Beautiful Ship

MSC Seaside Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

davidapachkofsk

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 200

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 25, 2020

Ship: MSC Seaside

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 10068

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Be very wary of the free drink package. It only covers up to $6 drinks and you would think that they would just charge you the difference if you bought a $7 drink, but NO, they charge you the entire $7. Not mentioned anywhere, and almost all drinks are over $6. Be wary of free WiFi, because it is only a small amount of MB Never use a Debit card for your on-board account, because you have to wait in line the last morning to get any used funds back in cash. No one tells you this ahead of time. If you are older and need assistance with your luggage and also need to get off the ship early for a return flight, you will need to ask for a supervisor because the regular staff will just tell you that you have no options other than to figure it out yourself, but the supervisor will make whatever arrangements you need . As a gold card member in the Voyageurs club, they said that we would get a fruit bowl in our room, but that bowl consisted of an apple and an orange. They also said we got a free birthday cake, but no one in the dining room knew anything about it. Finally, we were to get a free picture, but when we went to get one on the last day, we were told that we were to come down on a particular day and time earlier in the cruise, and it was no longer available, but never mentioned to us at any time. With almost 20 past cruises, we thought we would be treated a little nicer. RCCL makes you feel like a king.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Zip line is a gas

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

Guest services personnel are very rude and crabby. All other personnel are very nice. Everyone we talked to said the same thing.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

Read the fine print about your free add-ons.

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Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

4 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

3 out of 5

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

10 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

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cruzer2019 4 years ago

JemBecca exactly right ! You do your homework and research and prepare yourself and then there is no surprise!

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Funnnnyguy 4 years ago

Also people who are often disappointed, also like to complain a lot. Happy people don’t have time since they are too happy doing other things. And filing a review is lengthy. This is why you will always see more negative reviews than positives. If the review process was simplified to 2 buttons: like or dislike. You would see more likes than dislikes. Because then the happy people would participate more. My 2 cents

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Funnnnyguy 4 years ago

Don’t worry Rich and Slick, it all depends on your expectations. Most of the bad reviews have nothing to do with the ship or staff but rather the way the travelers perceived the situation. If you guy’s are obnoxious selfish type Americans, you might not like it as much as a Daytona 500 race experience. But if you are open minded and understanding people. You should have a wonderful vacation. I will be on from the 29th and I am sure it will be great. On every ship I have been on, everything is always clearly explained. Like drink packages: on most ships they have 2, one of for drinks up to 9 or 10$ and the other no price limit, and for 7 days they are usually between 400-550$. On this ship they have a third cheaper one for drinks up to 6$ for 200$, probably for people drinking mostly beer, witch is actually great. The ship rules, regulations, prices and way of doing things is part of the deal, whether you agree or not. Just don’t start thinking it should be different and complain or be disappointed, you will never be happy in life. I have been on over 10 cruises and never had a bad vacation. Few things here and there, but overall always OK. But that’s just me

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Jembecca 4 years ago

Before I booked, I joined a page on face book and cruisecritic.com to find out details the website doesn’t have. I learned how limited the Easy Package was and that they charge full price plus 15% for any other drinks. I know the theme parties, the menus, prices for onboard extras, and English speaking Americans will be in the minority. I know gelato is an extra charge and the back of the buffet on deck 8 is less crowded. I know storage space in the cabin is limited and what each experience gets you. My point is, if you research before booking, you will not be surprised onboard and can prepare mentally for what can be a wonderful vacation.

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KeithFreeman 4 years ago

@richno1 Don’t worry, the cruise isn’t as bad as everyone claims. I will be going on this ship for the second time this year. Everyone will have different experiences but the majority of people on here like to complain. The ship is beautiful and the prices are better than most other cruises. Enjoy your time on the Seaside.

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Cruiserike0322 4 years ago

We don't care for the drink package

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slickbrent82 4 years ago

I'm super nervous too. I hope the staff and service are at least good the week I travel.

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richno1 4 years ago

Its funny I have only read bad reviews maybe a handful of good I'm wondering if I made a mistake booking this cruise line for our large group......now what

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ADM01 4 years ago

I agree with you 100% my wife said she will never bird with them again.

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