OBSERVATIONS FROM THE POOP DECK SEASCAPE JUNE 2023

[travelwide]

My kind of person! 🥂

[morpheusofthesea]

Every time we come on board a MSC ship in the YC we get a new staff. Always shockingly exceptional. It never ceases to amaze us why we enjoy returning to the Yacht Club.DW just keeps comparing how much more she enjoys being here than Celebrity or HAL. She said it is like coming home.

[travelwide]

8 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Just one?

Absolutely not only one!  🥂🍾

[travelwide]

1 minute ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Every time we come on board a MSC ship in the YC we get a new staff. Always shockingly exceptional. It never ceases to amaze us why we enjoy returning to the Yacht Club.DW just keeps comparing how much more she enjoys being here than Celebrity or HAL. She said it is like coming home.

We feel the same way. We do quite a bit of X but prefer the YC.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

9 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Every time we come on board a MSC ship in the YC we get a new staff. Always shockingly exceptional. It never ceases to amaze us why we enjoy returning to the Yacht Club.DW just keeps comparing how much more she enjoys being here than Celebrity or HAL. She said it is like coming home.

 

7 minutes ago, travelwide said:

We feel the same way. We do quite a bit of X but prefer the YC.

 

Same question for both of you, what do you like better about MSC than X? 

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

After lunch we both went up to the OnePoolDeck to see if we could catch our pool attendant and found the requested pergola toweled with extra towels and found him immediately with a big smile on his face. We told him we expect him to keep us free of interlopers this cruise that love to get up early at 4 am and squat our pergola. He said not to worry it will not happen again. I tipped him $20 to insure it. His smile got even wider.

Is the pool attendant the same "familiar face" you spoke to in your post #14?

[morpheusofthesea]

10 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Why so early? 

Disembarkation usually begins 7 am and the garage across the street empties out by 8:30 giving one a nice selection of parking spaces without newbies rushing in behind one, giving ample time to back in to a spot. Later the concrete barriers might  close off the entrance of the garage signifying it is full and one will have to find another garage farther away. 

 Sometimes traffic can get backed up on the toll roads and one does not want to miss the ship. 

 Thirdly, DW demands we leave early.

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, travelwide said:

My usual question.....YC and HD?

Your favorite Yannis Kazalis HD. 

Taylan Tanadalan YC.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Same question for both of you, what do you like better about MSC than X?

You must have missed or forgotten one of my previous posts on my comparison between X and MSC.

Sure. Here is a list.

#1 MSC Yacht Club Restaurant is OPEN port days. Celebrity Luminae is NOT open port days.

#2 MSC YC has reserved seating in the theatre for YC guests at all shows. Celebrity only Gala night.

#3 Royal Suite on MSC has 2 cushion deck lounges on balcony. Celebrity RS can only accommodate 1 non cushioned deck lounger.

#4 MSC has reserved pergolas/cabanas for RS & OS Celebrity on sundeck it is FCFS chair hoggers that get those.

#5 More attentive butlers on MSC . Celebrity hosts give one their telephone number which many times is forwarded to room service.

#6 Walk-in showers on MSC YC, Celebrity has low profile tub/shower combos in CS and SS.

#7 Elevator OVERRIDE key cards for suite guests on MSC. No such amenity on Celebrity.

#8 No non suite paying Diamond card holders taking up real estate in YC venues. Celebrity has non suite Zeniths in our venues.

#9 MSC All suites are within a gated community with a short climb up or down to all venues. Celebrity depends what ship.

#10 MSC a new pristine Ocean Cay out island with its own employees. Celebrity has Nassau.

#11 MSC offers Individual escorts on and off the ship. Celebrity one must assemble and be escorted off in groups (always waiting for some straggler).

#12 For those that enjoy buffets MSC YC has its own buffet at the One Pool Deck and a Seafood Extravaganza at least one per 7 day cruise and some report that even pizza can be delivered to One Pool Deck.

#13 Celebrity has two great features that MSC lacks; Starlink wifi is much better than MSC wifi and Cafe al Bacio has no peer on MSC for its selection of 12-14 mouth-watering pastries.

#14 YC has the best entertainers on the ship providing evening music in the TopSail Lounge, nothing in Retreat Lounge.

#15 YC Pool Deck has a pool, only Celebrity E-class ships have pool.

#16 MSC YC has much better price than the Retreat

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, travelwide said:

Great to hear you are back onboard. My usual question.....YC and HD? Curious how 52 kids work out. Ugh.

Understand that last week it was one of the worst in the YC. A wedding party of 60 all in the YC took over. Loud, oblivious to other YCers not in their party. Demanding, etc....

[perakcruiser]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Just off the Seaside and my new found go-to cocktail is called a Hugo.  I don't know if it's unique to MSC or if it's a known cocktail 

That is so popular in Europe you even can buy it in cans in the supermarkets. It is my favorite drink for Aperitivi when in Italy. 

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Is the pool attendant the same "familiar face" you spoke to in your post #14?

No. The familiar face is one of the other butlers usually stationed in the Top Sail Lounge.

[morpheusofthesea]

All the waiters in the YC Restaurant are excellent. Every time we come we get a different pair.

Tried the elevator over ride key card today 3 times. First time was after scanning our cards at muster. The elevator said 40 seconds, it took 2 minutes for an empty elevator to whisk us to deck 16 non stop, just the two of us. The second and third times it took 10 seconds for an empty elevator to come and whisk us nonstop. (Just love these override key cards for YCers).

Edited June 12, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

Great news. Le Cabaret Rouge still has the vocalist Samulous as MC. Great vocal range and personality. A male and female vocalists that when not performing in the Chora Theatre productions are doing their own 'thing' in LCR. A male violinist, not as pretty as violinist , Marie, from France on stage from a couple of months ago. And a 'sideshow' magician (not ready for primetime). And for fans of the Loft Cafe back from a stint in Dubai is the crooner, Bruno Vincenza. His Sinatra Tribute is standing room only.

 .

[morpheusofthesea]

Well this never ever happened on any cruise we have ever been on in 50 years of cruising. It even shocked the staff in the YC Restaurant. At around 7:45 am while waiting for our breakfast to be brought to our table, I feel the light touch of a hand on my shoulder of an officer welcoming us to the Seascape. My reaction was to get his name for tipping at the end of the cruise. He went to each and every table (10) that had guests this first morning. Come to find out the officer was our new Captain Michele Tuvo. He was accompanied by the staff captain in the background. Soon after the maitre d' Arthur Javier also made the rounds and said how astonished the staff was that the Captain made such a grand gesture toward the YC guests. Another first for MSC.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

10 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

You must have missed or forgotten one of my previous posts on my comparison between X and MSC.

Sure. Here is a list.

#1 MSC Yacht Club Restaurant is OPEN port days. Celebrity Luminae is NOT open port days.

#2 MSC YC has reserved seating in the theatre for YC guests at all shows. Celebrity only Gala night.

#3 Royal Suite on MSC has 2 cushion deck lounges on balcony. Celebrity RS can only accommodate 1 non cushioned deck lounger.

#4 MSC has reserved pergolas/cabanas for RS & OS Celebrity on sundeck it is FCFS chair hoggers that get those.

#5 More attentive butlers on MSC . Celebrity hosts give one their telephone number which many times is forwarded to room service.

#6 Walk-in showers on MSC YC, Celebrity has low profile tub/shower combos in CS and SS.

#7 Elevator OVERRIDE key cards for suite guests on MSC. No such amenity on Celebrity.

#8 No non suite paying Diamond card holders taking up real estate in YC venues. Celebrity has non suite Zeniths in our venues.

#9 MSC All suites are within a gated community with a short climb up or down to all venues. Celebrity depends what ship.

#10 MSC a new pristine Ocean Cay out island with its own employees. Celebrity has Nassau.

#11 MSC offers Individual escorts on and off the ship. Celebrity one must assemble and be escorted off in groups (always waiting for some straggler).

#12 For those that enjoy buffets MSC YC has its own buffet at the One Pool Deck and a Seafood Extravaganza at least one per 7 day cruise and some report that even pizza can be delivered to One Pool Deck.

#13 Celebrity has two great features that MSC lacks; Starlink wifi is much better than MSC wifi and Cafe al Bacio has no peer on MSC for its selection of 12-14 mouth-watering pastries.

#14 YC has the best entertainers on the ship providing evening music in the TopSail Lounge, nothing in Retreat Lounge.

#15 YC Pool Deck has a pool, only Celebrity E-class ships have pool.

#16 MSC YC has much better price than the Retreat

Sorry, I do recall this now that your refreshed my less than stellar memory!  Thank you!

[morpheusofthesea]

Had trouble uploading this photo of our pergola this morning. So I  'bit the bullet' and for $60 upgraded the complimentary browse wifi to streaming.

[morpheusofthesea]

Learned something new every cruise. Having gotten to the port early had plenty of time to 'chew the fat' with our YC porter, Clarence. He said it was his job to make sure he was prepared to accommodate YC guests it the event of weather changes. That he has special alerts on his phone from very advanced weather forecasting completely autonomous from weather gathered used by news organizations that are more accurate coming directly from the POM.

[jules815]

58 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Well this never ever happened on any cruise we have ever been on in 50 years of cruising. It even shocked the staff in the YC Restaurant. At around 7:45 am while waiting for our breakfast to be brought to our table, I feel the light touch of a hand on my shoulder of an officer welcoming us to the Seascape. My reaction was to get his name for tipping at the end of the cruise. He went to each and every table (10) that had guests this first morning. Come to find out the officer was our new Captain Michele Tuvo. He was accompanied by the staff captain in the background. Soon after the maitre d' Arthur Javier also made the rounds and said how astonished the staff was that the Captain made such a grand gesture toward the YC guests. Another first for MSC.

Good morning!  What a nice gesture by the Captain.

Have heard so many wonderful things about maitre d' Arthur over the years. Would you be able to find out if he'll still be on board in September? We'll be on 9/10 - 24. Thanks!

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by jules815

[morpheusofthesea]

It is warmer outside even though it is windy and overcast. One will need something to keep warm on the inside walking decks 6,7 & 8. We had to raise the temperature in the cabin twice already to double red as we felt the air conditioning was so cold in the cabin. YMMV.

[Bgwest]

11 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Disembarkation usually begins 7 am and the garage across the street empties out by 8:30 giving one a nice selection of parking spaces without newbies rushing in behind one, giving ample time to back in to a spot. Later the concrete barriers might  close off the entrance of the garage signifying it is full and one will have to find another garage farther away. 

 Sometimes traffic can get backed up on the toll roads and one does not want to miss the ship. 

 Thirdly, DW demands we leave early.

Your final point trumps all the others!

[morpheusofthesea]

Saw a family of 4 escorted out of the YC Restaurant last evening. How they snuck in and got past everyone as far as seating themselves at a table is beyond us.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 minute ago, Bgwest said:

Your final point trumps all the others!

It usually does. I just try to find other rational explanations to bolster whatever manhood I have left.

[Bgwest]

10 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Saw a family of 4 escorted out of the YC Restaurant last evening. How they snuck in and got past everyone as far as seating themselves at a table is beyond us.

Skewer the interlopers!!!

[jules815]

15 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Saw a family of 4 escorted out of the YC Restaurant last evening. How they snuck in and got past everyone as far as seating themselves at a table is beyond us.

INTERLOPERS!