YC Afternoon Tea on Seaview in Brazil

[JohnJayJotaJames]

On the Seaview in Brazil at the moment. Having a fantastic time in YC! Although rather disappointed that they can't be bothered to provide afternoon tea service in Brazil. It's listed in Daily Program but butler explained that Brazilians prefer to spend time by the pool so they don't set up for afternoon tea when in Brazil! If you insist, they will set up a table. I insisted. Sadest smallest scones I've ever seen. Went for a coffee instead in Seaside Lounge. YC Top Sail Lounge are going to try again tomorrow. Will give you an update.

[JohnJayJotaJames]

Petit four "scones" and biscuits! Chef is gonna try and find a larger scone cutter for tomorrow! What fun!!!

[aprilF]

Those scones are adorable! Though I’d want five of them to myself! 🤣

[scamper]

Where's the clotted cream? Strawberry jam?

[pettums]

Even when we were in the Mediterranean they didn't like to set up high tea in the YC and we had to battle for it! So I am not sure if it is just Brazil. Well done on getting it. It was by far our favorite thing about the YC and MSC.  Did they have a tea trolley that allowed you to select your particular brand of tea? 

[JohnJayJotaJames]

10 hours ago, pettums said:

Even when we were in the Mediterranean they didn't like to set up high tea in the YC and we had to battle for it! So I am not sure if it is just Brazil. Well done on getting it. It was by far our favourite thing about the YC and MSC.  Did they have a tea trolley that allowed you to select your particular brand of tea? 

@pettums They didn't set it up in Brazil either because "Brazilians don't like afternoon tea"! A Butler politely informed us that if we insisted he would set up afternoon tea. I explained that we shouldn't have to insist upon something that is a major part of YC marketing. He slowly set it up but when he was going to make the tea in a cold pot that was too much for me! When this new "no afternoon tea" policy was brought to the attention of the YC Director he immediately reinstated the service. Our butler was then given the task of overseeing afternoon tea service during our cruise. He was a star. His afternoon tea became very popular with all the Brazilians who at first thought it was a special service set up for "the gringo". Yes, they had the trolley. By the end of our cruise he was setting up about 6 tables every day.

@scamper Yes, when our butler took over the afternoon tea he ensured that clotted cream and strawberry jam was placed on each table whether requested or not.

[gkbiiii]

On the Seaside in Miami, they did not want to do it either, but did when I requested it.  Few passengers even knew about it, when they saw me, they started requesting it too.

[travelberlin]

This thread was started a year ago! I wonder why has it been resuscitated...

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, travelberlin said:

This thread was started a year ago! I wonder why has it been resuscitated...

 

Why not?  It's something that none of us can experience currently.  Memories are good and visually refreshing those memories is good!

[CruisingFox27]

Loved the YC afternoon tea. One to request from the 'at home butler' 😂

[JohnJayJotaJames]

Thanks for resuscitating my old post. Happy memories from a time when the only concerns in life were the size of scones at afternoon tea!
Looking forward to Christmas 2021 onboard the MSC Seaview coming to Brazil for the first time.

[gkbiiii]

So true, when I was there I kept thinking, "why is this not on the level of the Grand Floridian, at Disney World?"  Those were the days!

[WorldTraveler151208]

In December, before the Christmas lockdown, I was on Grandiosa. There was High Tea but only on request.  They don't prepare the tables in advance like they used to. But it was great anyway. Whereas last year it happened to me that in the Top Sail Lounge there was a very lazy and unprofessional crew. They made displeased faces when I asked for High Tea and sometimes they did not even bother to come with the trolley, they only brought ready tea.  It was outrageous.  I love Hight Tea and this is one of the best perks in the Yacht Club, but when I sometimes get the impression that a butler would like to throw me overboard, for ordering High Tea, I don’t feel like drinking anymore 😞

[JohnJayJotaJames]

9 hours ago, WorldTraveler151208 said:

In December, before the Christmas lockdown, I was on Grandiosa. There was High Tea but only on request.  They don't prepare the tables in advance like they used to. But it was great anyway. Whereas last year it happened to me that in the Top Sail Lounge there was a very lazy and unprofessional crew. They made displeased faces when I asked for High Tea and sometimes they did not even bother to come with the trolley, they only brought ready tea.  It was outrageous.  I love Hight Tea and this is one of the best perks in the Yacht Club, but when I sometimes get the impression that a butler would like to throw me overboard, for ordering High Tea, I don’t feel like drinking anymore 😞

I think the solution would be to tell your butler that you are looking forward to Afternoon/High Tea and could he/she request that a table be set up for you. This way you don't have to enter the bar seeing only empty tables. Explaining what you'd like helps the YC team to provide a fabulous service. When the YC director discovered that we'd prefer a pizza on Gala night celebrating our night in Italy she organised it for us!

 

 

[WorldTraveler151208]

7 hours ago, JohnJayJotaJames said:

Explaining what you'd like helps the YC team to provide a fabulous service.

I absolutely agree and usually the YC crews are fabulous, unfortunatelly the more Yacht Clubs there are, the more often I see people who shouldn't work there, especially on the oldest ships like Fantasia, because the best people always go on the newest ones.

 

7 hours ago, JohnJayJotaJames said:

When the YC director discovered that we'd prefer a pizza on Gala night celebrating our night in Italy she organised it for us!

By the way, which YC director are you talking about? Do you remember her name?

[hamrag]

We tried afternoon tea, on our first YC cruise, on Meraviglia in the Med. We honestly thought it was the weakest part of the YC offering, not dreadful and not underwhelming.....I guess, at best, we were 'whelmed'! Perhaps the problem is we always have afternoon tea on the Cunard ships on sea days, and they certainly do know how to do it!

[WorldTraveler151208]

5 hours ago, hamrag said:

We tried afternoon tea, on our first YC cruise, on Meraviglia in the Med. We honestly thought it was the weakest part of the YC offering, not dreadful and not underwhelming.....I guess, at best, we were 'whelmed'! Perhaps the problem is we always have afternoon tea on the Cunard ships on sea days, and they certainly do know how to do it!

Msc is not a British line like Cunard, so obviously High Tea in the YC is their own,  different interpretation of this tradition. I can imagine that compared to Cunard it is not the same. Still, I think High Tea is usually a very nice experience.

[hamrag]

6 hours ago, hamrag said:

We tried afternoon tea, on our first YC cruise, on Meraviglia in the Med. We honestly thought it was the weakest part of the YC offering, not dreadful and not underwhelming.....I guess, at best, we were 'whelmed'! Perhaps the problem is we always have afternoon tea on the Cunard ships on sea days, and they certainly do know how to do it!

 

2 minutes ago, WorldTraveler151208 said:

Msc is not a British line like Cunard, so obviously High Tea in the YC is their own,  different interpretation of this tradition. I can imagine that compared to Cunard it is not the same. Still, I think High Tea is usually a very nice experience.

 

I've never tried High Tea on a ship, and certainly didn't notice the YC serving it at any time during our cruise! 😉

[JohnJayJotaJames]

14 hours ago, WorldTraveler151208 said:

I absolutely agree and usually the YC crews are fabulous, unfortunatelly the more Yacht Clubs there are, the more often I see people who shouldn't work there, especially on the oldest ships like Fantasia, because the best people always go on the newest ones.

 

By the way, which YC director are you talking about? Do you remember her name?

If my memory is correct it was the second week of the MSC Seaview so the YC Director was Rosalia.

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

 

I've never tried High Tea on a ship, and certainly didn't notice the YC serving it at any time during our cruise! 😉

 

The absolute best Tea experience that I have had was aboard Royal Princess during their Royal Princess Tea.  It was a very modest extra cost item and held in a lounge that was in the Atrium area.  Champagne service was an option along with the various teas that were served with each course.  Neither the Tea's venue or any other aspect distracted from my sheer enjoyment of the experience.  

 

My worst Tea experience was on QE2 during a trans-Atlantic crossing in the Tourist Class Queen's Lounge with cracked crock ware, no tea spoons, and indifferent service.  (There were labor issues on that ship at that time.)   

[WorldTraveler151208]

On 1/15/2021 at 12:10 AM, JohnJayJotaJames said:

If my memory is correct it was the second week of the MSC Seaview so the YC Director was Rosalia.

Ah yes, that explains everything  Rosalia Scaldaferri is the best.  We sailed with her three times and each time the crew managed by her was very well organized and happy.  Unfortunately, she is always only on the newest ships, always on the same itinerary from Genoa, while the older ships would also need a YC director like Rosalia.