no1talks

Seaside-class ships can provide great YC experiences. The jury is still out, however, for YC in the new World-class group. There have been reports of too many YC passengers for the available space and staff on World Europa. We shall all have to wait a bit for World America's YC report card.

That's very competitive with Favog's poultry quote. (Most people do not know how expensive swans are.)

JWB is priced higher than MSC's best drink package. This means you would have to pay the difference in price. Mathematically, however, the JWB is still a better deal on MSC unless you drink several JWBs per day. The NCL per-day cost for the package upgrade to get JWB is more money than just buying a few per day, at the price difference, in YC.

If I recall them correctly, your options are listed below. Choose one and inform your butler. As a YC passenger, you will likely receive a message before your cruise, asking for your choice of alcohol, pillow, and newspaper. However, the responses are usually not forwarded to the butlers and you'll have to let them know in person anyway. Absolut Ketel One Tanqueray Bombay Sapphire Glen Grant Jack Daniel's (Old No.7) Two unexciting white wines Two unexciting red wines Champagne/sparkling wine Perhaps, if you are fortunate and your butler thinks it will fly, you may be able to request and receive a choice not on the list. However, if it is a pricier ask, probably not.

Just hope The Mighty Favog isn't working the concierge desk. (Tip o' the cap, if you know this one without Google-fu.)

Thanks to inflation, a wealth of anything isn't what it used to be.

Not burst any bubbles, but the quips & witticisms were written for the questions by the production team. The competitive game itself was on the level. The comedy was not.

No. As the 19th century was transitioning to the 20th, milk toast became very popular as what we would call a "super food" for the convalescing and infirm. It was the deemed a wonder of nutrition for anemic & sickly children as well as the superannuated & dyspeptic folks feeling the heavy hand of Father Time. It's still around in some regions as a warm thing to eat on a cold day dish. Thus, "milquetoast" was coined as a slam at the timid, nervous "ninety-eight pound weakling" in the mold of Caspar Milquetoast.

"Milquetoast" is, of course, a perjorative riff on the breakfast dish milk toast. Those of you who know for whom milk toast was usually prepared may wonder why it is not a modern feature on the breakfast menus of some ships.

Cash tips.

In my case, I wouldn't put it that way regarding Explora Journeys. It really would require an alternate reality for me to be on one of those ships, assuming the overly subdued color palette becomes a fleet-wide phenomenon. When the time comes for us to "cruise bigger" it will likely be in a Queens Grill suite on a Cunard ship, assuming Cunard continues to HQ one ship in North America.

Ah, but that is just your "butler mileage" my dear Morpheus. Others may need their Explora butler more. In an alternate reality, wherein the missus and I are already retired, living in Florida, and not dissuaded by the ship's blasé color palette, we would be in a Residence suite and our butler would be more busy than in YC. Unlike the priciest YC suites, the Apontes had the good sense to put guest bathrooms in some of the Residence categories. That means we would be entertaining fellow passengers in our suite for at least pre-dinner drinks and hors d'oeuvres if not in-room dinner service.

You might be surprised to find out how small the security teams are on many cruise ships. There are too few to have them ready to respond to every belligerent passenger called out for rule breaking. So, ships just let violations slide to avoid escalation. Carnival is a notable exception. When videos of passengers brawling with each other became regular viewing, security was increased.

Cruise staff not confronting passengers who are doing what they shouldn't is not just an MSC Yacht Club issue. I read all the active cruise line boards on CC and there are many reports of staff/management turning a blind eye and not enforcing their own policies. If this is because cruise lines want to minimize social media video posts of verbal confrontations during enforcement, things won't improve.

If gatecrashers are blending in and ordering drinks in the lounge or on the deck, they are slowing the service to a lesser or greater degree for those who paid an increased fare to legitimately receive the service. (Not to mention to possible connection the lunch moochers had to the elimination of the once-a-cruise seafood buffet. I'll let @morpheusofthesea explain that one.)

I assume those without a drink package could seamlessly make a purchase. MSC needs those impulse buys to offset the low-cost fares.

Have seen this and can verify. (It was sooo tasty.)

All the better to drive gelato sales. It is my considered opinion that MSC relies heavily on passenger spending on the ship and close-to-the-bone staffing levels to make their business model work. Whatever they give that most other cruise lines don't (honoring drink packages on their private island and letting you convert OBC to cash in the casino, as examples) has to be made up elsewhere.

Preparing for the larger World group of ships, I think. It would be nutty to have two ships call on the same day. Imagine 11k passengers swarming Ocean Cay from two full ships. 🤯

This is an excellent point. No one wants to unwittingly say to a crew member, "By the way, that mustache-twirling villain who made your life difficult three cruises ago says, 'Hello.'"

Oddly enough, T. Tim's peculiar rendition was not the most successful release of this song. The original was released in the late 20s by Nick Lucas, a performer not unlike Rudy Vallée and the song was #1 for more than ten weeks.

Going out on a limb here... They are not very good. Clearly not MSC house musicians. Probably brought on board as a trial gig. Based on the looks of the passengers, I'd say this is a Med cruise. MSC's Med cruises embark and disembark throughout the cruise, so even better for a quick on-and-off for some trial entertainment. How did I do, Stockjock?

To this day, I'm still shocked, shocked about that. 😉

Barbra Streisand Streisandish, or Robin Williams Streisandish?

That's the "psychotically affected" thing I mentioned earlier. 😉