Seascape Live YC first timer dec16-23

[Lanierain]

Hi cruisers! Going to attempt a live-ish review for my first MSC and YC cruise! My new DH has never cruised before so I’ll try to add some things from his perspective too. It won’t be nearly as astonishing or entertaining as some we’ve read but I’ll give it a go! Embarkation was a breeze with YC! As someone who has sailed carnival in the past and had to wait in long lines, it was truly delightful! The only bummer has been the weather thus far in Miami.  Sadly my cruise card and bracelet aren’t  working yet for yacht club but it does work for our suite.  The welcome food at poolside was a little dry meat wise but vegetables, fruit, salad and dessert was on point. Our butler, Rishi and Jr. butler Dorry have been very nice so far! The Christmas wreaths on the suite doors are also quite nice and the Christmas decorations throughout are festive. 

[Bgwest]

Thank you. 
Following……

[xcell]

on the same cruise but two weeks later -- let me know what not to miss....  

[momofmab]

Following!

 

I was on for the 12/2 sailing.  Hope you have a great time, and the weather improves!  We got lucky and had excellent weather for our whole week.  They put the wreaths on the doors during our sailing.  I loved all the subtle holiday decorations in YC.

 

I'm always interested in the perspectives of first-time YC'ers (which we were as well).

[JAGR]

17 hours ago, Lanierain said:

Sadly my cruise card and bracelet aren’t working yet for yacht club but it does work for our suite. 

We had the same problem last cruise.  The concierge on duty reprogrammed our cards twice, but to no avail.  Another concierge desk associate just issued us new cards.  Problem solved!

[Lanierain]

3 hours ago, JAGR said:

We had the same problem last cruise.  The concierge on duty reprogrammed our cards twice, but to no avail.  Another concierge desk associate just issued us new cards.  Problem solved!

Yes they re-issued cards and bracelets. I can say from eyewitness accounts some YC’ers were more understanding than others.  I felt bad for the staff who had no control over the glitch and were quite abused. All working fine today

[Lanierain]

Sea Day-sad weather day.  The entertainment in top sail lounge has been pleasant.  Snacks in top sail have been yummy.  I was worried from reviews but I’m content with the choices thus far.  Last night’s yacht club restaurant dinner was nice with the exception of some very loud and vulgar YC’ers next to us. The young collegiates dropping f-bombs loudly every other sentence and barely controlled themselves after being hushed by parents and drinking in excess. I know lots of different people get to experience yacht club but being disruptive and infringing on others enjoyment really stunk.  Hopefully we will be able to avoid the family in subsequent dinners.  We have enjoyed the more quiet experiences but did have to emerge to the buffet because I missed breakfast time in YC. Definitely purchase the browse and stream pre-cruise or upon embarking. We waited until today and the discount is not as good but we hoped the browse package would be enough but it definitely is not.  Gala night tonight.  More to come! 

[Lanierain]

YC dinner order last night: my DH had the scallops appetizer, Nordic salad (we split), filet medium rare and cheesecake with strawberry topping.  He was pleased with his meal and the steak was cooked a little closer to medium but it was fine- I don’t think at scallops but I would venture to say they may have been a little overdone as well but not complaint worthy. He did comment on the small portions but he was full when we left so I’m not fooled.  He loves a good plain cheesecake and was delighted with the creamy taste. He shared a forkful with me and I found it to be quite good as well I had the duck & chicken terrine, half Nordic salad, veal and the warm apple crumble.  I too, did not leave hungry 😊. 

[Lanierain]

17 hours ago, xcell said:

on the same cruise but two weeks later -- let me know what not to miss....  

are you in YC? Or one of the other experiences?  I can tailor some of my info for you! Perfumery has 20% off on first sea day. Some good deals, some not.  Cartier open house as well although inventory seems exclusive but small.  YC bed, pillows and sheets are much more comfortable than I expected.  

[xcell]

YC ..

[Lanierain]

 i mistakenly listened to the hub manager about tonight being gala night and it wasn’t!  So all dressed up for yacht club sitting there baffled that people were let in wearing sweatshirts only to find out that gala night is the second sea day- not the first! Guess some of the staff are still confused about it too!  My DH had the fried seafood trio appetizer, swordfish entree and tiramisu.  The bite of swordfish I got from him was good. I’d never had swordfish before. I had the buffalo mozzarella and tomato caprese appetizer. The tomatoes were a little underripe. For my entree I had the veal ossobucco- it was very tender and served with some mashed potatoes and peas. Generally I’m not an “add extra salt and pepper” to my food kind of gal but definitely needed it tonight! Finished it off with the lemon delight- which I usually like lemon flavored desserts but it was a bit bland and waterered down tasting his tiramisu was much better….  The music in top sail lounge was Breno Fonseca again and I really enjoy his voice and repertoire.  He is quite talented and creates a lovely mood.  Gonna try to hit up the show! 

[Lanierain]

Went to the premiere show- it was cheesy and a little overdone on some of the songs but entertaining for the 35 minutes of the show. It was fully reserved early but our butler reminded me that we didn’t need reservations so it was easy to get in with his escort. My DH enjoyed the show which surprised me. The lead male did a great job on a couple of the songs but was unconvincing on at least one or two.  The female leads were great on one but then got out of sync on a couple. Still it was entertaining and I’m glad we went. Not sure if I’d do it again on a future cruise but maybe they’ll change the productions before I cruise again.  They recognized a couple who were married for 51 years and gave them some champagne, a replica ship and were asked advice for staying married. It was cute and I think made their night. Dueling pianos in Times Square- I normally enjoy dueling pianos but the guy seems really off on his timing… a little slow- maybe he’s trying too hard? Anyway we listen to a half song or so and then move on.  Took advantage of the perfume sale and bought DH a Christmas present.  Since we aren’t getting back home until Christmas Day and it’s been an expensive December with the wedding and honeymoon the cologne sale with no tax works out well.  Ocho Rios tomorrow and hopefully some sunshine after these storms. 

[momofmab]

My dh grumbled about the dinner portion size as well, so he got into the habit of pregaming with pizza - problem solved (hey, it's his waistline!)

 

I loved the Tiramisu!  Had it twice!

[Lanierain]

10 minutes ago, momofmab said:

My dh grumbled about the dinner portion size as well, so he got into the habit of pregaming with pizza - problem solved (hey, it's his waistline!)

 

I loved the Tiramisu!  Had it twice!

Ha ha! We post gamed in the top sail lounge! 

[Lanierain]

Ugh what chaos waiting to get to our excursion in Jamaica. Waited an hour for a family to show up who was going to the same place, There goes a whole hour post excursion to explore.  🥹 

[Lanierain]

Dolphin cove swimming with dolphins was a lot of fun.  Dunns River Falls has really built up into a tourist park since I was here last about 16 years ago.  

[George C]

3 hours ago, Lanierain said:

Dolphin cove swimming with dolphins was a lot of fun.  Dunns River Falls has really built up into a tourist park since I was here last about 16 years ago.  

We did Dunn’s river in late 1980’s it was great , now not so much.

[karmamule]

We'll be in YC on Seascape in February so especially appreciate hearing the current state of things. Thanks so much and hope you have a great time on the rest of your cruise! 

[bundtkate]

54 minutes ago, karmamule said:

We'll be in YC on Seascape in February so especially appreciate hearing the current state of things.

We'll be on in early January so I'm equally pleased with all of the recent updates. I am not always the best about getting reviews out quickly so I won't promise anything, but I'll do my best to post my own in a timely fashion to pay it forward for y'all. 🙂

[Lanierain]

We got the disappointing news that we can’t get an afternoon excursion assignment for Grand Cayman. I haven’t cruised since well before Covid but other cruise lines had staggered excursion times to make the tendering easier with Grand Cayman. Not so with MSC.  So bye bye private excursion for my DH to scuba dive first.  We will make the best of it but this Grand Cayman port will need work from MSC in the future.  I’m terrible at remembering to take pictures of the menus but did get a shot from my husband’s phone. Will post it as soon as I get him to send it to me.  As for what we had, tonight was a lot of fish on the menu! I started with the veal appetizer then had amberjack fillet which both were really good. The vegetables again needed some added salt & pepper. My husband and I shared the ciopinno with shrimp, mussels, clams, octopus, calamari and monkfish. It was a bit out of my comfort zone and liked the calamari and octopus best. Monkfish wasn’t bad. Totally neutral on the mussels and clams to my DH’s chagrin lol. However, I was a good sport and tried them all!  He ordered the seafood trio appetizer of calamari, shrimp, and scallops. Then he also had the amberjack and of course shared the ciopinno with me.  I was totally indecisive on dessert and ended up getting both the chocolate soufflé and the rum cake (of which my DH stole my coconut ice cream!). I enjoyed the rum cake more than the chocolate soufflé. So glad I tried the rum cake as I’m not sure it will be back on the menu. He had the strawberry cheesecake (with my ice cream!).  I think we are skipping the comedian tonight to watch Monday night football in our room.  For football fans, the sports choices are minimal on the tv in your room- you’ll have ESPN Caribbean and ESPN 2.  We may try to catch the comedian on his second night of shows.  So now I have a question for all of you experienced YC’ers-what do you tip your butlers? If you’re not comfortable giving an exact figure- maybe an estimate? I’m guessing they split tips with the Jr. Butler so I want to plan ahead because they have been great and taking wonderful care of us. 

[morpheusofthesea]

8 hours ago, Lanierain said:

So now I have a question for all of you experienced YC’ers-what do you tip your butlers? If you’re not comfortable giving an exact figure- maybe an estimate? I’m guessing they split tips with the Jr. Butler so I want to plan ahead because they have been great and taking wonderful care of us. 

It depends...but at least $20 per day each.

[Lanierain]

Ah, weather… the curse of captains and seafarers for centuries has struck again! Too dangerous for tendering to grand cayman due to wind and the port authority has closed the port. No suitable alternatives nearby due to same weather conditions. The entertainment staff are scrambling to redo today’s programming. DH is super bummed. ☹️

Stay tuned! 

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Lanierain said:

DH is super bummed.

He would have been more "bummed" waiting for hours to get back on the ship waiting for tenders. The way the Yacht Clubbers were butting to the front of the line to get a tender back to ship leads me to believe there were no butlers easing the butting for them ?

[Lanierain]

47 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

He would have been more "bummed" waiting for hours to get back on the ship waiting for tenders. The way the Yacht Clubbers were butting to the front of the line to get a tender back to ship leads me to believe there were no butlers easing the butting for them

 

 

 he’s never been to grand cayman before so I think he would have found today to be an adventure….  I can totally understand not doing it though if it’s a repeat port 

[brichar499]

7 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

It depends...but at least $20 per day each.

Huh??

I certainly can understand a personal supplement to the daily hotel charge gratuity fee, but an additional $140 each?