Live Seascape YC (10/21-10/28): The one where we left the kid at home

[Cashsmoney]

Have you noticed, are they allowing drinks around pools and hot tubs? I was on the YC a couple years ago and you couldn’t place a drink at the edge of the pool. I made a comment about that then others commented saying the just off the ship and they where allowed and had photos of people around hot tubs with drinks in hand.

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, Cashsmoney said:

What’s the VIP function?

 

Priority Service.

 

When working probably, it gives priority to YC guests when an elevator is called.

 

1 hour ago, Cashsmoney said:

 

I think someone failed when placing the YC area on the Ocean Cay. Most of the island’s beaches are beautiful, and then they put the YC area the farthest away at the worst beach. Then don’t provide enough transportation. They could have put that area almost anywhere else and it would have been better.

 

If the YC beach was closer, it would be more likely to be invaded by interlopers. As for the rocky beach, it wasn't always that way. A tropical storm undid all of the work that MSC did on that beach.

 

I'd rather have excluded and rocky instead of crowded and smooth.

 

Bimini Beach and Paradise Sands (adults only) are farther away but are also very nice. I'd have no problem if the Yacht Club took over one of those areas.

 

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Two Wheels Only

[Two Wheels Only]

57 minutes ago, Cashsmoney said:

Have you noticed, are they allowing drinks around pools and hot tubs? I was on the YC a couple years ago and you couldn’t place a drink at the edge of the pool. I made a comment about that then others commented saying the just off the ship and they where allowed and had photos of people around hot tubs with drinks in hand.

 

It depends on who is working that particular ship on that particular day. I've been told "...no drinks near the pool..." but on the same cruise, I've had butlers deliver drinks to me while I was IN the pool....MSC inconsistency.

[Cashsmoney]

4 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

It depends on who is working that particular ship on that particular day. I've been told "...no drinks near the pool..." but on the same cruise, I've had butlers deliver drinks to me while I was IN the pool....MSC inconsistency.

I noticed a lot of inconsistency on MSC. 

[kelly94942]

7 hours ago, Cashsmoney said:

Have you noticed, are they allowing drinks around pools and hot tubs? I was on the YC a couple years ago and you couldn’t place a drink at the edge of the pool.

 

We were just talking about this in The One Pool yesterday.  Someone was annoyed that there was no place to put your drink on the edge of the pool when you’re in the pool proper (because of the water edge that goes around the pool) and I commented that I was surprised drinks were allowed in the pool.  I haven’t seen anyone be told they couldn’t have their drink in the pool this week.  Not sure if they are actually allowed or not.

[StonePayload]

1. And we’re back!  

I believe we are going to talk about our day in Ocho Rios, Jamaica today.  Unfortunately for you, there really won’t be much talk about Jamaica.  It will mostly be about the ship, because we didn’t get off the ship.  This will be a theme over the coming days.

 

Somehow, I think we managed to sleep in later than the day before.  I think it had to do with Kelly not resetting her phone to ship time.  Her phone automatically reset when the WiFi detected that we were in a new time zone.  So she was unnecessarily subtracting an hour, and was very surprised when she lost an hour unexpectedly.  Moral of the story here, is to change your clock when they tell you to on the ship. This will prevent time related anxiety down the road.

 

We had breakfast up at the buffet on deck 20.  It was nice.  I managed to get a picture with the omelet this time.

 

 

 

Here are the views of Ocho Rios from the top deck.  Our cabin doesn’t really see too much, as we are on the port side of the ship.

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, Kelly and I took a walk to the back to see the Bridge of Sighs.  

 

 

 

 

This is a pretty cool area of the ship.  I am not afraid of heights, and enjoyed the views looking down.

 

 

We walked forward from here, all the way to the Spa.  It was at this point we decided to go and visit the thermal area of the spa.

 

We went back up to Top Sail for a little while, and then decided that we wanted to try Hola! For lunch.  

 

At noon we went down right after opening, and braved the crowds. There was just us, and a couple of officers in the restaurant.

 

After perusing the menu, we decided to the all you can eat, and try a bunch of different things on the menu.  Kelly will provide her pictures separately (hopefully.  but only if asked nicely I think)

 

We started with a salsa sampler:

 

I enjoyed the bean salsa (not pictured, look for the pic from Kelly), and the pico.  The guacamole needed a big hit of lime, and salt.

 

Here are tacos that I ordered:

 

 

2 Al Pastor, 2 Carne Asada, and 2 Chipotle Carnitas.  I was expecting street style tacos, which are usually small, but these were way smaller than even i was expecting.  Again, though, these needed salt!  I don’t usually add salt to my food.  I can be very sensitive to it.  Even I was adding salt from the shaker.  

 

Then a beef quesadilla showed up:

 

 

Ok, these vertical but should be horizontal pictures are getting out of hand.  Maybe I will just start calling it “exaggerated dutch angle.”

 

This was very good.  Good cheese was used, and it had really good stretch.  

 

Then a beef burrito!

 

Again, here I thought it was very good. I don’t know how they managed to do it, but this thing was VERY hot (temperature).  This means the cheese was very melty and great.  

 

Overall, tacos were just ok, but the quesadilla and burrito were very good.

 

After lunch we walked by the spa, and decided to come down and visit the thermal areas.  On port days, no reservation is required, which is nice.  We went up to the room and changed quickly, then headed back down.  No pictures were taken here.  I didn’t want to be “that guy.”  We enjoyed our time here.  I especially enjoyed the snow room, as I am eternally hot and sweaty.  

 

We spent 90 minutes or so in here, before heading back up to Top Sail and reading for a while.  

 

Then, dinner!

 

I started with dumplings:

 

 

Again, the sauce here is the winner. 

 

I got the Duck ragu:

 

 

Definite winner in my book.  I love fresh pasta, and duck.  This was a match made in heaven for me. 

 

We were also told that we needed to order the lamb.  So, here it is as well.

 

Again, very good. The lamb was cooked very well, and not fatty at all.  I especially enjoyed the cherry sauce.  

 

For dessert I got the cheesecake:

 

Arthur might have had some fun with this one…

 

After dinner, we went down to the lounge for an espresso martini.  We spent a couple hours here chatting with some friends that we made while at ocean cay, and then off to bed!  

[StonePayload]

Grand Cayman was very much a non-day for us.  

 

We got up, had breakfast up at the buffet on deck 20.  Here is the view of Georgetown from the ship.

 

This is a tender port, and the port has their own tenders.  We decided not to get off the ship though.  We spent the whole day on the pool deck reading.  Up until we had to go down and get ready to head to dinner.  Lunch was cheeseburgers from the grill, that I didn’t get a picture of…. They were very good though.

 

Here are dinner pictures at least.  We started with crab cakes:

 

I was impressed at the amount of crab in these.  They definitely weren’t just filler.

 

And then fried spring rolls with a peanut sauce

 

I really enjoyed these.  The crispness of the spring rolls was good, and I love peanut sauce in any form, so this really hit the spot.

 

Also notice the cheese plate in the background here.  Arthur has taken to bringing us one as soon as we sit down.  It’s amazing…

 

Main courses were prime rib:

 

 

And Pork Medallions:

 

 

The prime rib was excellent.  It was very tender, and I loved the herb crust that they put on it.  Kelly decided she wasn’t a fan of hers because it was too “beefy.”  I don’t really know what she was expecting…. It’s a big hunk of beef…

 

The pork was actually cooked to a medium well, and was therefore very juicy and good.  The vegetables here were seasoned well.  Unfortunately, I think the potatoes might have been powdered, which was disappointing.

 

Dessert:

 

 

Warm apple strudel.  It was good.. but the vanilla sauce wasn’t all that much to write home about, and it was very much relying on the sauce to provide moisture to the dish.  Unfortunately, the sauce let it down.

 

Arthur and I were discussing our love of pistachio ice cream, so he decided to bring some.

 

(another extreme dutch angle photo)

 

Holy cow, this was amazing.  They definitely use real pistachios in the creation of this.  No food coloring to make it turn into a weird medicine green, and so incredibly smooth.  Amazing.  I am going to ask for more of this for sure.

 

I think you can probably predict what we did after dinner.  

 

Down to the lounge, where drinks were enjoyed, we read some books, and then went to bed.

 

Next up, Cozumel!

[DaKahuna]

@StonePayload If you happen to talk to anyone who went off the ship in Ocho Rios, see if they can tell you how the shops in the compound were.  We will be going there on our next cruise and doubt we will venture outside the port compound.  We're not the waterfall walking type and have been to Jamaica a couple of times a few years back. 

 

p.s. I agree with your call on Grand Cayman. We have been there a few times and feel there is nothing left to experience that is worth the tender ride. 

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by DaKahuna

[Keys Kathy]

31 minutes ago, StonePayload said:

Grand Cayman was very much a non-day for us.  

 

We got up, had breakfast up at the buffet on deck 20.  Here is the view of Georgetown from the ship.

 

This is a tender port, and the port has their own tenders.  We decided not to get off the ship though.  We spent the whole day on the pool deck reading.  Up until we had to go down and get ready to head to dinner.  Lunch was cheeseburgers from the grill, that I didn’t get a picture of…. They were very good though.

 

Here are dinner pictures at least.  We started with crab cakes:

 

I was impressed at the amount of crab in these.  They definitely weren’t just filler.

 

And then fried spring rolls with a peanut sauce

 

I really enjoyed these.  The crispness of the spring rolls was good, and I love peanut sauce in any form, so this really hit the spot.

 

Also notice the cheese plate in the background here.  Arthur has taken to bringing us one as soon as we sit down.  It’s amazing…

 

Main courses were prime rib:

 

 

And Pork Medallions:

 

 

The prime rib was excellent.  It was very tender, and I loved the herb crust that they put on it.  Kelly decided she wasn’t a fan of hers because it was too “beefy.”  I don’t really know what she was expecting…. It’s a big hunk of beef…

 

The pork was actually cooked to a medium well, and was therefore very juicy and good.  The vegetables here were seasoned well.  Unfortunately, I think the potatoes might have been powdered, which was disappointing.

 

Dessert:

 

 

Warm apple strudel.  It was good.. but the vanilla sauce wasn’t all that much to write home about, and it was very much relying on the sauce to provide moisture to the dish.  Unfortunately, the sauce let it down.

 

Arthur and I were discussing our love of pistachio ice cream, so he decided to bring some.

 

(another extreme dutch angle photo)

 

Holy cow, this was amazing.  They definitely use real pistachios in the creation of this.  No food coloring to make it turn into a weird medicine green, and so incredibly smooth.  Amazing.  I am going to ask for more of this for sure.

 

I think you can probably predict what we did after dinner.  

 

Down to the lounge, where drinks were enjoyed, we read some books, and then went to bed.

 

Next up, Cozumel!

Thank you for showing up again... I was starting to get jitters....... I bought the Halloween Candy for the staff today. I hope they like the selection.

 

[Keys Kathy]

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@StonePayload If you happen to talk to anyone who went off the ship in Ocho Rios, see if they can tell you how the shops in the compound were.  We will be going there on our next cruise and doubt we will venture outside the port compound.  We're not the waterfall walking type and have been to Jamaica a couple of times a few years back. 

 

p.s. I agree with your call on Grand Cayman. We have been there a few times and feel there is nothing left to experience that is worth the tender ride. 

 

The great thing about Grand Cayman is riding the tender to view the unbelievable waters. We ride right back. We visited the Museum there years ago, very interesting, but we don't need to go back to the Island to visit all the tourist shops.

 

[GOLDENBONNY]

On 10/27/2023 at 11:39 AM, Cashsmoney said:

couldn’t place a drink at the edge of the pool

I hope not. Carnavalization of MSC will not do them any good