no1talks

Don't menschen it, Morpheus; we're all here for the C.C. team.

Yes, assuredly so.

Here's Cary Grant NOT in Yacht Club...

For our February cruise, I almost packed an ascot for afternoon tea. Maybe for a Mediterranean cruise.

The greatest indignity? It's just a bottle of pink Prosecco on ice.

"It was hard to know how to feel. I had never been in a battle like this one."

I'll take overdressed every single day of the week and twice on Sunday. As I've posted elsewhere: I'm going to the trouble of traveling to the middle of the ocean. I'll damn sure dress better than dinner at Olive Garden. (That's daywear. It's tux-time at 6pm.)

Three grand!?! Was this guy the doctor??

You know, steerage is actually loads of fun. If the icebergs can be avoided, of course.

With the recent agro levels on CC boards, perhaps MSC can do their part by adding a new embarkation day excursion to New York sailings. It would be a predawn trip to Weehawken, available only in groups of four.

No argument here. 😁

But... But, what about the "Equilibrium" and "Slippery Slope of Expectation" hanging over luxury cruisers heads? 😉 Seriously, though, I'm with you. I spent plenty of years in a tip-reliant career. I did pretty well back then, but I had to show plenty of initiative. Now that I have the wherewithal, I like paying it forward to tipped service professionals in a larger manner than I could in my younger days.

She should be more reticent when dealing with porters. Especially in Miami. There's a zoo there, you know. Easy to "misplace" things.

Favorite Wilde quote: "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

These YC-but-not-YC rooms fascinate me. For example, if YC is an enclave within the ship proper, one would be accurate to refer to the duplex suites as exclaves of YC. Infrequently-used geographical terms aside, I also wonder what controversey might arise if "duplexers" were to permit entry of guests who are not berthed in YC. The duplex rooms are outside the portcullis and curtain walls of YC, (to extend the castle metaphor) so who is there to object? I could certainly see the missus and myself inviting another couple to our YC duplex for bridge or euchre. However, I'd make sure any proffered refreshments were on my own dime and not, for example, from Top Sail.

Free cruise e-mails are up, it would seem. I have seen some posts on the Carnival board regarding unexpected freebies. I guess cruise lines are hoping to get the rooms occupied at a slight loss, in hopes of profitable onboard spending.

If I were on a butler-equipped cruise and having a bath drawn was an option, I'd only accept if I could smoke a cigar. Then, the bubble bath becomes muy macho.

Those are, in actuality, the safest kind of safes. Stay safe, my friends.

Royal and Celebrity also have shareholders to placate. MSC (the cruise line) is, in essence, only indebted to itself. Their COVID shutdown financial assistance came from MSC (the freight shipping company).

Don't forget: The YC dining room is happy to prepare meal requests with a day's notice. If the ingredients are on the ship, they'll make it. My wife and I had delicious off-menu paella on our recent Meraviglia cruise. Sometimes the requests suffer due to differences in culinary culture between Europe and America. I read an account from a cruiser who requested a sausage pizza for the kids. The pizza had cut-up breakfast sausage added.

@rkacruiserwe availed ourselves of all these amenities as well. (So much dropped-off chocolate!) I should add, however, only one of the tea services was the posh, loose-leaf preparation. Also worth mentioning to others: Access to the Aurea "Thermal Suite" is included, should a YCer wish to stroll over to the spa. (We didn't go. Hopefully next time.) We were denied one request, however. on embarkation day, I asked the maître d' if we might have the YC chef prepare and old-school multicourse dinner for my wife and I on the actual formal night. (I say "actual" because every night is formal night for me. 😊) It would have been Chef's choice for individual small courses; I just requested number and type. The maître d' respectfully declined, but we were surprised when every one of our dinners began with an amuse-bouche and included a shrimp cocktail course. So, clearly there are limits to what accommodations can be made for YC guests. I suppose, for example, if one's YC cabin had a bathtub, one would be rebuffed upon asking the butler to draw a bath. (As I understand it, this is a task one cruise line in particular offers, keeping scented oils and bath beads on hand.) I really do suspect the added expense of other lines' ship-within-a-ship experiences would be examples of the law of diminishing returns. Pay increased fares of 40%, 70%, even more, but do not receive a commensurate ROI. There's no need to look elsewhere anytime soon.

Thanks again for the information. There are aspects to this process which have me quite curious. For example... Is each discount voucher good for a cruising couple or must each adult occupant earn a discount? Does the casino award the discount during short cruises, assuming the same 1200 point benchmark is hit? Is there a maximum value for the 30% or a limit on cruise length? Can the discount be applied to a cruise that consists of B2B segments booked as one? It seems to me, absent any limitations in the T&Cs, a couple could save a tidy sum on a long and more expensive cruise among MSC's offerings. They need only pop onto a 3-day excursion nine months earlier and ring up those 1200 points with acceptable risk of coming out behind, assuming an average mix of wins/losses. Obviously, if both need the award, the risk-reward equation is quite different.

Perhaps you could share some observations regarding the differences, if it's not an imposition? I thank you.

Yes indeed! I was recently explaining to a co-worker why I take three formal wear suites on a cruise. When I mentioned the noth/south latitude formal wear customs, she looked at me like I had a third eye in my forehead.

My wife is going to try to rack up enough "action" to receive one of those 30% discount vouchers. As I understand it, the discount is not applicable to the top two YC room categories. Other than that, do you have any procedural tips to share? Thank you, kindly, in advance.