Do not have high expectations.

Item: MSC Seaside
Rating: 3.6
Author: adventuresofdna

MSC Seaside Cruise Review

adventuresofdna

Contributor Level: Second Mate

99 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 107

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 20, 2023

Ship: MSC Seaside

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 8 months ago

Review summary

It was the best of cruises it was the worst of cruises. It is all about what you make of it. Getting on the ship was great fast quick and efficient. After we were on the ship, going to the buffet was a total nightmare in disaster. Long lines very slow bar service long lines customer service. The m s c for me app never worked. Had to replace keycards several times could not get off the ship. You do not get tissues in your rooms. They tell you to use the toilet paper. If you want tissues it's an upgraded service for a fee.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Getting on the ship was fast, easy and simple.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

The buffet on boarding day was a total hot mess, no organization.. We could not access the dining room on boarding day. The buffet served the same thing during lunch as they did for dinner. It's somewhat got better as the cruise went on. But your best bet is have dinner in the dining room. In our opinion, the specialty restaurants you cannot buy just one restaurant. If you wanna try. They have everything bundled together in 2 or 3 Said no thank you to this. On the saladbar selection, they have different types of lettuce and some dressings on one side of the buffet. Then you have to go to the other side of the buffet if you will get other salad items.

Marketplace Buffet

1 out of 5

First day was a nightmare total chaos overcrowded not enough staff. Repetitive on the same items for lunch and dinner, no variety of food. Long lines had a hard time finding a place to sit and eat

The Biscayne Bay Buffet & Pizzeria

1 out of 5

Not open all the time a lot of times we went, it was closed.

Venchi 1878 Chocolate Bar and Venchi 1878 Gelato & Creperie

2 out of 5

Great place if you love chocolate, this also includes the drinks. Everything is chocolate related. You cannot get specialty cocktails there or other types of beer

Miami Pool Bar

5 out of 5

Great place to hang out have some drinks. Bar is understaffed long wait for drinks

Marketplace Bar

1 out of 5

Needs more staff for the amount of people that are in the buffet long wait

Room Service

1 out of 5

Depending on the experience that you purchased, you may or may not receive room service. Everything is for a fee.

Seaside Bar

1 out of 5

Great place to have a drink and people watch needs more staff.

Ipanema Restaurant

5 out of 5

The food In the restaurant it's a lot better than the buffet's a little bit better selection

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

The water park was a lot of fun. The slides are a lot of fun. You have to sign a waver if you want to use the water park slides. You have to sign a waiver if you want to zip line tried to zip line several times it was always shut down, due the high winds. Or you would walk up the stairsjust to find out they were not open.The back glass elevator was excellent for ocean views. Ride the elevator to the top and back down.

MSC Yacht Club

1 out of 5

This area takes up several decks and you do not have any access to the front of the ship

Miami Beach Pool

2 out of 5

It's very crowded on a c day

MSC Gym by Technogym

5 out of 5

The gym staff was very friendly and gave us a tour of the facility.

Bowling

1 out of 5

Overpriced

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Music and d j's We're okay.

Service and Staff

2 out of 5

They need more staff in the bars long wait for drinks. Did not see our room stewards that much.long lines all over the ship

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The ship was beautiful. And clean

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our cabin was fine, the only problem we had was our keycard several times deactivated itself. Couldn't open your room or another time went to get off the ship at a port and could not get off. Had to get the card reactivated.

Ship tip

Do not have high expectations. You could very well be very disappointed.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, Bahamas

5 out of 5

This was probably our highlight of the trip. The island was amazing beautiful and clean We were able to spend 2 days on the island and you were able to use your drink package from the ship on the island.. Food trucks that had pasta salad hamburgers and hot dogs was an added plus. The food from the food trucks are included in your cruise fair.

Thumbs Up 1

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

5 out of 5

Spend some time in the cruise port lots to see lots todo. Hang out at the pool Or go exploring.

Thumbs Up 1

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Port Canaveral, Florida

5 out of 5

Excellent port facilities and restaurants and shops

Thumbs Up 1

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

This experience was the worst I had ever experienced. Zigzag lines back and forth back and forth to get off of the ship a very long and lengthy process. Have patients don't be in a hurry to go anywhere because you won't.

Traveler Photos

5 Comments

Oceanalways 3 months ago

We have sailed MSC a few times and the Seaside has been our least favourite. Mainly due to frustration with the elevators. Not sure why you give a 1star for room service and then comment that it depends on the experience booked and has fees. Unless you book through a TA who didn't bother to explain the differences of Bella & Fantastica or Aurea & YC to you. We have booked Bella on MSC and ordered room service and simply paid the fee for delivery. Our choice at time of booking. Now I only sail Fantastica or above as I like my coffee early while getting ready. Also, 1star for YC? You didn't use it so how can you give a honest review of it? Very unfair. The zipline usually has the hours of use posted which I agree were limited. I agree and don't agree with some of your points, but don't think it very fair of you to comment negatively on services you did not use. It's misleading to many as it brings the overall ratings lower. Venchi is amazing and as it is a chocolate specialty area, that isn't included with your cruise, why would you say its great and give it 2stars for not having beer available? The gelato is truly wonderful and it's one thing we always pay the extra for on MSC to kickoff our cruise. Was not grabbing a beer on the way to Venchi, that much of an inconvenience to take off 3stars? I'm asking these questions as I see you give Costa Maya 5stars and recommend hanging out a pool that requires a $30 minumum to hangout, so I know it's not the $3.50 del.fee for room service or the few $ for gelato as you are clearly willing to pay for extras. We're sailing Seaside again later this year and I am looking for insights to better the experience.

Thumbs Up 0

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