You've Been Warned!
MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 77
7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 23, 2017
Ship: MSC Seaside
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
After 10 family cruises (usually between 16 & 20 family members from pre-teens to grandparents) & wonderful experiences on every one of them (Royal Caribbean, Celebrity & Holland America), I felt compelled to join Cruiseline so I could post this review of our recently completed MSC Seaside Christmas cruise (their first "American" cruise out of Miami on 12/23/17) & warn anyone considering this cruise line/ship of what they are getting into. I will go into more detail below, but it pretty much comes down to these 2 things: 1) This ship can NOT handle 5,000 people - ever! Maybe 3,500 or so, but that's it. It's hard to describe because we've never experienced anything like it on any of our previous 10 cruises, but this ship always felt cramped & crowded. There were lines everywhere & people were getting very upset & frustrated. The restaurants, elevators, theater, pools (which are more like bathtubs), activities (zip line...), bars, buffets, and even the balcony staterooms & bathrooms were all cramped & crowded. (Side note: there is simply no excuse for a shower that small in this size/class ship). 2) At least 90% of the staff has absolutely no idea what they are doing (& seem unwilling to try & figure it out)- and to make things worse (MUCH worse), almost no one speaks or understands English very well. I'm not being an American snob here - the stated goal/purpose of this ship is to help MSC become a "player" in the American cruise market. If MSC thinks that sending over an entire staff of people who can't communicate effectively in the native language of the country they want to do business in is how they are going to win us over, they are very much mistaken. The level of frustration of so many people on this ship was amazing. The inability of the staff to resolve even the simplest issues was unreal. Before I go any further, I should mention some of the good things about this ship. The food that is included in the cost of the cruise was for the most part, actually quite good. Keeping in mind that food quality is very subjective, we all agreed that the pizza was probably the best of any of the ships we've been on & the dinners in the main dining room were better than the RC & Celebrity ships & equal to Holland America's. Nice job on that. Another nice surprise was that the drapes/curtains in the staterooms actually kept the rooms dark. Our family likes to be up late (casino, family games, hanging out...) so a dark room to sleep in is a nice bonus. Also, the beds were very comfortable. (But why no top sheet? Disgusting). Also, the ship was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Very festive! Some random thoughts/comments: -Very smart of MSC to offer a "Status Match" program. It was one of the reasons we decided to try MSC, (along with what we thought would be an exciting "inaugural" cruise). -Staterooms (we had a balcony stateroom on the 12 floor): The beds were comfortable but why no top sheet? Very disgusting! Is this a cheap way to try & save money, or a 'European' thing? The rooms were nice & dark in the morning - that's very good. But, there is nowhere to put anything. No storage areas. We couldn't both unpack our suitcases because there was simply nowhere to put our clothes. The couch was unusable because we had to put the suitcases there. And the bathroom was even worse! The shower was ridiculous. I am very average size (5'11" & 168 lbs) & my elbows kept banging into the walls of the shower - really? And you better not drop anything while you're showering or you'll have to open the door & get out so you can pick it up off the floor & then get back in. It's a bad joke. No other ship we have been on was like this. And where are the bars of soap? Is this another cheap way to try & save money? There were no bars of soap available to us. The so-called 'body wash’ was just some watered down lotion. It took half a bottle of that stuff just to wash yourself (that's if the dispenser even worked). -The elevator wait times were absurd (again, this ship was just not built to handle these many people). I like taking the stairs when I cruise so it didn’t affect me personally, but the crowds & complaints of the people waiting for elevators was something you need to see to believe. -The casino is very small (& crowded), very smoky (terrible ventilation), & for those who care, does not have a Texas Holdem table (kind of hard to imagine a casino without one of the most popular games out there). -The shows were not very good. Actually, it was like the same show every night with different sets & costumes. Some of the people were fine, but the shows were just boring. No live band/orchestra (just 'canned' music). Very small theater & stage. It actually felt more like a high school production than a professional one. One exception, the person who did the Michael Jackson impression was fantastic (& one of the few "upbeat" moments of the week)! -Meals (especially breakfast): MSC should be embarrassed & ashamed of itself for how bad the breakfast situation was. Every single day there was a shortage of food. The lines were out of control and people were (justifiably) very upset & yelling at the staff who showed no interest in trying to help. During the days, the buffets were regularly out of clean glasses, silverware, & other supplies. The ice machines were often out of order & the whole thing was very disorganized & unprofessional. On the positive side, as I stated above, once you actually got some, the food was good. -The main dining room (we were assigned "The Seashore" on deck 5): Way too crowded. Tables were so close together that you couldn't walk between them. The waiters had to squeeze in between chairs to get to us. Our waiter was very good, but the service was slow - (again, just too many people for this ship). The whole dining experience felt more like an overcrowded cafeteria than a nice dining room. Also, there was a constant rumbling & vibration on the floor where we were sitting. It wasn't just the normal ship motion, much worse. I mentioned it to the main guy & he said he didn't know anything about it (yeah, right). Later we were told that the laundry was right under our dining room & we were feeling the machines running all through dinner. It might sound like a small, silly thing to complain about, but it was really very annoying each night. Not exactly great ship design. Also, ‘formal nights’ were a joke. No one had a clue when the formal nights were. We got different answers from everyone we asked. So on the actual formal nights, some people were dressed up & some were in t-shirts & jeans. Kind of defeats the purpose. -Specialty restaurants: Basically, this is a scam. Unlike other cruise lines where you pay a certain amount & then get to order whatever is on the menu, these guys charge you a certain fee, but it is only for a VERY limited “fixed” menu. If you want anything else, you pay (a lot) for it. Our experience at Butchers Cut was laughable. They were out of certain items (like the Fried Mac & Cheese - really? How do you run out of Mac & Cheese?) Some of what we ordered came out completely different from the menu description. We ordered a steak medium & it came out rare (actually raw). The fries were the same as the buffet & the service was terrible. When we tried to communicate this to the waiter, we got a blank stare. (Maybe he just didn't understand us, or maybe he just didn't care.) -Last comment about the food: The main buffet dining area (the one open all day until 2am) is called “Biscayne Bay Buffet & Pizza”. Several big problems: First, this is on the 16th floor. With the way the elevators are on this ship, getting to 16th floor is an exercise in futility. (Maybe it was designed this way to discourage people from going up there & eating the free food?) Second: Once you finally get up there, you find there is only 1 small buffet line. Again, seriously? 1 buffet line for 5,000 people? The room was constantly crowded & dirty. Food, empty plates, cups...sat on tables for long periods of time till someone came by to clean the table (or you just cleaned it yourself). You were constantly waiting for them to re-supply the plates, cups, napkins... & the dispenser machines (ice, drinks…) were often empty or out of order. Third: Small complaint I suppose, but the food labels often times didn’t match the food it was identifying. If you asked someone what the food was, or what was in a sandwich for example, they had no idea. (Important if you have food restrictions & need to know what you are eating.) -Note to those of you who are late night pizza eaters: even though this place is open until 2am, they stop serving pizza at midnight. -Guest Relations: I mean, seriously? The lines were unbelievable - absolutely out of control. The problem is no one knows how to solve a problem (or seems to want to). The fact that they barely spoke or understood English was also a huge issue. And, on top of that, the music in that part of the ship was so loud that you had to scream if you wanted anyone in Guest Relations to hear you (& the Photo Center, Excursion desk...). How did they design a ship where they put all the important people you need to communicate within the same "room" as the loudest music? (Side note: the “Piazza Grande” was not designed for live/loud music. The acoustics in that area are terrible.) Take the band out of the 'Piazza Grande' & put them in a bar where they belong! (One of the workers in the Photo area mentioned to me that all the workers had sore throats all week from all the screaming they have to do all day just to talk to the customers.) Again, terrible design that just adds to the frustration level of the entire week. -Door Handles. EVERY door on any ship should open & close automatically (except your stateroom). Coming out of the Marketplace Buffet, I was holding a tray with food & a glass of water. When I got to the door to go outside & eat, I was stunned to see that I needed to open this big, heavy door by hand. How am I supposed to do this while holding a food tray & drink? Just stupid! And many of the doors on the ship were the same. (It's also probably one of the reasons so many people got sick on this cruise - along with the fact that there were not nearly enough hand sanitizer dispensers, & most of those were either empty or didn't work much of the time anyway). -Pools: As I mentioned above, they aren't really pools, they are more like big bathtubs. You have a ship of 5,000 people (not including crew). We were told 1,000 of them were under the age of 16 & you have these tiny little pools & a real shortage of lounge chairs to sit in. Who designed this mess? -Public Bathrooms: Most of the time the bathrooms around the ship were out-of-order & filthy. It is simply inexcusable. People would complain to staff members, but it would take hours (if at all) until something was done about it. This problem did NOT improve throughout the entire 7 day cruise. Have I mentioned that there is no way this ship should have 5,000 people on board? I could go on & on, but I think you get the point. Some of the issues could be improved by putting a lot fewer people on this ship & by re-training (or hiring new) staff (English language skills would be helpful). But many of the problems are simply poor design & cannot be fixed. We were so looking forward to experiencing a new ship & cruise line but were totally disappointed with almost every single aspect of this cruise (as was just about everyone else we spoke with). Unless MSC comes out with a whole new class of ship for the “American” market that fixes these problems, this will be out last time cruising with them. Final note: There were 4 people (out of the entire crew) that were wonderful. Without these 4 crewmembers, this cruise would have been an unbearable disaster. These 4 were GREAT: 1) Daniel Nesi in the casino (card tables). He was absolutely wonderful. He was the reason we came back to the casino every night. 2 & 3) Rigggs Buizon & Shrey Shetty both from Bar Service were both great! 4) Our dinner waiter was very, very good. I am sorry that I forgot his name, but we were at the Seashore Restaurant, the 6pm seating, table 492Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Please read my full review above.
Onboard Activities
Okay for kids & young adults. Not good for older people.
Entertainment
Please read my full review below.
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Please read my full review above.
Ship Quality
Please read my full review above.
Cabin / Stateroom
Please read my full review above.
Ship tip
Please see full review.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Disembarkation
30 Comments
Paul1234 1 year ago
I believe MSC is shooting themselves in the foot. they have a beautiful ships they have a beautiful private island probably one of the best ,but they choose to serve their passengers hamburgers hot dogs and pizza and nothing else on the buffet two meals a day for 4 days straight I know people will say well you should have brought the super deluxe 20 meal $4,000 dining package well that's great if I want a good meal I have to go to the plaza hotel I can't go on a luxury cruise and expect good food unless I pay extra I'm sorry folks eliteist separate dining paying extra for food does not make the food good I know I'm silly but I think if you pay full price for a cruise you should get adequate and tasty food without having to pay extra if you want me to pay extra for food including the price and give me good food not hot dogs and hamburgers
JohnsonL 6 years ago
Daddiojs, thank you for the detail and thank you for presenting both sides of the story even though most of the things that we take for granted for a Caribbean cruise seem to have not been done very well. Some have said it's a new cruise but we've been on first-year cruises on a new ship that have worked out well and others that were still sailing in Europe that gave very similar experiences to what you described.
SaltyStony 6 years ago
Hello, Thank you for this very informative. review. It was obvious that you did not have an axe-to-grind. You simply shared your experiences. Thank you.
I am so disappointed. We've cruise om MSC 4 times. First was on the MUSICA in Europe. Then 1 7-day cruise on the DIVINA. Then 2-week cruise again on the DIVINA. The MUSICA was great except for the European passengers themselves (rude, and ill-mannered). The total of 3 weeks on the DIVINA were off the chart WONDERFUL. All 3 cruises on the DIVINA were Captained by Captain SCALA who ran a tight, well functioning staff and cruise experience. ... He was promoted to Captain the SEASIDE, and I am so disappointed that things are so terrible. Perhaps its way out of his control? We planned a family Christmas and New Years back to back cruises onboard the SEASIDE for 2018.but, due to your excellent and honest review, no way would we subject our family to such an experience. Unless Captain Scala improves things, its back to Holland America we go. Thanks again.
stevenstair 6 years ago
wow what's the point of writing a book???? you must be a real joy to live with,, it's obvious crusing isn't for you,, crusing for people that what to have fun an make the best of everything, my advice stay off shipmate!!!! the cruise lines do not read these comments,, stay home and be miserable there!!!!
jmturban 6 years ago
There were no top "flat" sheets. Just the comforter and the shower is smaller than other cruise lines. We're you on the Seaside? I was and his review is spot on. Food was also low quality. No beef, turkey or chicken breast served in the buffet all week. Salad "bar" consisted of lettuce and shredded carrots. That's it. They served chicken thighs 1 day. No white meat! And all the egg salad you could handle. Low quality cafeteria food. Beautiful ship, all smoke and mirrors.
Teamstrong 6 years ago
LWLillie 6 years ago
I had to stop reading. Too long. I have to disagree. No "top sheets"? You mean fitted sheets?? Was on Divina twice and they had fitted sheets, so it's not an "European" thing! And no place to put your things?? Really?? And you can put your suitcases underneath your bed! The shower? ALL showers are small unless you get a suite or something. LOTS of ppl are not meant for MSC.. uuuffff 😲
jmturban 6 years ago
We got off this ship this past weekend and I couldn't agree with your review more. No way MSC attempted to make this ship to cater to Americans. Horrible design, horrible and limited food and service. And they consider a table for 2 in the dining room to be a table for 4 with different table numbers. No separation!