MSC Seaside 12/22/18 ~ Christmas in the Yacht Club

[max996]

1 minute ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

Hi Max. We were big DCL fans as well when DD was younger. We sailed in concierge once, but it was amazing. Their 1-bedroom suites are spectacular! As DD got older and prices continued to skyrocket, we decided it was time to move on. We've enjoyed RCCL for several years now, particularly our Allure cruise which was in an Aquatheater Suite. RCCL's suite perks are pretty good, but not as comprehensive as MSC's. You really can't beat their pricing! The setup for your 6/29 cruise sounds amazing. I'd love to try one of the royal suites at some point. Have you sailed in one before?

 

We did not utilize a cabana. We might have if the weather had been sunnier, but  we had a lot of clouds and I was looking for any sun I could get! 

 

I didn't realize that we were supposed to sign a copy of our invoice and leave it in the room. Was yours slipped under the door or on the outside? I was upset when I realized I'd left the ship without ours.

That 1-bedroom (with the 2-bathrooms and the best jetted whirlpool bath on the ship with the TV in the mirror) was fantastic! We spent a week in there aboard the Fantasy (room 12012) and I cried when it was time to leave! The only thing I hated at the time was the lack of a pool up on the Concierge Sundeck. And in the middle of the summer Caribbean sun, that space was unusable. But those were some great family vacations!

We've sailed in the Royal aboard Divina once and it was great. That was the last cruise all five of us were in the same cabin, but now that they've grown up we need two separate rooms for the "adult space." This will probably be the last family voyage too because they're getting old enough to buy their own cruises. I've told them they should take a "Sisters Cruise," but they can't afford the Yacht Club yet and they've been spoiled I'm afraid, and they don't want to cruise any other way. 

As far as the invoice goes, our butler always leaves two copies of the invoice in the cabin on the last day of the cruise (during Friday night dinner after leaving Nassau), and you're supposed to take one home and leave one signed copy there so that they can settle your bill. It isn't really necessary though because they did settle our account to the credit card on file that day (Saturday July 1st if I remember correctly). But, they asked me to mail a copy back to MSC Cruises USA HQ in FLL I guess to keep all the records straight. 

 

[max996]

8 minutes ago, jules815 said:

Are you able to check your folio on the tv in your stateroom?

 

Yes you can check your folio on the TV in the cabin Jules. Just like in most hotels. 🙂 

[LisaLisa87]

12 minutes ago, max996 said:

Yes you can check your folio on the TV in the cabin Jules. Just like in most hotels. 🙂 

 

Thank you for chiming in, Max! I figured this could be done, but wouldn't have been able to answer definitively since I didn't try it. I had decided ahead of time to relax and let go a little on this cruise. I'm just a bit Type A...

[jules815]

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

MYSTERY SOLVED! I called MSC again at lunch time. This time I was transferred right to customer service, and the woman who answered asked a few questions and then sent the bill right over. At first I was confused because there were 4 line items for Venchi, in pairs. I finally figured out that the first pair of charges was for the individually wrapped chocolates I bought for DD's stocking and 15% gratuity. Or maybe tax? The bill doesn't specify. The other pair was for some chocolates I bought from the case on our last night and 15% gratuity/tax. So we were NOT charged for gelato or martinis. Now I'm kicking myself for not going more often!! 😜

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good to hear!  Do you recall if Venchi is open on port days?  They have gelato at the Miami Beach pool as well.  Would it be included at all venues?  

[LisaLisa87]

9 minutes ago, jules815 said:

 

Good to hear!  Do you recall if Venchi is open on port days?  They have gelato at the Miami Beach pool as well.  Would it be included at all venues?  

 

I'm not sure as we never went during the day. We did have gelato at the Venchi location near the South Beach pool on deck 7 once. I actually had a chocolate-covered gelato bar. We were not charged!

[LisaLisa87]

42 minutes ago, max996 said:

That 1-bedroom (with the 2-bathrooms and the best jetted whirlpool bath on the ship with the TV in the mirror) was fantastic! We spent a week in there aboard the Fantasy (room 12012) and I cried when it was time to leave! The only thing I hated at the time was the lack of a pool up on the Concierge Sundeck. And in the middle of the summer Caribbean sun, that space was unusable. But those were some great family vacations!

We've sailed in the Royal aboard Divina once and it was great. That was the last cruise all five of us were in the same cabin, but now that they've grown up we need two separate rooms for the "adult space." This will probably be the last family voyage too because they're getting old enough to buy their own cruises. I've told them they should take a "Sisters Cruise," but they can't afford the Yacht Club yet and they've been spoiled I'm afraid, and they don't want to cruise any other way. 

As far as the invoice goes, our butler always leaves two copies of the invoice in the cabin on the last day of the cruise (during Friday night dinner after leaving Nassau), and you're supposed to take one home and leave one signed copy there so that they can settle your bill. It isn't really necessary though because they did settle our account to the credit card on file that day (Saturday July 1st if I remember correctly). But, they asked me to mail a copy back to MSC Cruises USA HQ in FLL I guess to keep all the records straight. 

 

That photo takes me back! DH and I stayed in 12020 on the Dream for our 15th anniversary. (We left DD at home with her grandparents. She was not amused.) Best master bath ever. I agree about the sundeck (so hot up there), but the service was top notch. I asked DH and DD the other day if they'd like to do one more DCL cruise for old time's sake, but they both said no. 😢

 

Thanks for the info about the final invoice. I'll make sure to ask next time if it's not left in our room!

Edited January 3, 2019 by LisaLisa87

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, max996 said:

We've got YC suites 16037 and the one next door 16029, because you're right about storage for 4 or 5 people (especially adults). My wife and I are in 16037, and girls are in the Deluxe suite next door.

 

We had 4 (2 adults/2 kids) in 16037 and there was more than enough storage for us....and we pack heavy. The minor issues with the stateroom have been corrected. We'll be back in 16037 in 2020. 

 

1 hour ago, max996 said:

Did you make any use of the cabanas up on deck?

 

You'll have a cabana reserved for you...

 

 

...but there isn't room for 5. 

 

18 minutes ago, jules815 said:

They have gelato at the Miami Beach pool as well.  Would it be included at all venues?  

 

We weren't charge there...5 different times. We just "beeped" our bracelet and that was it. No signature needed. 

[LisaLisa87]

It's time for the list of my 10 least favorite aspects of the cruise. I'll preface this with the standard disclaimer: This list and my subsequent comments are based on my family's experience on this specific cruise. Your mileage may vary!

 

10 WORST

1. Port Times

2. Chair hogging on the One Pool Deck

3. Dinner at the YC restaurant

4. Layout of Ship

5. Wine Selection in the YC

6. Elevators

7. Hair Dryer in the Room

8. The Beach Towel Situation

9. Paying for WiFi

10. Movement of the Ship

Honorable Mention: Thermal Area at the Spa

 

I'll provide details for each of these tonight.

Edited January 3, 2019 by LisaLisa87

[max996]

37 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

We had 4 (2 adults/2 kids) in 16037 and there was more than enough storage for us....and we pack heavy. The minor issues with the stateroom have been corrected. We'll be back in 16037 in 2020. 

 

 

You'll have a cabana reserved for you...

 

 

...but there isn't room for 5. 

 

 

We weren't charge there...5 different times. We just "beeped" our bracelet and that was it. No signature needed. 

I know the Royal has a dedicated cabana, but I still hardly ever use it. I prefer to be more sociable with the other passengers in the Yacht Club. I've made some great friends on our MSC and Disney cruises with whom I keep in touch with to this day. And I think I would miss that being too secluded in the cabana. Although I do take advantage of the cold beer in the cooler sometimes, and the shrimp cocktail they bring one or two days to the Royal Suite Cabana. 

LisaLisa - we don't want to do another Disney Cruise either, although I think I'd like to be onboard during a Star Wars themed voyage. My wife and I might do that one day. But, I don have my eye on a cruise aboard the Celebrity Edge. And a cruise aboard an MSC ship in the Mediterranean. 

[LisaLisa87]

Life has been busy, both at work and at home, so I'm going to have to elaborate on my "10 Worst" list piecemeal.

 

1. Port Times

This was a big one for us. We never cruise just for the ship. It's always a combination of ship and itinerary. We try to find itineraries with no more than one port that's unappealing to us, and we almost never stay on the ship. I can only think of one time in 11 cruises, in fact (Falmouth, Jamaica). Obviously we knew what the port times would be in advance and had decided we were okay with them, but the reality was worse than we had anticipated. This is the itinerary we booked:

 

DEC MSC CRUISE ITINERARY by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

I've already talked about our experience in San Juan. We ended up enjoying our excursion and seeing Old San Juan at night, but I don't think we'd want to go at night again. There are just a lot more things to do during the day. Our second port was St. Thomas. This was the one stop where we had very favorable port times. We considered taking the ferry from Red Hook to St. John since we had so much time, but in the end we decided to stay on St. Thomas. We went to Secret Harbour for a couple of hours early in the day. The weather turned cloudy at about noon, and we decided to pack it in once it started to rain lightly. The beach and water were very pretty there, and it was relatively uncrowded. It was nice to go somewhere different as we've been to Magen's Bay several times.

 

IMG_4869 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

We took a taxi from Secret Harbour to the main shopping area, where we had lunch at a little place called Greengos (very tasty food and margaritas) and then browsed the shops. It rained lightly on and off, but we still had a great afternoon. I think we returned to the ship at around 4pm.

 

IMG_4921 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

Our next stop was St. Maarten, where the short port day was really a problem for us. We really wanted to book with Soualiga Destinations again as we had a fantastic experience with them a few years ago. Capt Bob was willing to work with us and created a shorter tour that started and ended earlier, but unfortunately no one else from our sailing signed up. We ended up deciding to spend some time at Mullet Bay, on the Dutch side of the island. Getting off the ship at 7 or 8am is not an option for us on vacation (with the exception of our Med cruise), so I think it was about 9 when we disembarked. There were 8 (!) ships in port that day, and it took us awhile to get a taxi. We ended up sharing a ride with some people going to Maho Beach, which added 10 minutes or so to our ride time. The beach and the water at Mullet Bay were absolutely beautiful, but our time there was very short as we were concerned about getting back to the ship by the 1:30 all aboard time. We left the beach just before noon, to be on the safe side. St. Maarten/St. Martin is one of our favorite ports, so it was very disappointing to have such a short day here.

 

IMG_4935 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

IMG_4946 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

Our last port was Nassau. Our original itinerary had us in port from 12-7, but when we got our Daily Planner, the times had been changed to 12:30-6:45 (with a 6:15 all aboard time). To make matters worse, we were late arriving, and everyone seemed to want to get off the ship at once. It was suggested that we wait in the Topsail Lounge for a butler to escort us off the ship. We waited for 20-25 minutes and then had issues with the elevators, and by the time we disembarked it was close to 1:30. We had booked an all-inclusive beach day at Breezes at $104/person, so we were hoping for a good chunk of time to spend there. It took awhile to get a taxi again, and after a couple of stops to drop people off at other places along the way, we arrived at Breezes a little after 2:00. We ate right away as lunch at the Banana Boat buffet was winding down when we arrived, and then we hit the beach. It took a little while to find 3 available lounge chairs, but we eventually did and settled in for some quality beach time. One of the beach butlers stopped by to take our drink orders after about 20 minutes. We tipped him well for the first round, and he took good care of us for the next couple of hours. At one point he brought us jerk chicken and fries from the Reggae Cafe, Breezes' beach grill. The jerk chicken was fantastic, and I ended up going back for a second order. We had a nice time, but it ended up starting to rain after a couple of hours and at that point we decided to head back to the ship. So in the end we didn't get a lot of bang for the buck at Breezes, in part due to the weather, but in part due to our late arrival.

 

IMG_5038 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

IMG_5041 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

 

More later!

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by LisaLisa87

[max996]

10 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

Life has been busy, both at work and at home, so I'm going to have to elaborate on my "10 Worst" list piecemeal.

 

More later!

 

LisaLisa, I must say that I love your writing style. Your word choices make it very easy to follow and it tells us everything about your experiences. I've been to these ports before (so maybe that has something to do with it), but still . . . very nicely worded review of your experiences. I can't wait to read the rest.

[LisaLisa87]

52 minutes ago, max996 said:

LisaLisa, I must say that I love your writing style. Your word choices make it very easy to follow and it tells us everything about your experiences. I've been to these ports before (so maybe that has something to do with it), but still . . . very nicely worded review of your experiences. I can't wait to read the rest.

 

Thank you. You are too kind! 😊

[floridian1]

Your review is very helpful. I agree the port times are pretty terrible. We have been on this itinerary many times though so its not a deal breaker for us. The price we got for this cruise was so cheap compared to other cruises the same month that we dont mind..even cheaper than a regular balcony room on ncl and rccl ..msc yc came out CHEAPER for us 😮.Curious to know if the butler's escorted you back on the ship at each port.

[LisaLisa87]

30 minutes ago, floridian1 said:

Your review is very helpful. I agree the port times are pretty terrible. We have been on this itinerary many times though so its not a deal breaker for us. The price we got for this cruise was so cheap compared to other cruises the same month that we dont mind..even cheaper than a regular balcony room on ncl and rccl ..msc yc came out CHEAPER for us 😮.Curious to know if the butler's escorted you back on the ship at each port.

 

We saw a butler with a YC paddle near the gangway each time we re-boarded, but we never asked for assistance. At one port (Nassau, I think), the butler saw my YC card and motioned us over. She walked us up the ramp and to the front of the line to have our cards scanned. It was a little bit awkward, especially since the line was pretty short. I could see this being a nice perk when the line is really long, but I know I'd be hyper-conscious of other passengers' reactions. We got the stink eye the couple of times we were escorted off the ship.

Edited January 4, 2019 by LisaLisa87

[rhentze]

Hi,

 

We too loved our Seaside Yacht club experience and were fortunate to not encounter most of the issues you experienced related to the high occupancy.

 

Our biggest negative that was on your list was the Yacht Club wine list, with only mediocre quality selections available. We aren’t wine snobs but there is a big leap in quality from a $7.00 bottle to a $10-12 one.   

 

Our work around was to stop at the wine bar outside of Yacht Club to pick up a couple of glasses of Oberon Cab and take it to the restaurant. Interested in how  you dealt with it.

 

Thanks for taking the time for such a thorough review. We are sailing Yacht Club again in March and find your info very helpful.

 

 

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

We saw a butler with a YC paddle near the gangway each time we re-boarded, but we never asked for assistance. At one port (Nassau, I think), the butler saw my YC card and motioned us over. She walked us up the ramp and to the front of the line to have our cards scanned. It was a little bit awkward, especially since the line was pretty short. I could see this being a nice perk when the line is really long, but I know I'd be hyper-conscious of other passengers' reactions. We got the stink eye the couple of times we were escorted off the ship.

 I wouldn't worry about the other passengers reactions, they are available to them if they are willing to pay. We just started sailing in suites on the last two cruises, but before that we never begrudged the suite passengers for getting some extra benefits that they paid for, they were not free. Some people are mistaken for thinking the extra high price for a suite is just for a bigger, better cabin, nothing else.

[DMH15]

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

 

We saw a butler with a YC paddle near the gangway each time we re-boarded, but we never asked for assistance. At one port (Nassau, I think), the butler saw my YC card and motioned us over. She walked us up the ramp and to the front of the line to have our cards scanned. It was a little bit awkward, especially since the line was pretty short. I could see this being a nice perk when the line is really long, but I know I'd be hyper-conscious of other passengers' reactions. We got the stink eye the couple of times we were escorted off the ship.

This is one of the things I really appreciate.  I paid extra for this service.  I am pretty claustrophobic and I hate crowds.  I do not hate waiting in line.  I am a very patient person... can always amuse myself, even if it is just standing still and chilling.  But if there are tons of people I hate it.  I don't think I will use the feature in the elevator... I live in a high rise on the 15th floor and I am used to elevators on a daily basis... besides I would rather take the stairs if it is only a few flights.

 

I actually began cruising in suites (haven on NCL) because I cruised with my elderly mother who also had some health issues.  I wanted her to be comfortable.  We lost her last year.  So, even though I am in the YC, if there is a short line I would rather just blend in.

[LisaLisa87]

Moving on with my "10 Worst" list...

 

2. Chair hogging on the One Pool Deck

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it ended up being a fairly big disappointment for us. Because everything I had read indicated that finding lounge chairs was never a problem in the YC, encountering a very different situation was an unpleasant surprise. There were really two issues, which I guess is the case in any chair hogging situation: 1) Too many people for the number of lounge chairs, and 2) too many people taking up lounge chairs they seldom used... or in some cases, didn't seem to use at all. After the first sea day, we had to really hunt for lounge chairs, and we never got three together. Forget about getting a chair anywhere near the pool. And to add insult to injury, it was not unusual to find 50% or more of the chairs in the pool area occupied by nothing but towels. While this was very frustrating, I feel confident that we would not encounter this scenario if we were to sail at another time of year.

 

3. Dinner at the YC restaurant

Based on what I've read here, I think we are in a small minority here. We did not really enjoy our time in the YC restaurant. It started with the table we were "assigned," but that wasn't the only issue. On the first night, we arrived at the time that was recommended for us (6:30), on time and nicely dressed. We were walked to the far side of the restaurant, where we turned the corner and were seated in the corner against a wall. I think it's only one of two tables in the whole place with walls on two sides. It reminded me of Dirty Dancing: "No one puts Baby in a corner." I realize that someone needs to sit at these tables, but it seemed odd when more than half of the tables were empty at the time. Why not save those tables for times when the restaurant is completely full? We thought about saying something, but we didn't want to be "those people." In retrospect, I wish we'd spoken up because the location was a real drag. Aside from our table woes, we had a very mixed experience with the food. We're not picky eaters and are generally pretty easy to please, but we had kind of a rough go. We ate at the restaurant 5 times, and I ended up ordering the salmon from the "Classic Favorites" section twice. One of those times, I ended up giving DD my salmon in exchange for the lasagna she had ordered (which we agreed was terrible). Our servers were just okay. They weren't great with making recommendations, and they were often slow to refill water and wine. All in all a fairly disappointing experience. 

 

More to come...

 

[LisaLisa87]

24 minutes ago, rhentze said:

Hi,

 

We too loved our Seaside Yacht club experience and were fortunate to not encounter most of the issues you experienced related to the high occupancy.

 

Our biggest negative that was on your list was the Yacht Club wine list, with only mediocre quality selections available. We aren’t wine snobs but there is a big leap in quality from a $7.00 bottle to a $10-12 one.   

 

Our work around was to stop at the wine bar outside of Yacht Club to pick up a couple of glasses of Oberon Cab and take it to the restaurant. Interested in how  you dealt with it.

 

Thanks for taking the time for such a thorough review. We are sailing Yacht Club again in March and find your info very helpful.

 

 

 

That was a really smart idea. Wish we'd thought of it! I'm still working on my "10 Worst" list and will be addressing the wine selection issue soon!

[LisaLisa87]

23 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

 I wouldn't worry about the other passengers reactions, they are available to them if they are willing to pay. We just started sailing in suites on the last two cruises, but before that we never begrudged the suite passengers for getting some extra benefits that they paid for, they were not free. Some people are mistaken for thinking the extra high price for a suite is just for a bigger, better cabin, nothing else.

 

You're right. I think it's the uninformed people who don't know WHY certain people are being escorted to the front of the line that really get upset. I'm like you -- if we haven't paid for a suite, I might be jealous, but I wouldn't begrudge the people who shelled out the extra $$!

[LisaLisa87]

17 minutes ago, DMH15 said:

This is one of the things I really appreciate.  I paid extra for this service.  I am pretty claustrophobic and I hate crowds.  I do not hate waiting in line.  I am a very patient person... can always amuse myself, even if it is just standing still and chilling.  But if there are tons of people I hate it.  I don't think I will use the feature in the elevator... I live in a high rise on the 15th floor and I am used to elevators on a daily basis... besides I would rather take the stairs if it is only a few flights.

 

I actually began cruising in suites (haven on NCL) because I cruised with my elderly mother who also had some health issues.  I wanted her to be comfortable.  We lost her last year.  So, even though I am in the YC, if there is a short line I would rather just blend in.

 

You raise a good point. I'm claustrophobic as well, so not having to be crammed in with a crowd of people is very appealing. We seldom used the elevators all week, but the two times we were escorted off this ship the butlers used the elevators to get us all down to deck 4 together. It turned out not to be a very efficient process!

[LisaLisa87]

Here's a photo showing the location of our table (photo credit to cruisedeckplans.com)

 

YC Restaurant by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

And here is one showing the large, main section of the restaurant:

 

YC Restaurant 2 by LCT Flickr, on Flickr

 

I was incorrect when I said that we ate at the restaurant 5 times. We didn't go night 2 because we went to the Teppenyaki restaurant for my birthday or night 3 because we ate in San Juan. On the last night, we decided to try the buffet on deck 8. The selection and quality of the food were pretty good! I know the staff in the restaurant would have been horrified to learn that we had chosen to eat at the buffet, so we kept the info to ourselves.

Edited January 4, 2019 by LisaLisa87

[max996]

31 minutes ago, LisaLisa87 said:

I was incorrect when I said that we ate at the restaurant 5 times. We didn't go night 2 because we went to the Teppenyaki restaurant for my birthday or night 3 because we ate in San Juan. On the last night, we decided to try the buffet on deck 8. The selection and quality of the food were pretty good! I know the staff in the restaurant would have been horrified to learn that we had chosen to eat at the buffet, so we kept the info to ourselves.

I would mention that to MSC. They take pride in the Yacht Club product, and if they started to get enough reviews from YC passengers saying they had decided to eat in the buffet instead of the YC restaurant then they'd take action to address that. Because you're right, if the maitre d' knew that some of his guests were choosing to eat at the buffet instead of his restaurant I'd like to think that he would have been horrified and would want to take corrective action.

 

To talk about the deck chairs at the YC Pool Deck - my wife is a teacher, so we always cruise during the busy summer months (June or July) when there is a full passenger manifest. It is a surprise to hear that you had trouble finding three deck chairs together at times. In our past experiences with MSC Seaside & Divina, we never had that issue. Finding a table to eat over by the bar and grill is almost impossible on Seaside because I think there are only 3 or 4 tables available anyway. But we have always been able to find deck chairs even on sea days at 1:30 in the afternoon. The problem is that people need to stop trying to save chairs. If you're out sunbathing, swimming, whatever then by all means grab a chair. But when you leave for a spa appointment, or to go grab lunch at the restaurant, don't drape a towel over the chair in an attempt to save it for when you get back. That's just wrong. If people stop doing that, I think the problem would go away - in the YC at least. On the main pool deck - no chance. 

[Two Wheels Only]

3 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

...but I know I'd be hyper-conscious of other passengers' reactions. We got the stink eye the couple of times we were escorted off the ship. 

 

Don't let the other passengers bother you. You should have seen the tender line that we passed on Grand Cayman...several hundred deep but we just walked right past them and took the next tender onto the ship.

 

1 hour ago, DMH15 said:

I don't think I will use the feature in the elevator...

 

With practice and knowing which elevators are the most effective, it's easy. I never had a problem with other passengers. Most saw the "Priority Service" light and thought that there was some sort of problem and avoided the elevator, anyway.

 

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

In retrospect, I wish we'd spoken up because the location was a real drag.

 

The Yacht Club is very receptive to requests BUT if a guest says nothing, the staff will assume that all is well. In our case, we told the staff which table we liked for breakfast and lunch (near the window) and which one we liked for dinner (overlooking the railing down to the lounge/piano) and those became "our" tables. We also had a preferred waiter (Dexter) who served us at both locations.

 

As far as "chair hogs", my experience was the opposite. Even without the cabana, there were plenty of loungers available. Perhaps the towels that were left on chairs were "cleaned up" by the staff a bit quicker on my sailing. Even the (lukewarm) hot tubs were usually available. There were 2 teen girls who spent a lot of time in one but the other was available.

 

 

[DMH15]

34 minutes ago, max996 said:

I would mention that to MSC. They take pride in the Yacht Club product, and if they started to get enough reviews from YC passengers saying they had decided to eat in the buffet instead of the YC restaurant then they'd take action to address that. Because you're right, if the maitre d' knew that some of his guests were choosing to eat at the buffet instead of his restaurant I'd like to think that he would have been horrified and would want to take corrective action.

 

To talk about the deck chairs at the YC Pool Deck - my wife is a teacher, so we always cruise during the busy summer months (June or July) when there is a full passenger manifest. It is a surprise to hear that you had trouble finding three deck chairs together at times. In our past experiences with MSC Seaside & Divina, we never had that issue. Finding a table to eat over by the bar and grill is almost impossible on Seaside because I think there are only 3 or 4 tables available anyway. But we have always been able to find deck chairs even on sea days at 1:30 in the afternoon. The problem is that people need to stop trying to save chairs. If you're out sunbathing, swimming, whatever then by all means grab a chair. But when you leave for a spa appointment, or to go grab lunch at the restaurant, don't drape a towel over the chair in an attempt to save it for when you get back. That's just wrong. If people stop doing that, I think the problem would go away - in the YC at least. On the main pool deck - no chance. 

I like the way you think!