mica178

Love Ercan!

You are so lucky to have Arnold. He is the best! I had a different butler, who was fine, but Arnold made sure to take care of everyone in YC.

If you want to reduce how much you pack, you can send off laundry. I bought a laundry package before I sailed for 20 pieces of clothing. I informed my butler of the package, and I was able to split the laundry into two batches. It was very easy, and they did a fine job cleaning. It's not free, obviously, but it's not too expensive, all things considered. My butler alluded to laundry packages after you board, but we had already purchased our package, so I don't know how good of a deal I could have received. Also, you don't have to dress up that much in the YC dining room. Even on gala night, there were men were in polo shirts with khakis and women in the female equivalent (sundresses, nice tops with slacks). I wore flip flops on casual dinner nights (my flip flops do have sparkles on them, but they are hardly fancy), and no one said boo to me. I'd guess that as long as you are clean and polite, they'll let you get away with pretty much anything at YC. 😉 My family managed with the equivalent of a backpack and a rolling carry-on suitcase each. I did have a separate duffle bag for dirty laundry for the way home since we didn't send everything to get cleaned on the ship (and then I forgot about said duffle bag when we were exiting the ship -- oops!) and I didn't want dirty laundry making the clean stuff smelly. If you are a wine drinker, ask to speak with the sommelier at the YC (Mayur, I believe, is his name). They usually serve wine by the glass, but if you know what you're talking about, the sommelier has YC only bottles that he can bring to tables that are included in the YC cost. Most are superior to the stuff they pour by the glass.

I recommend taking a 10 minute taxi ($4 per person each way) to Nohoch Kay. There's a restaurant and beach. There's an AI rate of $50/pp ($25 for kids) that includes open bar and use of their water equipment. Or you can order a la carte and still use the nice beach with white sand and warm, shallow water. Sodas were ice cold and $2, their excellent guacamole was $6.

Did you notice any of this hubbub when you disembarked? I think it trumps the pot smell the 7/30 Seasode passengers complained about!!! https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/2-sisters-allegedly-smuggle-40k-worth-of-cocaine-on-florida-cruise-ship/

They found my duffle! I just got a text from chargerback.com. It'll be about $40 to have FedEx ground shipping bring it back home, but that certainly beats a road trip back to Port Canaveral and/or having to replace all those items.

Have you joined the FB group for your cruise? I know that there were meets ups planned (I missed ours because the rain delayed our boarding).

For the 7 day cruise I was on, the seafood buffet was the last full day (the seaday).

Paradisus Playa del Carmen is a favorite. Atelier at Playa Mujeres used to have a family section called Estudio, but they shut that down, which is too bad as they had the BEST kid's club. Majestic Elegance in Playa Mujeres was pretty good, although their premium product is adults only.

You can definitely be in shorts and a tee shirt at the TSL.

The white outfits varied. I wore a black and white patterned dress. There were people in shorts and a tank top, especially at the main party. Many of the YC guests did not wear white but still attended the white party. On non-gala nights, pretty much anything goes. My husband and son definitely went wearing shorts and a tee shirt a few nights, although my preference was for them to wear at least a polo with khaki shorts. (I mean, the waiters were in tails!) My daughter and I wore dresses most nights, but on the casual nights, they were ordinary sundresses. Jeans and a nice top would be perfect!

So, parting thoughts now that we're a day off the Seaside. We had a nice vacation. My kids loved the novelty of the cruiseship. We received excellent service from pretty much everyone in YC. The kids club was great for my 5 year old, but my 7 year old didn't love it. The drinks were fine. The cooked food was very good, although temperature was occasionally an issue. The visual appearance of the Seaside was beautiful, and while our deluxe YC balcony cabin was small (to us), it was very functional and stylish. The beds were comfortable, and the shower's water pressure was surprisingly excellent. We've travelled to a bunch of similarly priced AI resorts in Mexico, where we also get excellent service. I'd say that the food on the cruise ship was about on par with higher end AI food, although on MSC, you get Italian food, and at the AI, it's Mexican food, so it's a preference thing. The fruits are better at an AI, where they can get the seasonal, local fruit. On MSC, most of the fruit was underripe melon and pineapple, presumably chosen to last the duration of the 7 day cruise. At an AI, the fruity drink mixers are also fresh fruit (fresh passion fruit margarita with chili pepper rim? While sitting in the pool at the poolside bar? Yes please). Most of the fruit drink mixers on MSC were pre-made and not fresh, and therefore not as varied or tasty. My son was disappointed not to be able to have fresh mango during our cruise. I will say that the wines served on MSC were much better than what I've had at any AI. While cruises go to several cities for a few hours, when we go to an AI, we get to stay in that community for several days. Granted, we often do not leave the AI, but then again, many people do not leave the ship. We had some a couple great excursions in Roatan and Costa Maya. And we didn't mind getting out into the town of Cozumel, although we didn't love the dolphin excursion. However, when we go to an AI in Cancun, we can take a longer excursion without worrying about an all-aboard time. On the other hand, cruiseship kids clubs allowed us to leave the kids there for the day if we wanted to go on shore alone, whereas most AI kids clubs do not allow both parents to leave the resort without the kid. There are pluses and minuses to both. I think while my kids still enjoy kids clubs and don't want to do museum hopping, we'll continue with the convenience vacationing of cruises and AIs, depending on location, weather, and deals.

I called MSC again today, and apparently they outsource their lost and found to Chargerback.com. So the claim has been filed, my fingers are crossed. The monetary value of the missing items isn't huge, and I got the duffle bag for free more than a decade ago. But if this service works, I'll still be thrilled.

Arnold is the best! I had Alexis, and he was fine, not great. But I interacted with Arnold daily, and he was the adopted favorite of pretty much everyone I knew in YC. During the YC cocktail party, he got the most cheers compared to anyone else, including the captain and YC director.

Just arrived home... and realized we left a duffle bag full of dirty laundry at the port. And there I was, thinking about how easy disembarking was. We remembered the rolling bags, and forgot the laundry duffle. Probably not a huge deal if we never recover it (mostly kid clothing, socks and underwear), but add to my reentry back into the real world tomorrow- sorting through the responsibility chain of a bag that likely made it off the ship and is now wandering around a port. I already tried MSC CS, but it is only open on weekdays.

Last night. We ate dinner at the YC restaurant, left before dessert to see the MJ tribute (totally worth it! ) and returned to YC for dessert. Am now FB friends with the Maitre'd. I don't remember who complained about the food on Italian night, but we thought it was good, especially the osso buco. The sommelier brought us a lovely 2009 Super Tuscan. The kids are distraught to leave their new friends. They had a great time this week!

So smart to start the day before, despite the short erice. We came in from Tampa, and I wish DH had agreed to do a night in Orlando or Cocoa Beach beforehand. The day we leave for vacation is so chaotic and stressful (all due to DH's procrastination), why ruin the first cruise day?

Today is our last day. Very sad. Last night was the white party. I'd say at least a third of YC guests did not wear white to dinner. There was a YC only white party at 9pm. Fancy wines were flowing (my butler found us and poured me a glass of Oberon), and they had loud music and fancy snacks. We did go to check out the main white party by the 16th deck pool. It was a lot crazier, much more wild outfits, and more modern music. Not really my thing, but if it is, that's where you should go.

Trivia is one of the times we venture out of YC. It is held at a (unfortunately) closed bar on the 7th floor, and there are participants of all ages. Depending on the day, the trivia isn't particularly well attended, so your 14 year old might do quite well. We rarely place at trivia back home, but on MSC, trivia is set at approximately the 5th grade level.

Oh! My son and I did the racing waterside yesterday. The slide on the right is much faster, so I picked the one on the left so he could 'win.' It was very fun and had almost no wait, unlike the bigger slide that always has a 20 minute wait in an area that weirdly traps in the heat.

Last night, I went to see Peter Punk. It was better than expected. I will definitely try to make it to the MJ show tomorrow. Today, we were on Cozumel. We slept in a bit before heading to Chankanaab for the Dolphin Encounter. I would not recommend it. It is way overbooked, and the experience is very canned. We hadn't really planned on spending time at the park beyond the encounter. The buffet is inferior to what we have in YC. We did sit at a roadside bar for a beer, though. I had promised my son a coconut, and as we left our taxi, there was a bar with a pile of fresh coconuts. The quoted us $5 for the coconut, but our whole bill for the coconut, 2 cold beers, and a soda for my daughter was only $7. Also, the kid behind the bar very nicely dug out all the coconut meat for my son after he drank half the juice (he also saved the rest of the juice in a glass). I highly recommend the place as I watched them grind up fresh mint and lime in a molcajete for mojitos. They clearly car about the product they put out. The bar is called Miami, and it is close to the port MSC uses. We did back to back trivia this afternoon at the Haven bar. DH won the visual trivia, so he has won two games to my one. I will have to try harder tomorrow (last day!?! How did the time fly so quickly?) Tonight is the white party. We are excited.

They had a baby sloth for the kids, and a handful of adult ones for us adults

A couple thoughts about my ventures out of YC. The kiddie pool needs chairs. And more places to keep towels and clothing to keep them dry. I'd prefer to stick to the YC pool, but my kiddos wanted water slides. Also, I'm not sure if the Fun Pass was worth it. The bowling was in poor shape. We did the 4D game, and at least a couple guns were broken. Only a couple arcade games are included with the Fun Pass. I checked out the buffet on 16 today. The pizza was good. The kids were happy to have soft serve ice cream. But the other food was not good. I had stale tortilla chips with tasteless salsa. Yuck.

We are at Roatan. We booked the Zip n Dip excursion directly with the Victor Bodden group. It left an hour after the ship docked, so 8am. Eek! The concierge recommended that we be ready to leave YC no later than 7:30. Thankfully, Roatan's peir is not the zoo that Costa Maya's is. Also, few people were exiting the boat before 8, so we walked right off without needing a butler escorted. If you want to do extensive ziplining and also hold a sloth, go with Bodden! I thought the excursion was very high quality. The tour price is low, but be aware that they only accept pristine USD, and every worker there really depends on tips, so bring a lot of cash! I didn't see a MSC excursion with sloths. We ended up starving after seeing the animals, so we skipped the beach part and went back to the boat early with some HOTS passengers, who had a much earlier departure time. Toatan only has a few streets, and those around the port become completely congested if two mega ships are in port at the same time. As we crept along in traffic, we saw lots of RCCL passengers running along the road, trying to make their 12:30pm all aboard. Some RCCL excursion must have been stuck in traffic as the ship didn't leave until 50 minutes after the stated departure time.

Sorry! She is 5 (and a half, she'll have you know).