**LIVE** from the MSC Seascape: A Family's Experience in the Yacht Club – 7-Night Western Caribbean – March 23-30, 2024

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

52 minutes ago, alserrod said:

Hello

First of all, thank you very much for all the information you have been publishing. I would love to continue reading you on future cruises you take. You learn much more from these chronicles than from many pages you visit about cruise things.

I wanted to make a comment that surprised me negatively. You say that because a child got sick and vomited in the YC pool, they had to close it for the entire day.

If a pool has a properly designed water regeneration system (the entire water does not need to be changed but must be able to pass through the filters), the time should be much shorter.

In the pools I go to in summer, the time in the paddling pool is reduced by 30 minutes in cases like this (if a small child vomits or has small feces in the water). It's a long time... but it's only 30 minutes. Enough so that the water has passed through the filters.
Pool staff check the water after 30 minutes and, if correct, let people back in.

That's why I'm surprised that it takes MSC 24 hours

Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad you were able to glean some value from things!

 

I'll be chronicling my adventure on the Seashore this week in a separate Live I started just a bit ago.

 

I think may have explained the process for cleaning the pool poorly.

 

It wasn't closed the entire day, it was closed around 2 hours (an hour or so of that was them just waiting for the technicians to arrive).

 

They drained the pool completely, sprayed and wiped everything down, and then refilled the pool.

[alserrod]

1 minute ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad you were able to glean some value from things!

 

I'll be chronicling my adventure on the Seashore this week in a separate Live I started just a bit ago.

 

I think may have explained the process for cleaning the pool poorly.

 

It wasn't closed the entire day, it was closed around 2 hours (an hour or so of that was them just waiting for the technicians to arrive).

 

They drained the pool completely, sprayed and wiped everything down, and then refilled the pool.

 

 

Thank you.

 

2 hours... that's more usual. Maybe longer just because waiting technicians but it fits to a normal time for a pool set up after full cleaning..

 

 

PS. I just come from reading you other thread!!!!

 

[no1talks]

2 minutes ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

"They drained the pool completely, sprayed and wiped everything down, and then refilled the pool."

 

DOODIE!!!

 

[gimletgal]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:10 PM, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

The Pools of the MSC Seascape

 

We usually don't spend any time in the pools when we cruise because we have a pool at home and my wife runs a swim school in the summers, but we decided this cruise we would at least experience each pool onboard once.

 

We enjoyed this more than I thought we would as it was a challenge and the kids had fun with it.

 

Our review of each follows:

 

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YC Pool

 

This is the pool where we spent the most time - both because it was less crowded (though still crowded as you can see in the picture), but also because my kids said the water was the least salty and the warmest.

 

Unfortunately (as I just mentioned in my previous post), a kid threw up in the pool today so it's currently closed, but that's not on MSC (fortunately it wasn't my kid, but it could have been any of ours).

 

None of the pools on the Seascape are very large, but this one seems the most adequate given the number of people onboard.

 

WOW! That is the most crowded I have ever seen a YC pool area! Maybe because YC was full and spring break? Usually, there are maybe 5 or 6 people in the pool or sitting on the edge.

[xcell]

4 minutes ago, gimletgal said:

WOW! That is the most crowded I have ever seen a YC pool area! Maybe because YC was full and spring break? Usually, there are maybe 5 or 6 people in the pool or sitting on the edge.

If it was the last few days of the cruise -- it's like that...

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, no1talks said:

 

DOODIE!!!

 

 

[gimletgal]

29 minutes ago, xcell said:

If it was the last few days of the cruise -- it's like that...

Well I've been on 8 YC cruises and I've never seen it that crowded. Guess I was just lucky!

[no1talks]

19 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 

It's a big deal in the YC. You only get one chocolate bar gratis and you don't want to lose it in the pool!

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

Wrong thread!

Edited April 1 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

I'm sitting here at the automated roulette table and writing these posts between spins... It's a handy way to pass the time and it keeps me from chasing things vs sticking to my Fibonacci-style betting on the dozens (that still can't beat the house, but at least loses more slowly).

 

One of the things I haven't posted yet is about the stateroom because I need to grab pictures off of the videos we've made and I haven't taken the time to do that.

 

Rather than continuing to put this off though, I'll get my thoughts written out... There are plenty of pictures and videos of every type of room on the ship out there already, so that's not a good reason to keep you guys waiting.

 

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Stateroom 18022 - YC Deluxe Balcony:

 

This is your standard balcony stateroom in the Yacht Club, and honestly it's perfect for our needs.

 

Some of the YC balcony rooms have Pullman beds that descend from the ceiling which would have been ideal, but for ours, the couch just pulled out into a sofa bed, which was perfectly fine for my 9 and 7 year old kids.

 

We aren't the type who needs a bunch of fancy amenities or extra space in our rooms, so this is definitely the right room for us.

 

They have more space to move around than a standard balcony stateroom does and that's plenty enough for us.

 

Some specific feedback is to follow:

 

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Beds:

 

I already mentioned the pullout sofa bed for my kids, so I'll move onto our bed.

 

I don't know if the beds in the YC are classified as Queen-size, but they definitely aren't full King-sized beds.

 

With that said, they're very comfortable and we had no issues sleeping at all.

 

They gave us pillow options before the cruise and we chose the cooling pillows but upon arrival, there was a note saying these pillows were not available. That was a bit of a bummer but really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

 

The blankets were soft and kept us a good temperature for the duration of our sleep.

 

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Storage:

 

With four of us in the room, storage can sometimes be at a premium and we end up having to leave some things in our bags. However, there was plenty of storage for us so that wasn't an issue in this room.

 

There are two wardrobes - one with hanging space on both sides and the other with hanging space on one side + drawers and a small safe on the opposite side.

 

There are also nightstands on both sides of the main bed, each with two small drawers, and some other cubby spaces below the large mirror in the room.

 

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Power Outlets:

 

As with nearly every cruise ship we've ever been on, power is at a premium in the room with the only outlets being to the right of the large mirror.

 

I am always prepared for this though and I travel with power strips (without surge protectors) + a second power strip that plugs into European-style outlets.

 

The only additional plug besides these by the mirror is a single USB port that is only on the left side of the bed (farthest from the bathroom).

 

I bring battery packs that I use to charge my phone by the bed at night and then just charge those during the day.

 

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Bathroom: 

 

The bathroom in these YC deluxe balconies are roomie (important) with spacious showers.

 

You don't have to worry about banging your knees on the sink while on the toilet or bumping into the shower door/curtain while showering.

 

I'm happy to report we had no issues having washcloths renewed every day unlike some other reports I've read).

 

The only real drawback here is that MSC doesn't believe in hair conditioner for some reason.

 

The shower has a dispenser for body lotion (really?), but no conditioner.

 

One of the two hooks to hang robes on the bathroom door was loose, making it non-functional as well (I meant to mention this to the staff but forgot... apologies to whoever is in this room next).

 

If these are the things I'm complaining about though, it must be pretty nice overall.

 

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Balcony:

 

I know some people spend lots of time on their balconies, but we're not that kind of people.

 

I would venture to say the most accumulated time we've ever spent on a balcony during a single cruise is less than 30 minutes.

 

Typically I'll walk out for about 2 minutes each morning to see where we are, and then maybe the same thing again once as we get dressed for dinner.

 

With that said, the YC balconies are a bit wider and deeper than a typical balcony stateroom. They include two standard lawn chairs + and end table to set your drinks on.

 

There's enough room for a couple loungers but these are not provided... Not sure if this is something we could request as we don't have a need.

 

---

 

Scoring:

 

- Beds: 4.5/5 (if they had the pillows they offered, this would be a 5)

- Storage: 5/5

- Power Outlets: 3/5

- Bathroom: 4/5 (get some conditioner and this bumps up to a 5)

- Balcony: 4/5 (decent size but mostly unused)

- Overall: 4.5/5

[KeepCalmBearOn]

5 hours ago, alserrod said:

In the pools I go to in summer, the time in the paddling pool is reduced by 30 minutes in cases like this (if a small child vomits or has small feces in the water). It's a long time... but it's only 30 minutes. Enough so that the water has passed through the filters.
Pool staff check the water after 30 minutes and, if correct, let people back in.

That's why I'm surprised that it takes MSC 24 hours

 

Not sure where that pool is, but in California, vomit might be 30 minutes, but feces would close the pool for a day.

[FamilyAtSea.travel]

43 minutes ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

 

Not sure where that pool is, but in California, vomit might be 30 minutes, but feces would close the pool for a day.

This is what hours of hard work sharing my experience has boiled down to... Vomit vs 💩 in the pool 😝🫡

 

I wouldn't have it any other way!

Edited April 1 by FamilyAtSea.travel

[morpheusofthesea]

6 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

This is what hours of hard work sharing my experience has boiled down to... Vomit vs 💩 in the pool 😝🫡

 

I wouldn't have it any other way!

 The problem with television and social media is that it is aimed at the lowest common denominator (myself included).

[UWGRAD1]

15 hours ago, FamilyAtSea.travel said:

The only real drawback here is that MSC doesn't believe in hair conditioner for some reason.

 

The shower has a dispenser for body lotion (really?), but no conditioner.

Our shower started with that Body Lotion in the shower, but about 1/2 way through they swapped it out with "Hair Balm" which I can only assume is conditioner.