Best Cat Mom

4 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

I'm one of the few that thinks hazelnut is over-rated!

Don't say that on an Italian ship! Isn't nocciola the national nut? LOL

2 hours ago, mnpurple said:

I am getting some really good ideas here, too bad my next cruise is still several months away.  We will be at an all-inclusive sooner and I might test some of these ideas there!

Can't help you at an AI, but Holiday Coffee should be known on Divina, Fantasia and Seaside by now. 🙂

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

On Celebrity Cafe al Bacio has an offering called Affogato, vanilla gelato & expresso

My favorite YC dessert is (my own concoction of) coconut ice cream with Kahlua on top. First had it in Cancun in the 1980s and have loved it ever since.

We "teach" the YC bartender to make what we call Holiday Coffee: over ice, 1 shot espresso, 1 shot Bailey's, 1 shot Kahlua, 1 shot Coconut Rum. We find it best just after breakfast, before moving to Bloody Marys. 🙂

5 hours ago, Hutcha said:

Out of the 14 cabanas, the 4 immediately around the pool are reserved for the owner's and royal suites. The rest are first come, first served.

Is this different on Seascape from Seaside? On Seaside, you reserve the "extra" cabanas with the YC concierge for the entire day. Only one cabin gets each cabana each day and a sign is put on the cabana stating "Reserved."

9 hours ago, Hutcha said:

Overall, this was our least favorite night in the YC dining room.

The vitello tonnato is one of our favorites. We can't get enough of that one.

11 hours ago, Hutcha said:

I forgot to mention my embarkation lunch. They knocked it out of the park and set my expectations high for the remainder of the cruise.

The octopus soup is incredible! Love to start a cruise with octopus. 🙂

Seaside YC had hand soap in bar form last week.

We've done it that way on the Sea class (Seaside) as well as the Fantasia class (Divina). Should work fine for you.

We use up "extra" OBC by turning it into cash in the casino. Choose a slot machine, follow the instructions to load money from your cruise card to the slot machine, then cash out. Take the paper receipt from the cash out to the cashier and they will give you cash. Spend the cash however you wish. 🙂

Also not covered by any package -- the Speakeasy venue.

On 9/14/2023 at 10:22 AM, perakcruiser said:

Actually nobody deals with an Italian company because of their customer service.

Exactly! Our experiences with MSC mirror what we've experienced on land holidays in Italia -- including bringing face cloths/wash cloths for our first MSC cruise. (We were in Yacht Club so we did not need them, but brought them just in case. They are always in our "to go" bag anyways.) MSC meets our expectations for an Italian company but exceed sour expectations for a cruise. 🙂

Thanks! We're headed to Port Canaveral today for a Caribbean cruise. Might have to book a new one while on board. 🙂

Browse -- without Stream -- was good enough for us to view a 30 minute YouTube with no interruptions for buffering. Lots of variables can affect it at any given time though, such as volume of users and what they are browsing/streaming.

25 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

And I'll be kicking and screaming asking for a refund

Totally agree. Can't stand smoke, no matter the source. If there is nothing that affects other passengers, then I have no opinion. But smoke? Not for us.

2 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Nope.  Tried it. Denied.

Oh, I'm so sorry. We were on Divina and Mauricio was the manager of Le Muse there for our two recent sailings. We had servers Edgar and Onel for the two cruises and they both told us that they were looking forward to having our "leftover" lamb. We were happy to help them out.

3 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Never, ever heard of this

Try it. They are very accommodating!

9 hours ago, Preziosa said:

Do you order special dinner 1 Day before

We usually talked it over with our server and the restaurant manager at dinner the night before. Sometimes they'd ask us at lunch about that night's dinner. I suspected that they were in the mood for lamb one of the times they suggested it to us for dinner. 🙂

4 hours ago, pirate4me2 said:

Seaside is experiencing an engine issue

Sorry to hear about the engine issues affecting you but fortunately you're in better shape than most since you drove. Didn't Seaside have engine issues a year or two ago also? We're set to board 3 September so any info you can share is appreciated.

Sorry to hear about the engine issues affecting you. Didn't Seaside have engine issues a year or two ago also? We're set to board 3 September so any info you can share is appreciated.

43 minutes ago, sbcs5390 said:

Do you pay the a la carte price or I assume it has just been taken care of

We've never been charged because we're dining in YC. But we also don't ask for any special preparation that might be BCish. They source the meat from BC but prepare it YCish. Hope that makes sense. 😉

On 8/24/2023 at 2:38 AM, Encapsulated said:

how is Yacht Club steak compared to BC?

We've pre-ordered off menu entrees in YC and they always come from BC. I especially love the BC lamb. The staff in the YC restaurant love when we special order the lamb too. Apparently, they ask BC for a large amount and then have a special meal themselves with whatever is left from cooking ours.

On 8/24/2023 at 12:28 PM, sverigecruiser said:

We love their risotto too but the oysterrisotto really doesn't look nice!

Is it on a plate? Ours was in a bowl which did not let it spread out so far. Looks almost like breakfast oatmeal in your image -- well, except for the oyster. 🙂

4 hours ago, CruisinPandora said:

There seems to be a shortage of wash cloths not just on MSC (read about it here on CC) so I brought some extra's with me.

Just like traveling to Italy -- always bring your own wash cloths/face cloths, just in case.

On 8/19/2023 at 9:58 AM, FiremedicMike151 said:

I came across a really affordable 7 day cruise on MSC on a boat that doesn't have YC, and am trying to decide between the suite and the balcony.

We have also seen some itineraries on non-YC ships that interest us. Do the suites on non-YC ships have butlers or other YC-ish benefits? I would think if they do, that would be a good reason to splurge on the suite.