OBSERVATIONS FROM THE POOP DECK SEASCAPE JUNE 2023

[morpheusofthesea]

4 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The photo in post #42 gave it away. 🤪

Not everyone is as astute as CC's number one fact checker.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

I had to go back to see what pic 42 was.  lol

[morpheusofthesea]

4 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I had to go back to see what pic 42 was.  lol

so did I.

[20165]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Well with most the ship on tour, others outside the YC, do try to take advantage of less staff that are given time off for the afternoon. At lunch today, a group of six non YCers got as far as the restaurant. Again how are they getting in? This morning a group of 4 seated themselves at breakfast while the hostess was seating other YC guests. She came back and noticed the interlopers and asked for their cabin numbers. Of course they did not reside in the YC and they were asked to leave. So early in the morning there is no one to escort them out. Where they went is anyones' guess. Maybe the breakfast buffet at the One Pool Deck? 

  Again at lunch a group of 6 with backpacks and cameras came into the YC restaurant throwing out some malarkey about being affiliated with MSC and wanted to have lunch in the dining room. Again asked to leave, but took their sweet time photographing the restaurant, TSL below and everyone eating.

   Just now DW went to register her credit card (it is quiet and not rushed on a port day) and there was a gentleman demanding a tour of the Yacht Club since he is now residing outside the YC and is contemplating staying on board and booking a cabin in the YC for next week.

The concierge politely told him sorry there are no available cabins in the YC next week. (don't really know if this is true with all the upgrade invitations every week, but this must happen quite often for such a great response).

This is my number 1 issue with this cruise, I’m on the same ship and the people are extremely rude. Very carnivalesque. Nice ship, but very rude people. 

[travelwide]

45 minutes ago, 20165 said:

This is my number 1 issue with this cruise, I’m on the same ship and the people are extremely rude. Very carnivalesque. Nice ship, but very rude people. 

I am truly sorry to hear that this is what is booking  and sailing on MSC. 

Glad to hear they are removing  those who don't belong in the YC.  Now they need to find out how they are getting in.

[CarolnLarry]

6 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I  found this interesting as well. There must be all facets of 'special' people that are being catered to like on land. I think these in the casino are called "whales". Noticed these signs on two tables. PRIVATE. So not everyone wants to play or lounge or 'rub elbows'. Many of us want exclusivity.

There is a young lady and her group that is using the Seascape this week to do her gambling videos for You Tube.  Her you tube name is beyond bl;ackjack and she posted yesterday from the seascape.  They won't allow anyone at the table while she is filming that maybe the reason for the reserved sign and they can take it down when she is finished filming.  She showed pictures of Ocean Cay also.  

[Best Cat Mom]

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This morning a group of 4 seated themselves at breakfast while the hostess was seating other YC guests. She came back and noticed the interlopers and asked for their cabin numbers. Of course they did not reside in the YC and they were asked to leave.

Isn't it interesting how non-YC cruisers don't realize that the YC guests are all pretty much known by the YC staff within the first day? They just don't realize how personal the service is in YC and that's why they think they can just blend in. Thank goodness the "interlopers" did not make too much of a fuss when asked to leave. Breakfast is too early to deal with that kind of stress, though mimosas can always help.

[morpheusofthesea]

20 minutes ago, CarolnLarry said:

There is a young lady and her group that is using the Seascape this week to do her gambling videos for You Tube.  Her you tube name is beyond bl;ackjack and she posted yesterday from the seascape.  They won't allow anyone at the table while she is filming that maybe the reason for the reserved sign and they can take it down when she is finished filming.  She showed pictures of Ocean Cay also.  

Interesting. Do keep ourselves to the YC enclave most of the day. Have not seen this entourage you mentioned this week. We will get to Ocean Cay end of this week. I just upgraded to streaming and still cannot upload my 57 second video of the YC breakfast buffet to this CC thread. So perhaps she is really home doing her uploading to YouTube.

[morpheusofthesea]

It appears that our new Captain Michele Tuvo is making quite an impression on both the staff and the passengers. MSC's answer to Celebrity's Captain Kate. We have seen more of this Captain on this cruise than we have of the YC Director. Have not seen anything of HD Yannis. Perhaps it would help if we attended the invitational meet and greets, cocktail parties, socials, etc. But we tend to keep to ourselves for fear of catching something from all the coughing going on around us.

  Opted to see the one man show/vocalist in the Chora Theatre tonight. Saw him on the Seashore in Le Cabaret Rouge.His act appears better on the big stage. Also sat through the comedy of Jay Stevens, thought he was funny. In between we caught a set by Bruno and the Jazz Quartet in the Loft Lounge. All in all a full evening. The prime rib at dinner I was able to cut with my fork it was so tender. After every meal I say to myself I just have to cut back (or is it DW telling me to cut back?) These thoughts, in either case, go in one ear and out the other ear.

Edited June 14, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

There are two competing phenomena occurring while on board cruise ships. I can easily understand the science how the one affects the great majority of us, while the other is suspect and the majority of social media postings. The former is 'Everything tastes better at sea' and the latter are every complaint we read about the food, the service, even our fellow cruisers.

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/04/cunard-reveals-why-chocolate-tastes-better-at-sea/?feed_id=2358&_unique_id=64307c875311f

 

Professor Spence, a gastrophysicist from the University of Oxford, said that food and drink taste better when having a good time. This is known as the ‘Provencal rose paradox’ which, according to Spence, everyone has experienced at some point in time.

“It relates to the fact that food and drink seem to taste so much better when we are on holiday, whether this is with our family in the Mediterranean, or traveling solo with the sun on our backs,” said Spence. 

“So nice in fact, that we are even tempted to buy a few bottles of that same holiday wine, to bring back home and share on a cold winter’s evening. Only it never tastes the same; it is disappointing somehow.

“The reason is that when we are on holiday, we are likely to be relaxed and in a better mood, and food simply tastes better when we are in a better mood. Given that people don’t often cruise for work, they are likely to be happy and relaxed on their cruise hence making food and drink taste better.”

Salt is known as a flavor enhancer, helping to mask bitterness in certain foods or drinks such as tonic water or grapefruit, while enhancing the taste of many other foods including chocolate. However, according to Spence, salt is not the only factor that enhances the taste as even seeing, smelling, and hearing the sea may also conceptually prime notions of saltiness too, thus enhancing the sensation even more."

Edited June 14, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

Arrived to San Juan this morning at 9 am. Escorted off the ship (elevator overrides was turned off, had to be grouped with the general population). Walked over to CVS and bought some bags of chocolates to compliment the kilo I purchased at the Venchi Kiosk. Surprisingly, the bags for sale of Kitkats and Dove chocolate were actually cheaper on board at the duty free shop and they were both more than Venchi chocolate. Walked back and got right back on the ship to enjoy an empty luxury super yacht called the MSC Seascape.

[morpheusofthesea]

Tonight is "White Night". An often overlooked event that impressed us both when it was held earlier at 5 pm around the Jungle Pool on the Seaside or Seashore is the "Family Party for kids". Today in the program the title has been extended to include "and Cupcake Decoration". It really is a highlight of this cruise experience for every grownup kid. We saw treats we only experienced when we were kids all laid out on table after table. I was impressed with the candy apples and chocolate popcorn, cookies of every sort. The kind of stuff that dreams are made of.

[jules815]

9 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Arrived to San Juan this morning at 9 am. Escorted off the ship (elevator overrides was turned off, had to be grouped with the general population). Walked over to CVS and bought some bags of chocolates to compliment the kilo I purchased at the Venchi Kiosk. Surprisingly, the bags for sale of Kitkats and Dove chocolate were actually cheaper on board at the duty free shop and they were both more than Venchi chocolate. Walked back and got right back on the ship to enjoy an empty luxury super yacht called the MSC Seascape.

Enjoy the empty ship! Was just reading your posts out loud to my DH and we realized it's been a while since we've been to SJ. 2018 maybe? Probably the port we're looking forward to the most on our next cruise, which means we'll do a walk around town and be back on board for lunch in the YC.

 

[morpheusofthesea]

This is now the time of day I usually spend perusing the Daily Planner to map out our game plan for entertainment for the evening. Conspicuously absent is anything or rather nothing playing/performing in the Loft Cafe tonight. So we will start out the evening with Le Cabaret Rouge and will make the second show (reserved seating in Chora Theatre for all YC guests) for "In Concert". If we ever had our doubts about plots of these production shows in past years, we now do not have to worry; there no longer are any. These new shows have reverted to the sing and dance shows of a century ago. I went in search and found this:

   Found these stage productions a modern through back to the 19th century. Absolutely no story line, just a lot of singing , dancing and acrobatics." Christopher Caggiano "It might surprise you to learn that for a long time — during most of the 19th century — songs and dances in musical productions were primarily decorative. The songs in the show may have been (inserted) standards or other popular songs of the day, regardless of whether or not they made any sense in the story. The dances may have been there to take up stage time, provide a mindless diversion, or give patrons their money’s worth in both eye candy and production value." https://dramatics.org/spark-of-creation/. 

  The same is true of most cruise lines. They are all switching to these 'cheaper' productions.

[no1talks]

26 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

The kind of stuff that dreams are made of.

Were there any chocolate falcons?

 

[morpheusofthesea]

Just brownies.

[morpheusofthesea]

21 minutes ago, no1talks said:

Were there any chocolate falcons?

 

Mama told me not to play with my food.

[LImom]

Thank you for your very well written and enjoyable recap of your daily happenings on your vacation. It is fun following along with you. Captain Tuvo (AKA Captain ByeBye) was a Princess Cruises favorite and very personable and visible throughout the passenger desks. Can I ask you to please describe how and where you scan your card at the elevator banks to make them go express to your YC floor. Thanks 

[morpheusofthesea]

24 minutes ago, LImom said:

Can I ask you to please describe how and where you scan your card at the elevator banks to make them go express to your YC floor. Thanks 

Hold key card within one each of sloped bottom of the elevator key pad. Press desired floor. Key pad will discreetly flash the elevator letter A,B,C, or D with an arrow pointing and the seconds it is supposed to take to arrive. If it is working properly it will be empty or totally unloading , then it whisks one to desired deck non-stop.When one steps in only your designated floor should be lite up on the display inside the elevator.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

8 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Hold key card within one each of sloped bottom of the elevator key pad. Press desired floor. Key pad will discreetly flash the elevator letter A,B,C, or D with an arrow pointing and the seconds it is supposed to take to arrive. If it is working properly it will be empty or totally unloading , then it whisks one to desired deck non-stop.When one steps in only your designated floor should be lite up on the display inside the elevator.

If Non-yacht club guests hop in with you, does this give them YC access or so you still need to scan your card to enter the YC area after you exit the elevator?

[morpheusofthesea]

1 minute ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

If Non-yacht club guests hop in with you, does this give them YC access or so you still need to scan your card to enter the YC area after you exit the elevator?

All these elevators are outside the YC.  The YC has one elevator within the YC that only goes from 16 to 20 without any scanning.

[morpheusofthesea]

In chit chatting with a staff member we asked if they would be having any time off to go ashore in San Juan. No was the reply. The US Coast Guard is on board today for inspections.

[morpheusofthesea]

We left San Juan at 4 pm, but not without a bit of drama. The Captain blew the ship's horn at around 3:30 as we were missing 4 passengers. Leaving at 4;00 pm does not mean "all aboard" at 4 pm. Knew something was up when a hue and cry arose from the ship as the runners were spotted. We opened our balcony door to witness the sprinters running a dash to the closing gangway. 

[jules815]

10 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

We left San Juan at 4 pm, but not without a bit of drama. The Captain blew the ship's horn at around 3:30 as we were missing 4 passengers. Leaving at 4;00 pm does not mean "all aboard" at 4 pm. Knew something was up when a hue and cry arose from the ship as the runners were spotted. We opened our balcony door to witness the sprinters running a dash to the closing gangway. 

Did they make it??

[morpheusofthesea]

40 minutes ago, jules815 said:

Did they make it??

Yes