Beautiful ship and wonderful crew.

Item: MSC Seaside
Rating: 4.7
Author: leonieW

MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

leonieW

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 02, 2019

Ship: MSC Seaside

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 13132

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We loved our cruise on MSC Seaside and all of the staff was superb. On board the cruise you will find an extremely diverse and international public in which perhaps every country was represented. We were impressed with the smooth embarkation/disembarkation process at all ports. Our balcony cabin was a nice to have but we didn’t use it very much. The cabin was nice and clean and we received fresh towels 2 x daily. The entertainment was good as well as the theme nights. Food in both the sit-down restaurants as well as the buffet were ample and offered lots of variety however, at times, the temperature of hot food items left something to be desired for. Although we had paid extra for the ‘Fantastica’ experience, we found this not worth it as it didn’t offer anything extra for us. For example when we asked the maître D for different table, it was declined. We also did not appreciate the different classes of service on board, like Belisimo, Yacht club and Fantastica, it is an old fashioned concept in our opinion and offered no value to us. Overall we like MSC cruises and would cruise with them again in the future should they offer a suitable itinerary.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Very well organized

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

We very much enjoyed the Sushi restaurant. Food in both the sit-down restaurants as well as the buffet were ample and offered lots of variety however, at times, the temperature of hot food items left something to be desired for. Although we had paid extra for the ‘Fantastica’ experience, we found this not worth it as it didn’t offer anything extra for us. For example when we asked the maître D for different table, it was declined.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Fitness are was very nice, although they could offer some additional group classes such as yoga. Pool areas were separated for the different types of public, ie. party people, kids and more quiet adult areas.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Plenty of variety, even enjoyed an opera. Evening shows ar not Broadway but very nice nevertheless. Other artist like acoustic, piano and DJ were all superb!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Staff is super friendly and will go above and beyond to make passengers happy.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

You can see someone cleaning all the time.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We splurged for a balcony cabin but unfortunately didn't get much use out of it. Overall the cabin was very clean and comfortable with fresh towels twice daily. Matras was short but very good.

Ship tip

Although we had paid extra for the ‘Fantastica’ experience, we found this not worth it as it didn’t offer anything extra for us.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

5 out of 5

Go see Blue Hole and Dunns River Falls, also make sure to enjoy the real jerk food.

Thumbs Up 0

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5

Beautiful and very clean in comparising to other islands. Not much to do unless you dive/snorkel. We rented a car to discover the island on our own.

Thumbs Up 1

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

We rented bikes to discover the island and had a great time. Found a cute beach side restaurant for a wonderful meal, did some shopping for leather and silver as this is very inexpensive in Mexico.

Thumbs Up 0

Nassau, Bahamas

1 out of 5

Don't care for Nassau, it's just a dirty town with some shops for tourist trinkets. We were in/out within an hour and practically had the whole ship to ourselfs to enjoy the pools.

Thumbs Up 0