Nice First Cruise on MSC
MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 42
7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 16, 2019
Ship: MSC Seaside
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 11106
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
This was our first cruise on MSC. They offered status match on their Voyagers Club for my loyalty to other cruise lines. We had a good experience and would sail with them again.Embarkation
Reasonable wait time in line. Able to board in a timely manner.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We did not dine in any specialty restaurants. We used the main dining room for the majority of the cruise. My daughter has a gluten allergy and the dining room staff members were all very attentive to her needs. They had a gluten free menu for every meal.
I found the buffets both very repetitive, but good for when you are in a hurry or need a snack. Their homemade pizza and cinnamon rolls were quite good. Note that the main chef stated that the Seaside is NOT certified gluten free. The buffet had no truly safe choices for my daughter. On days in port when the main dining room was not open for lunch, she was out of luck. To compensate, they sent some packaged gluten free snacks in our room every afternoon to hold her over until dinner. We learned to get an extra packaged gluten free roll at breakfast in the dining room, plus some gluten free jelly, then grabbed some peanut butter from the buffet and she made herself a sandwich. This is an area that they probably should address, even though it does not pertain to many guests. Every passenger should be able to eat lunch every day. As for the drink packages, note that the "All In" Drink package does not get you much at all, other than house wine and kind of bottled beer, and they add a 15% gratuity to each and every drink you get. After paying $24 for 2 drinks when we boarded, we quickly upgraded to the Premium Drink Package for an additional $31 pp per day. After that we could get the daily specials and frozen drinks, plus our choice on wines at dinner with no extra 15% charge. That made for a much better experience on vacation.
Venchi 1878 Chocolate Bar and Venchi 1878 Gelato & Creperie
Excellent lattes and coffee drinks. The place smelled like homemade chocolate as they made it there daily. Great service too.
Onboard Activities
My daughter paid $10 to use the zip line across the top deck of the boat. This $10 also covered use of the water slides. For another extra fee, the ship also had 2 bowling lanes, a race car simulator, and some arcade games. There is a large pool on the main deck, a (basically indoor) jungle pool, a children's mini water park, and an adults only smaller pool at the back of the ship. The gym was nice, but you sometimes had to wait for equipment on days at sea. There was an art auction, which was a snooze. We left that before it was over, as I was literally falling asleep.
MSC Aurea Spa
Very attentive staff members! They want you to have a good experience on MSC.
Entertainment
You have to make reservations for the shows you plan to attend. Many of the stage shows were a bit odd, with no plot. I have no idea what the first show was supposed to be about. The Peter Punk show was supposed to be like Peter Pan, but there was a T-Rex in it (?) Lots of singing in different languages, and several specially trained performers that were worked into multiple shows... 3 tumblers, a guy who balanced in a giant ring, a pole dancer, 2 contortionists, a couple aerial performers, 2 very fit acrobats, 2 roller skaters, a juggler, and 2 dance partners. The Michael Jackson impersonator show was the best show on the whole cruise. They also have a Beer-Prov improvisational show. We skipped the opera show. The entertainment staff who worked the game shows in the bars, and danced in the atrium were quite amusing. We attended Majority Rules and Name That Tune, and laughed a lot.
Children's Programs
We did not bring children on the cruise. I noted that the children wore a bracelet so their parents could track their location on the ship, which was very cool.
Service and Staff
The main dining room staff in both the Ipanema and the Seaside Restaurants were THE BEST! They were very attentive to my daughter's gluten free dietary needs. They sent gluten free packaged snacks to our cabin each day. Note that the main chef stated that the Seaside is NOT certified gluten free. Our cabin steward was also very nice. We brought a magnetic marker board and left her notes if we needed something. She always took care of our needs.
Ship Quality
Technology was great. At embarkation you can purchase an arm band that works just like your room card, although we did not choose to do this. Each cabin requires you to put your room card in a slot/holder when you enter in order to turn on your cabin lights. Doing so illuminates a light outside the cabin, so stewards know that the cabin is occupied. Your AC stays on without the card, thank goodness. You can push a button inside the cabin by the door to let your steward know your cabin needs to be made up also. This is a simple tweak, but the bathrooms had a pump soap dispenser at the sink and in the shower (for shower gel and shampoo) alleviating the need for bar soap, which is generally a slippery mess. You do not give them your credit card information when you do online check in. Instead they have several kiosks where you hook your credit card to your room card after you board. The ship has multiple interactive screens throughout the ship that you can use to see menus, books shows and navigate the ship. MSC also has an app to install on your phone which will do the same things, plus you can monitor your billing account daily. Ship was very clean and well maintained at all times. One really smart idea, was they put soap, sinks, and hand dryers at the entrances to all buffets, so you can WASH YOUR HANDS before entering the buffet. (Most ships just have hand sanitizer--they had this also.)
Cabin / Stateroom
Nice sized balcony, with 2 chairs and a foot stool. I liked to take a book and sit out there and read on sea days. Room was pretty standard size. Suitcases fit under the beds. Storage was 3 drawers and a small closet...less than on Celebrity ships. In room safe was used daily. Hair dryer is in the desk drawer. Mini bar was well stocked. Flat screen TV had limited channels, but who watches TV on a cruise anyhow? Beds were firm but comfortable. You are able to get additional pillows from your cabin steward. One strange thing was that they do not give you a top flat sheet, just the covered duvet. You also might have to ask your cabin steward for washcloths. I will say this.... the shower would not accommodate a large or heavy person very well. It had enough room to turn around, period. Cabin had several USB charging ports, which was great.
Ship tip
This ship is huge...and it rocks, especially when moving fast out at sea. Take Bonine or some RX patches if you are prone to seasickness.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Miami, Florida Did not visit port
We arrived at 5 p.m. and departed at 12:30 a.m. We just walked around and explored as it got dark quickly. We did get to see "Umbrella Street" which was very pretty. My daughter got her picture taken with the parrots for $5. Good news... there is a CVS and a Walgreens if you forgot anything from home.
This port is a lot of fun. We took and excursion to Maagen's Bay Beach for 2 hours, then went up to Mountaintop, and last we went into town for shopping. Got a delicious banana daiquiri at Mountaintop, as well as some nice souvenirs. Beach was nice, but got crowded quickly. (Go early) There was a steel drum band that played on the dock on the evening we left port. They were amazing. Overall we had a great day in St. Thomas.
The water color at the beach is just beautiful. We took the water taxi for $7 pp round trip to the boardwalk, and shopping area on Front Street. We were only there from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. so it was a quick port. Duty free liquor stores would not deliver to the MSC Seasside as it departed too early for the courier. We had to carry our purchase on board. This port had 6 ships at the dock on the morning we arrived, so there were a lot of people that day.
This was our 3rd visit to Nassau. We walked around the shopping area, then paid $8 pp round trip to take a ferry to Paradise Island/Atlantis, just to have something else to do.
Disembarkation
Non-assisted walk-off disembark was from 7-8 a.m. We got down the elevators early and were in line at 6:45. There were a LOT of people doing walk-off on their own. Once the line started moving (around 7:10) it went pretty fast. MSC used the facial scan for re-entry to USA for those with passports. It was the first time I have seen it used and it was very efficient.