Best Cat Mom

I see that Felipe Merega is listed tonight. Hope that we aren't too late to see him after dinner.

It is by the forward-most cabin on both sides of the ship and opens into TSL. It's a convenient short cut if your room is forward of the hallway doors that open to the middle corridor. It is also a good way to exit TSL if there is musical entertainment and you don't want to walk right past them.

Day 1 - Embarkation Day in Miami We woke up to our 7am alarm and made it downstairs to breakfast at 8:30am. It seemed rather busy so BCD bussed a 4-top to another 4-top that had been used and abandoned. I grabbed us some coffee and juice and silverware/napkins to show that the table was claimed. We enjoyed some made-to-order omelets with typical sides from the buffet offerings. We headed back to the room and packed the few items we'd used. At 10:20am, I ordered an Uber for us. Apparently, our driver was dropping someone off at the same time and the car was there immediately -- never had that happen before and it was a nice surprise. We had seen that there were 3 ships in port this morning: Carnival, Royal Caribbean and MSC. (We also knew this from the shuttle bus the previous day.) As we approached terminal D where we'd seen online that Seascape awaited us, the back up of cars was visible. We instructed our driver to use the far right lanes that allowed drop off right in front of the YC tent. When we exited our vehicle, there were attendants there to immediately tag our luggage with YC labels. There was also a beverage area for YC guests with water and juices, but we saw regular guests also partaking of the offerings. At 10:50am, the butler appeared at the tent and took us plus one other guest inside to security. By 10:53am, we had passed through security and received our wrist bands and cruise cards in the YC check in area. The butler then led us to the ship entry point -- bypassing an empty YC holding area with more refreshments -- where we showed our cruise cards and proceeded up the gangway ramp to the ship. Halfway up the ramp, the first butler passed us to another butler and that is where we saw our first familiar face. It was James, who we had sailed with on Divina last year. He recognized us immediately and greeted us warmly. Any of you who have been in YC know this feeling, that you're returning to a place where you know that you'll be treated well and almost like family. That first familiar face is the start of a great holiday. 🙂 James told us three that we'd stop by the muster station on the way to TSL. We are so pleased that this stop at muster during initial boarding has seemingly become the norm. We showed our cruise cards to the muster station attendant and she asked about the two other people in our cabin. What? There were only two of us. She checked the other guest boarding with us and he also had an additional guest in his cabin. We joked that this must be a new YC benefit -- everyone is given an additional person. 🙂 The attendant told us that these were most likely the people from the last cruise and their names had not yet been removed. We resumed our walking with James to TSL, joking all the while about quickly charging some spa appointments or jewelry shop items to those previous guests' credit cards. At 11:08am, we arrived in TSL to find about 20 people already there. BCD wanders off to the restroom and bartender Kassandra stops him to give him a handful of corks and wires! She remembered him from one of our Divina cruises, but importantly remembered he needed supplies. YC Director Dani was circulating and introduced himself to us. This us our first cruise with him, but we've read great things about him here on CC so we felt we were off to a pretty good start so far. Embarkation days continues next...

Based on what we saw last night, I would say that it is not at all necessary. BCD wore a suit and tie and I had on a dress and heels, but that's because we like to dress up. We did eat late (arrived around 8:15pm) so could've missed a lot of people. Never saw a tux, but did see other suits/ties and sports jackets. And there was one sports jacket with jeans. I'd say you would be fine as long as you're not in shorts. They have stated in the programs each day:

Bernard was in TSL last night, playing guitar and singing. He was with us on Divina and remembered us. Very enjoyable! We don't partake of the other venues so I'll leave those to @morpheusofthesea.

We'll have to check and report back.

The Amex Platinum also covers medical emergency evacuation. I'm not positive how much but I think it was around $1M or so.

We always try for starboard side on TSL deck, just not the first 4 or so cabins that have the steel balcony wall. And that secret door is so convenient!

Oh, that's what that was! 😁

So far, sunny and hot -- mid to high 80s.. We saw some lightning last night from the TS restaurant windows but never noticed wet surfaces.

We boarded our first leg and enjoyed our Pre-Departure Beverages (PDBs). We had an uneventful flight with the usual snacks and beverages. We arrived a bit early to Atlanta into Terminal A and were pleasantly surprised to find out that our next flight was also in Terminal A. If you've changed planes at ATL, you know how rare that is. As were were deplaning, the flight attendant thanked me for being a million miler. That doesn't happen so much these days now that I'm retired. It set a good mood for me for the rest of the day. We had a 1.5 hour layover in ATL so we had some snacks and drinks in the Crown Room. We were in the Terminal A lounge in the middle, by PF Chang's. Apparently, they've added an area on the first club level now and it appeared to have food and beverages available for a quick stop. We sat upstairs in my usual area by the windows and enjoyed the offerings. We headed to the gate and boarding was already in progress so we walked right on and were served PDBs. The couple across from us asked if we were going on a cruise and I thought, do we look like cruise people? Should I be worried? Is looking like a cruise person a good thing or a bad thing? I'm still not quite sure. Apparently they had just chatted with a couple at the gate who happened to be on their same cruise on Carnival out of Miami. They said that they were new to cruising and were trying each line once When I said we were on MSC, they said that they'd never heard of it. I kinda cheered in my head. We've gotta keep YC a secret!!! We're drinking our PDBs, watching the security briefing and then there's an interruption. Apparently a passenger had an emergency and needed to deplane. They reconnected the jetway and the passenger left. We went back to the beginning of the safety video. We could hear the crew talking since we were in row 2 and they said once the video is interrupted, it must be replayed from the start. We (finally) take off and BCD orders Woodford and Coke Zero. Flight attendant gives him a look and says she prefers rocks or neat. He says that the hint of cinnamon and vanilla in the Coke Zero really works. She passes by later and says she likes to shave cinnamon into water to make cinnamon ice to serve with her bourbon. BCD has filed this idea away for future consideration. We land and everyone around us starts chatting. Two other couples around us also ask if we're going on a cruise and we realize that flying into Miami means that’s you're probably going on a cruise. Interestingly, we've flown into Miami at least half a dozen times but this is the first time anyone mentioned cruising. I fear we have come upon the age where we fit a certain "profile." And I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or not. We retrieve our bags and head to the door for the shuttle. It takes a few minutes but then it comes and all these people rush it. One has a scooter and his family is struggling to get the driver to acknowledge that he can board. BCD, a retired firefighter, decides that he must help the driver so begins slinging bags into the back of the shuttle as best he could to best fill up the back area to maximize space. Another passenger says that her family member has a scooter and wants to make sure it gets on board. The driver is kinda clueless so BCD and a few others make sure that the scooter and its rider is able to get on board and off at the hotel, which can be a lengthy process. At the hotel, BCD offloads the luggage with the driver and helps all the people get their luggage. We checked in and received a digital room key while we were on the shuttle so we did not need to stop at the front desk, which was a good thing because there was a huge line at the desk when we got in there from unloading the shuttle. We had chosen a new hotel for this trip, an Embassy Suites, instead of our usual Hyatt Place. We had started staying at the Hyatt Place before Covid, when they had an airport shuttle and I was the top tier in their frequent guest program. They eliminated the shuttle during Covid and have never replaced it. The Embassy is two hotels away from Hyatt Place and has a shuttle so we have now tapped into my Hilton points to give this property a try. Here are some images of our King 2-room suite: We went right to our room, freshened up and headed back to the evening social just as it was starting at 5:30pm. We stood in line for 2 margaritas at the bar area they were using for the free drinks, which is different from the pay bar on the other side of the atrium. I was surprised that they did not ask for our room keys or anything else to identify us as guests. BCD wound up drinking both margaritas, as they were not to my liking. There was a buffet of snacks which included chips/salsa and crudités/veggies. We found a quiet area and within about 15 minutes are joined by the family we had met on the bus. We chatted awhile then left to have dinner in the hotel restaurant. Surprisingly, it was a decent menu and reasonably priced. I ordered the 305 salad (a cobb salad) with chicken and BCD ordered a chicken quesadilla. We were impressed with the portion sizes, making the prices even more attractive: I had two glasses of sauvignon blanc with my meal and BCD went back to the free bar for 4 more margaritas over the course of dinner. I noticed other guests bringing free drinks into the restaurant. There was no issue at all from the staff, which was another nice surprise. The hotel also had a very talented singer, who we commented could be considered YC-ready. We headed back to the room around 9pm and set the alarm for 7am. Embarkation day comes next...

I might ask if it is possible to reserve vs. claim in a first-come-first-serve process.

Question from BCD: What is the brand name on that device? The image gets blurry when I zoom.

Grateful for your lovely comments! And, by the way, you are much nicer than you give yourself credit for. Thank you for the exchange. I think we may have come out ahead. 😉

We have only encountered Kassandra so far. She remembered BCD from a previous voyage and bestowed a handful of car supplies on him when we first boarded and were escorted to TSL. We'll keep watch for these two now!

Thanks so much for this video! It looks very intriguing, but I don't think it's worth 'braving' an exit from the YC enclave. Ya think I can ask a butler to go 'fetch' me something? (See, I'm trying, I'm really trying!)

We were able to reserve the pergolas on Seaside at the YC Concierge Desk. We had a B2B and Raj (Concierge extraordinaire) allowed us to reserve before the new guests even boarded. When I said something about maybe not using one every day, he encouraged us to reserve them anyway, saying something like, "Why not? You can reserve every day right now."

That tells me that we will never get one. Too early for us. Unless we stay up really, really late one night and can claim one before sunrise. We will "settle" for the air conditioning in TSL.

Bummer! Would you like us to try to bring you back a lobster roll -- or two? Or anything else that strikes your fancy from the menu? It really is unfortunate that they never have those items in the YC restaurant at other times. Maybe a special order is, um, in order?

I'm trying, sir, I'm trying. That native NYer in me has been suppressed for so long but you're fostering her reincarnation.

You interloper!! 😁

Really surprised. We have not ventured up there yet. When the door to the patio opens in TSL, the blast of hot air is so oppressive that we just moved to a different table further from the door. You two are heartier souls than us!

I believe that Delta now does not allow any guests for free. Or maybe they have a membership option that does allow guests? I'm not sure. Now that I am retired, I use my Amex Platinum card for my membership vs. using my Delta Diamond and choosing the membership as one of my annual rewards. Tell me more about this "15 visits a year." What membership type has a limit of 15? When I was still working, I was in the clubs at least 3 times a week, sometimes more. The first trip we took after Covid and my retirement, they still greeted my in (my not home airport of) Atlanta by saying, "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. BCM." Scary to know that they still remembered me!

Embassy Suites by the airport. My next post will have some more about that hotel. Is the Marriott the one overlooking the cruise ship port? I keep telling BCD that we should try there, since I have lifetime status and will get some nice perks.

Or an Amex Platinum card, which comes with the insurance included as well as the lounge membership, car rental higher status, Uber $150 annual credit, Saks Fifth Avenue $100 annual credit, etc.