FamilyAtSea.travel

Will they have a press release that details exactly what is new when she comes out of dry dock? We'll be on her June 4th so I'll be sure to get pictures and share it with you guys in a live thread, but hopefully we learn what's new before that sailing as there are a couple before ours.

Aside from the crying baby in the room beside me, I didn't notice any poor behavior from kids but since I have a couple of my own perhaps I'm just less aware since I'm used to it at home. I will say while it was a great experience, I don't think I'd pay much more for it than their current pricing. If we see YC pricing get to the Haven (NCL)/Retreat (Celebrity) pricing, I wouldn't be willing to spend the money since outside the YC, the ships aren't as nice as the other cruise lines (MSC ships have a lower sq ft per passenger rate for public spaces + a higher crew:passenger ratio. Be sure to complete your survey form! I did mine earlier.

Interesting - for some reason I thought you had to have a Retreat sea pass to even to to their deck on those ships. We loved the Ascent over Christmas... One thing Celebrity definitely has going for it over MSC is the entire ship is a great experience, not only the YC area.

Don't the Edge-class ships have a ship-in-a-ship concept with their staterooms? I haven't sailed in the Retreat on one yet, but that was my impression.

We just finished two weeks in the YC (Seascape + Seashore) and had a great time on both. We will be in the Retreat on the Equinox in early June and I'm disappointed that our room is not in an exclusive Retreat area and that there's no Retreat pool or live music in the Retreat Lounge. I'm hoping it will be enough to justify tripling the cost of the cruise vs a standard balcony, but I suspect we will regret upgrading (YC on a similar itinerary would have been about 25% less).

It was Melania from Italy. She was okay but not as great as Mustafa was on the Seascape. The only time I asked her for anything (ear plugs for the crying kid in the room beside me), she wasn't able to help.

Yes, I shared the outcome in the posts that you'll see as you read your way through things!

Agree that it's speculation, but I'm still pretty confident they will be adding a bar to the Retreat Sundeck (that or they're using false advertising as they show one on the website when booking the June 4 sailing I will be on).

Birthdays in the YC Restaurant This is trivial and really doesn't matter to me one way or the other, but I've been surprised this week to see the YC staff have to do the dog and pony show of singing and clapping to wish a happy birthday as if they were at Texas Roadhouse. I'm not the type to be bothered by this (it's fun honestly), but I was surprised to see they do it in such a nice restaurant. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures or video of things, but they do a great job with it.

Onboard Internet I upgraded the YC-included Browse internet to Browse & Stream for an additional $70 ($10/day). When the service works, it works extremely well (see speed test screenshot below), but the problem is it only works about 70% of the time. I'm not sure if this is an issue with Starlink or the onboard network, but it's a shame it's not more reliable since it is great when it works.

Dinner Review: Chef's Table at Butcher's Cut I'll start this by saying if you've ever done the Chef's Table on other cruise lines, this is not the group experience that you have on the others. What MSC calls the Chef's Table is a 4-course dinner with a view of the kitchen. This doesn't make it bad, it's just different (though I do typically enjoy the shared experience in a private dining room I've had on other ships outside MSC). With that said... --- The Greeting: Upon arriving at Butcher's Cut I was seated at a table directly across from the serving station near the kitchen. I was then immediately greeted by the Specialty Restaurant Supervisor who told me it would be a 4-course meal paired with a couple glasses of wine and then pointed to the chef who took a moment to wave at me and thank me for joining them. I asked how many people would be doing the Chef's Table that evening, and he replied, "including you sir? One 😝" So I guess perhaps this isn't a very popular experience. --- The Food: This isn't intended to come across as a complaint, but another key difference with the Chef's Table on MSC is that instead of it being a special meal you can't order off the menu, instead it is just a selection of items you can purchase a la carte directly from the menu (but the Chef's Table is a better value in terms of price vs ordering off the menu). --- First Course - Caesar Salad: This is a standard Caesar salad with nothing remarkable to share. The one thing to note is that it does include anchovies (but I'm sure you can ask for them to be left off if you want). It was a good salad though (better than their house chop salad I had for lunch today at Butcher's Cut). --- Second Course - Shellfish Platter: This is a pretty impressive platter and was very tasty. It included shrimp, King Crab, lobster, scallops, oysters, clams, and mussels all served on a bed of ice. This was paired with a Chardonnay. I'm guessing had I been doing this experience with somebody this would have been shared, so price wise it was probably a better value doing this solo. The shellfish was all great and I ate more of it than I thought I would! --- Third Course - Ribeye Steak: The ribeye was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was tender, juicy, and delicious. It comes with the four signature sauces you always get with the steak in Butcher's Cut: Bearnaise, Peppercorn, Forest Mushroom, and Chimichurri (the Bearnaise is the hands down winner of the four). It was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon that went very well with the steak. --- Final Course - Lava Cake w/ Vanilla Ice Cream: If you've sailed on MSC and like chocolate, odds are you've had the lava cake at least once. It was the same here as every other time I've ever had it, but it's still good. --- The Service: The service was a bit of a tag team approach between the Specialty Restaurant Supervisor (Sagar) and my Waiter (Archie), and they were both great. I've had three meals across two ships in Butcher's Cut and the service has been fantastic each time. Whatever they're doing in this restaurant, they should replicate across all the restaurants. --- Final Thoughts + Scoring: If I was scoring this based on how it compares to other Chef's Tables I've done on other cruise lines (Celebrity, Royal, and Carnival), it wouldn't score very high. As previously mentioned - it wasn't a special menu, it's not a shared experience as you meet new friends, and it's not in a private space. However, if you look past that and consider it for what it is - the food was good and the service was great. So for my scores: - Food: 4/5 (tasted great but the menu left something to be desired) - Service: 5/5 - Experience: 3/5 ---

I don't know who every entertainer is, but tonight it is Saul and he's fantastic. Great selection of songs and incredibly talented.

If they do, I haven't seen it... Pretty sure they don't.

Port Day - Costa Maya, Mexico I don't know if you guys are interested in the ports or not, but I'll share my experience anyways. My plan today was to check out Maya: Lost Mayan Ruins Waterpark. I was a bit concerned as you couldn't purchase tickets on their website (the functionality is broken) and when I messaged them to confirm they were open, it took them three weeks to message me back to say they were open and I'd have to purchase tickets the day of. Well I'm happy to report that I was able to purchase tickets in line (even though I was the only one). The disappointing news (for me, not you guys) is that they wouldn't let me film the slides or zip lines... This is a text-based forum, so you guys won't care, but as somebody who is also trying to get some video on this journey, this was disappointing on a personal level since they told me on Facebook this would be fine (don't worry, I'm not an obnoxious person interrupting people's private time). With that said, I was able to capture some things worth sharing: --- Maya - Lost Kingdom Ruin Waterpark If you guys love an adrenaline rush like me, this is a great spot. With that said, I'm pretty sure most of y'all are not adrenaline junkies like me, so you're probably not even reading this. But on the off chance anybody is still reading, I did enjoy the waterpark. Some things worth noting: - When you exit the ship and are trying to find your way out of the maze of a port, find a tunnel that takes you outside the walls of the port! (this is helpful advice for anyone leaving the port, not just people visiting the waterpark)... Their signage is terrible and I had to ask somebody how to find the taxis since I couldn't find them on my own. - The terminal has a lot going on, multiple pools with swim up bars, photo ops, stores, etc. - $120 is a lot for a waterpark ticket, but it's cheaper than Atlantis or Baja Bay in Atlantis ($160/ticket), and it was a good overall value in my opinion. - On a day with 4 big ships at the port I was expecting the waterpark to be busy, but the longest line I waited in (getting gear for the zip lines) was only 20 minutes, and the vast majority of slides had no line at all. - All of the slides and zip lines are accessed from the pyramid structure, so although I still logged over 20,000 steps for the day, it was nice having everything in a single location. - The slides are decent but nothing special. The two on the top level (Demon + Witch) and the green body slide are definitely the best of the group. The Hurricane was decently fun, but when you reach the funnel at the bottom, the seams are the most painful I've ever experienced. - It was fun having zip lines in addition to the slides. There's a zip line course with 6 sections and a ropes course + a second zip line "rollercoaster" that is a quick experience (less than a minute) but was fun. - In addition to the water slides and zip lines, there are also multiple pools with lounge chairs and cabanas. - I love lazy rivers, but this was the one drawback of the park... It was too lazy (i.e. there was very little water flow so I ended up having to paddle myself through a lot of sections). - With a couple small exceptions, the staff was friendly and helpful. --- Scoring: - Port Terminal: 3/5 - Getting to the Waterpark: 4/5 (an easy walk once you find your way out of the terminal) - Slides: 3/5 - Zip Lines: 4/5 - Ambiance/Design: 3/5 - Value: 4/5 - Staff: 4/5 ---

I asked the YC Concierge desk and they didn't know... If I'm in the TSL tonight I'll try to grab their name for you (I'm going the Chef's Table dinner at Butcher's Cut tonight).