See/View-ing Seaview

[thecruisers6]

4 minutes ago, Norwegian Cruiser 73 said:

 

Good evening from Norway 🇳🇴 

 

We had a great cruise on the beautiful MSC Seaview and the company was wonderful. Cruising with the Irish was great fun. I really like the Seaside Class even if the ship are a bit to big. The YC experience is more personal on the Fantasia Class. I also find the food portions during dinner in the YC restaurant a bit on the small side... And then the cheesekake 😅 I will for sure make a video from the cruise. Stay tuned. Personally I do recommend the Seaside Class. They are great ships and offer a lot of entertainment and offers onboard. 

I look forward to the video. 

I feel a bit worried about Meraviglia feeling less personal than Divina and Splendida which we absolutely loved. I think I could quite happily live in the piazza on Divina 😂

I just said to Bea we have to hurry up and win the lottery and cruise every other week. We loved our 3 days in Norway you have a wonderful country. I’m still shaking from the trolls footpath going too fast down though! Can’t wait to go again. 

 

[Beamafar]

@Salazar  I've posted an email address you can use to contact me.

[citizenfrank]

Bea.... You on the full 23-nighter from NYC to Miami from 18th (I think) Oct?

As you know I seriously looked at this (wish in a way I had taken her), but decided against it.

On a USA land vacation (always a genuine heart wrench along with life at sea when booking vacations!) now, so no regrets.

I'm ticking off Halloween in Salem from my bucket list along with a few exciting destinations and events (concerts, places and cities/towns old and new).

We leave (from your beloved Emerald Isle) on 21/9 but from the ships in port data I'll be stalking you if you are on the full itinery departing the 18th Oct lol!

I'm in Boston on Sat 26th Oct and NYC again on 28th Oct when Meraviglia is in town! Ha

 

Hope DH is still on the mend and getting his sea legs ready for that pending adventure ❤️  

[Beamafar]

We are on the 23 nighter from the 18th, Frank.  Looks like you have a great trip planned, too.  We're not sure what we'll do in NYC on the 28th.  I'm sure we'll have to get off so the ship can be 'cleared' despite the fact that we're not B2B.  🙄   I think we're going to find our way to Cheers on the 26th at some stage in the day.  😂  Hope it'll be the 'right' one!  😜

 

DH is all but back to himself and I'll get started on sharing my thoughts on our cruise when I can get them together lol.  We're busy for the next couple of days, so it won't be today or tomorrow.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Beamafar

[Norwegian Cruiser 73]

On 9/7/2019 at 11:09 PM, thecruisers6 said:

I look forward to the video. 

I feel a bit worried about Meraviglia feeling less personal than Divina and Splendida which we absolutely loved. I think I could quite happily live in the piazza on Divina 😂

I just said to Bea we have to hurry up and win the lottery and cruise every other week. We loved our 3 days in Norway you have a wonderful country. I’m still shaking from the trolls footpath going too fast down though! Can’t wait to go again. 

 

 

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed Norway 👍 The Meraviglia YC experience is more or less the same as on the Fantasia Class except that the restaurant is located in the YC enclave. It's a beautiful YC and feels more intimate than the Seaview and Seaside. You are in for a great experience 👌 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Norwegian Cruiser 73

[citizenfrank]

11 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We are on the 23 nighter from the 18th, Frank.  Looks like you have a great trip planned, too.  We're not sure what we'll do in NYC on the 28th.  I'm sure we'll have to get off so the ship can be 'cleared' despite the fact that we're not B2B.  🙄   I think we're going to find our way to Cheers on the 26th at some stage in the day.  😂  Hope it'll be the 'right' one!  😜

 

DH is all but back to himself and I'll get started on sharing my thoughts on our cruise when I can get them together lol.  We're busy for the next couple of days, so it won't be today or tomorrow.

Ha ...Yes I thought you were doing the longer option!

Yes we leave on the 21st Oct and I'm looking forward to it ...It's a busy one in terms of things being done (but that's good, there'll be no sunbathing!).

Great news regarding DH 

[Salazar]

On 9/8/2019 at 6:38 AM, Beamafar said:

@Salazar  I've posted an email address you can use to contact me.

Hi bea, only just seen this... I can’t find it🤨 x

Hope all is well now xx 

lots of love x 

[Beamafar]

24 minutes ago, Salazar said:

Hi bea, only just seen this... I can’t find it🤨 x

Hope all is well now xx 

lots of love x 

 

Not to worry ... here it is again:  bemafar@yahoo.co.uk.

[tcmagnum]

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 7:47 AM, Beamafar said:

 

 

This day 6 weeks we're boarding  😱  😜

 

So sorry to hear this cruise wasn't the best ever!!  Very glad to hear your DH is feeling better.

6 weeks and then you are off again??!!??!!

I have a feeling you will have the BEST CRUISE EVER!!

 

[Beamafar]

13 hours ago, tcmagnum said:

 

So sorry to hear this cruise wasn't the best ever!!  Very glad to hear your DH is feeling better.

6 weeks and then you are off again??!!??!!

I have a feeling you will have the BEST CRUISE EVER!!

 

 

Thank you so much, TCM.  We're counting days, now - it's 35 days according to the MSC for Me app;  33 'til we fly out to New York.  😜 

 

Despite DH falling ill, we had a wonderful time with great company onboard and met some wonderful people (shout out to @Salazar - I guess you haven't managed to see the email address  🙁).

[CruisingFox27]

34 and 35 for us 😀🥂😎

 

Bea, you mentioned parking at a hotel for Dublin Airport, could I inquire which one. We usually use the on airport parking but the price seems to have increased significantly for long term parking. We are planning to use the Goldline bus service, which I'm slightly nervous about but is very cost efficient in comparison.

[Beamafar]

We always park at the Clayton - they run an airport shuttle every 20 minutes or so.  I pre-book online;  they claim you get a discount for doing so.  Their prices have risen this year, but we're still happy enough with the cost.  We park in the underground car park - the car is protected from the elements, which is especially beneficial during the colder months:

 

https://www.claytonhoteldublinairport.com/

[CruisingFox27]

Brilliant, thank you. They were the only hotel I found which offered the option, I emailed them but they weren't able to take bookings for October at the time. We are on the 10:50am flight so it would be ideal to stay over rather than leaving home at 2am and missing a nights sleep. We usually do but I'm finding it more and more tiring to do so, age I guess 🙁

[Beamafar]

Totally agree about leaving home at 2am - we usually have that for flights for Med cruises.  I wouldn't fancy it for the long-haul trips (though, I suppose you could get some sleep on the plane - it's just not restful sleep).  We booked the 16.15 (4.15pm) flight so as to avoid that early morning start.  I just didn't think having the few extra hours in New York was worth missing a night's sleep for.  I, too, find that, with age, it's getting more difficult to adjust when out of the sleep pattern. 🙄

 

I've just booked our car in for the 27 days - €130 total, so that's very reasonable.  👌

[CruisingFox27]

Generally, all of our flights are 6 or 7am so it's the early start 😵 We booked the 11am with a view to staying over, before we discovered the price increase in the airport parking. I compared to our 25 night stay last November and it was significantly different.

So, I've also just booked us in with the overnight stay for the 16th.  This now means that our holiday now starts on the 16th so it's only 33 days now 😀

[Beamafar]

... So you'll be arriving at the hotel several hours after we've departed, CF.  🤔  (I had to think about which emoji was appropriate, lol.  A smiley one just wasn't 'right', but neither was a 'frowny' one  🙄 😂).

[CruisingFox27]

58 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

... So you'll be arriving at the hotel several hours after we've departed, CF.  🤔  (I had to think about which emoji was appropriate, lol.  A smiley one just wasn't 'right', but neither was a 'frowny' one  🙄 😂).

 

Indeed, I feel as though we are stalking you now 🙄 not sure on the appropriate emoji there either 🤣

 

We should arrive mid-afternoon so will wave you off . We decided a leisurely drive down, nice lunch and a restful nights sleep were a preferable way to begin the holiday.

[Beamafar]

Our flight's at 4.15pm so I'll wave down as we're flying over  😜 (unless you jinx me lol  😱)

[CruisingFox27]

😨 Nooo! Don't even think it....

I've already read reports of a bad winter, with repeats of The Beast From the East which sabotaged the start of our Dubai cruise last year 🥶

[Beamafar]

Oops ... the "HaHa" clicked was for your first line - not for what followed!

[Beamafar]

So … where to start with sharing some of our experiences in a YC inside cabin?  Perhaps with the cabin, itself.  It was bigger than I’d expected and than appears in photos.  Plenty of space between the bed and the wardrobe.  It was actually very comfortable the night we had to have dinner there (doctor’s orders!).  We had enough space to pull the table into the middle of the cabin, with a chair on opposite sides - it was quite romantic, actually.

 

However, the lack of storage space really lets it down.  We plan to have the coffee maker, mugs, etc, as well as the cushions, bed throw and fruit bowl removed when we sail on Meraviglia next month, just to give us that bit more space and de-clutter a bit.  As I was using my mobile data (when in port) for internet, and not the ship’s service, I had no signal in the cabin, so had to go outside to use it, but, being in company for most of the time, I didn’t get much of a chance to.  It also meant not being able to receive calls or messages when in the cabin (which was a bit of a drawback as our friends and I used to message each other to keep abreast of DH’s situation).

 

The bathroom, too, is very tight (as has been reported elsewhere), but we managed.  Larger people, though, would have problems with it.  Also, the fact that the ceiling in the cabin was dark (wood-effect) made the cabin feel claustrophobic and smaller than it actually is.

 

There was no pen and/or paper provided in the cabin and no shoe bag - I wonder if the shoe-shine service is no more?  (I didn’t get a chance to find out - that’ll be a recurring theme throughout, I’m afraid!).  We didn’t receive treats to the cabin each evening (like we’ve done on other sailings) other than the chocolates on the pillows.  Such a shame they’ve done away with the little cards saying Buona Notte that used to accompany them - the small chocolates look lost on the bed without them.  We did get a small plate of choc-covered strawberries (containing a total of 5!) one night and, on the last night, a box of macaroons.

Being in an inside cabin was a huge compromise for us, but we were so glad to be in YC the way things turned out, as we were so well looked after by most of the crew and, especially the YC director, Allesandro, who ensured that we were well taken care of.

 

We had the worst butler we’ve ever had - and not because he was MIA.  We hadn’t had much interaction with him until the second day onboard when DH took ill.  I’d asked for a wheelchair to be provided to take him down to the medical centre and waited in the cabin ’til it arrived.  After some time, I began to get anxious and headed out to find out what was keeping them;  there was a wheelchair outside the cabin door, but no-one was around.  I couldn’t believe nobody had knocked to let me know and wondered if I was going to have to wheel him down, myself.

 

Anyway, our butler appeared, asked if we were ready, so DH sat into it and Harry (our butler) pushed the wheelchair out to the elevators to take us down to the doctor.  Now, he didn’t look too happy and didn’t converse with us at all.  When we got to the centre, he told us to ring for him when we were done, but that he had “a lot of cabins to attend to”, but he would come, anyway.  Well, we were there for a couple of hours and, once DH had received some treatment, he felt well enough not to bother with the wheelchair.  It was only a short walk to the elevator that took us up to right outside the YC.

 

I didn’t know what to do about the wheelchair, though and, when we passed one in the medical centre, I didn’t know if it was the one that DH had been in so I didn’t want to take it in case it wasn’t.  Plus, at this point in time, we weren’t sure if DH was going to be carted off in an ambulance later that day, so the wheelchair was the least of my worries.  I figured they could send somebody down for it if it was to be returned to the YC.

 

When we got back to the cabin, the butler asked where the wheelchair was;  I said DH hadn’t needed it so we’d left it downstairs.  Well, he made a fuss about it being for emergencies and that it shouldn’t have been left down there and went on a bit about it.  He made me feel responsible for having to return it, which I could have done without the grief just then.  Our minds were very much on what was going to happen at DH’s next appointment that afternoon.  There was more to come that evening when DH was confined to the cabin for dinner (more on that later) - again, when we were finishing up, Harry asked if there was anything else we needed as he had “other cabins and people to attend to”!  So we just said “No, thank you”, then, when he was gone, we realised that, yes, we needed all the plates, etc, removed as we didn’t want to sleep in a cabin with dirty dishes cluttering the place, so I had to run out after him to ask him to come and remove them (which the assistant did).  I have to admit that I really felt like we were causing him a problem.

 

Up until then, we’d never asked for anything.  We never used the mini-bar, nor the coffee-making facilities;  we kept the cabin as tidy as was possible, so generally they had little to do other than make the bed, vacuum the floor and attend to the bathroom.  I was very peeved at his attitude - especially on the day that was in it, when we were unsure of DH’s prognosis and didn’t know what we were facing.

 

More to follow ... (later 🙄)
 

[Captain-John]

Thanks Bea. I know you've done some pretty long cruises before - do you have a sense of the maximum length of time you'd be willing to spend in a YIN, given the size/space constraints? Although I think your upcoming one is around the 21 day mark so I guess you'll soon find out?! Interesting comment r.e the bathroom - I was reading a review on the NCL board, where a larger gentleman actually asked them to remove an entire sliding door from the toilet compartment to give him more room.

 

The treats (or lack thereof) matches what we had on Mera, the macaroons, chocolate strawberries and chocolate on the pillow were all we got - although as far as I remember, we did have the card to accompany it.

 

Really disappointing your butler wasn't more sympathetic or helpful given the circumstances. You should never be made to feel like a burden, least of all when dealing with an illness and all the associated worry etc.

[Beamafar]

31 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

Thanks Bea. I know you've done some pretty long cruises before - do you have a sense of the maximum length of time you'd be willing to spend in a YIN, given the size/space constraints? Although I think your upcoming one is around the 21 day mark so I guess you'll soon find out?!

 

It's actually 23 nights (24 days) ... it played on my mind quite a bit when on Seaview, I'll admit.  Every so often I'd say to DH "We can't do this" or "we can't do that" or we'll have to do ...  on our Mera trip".  I'll have to do some research into what storage, exactly, is provided and if it's similar to Seaview.  I've no doubt we'll miss having a balcony; I usually spend some time in the afternoons in the cabin to have some down time/me time - I couldn't do that in an inside, with no natural light, so it'll mean being out of the cabin most of the time.  That won't be a problem for the Canada leg as we'll be with company;  it remains to be seen how we'll get on when we're alone for the next leg.  At least we'll have pool deck access for the latter part of the cruise (hopefully!)

 

I've certainly re-thought my packing and will be bringing a lot less than I'd originally planned.  I've managed to pre-book the 40 piece laundry package, so will be ensuring that what I bring will be OK to be laundered (not keen on having things washed on the ship - I think they use very hot water and have had some things spoiled before as a result).  We could use our suitcases as underbed drawers, but I can't get down on the floor to work from them as I have knee problems, so, even though we intend to do that, I'll be depending on DH to pull them out and up onto the bed each time I need to access them.  Another plan is to keep our Caribbean leg items in the cases and swap them out with our Canada leg clothes as soon as we hit warmer climes.

 

At least having done an inside on Seaview, we're prepared for what to expect on Meraviglia!

Edited September 22, 2019 by Beamafar

[BermudaBound2014]

You probably know all of these little tricks/hacks for storage, but just in case....

 

1. This is wonderful on long trips or trips with girlfriends because we bring so much products for face/hair.  They hang over the bathroom door, and they can also hold some clothing freeing up drawer space (socks, etc..):

 

 

 

 

2. And this gadget will expand the closet capabilities considerably. 

 

 

3. Finally, magnets. Their uses are endless in the cabin since all walls are magnetic. When I used to bring formal length gowns I'd hang from the ceiling like the bottom picture so they didn't wrinkle getting bunched up on the closet floor.

 

 

Hope that helps your packing for your big trip coming up :)

 

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by BermudaBound2014

[citizenfrank]

On 9/22/2019 at 6:28 AM, Beamafar said:

So … where to start with sharing some of our experiences in a YC inside cabin?  Perhaps with the cabin, itself.  It was bigger than I’d expected and than appears in photos.  Plenty of space between the bed and the wardrobe.  It was actually very comfortable the night we had to have dinner there (doctor’s orders!).  We had enough space to pull the table into the middle of the cabin, with a chair on opposite sides - it was quite romantic, actually.

 

However, the lack of storage space really lets it down.  We plan to have the coffee maker, mugs, etc, as well as the cushions, bed throw and fruit bowl removed when we sail on Meraviglia next month, just to give us that bit more space and de-clutter a bit.  As I was using my mobile data (when in port) for internet, and not the ship’s service, I had no signal in the cabin, so had to go outside to use it, but, being in company for most of the time, I didn’t get much of a chance to.  It also meant not being able to receive calls or messages when in the cabin (which was a bit of a drawback as our friends and I used to message each other to keep abreast of DH’s situation).

 

The bathroom, too, is very tight (as has been reported elsewhere), but we managed.  Larger people, though, would have problems with it.  Also, the fact that the ceiling in the cabin was dark (wood-effect) made the cabin feel claustrophobic and smaller than it actually is.

 

There was no pen and/or paper provided in the cabin and no shoe bag - I wonder if the shoe-shine service is no more?  (I didn’t get a chance to find out - that’ll be a recurring theme throughout, I’m afraid!).  We didn’t receive treats to the cabin each evening (like we’ve done on other sailings) other than the chocolates on the pillows.  Such a shame they’ve done away with the little cards saying Buona Notte that used to accompany them - the small chocolates look lost on the bed without them.  We did get a small plate of choc-covered strawberries (containing a total of 5!) one night and, on the last night, a box of macaroons.

Being in an inside cabin was a huge compromise for us, but we were so glad to be in YC the way things turned out, as we were so well looked after by most of the crew and, especially the YC director, Allesandro, who ensured that we were well taken care of.

 

We had the worst butler we’ve ever had - and not because he was MIA.  We hadn’t had much interaction with him until the second day onboard when DH took ill.  I’d asked for a wheelchair to be provided to take him down to the medical centre and waited in the cabin ’til it arrived.  After some time, I began to get anxious and headed out to find out what was keeping them;  there was a wheelchair outside the cabin door, but no-one was around.  I couldn’t believe nobody had knocked to let me know and wondered if I was going to have to wheel him down, myself.

 

Anyway, our butler appeared, asked if we were ready, so DH sat into it and Harry (our butler) pushed the wheelchair out to the elevators to take us down to the doctor.  Now, he didn’t look too happy and didn’t converse with us at all.  When we got to the centre, he told us to ring for him when we were done, but that he had “a lot of cabins to attend to”, but he would come, anyway.  Well, we were there for a couple of hours and, once DH had received some treatment, he felt well enough not to bother with the wheelchair.  It was only a short walk to the elevator that took us up to right outside the YC.

 

I didn’t know what to do about the wheelchair, though and, when we passed one in the medical centre, I didn’t know if it was the one that DH had been in so I didn’t want to take it in case it wasn’t.  Plus, at this point in time, we weren’t sure if DH was going to be carted off in an ambulance later that day, so the wheelchair was the least of my worries.  I figured they could send somebody down for it if it was to be returned to the YC.

 

When we got back to the cabin, the butler asked where the wheelchair was;  I said DH hadn’t needed it so we’d left it downstairs.  Well, he made a fuss about it being for emergencies and that it shouldn’t have been left down there and went on a bit about it.  He made me feel responsible for having to return it, which I could have done without the grief just then.  Our minds were very much on what was going to happen at DH’s next appointment that afternoon.  There was more to come that evening when DH was confined to the cabin for dinner (more on that later) - again, when we were finishing up, Harry asked if there was anything else we needed as he had “other cabins and people to attend to”!  So we just said “No, thank you”, then, when he was gone, we realised that, yes, we needed all the plates, etc, removed as we didn’t want to sleep in a cabin with dirty dishes cluttering the place, so I had to run out after him to ask him to come and remove them (which the assistant did).  I have to admit that I really felt like we were causing him a problem.

 

Up until then, we’d never asked for anything.  We never used the mini-bar, nor the coffee-making facilities;  we kept the cabin as tidy as was possible, so generally they had little to do other than make the bed, vacuum the floor and attend to the bathroom.  I was very peeved at his attitude - especially on the day that was in it, when we were unsure of DH’s prognosis and didn’t know what we were facing.

 

More to follow ... (later 🙄)
 

The bathroom, too, is very tight (as has been reported elsewhere), but we managed.  Larger people, though, would have problems with it. ..

Oh indeed...in the shower I resembled a greyhound in trap 1! if I applied soap to the four surfaces of the shower and somehow spun around it was like some kind of human car wash.