no1talks

19 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

"What's next - dinner with the Captain in Thomas Keller!"

Not tonight. The service dog (and friends) will be in the casino.

21 hours ago, Chickadee910 said:

"...he says he’s on vacation so be happy he has long pants on and a dress shirt."

Yikes!

If that were my reply, my wife would respond, " It's my vacation, too, so guess what you'll have to be happy with?"

All kidding aside, I dress up on cruises. Way up. I don't go out on the deep blue sea, just to dress like I'm at Olive Garden.

🤣

I have been waiting to pull the trigger on a Divina YC booking for '24. In September, I received a quote from the TA, with the Voyagers Selections discount and it is the same price as the "new" Black Friday Voyagers price.

The $200 OBC is a new development, however, so I'm glad to have waited.

37 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"...express elevator service?"

Butler: This is the great Swarovski YachtClubvator.

YC Guest: It's an elevator.

Butler: It's a YachtClubvator. An elevator can only go up and down, but the YachtClubvator can go sideways and slantways and longways and backways...

YC Guest's spouse: And frontways?

Butler: ...and squareways and frontways and any other ways that you can think of.

47 minutes ago, zalusky said:

"...a plasticy looking tux..."

I've not seen a palsticy tux in a great many years. I'll look into booking an 80s New Wave nostalgia cruise. Plasticy tuxes are certain to turn up there! 😉

29 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

"Are you part of the staff?"

I'm not on any ship's staff.

I am a tradionalist and dress for dinner by 6 pm. If in port, I plan my day to allow for a timely return to the ship for such.

18 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

"And when it isn't that way, especially when it's done on purpose  by the ship's staff, guests are right to inquire and express their displeasure."

Unfortunately, the unspoken response will be akin to:

"Look, all the top-tier cruise lines are letting things slide to varying degrees. Where are you going to go?"

I make this observation as someone who is in a tux every evening of a cruise.

11 hours ago, JAGR said:

"I have to admit I'm not terribly fond of the one-week menu they instituted early this year (especially on our B2B earlier) but there is enough variety."

 

Zounds! Just to be clear, @JAGR, does YC now have just one dinner menu for an entire week? How many starters, mains, and desserts? We should very much miss nightly changes in the bill o' fare on our next YC cruise in March.

Is afternoon tea still a thing?!?

10 hours ago, JAGR said:

"Reminded me of Sydney Greenstreet (I know, showing my age!)"

"By gad, sir, you are a character. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing."

1 hour ago, SirWolf said:

"...copy/paste from MSC Cruises USA website."

Also from U.S. site...

We had Premium Extra earlier this year and it was $15.

I suspect the page you posted was transitional language from the period of drink package changes and IT never cleaned up the text.

Or, they are going back to $13 and haven't cleaned up the page I posted. Typical.

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

"Trans-Atlantic crossing on QE2, Bremerhaven to Southampton to New York:  one washcloth provided from Bremerhaven to Southampton for two people.  None after that."

Is not Cunard known for their personal enrichment opportunities on TA crossings?

Perhaps guests were supposed to crochet their own washcloths during the crafts classes.

1 hour ago, SirWolf said:

(includes all drinks up to $/€ 13 on all ships)

On U.S. cruises, the price cap is $15.00.
😉

31 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

"Even when we had to go to real muster stations, be quiet, and listen to instructions there were some folks who ignored the speakers.  Now, with only cabin videos we would assume even more folks completely ignore the instructions."

"It's muh vacation! I paid muh money and I'm gonna do what I want!"*

*For additional instances, please see responses in dress code posts.

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

"...a guy named Ismay..."

Well played, sir.

Well played, indeed.

5 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

"What will happen with Ocean House and the Yacht Club Beach, when they visit Ocean Cay?"

An added mystery...

What will be available to Explora cruisers when they are on OC? Stops at the island are mentioned in some Explora itineraries.

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

"So much of the fun for oenophiles is arguing about wines :)."

Which is why I'll drink pretty much any wine in a setting I find apropos. 

I won't drink Sutter Home White Zin with a $100 steak dinner, but I'll happily drink it if that is what my friend is serving at his burgers & brats cookout.

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

"Trying Opus One taught me a lesson that I have not forgotten!"

Opus from the 80s, perchance?

The two problems with Opus:

• The hype, which raises the bar too much.
• The inconsistency across vintages.
  
  If one who is into Bordeaux blends (heavy on the Cabernet) had a glass of the stuff and didn't know it was Opus, one would probably say, "Hmm, pretty damn good."
  
  But, if it is known to be Opus? "What the hell is this?!? I can't believe they bothered to even bottle this!!"
  (Unless they want to be cool. Then they'll go on and on about "black currant" and "rose petals." 🤣)

1 hour ago, asalligo said:

"...changing an embarkation port is not something that just happens with cruise lines."

As @travelberlin said, it happens.

Regent changed an embarkation port on us, switching from Miami, out to Barbados.

We canceled and put the money into our first YC booking.

50 minutes ago, stp_mmh5 said:

"Did you hear about the reviewer who writes too much and has terrible puns? well he just pasta-way..."

I did, in fact. As I understand it, the attending physicians were heard to have said, "We cannoli do so much."

(Next time, I'll leave the pun and take the cannoli.)

17 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

(What are those called?? I don't think I've ever seen a proper name for those type of aggravating hangers.)

They are generally referred to as "hotel hangers" or plain, ol' anti-theft hangers.
😉

23 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

"Yet as we exited the Uber, one of the seemingly 'regular' porters grabbed our bags and said 'This way to the YC.' "

Wow! MSC is stepping up their celebrity endorsement game!

2 hours ago, asalligo said:

Duplicate

If you're going to make a duplicate post, please use another language for each duplicate.

🤣

7 minutes ago, Gatordad1967 said:

"I will just warn you, it is addictive..."

Honestly, though, I think we'll be okay when we hit Diamond and book an Aurea spot on a pre-YC ship from the Musica or Lirica classes. Many, though not all, niceties from YC would be covered.

I'm really curious about one thing in particular: Do the ships from those two classes serve afternoon low tea in one of the lounges? I posted a topic asking for hints on how YCers improve their experience on ships from "Before Yacht Club," but I received no replies. 

25 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 

What?!!? They don't have the Daily Planet!! What kind of trawler-within-a-trawler clip joint is MSC running, anyway? No Daily Planet!!!


 

3 hours ago, styles27 said:

"We already won’t book anything shorter than a 7 day as we’ve found them to always be lacking no matter what line we’ve been on."

I'm aware the two and three-day cruises can be problematic, with more "rowdies" among the passengers. However, I would have thought a five or six-day cruise would be pretty much business as usual.

Although I'm not one to seek out an almost-one-week cruise, I'll keep your observation in mind. Can you elaborate on what you've found to be the flies in the ointment with those cruises? Thank you, in advance, for your thoughts.