Whinenowine Posted November 27, 2023 #101 Share Posted November 27, 2023 On 11/26/2023 at 9:34 AM, go.without.you said: I'm doing Celebrity next month but in Aqua class because Retreat was double the price of aqua. Their pricing is ridiculous. I did place a move up bid, so we'll see. Thanks for all your posting this past week--and so sorry the cruise missed on so many important points (for so many CC'ers). Good luck on your move up bid on X. We're also Retreat cruisers looking for less pricey alternatives. I cannot believe what they are now charging for even basic Sky Suites these days. But they must be getting those exorbitant prices because the ships continue to fill up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whinenowine Posted November 27, 2023 #102 Share Posted November 27, 2023 On 11/24/2023 at 2:29 PM, Rickrick2020 said: I am a sommelier (level 1) trained by the court of master sommeliers. The wine in the YC is strictly grocery store offering. I would say one step above barefoot wine. The pinot grigio was good, mellow was meh. $ were not spent by msc on wine. Cozumel Beach club was magnificent. Yeah, I've not cruised in YC yet, but generally I've been consistently disappointed with the average bottle served on most cruise lines (and even some of the pay-per-bottle wine lists too). Even in Celebrity Retreat I gave up and just started availing myself of their BYO policy--bringing several nice bottles on board per cruise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scamper Posted November 28, 2023 #103 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Ever the optimist, look at it this way: you could have been mixed in with the poor shlubs in steerage. Don't give up on the YC. I'm willing to bet a future cruise will be better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare go.without.you Posted November 28, 2023 Author #104 Share Posted November 28, 2023 27 minutes ago, scamper said: Ever the optimist, look at it this way: you could have been mixed in with the poor shlubs in steerage. Don't give up on the YC. I'm willing to bet a future cruise will be better. I have 2 MSC YC booked for next year. Still deciding whether to keep or cancel. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mshaines Posted December 1, 2023 #105 Share Posted December 1, 2023 Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DaKahuna Posted December 1, 2023 #106 Share Posted December 1, 2023 3 minutes ago, mshaines said: Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice. Look here - 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mshaines Posted December 1, 2023 #107 Share Posted December 1, 2023 2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said: Look here - I hadn't seen this before. Thanks! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmbhardy Posted December 1, 2023 #108 Share Posted December 1, 2023 On 11/22/2023 at 8:00 PM, go.without.you said: Ok, thanks for validating my experience. I don't want to come off as a Negative Nancy. Why would anyone think that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjjct Posted December 2, 2023 #109 Share Posted December 2, 2023 On 11/22/2023 at 11:44 AM, JAGR said: I'm so sorry that @go.without.you and Janelle are having such a rough time of it. I am hoping that this is a short-term issue with the ships transition from the Med to the Caribbean. I suspect they did not have a full ship or crew on the TA, and it appears that they did not (or could not) get adequate staffing for the initial Caribbean sailing. She is scheduled to sail out of here through at least October of 2025, so they had better take action soon. From a personal greed standpoint, YC must be solved by March 3, 2024. 😝 YES! She will be tip top by then! Only comparing to NCL Haven, any cruise is a great cruise and hope this 1st cruise on MSC will turn into a 2nd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcpagejr Posted December 2, 2023 #110 Share Posted December 2, 2023 On 12/1/2023 at 10:41 AM, mshaines said: Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice. Almost impossible to have a a bad experience in Yacht Club. Don't overthink it and just enjoy being spoiled! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted December 2, 2023 #111 Share Posted December 2, 2023 On 12/1/2023 at 10:41 AM, mshaines said: Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice. Ho,Ho,Ho !!! Start tipping early and frequently. Tis the season. Have never heard a bad review from a good tipper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psmarkle Posted December 4, 2023 #112 Share Posted December 4, 2023 On 11/17/2023 at 9:47 PM, jjjct said: Looking forward to your experiance on Seashore. We are on our 1st MSC in March 2024. We are NCL loyalist, so trying something new. We will be in the Yacht Club. Looking forward to your live report. We are NCL Platinum from back before they divided the levels up. Always booked NCL Haven through the Casinos At Sea until we discovered MSC Yacht Ckub at literally 1/2 the price for a far superior experience! Now MSC Diamond and have only sailed MSC YC and not looking back. Seriously, why would I, for the higher level of service and the value for our $$, MSC has earned our loyalty! Thier casino rewards are also very generous with their 30% off your next cruise. Although I understand they have changed the amount of play required, I'm sure I won't have any problem meeting the requirement 😊 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyFla Posted December 4, 2023 #113 Share Posted December 4, 2023 On 12/2/2023 at 3:17 PM, morpheusofthesea said: Ho,Ho,Ho !!! Start tipping early and frequently. Tis the season. Have never heard a bad review from a good tipper. Hmmmmmm. And that’s a bad hmmmmmmm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_T Posted December 4, 2023 #114 Share Posted December 4, 2023 1 hour ago, KennyFla said: Hmmmmmm. And that’s a bad hmmmmmmm I should perhaps add that on a cruise line that officially discourages individual tipping, there is certainly no overt expectation from the staff and from my experience no need either, to tip 'early and frequently'... We always reward excellence at the end of the cruise, never before and still get great service, but you'll never convince those who want to believe that they need to 'pre-tip' to get the service they want... 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennyFla Posted December 4, 2023 #115 Share Posted December 4, 2023 38 minutes ago, Mark_T said: I should perhaps add that on a cruise line that officially discourages individual tipping, there is certainly no overt expectation from the staff and from my experience no need either, to tip 'early and frequently'... We always reward excellence at the end of the cruise, never before and still get great service, but you'll never convince those who want to believe that they need to 'pre-tip' to get the service they want... 🙂 My point is that if you are trying to monopolize the staff’s time that is inconsiderate to the other passengers. We tip extra, but don’t demand special attention 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted December 4, 2023 #116 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Tipping in advance was traditionally the way most people used to tip, to insure promptness and most service providers actually respond best to this form of tipping. Especially useful when one is competing for the attention of over-worked short staffed service providers. I did tip in advance a couple of years ago on a cruise only to discover that the maitre d' was switched a day after I had tipped him. Then we went through 3 different butlers that were taken out of service due to covid and one steward. On our most recent cruise I met with the maitre d' to express my desires and then asked him if he was going to be our maitre d' for the entire cruise. He assured me he was and to 'express' my 'appreciation' that everything would be as I requested, I tipped him. Just at the moment of his hand and mine clasping an officer approached and witnessed the act. I asked the officer if he had anything to do with the dedicated restaurant and he said he was the manager of all the restaurants. I proceeded to go into my pocket again for another tip 'in kind' when the officer stopped me and said for him it is not necessary. The maitre d' chimed in and said "whenever you feel the urge to tip my boss to give it to me. I will make sure he gets it." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23748777_The_Social_Norm_of_Tipping_A_Review 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DaKahuna Posted December 4, 2023 #117 Share Posted December 4, 2023 Do they provide envelopes for tipping like other cruise lines or since tipping is "officially discouraged" should one be prepared to bring their own envelopes? Asking for a friend 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_T Posted December 4, 2023 #118 Share Posted December 4, 2023 46 minutes ago, DaKahuna said: Do they provide envelopes for tipping like other cruise lines or since tipping is "officially discouraged" should one be prepared to bring their own envelopes? Asking for a friend 🙂 You will have no problems getting envelopes... sorry, your 'friend' will have no problems 🙂 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted December 4, 2023 #119 Share Posted December 4, 2023 45 minutes ago, DaKahuna said: Do they provide envelopes for tipping like other cruise lines or since tipping is "officially discouraged" should one be prepared to bring their own envelopes? Asking for a friend 🙂 Tell your "friend" I went to the concierge desk and asked them for 'TIP' envelopes and the concierge asked "How many ?" 10 will do it. He counted the envelopes out like he was counting Euros ( there must be a high demand for envelopes ?). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted December 4, 2023 #120 Share Posted December 4, 2023 1 hour ago, DaKahuna said: tipping is "officially discouraged" There are so many things that are not only "discouraged" but absolutely indecent, disgusting, filthy, and offensive that are posted but ignored. For example throwing all your trash and soiled dishes out into the hallways. Or smoking in your cabin and balcony. Putting your feet up on the furniture (barefoot or with shoes). Chair hogging. Saving seats in the theatre and lounges. Hanging your laundry out on the balcony. Wearing shorts, tank tops and flip flops or bare feet in the MDR for dinner. Unacceptable behavior to fellow passengers. Not abiding by the arrival times required for smooth embarkation for all. Not following instructions to wait in lounges until tender number is called and instead clogging up the gangway and stairwell. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jean87510 Posted December 5, 2023 #121 Share Posted December 5, 2023 18 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said: There are so many things that are not only "discouraged" but absolutely indecent, disgusting, filthy, and offensive that are posted but ignored. For example throwing all your trash and soiled dishes out into the hallways. Or smoking in your cabin and balcony. Putting your feet up on the furniture (barefoot or with shoes). Chair hogging. Saving seats in the theatre and lounges. Hanging your laundry out on the balcony. Wearing shorts, tank tops and flip flops or bare feet in the MDR for dinner. Unacceptable behavior to fellow passengers. Not abiding by the arrival times required for smooth embarkation for all. Not following instructions to wait in lounges until tender number is called and instead clogging up the gangway and stairwell. Most of us know this is unacceptable behavior. However, I'm trying to see the correlation between asking about tipping envelopes and entitled cruisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted December 5, 2023 #122 Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) 9 minutes ago, jean87510 said: Most of us know this is unacceptable behavior. However, I'm trying to see the correlation between asking about tipping envelopes and entitled cruisers. Others are alluding that tipping is also unacceptable behavior, since they bring up a MSC policy of tipping "not recommended". P.S. As to "entitled cruisers"; they don't tip, they demand. Edited December 5, 2023 by morpheusofthesea P.S. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_T Posted December 5, 2023 #123 Share Posted December 5, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said: Others are alluding that tipping is also unacceptable behavior, since they bring up a MSC policy of tipping "not recommended". No, I did not suggest it was 'unacceptable' merely that it was not a prerequisite to receiving great service onboard. ...and specifically there is no need to tip 'early and frequently'. You may feel otherwise and that is fine, but others should not get the impression that it is a requirement. Edited December 5, 2023 by Mark_T 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jorhammer Posted December 5, 2023 #124 Share Posted December 5, 2023 On 12/2/2023 at 3:17 PM, morpheusofthesea said: Ho,Ho,Ho !!! Start tipping early and frequently. Tis the season. Have never heard a bad review from a good tipper. I’m on the YC right now and I have not had to grease any hands to get the same treatment you rave about. We are being treated as great as the next passenger. I guess we are definitely getting by with personality and looks… jk. From my view there is no need to show appreciation until the end of the cruise, which our butler and jr. butler have earned since the moment we met them. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Best Cat Mom Posted December 5, 2023 #125 Share Posted December 5, 2023 We too are currently in the YC and receiving exceptional service with no advance tipping. We've not yet encountered a situation where we felt an advance tip would be needed to have proper service, though we are always keeping in mind that the day might come when it would be necessary. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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