LIVE from 9/13 Bellissima and 9/21 Seaview - 7nt Med cruises - Yacht Club

[ipeeinthepool]

Thanks for your review.  I learned a lot about MSC from your review and I'm looking forward to your conclusion.

[vulcan1971]

On 9/17/2019 at 2:38 PM, WonderMan3 said:

 

We were told by the YC manager on the first day that all drinks outside of Yacht Club are included up to 10 Euro in price. When drinking in YC every drink is included except for some champagnes and a few specialty liquors which are all highlighted in the drink menu. When we have been dining in the specialty restaurants the servers have pointed out when drinks we might be interested in are outside of the package. Not sure about the wine.

 

Given what you have said about "some Champagnes" not included, would you be able to give some additional details on which brands are covered/available and which are not?

[WonderMan3]

On Tuesday we arrived at La Spezia. We woke early again before 6am in order to meet our driver guide Cristian at 8am for a long day touring the Cinque Terre. We had our standard breakfast at the Yacht Club dining room and then made our way to the concierge desk to find out what deck we would exit the ship from. The concierge insisted calling a butler to escort us off the ship. We didn’t feel it was necessary but went along with it. Our butler Nonant did not show up but another butler did. He seemed a little annoyed but escorted us anyway not saying much. It was an easy exit that really did not need this escort but the management of YC encourages having the butlers do this. Once off the ship we had to go to a shuttle bus to take us out to the terminal, about a 5 minute ride. We had to wait though for the shuttle bus to fill up which took over 5 minutes. Make sure you allocate this extra time for the bus if meeting a guide. So we showed up about 5 minutes late to meet Cristian. 

 

On our way out of La Spezia, Cristian actually did some talking for once giving a little background on the area (he lives there though so it was his home turf). We then talked about the order of the touring day which I had set up with the tour company. We were to drive to Portovenere first where we could walk around, then have Cristian drive us to Manarola where he would guide us around, then take the train on our own to Riomaggiore for some time to tour and then take the ferry to Vernazza where we would meet Cristian after our touring on our own so he could drive us back to the ship. Cristin started encouraging other options for the day while we were driving that was starting to confuse me, most of them involved taking the ferry for most of the day which would mean less time in the car. We had been to some of the Cinque Terre before and had done the ferry ride the full length along the coast so we didn’t need to do that again. I wanted to stay with the original plan. We arrived at Portovenere and Cristian said he was checking his app about the ferries and saw that all ferries for the day were cancelled between the towns except going from Portovenere all the way to Monterosso al Mare, which we weren’t visiting. He again started suggesting we take the ferry boat out of Portovenere for some reason and gave a whole alternate itinerary for the day. He was speaking so quickly that I lost track and was just getting frustrated. The ferry changes just meant we had to take a train from Riomaggiore to Vernazza instead of a ferry; not a big deal. I did not understand why he kept trying to restructure our whole day. I said again that we would stick with our original plan. After Cristian left us to explore Portovenere Mike and I were wondering if he was trying to push us off on to the ferry from Portovenere so that he wouldn’t have to drive us to Manarola and then he basically would have his entire day free until he picked us up at Vernazza. That gave me a bad impression.

 

Anyway, we had an hour to tour Portovenere. We had been here before a few years back so I basically just wanted to get some photos in. It was quiet at this time about 8:45am so a great time for photos without lots of people in the way. We walked out to the farthest point in town which is the beautiful stone church of St. Peter then walked back through the town’s Main Street.  We stopped at a couple places so I could buy some local pesto (not as good as the one I got in Genoa) and some bakery items to snack on. As we left the main gate several tour groups were entering so we timed our visit perfectly. Portovenere is not an official part of the Cinque Terre but I highly recommend a visit there if you are in this area.

[WonderMan3]

Breaking up the Portovenere photos to avoid a large post.

[WonderMan3]

7 hours ago, vulcan1971 said:

 

Given what you have said about "some Champagnes" not included, would you be able to give some additional details on which brands are covered/available and which are not?

 

I posted the drink menu from the Yacht Club lounge further up the thread. There is a connoisseurs section which features all the pay extra drinks.

[Von & John]

Once again - GREAT Photos!

 

[Nashna]

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure.  I have enjoyed following you on both voyages.  Your photos are lovely.  As a pasta lover, I would prefer Mike's dining choices while my husband would certainly follow your lead.   Having spent many summers on the Cape and having enjoyed our stays in P-Town, I'm surprised that you would leave that beautiful location at the best time of the year.  The Cape is so magical in the Fall.   We will be on the Seaside in 2021.  Hopefully, our YC experience in  the Caribbean will be better than yours in Europe.      

[WonderMan3]

18 hours ago, Nashna said:

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure.  I have enjoyed following you on both voyages.  Your photos are lovely.  As a pasta lover, I would prefer Mike's dining choices while my husband would certainly follow your lead.   Having spent many summers on the Cape and having enjoyed our stays in P-Town, I'm surprised that you would leave that beautiful location at the best time of the year.  The Cape is so magical in the Fall.   We will be on the Seaside in 2021.  Hopefully, our YC experience in  the Caribbean will be better than yours in Europe.      

 

Yes, September is one of my favorite months in P-Town. We only like to travel in Europe in May or September though (to try and avoid crowds and encounter fewer kids) and this May we already had another trip planned.

[WonderMan3]

Continuing our Tuesday adventures...

 

We left Portovenere and drove nearly all the way back to La Spezia in order to take the road that would lead to the Cinque Terre villages. Up, up, up we drove into the hills making a couple stops on the way from some beautiful vistas including a view out over La Spezia where we could see the ship docked with the mountains in the distance. The first village we were stopping at was Manarola. Cristian walked with us down to the center of the town. As we walked several tour groups were coming into town also. Once in the center it was crowded with tourists. It was only 10:30am and it was already very busy. Cristian told us that Manarola used to be one of the quieter villages compared to Vernazza and Riomaggiore until a photographer took a shot of the town that became very popular and started an influx of tourists who wanted to capture that same scene. 

 

Cristian left us to go buy the train tickets we would need for the rest of the day. He gave us an hour to walk around which we spent mainly photo taking and soaking up the scenery. The light was really harsh that morning and combined with the number of tourists it was a struggle to capture some good shots. We met Cristian back at the town center where he gave us our train tickets and then walked us to the station. He explained the schedules and how to validate tickets before boarding. Once you understand the system it’s pretty easy. You can actually take the train from La Spezia to each of the 5 Cinque Terre villages. (Portovenere is not on the train line). Cristian waiter until our train to Riomaggiore arrived and then said to text him when we arrived at Vernazza later in the day.

[WonderMan3]

It was a quick trip from Manarola to Riomaggiore by train, just one stop. When you exit the train station you can take a pedestrian tunnel that will take you directly to the heart of the town or you can walk up an inclined path to get views from above both out to the sea and at the village below you. We took the high route and then down to the center of town and to the harbor. The center was busy with tourists like Manarola was. We walked around for over an hour and then scouted our a place for lunch. Cristian had recommended a restaurant by the harbor but we didn’t care for the menu so we found a small pizza place near the train station called Kepris. The food was fast and tasty with a friendly business owner. Once we finished eating we caught the next train to Vernazza.

[WonderMan3]

Splitting photos from Riomaggiore to avoid a larger post.

[George C]

That pizza looks good, will have pizza and Chianti Classico for dinner tonight 😁

[ipeeinthepool]

Wonderman,  one of things that this review has shown me is the benefit of traveling around Italy in September.  The crowds looked to be non-existent.  I think I make my next trip in September.

[jcpc]

Your photos are incredible.  I'm looking forward to your final thoughts on MSC.  Prior to reading your postings I was thinking that I wanted to try MSC YC but now I'm leaning towards sticking with Celebrity.  We'll see......

Edited September 30, 2019 by jcpc

[WonderMan3]

8 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

Wonderman,  one of things that this review has shown me is the benefit of traveling around Italy in September.  The crowds looked to be non-existent.  I think I make my next trip in September.

 

Crowds weren’t bad everywhere except the Cinque Terre and Montserrat outside of Barcelona. For the Cinque Terre, Cristian told us you need to go between October and early May to avoid crowds. 

[WonderMan3]

It was only a couple stops by train to Vernazza. When we arrived the town was swarming with tourists. We had visited Vernazza before on a prior trip to Italy and it had been a mob scene then as well. At this point in the day it was getting quite hot also so moving through the throngs of people and trying to keep cool was a chore. Luckily, Vernazza does have some cute winding side streets that are shaded with virtually no one passing through, so we took the opportunity to explore and wander these quieter paths. We even found a funky little bar called Monkey Artpub where we stopped for a beer and cocktail in order to recharge. The villages of the Cinque Terre are wonderful but you really can’t enjoy them with all the crowds. I’d honestly recommend avoiding coming here if traveling during high season on a day trip. If you have the opportunity to stay in one of the villages do you can experience them in the late afternoon or evening after the day trippers leave then I would definitely recommend that. There was an old castle high up in Vernazza that I wanted to see but it required climbing up many steps and even though Mike was game to try it I knew he was really exhausted from the heat and walking we had done all day so we skipped it. That gave us about 30 minutes of extra time so I texted Cristian to see if we could make a stop on the way back to the ship at the village of Corniglia, which is the last of the 5 villages we had not seen yet. He said that would be fine.

[WonderMan3]

It was about a 10 minute drive over steep winding roads to get to Corniglia. This is probably the least visited village of the Cinque Terre and it was a bit smaller. There were fewer tourists there when we arrived but since it’s smaller it still felt crowded. We only had about 20 minutes so we spent most of the time winding through the small streets of the village to get out to the observation point. Corniglia is up high on a cliff with spectacular 180 degree views of the Cinque Terre coast. It’s definitely worth a visit if only for those views. After our stop here it was time to head back to the ship. The drive along the Cinque Terre road continued to be steep and winding with even more spectacular views than we saw in Corniglia. It reminded me of driving along the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to stop for photos as there were very few safe pull offs on the side of the road, and the few there were already had cars at them, also we were pressed for time as we had to be back by 5pm. Unlike other guides we’ve had who were a bit more flexible about the finishing time, Cristian was very focused on the timing on both days. His right of course as he was only being paid for a certain number of hours. He got us back just after 5. Overall, while he was better this day than the day prior, we still didn’t find him that engaging.  As such I would not recommend booking a driver guide from this company called Lunaetours. Their local walking guides I would recommend though as our guide Paola in Genoa was fabulous.

[WonderMan3]

After returning to the terminal in La Spezia we got onboard the shuttle bus to take us to the ship. As we arrived at the ship though we were shocked to see lines to get onboard. There were three boarding areas and all had lengthy lines. We had never seen it this busy on either cruise. As we approached the ship we saw our butler Nonnat waiting for us. We asked him how long he had been waiting out there since we had done a private tour and not shared what time we would be returning to the ship with anyone (no one asked). He said “awhile”. We felt bad but we are not used to this MSC service where the butlers want to escort you all over the place. His presence this day was very much welcomed though. He took us up to the boarding line at the front of the ship. Unlike the other two, this one was not moving at all; no one was on the gangway, just lining up on the pier. Nonnat took us to the head of the line and they let him bring us up the gangway. We could see the faces of the people still in line who were none to happy about this. When we got inside the ship there was a line of people waiting to go through security. They would not let Nonnat take us to the head of that line which was fine. It was moving and within a few minutes they opened a second line. Here is where the frustration began. Nonnat went over to the elevators and scanned his card for Yacht Club. The G7 elevator lit up which is the normal Yacht Club elevator on that side. It was not coming right away so Nonnat took Mike over to another elevator that was filling with people. I asked why we were not waiting for the express elevator and didn’t get a clear response. Mike told me to get in so I followed. The elevator was packed full. When the dots closed I saw that three floors were lit up including ours. I said “This is not express to Yacht Club. Why did we get on this car?” The butler did not hear me. As we moved up the floors it kept stopping and more people started to push their way on. We finally had to yell at some people to stop that there was no more room. We wound up stopping on about 8 floors for people to get on or off while being squeezed in like sardines. I desperately had to go the bathroom and I was really irritated at this point. I have no idea why the butler did not just wait for the express elevator. It totally defeated the purpose of having an escort. When we got to our floor I ran past the butler saying “Thank you, we’re good” as we did not need him to escort us to our cabin and I had to get to the bathroom. It was all unnecessarily stressful.

 

After getting back to the cabin we decided to head up to the pool deck to relax for a bit. We hadn’t had a chance to spend any time up there since we boarded save for a quick visit to take breakfast to go and Mike smoking. When we got up there it was pretty quiet with only a handful of people sitting around. None of the lounge chairs had cushions on them. I noticed them all piled at the front of the deck and covered up. I assumed they had put them away for the day as it was almost 6pm. Nonnat appeared shortly after we arrived and took a drink order for us. I asked him why all the cushions were put away and he said it was because they were cleaning. I assumed he meant they were cleaning the deck. I asked if they had been cleaning earlier that day or were going to do it that night or the next day but he wasn’t sure. So we just sat on the cushionless lounge chairs which were a bit uncomfortable as they were a hard rattan style material with a horrible bar in the center by your lower back. One of the two hot tubs was free so we hopped into that and soothed our tired feet and muscles. We had brought our drinks over with us which were in plastic cups. We had noticed the couple in the adjacent hot tub having drinks while soaking so we figured it must be okay. A pool attendant came by shortly after and said that we couldn’t have drinks in the hot tub. We said okay and he was about to walk off when I directed him to tell the couple in the other tub the same thing, which he did. While Mike put our drinks by our chair the other couple kept their drinks at the hot tub. The pool attendant did walk by the hot tub area again after that but said nothing more to them. I don’t mind rules as long as they’re enforced equally. Another example is right about the same time some jerk who was in one of the cabanas was walking around the deck in our area talking very loudly on a cellphone. He then proceeded to sit down, not in his cabana, but on a random chair not far from our own and lit up a cigarette; that was not a smoking area. Staff occasionally passed by including an officer but no one said anything to the guy. After that a group of three kids, all under 12 with no parents around, showed up and were eyeing the hot tubs. They kept hanging around in the area near our tub. Mike had noticed kids hogging up the hot tubs frequently when he had come up for a smoke. After about 10 minutes they decided to barge into the tub next to us which caused the couple there to quickly exit. We decided to exit shortly after ourselves as the kids were being loud. We laid out to dry off and then headed back to the cabin after spending about an hour there.

Edited October 1, 2019 by WonderMan3

[WonderMan3]

Finishing off from last Tuesday...

 

We had dinner at the Yacht Club dining room. Once again, ordering a cocktail was a chore. It took three different people to take our order (the server assistant, the server, and then a sommelier) before someone understood enough to put the order through to the bar. Dinner itself was pretty good. Beyond the drink frustrations, service was good. For the appetizer I had the blue cheese soufflé which was bland, while Mike had the lobster bisque which he said had no lobster meat and was not very good. For the entree had the beef filet. Based on the poor beef I had at YC on Bellissima and Mike’s disappointment with the beef tournedos on this ship, I decided to order my beef medium rare. I normally order my beef medium but thought since they seemed to be using lower grades of beef than I was used to that this might help for a more tender cut. It worked! The filet was actually quite good. Not as good as Butcher’s Cut but the best cut of meat I’d had at Yacht Club. Mike ordered the grilled chicken off of the everyday menu and said it was much better than the one he had on Bellissima. For dessert we got a bit confused. When we walked in to the restaurant we saw them frying something in a pan right near the entrance with a very sweet smell. We incorrectly assumed when we saw poached pear listed on the menu that was what they were preparing. So we both ordered that for  dessert. When it came though it was a cold pear. When we asked the server about it he said what we saw when we came in was crepe Suzette. We felt a little foolish and said we wanted to switch to that as the pear was pretty lousy. The crepe Suzette was delicious! Yet again, MSC does well with dessert. After dinner we visited the casino but it was just more steadily declining returns for this cruise.

 

 

[WonderMan3]

Here is the Daily Planner from Wednesday

[Host Jazzbeau]

12 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Finishing off from last Tuesday...

 

We had dinner at the Yacht Club dining room. Once again, ordering a cocktail was a chore. It took three different people to take our order (the server assistant, the server, and then a sommelier) before someone understood enough to put the order through to the bar. Dinner itself was pretty good. Beyond the drink frustrations, service was good. For the appetizer I had the blue cheese soufflé which was bland, while Mike had the lobster bisque which he said had no lobster meat and was not very good. For the entree had the beef filet. Based on the poor beef I had at YC on Bellissima and Mike’s disappointment with the beef tournedos on this ship, I decided to order my beef medium rare. I normally order my beef medium but thought since they seemed to be using lower grades of beef than I was used to that this might help for a more tender cut. It worked! The filet was actually quite good. Not as good as Butcher’s Cut but the best cut of meat I’d had at Yacht Club. Mike ordered the grilled chicken off of the everyday menu and said it was much better than the one he had on Bellissima. For dessert we got a bit confused. When we walked in to the restaurant we saw them frying something in a pan right near the entrance with a very sweet smell. We incorrectly assumed when we saw poached pear listed on the menu that was what they were preparing. So we both ordered that for  dessert. When it came though it was a cold pear. When we asked the server about it he said what we saw when we came in was crepe Suzette. We felt a little foolish and said we wanted to switch to that as the pear was pretty lousy. The crepe Suzette was delicious! Yet again, MSC does well with dessert. After dinner we visited the casino but it was just more steadily declining returns for this cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've caught up to you in real time (we're in Civitavecchia today), so I can comment on the dinner above.  Notice that the menu describes the beef as "Blackened Angus filet steak" [I assume they mean Black Angus tm] – it was delicious and tender.  It is different (much better meat) than the regular 'everyday' filet in YC.  And yes, the crepes suzettes were fantastic – because they kept them simmering in butter all night, they had more flavor than any I've had before.

[ipeeinthepool]

The “Blackened Angus Filet” says a lot about the communication problems on this cruise and maybe MSC.

[rattanchair]

 

 

18 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Mike had the lobster bisque which he said had no lobster meat and was not very good. For the entree had the beef filet. Based on the poor beef I had at YC

Dear Wonder, I am sorry.  I thought the quote from the great 'man of letters' Dr. Samuel Johnson was just referring to crew members when he said " Being in a ship is being in jail, with the chance of being drowned...A man in jail has more room, better food and commonly better company." I guess we can extend this to passengers in the 21st century.

[rattanchair]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:02 PM, WonderMan3 said:

more people started to push their way on. We finally had to yell at some people to stop that there was no more room.

 

[rattanchair]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:02 PM, WonderMan3 said:

a group of three kids, all under 12 with no parents around, showed up and were eyeing the hot tubs. They kept hanging around in the area near our tub. Mike had noticed kids hogging up the hot tubs frequently