Classy but a little lacking..

Item: MSC Seaside
Rating: 3.7
Author: CommanderB

MSC Seaside Cruise Review

CommanderB

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 25

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 24, 2019

Ship: MSC Seaside

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9060

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

All in all a cruise it what you make it.. we had fun and tried to enjoy ourselves. If it wasn’t for the lack of orange juice and the confusion the last two days of the cruise it would have been a great trip.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food seemed to be a little better on Divina (not quite sure why). It wasn’t bad, the selection just seemed very limited in main dining room. A big issue we had was with the lack of orange juice. Every time I ordered a mimosa or a mai tai or anything with orange juice as an ingredient, the bartenders used “citrus blend” (aka Sunny D) TOTALLY GROSS.. changes the whole flavor of any cocktail and should not be an orange juice substitute.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Every show seemed like the exact same except the music was different.. lots of acrobatic type acts and singing/dancing but no broadway or plot based show. Very European

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Bartender Marlon in the Aurea Bar was amazing! Made us feel right at home on the ship any time we saw him

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ok.. we had to ask for our mini bar to be replenished each time.. Room seemed in need of minor maintenance which was strange for such a new ship

Ports of call

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Because of hurricane Dorian the captain decided to return to Miami one day early. Passengers had the option to leave early or stay on the ship and go back out to sea until the storm had passed. After the cruise director told us to make other travel arrangements, they changed their mind only hours later and said we would be disembarking as originally scheduled. Most passengers had already altered their travel plans and were now royally screwed. We ended up having to cancel our flight and hotel in South Beach and rented a car to drive from Miami to upstate New York.. not fun