TrinaLC

I’d highly recommend a small ship like Divina. Keep it on your list 🙂

They only give you one bottle of liquor (years ago they restocked minis the entire cruise - that was stopped when everyone filled their suitcases with these). You also only get one mini Pringle (who would want more?!), one bar of toblerone (more please!) and one mixed nites (meh). They will restock all the soft drinks/juices. bring your own reef safe sun screen. no idea on distilled water.

I’d do YC for the pampering from the incredible staff. But I don’t value a private jacuzzi at all …

That sounds unfortunately true. Airlines have been ‘fixing’ this, rewarding what brings the airlines value - and that isn’t a bunch of basic economy flights!

We had Dwi a month ago. She is terrific. Her assistant butler Richard is wonderful as well. We were in the non-YC area on 12 (“family suites”) so not sure what YC area they had.

Awesome, that is what we were hoping for!

You are right, I misremembered his name!

Can you ask Mehetma whether he will be staying on for the April 21 crossing? We were on Divina a month ago and he wasn’t sure - he was due to rotate off but thought he might be extended through the crossing.

That is indeed Ryan! I do hope he earns that gold tie. He was our assistant waiter last month but was everywhere to be helpful.

There is no comparison. But please don’t tell anyone.

I would too. And the YC is the only way I would even consider that trade off

We have so many fond memories of Divina YC’s fine staff but Patrick has a special place in our hearts. if you have not met him yet, you will enjoy making his acquaintance. He works TopSail and One Deck and is a lovely, caring gentleman. For some reason I cannot upload his photo … do look for him!

I think you will love MSC YC.

Wow. Just wow.

A small travel backgammon set is another option! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BFDB4BG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wow, thanks.

Honestly I would have second thoughts booking MSC for a European cruise. I should think the daily embarking/disembarking would be disruptive, as would having the officers introduced every night and more than 2 or 3 languages for announcements. We cruise for the overall experience, not the floating hotel/tour bus aspect.

I have never used a travel agent for MSC - sailed YC about 6 times. Any small issue has always been satisfactorily resolved. I have no doubt though that like any line there are one-off problems like someone posted earlier. As to whether “all” the rooms are located within the YC, almost universally true. Some ships have a few suites that have been added as YC to justify a higher cost I presume. These are easily identified during booking. The butler service for these is not quite as personal for obvious reasons. We love them (lots of real estate!) but we are experienced YC cruisers and don’t care any more about escorts to dinner, shows. However you can easily get those by popping down to the concierge desk or arranging ahead of time. (And you will want to do that for escorts off the ship!) Compared to NCL haven? Let’s just say I will never book a haven room again. If we sail on NCL as we did for a recent Panama Canal cruise, we will book the penthouses that come with butler/concierge service and breakfast/lunch in moderno/Cagneys.

We stayed in a cabin in that area (almost directly opposite the YC entrance) and it was perfectly quiet. I had been a bit concerned ahead of time but no worries. (Divina.)

We read elsewhere that Divina was having propulsion problems which delayed Aruba? Any truth, we are due to sail soon!

We read elsewhere that Divina was having propulsion problems which delayed Aruba? Any truth, we are due to sail soon!

Arthur!!!

Absolutely. Enjoy!

I love Divina but hate those YC shower tub combos. In order to turn the water on, you have to step fully in the tub and usually get hit with cold water! And there are no effective grab bars, so in high seas it is a bit iffy.

You may want more Euro to US - all of the housekeeping receptacles are euro so there are lots of those!