying with the tour and hoping to return in time for the buffet on the pool deck.

 

We were very pleased to get back to the ship just before 3pm and made it to the pool deck at 2:55pm. There was lamb, grouper and roast beef on the buffet, along with sides, salad, cold cuts, etc., and some desserts but we opted for burgers and fries instead. BCD had 2 Heineken beers and I had 2 glasses of Santa Cristina Chianti. BCD also grabbed a cookie for dessert.

 

I had wanted to talk with Mehmet at lunch about whether the lamb shank on the dinner menu would be GF so I could order it. I know it is slow cooked and thought that if it wasn't GF but I gave him enough advance notice that the chef would still have enough time to prepare a GF version for me. Luckily, our butler Elvin was circulating on the pool deck so I was able to ask him to pass on the request for me.

 

After lunch, we headed to TSL to hang out until dinner. We pleased to find that they had our favorite truffle potato chips today. Elvin came by with the head concierge Simone and they phoned the chef -- good news! I can have the lamb shank since as prepared it is GF.

 

We changed for dinner -- just casual tonight -- and arrived at Le Muse at 8:15pm. Champagne to start. BCD ordered the tuna poke as his starter, which he has had before and liked. I opted for the duck breast as my starter, also a dish I knew and liked. We both were looking forward to lamb shank as a secondi, and BCD added the gnocchi for his primi while I ordered risotto. We had Santa Cristina following our champagne. I also asked for a GF roll to sop up the sauce from my lamb shank.

 

After our starters were finished, the 4 entrées arrived as we had requested. (We don't split up the primi and secondi on MSC, as we would on a land-based Italian holiday.) I dug into my lamb and it was falling-off-the-bone excellent, as always. The risotto was even better than I expected, since vegetables are not my favorite for a risotto dish. A short while later, our server Glenn asked us if our lamb was to our liking and not too tough. I said mine was great and showed him how it fell off the bone. BCD said that his was a little tougher than usual. Mehmet also checked on us a little while later, asking about the lamb. Turns out that the lamb was cooked in two separate preparations and the second one was not as good as the first. Many people who had the second preparation had commented that they were not pleased and Mehmet stopped serving the lamb altogether, telling subsequent guests who ordered it that they were out of it. He even apologized to us about it as we walked out later. I guess I was fortunate in that I had received the exceptional preparation that we'd come to expect from the YC restaurant.

 

We were both pleasantly full after dinner so finished up our wine and headed back to TSL for after dinner drinks and live music. The saxophonist was in TSL again and we had left just after he began at 6:30pm so were looking forward to listening to him a bit more.

 

Given that we were turning the clocks back that night and would gain an extra hour of sleep, we opted for 4 rounds of sidecars and old fashioneds before calling it a night.

 

Day 7 to follow…

[Best Cat Mom]

Day 6 Lunch menu: