Did my first MSC Cruise on Seashore, I'm curious what peoples love from them in general

[Rotnam]

Just for perspective, I did RC Oasis and Celebrity Summit before that one. So I don't have other cruise lines to compare yet but we were 11 in our friends group, many of them with a tons of cruises.

 

(7 night, ocean cay, costa maya and cozumel) 1-7 september.

 

We were very disappointed overall, I'm curious at other peoples experience.

Let me start with the positive:

 

Great Slides

• Good kids sections/separation
• Nice jungle pool area which was fresh to hang around.
• Bar services was top-notch and very quick, especially at the sports bar and the cabaret. Really good staff at every bars. We even had 4 more barman on a very busy night showing up.
• Restaurant services staff were also amazing.
• Karaoke nights were great (except the selection of the 7 best finalists made zero sense, was very strange).
• The show could have used another band/person show, I won't do in detail but 2 of them were really good, 1 was fine, 2 were kind of bad (from the same group of artists), magician needed to cut the length of the show
• Fast onboarding/debarking the ship
• Enough headsets for the Silent disco (a big plus), we ran in that issue before

 

The con:

 

• This one is personal, the ship felt very small / closed per small sections, I didn't like the all glass columns/chrome ceiling/stair reflections. it's weird
• Room smell was bad, Smell like pee, it got better in the last 3 days. The water piping was very noisy.
• No area for our group of 11 to sit. Most places were 4 giants seats in circle.
• The open casino area (7th floor) make the cigarettes smoke smell everywhere and on the 8th floor
• Trivia worst place ever with 30 seats in open, no TV/monitor was overcrowded with always 15-20 ppl waiting around. It should be moved somewhere else.
• Which also prompt the lack of activities overall. Nothing to do in the morning, trivia in the afternoon and the shopping notifications that was it. Also the activities were never updated for the day after before 6 to 9pm.
• Awful internet (low tier) should not even be an option, compared to RC Oasis on starlink from my last cruise which was just amazingly fast and reliable.
• Hard to watch a movie on the screen outside, it's in the middle of the pool, you have things blocking the view on the sides (poor design)
• Very very slow elevators (take minimum 2 minutes, probably close to 3-4 average)
• No washroom almost anywhere, most of them by bars have 1 stall. This was horrible
• The cabaret DJ was the worst we ever seen. Some of the theme night from the 20s to 2000s, had 1 old song from the 20s and jumped to 90s and just the same songs from his regular play list. Which were immediately repeated at the nightclub (the same 3-4 songs). Which was the same songs over and over every night. Repeating twice or 3 times a night. I hope you like gasolina and cotton eye joe.
• Bingo felt like a scam, they probably sold 4000-5000$ of tickets to win 1000$
• Main restaurant: half of the food was just bad. The filet minion was bland, hard to cut and chewy, no seasoning, no searing. (it looked steamed). The short ribs  were not tender at all, the Saint-Louis ribs were greasy and pretty hard to separate. Most vegetables were just either broccolis or cauliflowers. Most sauces had no flavor, very bland. Overall nobody was happy with the main dining. My friends didn't enjoy much the lobsters (no flavor), but they did enjoy the butcher cut's (specialty restaurant).
• App messages never worked fine with our group, always not showing messages, crashed. Having to kill and restart the app every time you try to see a message. that and the app promotion notifications were so annoying this is like getting shopping spam notification 2-3 times a day on your phone.
• Electrical outlets not working if you are not in the room (key card). Cannot leave phone to charge.

 

Not related to the boat, their website is always bugged.

 

Curious from the folks that enjoy MSC, if their did Seashore and what they like about it.

 

 

 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

6 hours ago, Rotnam said:

Just for perspective, I did RC Oasis and Celebrity Summit before that one. So I don't have other cruise lines to compare yet but we were 11 in our friends group, many of them with a tons of cruises.

 

(7 night, ocean cay, costa maya and cozumel) 1-7 september.

 

We were very disappointed overall, I'm curious at other peoples experience.

Let me start with the positive:

 

Great Slides

• Good kids sections/separation
• Nice jungle pool area which was fresh to hang around.
• Bar services was top-notch and very quick, especially at the sports bar and the cabaret. Really good staff at every bars. We even had 4 more barman on a very busy night showing up.
• Restaurant services staff were also amazing.
• Karaoke nights were great (except the selection of the 7 best finalists made zero sense, was very strange).
• The show could have used another band/person show, I won't do in detail but 2 of them were really good, 1 was fine, 2 were kind of bad (from the same group of artists), magician needed to cut the length of the show
• Fast onboarding/debarking the ship
• Enough headsets for the Silent disco (a big plus), we ran in that issue before

 

The con:

 

• This one is personal, the ship felt very small / closed per small sections, I didn't like the all glass columns/chrome ceiling/stair reflections. it's weird
• Room smell was bad, Smell like pee, it got better in the last 3 days. The water piping was very noisy.
• No area for our group of 11 to sit. Most places were 4 giants seats in circle.
• The open casino area (7th floor) make the cigarettes smoke smell everywhere and on the 8th floor
• Trivia worst place ever with 30 seats in open, no TV/monitor was overcrowded with always 15-20 ppl waiting around. It should be moved somewhere else.
• Which also prompt the lack of activities overall. Nothing to do in the morning, trivia in the afternoon and the shopping notifications that was it. Also the activities were never updated for the day after before 6 to 9pm.
• Awful internet (low tier) should not even be an option, compared to RC Oasis on starlink from my last cruise which was just amazingly fast and reliable.
• Hard to watch a movie on the screen outside, it's in the middle of the pool, you have things blocking the view on the sides (poor design)
• Very very slow elevators (take minimum 2 minutes, probably close to 3-4 average)
• No washroom almost anywhere, most of them by bars have 1 stall. This was horrible
• The cabaret DJ was the worst we ever seen. Some of the theme night from the 20s to 2000s, had 1 old song from the 20s and jumped to 90s and just the same songs from his regular play list. Which were immediately repeated at the nightclub (the same 3-4 songs). Which was the same songs over and over every night. Repeating twice or 3 times a night. I hope you like gasolina and cotton eye joe.
• Bingo felt like a scam, they probably sold 4000-5000$ of tickets to win 1000$
• Main restaurant: half of the food was just bad. The filet minion was bland, hard to cut and chewy, no seasoning, no searing. (it looked steamed). The short ribs  were not tender at all, the Saint-Louis ribs were greasy and pretty hard to separate. Most vegetables were just either broccolis or cauliflowers. Most sauces had no flavor, very bland. Overall nobody was happy with the main dining. My friends didn't enjoy much the lobsters (no flavor), but they did enjoy the butcher cut's (specialty restaurant).
• App messages never worked fine with our group, always not showing messages, crashed. Having to kill and restart the app every time you try to see a message. that and the app promotion notifications were so annoying this is like getting shopping spam notification 2-3 times a day on your phone.
• Electrical outlets not working if you are not in the room (key card). Cannot leave phone to charge.

 

Not related to the boat, their website is always bugged.

 

Curious from the folks that enjoy MSC, if their did Seashore and what they like about it.

 

 

 

 

A lot has to do with which ship in the MSC fleet one has chosen. Next is who the Hotel Director is, followed by Yacht Club Director, Head Butler, Maitre d' and Chef of the YC restaurant. Our latest cruise was April, June and is now July 2024 on the Seascape and these last 3 are the best cruises we have had in 50 years of cruising. Never sailed on a MSC ship in a cabin outside the Yacht Club. We can list now all the things to look out for when booking any cruise ship.

 

#1 E muster drill is better. Seascape was to take elevator, scan any time after 11:30, watch video, call#.

 

#2 Two cabin cleanings per day

 

#3 No % charge for gambling if using credit card

 

#4 No extra charge for can sodas vs fountain drinks, all included.

 

#5 Reserved seating in the theatre for all shows

 

#6 Complimentary bottled water (not ship distilled with unsanitary reusable bottles)

 

#7 Reserved or ability to reserve pergola/cabanas on pool deck (avoiding chair hogs)

 

#8 'Cushioned' pool lounges

 

#9 Escorts on and off ship avoiding long lines. Group or personal escorts.

 

#10 First to use tenders off the ship at ports that tender

 

#11 Dedicated restaurant that is so good one need not book Specialty Restaurants

 

#12 Service that does not involve 2 hours to complete a meal

 

#13 An attentive butler is not hard to find when needed to be escorted to the front of ANY line (queue). Depends on the guest ($). 

 

#14 Cabins ready upon embarkation/ key cards in hand at check in

 

#15 Dedicated restaurant OPEN port days

 

#16 Dedicated buffet to only suite guests

 

#17 Dedicated pool and sun deck only for suite guests with ample lounges

 

# 18 All the advantages of a mega ship with the exclusivity of a gated community

 

#19 walk-in shower not low profile tub/shower combo

 

#20 No non-suite paying Pinnacle/Zenith/Diamond passengers taking up prime real estate in the Yacht Club

 

#21 Elevator override key cards for suite guests

 

#22 Pristine out island with NO bugs crawling all over cabanas

 

#23 short distance between cabin and restaurant decks

 

#24 At least a 100 sq ft balcony accommodating a cushioned lounge chair

 

#25 A reserved table for 2 for all meals in a dedicated restaurant with the same waiters for 'most' every meal

 

#26 More options for nightly entertainment besides theatre show productions, Loft Cafe, Uptown Lounge, Le Cabaret Rouge, Atrium, Dueling Pianos Times Square, and Top Sail Lounge.

 

#27  The complimentary WiFi, Premium Drink Package, mini bar and  full bottle of your choice liquor. 9-12 bottles in RS & OS to take home. (Thanks Fissues)

 

#28 A price for a Yacht Club Royal Suite cabin that is 1/3 the price of Regent Grandeur GS without being treated like steerage and NOT a butler that escorts one to the END of any line but to the front like YC butlers.

 

#29 Option to book exclusive excursions

Same on the Seashore as well, they are sister ships.  MSC has the lowest cruise prices in the cruise industry. It also has a CC rating as the second lowest as worst cruise in the cruise industry.So glad to see the contrast between Yacht Club and steerage. We find the YC to be the best cruise experience in the cruise industry. It is always hard to accommodate large groups.

[Two Wheels Only]

6 hours ago, Rotnam said:

Electrical outlets not working if you are not in the room (key card). Cannot leave phone to charge.

 

This isn't exclusive to MSC. Many newer ships are the same way. It is to protect against a potential fire especially since so many people bring power strips that have surge protection. Using surge protection shouldn't be done on a cruise ship.  

[Essiesmom]

I dont recognize your Seashore from the Seashore I sailed in 12/23 and 7/24.  Daily activity sheets from my Live from threads show many activities.  It is well known on Seashore and other MDC ships from Fantasia class on you have to have a card in the slot to make the outlets work.  You could have got a blank card from Guest Services, or a bracelet so you could leave the card in the cabin.  This is the same in other cruise lines.  Seashore has Starlink and I never had problems with internet.  Did you not come to this forum and do any reading before your cruise?  EM

Edited September 13 by Essiesmom

[dbrown84]

I sailed the Seashore in June and it smelled like pee then.  I guess that was not a one week thing.  I tried MSC after years with NCL.  NCL took away the drinks in the casino, but MSC still has it.  So I liked that.  As well as MSC not charging taxes and port fees for their casino bookings

[morpheusofthesea]

To be fair... If one wants a better steerage cruise try Holland America or Regent Seven Seas, Celebrity, RCCL. (NCL was rated 5th worst by CC). I recommend suite passenger steer clear of these and stick to Yacht Club and still pay the lowest fares in the cruise industry. We paid $10,000 for a RS in YC which was much nicer than the $30,000 for GS on Regent Grandeur  (brand new ship with sewage smell emanating from master bath).

[Georgia_Peaches]

I'm not sure I'd use the word 'small' to describe Seashore.  In fact, I thought she was rather large.  There is a nice cocktail lounge on deck 8 near the specialty restaurants with a lot of group seating.  I'm sorry you missed this area as it is one of my favorites.

 

As for the pee smell...gross!  Did you alert Guest services?  I think I would have requested a carpet cleaning while I was at the pool.

 

At least you tried it and know it's not for you.  If you give it another go, try YC if you can swing it.  I think you'll be impressed. 

[Moparfiend]

Pee smell, or just general nasty smells in the cabin from the bathroom can happen on any ship when the trap becomes uncovered due to rough seas, or even fast turns.

Unlike at home, where getting water on the floor in the bathroom is a no-go, on ships I take the shower wand and purposely point it at the floor drain by the toilet for a good 30 seconds or so each day when showering.

This was a tip from someone years ago, i don't take credit for it, but it works wonders. 

As for what I liked about my only MSC cruise so far - here was my post when I was on the Seascape in Yacht Club: 

For Seashore, I'll have a review of that in a few weeks, it's the sister ship of Seascape. I haven't tried any general cabins, Yacht Club offers so much more then other lines at a price that's unbeatable (for the level of service that I prefer)

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 minutes ago, Moparfiend said:

or even fast turns

Great tip about the shower wand!....but this made me laugh!  😁

[asctony]

OMG! Paying $10,000 to $30,000 for a cruise and it was? 

 

I would never cruise again. 

I guess you don't really get what you pay for. 

 

Two totally extreme evaluations of cruising. Who do you believe? 

 

I cruise 7 to 10 times a year on the major cruise lines and never encountered so many problems. On the other sideost of the items listed I have experienced on many other lines without paying for YC.

 

Been cruising on MSC since Jan 2006. Going on MSC 5 times in 2025.

I have my own opinions. After reading these reviews I only SMH!

 

 

[JamieLogical]

I sailed a lot of NCL Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class ships before I started sailing MSC and a lot of the problems you list are the same on those ships.. smoke from Casino permeating public spaces, need room key in the slot by the door to keep the power on, closed-off/small spaces... So none of that was new or particularly problematic for me.

 

I will say, I am surprised by your MDR experience. I haven't sailed the seashore, but I have loved the MDR food/selection on the Meraviglia and Divina, especially the Divina.

 

I've only ever had the Browse internet, which worked fine for me. I had WAY more trouble with internet on the Summit, having even paid to upgrade, but that may have been before they upgraded to Starlink (if they have since May 2022).

 

Bingo always feels like a scam on every ship and every cruise line, because it is!

[Tierun]

Everything is not for everyone. MSC is doable. It’s quirky in many ways, but we make it work. I wonder what experience level OP had. Celebrity is our preferred cruise line, and even though carnival wasn’t our favorite, it was still enjoyable. The key is researching the line prior to sailing and figuring out what you will like once you’re on board. YouTube and CC are great resources.

[morpheusofthesea]

59 minutes ago, asctony said:

I would never cruise again.

You are correct. We will never cruise Regent Seven Seas again.

[Rotnam]

Thanks for the feedback, always good to see different perspectives and solutions or expectation.

 

For the cruise, we wanted to a new line (MSC) even if we had a friend that didn't like it and we are 11 peoples it's hard to coordinate. This was the best prices/timing for most of the us. That wouldn't have been my personal choice.

 

The positive reviews from morpheusofthesea and moparfiend, both from YC, feel its a bit biased. We should just go YC or not at all 😉. I wouldn't mind trying but we had to accommodate everyone in our group.

 

As for the pee'd in the planter:

Unrelated to MSC, we had a drunk women stopping in front of our cabin door and peeing there at like 1am, in front of a friend. The cruise staff went to her cabin, not sure what was the conversation and they cleaned the floor quickly.

 

Essiesmom, I read they all have starlink now, strangely the internet provider was a strange one when I checked my IP/location. (I'm in IT, I'm usually curious of how they do their internet routing). But we could barely watch twitch or the football streaming (both low quality) from our phones. I feel like they create these "2 tier internet" just for money, not for technical reason. RC only had 1 tier when I was there and I was getting 100mb+ no issue.

 

Good point for the electrical, I'll get a guess card next time.

 

I still can't understand the lack of washroom around the ship, especially not having more than 1 or 2 stall in bars area, the pool lounge often had 2-3 peoples in line waiting most of the time I was walking by. Im sure it's by design, not sure why.

 

For the bingo, one friend was like "strange in the other cruise, (I forgot which cruise line). They were just taking the total and redistribute to the winners".

 

I'll be curious to see MSC seascape MDR food, because this was THE big let down for us.

 

I think our next might be Norwegian, I'll check Holland.

 

[laudergayle]

Our cabin 13391 in early August also smelled like pee.  The smell was buy the sofa so nowhere near the bathroom.  It was only a three day cruise and we weren’t in cabin much.  In hindsight, I should have alerted head housekeeper since the smell must not have been obvious to the room steward.  Time for a deep clean for the Seashore.

[JamieLogical]

31 minutes ago, Rotnam said:

For the bingo, one friend was like "strange in the other cruise, (I forgot which cruise line). They were just taking the total and redistribute to the winners".

 

 

That is tough to believe. Every cruise line I have sailed with Bingo (Celebrity wasn't running Bingo when I was sailing in 2021 and 2022, because of some issue with the company they contracted to run it), Bingo is a HUGE money-maker for the cruise line. Many of them, it is run by the casino (like Princess).

[peder]

I guess I don’t understand the comments about bathrooms/washrooms. If the line for one is long, just maybe walk a few feet and find the next one? Or go up or down a floor? So many people huddle in a few spots when just a few feet away is an alternative. I never ran into lines for coffee/drinks on the Seashore or Seascape, for instance. But we aren’t glued to one spot.

 

But even without moving around to find an alternative, I’ve just never seen the bathrooms busy on MSC? Usually I’m the only one in the restroom and they’re spotless.

Edited September 13 by peder

[Racydni]

My experience on Seashore in mid-July for 11 nights was decent.  In so much that we just got off the ship yesterday on a 4-night cruise.  There are pros and cons to this ship, like any other, but we think it is OK.  

Oh, on July's sailing there was a urine odor in the hallway for days.  The staff was cleaning that carpet area very often.  

[chrisgp999]

6 hours ago, peder said:

I guess I don’t understand the comments about bathrooms/washrooms. If the line for one is long, just maybe walk a few feet and find the next one? Or go up or down a floor? So many people huddle in a few spots when just a few feet away is an alternative. I never ran into lines for coffee/drinks on the Seashore or Seascape, for instance. But we aren’t glued to one spot.

 

But even without moving around to find an alternative, I’ve just never seen the bathrooms busy on MSC? Usually I’m the only one in the restroom and they’re spotless.

With regards to washrooms on cruise ships, situational awareness is the key.  Know where you are in relation to public washrooms versus your cabin.  Many time your cabin may be the best option.

[Maria63]

On 9/13/2024 at 6:56 AM, Rotnam said:

Just for perspective, I did RC Oasis and Celebrity Summit before that one. So I don't have other cruise lines to compare yet but we were 11 in our friends group, many of them with a tons of cruises.

 

(7 night, ocean cay, costa maya and cozumel) 1-7 september.

 

We were very disappointed overall, I'm curious at other peoples experience.

 

 

 

 

 

I can understand your disappointment if you come from RCI and Celebrity and expect a similar experience. Still, MSC is very budget-friendly and appears to be steadily improving with their newer ships. We´ve only done MSC outside the US, in the Med and also a couple of Suez-repos pre-covid on their older ships. Imo, it is essential when considering MSC and doing your research, to keep in mind when reading reviews that the YC-experience in no way reflects the reality on the rest of the ship. 

 

Still, MSC can be a very good choice if you for instance want to do the Mediterranean on a limited budget (though I would caution against going during the summer months, but that goes for all cruise lines).

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 9/13/2024 at 11:01 AM, Rotnam said:

I'll be curious to see MSC seascape MDR food, because this was THE big let down for us.

you can see my review of Seascape's MDR food in my signature. It is from Nov 2023, but it's still within 12 months. In general we were pretty satisfied with it as far as I can remember.

On 9/14/2024 at 3:36 AM, Maria63 said:

Still, MSC is very budget-friendly and appears to be steadily improving with their newer ships. We´ve only done MSC outside the US

I wouldn't call MSC "very budget friendly" in the US. 

Edited Monday at 07:59 PM by Itchy&Scratchy

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I wouldn't call MSC "very budget friendly" in the US. 

Prices have certainly increased over our first MSC cruise back in 2022...like everything else, I guess.  Still, MSC is more 'budget friendly' than my typical go-to of Celebrity, who has priced me out of their market.  Hoping I don't get there with MSC too!

[lahlah57]

On 9/13/2024 at 8:01 AM, Rotnam said:

Thanks for the feedback, always good to see different perspectives and solutions or expectation.

 

For the cruise, we wanted to a new line (MSC) even if we had a friend that didn't like it and we are 11 peoples it's hard to coordinate. This was the best prices/timing for most of the us. That wouldn't have been my personal choice.

 

The positive reviews from morpheusofthesea and moparfiend, both from YC, feel its a bit biased. We should just go YC or not at all 😉. I wouldn't mind trying but we had to accommodate everyone in our group.

 

As for the pee'd in the planter:

Unrelated to MSC, we had a drunk women stopping in front of our cabin door and peeing there at like 1am, in front of a friend. The cruise staff went to her cabin, not sure what was the conversation and they cleaned the floor quickly.

 

Essiesmom, I read they all have starlink now, strangely the internet provider was a strange one when I checked my IP/location. (I'm in IT, I'm usually curious of how they do their internet routing). But we could barely watch twitch or the football streaming (both low quality) from our phones. I feel like they create these "2 tier internet" just for money, not for technical reason. RC only had 1 tier when I was there and I was getting 100mb+ no issue.

 

Good point for the electrical, I'll get a guess card next time.

 

I still can't understand the lack of washroom around the ship, especially not having more than 1 or 2 stall in bars area, the pool lounge often had 2-3 peoples in line waiting most of the time I was walking by. Im sure it's by design, not sure why.

 

For the bingo, one friend was like "strange in the other cruise, (I forgot which cruise line). They were just taking the total and redistribute to the winners".

 

I'll be curious to see MSC seascape MDR food, because this was THE big let down for us.

 

I think our next might be Norwegian, I'll check Holland.

 

What disgusting person pee's in front of someone's door?!?! 

How foul!

[Anastas617]

Just got off my 3rd cruise on Meraviglia and 4th on MSC (Grandiosa was the other).

 

My Pros List:

-As someone else mentioned, they don't charge port fees/taxes on casino comps

-I've generally found the MDR food to be quite enjoyable. A few definite misses like the chewy and almost inedible lobster tail on this past cruise, but good for the most part.

-I like the evening "theme parties", even as someone just spectating with drink in hand.

-This was my first cruise as Diamond and I had my complimentary specialty dining at The Butcher's Cut; without hyperbole one of the best meals I've ever had. Baked goat cheese tart was heavenly, NY Strip was cooked perfectly as was the molten lava chocolate cake.

-Brass Anchor Pub. Great staff and my kind of place to spend some quality time.

-Horizon (Adults Only) Pool Area: possibly my biggest plus; ample amount of lounge chairs and have seldom seen the "adults only" aspect being ignored. (Grandiosa had more kids in this area, but I confess that I'm not sure if it was supposed to be adults-only on that ship).

 

My Cons List:

-Very little control over dining in MDR (unless you upgrade to Aurea). I was given 8:30 which is way too late, but did manage to get it switched to a solo table but best time they could give me was 8:00. After a couple days, I stopped going to MDR because it just interfered with my evening by waiting that long.

-MDR and Buffet only included options. I usually add two lunches at Hola! because it's cheap and I like it.

-Lack of storage space. Usually ok for me, but always need to ask for a few more hangers and if I wasn't solo I would want more storage.

-Trivia: I agree the locations they use aren't good at all.

-Musicians are hit and miss (I guess that would be every cruise line)

-Photographers! I think there were three nights they were set-up in a bunch of spaces causing pedestrian logjams in prime walking spaces.

-Urinals too high. Sounds funny, but they could be dropped and inch or two.

-Perhaps related to above: they could run a mop on the restroom floor more often than they do. Only area I notice consistently lacking in cleanliness

-Last restroom item: the "hidden under counter" water, soap, air dryer set-up in the public restrooms is needlessly annoying to use.

-Edited to add: Lack of options for TV in the stateroom. Movies aren;t free and only a handful of channels. I don't stay in my room for TV, but I like putting something on when winding down at the end of the night.

 

Thanks for your review and giving me the chance to waste 15 minutes at work writing this. 🙂 

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:56 AM by Anastas617

[Scottdalfonso]

On 9/13/2024 at 6:17 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

1 E muster drill is better. Seascape was to take elevator, scan any time after 11:30, watch video, call#.

I'm  curious as to why this is always #1 on your list- isn't e-muster pretty much the same across the lines now. I know Royal apparently came up with the idea and others quickly jumped aboard. I did hear that MSC WAS doing it a bit messy for a while, but now it seems to be the same as everyone else and runs very smoothly.  Is it different in YC? I thought everyone just watched a video and then went and got scanned by a certain time at the station.