Exceeded Expectations, but....

Item: MSC Seaside
Rating: 4.5
Author: SarasotaDan

MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

SarasotaDan

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 60

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 02, 2018

Ship: MSC Seaside

Cabin number: 5083

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

The ship was amazing and the individual crew members were exceptional, but there were issues that clouded this from being rated even higher. Many of the crew complained about conditions and how they felt about their engagement. This was a surprise because we had never heard these types of complaints before. The dining experience in the main dining room was a disappointment largely because of the level of service (long wait times, food coming out one or two plates at a time), but at the same time the selection especially for vegan and vegetarian members of our party were amazing and far better than other cruise lines. This duality of an amazing ship, great ports of call, stunning entertainment while still having significant gaps in other core areas cloud my review from being even higher.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Like most of you we have been on several cruises and typically buffet food starts off great and then slowly declines over time, but on MSC Seaside the buffets were consistently amazing. The main dining room was chaotic and inconsistent at best. Not sure if this was because of our dining staff or issues in the kitchen. The main dining room was a disappointment, but the buffets were outstanding!

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Our room steward was one of the best we've ever had. The waiters were good, but as stated before our main dining experiences were so inconsistent that I don't know if it was because of the wait staff or the dining team.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

5 out of 5

This exceeded my expectations. I had heard so many bad things about Jamaica my expectations were very low, but this was a great surprise. It is very poor, but the overall port was better than expected.

Thumbs Up 6

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5

One of our favorites and the people of George Town were some of the sweetest we've ever encountered.

Thumbs Up 9

Cozumel, Mexico

4 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

3 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

5 Comments

briananddiane 6 years ago

Try the Celebrity cruise line. I had the best service!

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DebDoesCruises1 6 years ago

I have noticed on our last few cruises on other lines, staff did the same complaining about conditions so I'm thinking they are becoming more outspoken and "americanized"...where they feel entitled?? The world is changing...they used to be appreciative and had a more "serving" attitude but not so much any more....

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rustiko 6 years ago

Thanks for sharing your opinion. 👍

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DebDoesCruises1 6 years ago

What was the earliestdebark time?

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DebDoesCruises1 6 years ago

Going in 10 days...we are thinking of going totally casual and skipping the dining room to enjoy eating outdoors...are you talking deck 8 buffet?

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Other reviews of this sailing

MSC Cruise Seaside - Overly crowded boat, rude administration, and poor Customer Service.

You won’t believe what happened

We sailed the Caribbean on MSC Divina last year, The Seaside had problems with food and crew.