kelleherdl

Sept 9

I got a look at a schedule 30 days out, but I have no idea how early schedules are developed.

We are doing the glacial river rafting run in Akureyri. They promised dry suits, but I still imagine it will be frosty.

Thanks for the suggestion, but the post I quoted addressed regional WINES.

Our clothing selection, just our style with no prejudice towards other’s choices For 18 days of Iceland to NY I’m taking everything from my Carhartt jacket to my fine Norwegian sweater to a blazer and sport coat. Given the itinerary you will see me in more long-sleeve sport shirts in contrast to polos. We are Americans who still dress a little above the US standard for resort casual, particularly for a more relaxed dinner at one of the table service restaurants. You won’t find me in a jacket at the Emporium on those nights we eat there.😀. My wife will take several smart dresses, sweaters and shawls, but daytime around the ship will be resort casual or ‘less’ around the pools.

I trust that won’t be the case in the Caribbean. 😀😀😀😀

Which itinerary? My travel advisor sent me a day by day schedule for my cruise. I would assume you can work through your travel adviser to work with an EJ Ambassador. I was able to choose my preferred class and day. The classes were itinerary specific. I think I need to confirm everything once we board.

Doesn’t the Wellness Center have lockers, showers and changing areas? I have never understood the behavior of going around the ship in a bathrobe. Even reasonable coverup/shorts can be worn for going to pool areas.

Unlike our house, the ship can get out of the way of hurricanes. Plus you may get lucky, need to divert, delay return to port and get a few extra days.

Agree wholeheartedly with you on Seaside’s Ocean Cay specialty restaurant. The only time I had decent dinner there was dinner with the Captain and guests. The offerings were completely different from the regular menu. On Seaside I will always use my Diamond meal for lunch at Teppanyaki (the sushi menu).

How is access to the YC ‘buffet’ controlled if it’s just a section on Deck 19 that used to be available to everybody?

Our assigned time for Sep 9th is 1:00.

I called the EJ Ambassador number myself. I got confirmation of my two reservations right over the phone. We like to eat early (6:30) so finding openings was a piece of cake. We have Sakura and Marble&Co. We are not interested in the supplement paid Anthology. I may also do one of the Chef’s Kitchen classes. I’m personally not worried about getting dining times. Even the Marketplace looks fabulous to us. But if the Master wants to invite us to dine with her I doubt we will decline. 😀

Ah Graham, for a Scotsman you are being overly generous. But thank you for the cross the pond handshake. Windstar and Emerald on the same holiday. Somebody’s lottery ticket hit. We will probably never go the super-luxury route. I understand Emerald is under the senior management of a former MSC Cruises USA executive. I’m sure he had been at other lines before that. I did have a second go round of the Lesser Antilles back to back booked but changed to World America when those bookings opened. If anyone on here ever wants a nice two weeks in Yacht Club in the Southern Caribbean Hamrag and I both heartily endorse that cruise on MSC. You can join in Barbados, Point a Pitre, or Fort d’ France.

I’m neither a TA nor an ‘influencer’, whatever that really means; nor a Residence passenger. So I will be commenting on my ‘steerage’ experience. 😀

There is a possible alternative view. We booked three EJ cruises early on. We avoided the absolute first cruises because of possible last-minute ship delays (did happen) and possibly teething pains (may be happening). Our first cruise is Sept 9, second Nov. We will be paying truly fabulous fares for those two, less than equivalent Yacht Club YC2’s with far less interesting itineraries. We are absolutely looking forward to these cruises, even if we will need to ‘endure’ some hiccups.

If you are in Yacht Club do not show up at 3:30. Show up as early as you comfortably can. Firstly, you are throwing away 1/2 of your embarkation day. Secondly, most of the shoreside Yacht Club butlers are starting to re-board; and the YC checkin area may be standing down. We arrived a little late one cruise (not by choice) and the shore side YC experience was definitely winding down.

I chuckle when folks scoff at Canadian Club and other presumed ‘lessor’ liquors. What liquors were the base for the great COCKTAILS served worldwide today? They were the wonderful liquors from Canada and Europe that survived their arduous journeys to America during our failed attempt to mandate sobriety.

I’m sure they were very happy to get the connecting staterooms back in the inventory.

When we jumped from HAL Neptune Suites to MSC Yacht Club I thought I would miss them. Nope! Too many other reasons to love the Yacht Club. I doubt we will ever sail HAL again.

Yes you can. Just walk up to the podium and ask for a reservation. Let them know if you are a Diamond Voyager Club member. They will know you are Yacht Club when you give them your stateroom number. While most often its more convenient to use the YC Concierge, you don’t need to.

The pictures on here and on social media are convincing me that ‘jumping on board’ early with some bookings during the inaugural season with the spectacular early price incentives was a pretty good decision. September 9 and November 3 here we come. But of course all of us are still sympathetic to those who were not able to sail the earlier cancelled cruises.

Personally, I would consider this to be one of those instances in which ‘another passengers behavior’ is negatively impacting my cruise experience as mentioned in the acceptance of carriage agreement we all must sign to sail. I will report and expect action by the crew.

They do literally everything. In addition to providing all sorts of Concierge services for your shipboard experience, they are an extension of Guest Services. So the can do it all. They can even will arrange for small amounts of currency if arranged in advance.

Ocean Cay is in the Bahamas. Those folks could find themselves in a very unpleasant Bahamian jail if the Bahamas police choose that day to do an enforcement action. MSC controls the island security force not the police. In either case the ship’s Master could take action. When we’ve checked in at Port Canaveral we have often walked through areas with the aromatic evidence of banned substance consumption. Folks getting in that last minute one before boarding.